Concerns Raised about Proposal to Make Sidewalk Dining Permanent
State Assembly member Deborah Glick leads a rally in opposition to a plan that would expand and make permanent restaurant use of sidewalks and streets.
Elected officials and local leaders are mobilizing against a plan by the administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio to expand and make permanent the allowance that enabled restaurants to expand into City streets and sidewalks, originally adopted as a provisional measure during the COVID-19 pandemic.
On October 6, as the Department of City Planning began consideration of this proposal at its headquarters, at 120 Broadway, State Assembly member Deborah Glick, Community Board 1 (CB1) chair Tammy Meltzer, and City Council candidate Christopher Marte, joined other leaders and activists at a rally and protest outside to voice reservations about this plan.
At issue is the Permanent Open Restaurants Text Amendment, which would make sidewalk cafés an as-of-right option for restaurants and bars. Critics argue that this would effectively cede public space to one industry with no compensation to taxpayers. The same plan would eliminate review by local Community Boards (currently required), thus preventing area residents from weighing in on issues such as hours of operation, amplified sound, outdoor television screens, trash disposal, and rodent control. At the local level, many community leaders are worried that Lower Manhattan’s narrow, winding street grid and pinched sidewalk clearances will magnify each of these concerns.
At the October 6 rally, Ms. Glick called the plan, “just plain wrong.” She added that, “while New Yorkers accepted temporary measures during the worst parts of the pandemic in order to support restaurants which are vital to our economy, it is wrong to bypass local community review and give up public spaces which will be difficult to get back. I call on the City Planning Commission to deny this measure.”
Ms. Meltzer said, “this process is inherently flawed, as it forces Community Boards to vote on eliminating decades of time-tested zoning regulations, to replace it with a process that hasn’t yet been determined. City Planning and the Mayor’s Office are asking the public to have faith they will figure out the program framework and how to enforce the rules, but they have not been able to demonstrate this with any consistency during the temporary program, which is extended until at least 2022.”
She added that, “planning changes of this scale should have started on the community level for maximum public engagement, instead of with lobbyists behind closed doors. This application is being rushed forward with untoward urgency. Removing large swaths of zoning is a drastic measure, and we must be certain about what will replace it before moving forward.”
In a separate, but related development, CB1 enacted a resolution at its September 30 meeting opposing the plan now under consideration by the Department of City Planning. This resolution notes that, “there are far too many unanswered questions and a desire for greater detail,” and raises, “concerns over the removal of years of carefully crafted zoning regulations meant to guide the presence of outdoor dining, particularly in the unique areas of Lower Manhattan that are increasingly mixed use/residential with streets and sidewalks that are more narrow than the typical grid-style streets in most of Manhattan.” The same resolution also voices, “technical concerns and questions regarding issues such as: clearance and clear path requirements, obstructions, requirements for spaces to be level, driveways, and curb cuts.”
Matthew Fenton
Local Heroes
Annual Ranking of Most Powerful Manhattan Leaders Includes 11 Downtown Doyens
The highly regarded local political journalism outlet City & State has released its annual Manhattan Power 100 list, which ranks the borough’s leaders by their influence. This year’s edition contains 11 elected officials and not-for-profit executives whose work serves the Downtown community, and beyond.
Congressman Jerry Nadler took the number one spot for his continuing role, “in drawing attention to the ongoing health impacts of the 9/11 terror attacks in Lower Manhattan,” City & State says. Mr. Nadler has for years spearheaded efforts to secure healthcare services and financial compensation for residents and first responders made ill by exposure to environmental toxins in the aftermath of September 11, 2001.
The 11th Annual Taste of the Seaport festival will come to the South Street Seaport on Saturday, October 16, with food from more than 30 Lower Manhattan restaurants, wares from local shops, and live music featuring local artists and musicians, plus a KidZone offering interactive demonstrations and activities.
