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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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Connection Reduction
CB1 to Consider Cutbacks in Number of Stops on Free Bus Service
Tonight (Tuesday, December 3) the Transportation Committee of Community Board 1 (CB1) will hear a presentation from the Downtown Alliance about planned cutbacks to the number of stops on its free Downtown Connection shuttle bus.
The plans include the elimination of six stops within Battery Park City: both directions on West Thames Street, both directions on Vesey Street, the northbound stop on Battery Place near First Place (in front of P.S./I.S. 276), and the northbound stop on North End Avenue, near Murray Street. There will also be two stops taken away in the Financial District (northbound on Water Street, near Wall Street, and southbound on Water Street, near Gouverneur Lane), and one in the South Street Seaport neighborhood (on South Street, near Peck Slip).
These changes may be prove to be a disappointment for residents of Lower Manhattan, many of whom rely on the Connection Shuttle to get to and from shopping destinations, and local transit hubs.
The Battery Park City Authority (BPCA) is a significant source of funding for the Connection bus, contributing 42 percent of its direct operating expenses. Last August, the Authority allocated more than $1.2 million to continue support for the service, covering allocations for 2019 and 2020.
During the BPCA board meeting at which this was discussed, Authority vice president Eric Munson explained, “for the past 16 years, this free shuttle service has proven to be a vital resource for commuters, seniors, and residents. A ridership survey last year estimated that 44 percent of rides originate or terminate at one of 17 stops in Battery Park City.” The same poll found that 38 percent of respondents lived in the community, while 22 percent worked here.
“An estimated 640,000 workers, residents, and visitors use it,” Mr. Munson continued, noting that the Alliance has a contract with Golden Touch Transportation to provide vehicles and drivers through November, 2020. “Next year,” he added, “they will solicit bids for a new provider. Based on the board’s feedback last year, the Authority has been proactively working with the Alliance to find energy-efficient buses — ideally electric buses — and that remains our goal.”
The September meeting at which renewed funding was authorized did not include any discussion to a reduction of the number of stops serving Battery Park City.
The Downtown Connection shuttle, which was launched by the Alliance in 2003 (and expanded to 37 stops in 2009), operates a fleet of seven buses from 10:00 am to 7:30 pm, on weekdays, with five buses on weekends. The service connects residential areas of Lower Manhattan with business and shopping districts. In 2016, the Alliance added of a new stop at 119 South Street (near the corner of Peck Slip), which brought the total of pick-up and drop-off points on the route to 38.
The mission of the Downtown Alliance is to enhance Lower Manhattan for businesses, residents and visitors. In addition to the Downtown Connection shuttle, the Alliance also provides local security and trash pickup, as well as operating the business improvement district, or BID, that covers the area south of Chambers Street.) The Alliance and its sister organization, the Downtown Lower Manhattan Association, also produce research, information, and advocacy designed to brand Lower Manhattan as a global model of a 21st century central business district.
The meeting at which these proposed changes are to be discussed will take place at the David Dinkins Municipal Building (One Centre Street, near the corner of Chambers Street), in CB1’s conference room (2202A-North), starting at 6:00 pm. The public is welcome to attend and participate.
Matthew Fenton
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Arts and Minds
Highly Regarded Local Arts Education Group Stays the Course
To stroll in Tribeca in 2019 is to apprehend what is happening throughout Lower Manhattan. Buildings – along with their occupants and uses – are in perpetual flux. Amid this tumult is a symbol of local continuity: the Church Street School for Music and Art.
Recently, the Broadsheet asked Dr. Ecklund-Flores, who has been the sole proprietor of CSS for many years, to reflect on the move north and the challenges faced in relocating to a new neighborhood. To read more…
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For more information, contact Scott Baker at ssbaker305@yahoo.com
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Letters
Dear editor:
I have nothing against the Tribute Musuem and I was angered when I heard that they were losing their lease. It is a good institution and should survive.
However, the National 9/11 Memorial & Museum doesn’t deserve to be put down in comparison to the Tribute Museum.
Tribute began as a way for those who lost family members and those who survived and participated in the rescue, recovery and cleanup to support each other and to share their stories with visitors.
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Today in History
December 3
1800 – United States presidential election: The Electoral College casts votes for President and Vice President that resulted in a tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr.
1901 – In a State of the Union message, President Theodore Roosevelt delivers a 20,000-word speech to the House of Representatives asking Congress to curb the power of trusts “within reasonable limits”.
1904 – The Jovian moon Himalia is discovered by Charles Dillon Perrine at California’s Lick Observatory.
