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Lower Manhattan’s Local News
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The Broadsheet Inc. | 212-912-1106 | editor@ebroadsheet.com | ebroadsheet.com
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A Decade of de Gustibus
Taste of the Seaport Marks Ten Years on Saturday
The Taste of the Seaport annual food-apalooza, which raises funds for the Peck Slip and Spruce Street Schools, will celebrate its tenth anniversary tomorrow (October 19) at the South Street Seaport, on Piers 16 and 17 (along the East River waterfront, near Fulton Street), from noon to 3:00 pm.
Among the 40-plus highly regarded local restaurants participating this year will be Antique Gararage, Barbalu, Blue Ribbon Federal Grill, Cut By Wolfgang Puck, Honey Badger, Il Brigante, Malibu Farm, and Suteishi. Adults are also invited to enjoy wine and beer.
For kids, entertainment will be provided by live music, plus activities from Manhattan Youth, the Church Street School for Music and Art, Brooklyn Game Lab, Brooklyn Robot Factory, Jewish Learning Experience, Modern Martial Arts, and the Craft Studio.
Sponsored by the Howard Hughes Corporation (which is redeveloping the Seaport neighborhood, in partnership with the City) and New York-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital, Taste of the Seaport began in 2009 as the much smaller Taste of Front Street. It has since evolved and grown with the surrounding neighborhood, and now welcomes thousands of guests each autumn.
Ticket prices start at $45 for a packet of five “tastes,” of one of which is redeemable for a small plate of the fare being served up by each participating restaurant. All proceeds go to support arts and enrichment programs at Peck Slip School and Spruce Street. For more information, or to purchase tickets, please browse www.tasteoftheseaport.org
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Monumental Achievement
Architectural Heritage Program Offers Access to Local Landmarks
Open House New York, a program that provides the public with unparalleled access to New York’s extraordinary architecture and to the people who help design, build, and preserve the City, will take place this weekend (today, Friday, through Sunday, October 18 – 20). To read more…
Matthew Fenton
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Keep It Light
Condo Boards Question Need for South End Avenue Redesign After Installation of Traffic Signal
At the October 2 meeting of the Battery Park City Committee of Community Board 1, Battery Park City Authority president B.J. Jones was apprised by the leader of a coalition of condominiums along South End Avenue of that group’s ongoing reservations about the Authority’s plan to revamp the thoroughfare.
Pat Smith, the board president of the Battery Pointe condominium (at South End Avenue and Rector Place) told Mr. Jones, “before you go too far on South End Avenue, please remember that six condo boards, representing more than 1,000 households along South End Avenue, from Albany down to West Thames, don’t want you to do this.” To read more…
Matthew Fenton
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Wildlife in Lower Manhattan
The dogwalking and jogging crowd on the esplanade yesterday morning had quite a show, when an unidentified Buteo (Buzzard Hawk) lazily flapped past a few heads and landed on a branch to enjoy his breakfast: a tasty pigeon.
Alison Simko
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Music to Our Ears
When she was ten, Julie Reumert was selected
to sing at a celebration marking the birthday of
Margrethe ll, Queen of Denmark. As a girl growing up in Copenhagen, Ms. Reumert performed with the Saint Anne Girls Choir as a soprano and a soloist.
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Today’s Calendar
October 18, 2019
8:30AM
Esplanade Plaza ~ Just south of North Cove Marina
Improve balance, strength and focus through gentle exercises. The sights and sounds of the river provide a serene background for the ancient flowing postures. An ideal choice for participants of all ages. Battery Park City Authority
3PM & 5:30PM
Archtober 2019 Building Tour: Schermerhorn Row and the Seaport
South Street Seaport Museum
Come discover the treasures hidden inside Schermerhorn Row, one of the most significant examples of early 19th century commercial architecture. This special tour will take you through the remains of two 19th century hotels made famous by New Yorker writer Joseph Mitchell’s “Up in the Old Hotel.” $15 Meet your tour guide at the entrance of the South Street Seaport Museum, 12 Fulton Street. Tours are not open to children under 10. Various times; check website for details.
