The BroadsheetDAILY ~ 12/7/20 ~ Veteran Local Activist Jenny Low Seeks City Council Seat

Jenny from the Block

Veteran Local Activist Seeks City Council Seat

Jenny Low, whose record of community leadership in Lower Manhattan is decades long, is running for City Council.

Jenny Low, a longtime Lower Manhattan activist and community leader, has entered the race for the City Council seat that will be vacated next year by Margaret Chin, who is required to step aside because of term limits.

“Iʼve spent my whole life fighting for Lower Manhattan, and Iʼm ready to put my skills and experience to work fighting for a recovery from this pandemic that puts working families, small business owners, and our Cityʼs most vulnerable first,” Ms. Low says.

She is entering a crowded field, alongside contenders Christopher Marte (who’s been endorsed by two prominent political clubs—Downtown Independent Democrats and Grand Street Democrats), Gigi Li (a former chair of Community Board 3, and currently Ms. Chin’s chief of staff), Maud Maron (a public defender, who also serves as president of the Community Education Council for District 2), and Denny Salas, a former financial professional and public school teacher, turned Democratic Party activist.

Ms. Low (who manages Community Engagement for City Council Speaker Corey Johnson) has been endorsed by U.S. Congress members Nydia Velázquez and Carolyn Maloney, whose districts overlap with much of City Council district Ms. Low seeks to represent.

Ms. Velázquez said, “it is rare to see someone as selfless and committed to her community as Jenny Low. For years, she has consistently shown up and fought for her neighbors, and throughout the pandemic I have seen her advocate for our small businesses, organize meal and grocery deliveries for those in need, and guide our road to recovery.”

Ms. Maloney said, “Jenny Low is a dedicated community advocate and tireless leader who will bring her experience in public service to deliver for every community in Lower Manhattan. Now more than ever, we need leaders like Jenny who have the knowledge and skills to support our small businesses, fight for affordable housing, increase healthcare access, and improve our schools.”

Ms. Low was the first Asian-American elected as a Democratic District Leader (a volunteer position she has held since 1995) anywhere in New York City. After emigrating from China at age 12, she learned English while attending school, and went on to earn a degree in business from Yale University.

For three decades, she has served as a director of the Chinese-American Planning Council, one of the nation’s largest Asian-American, social service non-profits. For the past decade she has been on the board at Eleanor’s Legacy, which recruits, trains, and funds pro-choice Democratic women candidates across New York.

Ms. Low’s campaign says she has raised the maximum amount needed to hit New York City’s spending cap ($241,000) with matching funds.

She says her focus will be on “winning small businesses the support they need, addressing our affordable housing crisis, tackling food insecurity, improving our schools, and building a better future for Lower Manhattan.”

Matthew Fenton

Currently, live video of Earth is streaming from an external HD camera mounted on the ISS. The camera is looking toward Earth with an occasional solar panel passing through the view.

TODAY’ S CALENDAR

2PM

Hudson River Foundation

Sightings of large whales and dolphins have become increasingly common in the New York Bight, including in and around the Upper and Lower New York Bay.

In order to better understand seasonal presence and habitat-use of cetaceans and levels of ocean noise in these nearshore waters, we deployed acoustic recorders over a two-year period in this highly urbanized area. We will discuss some of our findings and the implications for conservation of cetaceans in the Upper and Lower Bay, as well as in the context of current and emerging issues in the wider New York Bight.

5:46PM

At 5:46pm tonight, look up to see the International Space Station flying over Lower Manhattan. Look northwest at 86 degrees and if clouds allow, the ISS will be visible for about five minutes. That’s rather high in the sky, since 90 degrees is directly overhead. The ISS will disappear in the southeast.

The ISS travels at about 17,500 miles per hour, and circles the Earth every 90 minutes. The crew of seven enjoys 16 sunrises and sunsets every day.

Wherever you are, you can sign up to get alerts when the space station is flying overhead, at https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/ .

6PM

Environmental Protection Committee

Live Remote Meeting – https://live.mcb1.nyc

AGENDA

1) 250 Water Street Brownfield Cleanup Program – Update by Lawra Dodge, President, Excel Environmental Resources, Inc.

2) 250 Water Street, Draft Scope of Work for an Environmental Impact Statement – Discussion

3) Zoning for Coastal Flood Resiliency (ZCFR), Citywide Zoning Text Amendment (ULURP application 210095 ZRY) – Discussion with James Cottone, Resiliency Planner Land Use Division, New York City Council

4) Governors Island Resiliency & Sustainability – Discussion

Shelter Skelter

Another Day, Another Court Ruling about 52 William Street

On Thursday afternoon, Justice Anil Singh of the New York State Supreme Court’s Appellate Division granted a temporary stay, which has the effect of halting once again the planned transfer of more than 200 men from the Lucerne Hotel, on the Upper West Side, to the Radisson Wall Street Hotel, located at 52 William Street.

This order is slated to remain in effect until at least December 14, when a five-judge panel of the Appellate Division is scheduled to hear further arguments, and decide whether to extend the stay, or allow the transfer to proceed while litigation continues. To read more…

Santa’s Secret Helpers

Imagine what it’s like to be a kid who, for some reason, isn’t on Santa’s list. Now, just imagine what a huge impact you can make in the life of a child and their parents by being their secret Santa.

Stockings with Care, a charity based in Lower Manhattan, steps in to help when parents cannot provide Christmas gifts for their children, so no child is left out. But the organization, which has benefited over 40,000 children since 1992, needs your help. The parents give the gifts that donors (such as you) provide to the child, preserving their dignity and connection, while ensuring the gifts received are the ones the child wished for. Stockings with Care has created five easy ways to contribute.

For more information, please browse StockingsWithCare.org.

