Lower Manhattan’s Local News
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The Weight of Water
Discussion about Development Highlights Local Infrastructure Challenges
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A February, 2020 water main break on South Street highlighted ongoing concerns about the capacity of local infrastructure to handle to increased load placed on the system by ongoing development.
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At what point does a water and sewer system designed after the Civil War to support a community of five-story buildings buckle under a district of 50- and 100-story buildings?
This was the question raised by Fern Cunningham at the June 17 meeting of the Quality of Life Committee of Community Board 1 (CB1). The Committee was reviewing a presentation by Humberto Galarza, a public affairs representative with the City’s Department of Environmental Protection.
Ms. Cunningham asked, “what is the impact of CB1’s increased density on our sewage treatment and access [to drinking water]?” This was a reference to the headlong pace of real estate development in Lower Manhattan in recent years.
“Every now and then we hear about water main breaks,” Ms. Cunningham continued, “and we are the oldest part of the City. The density here is just constantly increasing with new development.” As a case in point, she cited an earlier discussion about a new building planned for what is currently a parking lot, at 250 Water Street, which is slated to rise 89 stories and enclose more than one million square feet of commercial, hotel, and residential uses.
Mr. Galarza replied, “you hear a lot about aging infrastructure, and that is a fact, it’s true—the City does get old. But we have yearly funding and a ten-year capital plan. We always invest in new water mains and new sewer mains that will last a century.”
“But to answer your question,” Mr. Galarza continued, “I can tell you I am the contact person for all water mains throughout New York City, and I can’t remember the last time I was notified about a water main break within CB1.”
Mr. Galarza appears to have a short memory. A major water main break in February sent several million gallons of water gushing onto South Street, between the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges, in the several hours that it took for DEP crews to shut down the cracked, 30-inch pipe. (Admittedly, the location of this break was roughly 100 yards outside the border of CB1.)
Ms. Cunningham clarified, “my question is whether there is some sort of evaluation that is done on the ability of infrastructure to handle higher density, before a developer is given approval to put up a new high-rise building? I’m focusing on 250 Water Street, because it means that a lot of our pipes may have to be redone, when they put more dwellings in a small area that is already oversaturated.”
Mr. Galarza replied, “they are many levels of oversight at City Planning, and Department of Buildings. City agencies communicate with each other about what is allowable within each district. We all communicate to make sure that that capacity is not overtaxed. But we also rely on elected officials and the local Community Board.”
This appears to be a circumlocutious way of saying, “no.” A online search of news stories since 2010 did not turn up a single case of a major real estate development in New York being halted, or even delayed, because nearby water infrastructure (both to supply clean water and remove effluent) was deemed insufficient to handle the increased load.
Instead, the development approval process requires only environmental reviews, which sometimes project a shortfall between existing capacity and anticipated demand. In such cases, the City essentially pledges to build new or expanded water and sewer pipes whenever it is able.
Such a dynamic appears to echo the City’s approach to other forms of infrastructure, especially at the local level. In the two decades since the start of the 21st century, City officials approved the creation of thousands of new dwellings within the confines of CB1, years before schools that could accommodate the children of all the new families were built.
Matthew Fenton
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Pretty Good Odds
City Health Data Show That Slightly More Than 13 Percent of Downtown Residents Test Positive for Coronavirus
One out of every seven people in Lower Manhattan is either infected with, or has been exposed to, the pandemic coronavirus. That is the conclusion gleaned from data, made available for the first time by City public health officials earlier this week. These metrics break down overall numbers of tests (along with numbers of positive results) by zip code.
The reassuring news is that Downtown’s eight residential zip codes rank among the lowest anywhere in the five boroughs, with the rate of positive test results in each hovering between 12 and 16 percent. (For comparison, in the zip code for the Corona section of Queens, slightly more than half of everybody tested showed positive results for infection or exposure.)
According to the City’s Department of Health data, the local totals for testing, and positive rates for test results (outlined by zip code) break down as follows:
To read more…
Matthew Fenton
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Letters
To the editor,
Cheers to legislators Kavanagh and Niou for offering common sense ideas providing real relief to our desperate small businesses. Now will City Hall, Albany and landlords only listen?
If not, New York City streets will become ghost towns.
Jean Grillo
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How to Keep Shopkeepers in Their Shops
Kavanagh and Niou Aim to Protect Small Businesses by Offering Tax Incentives to Landlords
Two State legislators representing Lower Manhattan are proposing to rescue small businesses with a plan that would trade tax credits to landlords for rent breaks to commercial tenants.