6PM
Friday Night Film Noir: The Phantom Lady
6 River Terrace
Film noir is a style of American crime film originating in the 1940’s. Often made on shoestring budgets, these low light, high intrigue detective stories are now regarded as classics from Hollywood’s Golden Age. The Phantom Lady (1944, Robert Siodmak) is the story of a mystery woman who must be tracked down to prevent an innocent man from being convicted of his wife’s murder. The film showcases the influence of European Expressionism on American film noir. FREE and Free popcorn will be served, and a discussion will follow the screenings.
7:30PM Cirque Mei: Elite Circus Artists and Acrobats from China
Tribeca Performing Arts Center
From People’s Republic of China, Hebei Province, Cirque Mei will feature traditional and contemporary Chinese circus acts in a colorful and lively celebration of the internationally renowned Chinese circus arts.
The performance, featuring a company of 40 elite circus artists and acrobats, will include many of the most popular Chinese circus routines including Hoops Diving, Lion Dance, Collective Bicycle Skills, Flying Meteors, Foot Juggling with Umbrellas, Female Contortion, and Ladder Balancing Act. The troupe was founded in 1976 and supports a community of over 130 circus performers who tour throughout China and the world.$35 199 Chambers Street.
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CLASSIFIEDS & PERSONALS
Swaps & Trades ~ Respectable Employment ~ Lost & Found
212-912-1106 editor@ebroadsheet.com
John Street Methodist Church Autumn Tag Sale
Thursday, Oct 24, 10 am to 4 pm
Friday, Oct 25, 10 am to 4 pm
Saturday, Oct 26, 10 am to 2 pm
Everything HALF PRICE on Saturday!!!
44 John Street
DO YOU NEED A PERSONAL ASSISTANT?
I am experienced, reliable, knowledgeable and able to work flexible hours. CHINESE AIDE/CAREGIVER FOR ELDERLY
Cantonese/Mandarin-speaking and Excellent Cook for Battery Park City.
917-608-6022 SEEKING FREE-LANCE PUBLIC RELATIONS PROFESSIONAL OR SMALL PR FIRM
Work with well-reviewed author of five E-books, developing and implementing outreach strategies.
Includes writing, placement, research, new outlets and on-line advertising. Savvy social media skills a must. Downtown location. HOUSEKEEPING/NANNY/BABYSITTER
Available starting September for PT/FT.
Wonderful person, who is a great worker. Reference Available ELDERCARE
Available for PT/FT elder care. Experienced. References Angella
347-423-5169 angella.haye1@gmail.com
DITCH THE DIETS & LOSE WEIGHT FOR GOOD
Call Janine to find out how with hypnosis.
janinemoh@gmail.com 917-830-6127 EXPERIENCED ELDER CARE
Able to prepare nutritious meals and light housekeeping
Excellent references 12yrs experienced 347 898 5804 Call Hope anasirp@gmail.com
NOTARY PUBLIC IN BPC
$2 per notarized signature Text Paula at 917-836-8802
CLEANING SERVICES
Dishes, windows, floors, laundry, bathrooms.
You name it – I will clean it. Call Elle at 929-600-4520 IT AND SECURITY SUPPORT
Experienced IT technician. Expertise in 1-on-1 tutoring for all ages.Computer upgrading & troubleshooting. Knowledgeable in all software programs.
James Kierstead james.f.kierstead@gmail.com 347-933-1362. Refs available ELDER COMPANION
Experienced with BPC residents. Available nights, days, and weekends. Will cook, clean and administer medicine on time. Speaks French and English. Can start immediately. Please call or text 929-600-4520.
OLD WATCHES SOUGHT, PREFER NON-WORKING
Mechanical pocket and wristwatches sought and sometimes repaired
212-912-1106 If you would like to place a listing, please contact editor@ebroadsheet.com |
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EYES TO THE SKY
October 15 – 27, 2019
Morning stars for late risers, meteors
I am always giddy at the turning point of the season when red and gold leaves fall by day, darkness falls perceptibly earlier every evening and, during the last few weeks of Eastern Daylight Time, bright stars are visible rather late in the morning. The brightest shine into dawn, or civil twilight, which begins within minutes of 6:40am to 7am for the rest of this month through November 3. Clocks are turned back an hour to Eastern Standard Time on November 4.
