Month: May 2017

Glick Sponsors Legislation to Make Voting Mandatory

Assembly member Deborah Glick is sponsoring a bill in her house of the State legislature that would, if enacted, make voting compulsory, with failure to show up at the polls subject to a $10 fine. “The United States has some of the lowest voter turnout rates compared to any other advanced democratic countries in the...

May 24

1607 – 100 English settlers disembark in Jamestown, the first English colony in America 1626 – Peter Minuit buys Manhattan 1689 – The English Parliament passes the Act of Toleration protecting Protestants. Roman Catholics are intentionally excluded. 1798 – The Irish Rebellion of 1798 led by the United Irishmen against British rule begins. 1813 –...
Igor Sikorsky and hat flying his helicopter

FleetWeek Begins Today

Eleven U.S. Navy (USN) and Coast Guard ships, and one Royal Canadian Navy ship, will arrive in New York Harbor at 8 a.m. today. This Parade of Ships marks the start of the 29th year of Fleet Week New York, which has been held almost every year since 1984. During the weeklong celebration, New Yorkers...

You’ll Like the Cut of Their Jib

North Cove Marina and Brookfield Place will formally launch their summer season this afternoon with free sails, a community boat naming, and live music — plus arts and crafts. The festivities begin on the waterfront plaza at noon when guests will be invited (on a first-come, first-served basis) to go on a two-hour sail on...

Good for the Circulatory System

At the May 22 meeting of its board, the Battery Park City Authority (BPCA) allocated $632,000 to support the Downtown Connection, the free shuttle bus that ferries riders between Battery Park City and the South Street Seaport, which has been operated by the Downtown Alliance since 2003. While the amount of financial support allocated by...
This map shows the current routing of the Downtown Connection, effective through September, 2019.

May 22

1334 BC – The Macedonian army of Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of the Granicus 760 – 14th recorded perihelion passage of Halley’s Comet 1570 – First atlas ‘Theatrum Orbis Terrarum’ (Theatre of the World), published by Abraham Ortelius in Antwerp with 70 maps 1803 – First free public...
On May 22, 1906, the Wright brothers were granted a patent for their flying machine, an aeroplane. Three years earlier, after extensive experimentation, they were successful in flying an aerplane they built. Their powered aircraft flew for 12 seconds above the sand dunes of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, making them the first men to pilot a heavier-than-air machine that took off on its own power, remained under control, and sustained flight.