Inspired by the acute financial distress that small businesses are experiencing in the wake of the pandemic coronavirus (and the economic cataclysm that it has unleashed), the “COVID-19 Small Business Recovery Lease Act,” sponsored in the State Senate by Brian Kavanagh and the Assembly by Yuh-Line Niou, aims to entice property owners to renegotiate leases and offer long-term, affordable rents to small business owners.
To read more…
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Putting the ‘Down’ in
Downtown Real Estate
Local Apartment Rents and Sales Prices Tumbled in the Second Quarter
A trio of reports quantifies the extent to which property prices in Lower Manhattan crumbled in the three months ending June 30.
A pair of analyses from Platinum Properties, a brokerage firm headquartered in the Financial District, looks in detail at Battery Park City and the Financial District.
The company’s report about Battery Park City documents that the average sales price for a condominium in the community dropped by 24.81 percent, relative to the second quarter of 2019, to $1.16 million. This aggregate figure varies by apartment size, with the worst pain reserved for sellers of two-bedroom units, which dropped by 42.4 percent from the first quarter of this year. The number of units sold fell by more than half, to just nine apartments.
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Grotto Restaurant and Pizzeria FiDi’s hidden gem for over 35 years.
The large and diverse menu will please anyone. From Italian specialties to Hand Spun Pizza, Gourmet Salads and more,
let Grotto feed you and your family tonight.
Grotto sits between
The New York Stock Exchange and Bowling Green on New Street, steps from from the Bull at Bowling Green.
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CONTACTLESS FREE DELIVERY or IN-STORE PICKUP
OPEN MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY 9AM – 9PM
69 New Street 212-809-6990
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CLASSIFIEDS &PERSONALS
Swaps & Trades
Respectable Employment
Lost and Found
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Tutor available for homework support
Stuyvesant HS student available for homework help
All grades especially math
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Winter Sublet Available
Beautiful, NW corner 2b-2b. Legal sublet through mgmt.
Dec 1 through April 30. Fewer months possible.
Great kitchen appliances and updated bathrooms.
References required.
Call or text 917-538-5595
SHSAT TUTORING
Stuyvesant HS graduate
available for SHSAT tutoring. $40/hr. Zoom or in-person.
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$2.00 per notarized signature.
Text Paula @ 917-836-8802
Nurse’s Aide
Caring, experienced Nurse’s Aide seeks PT/FT position.
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Experienced Elder Care
Able to prepare nutritious meals and light housekeeping.
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HOUSEKEEPING/ NANNY/ BABYSITTER
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IT AND SECURITY SUPPORT
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If you would like to place a listing, please contact
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Welcome to the Velodrome
Visionary Plans for Getting Around Downtown Focus on Two Wheels and Two Feet
A pair of new studies outlines a future for Lower Manhattan that is highly cyclical. The first of these, a report from the Downtown Alliance titled, “Bicycle Infrastructure & Commuting in Lower Manhattan,” notes that more than 20 percent of people who are employed Downtown currently walk or bike to work, while nearly one-third of people who live here get to and from their places of business in the same way.
These hardy souls are among some 49,000 New York City commuters (concentrated mainly in Manhattan and Brooklyn) who get to the office and back under the power of their own legs each day — a figure that has jumped 55 percent since 2012, and is growing by roughly nine percent each year.
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Following a six-month closure due to the COVID-19, the New Museum announced that it will reopen to the public on September 15, 2020. Admission will be free through September 27 as a welcoming gesture.
Upon reopening, the Museum will resume its normal days and hours of operation, 11am – 6PM every day except Thursday where the Museum is open until 9pm. It is closed on Monday.
Admission will be through timed ticketing and visitorship will be limited to less than 25% of capacity. All visitors will be required to reserve tickets in advance online at newmuseum.org, beginning August 31, 2020. In the Galleries:ning, the New Museum’s acclaimed exhibitions will remain on view, “Peter Saul: Crime and Punishment,” “Jordan Casteel: Within Reach,” and “Daiga Grantina: What Eats Around Itself.” The Peter Saul and Jordan Casteel exhibitions opened on February 11 and 19 respectively, just weeks before the COVID-19 closure. The exhibitions will remain on view through the end of the year.
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The Whitney will reopen on September 3 for members and a few days later for the general public.
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Monday, August 24
7PM
Author Sahar Mustafah reads from her book The Beauty of Your Face and has a conversation with writer Susan Muaddi Darraj. Free.
Wednesday, August 26
1:30PM
Honoring those who died on 9/11 as well as those who are sick or who have died from exposure to hazards and toxins in the aftermath of 9/11. Bagpipers play near the 9/11 Memorial Glade at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum.
