Tag: Featured

Greek Tragedy

Construction work has ground to a halt at the edifice widely anticipated for years as Lower Manhattan’s newest landmark: the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, within the World Trade Center complex. In mid-December, Skanska USA, the prime contractor leading the effort to rebuild the Church — the only house of worship that was entirely destroyed...

Two Seats at the Table

A decade-long campaign by elected officials, community leaders, and grassroots activists to bring democratic governance to Battery Park City took a giant step forward on Monday, when Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a new law that will require two seats on the board of the Battery Park City Authority (BPCA) to be set aside for people...

There Goes the Portico…

The City Planning Commission (CPC) has overruled Community Board 1 (CB1) and ignored a phalanx of local elected officials by approving a controversial proposal to fill in arcades at 200 Water Street, to create new retail space and market-rate apartments. On December 13, the CPC voted to authorize the project, with eight commissioners on the...
The public space at 200 Water Street as it appeared in the 1980s, with billowing canopies, fountains and other artistic elements designed to enhance the public's enjoyment of the outdoor plaza and arcade spaces. In exchange for these amenities, the builder was allowed to construct a taller, bulkier (and thus more valuable) tower than otherwise would have been legally permissible.

Toy Story

Karen Barwick remembers as if it were the most recent Black Friday her inspiration for starting Boomerang Toys, Lower Manhattan’s go-to destination for eclectic playthings, 15 years ago. “My oldest son was a toddler in 2002,” she recalls, “and was invited to a birthday party. So we had to buy a gift, and I realized...

Onward and Upward with the Arts

Church Street School for Music and Art, which has operated highly regarded creative enrichment programs for Lower Manhattan kids for the last 27 years has found a new home. This represents a reprieve for the school, which has been buffeted by series of rent increases over the last decade, as its Tribeca neighborhood gentrified, that...

Pressing for Home Rule

Three Lower Manhattan elected officials have co-signed a letter to Governor Andrew Cuomo, calling upon him to sign a bill now on his desk, that would set aside two seats on the board of the Battery Park City Authority (BPCA) to people who live in the community. The letter was sent on December 8, two...
State Assembly member Deborah Glick, who sponsored the bill to set aside for residents two Battery Park City Authority board seats in her house of the legislature.