The BroadsheetDAILY – 7/15/22 – City of Water Day Celebrates Our Urban Archipelago

The Broadsheet – Lower Manhattan’s Local Newspaper

Aqua Fest

City of Water Day Celebrates Our Urban Archipelago

New York City flourished because of its mighty harbor and rivers. Ships like Wavertreedocked side by side along the East River 150 years ago.

The Waterfront Alliance will present the 15th annual City of Water Day tomorrow (Saturday, July 15), with more than 60 mini celebrations dotting the New York and New Jersey coastlines, including several waterfront sites in Lower Manhattan. The Alliance is a nonprofit that advocates for greater access to and resilience for the waterfronts and waterways of the region.

“Each year, we open people’s eyes to the beauty and abundance of the coastlines and waterfronts that form our city of islands and form our region,” says Cortney Koenig Worrall, president of the Alliance. “Through a multitude of free activities all around New York City and New Jersey, more people of all ages are understanding that rivers, bays, creeks, beaches, and shorelines are precious natural resources to enjoy, share, and protect. And the climate art at City of Water Day in the Seaport area helps us to connect in sensory and deeper ways, hopefully bringing us all together to fight for the future.”

Captain Jonathan Boulware, president of the South Street Seaport Museum, adds that “this multi-borough, multi-organization, multi-artist effort will raise awareness of New York’s coastline: from the past during which it was our great asset, to the future, during which it will be our great challenge.”

More than a dozen City of Water Day In Your Neighborhood events in and around Lower Manhattan will amplify this theme. At the Seaport Museum tomorrow, visitors will be able to take free tours of the historic ships Wavertree and Ambrose, and explore the museum’s galleries at 12 Fulton Street.

Visitors to the Seaport will also be able to experience the third annual Art at the BlueLine, a free outdoor exhibition associated with City of Water Day that uses interactive art installations to underscore the urgent need for coastal resilience. Artists will present their works at the future high-tide line (or “BlueLine”) and offer a lens into the realities of climate change, waterfront access, and environmental justice. Featured works will include Matthew López-Jensen’s “You Are Getting Warmer,” Mary Mattingly’s “River Lab,” and Sarah Nelson Wright’s and Edrex Fontanilla’s “Tomorrow’s Sea.”

These are fish in the River Project’s Wetlab tanks at Pier 40.

Next door, at Pier 17, Friends of + POOL will offer Urban Swimming: a New Age for New York, a pop-up exhibition of urban swim projects from around the world, plus a preview of the future site of + POOL, which is planned as New York’s first in-river swim facility.

On Governors Island, the Changemaker Station (presented by the Climate Museum) will offer an interactive hub for civic climate action on City of Water Day, with activities for adults and children seeking ways to advocate for a climate-safe future. Elsewhere on Governors Island, Music on the Half Shell (from the Billion Oyster Project) will offer a porch-side musical performance.

On the banks of the Hudson River, in Rockefeller Park at 11am on City of Water Day, the Battery Park City Authority will offer a nature walk and kid-friendly collaborative art project focused on environmental stewardship.

Further north on the Hudson River at Pier 40 (Houston Street), the Wetlab managed by the Hudson River Park’s River Project will introduce visitors to the wildlife that dwells beneath the waves. This flow-through aquarium houses dozens of species of fish and invertebrates, all caught within Hudson River Park as part of an ongoing ecological survey.

Admission to all City of Water Day activities, exhibits, and events is free. For more information, see this interactive map of all City of Water Day sites, including those Downtown.

Matthew Fenton

Preserving ‘a Postmodern Idiosyncratic Folly’

CB1 Considers Whether the Juxtaposition of Old and New Is Better Than Old and Newer

Community Board 1 is urging the City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission to reject a proposal by a developer to redesign the street-level facade of a Wall Street skyscraper. At issue is the postmodernist office tower at 60 Wall Street, which opened in 1989.

‘Show Me the Records!’

Adams Agrees to Discuss Release of Documents from 2001 about City Hall’s Awareness of Ground Zero Health Risks

Mayor Eric Adams has taken a step that was blocked by three of his predecessors. He is willing to consider releasing documents concealed by the administrations of Mayors Rudy Giuliani, Michael Bloomberg, and Bill de Blasio about what information City Hall had in the weeks following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, regarding environmental toxins released by the collapse of the World Trade Center.

