The Seaport Coalition is asking our neighbors to send their comments before January 16th to NYSDEC, the agency that will be overseeing the cleanup of toxins found under the 250 Water Street (formerly Millstein) parking lot.
Here are some talking points: 1. Mercury Action Levels should never exceed background at the site perimeter 2. Double the number of mercury vapor and soil samples taken 3. Double the number of air monitoring stations around the perimeter of the site 4. Use more sensitive mercury detection monitors such as Jerome 505 or Lumex RA915M 5. Establish a “hot line” so community concerns about the site can be called in. 6. Provide real time air monitoring data in an on-line data room for easy access. 7. Curtain or Tent drilling sites to reduce noise, light and vapor releases 8. Notify the schools, residences and commercial establishments 24 hours in advance of perimeter work. 9. Immediate community notification when work site is shut down for any reason. 10. Coordinate emergency response of police, fire, hospitals, DOT prior to any ground intrusive activities.
Cuomo Vetoes Legislation Sought by HRPT to Allow Development on Pier 40
The 14-acre former cruise ship terminal situated along the Hudson River waterfront, near West Houston Street, has evolved into a much-prized recreational facility.
On New Year’s Eve, Governor Andrew Cuomo vetoed a bill passed earlier this year by both houses of the State legislature that would have allowed limited commercial development on Pier 40, the massive former cruise ship terminal on the Hudson River waterfront, adjacent to Houston Street, which covers 14 acres and now houses athletic and recreational facilities.
Such development would have helped to fund operations for the Hudson River Park Trust (HRPT), which oversees the four-mile-long riverfront park that stretches from the Battery to West 59th Street.
“Pier 40 is a very key element of the Hudson River Park,” noted Paul Goldstein, who chairs the Waterfront Committee of Community Board 1 (CB1), at an April meeting. To read more…
Matthew Fenton
CLASSIFIEDS & PERSONALS
Swaps & Trades ~ Respectable Employment ~ Lost & Found
Since the winter solstice, December 21, I have been particularly attentive to the Sun as it sets into the skyline to the southwest. Even though I know that the Sun is setting about a minute later everyday, I am impressed to notice that the location of the setting Sun has inched more westerly.
By the time of Vernal Equinox, March 19, sunset will be due west. Sunset today, the 6th, is at 4:43:33pm., an increase of 15 minutes from the earliest sunset on December 8th. Picking up momentum, we will experience a 14-minute gain of afternoon sunlight by January 19, when sunset time is 4:57:28pm. To read more…
Judy Isacoff
Shutter to Think
Turns Out That Ignorance of the Law Is an Actually Pretty Good Excuse
The 1867 structure at
315 Church Street
A Tribeca building owner recently violated landmarks law by destroying metal shutters on a legally protected building, but both Community Board 1 and the City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) have decided that there isn’t much to be done about this.
6 River Terrace Join a fitness dance party with upbeat Latin music of salsa, merengue, hip-hop, and more! Enthusiastic instruction creates a fun community of dancers who learn new steps each week. Bring your friends and share in this fit and fun dancing community.
1:30PM
Stretching the Canvas Exhibition Tour
One Bowling Green National Museum of the American IndianA 45-minute tour of Stretching the Canvas: Eight Decades of Native Painting. Drawing from the National Museum of the American Indian’s rich permanent collection, the exhibition presents nearly 40 paintings that transcend, represent or subvert conventional ideas of authenticity. One Bowling Green.
6PM
Transportation & Street Activity Permits Committee Community Board 1 – Conference Room 1 Centre Street, Room 2202A-North AGENDA 1) City Hall to Battery Park Bicycle Connection; Broadway, White Hall Street – Resolution 2) Rector Street Bridge – Resolution 3) Collister Street Lighting – Resolution 4) Congestion Pricing Traffic Mobility Review Board – Resolution
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Upcoming Community Board Meetings This Week
Wednesday January 8
6PM
Battery Park City Committee 200 Rector Place, Community Room AGENDA 1) 9/11 BPC Residential Memorial Plaque Placement – Discussion and Possible Resolution 2) 2010 Amendment to BPCA’s Settlement Agreement Financial – Update and Discussion 3) Allied Universal Report, Year Over Year Comparisons – Presentation by Patrick Murphy, Director of Security, Allied Universal 4) BPCA Report with an Updates Nicholas Sbordone, Vice President of Communications & Public Affairs, BPCA
6PM
Licensing & Permits Committee
Community Board 1 – Conference Room 1 Centre Street, Room 2202A-North Additional information available by request to the Community Board 1 Office approvals@cb.nyc.gov
Thursday January 9
6PM
Landmarks & Preservation Committee Community Board 1 – Conference Room 1 Centre Street, Room 2202A-North AGENDA 1) 245 Water Street, interior renovation of an existing residential building with associated exterior work including new rooftop structure using metal, wood, and cement based cladding materials, bulkhead, and window replacement – Resolution 2) Broad Street and Wall Street, proposal of concept design which include lighting, identifying delivery areas and replace existing concrete benches in the Stock Exchange, Federal Hall, and Broad/Exchange seating areas – Resolution 3) 15 Park Row, storefront master plan for current and future storefront alterations, and restoration work including door locations, bulkheads, signage and marquee sign – Resolution
Click here for any changes to agendas prior to the meeting dates.
