The BroadsheetDAILY – 5/11/22 – Federal Report Foresees Rising Water in Lower Manhattan

The Broadsheet – Lower Manhattan’s Local Newspaper

Alluvion Alarm

Federal Report Foresees Rising Water in Lower Manhattan

High tide flooding at the Battery may become a once-every-three-days event in decades ahead, according to a new federal report.

A new report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the federal scientific agency responsible for study of oceans, major waterways, and the atmosphere, predicts that Lower Manhattan will face increasingly frequent flooding in the decades to come.

The report, titled “Global and Regional Sea Level Rise Scenarios for the United States,” was released in March. Among other projections, it anticipates that local sea levels will rise 19 inches by 2060, compared to a nationwide average of ten to 12 inches. The same report predicts that the local occurrence of “extreme water level events” (defined as water creating five feet, six inches above the highest ordinary tide) will reach four to five times a year during that interval.

For Lower Manhattan, NOAA’s analysis and predictions are driven by a tide gauge located at the Battery. This gauge has already documented a rise in sea level of 2.2 inches between 1983 and 2001. This trend, now understood to be driven largely by melting glaciers, is deemed likely both to continue and accelerate.

For the nearer-term future, a less-extreme form of inundation, known as “high-tide flooding” (and defined as water reaching 21 to 24 inches above a benchmark known as “mean higher high water”) is expected at least 11 times per year between now and 2030. That is the highest prediction for any area in the United States in this category of event, which is often referred to as “nuisance” or “sunny day” flooding, and is marked by water spilling onto streets, collecting in basements, or bubbling up from storm drains.

Looking farther into the future, NOAA scientists calculate that by the year 2030, high-tide flooding at the Battery will likely occur at least 20 days per year (or more than once a month) and no more than 40 times each year (or approximately once each nine days).

By 2050, NOAA projects, high-tide flooding at the Battery will take place no less than 50 times per year (about once per week) and up to 135 days per year (meaning approximately once every three days). These calculations are especially sobering because they exclude extreme-weather events, such as hurricanes, and focus instead on routine tidal action. “Flooding that decades ago usually happened only during a powerful or localized storm can now happen when a steady breeze or a change in coastal current overlaps with a high tide,” a separate NOAA report warns.

Matthew Fenton

‘A General Feeling of Neglect And Disrespect From the City’

Niou Allocates $20 Million for Asian Communities, Argues Against Proliferation of Shelters in Chinatown

State Assembly member Yuh-Line Niou, who represents Lower Manhattan in Albany, has secured $20 million in State funding for what she calls an Asian-American, Pacific Island Equity budget. Half of this allocation is earmarked specifically for confronting hate crimes, with the other half divided among a broad range of community organizations.

NEWS ANALYSIS AND OPINION

A Bittersweet Mother’s Day

A Community Leader Reflects on Parenting, Privacy, and Personal Freedom

My role as the mother of two wonderful daughters has been the defining grace and privlege of my life. But yesterday, I had reason to reflect on this blessing in a new and troubling way.

Talus All About It

New Sculpture at World Trade Center Evokes the Innocence of Childhood

Lower Manhattan’s newest piece of monumental public art, “XO World,” stands 12 feet tall and 24 feet wide, and is located on the West Street side of One World Trade Center (near the corner of Vesey Street). The sculpture is comprised of more than 20,000 pounds of stainless steel, wrought into the shapes of a globe and a giant piece from the game of jacks.

Amending the Authority

Niou and CB1 Push Longer Leases, Caps on Cost Hikes, and a Voice for Residents

State Assembly member Yuh-Line Niou has introduced a pair of bills in the Albany legislature that closely track recent resolutions by Community Board 1 (CB1), and address a trio of issues that have long vexed local leaders.

CALENDAR

Wednesday, May 11

10am-12pm

Rector Park East

Observe and sketch the human figure. Each week a model will strike short and long poses for participants to draw. An artist/educator will offer constructive suggestions and critique. Drawing materials provided, and artists are encouraged to bring their own favorite media. Free.