Judy Isacoff
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Today in History
October 18
320 – Pappus of Alexandria, Greek philosopher, observes an eclipse of the Sun and writes a commentary on The Great Astronomer (Almagest).
1009 – The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a Christian church in Jerusalem, is completely destroyed by the Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, who hacks the Church’s foundations down to bedrock.
1081 – The Normans defeat the Byzantine Empire in the Battle of Dyrrhachium.
1356 – Basel earthquake, the most significant historic seismological event north of the Alps, destroys the town of Basel, Switzerland.
1386 – Opening of Heidelberg University. Founded in 1386, Heidelberg University is a public research university and is Germany’s oldest.
1851 – Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick is first published as The Whale by Richard Bentley of London.
1867 – United States takes possession of Alaska after purchasing it from Russia for $7.2 million.
1898 – The United States takes possession of Puerto Rico from Spain.
1922 – The British Broadcasting Company (later Corporation) is founded by a consortium, to establish a nationwide network of radio transmitters to provide a national broadcasting service.
1945 – The USSR’s nuclear program receives plans for the United States plutonium bomb from Klaus Fuchs at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
1954 – Texas Instruments announces the first transistor radio. Births
1130 – Zhu Xi, Chinese philosopher (d. 1200)
1679 – Ann Putnam, Jr., American witness in the Salem witch trials (d. 1716)
1836 – Frederick August Otto Schwarz, American businessman, founded FAO Schwarz (d. 1911)
1904 – A. J. Liebling, American journalist and author (d. 1963)
1919 – Pierre Trudeau, Canadian lawyer, academic, and politician, 15th Prime Minister of Canada (d. 2000)
1927 – George C. Scott, American actor and director (d. 1999)
1947 – Laura Nyro, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 1997)
1950 – Wendy Wasserstein, American playwright and author (d. 2006)
Deaths
1141 – Leopold, Duke of Bavaria (b. 1108)
1871 – Charles Babbage, English mathematician and engineer, invented the mechanical computer (b. 1791)
1931 – Thomas Edison, American engineer and businessman, invented the light bulb and phonograph (b. 1847)
1966 – S. S. Kresge, American businessman, founded Kmart (b. 1867)
2013 – Tom Foley, 57th Speaker of the US House of Representatives (b. 1929)
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Build It and They Will Come ~ Monarch Butterflies Pause to Refuel in Lower Manhattan
Click to watch monarch butterflies feeding on milkweed planted by the Battery Park City Authority to help them on their annual fall migration from Canada to the mountains of Mexico. To read more…
To the editor:
Thank you, kind-hearted gardeners. We must all do whatever little bit we can to hold back the wave of extinctions that is a hair’s breadth from taking the last of our monarchs.
Brendan Sexton
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Damascus on the Hudson
Lower Manhattan’s Old Syrian Quarter
Today, the stretch of Greenwich and Washington Streets between Battery Place and Albany Street — bisected by the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel entrance — is known by the forgettable name, “Greenwich South.” By all appearances it is an orphan of a neighborhood that never quite coalesced. But nothing could be further from the truth. A century ago, before the World Trade Center or the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel (the two giant public works projects that decimated this once-thriving quarter), it was an ethnic enclave as vibrant as Little Italy or Chinatown. To read more…
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RECENT NEWS
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Festina Lente
City to Reduce Speed Limit on West Side Highway Tomorrow
Beginning (Saturday, October 12, the City’s Department of Transportation will begin installing signs on the five-mile length of the West Side Highway between Battery Place and West 59th Street, to reduce the speed limit from 35 to 30 miles per hour.
Matthew Fenton
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Joint Pains
City Hall Hints at Scaled-Back Plan for Lower Manhattan Jail, While Pushing Ahead on Plan for New Prison Downtown
The administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio is reportedly considering a scaled-back version of its controversial plan to erect a new, 45-story prison in Lower Manhattan, as part of a wider scheme to close the City’s notorious detention complex on Rikers Island, and replace it with four, large “borough-based jail” facilities — one in each county, except Staten Island.
