Month: January 2018

January 5

1066 – Edward the Confessor dies childless, sparking a succession crisis that will eventually lead to the Norman conquest of England. 1757 – Louis XV of France survives an assassination attempt by Robert-François Damiens, the last person to be executed in France by drawing and quartering, the traditional and gruesome form of capital punishment used...
George Washington Carver

In Omnia Paratus

Lower Manhattan has a new line of defense against tragedies and disasters, ranging from medical emergencies in an individual home to mass casualty events. On December 19, the Resident Manager Emergency Response Team (RMERT) program graduated its first class, consisting of more than 40 building staff, concerned residents, and community leaders. RMERT is, in some...
First Deputy Police Commissioner Benjamin Tucker addressing the graduates, "We in the Police Department don't get anything done without the help of the communities of this City. Because we are all in this together."

January 4

46 BC – Julius Caesar fights Titus Labienus in the Battle of Ruspina. 1847 – Samuel Colt sells his first revolver pistol to the United States government. 1853 – After having been kidnapped and sold into slavery in the American South, Solomon Northup regains his freedom; his memoir Twelve Years a Slave later becomes a...

Is Two Bridges Going Too Far?

City Council member Margaret Chin is pushing back against a wave of super-tall residential development on the Lower East Side, while also working to close a loophole that help trigger the avalanche of development now engulfing the East River waterfront, between the Manhattan and Williamsburg bridges. In December, the City Council unanimously passed her legislation...
The East River waterfront in the Two Bridges community, where one large residential tower (far left) is nearing completion, and four more (center and right) are currently planned on land that was once owned by the public and (until Urban Renewal regulations were allowed to expire in 2007) set aside for limited development designed to help disadvantaged populations.

EYES TO THE SKY

It seems by design that the old year ends and the New Year begins with bedazzling celestial events. From the bright lights of holiday celebrations, from the warmth of our hearths and our beds, we are lured outdoors, into the darkness, to touch starlight, the light of planets in our solar system and our own...

New in Town?

If you have a new business in Lower Manhattan and would like to meet other Tribeca business owners, here’s a great opportunity to mingle and network. Organized by BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center, Tribeca Meet & Greet has monthly meetings in a different Tribeca restaurant or business. We share a drink, exchange ideas, and do...