Tag: Local

Packet Racket

In his Thursday State of the City address, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced plans to expand the NYC Ferry network of commuter boat lines, operated by Hornblower Cruises. “Today I announced the next big expansion of NYC Ferry,” the Mayor said. “We’ll link Staten Island to the West Side of Manhattan. We’ll connect Coney Island...
Ferries in New York Harbor

Slow Response

Almost two years to the day after a student at Millennium High School, in the Financial District, was run down by a speeding driver, the City’s Department of Transportation (DOT) has agreed to take steps that may increase pedestrian safety in front of the school. “The DOT has decided to install a ‘speed hump,’ which...
The curve of South William Street makes it difficult for drivers to see students from Millennium High School exiting that facility's front door, in the middle on the block (on the right).

Pedagogy and Inequality

Local leaders are echoing calls from elected officials for Mayor Bill de Blasio to reconsider his plan to boost diversity at the City’s specialized high schools, a group of eight selective secondary schools, where students are admitted on the basis of a competitive examination. In a series of proposals, City Hall has variously called for...

Dead in the Water

Six years, two months, and 11 days after Hurricane Sandy swamped Lower Manhattan, Community Board 1 (CB1) is sounding the alarm about the process for developing a resiliency plan to protect the community from future extreme-weather events, which appears to have lapsed into an indefinite hiatus. At a December 19 meeting, Diana Switaj, CB1’s Director...

Not So Alone in Trinity Churchyard

He’s cut quite the figure for more than a century, standing alone in Trinity churchyard. Hamilton – just steps away – is who everyone seems to come for, but then are all drawn to the large bronze looming to the left. All lawyer robe and courtroom wig turned away to face Broadway. Not a hint...
One of the very few colonial officials to find a place in government after American independence, John Watts became a New York State Assemblyman, a U.S. Congressman, and the first judge of Westchester County. Why isn't he smiling?

Stele Crazy After All These Years

Community Board 1 (CB1) is pushing for local representation on a board created by Governor Andrew Cuomo, to choose a location with Battery Park City for a planned memorial to 2017’s Hurricane Maria (which killed nearly 3,000 residents of Puerto Rico), and oversee its design. In September, on the first anniversary of the devastation wrought...
Battery Park City activists and leaders have a record of opposing plans for additional memorials that they believed conflicted with the interests of the community.