Month: December 2018

The Deal of the Sentry

The Battery Park City Authority (BPCA) has extended for one year its contract with Allied Universal, the firm that provides security guards (known as “safety ambassadors”) to the community. The original agreement, signed in November, 2015, provided for three years of such service (at a cost of $2.1 million per year), and was set to...

Ferry Worried

As many as 10,000 people per weekend day will be pushed onto Battery Park City streets by a plan to use ferries to replace PATH train service to the World Trade Center, which will be on weekend hiatus for the next two years, during repairs to a pair of tunnels beneath the Hudson River that...
The ferry terminal on the Esplanade (near Vesey Street) will soon host enough extra vessels to bring as many as 10,000 commuters per day to local streets, as PATH service to the World Trade Center goes offline on weekends for the next two years.

Today in History December 14

557 – Constantinople is severely damaged by an earthquake. 1542 – Princess Mary Stuart becomes Queen of Scots at the age of only one week on the death of her father, James V of Scotland. 1780 – Founding Father Alexander Hamilton marries Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton at the Schuyler Mansion in Albany, New York 1900 –...
George Washington on his deathbed

Move Over, Rockefeller Center

Tomorrow (Saturday, December 15), the Rooftop at Pier 17 Winterland, opens for the season, featuring a pop-up winter village and market, along with New York’s first outdoor rooftop ice skating rink. The facility, which is nearly the size of the iconic ice rink in Rockefeller Center, is slated to offer not only traditional ice-skating lessons...
Ice Rink at Pier 17

Today in History December 13

1294 – Saint Celestine V resigns the papacy after only five months wishing to return to his previous life as an ascetic hermit. No subsequent pope has taken the name Celestine. 1577 – Francis Drake sets sail from Plymouth, England, on his round-the-world voyage. Drake was awarded a knighthood in 1581 and was a hero...
Map of Francis Drake's circumnavigation

Menorah Lighting at the New York Stock Exchange

On Thursday, December 6, the 200-year-old New York Stock Exchange saw its first-ever public menorah lighting. On the fifth night of the eight-day holiday of Chanukah, Rabbi Nissi Eber lit the Chanukah menorah at a public Menorah lighting outside the Exchange on Broad Street. The gathering  of hundreds of celebrants was organized by Chabad of...
Hundreds of celebrants gather at the public Chanukah menorah lighting organized by Chabad of Wall St at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, NY on Dec. 6, 2018. photo:NYSE