The Wetter Angels of Our Nature

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The Wetter Angels of Our Nature
City of Water Day Invites New Yorkers to Make the Moist of Our Urban Archipelago
An annual celebration of the water that surrounds us, feeds us, cleans us, transports us, exhilarates us, calms us and at times scares the bejeezus out of us will take place tomorrow, Saturday, July 13.
City of Water Day, a free harbor-wide festival organized by the Waterfront Alliance-and, this year with its partners the South Street Seaport Museum and the New York – New Jersey Harbor & Estuary Program-encourages us to enjoy the waters around us but also contemplate the problems caused by climate change. This year, the 12th year of City of Water Day, champions the goal of a climate-resilient harbor that is prepared for rising seas and increased coastal storms.
The City of Water Day hub is at Piers 16 and 17 in the Seaport District, and will feature a Waterfront Festival and the highly anticipated Con Edison Cardboard Kayak Race. The event gets going at 10am tomorrow with the TriBattery Pops  striking up a march, which cues City of Water Day to begin all around the region. For the 50+ City of Water Day In Your Neighborhoodevents, see this map.
Here’s the Seaport District schedule:
10am-4pm              Waterfront Festival and Disney children’s activities open   
10am-1pm              Free public kayaking at Brooklyn Bridge Beach (open for one day only)
10am-12pm            Three teams design and build cardboard kayaks at Pier 16
10:30am-12:30pm  Twelve teams design and build cardboard kayaks at Peck Slip Plaza 
10:30am                 John J. Harvey fireboat water spray demonstration at end of Pier 16 (additional demonstrations at 12pm &1:30pm)
11am-3pm              Free boat tour tickets given away at the Waterfront Festival by K-LOVE Radio 
12:30pm                 Cardboard Kayak judging at Peck Slip Plaza 
12:30pm                 Arm of the Sea Theater performance (additional performance at 2pm)
1pm                        Cardboard Kayak parade from Peck Slip Plaza to Brooklyn Bridge Beach
1:30pm                  Cardboard Kayak Race heats begin at Brooklyn Bridge Beach
2:30pm                  Cardboard Kayak Race awards ceremony at Brooklyn Bridge Beach
4pm                       City of Water Day concludes
Photos courtesy Ian Douglas (top) and David Gonsier
Brewer and the Big House
Borough President Expresses Concerns about Jail Plan, But Gives Okay
Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer: “There is an overwhelming sentiment that we must remember: Rikers Island must close.”
Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer has given her approval to a plan by the administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio to construct a 1.27 million-square-foot prison complex Downtown.
In a determination issued on Friday, Ms. Brewer wrote that, “there is an overwhelming sentiment that we must remember: Rikers Island must close.”
Matthew Fenton