Build Your Dream House

The Church Street School for Music and Art will continue a decades-long Downtown tradition (albeit, in virtual form, as a concession to COVID-19) by offeringGingerbread House Decorating Kits (priced at $85), now through Christmas week.

Each take home kit includes one homemade gingerbread house, a variety of candy, freshly made icing, and one foiled round to set your house up on. In addition to offering great holiday fun, this program is one of the most important fundraisers for the highly regarded non-profit institution that has brought enrichment to the lives of generations of Lower Manhattan kids.

For more information, please browse: ChurchStreetSchool.org.

The Giving Tree

Trinity Church wants to help you make a stranger feel special this Christmas.

Purchase a Christmas gift to support children, adults, and seniors served by several of Trinity’s partner organizations throughout New York City.

Your gifts will go to fellow New Yorkers who have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, many of whom wouldn’t receive gifts this year without your help.

Browse: trinitywallstreet.org/givingtree by December 13 to select a gift, which cost about $30 each.

Super-Talls Cut Down to Size

Pair of FiDi Skyscraper Projects Suffer Setbacks

Two separate residential towers planned for the Financial District are suffering from the local real estate slowdown. In developments first reported by the online real estate journal, YIMBY, the building now under construction at 161 Maiden Lane has undergone removal of pieces of its facade in recent weeks (the only recent activity on the otherwise-stalled project), while construction equipment has been removed from 45 Broad Street, which is the site of a planned 1,115 foot residential tower.

CLASSIFIEDS & PERSONALS

Swaps & Trades, Respectable Employment, Lost and Found

To place a listing, contact editor@ebroadsheet.com

TODAY IN HISTORY

December 7

Pearl Harbor, December 1941

1703 – The Great Storm of 1703, the greatest windstorm ever recorded in the southern part of Great Britain, makes landfall. Winds gust up to 120 mph, and 9,000 people die.

1732 – The Royal Opera House opens at Covent Garden, London, England.

1787 – Delaware becomes the first state to ratify the Constitution.

1842 – First concert of the New York Philharmonic, founded by Ureli Corelli Hill.

1904 – Comparative fuel trials begin between warships HMS Spiteful and HMS Peterel: Spiteful was the first warship powered solely by fuel oil, and the trials led to the obsolescence of coal in ships of the Royal Navy.

1932 – German-born Swiss physicist Albert Einstein is granted an American visa.

1941 – World War II: Attack on Pearl Harbor: The Imperial Japanese Navy carries out a surprise attack on the United States Pacific Fleet and its defending Army and Marine air forces at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

1965 – Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras I simultaneously revoke mutual excommunications that had been in place since 1054.

1972 – Apollo 17, the last Apollo moon mission, is launched. The crew takes the photograph known as The Blue Marble as they leave the Earth.

1982 – In Texas, Charles Brooks, Jr., becomes the first person to be executed by lethal injection in the United States.

1987 – Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 1771, a British Aerospace 146-200A, crashes near Paso Robles, California, killing all 43 on board, after a disgruntled passenger shoots his ex-boss traveling on the flight, then shoots both pilots and steers the plane into the ground.

1993 – Long Island Rail Road shooting: Passenger Colin Ferguson murders six people and injures 19 others on the LIRR in Nassau County, New York.

1995 – The Galileo spacecraft arrives at Jupiter, a little more than six years after it was launched by Space Shuttle Atlantis during Mission STS-34.

Births

1545 – Henry Stuart, English-Scottish husband of Mary, Queen of Scots (d. 1567)

1598 – Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Italian sculptor and painter (d. 1680)

1892 – Stuart Davis, American painter and academic (d. 1964)

1915 – Eli Wallach, American actor (d. 2014)

1928 – Noam Chomsky, American linguist and philosopher

1956 – Larry Bird, American basketball player and coach

Deaths

43 BC – Cicero, Roman philosopher, lawyer, and politician (b. 106 BC)

1902 – Thomas Nast, German-American cartoonist (b. 1840)

1941 – Attack on Pearl Harbor 2,403 Americans perished during the attack, including 68 civilians.

1970 – Rube Goldberg, American cartoonist, sculptor, and author (b. 1883)

1975 – Thornton Wilder, American novelist and playwright (b. 1897)

EYES TO THE SKY

November 30 – December 13, 2020

Full Snow Moon rises this afternoon, winter stars follow, planets delight

The Full Snow Moon rises above the east-northeast horizon this afternoon at 4:48pm, nearly simultaneous with sunset in the southwest at 4:29pm. See moonrise about an hour later every evening and sunset remaining within seconds of 4:29pm until the winter solstice, which occurs on December 21.

Mornings, awake to the intriguing spectacle of moonset in the west-northwest as the Sun rises in the southeast. Tomorrow, December 1, sunrise is at 7:01am, while the great orb of the moon will be visible in the daylight blue sky until 8:08am. See the moon higher and longer in the morning sky – in waning gibbous phase – everyday this week. The Sun rises about a minute later everyday through the 26th: Sunrise is at 7:12 on 13th.

Last Call?

Downtown Restaurants Brace for More Closure Orders

As New York wades deeper into its second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, some local restaurants are trying to get ahead of the curve of anticipated closures by voluntarily shutting down both indoor and outdoor dining.

Among these is Blue Smoke, in Battery Park City, owned by legendary restaurateur Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group, which is also taking similar measures at the company’s Union Square Cafe and Gramercy Tavern.

Putting the ‘Lower’ in Lower Manhattan

Distressed Downtown Real Estate Indicators Point South

The first Baron Rothschild is said to have advised, “the time to buy is when there’s blood in the streets, even if the blood is your own.” If he was correct, this may be an auspicious moment to purchase real estate in Lower Manhattan, where the distress is acute. To read more…

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