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New Doc on the Block
Tribeca Pediatrics Founder Gets CB1’s Blessing to Renovate Historic Seaport Building
Community Board 1 (CB1) is giving its approval to a proposal to alter a building within the South Street Seaport Historic District, while also noting that the developer has gone out of his way to address the concerns of community leaders.
The property is 107 South Street (between Beekman Street and Peck Slip), which dates from 1900, and has been vacant for decades. In 2019, the building was purchased (for $6 million) by Dr. Michel Cohen, who will be familiar to many Lower Manhattan residents as the physician who founded Tribeca Pediatrics, and has helped care for a generation of Downtown kids.
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Vigilant about the View
CB1 Opposes New Restaurant Planned for Public Land Proposed in Seaport
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A rendering of the plan for a restaurant beneath the FDR Drive, in the Seaport neighborhood.
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Community Board 1 (CB1) is stating its opposition (for the fourth time) to a plan that would create a new restaurant beneath the FDR Drive, in the South Street Seaport neighborhood.
The proposal would demolish an existing storage shed (located alongside South Street, between Fulton and John Streets) that contains two public bathrooms, and replace it with restaurant housing a 2290-square-foot dining area with 30 tables and 85 chairs, along with a 700-plus square foot bar area with 26 seats. The new structure would largely eclipse the view corridor that frames panoramic vistas of the East River (and the tall ship Wavertree) from John Street.
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Recently Reopened Businesses Downtown
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Get Out on the Water
from North Cove
Need a safe and breezy break from your apartment? Several cruise operators have reopened in North Cove and are offering opportunities to get out on the water, including Tribeca Sailing, Ventura, and Classic Harbor Line. All cruise operators are adhering to social distancing guidelines; check individual websites for details.
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Flat Tire? Rusted Chain? Bent Rims?
GothamFix
A mobile bicycle shop offering service and parts
Open Tuesday through Sunday • 646-322-9557
Corner of Greenwich and Chambers Street.
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The Honorable William Wall is open
Click for more information.
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Today in History August 24
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1932 – Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly across the United States non-stop (from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey).
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367 AD – Gratian, son of Roman Emperor Valentinian I, is named co-Augustus at the age of eight by his father.
1185 – Sack of Thessalonica by the Normans.
1200 – King John of England, signer of the first Magna Carta, marries Isabella of Angoulême in Angoulême Cathedral.
1215 – Pope Innocent III issues a bull declaring Magna Carta invalid.
1349 – Six thousand Jews are killed in Mainz after being blamed for the bubonic plague.
1682 – William Penn receives the area that is now the state of Delaware, and adds it to his colony of Pennsylvania.
1781 – American Revolutionary War: A small force of Pennsylvania militia is ambushed and overwhelmed by an American Indian group, which forces George Rogers Clark to abandon his attempt to attack Detroit.
1857 – The Panic of 1857 begins, setting off one of the most severe economic crises in United States history.
1909 – Workers start pouring concrete for the Panama Canal.
1932 – Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly across the United States non-stop (from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey).
1967 – Led by Abbie Hoffman, the Youth International Party temporarily disrupts trading at the New York Stock Exchange by throwing dollar bills from the viewing gallery, causing trading to cease as brokers scramble to grab them.
1981 – Mark David Chapman is sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for murdering John Lennon.
1991 – Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as head of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
1991 – Ukraine declares itself independent from the Soviet Union.
2006 – The International Astronomical Union (IAU) redefines the term “planet” such that Pluto is now considered a dwarf planet.
2016 – An earthquake strikes Central Italy with a magnitude of 6.2, with aftershocks felt as far as Rome and Florence.
Births
1824 – Antonio Stoppani, Italian geologist and scholar (d. 1891)
1902 – Carlo Gambino, Italian-American mob boss (d. 1976)
1929 – Yasser Arafat, Egyptian-Palestinian engineer and politician, 1st President of the Palestinian National Authority (d. 2004)
Deaths
1103 – Magnus Barefoot, Norwegian king (b. 1073)
1217 – Eustace the Monk, French pirate (b. 1170)
1647 – Nicholas Stone, English sculptor and architect (b. 1586)
1967 – Henry J. Kaiser, American businessman, founded Kaiser Shipyards and Kaiser Aluminum (b. 1882)
2013 – Muriel Siebert, American businesswoman and philanthropist (b. 1928)
2014 – Richard Attenborough, English actor, director, producer, and politician (b. 1923)
Edited from various sources including Wikipedia,and other media outlets
from mainstream to extreme.
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395 South End Avenue,
New York, NY 10280
212-912-1106
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