The BroadsheetDAILY ~ 1/21/21 ~ New Law Aims to Play Fair with Fowl

For the Birds

New Law Aims to Play Fair with Fowl

A woodpecker killed in a collision with a Battery Park City skyscraper.

The New York City Council recently enacted new legislation that will protect birds, who are killed by the thousands each year in collisions with the reflective glass on the facades of skyscrapers, including those in Battery Park City.

“In New York City alone, we estimate that there are anywhere between 90,000 to 230,000 bird collisions every year,” explains Battery Park City resident Michelle Ashkin, who is licensed by New York State as a Wildlife Rehabilitator, and also serves as the co-director of education for the Wild Bird Fund, “so this legislation is a major step in the right direction, especially since there are so many bird-safe glass options.”

The bill, passed in December, mandates that facade materials in new buildings meet bird-friendly standards that greatly reduce collision risks to birds. (Windows and other glass elements are especially dangerous for birds, which often mistake their reflective surfaces for sky or vegetation, causing them to fly straight into buildings.) The new law also covers major renovations to existing buildings, and applies to construction across the City’s five boroughs.

“During peak migration seasons in the spring and the autumn,” Ms. Ashkin adds, “wildlife rehabbers like myself receive calls daily from people who have found injured birds. In Battery Park City and environs, it is particularly dangerous, because we are a virtual Downtown city of glass, surrounded by some of the best parkland and resting spots for migratory birds.”

About a month ago, an evening trip down West Street toward Battery Park City showed the Goldman Sachs building almost completely illuminated. While Brookfield Properties participates in NYC Audubon’s Lights Out New York initiative, many other NYC skyscraper owners do not.

In a reference to the Winter Garden atrium within Brookfield Place, Ms. Ashkin observes that, “glass facades with plants and trees inside attract birds, who slam into them, thinking they are headed to the trees. And the highly reflective glass used in so many of our buildings reflects the greenery in our parklands. So realistically, birds fly towards these, to perch on them, and ‘boom,’ they break their necks, or wings, or suffer terrible concussions that end up killing them. It’s heartbreaking. When you consider that these creatures—many tiny enough to fit into the palm of a child—have flown thousands of miles and faced enormous dangers, only to meet their demise or suffer great injury because of our love for glass, it speaks to the urgency of this legislation.”

Ms. Ashkin, who has been a local organizer on issues like protecting the ducks that nest in the Rockefeller Park lily pond, also has ideas for additional measures, not included in the legislation. “There is more we can do at the buildings in Battery Park City, in which the glass is not bird-safe,” she says, “especially during peak-migration season. Putting up art work, decorations, or decals that birds can see is one possibility. I hope people and building managers start to realize how much of a difference they can make, how much they can give back to nature, just by doing these small things.”

Matthew Fenton

Today’s Calendar

Thursday January 21

12NOON

China Institute

Chinese pottery with green, brown/amber, and off-white glaze, is a craft perfected during the Tang Dynasty (618–907 AD) – think of the iconic Tang Dynasty horse. But is it really Chinese, or did it come from Europe or Central Asia? Yale curator Denise Leidy will share her favorite Sancai pieces and talk about the “madly cosmopolitan” Tang Dynasty, which is often referred to as China’s Golden Age. Free

5:30PM

LMHQ

This past year has been stressful to say the least. The uncertainty and unknowns we’ve faced over the last few months have left many of us feeling afraid, anxious, worried, and stressed, which can physically, mentally and emotionally affect our motivation and wellbeing. Emotions are “Energy in Motion,” and where our attention goes the energy flows. When we manage to get the energy moving again and can align our mindset with our values, we re-ignite our inner leader so that we are engaged, passionate, resilient and driven to accomplish our goals. In this interactive workshop, participants will be introduced to an energy framework that supports holistic wellbeing and success. They will walk away empowered with practical tools they can integrate into their daily lives. Free

6PM

Community Boards 1 Executive Committee

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

AGENDA

1) Full Board Efficiency Improvements – Update

2) Committee reports

3) Composting in Lower Manhattan – Discussion with Marisa DeDominicis, Executive Director, Earth Matter NY Inc. (Postponed until February 2021)

4) Budget Cuts for Community Boards FY 2022 – Discussion and Resolution (Postponed until February 2021)

5) 2021 Municipal Elections – Discussion & Possible Resolution (Postponed until February 2021)

6:30PM

Land Use, Zoning & Economic Development Committee

AGENDA

1) Borough Based Jails/Manhattan Detention Complex – Report by Office of the Mayor, Community Affairs Unit

6:30PM

Fraunces Tavern Museum

enjamin Franklin travelled to London in the 1750s and 1760s to seek a method to separate Pennsylvania from the Penn family. Finding no viable approach to do this, he sought motivation for all thirteen American colonies to separate from Britain. In this lecture, Goodrich will discuss the history and research at the heart of his narrative history Somersett: Or Why and How Benjamin Franklin Orchestrated the American Revolution.

National Thoughts

Amid These Truths, Clarity and Complexity and Better Things to Do

More than 10,000 marchers gathered in Battery Park just days after Donald Trump’s 2017 inauguration, to protest policies they viewed as reprehensible. Nobody present was able to foresee that 400,000 Americans would be dead before Mr. Trump’s term drew to a close.

Your political education began the last time a leader of the land exited office one step ahead of a pair of handcuffs. Allowed to stay up late to observe an historic moment, you sat in front of the television set, surrounded by a scrum of extended, adult family, who were feeling both vindicated and lubricated. “I have never been a quitter,” you heard the leader of the free world say, to announce that he was quitting. “Good for that bastard,” an uncle cheered, raising a glass, which was answered by a chorus of ice cubes clinking in tumblers. Not long after, the quitter’s successor assured the Republic that, “our long national nightmare is over,” to announce that the guy who gave him the job would be getting away with all that he had done.