Proceeds from the festival support enrichment programs for students at two highly regarded, local public schools: the Spruce Street School and the Peck Slip School. The fun will take place between noon and 3:00 pm on Piers 16 and 17 (South Street, roughly between John and Beekman Streets). For more information, or to purchase tickets, please browse: www.tasteoftheseaport.org
Flats for the Frugal
New Rental Building in Hudson Square Contains 30 Affordable Units
Downtown’s roster of affordable rental apartments will soon expand by 30 new homes, as part of a residential development at 111 Varick Street, two blocks north of Canal Street. The building will contain a total of 2100 rental units (with the remaining 70 apartments at market-rate rentals). In exchange for committing to affordability protections on the 30 units, the developer received tax incentives worth many millions of dollars, which helped to build the project.
People wishing to live in the affordable units at 111 Varick are urged enter the affordable housing lottery being overseen by the City’s the Department of Housing Preservation and Development.
The Pace University Art Gallery (located at 41 Park Row) has debuted its new, in-person exhibition, “Substance,” which brings together four abstract artists, who express meaning via materials, rather than representational imagery.
Diego Anaya celebrates his Mexican heritage through the use of ground corn, corn ash, and sand. Liz Atz’s bright, immersive artworks critique commercialism, materialism, and consumption. Linda Ekstromuses text from religious sources as both inspiration and commentary, exploring feminist issues, particularly within the role of Jewish and Christian tradition. And Alberto Lule critiques America’s prison-industrial complex as a form of modern slavery, using fingerprint powder as his drawing material, mining insights from his personal experience with incarceration. On display now through October 30. Admission is free, but a Covid vax card and ID are required to enter the gallery as per NYS guidelines..
An Ill Wind Blows
World Trade Center Health Program Faces Funding Shortfall
The World Trade Center Health Program, which provides medical treatment to people affected by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, is facing an impending budget shortfall that, if left unaddressed, could cause it to scale back services starting in 2025. Activists, local leaders, and elected officials are working to head off this possibility with new legislation.
More than 58,000 people are currently grappling with health problems arising from exposure to environmental toxins on September 11, 2001, and its aftermath. More have died from these illnesses in the years since 2001 than perished on the day of the attacks. There are now 21,000 people suffering from cancers related to September 11.
Nadler Presses City Hall to Release Documents from 2001 about Awareness of Ground Zero Health Risks
United States Congressman Jerry Nadler is calling upon the administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio to make public previously unreleased City documents, which may shed light on what Rudolph Giuliani, who was Mayor at the time of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, knew about environmental health risks in weeks and months following of the destruction of the World Trade Center.
In a September 20 letter to City Hall, Mr. Nadler and Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney write that, “we have yet to see a full accounting of what then-Mayor Giuliani and his administration knew at the time.” They argue that such an accounting would, “help provide injured and ill 9/11 responders, survivors, and their families a better understanding of what the City knew at the time about the likely scope of the health crisis and when they knew it.” To read more…
EYES TO THE SKY
October 4 – 17, 2021
Protect Earth’s night, essential to life on Earth
“For millions of years, there has been a night shift at work pollinating flowering plants and fruit trees.
“If you look at the diversity and the sheer numbers of moths out there, the other pollinators pale in comparison. So, you’re talking about a massive group of animals that probably contribute not just to fruit crops or crops in general … but to pollination overall, they may just be the most important pollinators as a group… The unsung heroes of pollination.”
Excerpts from Into the Night: Shedding Light on Nocturnal Pollinators
Darkness at night is under siege by an excess of poorly conceived and carelessly deployed artificial light, resulting in a sky polluted with a veil of wasted light and our neighborhoods with no oasis of darkness. Light pollution threatens pollination of our food crops and wild landscapes, bird migration, night vision, human health and our view of the universe. To read more…
With its amazing gardens and views of the Hudson River and New York Bay, Wagner Park is the perfect setting to practice your art. Participants are expected to bring their own drawing and painting supplies, including drawing boards and containers of water if they are planning to paint. BPCA will supply drawing paper and watercolor paper only. Masks required. Participants must maintain six feet of physical distance between households. All programs will be held in accordance with New York State reopening guidance.