12pm

Online

Lunchtime talk sponsored by the Museum of American Financial History

with the host of NPR’s Planet Money. Before Bill Gross was known among investors as the Bond King, he was a gambler. In 1966, a fresh college grad, he went to Vegas armed with his net worth ($200) and a knack for counting cards. $10,000 and countless casino bans later, he was hooked: so he enrolled in business school. The Bond King is the story of how that whiz kid made American finance his casino. Over the course of decades, Bill Gross turned the sleepy bond market into a destabilized game of high risk, high reward; founded Pimco, one of today’s most powerful, secretive and cutthroat investment firms; and helped to reshape our financial system in the aftermath of the Great Recession. Like every American antihero, his ambition would also be his undoing. Talk followed by audience Q&A. Advance registration is required. Free.

2pm-4pm

Wagner Park

Make art amidst the flower-filled and seasonally evolving palette of BPC’s verdant gardens. An artist/ educator will provide ideas and instruction. Free.

4:30pm

Battery Urban Farm, along State Street in Battery Park

Learn to manage the health of your vegetable garden soil through a deeper understanding of its composition and biology. Free.

6pm

Livestreamed

6pm-7pm

Rockefeller Park House

Immerse yourself in this meditative practice, surrounded by the Hudson’s peaceful aura. Strengthen the body and cultivate awareness in a relaxed environment as your instructor guides you through alignments and poses. All levels are welcome. Bring your own mat. Free.

6pm

6 River Terrace

Elise Engler’s book, A Diary of the Plague Year: An Illustrated Chronicle of 2020, is one year of a daily drawing/painting project that recapture what it was like to live through 2020, bringing texture, feeling, and even charm to what we will never forget. Free.

Thursday, May 12

1pm

History Battery Park

Tour of the urban vegetable farm and perennial forest farm, led by park staff. RSVP is required. Please note: this tour is intended for ages 13+. Free.

3pm

History Battery Park

Take a kid-friendly tour of The Battery Urban Farm to learn about how we grow produce in the heart of downtown New York City. Free.

6pm

Livestreamed

Agenda

6:30pm

6 River Terrace

In preparation for Giulietta e Romeo in June, all are welcome to brush up on your opera knowledge in a fun and interactive workshop led by Teatro Grattacielo. Familiarize yourself with the dramatic and musical aspects of the upcoming performance including the original story, musical style, stagecraft and characters. Free.

7pm

McNally Jackson, 4 Fulton Street

Book reading. In 15 masterful stories, Frederic Tuten entertains questions of existential magnitude, pervasive yearning, and the creative impulse.

8pm

Tribeca Performing Arts Center, 199 Chambers Street

Jack Kleinsinger’s “Highlights in Jazz” is New York City’s longest running jazz concert series. Tonight: Peter & Will Anderson (clarinet, sax), Wycliffe Gordon (trombone), Victor Lewis (drums), Ted Rosenthal (piano), James Chirillo (guitar), Brian Lynch (trumpet), plus surprise special guest! $50.

Friday, May 13

11am – 5pm

South Street Seaport Museum

On Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, visit the exhibitions and the ships of the South Street Seaport Museum for free. At 12 Fulton Street, see “South Street and the Rise of New York” and “Millions: Migrants and Millionaires aboard the Great Liners, 1900-1914,” and at Pier 16, explore the tall ship Wavertree and lightship Ambrose.

7pm-8:30pm

Wagner Park

Singer/songwriter Terre Roche leads this weekly singing program with the beautiful backdrop of the setting sun in NY Harbor. Whether you are a beginner or a seasoned crooner, the singing circle is perfect for mellow melodies and healthy harmonizing.

7pm

6 River Terrace

In celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, BPCA presents Kikujiro (1999, Takeshi Kitano). Based on The Wizard of Oz, a young, naïve boy sets out alone to find his wayward mother. Soon he finds an unlikely protector in a crotchety man and the two have a series of unexpected adventures along the way. Free popcorn will be served, and a discussion will follow the screenings. This film is rated PG 13.

7:30pm

Concert at Pier 17. With special guest Adam Doleac.

Letter

To the editor,

Probably because my neighbor is a poet, I turned to poetry for the first time to express my feelings when, lately, I’ve faced the view in this photograph.

It is the last bit of sky visible from our home. Many, many floors of finished construction projects hide the rest. I’m sad to lose the sky, but I dwell on the flag that appeared recently. It means something very different for the crane operators than for me, I assume. They choose to suspend it above their work. As a historian of law and justice in this country, I find there has been, since my youth, a big change in my feelings toward the flag.

Thanks for providing a place to express them.