Eyes to the Sky, July 2022

Cosmos of starry skies reflected in Earth’s fireflies

The first image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope offers a stunning new view of the universe. This first-of-a-kind infrared image is so distant in the cosmos that it shows stars and galaxies as they appeared 13 billion years ago. See the images here. Credit: NASA

In dark sky locations on July nights, the cosmos of stars meets and seems to blend with brilliant, flashing firefly lights in the space between treetops and ground in a great, animated surround. At nightfall, blinking lightning bugs stream over wild meadows, fallow hay fields, parks and gardens where artificial light is minimized—leaving the awe-struck stargazer rapt in Earth’s near atmosphere that is alive with luminescent, courting beetles.

Light pollution is destructive to fireflies and humans alike. Seek out dark areas within the city and head out to dark enclaves in the boroughs and beyond.

Judy Isacoff

Calendar

Friday, July 15

4pm

Meet under the Winter Garden palm trees

This Skyscraper Museum tour focuses on Battery Park City’s commercial core with its 1980s skyscrapers of the original World Financial Center (now Brookfield Place) designed by architect Cesar Pelli, as well as North Cove Marina and its public realm. This walk investigates how the planning concept of public-private partnership was both the principle and economic engine of the Battery Park City project and how the goals of opening the waterfront to public access and recreation were realized over three decades. Tour is limited to 25 people. Free.

6:30pm-8pm

Wagner Park

Rhythm and grooves fill the air at this Friday evening program. Follow the lead of professional drummers as they guide you through the pulsating beats of traditional African drumming techniques and methods. Drums provided, dancing welcome! Free.

7pm

The Psychedelic Furs: Made of Rain 2022 Tour with Special Guests X Pier 17 rooftop

Concert.

7:30pm

Gibney, 53A Chambers Street

Performers from all around the world apply to be part of this culminating showcase. Each year LOHH selects the work of all female crews & companies to present their work. It is a sold-out night sharing the international hip-hop cultural perspective featuring women and girls from New York to New Zealand. $20-$30

Saturday, July 16

10am-12pm

Drawing in the Park

Paint in watercolor or use pastels and other drawing materials to capture the magical vistas of the Hudson River and the unique landscape of South Cove. An artist/educator will help participants of all levels with instruction and critique. Materials provided, and artists are encouraged to bring their own favorite media.

South Cove

10am-4pm

Free region-wide day to raise awareness about sea level rise and climate change, and to advocate for a climate resilient New York and New Jersey harbor. Dozens of communities in New York and New Jersey will host their own City of Water Day In Your Neighborhood events. See story above.

10am-4pm

Seaport Square and Pier 16

Opening day of Art at the BlueLine, a two-week art installation at the future high tide line, or BlueLine, at the Seaport. Art at the BlueLine runs through July 31. Free.

10:30am

After a read-aloud of Mo Willems’s picture book Knuffle Bunny, we will adventure around Battery Park City and point out different aspects of urban design that make this neighborhood walkable. All ages welcome. RSVP required. This indoor program meets at the Skyscraper Museum, 39 Battery Pl. Masks are required for indoor programs. Free.

11am-5pm

Governors Island, Nolan Park, Building 15

On tree-lined King Ave, nes­tled between his­toric ear­ly 20th-cen­tu­ry build­ings, this idyl­lic mar­ket features a rotat­ing line­up of over 30 of the city’s emerg­ing mak­ers, design­ers, artists, and small busi­ness­es selling hand­craft­ed jew­el­ry, art, appar­el, bath and body care, table­ware, home fur­nish­ings, arti­sanal pack­aged food and more.

11am-2pm

Governors Island, Colonels Row, Building 403

Out­door non-tox­ic print work­shop. Learn to make rain­bow roll prints and your own col­la­graph by glu­ing cut paper and flat objects onto plates. All mate­ri­als are includ­ed. All ages are wel­come. Ded­i­cat­ed work­shop: 11am – 12:30pm (RSVP required). Open Print­mak­ing: 12:30 – 2pm. Free.

11am-4pm

Governors Island, Colonels Row, Building 403

Bring a book or news­pa­per to pulp on-site, then use that pulp to cre­ate a unique sculp­ture to bring home. All ages wel­come, no RSVP required. Free.

