Volunteer Rescue Team Growing

The Battery Park City/Downtown Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) is growing. Late last month 49 neighborhood volunteers completed a 27-week training as the 230-member team expanded into the area around the World Trade Center and into the Financial District.

The training was funded by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation through the New York City Office of Emergency Management to help provide communication and assistance to residents in the event of an emergency, especially related to the ongoing deconstruction of the heavily contaminated former Duetsche Bank building at 130 Liberty St.

“First and foremost we’re going to act as communication between the LMDC and the community,” said Sid Baumgarten, CERT team chief. “Having a group with recognition and respect in the community is a great help.”

The $47,896 LMDC grant was used to purchase 40 radios, computer equipment and other supplies. The training includes medical triage, light search and rescue, traffic and crowd control, pet rescue and hazardous materials.

In the event of an emergency related to 130 Liberty Street, the LMDC will alert the CERT team who in turn will contact the management and residents of nearby buildings with information and instructions.

“Nine times out of ten, it’s going to be ‘stay calm, stay where you are,’” said Baumgarten.

For more information about the BPC-Downtown CERT go to www.BPC-CERT.org.

No Fun Zone

Battery Park City residents hopes to have a little fun on the south end of the West Street promenade were dashed last month as the city’s Arts Commission nixed their plans for recreation equipment in the plazas.

Community Board 1 had been working with the state’s Department of Transportation to include sculpture gardens at First, Second and Third Place that would double as stretch and exercise equipment. The Arts Commission, however, viewed those features as not nearly “grand” enough for the promenade that will eventually run from Battery Park to the World Trade Center site. “Rethink it entirely,” the commission said.

Meanwhile, the project is already under way and will be built without them. Heather Sporn, with the DOT, said there would be benches, though.

Earth Day Volunteers

Local organizers with Earth Day 2006 are looking for volunteers (families are welcome) to place markers on sidewalk curbs next to storm drains around Lower Manhattan. The markers are meant to alert residents not to pour toxins such as paint, anti-freeze, motor oil and other pollutants into these drains, which empty directly into the Hudson River.
Meet at the Rockefeller Park picnic tables on Saturday, April 22 at 11 a.m. Call 212-431-9676 ext. 392 or email Ruth@nycswcd.net.

Seeking WTC Photos

The Visitors Tribute Center, an information booth and gallery, is set to open at the World Trade Center site in July, and is in need of photographs. The center, which aims to relate the history and tragedy of the World Trade Center to visitors, is in search of personal and public photographs of the site taken prior to Sept. 11, 2001.

Digital photos can be sent via e-mail to mlobel@tributenyc.org. Prints, negatives, and photo albums on compact disc should be mailed to Meriam Lobel, The Tribute Visitors Center, 50 Broad St., Suite 1937, N.Y, N.Y., 10004. All material will be returned.

Hudson River Cleanup

Scenic Hudson, an environmental protection group, hopes to clear away 100 tons of trash this month from the Hudson River Valley, and they are looking for a few hundred helping hands. From April 22-30 teams will fan out along the river bank to collect bottles, cans, candy wrappers, tires and other litter. To volunteer for a Downtown clean-up site, go to GreatRiverSweep.org, or call 845-473-4440, ext. 265.

Downtown Perspectives

More than a dozen Downtown artists share their perspective of Lower Manhattan from the view of New York Harbor in The Skyline Project, an exhibit at Art Gotham, 547 W. 27th Street, fifth floor. Most of the works were created last summer on a floating clubhouse anchored near the harbor. The show runs through next March.

Community Seder

The story of Passover will be told through storytelling, singing, crafts and activities at a Seder held April 9, from 12 to 2 p.m. at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, 36 Battery Place. The interactive event will be led by singer Shira Kline. It is presented by the Museum, the Jewish Community Project, the Synagogue for the Arts and Battery Park Synagogue.

For tickets, call 646-437-4202 or go to www.mjhnyc.org

Easter Egg Hunt

An Easter celebration and egg hunt in Washington Market Park will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 8 on the lawn of the park at Greenwich and Chambers Street. The “hunting grounds” will be divided into sections determined by age group. The hunt begins promptly at noon. It is sponsored by Mosaic Manhattan Church.