1910 – Modern neon lighting is first demonstrated by Georges Claude at the Paris Motor Show.
1927 – Putting Pants on Philip, the first Laurel and Hardy film, is released. Click to watch
1973 – Pioneer program: Pioneer 10 sends back the first close-up images of Jupiter.
1979 – Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeinibecomes the first Supreme Leader of Iran.
1984 – Bhopal disaster: A methyl isocyanate leak from a Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, kills more than 3,800 people outright and injures 150,000-600,000 others (some 6,000 of whom would later die from their injuries) in one of the worst industrial disasters in history.
1992 – A test engineer for Sema Group uses a personal computer to send the world’s first text message via the Vodafone network to the phone of a colleague. 1994 – The PlayStation developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment was released in Japan
1997 – In Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, representatives from 121 countries sign the Ottawa Treaty prohibiting manufacture and deployment of anti-personnel landmines. The United States, People’s Republic of China, and Russia do not sign the treaty, however.
Births
1596 – Nicola Amati, Italian instrument maker (d. 1684)
1755 – Gilbert Stuart, American painter (d. 1828)
1826 – George B. McClellan, American general and politician, 24th Governor of New Jersey (d. 1885)
1842 – Charles Alfred Pillsbury, American businessman, founded the Pillsbury Company (d. 1899)
1895 – Anna Freud, Austrian-English psychologist and psychoanalyst (d. 1982)
1930 – Jean-Luc Godard, French-Swiss director and screenwriter
1951 – Rick Mears, American race car driver
Deaths
1888 – Carl Zeiss, German physicist and lens maker, created the optical instrument (b. 1816)
1919 – Pierre-Auguste Renoir, French painter and sculptor (b. 1841)
1956 – Alexander Rodchenko, Russian sculptor, photographer, and graphic designer (b. 1891)
2014 – Herman Badillo, lawyer and politician (b. 1929)
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Calendar
Tuesday 12/3/19
10:30AM
Zumba Jumpstart
6 River Terrace Join a fitness dance party with upbeat Latin music of salsa, merengue, hip-hop, and more! Enthusiastic instruction creates a fun community of dancers who learn new steps each week. Bring your friends and share in this fit and fun dancing community. The Battery Park City Authority 5PM
Light Up Luminaries
Winter Garden
6PM
Transportation & Street Activity Permits Committee
Community Board 1 – Conference Room 1 Centre Street, Room 2202A-North
AGENDA
1) Edgar Street Traffic Study – Presentation by NYC Department of Transportation and possible resolution
2) Downtown Connection Bus Service Changes – Presentation by Taina Prado, Downtown Alliance & possible resolution Check here for any changes to agendas prior to the meeting dates.
Jeff VanderMeer is an award-winning novelist and editor. Vernon Reid is the London-born American guitarist, founder of Living Colour and a co-founder of the Black Rock Coalition. Jeff VanderMeer’s Dead Astronauts presents a City with no name of its own where, in the shadow of the all-powerful Company, lives human and otherwise converge in terrifying and miraculous ways. 4 Fulton Street.
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RiverWatch
Cruise Ships in New York Harbor
Arrivals & Departures
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Sunday, December 8
Anthem of the Seas
Inbound 5:30 am (Bayonne); outbound 3:00 pm Southern Caribbean
Queen Mary 2 Inbound 6:00 am (Brooklyn); outbound 5:00 pm Transatlantic (Southampton, UK)
Friday, December 13
Norwegian Gem
Inbound 9:15 am; outbound 3:30 pm; Port Canaveral, FL/Bahamas 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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A Tale of Two Museums
Community-Focused Cultural Center Faces Uncertain Future, as Tourism Magnet Thrives
The 9/11 Tribute Museum, a highly regarded local cultural institution, is grappling with a precarious outlook, according to a story first published in Crain’s New York Business, which says that the space housing the facility, located at Greenwich and Rector Streets, may be sold out from under the organization by its landlord.
Mathew Fenton
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Gotham Girls Winter Futsal League & Formativo Training
Register Today!
Gotham Girls F.C. – the only NYC all-girls soccer club is running our Winter Futsal League for girls ages 7 to 16.
(Our foundational development soccer – Formativo – is available for girls ages 7-10).
Our dedicated coaches ref the fun, active 50-minute 4v4 indoor futsal games, and provide coaching to develop girls foot skills and knowledge.
Dates are December 7/8 – March 21/22.
Games are on Saturdays or Sundays (depending on age)
at PS276 and PS234 gyms.
Cost is $210 for 12 games.