11:15am

Brookfield Waterfront Plaza

Create 3-D fantastical flowers inspired by native wildflowers and tropical blossoms! Build a single bloom, a whole bouquet, a flower corsage, or a flower crown! Combining a variety of paper techniques and templates you’ll cut, twist, twirl, tear, and fold your flower into shape. Part of the Sway’s Bloom event. Free.

1pm

Governors Island, Nolan Park

Vio­lin­ist Cur­tis Stew­art per­forms “of Love:”, a set of works featuring music of Alice Coltrane, Johannes Brahms, Greek Folk Tunes, Duke Elling­ton, Hen­ry Pur­cell, The Killers, Bill With­ers, JS Bach, Kendrick Lamar/​Thundercat, and Cur­tis Stewart. Repeated at 3pm. Free.

Sunday, July 17

9am

On the deck of the historic tall ship Wavertree, engage your mind and body as you are led through a 60-minute vinyasa-based yoga practice that is accessible and challenging for all levels. The practice will be followed by a tour of Wavertree for anyone who wishes to participate. Bring your own mat.

12:30pm

Meet at Netherland Memorial Flagpole

Guided bird walk with Gabriel Willow and Gail Karlsson. Explore the diversity of migrating birds that find food and habitat in The Battery. Participants are encouraged to bring binoculars. Free.

5pm

In this Museum of Jewish Heritage walking tour, learn how Jews of many backgrounds converged in New York and forged a uniquely American Judaism. Trace the Jewish experience in Colonial and post-Revolutionary New York, viewing familiar landmarks such as Castle Clinton, Bowling Green, Federal Hall, and the Stock Exchange through a Jewish lens. $10 suggested donation.

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)

World Trade Center Oculus Greenmarket

Tuesdays, 8am-5pm

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: Saturdays, 11:30am-5pm

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This is the Rosetta Stone, found in Egypt on this day in 1799. It is inscribed with three versions of a decree issued in Memphis, Egypt, in 196 BC by King Ptolemy V Epiphanes. The top and middle texts are in Ancient Egyptian using hieroglyphic and Demotic scripts respectively, while the bottom is in Ancient Greek. The Rosetta Stone allowed previously indecipherable Egyptian scripts to be decoded.

1099 – First Crusaders plunder Jerusalem

1741 – Alexei Chirikov sends men ashore in a longboat and they become the first Europeans to visit Alaska.

1783 – The first steamboat, Pyroscaphe, operates in France

1799 – The Rosetta Stone is found in the Egyptian village of Rosetta.

1815 – Napoleon surrenders to Captain Frederick Maitland of HMS Bellerophon at Rochefort after his earlier defeat at the Battle of Waterloo

1911 – 46 inches of rain (which began on July 14) falls in Baguio, Philippines

1922 – The first duck-billed platypus is publicly exhibited in US, at NY zoo

1933 – Wiley Post began first solo flight around world

1973 – Paul Getty III kidnapped

1997 – Jerold Mackenzie awarded $26.6 million (reduced to $625,000) for being fired from Miller Brewing for sexual harassment for relaying a Seinfeld episode to a coworker

2002 – “American Taliban” John Walker Lindh pleads guilty to supplying aid to the enemy.

2018 – 8-year-old girl finds pre-Viking-era sword in Vidostern lake, Sweden. The Internet proclaims her Queen of Sweden

2021 – Devastating floods linked to climate change sweep through towns in western Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, killing at least 188 people

Births

1458 – Juan Ponce de Leon, Spanish explorer (d. 1521)

1606 – Rembrandt van Rijn, Netherlands, painter (d. 1669)

1796 – Thomas Bulfinch, mythologist

1950 – Arianna Huffington, author, creator of The Huffington Post

1951 – Jesse “The Body” Ventura, wrestler/actor

Deaths

1521 – Juan Ponce de León, Spanish explorer and conquistador who searched for the fountain of youth and was the first European to discover Florida, dies at 61

1883 – Tom Thumb, famous small person, dies of a stroke at 44

1948 – John J. “Black Jack” Pershing, US general, dies at 87

1997 – Gianni Versace, fashion designer, shot to death by Andrew Cunanan at 50

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