The BroadsheetDAILY ~ 2/2/21 ~ Wariness on Water Street

Wariness on Water Street

Two Convicted Sex Offenders Residing at Homeless Shelter in Financial District

The Financial District hotel, currently being used as a homeless shelter, that houses two men designated as “sexually violent offenders.”

Among the hundred-plus homeless persons sheltered at the Hilton Garden Inn, located at Six Water Street (between Broad and Moore Streets), are two men whose names appear in the online Public Registry of Sex Offenders maintained by the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services. Both men are designated “sexually violent offenders” by the Registry.

Jerrod Bailey, aged 45, was convicted of one count of rape in the first degree (a “B” felony) on February 26, 2001, for a March, 2000 attack in which he was alleged to committed “deviate sexual intercourse” by “forcible compulsion,” during which he choked his victim, while hitting that person with his hand, first, and a club. Mr. Bailey was sentenced to 20 years in a New York State prison, and has recently been released.

Norman Hodge, aged 37, was convicted of one count of sexual abuse in the first degree (a “D” felony) on January 22, 2015, for a December, 2014 incident in which he was alleged to have had, “sexual contact with individual less than 11 years old.” Mr. Hodge was sentenced to a term of two years in a New York State prison.

New York State law classifies sex offenders into three “levels,” based upon an offender’s risk of recidivism and the degree of harm to the community inflicted by their crime. Level One is described as “low,” Level Two is categorized as “moderate,” and Level Three is identified as “high.” Both Mr. Bailey and Mr. Hodge are designated as Level Three offenders.

All offenders in the Level Three category must personally verify their addresses every 90 days with law enforcement in the jurisdiction where they are living, and must remain Public Registry of Sex Offenders for life.

Matthew Fenton

Today’s Calendar

February 2

2PM

Museum of Jewish Heritage

After escaping a Jewish Ghetto in Poland and losing her family at the outset of the Holocaust, a young girl named Sara hides in plain sight, passing as an Orthodox Christian in the Ukrainian countryside, where she is taken in by a farmer and his young wife. She soon discovers the dark secrets of her employers’ marriage, compounding the greatest secret she must strive to protect: her true identity. Follow her journey in My Name is Sara, an award-winning film not yet released in theaters. The film, directed by Steven Oritt and starring Polish actress Zuzanna Surowy, is based on the true story of 13-year-old Sara Goralnik. $10

6PM

Skyscraper Museum

Skyscraper Museum webinar. Scott Duncan is a partner in SOM’s Chicago office, where he leads the design of high-rise and mixed-use projects locally and around the world. Since joining SOM in 1998, he has championed the firm’s vision for integrated design, leading interdisciplinary teams that focus on research on quality of life, planetary health, and improving cities. Free

6:30PM

Fraunces Tavern Museum

Virtual lecture series with Keeler Tavern Museum and History Center. Education & Public Programs Associate Theresa DeCicco will join Keeler Tavern Museum’s Chief Curator Catherine Prescott to talk about the history of carrots throughout the colonies. The Pilgrims first brought carrots to North America, intending to harvest them in the colonies. Carrots were an easy vegetable to grow and were an integral part of nourishing humans and animals alike. In 1787, George Washington wrote in a letter to Benjamin Fitzhugh Grymes, “I am convinced that in proper soil the culture of carrots will be found very advantageous for feeding farm horses and every piece of stock. I am inclined to think that rows of carrots will yield 5 to 8 bushels of carrots to one corn.” Free

7PM

Brookfield Place

Test your trivia IQ at home with your friends and family! Follow along on Zoom and enter your answers via Kahoot, as you compete for a variety of fun BFPL prizes with hosts The Union of Quizzers. Free.

Letters

To the editor,

The seconds are ticking. Day by day the local restaurants of Lower Manhattan are closing and passing away.

Why can the public shop in grocery stores and wine shops; take subways, buses and taxis; and not dine inside restaurants in small, controlled and tracked numbers on the coldest days?

These restaurants are the life successes of many talented and hard-working restaurant owners, the livelihoods of many others, and the breakfast, lunch and dinner stops of very many more.

Of course, during Covid, restaurants need to be highly regulated for public safety with set spaces and barriers between tables, temperatures taken and records kept, strictly limited numbers of diners, effective ventilation systems, uneven instructions for outdoor dining, etc. Constantly changing rules and procedures and the unrelenting threat of violations have made compliance extremely difficult and expensive.

When the NY State and NY City governments mandated indoor dining closure, they basically eliminated 60-75% percent of revenues for renters. Regardless of the lost revenue, the City and the State continued to require business-as-usual payments of permits/taxes/licenses. In addition, all insurance companies are demanding to be paid in full or all coverage will be terminated. For renters, rent/utilities/insurance are not forgiven but deferred, creating a vacuum of debt that 60-80% of them will be unable to repay, thus forcing them to shut down. Recent Downtown losses are Sale & Pepe and Blarney Stone.