To register for Winter Futsal or Formativo, please go to http://gothamgirls.org.
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Artists-Not-In-Residence
Your Next Neighbors Might Be Vastly Less Interesting, But Better Able to Pay High Rents
A new report from City Comptroller Scott Stringer documents that Lower Manhattan is undergoing an exodus of artists and other “creative economy” workers, who are being driven away primarily by skyrocketing costs for housing.
Mr. Stringer’s analysis, “The Creative Economy: Art, Culture and Creativity in New York City,” establishes that between 2008 and 2017, the combined footprint of Community Boards 1 and 2 (meaning Manhattan south of 14th Street, west of the Bowery and Pearl Street, and south of the Brooklyn Bridge) has lost 3,505 residents who work in the creative sector — defined any industry the primary output of which is creative or cultural (from museums and art galleries, to film and television production, theater and dance companies, fashion, publishing, advertising, and more). To read more…
Matthew Fenton
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Quid Pro No?
FiDi Renters Seek Recompense for Years of Rent Overcharges; Landlord Asks U.S. Supreme Court to Overrule Tenants’ Victory
More Financial District tenants are going to court to demand restitution from years of illegally high rent, on the heels of a June ruling by New York State’s highest court, which found that as many as 5,000 Lower Manhattan apartments had been illegally deprived of rent stabilization benefits.
The first to file suit in the wake of this decision were Bruce Hackney and Timothy Smith, tenants at Ten Hanover Square, who brought their complaint in October.
At issue is the 421-g subsidy program, which was designed to encourage Downtown’s transformation into a residential district, by offering rich incentives (chiefly in the form of tax abatements) to developers who converted former office buildings — south of a line connecting Murray Street to City Hall and the Brooklyn Bridge — into apartment towers.
Matthew Fenton
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EYES TO THE SKY
November 25 – December 8, 2019
Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Moon at dusk. Mars, Mercury dawn
It is a jamboree, a planetary spree out there within the hour after sunset and, with different heavenly bodies, within the hour before sunrise.
Venus and Jupiter, the brightest celestial objects next to the Sun and Moon, are a dynamic pair to observe at dusk close above the southwest horizon.
Mercury, in the east at dawn, shines with unusual splendor after its November 11 transit of the Sun.
The little planet shares its best morning apparition of the year with Mars and bright star Spica. To read more…
Judy Isacoff
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Where the Streets Are Paved with Gold
Decades of Savings Needed to Purchase on Lavish Lanes
A trio of new analyses points to the self-evident conclusion that Lower Manhattan is a mind-numbingly expensive place to reside.
Tribeca’s Murray Street was calculated to be the third-most expensive anywhere in the five boroughs, with a median sales price of $5.4 million, and a volume of sales in excess of $364 million. To read more…
Matthew Fenton
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Aggregation and Promulgation
Council Member and Borough President Push for Transparency in Development
Community Board 1 has endorsed a proposed new law — sponsored by a City Council member representing the Upper East Side and supported by Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer — that would require City government to notify local officials whenever development rights are transferred between building lots. Such transfers are often used by developers to maximize the zoning potential for the site of a planned skyscraper.
Matthew Fenton
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CLASSIFIEDS & PERSONALS
Swaps & Trades ~ Respectable Employment ~ Lost & Found
212-912-1106 editor@ebroadsheet.com
LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR AVAILABLE
FOR BABYSITTING OR TUTORING
17 year old young man, lifetime resident of Tribeca and BPC.
Went to PS 234, Lab Middle School and currently attending Millennium HS. This summer was a Councilor at Pierce Country Day Camp. Excellent references.Very experienced with kids under 10.
Available for weeknight and weekend baby-sitting and tutoring middle-schoolers in Math or Science.
Please contact Emmett at 917.733.3572
CERTIFIED HOME HEALTH AIDE SEEKING
Full-Time Live-In Elder Care
I am loving, caring and hardworking with 12 years experience. References available. Marcia 347-737-5037 marmar196960@gmail.com
ELDER CARE NURSE AIDE
with 17 years experience seeks PT/FT work. Refs available Call or text 718 496 6232 Dian
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.
Please send resume and fee schedule to: Email: poetpatsy@gmail.com 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
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 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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RECENT NEWS
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The Train to the Plane
A Convenient Connection to the Airport Visible from Lower Manhattan Rooftops May Be Less Than Ten Years Away
The Regional Plan Association (RPA) recently partnered with the Downtown-Lower Manhattan Association (DLMA) to build support for a proposed rail connection between Lower Manhattan and Newark Airport. A report the two organizations produced together, “Taking the PATH to Newark Airport,” summarizes the potential and the prospects for such a link, which local leaders have long pushed for.