Matthew Fenton
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Aesthetic Inventory
BPCA’s Public Art Collection Represents Multiple Layers of Value
The Battery Park City Authority, has completed an inventory and appraisal of its public art collection. This is part of a broad effort to take stock of the Authority’s ongoing role as a patron and custodian of pieces that represent an integral thread in the fabric of the community, as evidenced by the fact that space and funding for public art were both set aside decades ago, in the neighborhood’s first master plan, before the first building was erected.
Matthew Fenton
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Fraunces Tavern Celebrates 300 Years
It’s not often you get invited to a 300th birthday party.
Last week, Fraunces Tavern and Fraunces Tavern Museum celebrated the 300th anniversary of the construction of the building at 54 Pearl Street that would become Fraunces Tavern. The museum also highlighted its new exhibition “A Monument to Memory: 300 Years of Living History.”
photos courtesy Matthew Carasella
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Saloon Scuffle
Residents Riled about Tribeca Tavern
More than a dozen concerned Tribeca residents turned out for the September meeting the Licensing and Permits Committee, which weighs in on the granting or renewal of liquor licenses.
They showed up to voice concerns about MI-5, a bar located at 52 Walker Street, which has been a source of local complaints as far back 2007.
Neighbors of the bar allege that it operates as a dance club (in violation of its current license, which is now up for renewal), and that loud music penetrates the upper floors of the residential building located above the bar as late as 4:00 am. To read more…
Matthew Fenton
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Sin of Omission
City Agency Leaves Cash-Strapped Local Museum Off Roster of Cultural Institutions
The City’s Department of Cultural Affairs has omitted from its list of dozens of New York-based cultural institutions that receive public support the museum that chronicles the oldest community anywhere in the five boroughs.
Matthew Fenton
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Condo Embargo
BPCA Puts the Brakes on Conversions of Rental Buildings within Community
Residents of rental apartments in Battery Park City who fear being thrown out of their homes as developers plan to convert those buildings to condominiums can rest a little bit easier, according to the Battery Park City Authority. At the October 2 meeting of the Battery Park City Committee of Community Board 1, Authority president Benjamin Jones said, “I want to talk about some of the potential condo conversions that people are concerned about. We have been very clear with developers over the last year, and then some, about our position — that we want to preserve the rental housing that exists in Battery Park City.” To read more…
Matthew Fenton
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Court of Appeal
Local Leaders Urge Preservation of Justice Complex
Community Board 1 is urging the City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission to consider granting legally protected status to the Criminal Courts Building, at 100 Centre Street. The case of 100 Centre Street takes on special urgency in this context, because, as the CB1 resolution notes, “the Manhattan Criminal Court building shares the same underlying City lot with the south tower of the Manhattan Detention Complex. This appears to mean that if City Hall needed extra space for the proposed new jail, it would face no legal obstacle in demolishing all or part of the historic building.
Matthew Fenton
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Vertical Values
Costs to Rent or Own in Lower Manhattan Are Matched by Lofty Local Earnings
A slew of recent reports documents what everyone who lives or works in Lower Manhattan already sensed in their bones: This is a mind-numbingly expensive place to call home.
In September, RENTCafé issued a new analysis of the most expensive neighborhoods for renters in the United States that finds northern Battery Park City (zip code 10282) is the priciest enclave in America, with an average rent of $6,211 per month. Coming in at second place is zip code 10013, which covers western Tribeca, along with part of Soho. To read more…
Matthew Fenton
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Art On the Fence
The ubiquitous chainlink fence has become a canvas for local artist Wendy Friedman. The artist ran out of workspace now that she rents her loft, SoHoSoleil, for corporate meetings and photoshoots. She said, “A fence around an empty lot on Grand Street was perfect. Flowers, waves and whirligigs now grace the fence; smashed tin food containers form a superhero skeleton. Imaginary animals delight children, tourists, and neighbors.” |
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From Bunker to Incubator
New Arts Center on Governors Island Will Provide Studio Space and Cultural Programming
Lower Manhattan has a new cultural hub. The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and the Trust for Governors Island have partnered to create the LMCC Arts Center at Governors Island, a 40,000-square foot studio space and education facility, housed within a restored 1870s ammunition warehouse — a relic from the days when the island was a military outpost.
