City Council Panel Okays Proposal to Convert Water Street Arcades to Retail

The City Council’s Subcommittee on Zonings and Franchises voted on Tuesday to approve a controversial zoning measure that seeks to convert to commercial, retail use more than 100,000 square feet of public space in arcades along Water Street. Tuesday’s vote will be followed today by a vote of the Council’s Land Use Committee, and another...
City Council member Margaret Chin (flanked by members of the Council's Zonings and Franchises Subcommittee) originally opposed the plan to allow Water Street building owners to convert 2.6 acres of public space inside arcades to private, retail use, but endorsed a modified version of the proposal, which the panel unanimously voted to support on Tuesday.

Rowing The Atlantic

Dr. Stein Hoff began his row across the Atlantic on Sunday morning May 15th, 120 years after George Harbo and Frank Samuelsen. Here’s his facebook link to track his voyage. His Latest Post: On a free ride to the Grand Banks. Day 31, Tuesday 14th June. 13 must be a lucky number, June 13th was certainly...
Dr. Hoff rowing FOXII photo by Stanley Fine

June 14

1158 – Munich is founded by Henry the Lion on the banks of the river Isar. 1216 – First Barons’ War: Prince Louis of France captures the city of Winchester and soon conquers over half of the Kingdom of England. 1775 – American Revolutionary War: the Continental Army is established by the Continental Congress, marking the birth of the United...
The Donald turns 70 today.

Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra at the Melville Gallery

On June 10, Gary Fagin, longtime Seaport resident and founder/music director of Lower Manhattan’s Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra (KCO), hosted the organization’s last event of the 2015/2016 season: the Hurrah for the Harbor soirée in the Melville Gallery of the South Street Seaport Museum. The program honored local parks and 100 years of the National Park Service, and...
The Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra at the South Street Seaport's Melville Gallery

Letters

To the editor, I was seriously pissed as I read an article about the Battery Park City Authority’s interest in removing the colonnade on South End Avenue. The street as it is, is pleasant and allows choices of sun or shade and so on. However my more serious question is why the BPCA continues to...
South End Avenue colonnade

BPCA Offers to Allow Elected Officials to Speak at Its Board Meetings, But Residents Will Have to Submit Comments on Paper

The Battery Park City Authority (BPCA) is modifying its ban on residents and other members of the public speaking at Authority board meetings, but not enough to satisfy elected officials and community leaders who have long criticized the policy. At the June 8 meeting of the BPCA’s board, Authority chairman and chief executive officer Dennis...
BPCA board chairman Dennis Mehiel: "If any member of the public, if somebody wants to present written comments to the board, on one of our agenda items, it would be noted and included in the minutes. And that's as far as I think that it's reasonable for us to go."