Matthew Fenton
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Chopper Stoppers
Nadler Sponsors Legislation to Make Lower Manhattan Heliopolis No More
Support is building among decision-makers to heed a decade long call by Lower Manhattan community leaders to enact a comprehensive ban on non-essential helicopter flights in New York’s airspace.
On October 26, Congressman Jerry Nadler was joined on the steps of City Hall by fellow federal legislators Nydia Velazquez and Carolyn Maloney, as well as Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and State Senator Brian Kavanagh, along with a coalition of activists and community leaders, to announce a new proposed law — the Improving Helicopter Safety Act of 2019. To read more…
Matthew Fenton
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Preservation, Renovation, Elevation,
and a Donation
Seaport Structure Reborn as Flood-Proof Food Emporia as Owner Celebrates with Support for Local Charity
The South Street Seaport’s historic Tin Building reached a milestone on Wednesday, when the last and highest structural beam was placed (after being ceremonially signed by dozens of well-wishers) within a reconstructed edifice, following an unprecedented, years-long effort to preserve it.
Matthew Fenton
photos courtesy HHC
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“A Fraudulent Scheme”
FiDi Renters Seek Recompense for Years of Rent Overcharges
In the wake of a June ruling by New York State’s highest court that tenants in Financial District rental buildings had been illegally deprived of rent stabilization benefits, a pair of apartment dwellers is litigating to recoup the money they lost by paying inflated, market-rate rents for years.
In October, Bruce Hackney and Timothy Smith, tenants at Ten Hanover Square, filed suit against their landlord, alleging that the owner’s, “failure to follow rent regulations was part of a fraudulent scheme to deregulate apartments in the building.” To read more…
Matthew Fenton
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Eighteen Years Later, What about the Children?
Schools Agency Begins Belated Outreach Effort to Former Lower Manhattan Students at Risk of 9/11 Illness
The City’s Department of Education is partnering with the United Federation of Teachers union for an unusual mission: tracking down former New York City public school students who were pupils at Lower Manhattan schools on September 11, 2001 (or in the months that followed) and informing them that their health may be at risk. The project will also seek to put these students in touch with the World Trade Center Health Program and the September 11th Victims Compensation Fund. To read more…
Matthew Fenton
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Click to 30 seconds of morning sounds on the esplanade
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Rents Within Reach for 50 Years
Lower East Side’s Depression-Era Equivalent to Gateway Plaza Preserves Affordability Through 2069
City Council member Margaret Chin has brokered an agreement that will preserve affordability for rental tenants at Knickerbocker Village, a giant apartment complex in the Two Bridges neighborhood, which was built by a public-private partnership in the 1930s.
The complex bears striking similarities to Battery Park City’s largest residential development, Gateway Plaza. Both boast multiple buildings (12 on the Lower East Side and six in Battery Park City), surrounding a central garden. Each has a similar number of apartments: 1,590 for Knickerbocker Village and 1705 in Gateway Plaza. And the two projects were conceived as bulwarks of affordability.
Matthew Fenton
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The Subtle Art of Not Giving A Shoot
Chin Pushes Legislation to Rein in Production Permits
City Council member Margaret Chin is co-sponsoring a package of bills to clamp down on rampant film and television production in Lower Manhattan.
Although the new laws, if enacted, will have City-wide effect, their impact would be especially significant in the square mile below Chambers Street, where dozens of movies and TV shows commandeer local streets (sometimes for days at a time) each year.
Matthew Fenton
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Things That Make You Go ‘Hmm…’
Lawsuit Over Similarity Between One World Trade and Architecture Student’s Design Moves Ahead
One thing is reasonably certain: In 1999, Jeehoon Park, then a student at the Illinois Institute of Technology’s College of Architecture, created a design for a very tall building with a large square base tapering to a smaller square top. In Mr. Park’s vision, the square formed by the roof was rotated 45 degrees relative to the one at the ground level, so that the center-points on each side of the quadrilateral below corresponded to the corners of the one above, and vice versa. And instead of four vertical walls, the structure’s facade consisted of eight elongated triangles.
That structure was never built. Or was it?
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What’s In Store?
Amid a Booming Economy, Lower Manhattan Retail Space Languishes
A new report from City Comptroller Scott Stringer finds that in one Lower Manhattan zip code — 10013, which covers parts of western Tribeca SoHo, and the Canal Street corridor in Chinatown — there are 319 empty retail spaces, comprising almost 300,000 square feet of unused property. To read more…
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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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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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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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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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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