In the days that followed, having glimpsed the sympathies of your parents, you tried to echo their party line, bidding for approval. As was always the case whenever you veered dangerously close to certainty, the Old Man would caution you with the words, “not so fast…”

Inn-plosion

Downtown Hotelpocalypse Continues as Two Hostelries Go to Auction After Loan Default

A pair of Lower Manhattan hotels will be auctioned off to the highest bidder on Thursday, after the holding company that owns the properties was unable to keep current on $385 million in debt. To read more…

Happy Trails

Newly Completed 750-Mile Bikeway Begins in Battery Park City

Lower Manhattan latest landmark—the southern terminus of the longest multi-use state trail anywhere in the United States, marked by a new kiosk along the bikeway that runs parallel to West Street, near Battery Place—was unveiled on New Year’s Eve.

This is the starting-point of the Empire State Trail, an initiative announced by the administration of Governor Andrew Cuomo in 2017, the final missing link for which—a 23-mile section between Brewster and Poughkeepsie, in the Hudson Valley—was opened to the public in December.

Community Gathers at the Museum of Jewish Heritage to Condemn Racism

On January 14, community members and elected officials joined with students, parents, and teachers from the Battery Park City School (PS/IS 276) in front of the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust to forcefully condemn the Confederate flag that was found tied to the museum’s doors last week.

“When our neighbors experience an act of hate, we stand with our neighbors,” said PS/IS 276 teacher Mary Valentine. To read more…

Four Walls for a Few Months Longer

State Extends, Expands Eviction and Foreclosure Bans Credited with Saving Thousands of Lives

The State legislature has enacted, and Governor Andrew Cuomo has signed, a measure designed to provide relief for rental tenants and homeowners experiencing financial hardship as a result of ongoing pandemic coronavirus.

At a special session on December 28, the State Senate’s Democratic majority opened a special session to ratify the the COVID-19 Emergency Eviction and Foreclosure Prevention Act. The measure, which had been passed earlier by the State Assembly, was signed into law on the same day by Mr. Cuomo.

Lower Manhattan Unchained

Questions about What’s In Store for Local Retail Point to Glum Answer: Not Much

Small businesses aren’t the only ones hurting in Lower Manhattan. Large national retailers are also shuttering their local stores in record numbers, according to a new report from the Center for an Urban Future (CUF), a public policy think tank that uses data-driven research to bring attention to overlooked issues. The analysis documents that the number of chain stores in Lower Manhattan decreased dramatically during the past 12 months, with a total of 63 national retailers shutting their doors permanently.

CLASSIFIEDS & PERSONALS

Swaps & Trades, Respectable Employment, Lost and Found

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TODAY IN HISTORY

January 21

1911 – The first Monte Carlo Rally takes place.

1535 – Following the Affair of the Placards, French Protestants are burned at the stake in front of the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris.

1774 – Abdul Hamid I became Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Caliph of Islam.

1789 – The first American novel, The Power of Sympathy or the Triumph of Nature Founded in Truth by William Hill Brown, is printed in Boston.

1793 – After being found guilty of treason by the French National Convention, Louis XVI of France is executed by guillotine.

1861 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis resigns from the United States Senate.

1908 – New York City passes the Sullivan Ordinance, making it illegal for women to smoke in public, only to have the measure vetoed by the mayor.

1911 – The first Monte Carlo Rally takes place.

1950 – American lawyer and government official Alger Hiss is convicted of perjury.

1954 – The first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, is launched in Groton, Connecticut by Mamie Eisenhower, the First Lady of the United States.

1960 – Little Joe 1B, a Mercury spacecraft, lifts off from Wallops Island, Virginia with Miss Sam, a female rhesus monkey on board.

1960 – A coal mine collapses at Holly Country, South Africa, killing 435 miners.

1968 – A B-52 bomber crashes near Thule Air Base, contaminating the area after its nuclear payload ruptures. One of the four bombs remains unaccounted for after the cleanup operation is complete. Thule Air Base, is the Air Force’s northernmost base, located 750miles north of the Arctic Circle on the northwest coast of the island of Greenland.

1981 – Production of the iconic DeLorean sports car begins in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.

1997 – The U.S. House of Representatives votes 395–28 to reprimand Newt Gingrich for ethics violations, making him the first Speaker of the House to be so disciplined.

2017 – Over 400 cities across America and 160+ countries worldwide participate in a large-scale women’s march, on Donald Trump’s first full day as President of the United States.

Births

1264 – Alexander, Prince of Scotland (d. 1284)[3]

1724 – Louis-Jean-Franзois Lagrenйe, French rococo painter (d. 1805)

1824 – Stonewall Jackson, American general (d. 1863)

1869 – Grigori Rasputin, Russian mystic (d. 1916)

1905 – Christian Dior, French fashion designer, (d. 1957

1905 – Karl Wallenda, German-American acrobat and tightrope walker (d. 1978)

1922 – Telly Savalas, American actor (d. 1994)

1929 – Radley Metzger, American filmmaker (d. 2017)

1951 – Eric Holder, n, 82nd United States Attorney General

1955 – Jeff Koons, American painter and sculptor

Deaths

420 – Yazdegerd I, king of the Sassanid Empire

1793 – Louis XVI of France (b. 1754)

1924 – Vladimir Lenin, Russian lawyer and politician (b. 1870)

1959 – Cecil B. DeMille, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 188

1994 – Bassel al-Assad, Son of the former President of the Syrian Arab Republic Hafez al-Assad (b. 1962)

1998 – Jack Lord, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1920)

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