July/August 2004

 

 
Environmental Concerns Over Deutsche Bank Building
Surrounded by doubt and concern over environmental hazards lurking inside the shrouded Deutsche Bank building, residents, elected officials and Community Board 1 members are calling for a closer look behind the black veil before the bank is dismantled one floor at time beginning this fall.
Posted August 5
 
Wrecker Rep Describes Building's 'Deconstruction'
As construction of what will be the world's largest building, the Freedom Tower, gets underway this fall, workers across the street will begin the uncelebrated and mostly unseen work of dismantling the fatally damaged Deutsche Bank building at 130 Liberty Street. Recently, a representative of the company that will be doing the environmentally sensitive work described how the building will be taken apart‹one beam at a time.
Posted August 5
 
Protest Against Evictions Above City Hall Restaurant
David Imber, a loft tenant who lives at 71 Leonard Street, shows his support for fellow tenants at 131-135 Duane Street who face eviction. Photo: Carl Glassman
"Henry Meer, wipe that sneer, don't evict the artists," they were chanting outside of City Hall Restaurant July 22 in hopes of making diners uncomfortable and embarrassing the owner-chef who is attempting to evict the tenants above his eatery.
Posted July 25
 
Southbridge Residents Ride Bus Official at CB1 Meeting
The man who oversees planning and operations of the 4,600 buses for Manhattan and the Bronx was greeted by a room full of angry seniors from Southbridge Towers on July 13, many of them claiming that the loss of a bus stop has cut off their connection to the rest of the city.
Posted July 15

Freedom Tower Cornerstone Set in Place
At the World Trade Center site, symbolism carried the day July 4 as the cornerstone for the Freedom Tower, the first building that will rise on the rebuilt site, was set in place.
Posted July 6
The Freedom Tower's cornerstone, laid on July 4. Photo: Allan Tannenbaum
 
Reopening Nears for Post Office Closed Since 9/11

The last postmark stamped at the post office at 90 Church Street was Sept. 11, 2001. The next will be a date in early August 2004 as the postal palace gutted after the terrorist attacks finally returns to service.
Posted July 3
The cream and black marble walls and columns and silver art deco chandeliers of the post office's landmarked lobby were thoroughly cleaned and restored. Photo: Carl Glassman

City Paints Waterfront Future
Along the East River in Lower Manhattan, there may finally be stores, parks, a beach and, above all, access.
Posted July 3
As part of the revitalization of the East River waterfront, planners hope a well-lit esplanade encourages recreation and retail below the FDR Drive. Photo/Illustration: Richard Rogers Partnership/SHOP
Giant Ferris Wheel Proposed as a Lure For Tourist Dollars
As designers chart a course for classing up the East River waterfront, the city is entertaining a proposal to park one of the world's largest Ferris wheels at Pier 14, two blocks south of the South Street Seaport. Community Board 1 members are not amused.
Posted July 3
The London Eye along the Thames.
 
2-Day Bazaar Is Bust for Local Shops
What happens if you throw a two-day promotional event for retail stores, gathering 40 merchants under one roof, and almost no shoppers show up?
Downtown business owners found out last month, and they're angry.
Posted July 3
A sign for the shopping event did not clearly say where to go. Photo: Carl Glassman
 
Peace Talks Then Praise for a Developer
Developers of new buildings and the residents who live nearby are not known for their mutual warm feelings. But last month the neighbors of a triangular plot of land at Greenwich and Canal streets all but threw their arms around Fabian Friedland, the man who plans to construct an eight-story apartment building on the part-empty lot.
Posted July 3
At his Canal and Greenwich Street development site, Fabian Friedland stands with Barbara Siegel, who helped lead a group of neighbors that met with the developer. Photo:Carl Glassman
 
Greenmarket Is Back Where It Belonged
The smell of strawberries and basil returned to the World Trade Center site last month as four farmers set up stands for the first time since Sept 11, 2001. The trade center Greenmarket was back at the corner of Church and Vesey streets, where it began 22 years before.
Posted July 3
The smell of strawberries and basil returned to the World Trade Center site last month as four farmers set up stands for the first time since Sept 11, 2001. The trade center Greenmarket was back at the corner of Church and Vesey streets, where it began 22 years before.
 