Elizabeth Hovey

To the Crane Controllers,

The red & blue I loved at first,

My hero saw lights in old North Church.

I embraced all states,

 the big birthday.

Soon, its principles eclipsed the lore;

The banner stood for something more.

To be born here was so lucky,

I gladly gave my loyalty.

Slowly, I learned what Langston saw,

A truth that sticks within one’s craw.

What matters most is equity,

The promise of fairness yet to be.

Now, wishing that truth had kept from harm

All those this flag made take up arms,

I weep that it did come to be

A threat to youth across the sea.

I would not leave the people here,

The ones whose dreams have brought them near.

You hoist it high, I see each morn,

Calling dreamers?

Or, to warn?

CLASSIFIEDS & PERSONALS

Swaps & Trades, Respectable Employment, Lost and Found

To place a listing, contact editor@ebroadsheet.com

Lower Manhattan Greenmarkets

Tribeca Greenmarket

Greenwich Street & Chambers Street

Wednesdays and Saturdays, 8am-3pm (compost program: Saturdays, 8am-1pm)

Bowling Green Greenmarket

Broadway & Whitehall St

Tuesdays and Thursdays, 8am-5pm (compost program: 8am-11am)

The Outdoor Fulton Stall Market

91 South Street, between Fulton & John Streets

Indoor market: Monday through Saturday,11:30am-5pm

CSA pick-up: Thursday, 4pm-6pm; Friday, 11:30-5pm

Outdoor market: Saturday 11:30am-5pm, May through Thanksgiving

Today in History

May 11

Peter Stuyvesant arrived in New Amsterdam on this day in 1647 to take over as Director-General. Seventeen years later, he would surrender the city to the British, as seen in this historical painting by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris.

868 – A copy of the Diamond Sutra is printed in China, making it the oldest known dated printed book.

1647 – Peter Stuyvesant arrives in New Amsterdam to replace Willem Kieft as Director-General of New Netherland, the Dutch colonial settlement in present-day New York City.

1812 – Prime Minister Spencer Perceval is assassinated by John Bellingham in the lobby of the House of Commons, London.

1820 – HMS Beagle, the ship that will take Charles Darwin on his scientific voyage, is launched.

1846 – President James K. Polk asks for and receives a Declaration of War against Mexico, starting the Mexican–American War.

1862 – In the American Civil War, the ironclad CSS Virginia is scuttled in the James River northwest of Norfolk, Virginia.

1894 – Four thousand Pullman Palace Car Company workers go on a wildcat strike in Illinois.

1945 – In World War II, off the coast of Okinawa, the aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill is hit by two kamikazes, killing 346 of its crew. Although badly damaged, the ship returns to the U.S. under its own power.

1949 – Israel joins the United Nations.

1960 – In Buenos Aires, Argentina, four Israeli Mossad agents capture fugitive Nazi Adolf Eichmann who is living under the alias of Ricardo Klement.

1973 – Citing government misconduct, Daniel Ellsberg has charges for his involvement in releasing the Pentagon Papers to The New York Times dismissed.

1987 – In Baltimore, the first heart–lung transplant takes place.

1997 – Deep Blue, a chess-playing supercomputer, defeats Garry Kasparov in the last game of the rematch, the first computer to beat a world-champion chess player in a classic match format.

Births

1722 – Petrus Camper, Dutch physician, anatomist, and physiologist (d. 1789)

1811 – Chang and Eng Bunker, Thai-American conjoined twins (d. 1874)

1888 – Irving Berlin, Belarusian-American pianist and composer (d. 1989)

1904 – Salvador Dalí, Spanish painter and illustrator (d. 1989)

1918 – Richard Feynman, physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1988)

1933 – Louis Farrakhan, American religious leader

1940 – Herbert Müller, Swiss race car driver (d. 1981)

1946 – Robert Jarvik, American cardiologist, developer of the artificial heart

Deaths

912 – Leo VI the Wise, Byzantine emperor (b. 866)

1871 – John Herschel, English mathematician, astronomer, and chemist (b. 1792)

1960 – John D. Rockefeller Jr., businessman and philanthropist (b. 1874)

1988 – Kim Philby, British double agent (b. 1912)

2006 – Floyd Patterson, American boxer and actor (b. 1935)

2020 – Jerry Stiller, dies at 92

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