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Rapport to the Commissioner
CB1 Makes Exception to New Policy; Okays Naming Street for Former NYPD Commissioner
A public figure from the 1980s may soon be honored by having a street co-named in his memory, if Community Board 1 gets its way. The panel recommended that Benjamin Ward, New York’s first African-American police commissioner, be commemorated by rechristening one block of Baxter Street as Benjamin Ward Way.
This comes on the heels of a controversial decision by CB1 in 2018 to decline such a request on behalf of James D. McNaughton, who, on August 2, 2005, at age 27, became the first New York City Police officer to be killed in action while serving in “Operation Iraqi Freedom.”
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Shattering the Lens
There isn’t anything unusual in a woman keeping a light in her window to guide men folk home, I just happen to keep a bigger light.” – Keeper Margaret Norvell
Shattering the Lens is an exhibit at the National Lighthouse Museum.
Artist Elaine Marie Austin, using her paintings of keepers and their lighthouses, sheds light on the dynamic impact of female lighthouse keepers.
It is inspired by the book Women Who Kept the Lights by Mary Louise Clifford and J. Candace Clifford.
The show runs through October 20, 2019.
National Lighthouse Museum
200 The Promenade at Lighthouse Point, Staten Island
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While They Were Sleeping
Battery Park City Resident Charged with Two Home Invasions, and Sexual Abuse
A Battery Park City resident has been arrested twice in the space of five days on charges arising from two separate (but related) incidents, in which he is alleged to have sexually assaulted one woman, and sexually menaced her roommate on another, prior occasion.
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Flipped Again
Onetime Non-Profit Nursing Facility Sold to Anonymous Buyer for Five Times Original Price
If there is an Exhibit A in the case of fevered speculation in Lower Manhattan real estate, it must be Rivington House
After purchasing the block-long, 150,000-square-foot structure (located at 45 Rivington Street, near the Williamsburg Bridge), the developer, the Allure Group, paid the City an additional $16 million to remove the deed restriction that limited the property to its legacy use of non-profit, residential healthcare. To read more…
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Breaking It Down
Composting Catches on in Battery Park City
You’re probably heard of the farm-to-table movement. Thanks to the Battery Park City Authority’s compost initiative, there’s a burgeoning table-to-earth movement in this Lower Manhattan community.
What happens to the scraps after you’ve dropped them in the bin? How do your apple peels and corn husks turn into rich, beneficial compost?
The Broadsheet set out to investigate. To read more…
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If They Went Any Slower, They’d Slip Into Reverse
City Transportation Study Finds That Lower Manhattan Bus Service Is Among Most Sluggish in Five Boroughs
The annual New York City Mobility Report, produced by the City’s Department of Transportation, contains two data points that will come as no surprise residents of Lower Manhattan. The first of these is that the median speed for Downtown bus service ranks among the slowest of any community in the five boroughs. And the second is that this creeping pace is, if anything, getting creepier. To read more…
Matthew Fenton
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Death Came Calling at the Corner of Wall and Broad Streets, in Lower Manhattan’s First Major Terrorist Attack
As the noon hour approached on a fall Thursday morning in 1920, a horse-drawn wagon slowly made its way west down Wall Street toward “the Corner,” the high-powered intersection of Wall and Broad. Its driver came to a gentle stop in front of the Assay Office, where stockpiles of gold and silver were stored and tested for purity. But theft was not his motive.
John Simko
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RiverWatch
Cruise Ships in New York Harbor
Arrivals & Departures
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Friday, October 18
MSC Meraviglia Many ships pass Lower Manhattan on their way to and from the Midtown Passenger Ship Terminal. Others may be seen on their way to or from piers in Brooklyn and Bayonne. Stated times, when appropriate, are for passing the Colgate clock in Jersey City, New Jersey, and are based on sighting histories, published schedules and intuition. They are also subject to tides, fog, winds, freak waves, hurricanes and the whims of upper management.
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Cass Gilbert and the Evolution of the New York Skyscraper
by John Simko
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The Broadsheet Inc. | 212-912-1106 | editor@ebroadsheet.com| ebroadsheet.com
No part of this document may be reproduced without the written permission of the publisher
© 2019
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