1608 – Fire destroys Jamestown, Virginia. 1610 – Galileo Galilei makes his first observation of the four Galilean moons.
Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, the four largest, were recognized by him as satellites of Jupiter in March 1610.
1785 – Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard and American John Jeffries travel from Dover, England, to Calais, France, in a gas balloon. 1835 – HMS Beagle drops anchor off the Chonos Archipelago. 1894 – William Kennedy Dickson receives a patent for motion picture film.
Galileo Galilei
1904 – The distress signal “CQD” is established only to be replaced two years later by “SOS” 1927 – The first transatlantic telephone service is established from New York City to London. 1954 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system, is held in New York at the head office of IBM. 1959 – The United States recognizes the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro. 1980 – President Jimmy Carter authorizes legislation giving $1.5 billion in loans to bail out the Chrysler Corporation 2015 – Gunmen commit mass murder at the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris, shooting twelve people execution style, and wounding eleven others.
Births
Click to listen to a minute of Rampal playing Bach
1800 – Millard Fillmore, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 13th President of the United States. He became vice president under President Zachary Taylor, assuming the presidency after Taylor’s death in 1850. (d. 1874)
1899 – Francis Poulenc, French pianist and composer (d. 1963)
1922 – Jean-Pierre Rampal, French flute player (d. 2000) 1925 – Gerald Durrell, Indian-English zookeeper, conservationist and author, founded Durrell Wildlife Park (d. 1995) 1961 – John Thune, American lawyer and politician 1963 – Rand Paul, American ophthalmologist and politician 1985 – Lewis Hamilton, English racing driver
Deaths
1536 – Catherine of Aragon (b. 1485) 1943 – Nikola Tesla, Serbian-American physicist and engineer (b. 1856) 2013 – Ada Louise Huxtable, American curator and critic (b. 1921)
Recalling Five Points
Epicenter of a Notorious Slum Proposed for Commemoration
The Five Points gang, a criminal organization that drew its members from the ethnic immigrant populations that inhabited the neighborhood.
In 1831, the City government considered a petition that warned, “that the place known as “Five points” has long been notorious… as being the nursery where every species of vice is conceived and matured; that it is infested by a class of the most abandoned and desperate character.”
A decade later, Charles Dickens, visiting New York, wrote of the same Lower Manhattan neighborhood that had inspired the petition, “what place is this, to which the squalid street conducts us? A kind of square of leprous houses, some of which are attainable only by crazy wooden stairs without. What lies behind this tottering flight of steps? Let us go on again, and plunge into the Five Points…. To read more…
Matthew Fenton
RiverWatch
Cruise Ships in New York Harbor
Norwegian Bliss
Arrivals & Departures
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Sunday January 19
Norwegian Bliss
07:00 ~ 17:00
Sunday February 2
Norwegian Bliss
07:00 ~ 17:00
February 14
Norwegian Gem
10:00 ~ 16:00
February 16
Norwegian Bliss
07:00 ~ 17:00
February 23
Norwegian Bliss
07:00 ~ 17:00
February 24
Norwegian Gem
10:00 ~ 16:00
Many ships pass Lower Manhattan on their way to and from the Midtown Passenger Ship Terminal. Others may be seen on their way to or from piers in Brooklyn and Bayonne. Stated times, when appropriate, are for passing the Colgate clock in Jersey City, New Jersey, and are based on sighting histories, published schedules and intuition. They are also subject to passenger and propulsion problems, tides, fog, winds, freak waves, hurricanes and the whims of upper management.