Join LMHQ and the League of Women Voters NYC for a pre-election happy hour, in which Diane Burrows, Co-President of the League of Women Voters, will remind us of the deadlines and details we need to know. She will also take us through the New York State Constitutional amendments on the ballot this election and why they are so important for New Yorkers to consider. While you’re listening to Diane, grab your favorite beverage to sip while preparing personalized postcards to encourage other voters to get out the vote here in NYC, where Local Elections really matter.
Fania Wedro was born Fania Hellman in Koretz, Poland on August 25, 1927. When she was fourteen years old, the Nazis took away her father and the other men living in the village. Fania then spent six months in a work ghetto in Koretz, where she escaped two mass killings by the Nazis. After escaping the second mass killing, she lived in hiding in the forest for eighteen months. After being liberated by the Russians in 1944, Wedro was smuggled across various borders and eventually reached a displaced persons camp in Linz, Austria. She became a teacher in the camp and met and married her husband Leo (Leib) Wedro. In 1948, the couple immigrated to Canada and became successful business owners. Join the Museum for a program exploring Fania’s experiences during the Holocaust, and her efforts to bring attention to the massacre of Jewish villagers in Eastern Europe. She will be interviewed by the Museum’s Public Programs Coordinator Sydney Yaeger. $10
In this lecture, Michael Harris will discuss the Battle of Germantown. Despite a complicated plan of attack, George Washington’s Continental Army seemed on the verge of victory at Germantown, until decisions at the highest levels of the army took that promised victory away. Free
The tall ship Wavertree, the lightship Ambrose, and the tug W.O. Decker are open to the public. Explore Wavertree and Ambrose while they are docked; cruise New York Harbor on W.O. Decker. Wavertree and Ambrose visits are free; Decker prices vary. Check website for times, prices and other details.
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Governors Island to Remain Open Throughout the Year
Since Governors Island opened to the public in 2005, the 172-acre greensward off Lower Manhattan has become Downtown’s equivalent of Central Park—with one crucial difference. The latter is open 365 days per year, while the quarter-square mile of hills and towering old-growth trees that was called Nutten Island by British settlers in the Colonial Era has, for more than a decade, been accessible to the public only in warm-weather months.
That all changed on Tuesday, when Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that, effective immediately, Governors Island will remain open 12 months per year. The extended season will begin November 1, the day after the facility was slated to close for the year at the end of October.
More Survivors than Responders Now are Submitting Claims
The September 11th Victim Compensation Fund (VCF) has released its annual report for 2020, which documents some significant developments.
Over the course of its ten years of operation thus far, the VCF has awarded $7.76 billion to more than 34,400 individuals who have suffered death or personal injury as a result of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and their aftermath. The vast majority of these injuries take the form of illness caused by exposure to toxic materials that were released by the destruction of the World Trade Center.
Samascott Orchard Orchard fruit, strawberries from Columbia County, New York
Francesa’s Bakery Breads and baked goods from Middlesex County, New Jersey
Meredith’s Bakery Baked goods from Ulster County, New York
Riverine Ranch Water Buffalo meat and cheeses from Warren County, New Jersey
1857 Spirits Handcrafted potato vodka from Schoharie County, New York
SNAP/EBT/P-EBT, Debit/Credit, and Farmers Market Nutrition Program checks accepted
TODAY IN HISTORY
October 13
1947 – Captain Chuck Yeager of the United States Air Force flies a Bell X-1 rocket-powered experimental aircraft, the Glamorous Glennis, faster than the speed of sound at Mach 1.06 (700 miles per hour (1,100 km/h; 610 kn) over the high desert of Southern California and becomes the first pilot and the first airplane to do so in level flight.
1066 – Norman Conquest: Battle of Hastings: In England on Senlac Hill, seven miles from Hastings, the Norman forces of William the Conqueror defeat the English army and kill King Harold II of England.
1322 – Robert the Bruce of Scotland defeats King Edward II of England at Byland, forcing Edward to accept Scotland’s independence.
1656 – Massachusetts enacts the first punitive legislation against the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).
1863 – American Civil War: Battle of Bristoe Station: Confederate troops under the command of General Robert E. Lee fail to drive the Union Army completely out of Virginia.