In Health Study, Interviewers Living 9/11
Nestled in a small, single-story office complex, just off the expressway north of town, is a 10,400-square-foot room humming with the quiet chatter of nearly a hundred voices. Dozens of the men and women, seated in front of computers in long rows of tiny cubicles, are interviewing strangers more than 400 miles away—residents and workers of Lower Manhattan.
Posted July 3
Fannie Peele is one of hundreds of phone interviewers, most working part-time, who have been gathering health information from Downtown residents and workers. Photo: Carl Glassman
 
Police Say It's Tribeca Grand Larceny for Alleged Scammer
A guest who took up residence for nearly two months in a room at the Tribeca Grand hotel, allegedly using it as home base for her phony investment company and racking up $33,000 in hotel expenses along the way, now has a room at a less desirable address-Rikers Island.
Posted July 3
 
Hippie Era Coming to End at Burrito Bar
No sooner had wreckers smashed the iconic crown atop the former El Teddy's restaurant on West Broadway than Greg Yerman was readying his hippie-themed Burrito Bar for sale, ending yet another vestige of Tribeca funk.
Posted July 3
Greg Yerman and his Burrito Bar. Photo: Carl Glassman
 
Burial Ground Designs Are Met by Critics
In the auditorium of Harlem's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture last month, about 100 people gathered to view five competing designs for the memorial to be constructed atop the African Burial Ground at Duane and Elk streets. But it was clear from the outset that most had already made up their minds. "Nothing, but absolutely nothing, will be built on that ground," proclaimed Ollie Mclean, a member of the Descendants of the Afrikan Ancestral Burial Ground Committee.
Posted July 3
Design by McKissack & McKissack, one of five contenders in memorial competition. Photo/Illustration: McKissack & McKissack
 
String of BPC Gym Thefts Net $30,000 in Watches and Cash
Back in mid-February, a man at Battery Park City's New York Sports Club, at 102 North End Ave., stood in front of a mirror for less than a minute combing his hair. Meanwhile, someone was rifling through the wallet in his locker and stealing his credit cards. A few weeks earlier, a gym member lost $1,500 in cash and a $12,000 Buti wristwatch to a thief. And that was just the beginning.
Posted July 3
 
Art Center Sketches Future at WTC Site
Until last month, The Drawing Center on Wooster Street was a well-respected museum with a low profile and a lofty goal-to win a coveted spot on the rebuilt World Trade Center site. Their aspirations have become reality.
Posted July 3
George Negroponte and Catherine de Zegher head The Drawing Center. Photo:
 
An Election and Pay Raise at CB1 Bring Out a Controversy
A pay raise for Community Board 1 District Manager Paul Goldstein was approved unanimously by the board last month despite complaints from one member that the salary increase might come from funds from the board-sponsored street fairs that Goldstein oversees.
Posted July 3
 
An Escape to Governors Island
Governors Island is just five minutes away by ferry. Photo: Allan Tannenbaum
On a flawless late spring morning last month, my husband, our two five-year-old boys, several friends and I boarded a boat destined for a deserted island. At 11:15 the ship's deep, loud whistle blew and the soaring rectangles of the skyline began to recede. We stood on the top deck with the wind blowing our hair, eager for our adventure. We arrived at our destination five minutes later.
Posted July 3
 
Art Puts Culture Into Local Bar Crawl
The back room of Burrito Bar seemed an odd place to find the devotional paintings of Sister Karol Jakowski. But there was Michael Fortenbaugh, president of the Downtown Arts Club, climbing into a booth for a closer look. And he'd brought along more than a dozen others in search of art installed in Tribeca and Battery Park City bars as part of the club's first bar art, or "BART," crawl.
Posted July 3
At Lush on Duane Street, Mark DeMuro interprets a painting for David Ortega, Emily Wallace, and Margot DeFrance. Photo: Carl Glassman
 
IN BRIEF
CB1 Divided Over West Street Plan
Crab Crunch
Night out with NYPD
History Lesson
Tour Tweed, City Hall
Camp for Downtowners
Baby Talk
Free Classics
Park Progress
 

 

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