For landlords, mandated forced indoor dining closure basically eliminated 80-100% percent revenue from renters income with the state mandate that landowners are not allowed to ask for rent or force an eviction for non-payment. Landlords are now in a major bind –– still mandated to pay all taxes, utilities, and mortgages as well as up-keep at their own expense. This is creating another vacuum of debt that small landlords will be unable to pay that will force the majority of mom and pop landlords into bankruptcy.

Why is inside-dining permitted throughout the State of New York and not in the City? If there is medical and scientific reasoning for this, the government is responsible for explaining why and working with restaurants to provide guidance to keep these businesses alive. Valentine’s Day has been set by Governor Cuomo as 25% opening day –– it is still two painful weeks away. Every second counts and the clock is ticking.

Bill Koulmentas of George’s Restaurant and Bob Schneck

Insurrection Resurrection

Sounding A Lot Like the Leftists of 2011, Young Republicans Re-Occupy Zuccotti Park

On Sunday afternoon, several dozen members of the New York Young Republican Club gathered in the Financial District to protest alleged stock market manipulation by large traders, at the expense of individual investors.

Letters

To the editor,

Nonessential commuter and tourist helicopter flights are making New Yorkers’ lives miserable throughout the city due to the extreme noise and vibrations they create.

UWS, UES, midtown Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and Long Island are additional areas to downtown negatively affected by these polluting choppers. As many of the tourist helicopters are currently based in NJ, and there are commuter flights to Newark Airport, many NJ towns are also feeling the pain.

(Also note that the Downtown Manhattan Heliport will likely fully return to its pre-pandemic tourist flights once the pandemic is over and if the lease is renewed, and that will compound the current helicopter problem being experienced during the pandemic).

NYC and the federal government have made commitments to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels to combat climate change, yet the jet fuel guzzling helicopters (that are not a necessary mode of transportation) have for too long been allowed to proliferate in the NY metropolitan area.

Please sign and share our petition to ban these dangerous, polluting, noisy, stress-inducing, and unnecessary helicopters at www.stopthechopnynj.org

Melissa Elstein

Letters

To the editor,

 I love your newspaper, and I enjoyed, and learned from, your reporting on the Whole Foods bicycle loading station on Warren Street. It is a very controversial issue.

I just wanted to offer a correction on one piece of info mentioned in the article: the bike corral does not take up five parking spaces; it takes up two (it’s on a hydrant, so thirty feet of that zone is unavailable for parking, anyway). I know the parking isn’t the biggest problem, but still, I wanted to mention it.

Anyway, thank you for your work!

William Garre

Letters

To the editor:

I was definitely going to vote for Yang but not if he’s not smart enough to know that it’s many of the poor people he’s trying to help that will use his universal income to try to win big at the casino to drag themselves out of their current situations.

And of course they will lose all their money and sit and wait for the next universal income payment. Poor people who can’t afford to gamble end up paying those taxes to the state. I’m seriously reconsidering my vote now.

Ali Howdy

—————————————————————————–

To the editor:

 I just read the article by Matthew Fenton on Andrew Yang’s proposal for a casino on Governor’s Island. (BroadsheetDAILY January 26)

I am so angry at Mr. Yang right now that I don’t even have words to describe it. A “casino” on that historic and beautiful island?? It will be ruined instantaneously. Let it be used for what it is now—like a Central Park for downtown.

Where you can truly relax and enjoy the beautiful views it offers that so many of us don’t have unless we commute to it. The Harbor View School is there along with so many other wonderful offerings at this time. I understand that the city needs money but there are other ways to get it. I’m comforted to hear that the Trust already put in place that casinos cannot be built there. Tell Yang he’s an idiot.

Lia Dudine

Quit Your New Year’s Resolutions Early

And Indulge In Restaurant Week

No judgment for those of you who will want to drop those new year’s resolutions (or whatever other health kicks you’ve got going on) after reading this PSA:

NYC Restaurant Week launched this week, as hundreds of hot spots citywide have been lining up special delivery deals through February 28.

Promotions include lunch or dinner with a side for $20.21, two-course brunches and lunches ($26) and three-course dinners ($42), mostly Monday through Friday. (Some participating restaurants are honoring those prices on weekends.)

Dozens of restaurants south of Chambers Street plan to take part in NYC Restaurant Week, including Brooklyn Chop House, The Fulton, Crown Shy, Stone Street Tavern, The Dead Rabbit and more.

The Restaurant Week website lists several more tempting options to treat yourself — even if it means playing it a little fast and loose with your commitments to fitness. (We won’t tell.)

(sponsored content)

Penny-Farthing Lane

Mayor Announces Bike Path for Brooklyn Bridge

On Thursday evening, Mayor Bill de Blasio, at his eighth (and final) State of the City address, announced that a dedicated bike lane would be coming to the Brooklyn Bridge (with another slated for the Ed Koch Bridge) before the end of this year.

“The Brooklyn Bridge and the Queensboro Bridge are iconic and deeply intertwined in the daily lives of countless New Yorkers,” Mr. de Blasio said.