1880 – Mexican soldiers kill Victorio, one of the greatest Apache military strategists.
1884 – The American inventor, George Eastman, receives a U.S. Government patent on his new paper-strip photographic film.
1910 – The English aviator Claude Grahame-White lands his Farman Aircraft biplane on Executive Avenue near the White House in Washington, D.C..
1912 – While campaigning in Milwaukee, the former President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, is shot and mildly wounded by John Schrank, a mentally-disturbed saloon keeper.
1926 – The children’s book Winnie-the-Pooh, by A. A. Milne, is first published.
1933 – Nazi Germany withdraws from the League of Nations and World Disarmament Conference.
1943 – Prisoners at the Nazi German Sobibór extermination camp in Poland revolt against the Germans, killing eleven SS guards, and wounding many more. About 300 of the Sobibor Camp’s 600 prisoners escape, and about 50 of these survive the end of the war.
1944 – Linked to a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel is forced to commit suicide.
1947 – Captain Chuck Yeager of the United States Air Force flies a Bell X-1 rocket-powered experimental aircraft, the Glamorous Glennis, faster than the speed of sound at Mach 1.06 (700 miles per hour (1,100 km/h; 610 kn) over the high desert of Southern California and becomes the first pilot and the first airplane to do so in level flight.
1949 – Eleven leaders of the American Communist Party are convicted, after a nine-month trial in a Federal District Court, of conspiring to advocate the violent overthrow of the U.S. Federal Government.
1962 – The Cuban Missile Crisis begins: A U.S. Air Force U-2 reconnaissance plane and its pilot flies over the island of Cuba and takes photographs of Soviet SS-4 Sandal missiles being installed and erected in Cuba.
1964 – Martin Luther King, Jr. received the Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through nonviolence.
1964 – Leonid Brezhnev becomes the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and thereby, along with his allies, such as Alexei Kosygin, the leader of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), ousting the former monolithic leader Nikita Khrushchev, and sending him into retirement as a nonperson in the USSR.
1967 – Vietnam War: The folk singer Joan Baez is arrested concerning a physical blockade of the U.S. Army’s induction center in Oakland, California.
1968 – Vietnam War: The Department of Defense announces that the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps will send about 24,000 soldiers and Marines back to Vietnam for involuntary second tours of duty in the combat zone there.
1968 – Apollo program: The first live TV broadcast by American astronauts in orbit performed by the Apollo 7 crew.
1968 – Jim Hines of the United States becomes the first man ever to break the so-called “ten-second barrier” in the 100-meter sprint in the Summer Olympic Games held in Mexico City with a time of 9.95 seconds.
1981 – Vice President Hosni Mubarak is elected as the President of Egypt one week after the assassination of the President of Egypt, Anwar Sadat.
1984 – “Baby Fae” receives a heart transplant from a baboon.
1994 – The Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, The Prime Minister of Israel, Yitzhak Rabin, and the Foreign Minister of Israel, Shimon Peres, receive the Nobel Peace Prize for their role in the establishment of the Oslo Accords and the framing of the future Palestinian Self Government.
1998 – Eric Rudolph is charged with six bombings including the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta, Georgia.
Captain Chuck Yeager
Births
1641 – Joachim Tielke German instrument maker (d. 1719)
1644 – William Penn, English businessman, founded the Province of Pennsylvania (d. 1718)
1890 – Dwight D. Eisenhower, American general and politician, 34th President of the United States (d. 1969)
1894 – E. E. Cummings, American poet and playwright (d. 1962)
1906 – Hannah Arendt, German-American philosopher and theorist (d. 1975)
1916 – C. Everett Koop, American admiral and surgeon, 13th United States Surgeon General (d. 2013)
1939 – Ralph Lauren, American fashion designer, founded the Ralph Lauren Corporation
Deaths
1066 – Harold Godwinson, English king (b. 1022)
1318 – Edward Bruce, Irish king (b. 1280)
1831 – Jean-Louis Pons, French astronomer and educator (b. 1761)
1977 – Bing Crosby, American singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1903)
1990 – Leonard Bernstein, American pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1918)
