Month: April 2017

April 17

1397 – Geoffrey Chaucer tells The Canterbury Tales for the first time at the court of Richard II. Chaucer scholars have also identified this date (in 1387) as the start of the book’s pilgrimage to Canterbury. 1492 – Spain and Christopher Columbus sign the Capitulations of Santa Fe for his voyage to Asia to acquire...

EYES TO THE SKY

Amateur astronomers are among the most knowledgeable and dedicated students of astronomy. True to the root of the word “amateur” (from the French and Italian ‘amatore,’ with its root in the Latin ‘amare,’ to love), they are, in my experience, eager to share their knowledge and love of the universe. For this purpose, amateur astronomy...
Venus six days from Inferior Conjunction photo: Sean Marien

Flipped Out

Dear editor, As a resident of lower Manhattan who just renewed my lease this morning, I can attest to the fact that rent-stabilization, despite hundreds of millions of tax breaks granted to the district, is blatantly disregarded by landlords. The reason turnover is so high is that no one knows that their building is taking...

In Memoriam: Linda Belfer

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Linda Belfer, our founding President and devoted friend and neighbor. Linda will always be remembered for her titanic spirit and staunch, tireless advocacy for Gateway residents. As a lawyer, Board President, and community activist, she demonstrated passion and concern for all our constituents. Her...
Linda Belfer

Wanna Buy a Vacant Lot?

An empty lot at the southeast corner of Washington and Carlisle Streets, behind the W Hotel, is being shopped for sale at $260 million. The owners, father-and-son team Fred and Richard Ohebshalom, bought the 11,000-square-foot site of a former parking garage during foreclosure in 2011, for $57.5 million. They subsequently spent millions more assembling air...
The vacant lot that has remained empty for more than a decade at 111 Washington Street, and appears likely to remain desolate while the father-and-son team of developers who own the property fight over it in court.

April 13

1111 – Henry V is crowned Holy Roman Emperor. 1204 – Constantinople falls to the Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade, temporarily ending the Byzantine Empire. 1742 – George Frideric Handel’s oratorio Messiah makes its world-premiere in Dublin, Ireland. 1870 – The Metropolitan Museum of Art is founded. 1902 – James C. Penney opens his first...
Project MKUltra was the code name given to a CIA program of experiments on human subjects and was intended to identify and develop drugs and procedures to be used in interrogations and torture, in order to weaken the individual to force confessions through mind control.