Chin Joins the Yang Gang

City Council Member Endorses Onetime Presidential Aspirant Who Favors Universal Income

Outgoing City Council member Margaret Chin (who is barred from running for reelection under term-limit laws) has endorsed Andrew Yang in his quest to be elected New York’s next mayor. To read more…

Eyes to the Sky January 25 – February 7, 2020

Sirius, The Big Dog and Thor’s Helmet

Sparkling, blue-white Sirius the Dog Star, the brightest star in the night sky, rises in the east-southeast 20 minutes after sunset this evening and will rise simultaneously with sunset by month’s end.

As twilight deepens, Sirius – from the ancient Greek Seirios for “scorcher” or “glowing” – appears above the skyline leading one of winter’s most alluring constellations, Canus Major, or The Big Dog, into the sky.

January’s Full Wolf (or Hunger) Moon rises at 4:55pm on Thursday the 28th as the Sun sets on the opposite horizon at 5:02pm. Twilight gathers half an hour later.

Judy Isacoff

Thor’s Helmet, NGC2359 Emissions nebula.

Astrophotography by Mario Motta, MD. All Rights Reserved

Atlantic City on the East River?

Mayoral Hopeful Proposes Casino Development on Governors Island

Former Democratic presidential aspirant and current City mayoral contender Andrew Yang says he has found a way to help lift New York’s economy out of the pandemic-triggered recession, as well as to help fund his universal basic income plan, which would offer $2,000 annual payments to about half a million poor New Yorkers: He wants to develop a casino on Governors Island.

In a story first reported by Politico, Mr. Yang on January 14 told interviewers on the Breakfast Club morning radio program, “one way I think we can generate money, and also make New York City more fun [is that] New York City should have its own casino on Governors Island.”

Hoping to Make Whirlybirds an Endangered Species

Nadler Sponsors Legislation to Make Lower Manhattan Heliopolis No More

U.S. Congressman Jerry Nadler, who represents Lower Manhattan in Washington, has introduced legislation that would impose stricter regulations on helicopter tour flights. Such flights have long been a source of quality-of-life concerns among Lower Manhattan residents, who have complained for years about the incessant buzz of engines passing directly outside their windows as often as three minutes apart. To read more…

Doyenne of the Estuary Departs

HRPT President Who Oversaw Build-Out of Waterfront Park to Step Down

Madelyn Wils, president and chief executive officer of the Hudson River Park Trust (HRPT) for the past decade, will step down February 5. In a January 19 letter to the Trust’s board of directors, she noted, “we are well on our way towards accomplishing our shared goals of completing the Park’s construction while ensuring it is also on solid financial footing.” She also cited a broad range of achievements in the ongoing build-out of the Park, including the September opening of Pier 26, in Tribeca, the beginning of reconstruction of Pier 40 (near Houston Street), progress on the development of Little Island and a plan for the Gansevoort Peninsula (both near West 14th Street).

CLASSIFIEDS & PERSONALS

Swaps & Trades, Respectable Employment, Lost and Found

To place a listing, contact editor@ebroadsheet.com

TODAY IN HISTORY

February 2

1861 – Solomon R. Guggenheim, American businessman and philanthropist, founded the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (d. 1949)

1207 – Terra Mariana, eventually comprising present-day Latvia and Estonia, is established.

1653 – New Amsterdam (later renamed The City of New York) is incorporated.

1709 – Alexander Selkirk is rescued after being shipwrecked on a desert island, inspiring Daniel Defoe’s adventure book Robinson Crusoe.

1887 – In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania the first Groundhog Day is observed.

1901 – Funeral of Queen Victoria

1913 – Grand Central Terminal is opened in New York City.

1922 – Ulysses by James Joyce is published.

1925 – Serum run to Nome: Dog sleds reach Nome, Alaska with diphtheria serum, inspiring the Iditarod race.

1980 – Reports surface that the FBI is targeting allegedly corrupt Congressmen in the Abscam operation.

Births

1522 – Lodovico Ferrari, Italian mathematician and academic (d. 1565)

1585 – Judith Quiney, William Shakespeare’s youngest daughter (d. 1662)

1585 – Hamnet Shakespeare, William Shakespeare’s only son (d. 1596)

1856 – Frederick William Vanderbilt, American railway magnate (d. 1938)

1861 – Solomon R. Guggenheim, American businessman and philanthropist, founded the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (d. 1949)

1882 – James Joyce, Irish novelist, short story writer, and poet (d. 1941)

1927 – Stan Getz, American saxophonist (d. 1991)

1937 – Tom Smothers, American comedian, actor, and activist

Deaths

1712 – Martin Lister, English physician and geologist (b. 1639)

1969 – Boris Karloff, English actor (b. 1887)

1970 – Bertrand Russell, English mathematician and philosopher, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1872)

1979 – Sid Vicious, English singer and bass player (b. 1957)

1996 – Gene Kelly, American actor, singer, dancer, and director (b. 1912)

2014 – Philip Seymour Hoffman, actor, director, and producer (b. 1967)

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