The Battery Park City Broadsheet

the b attery park cit y broadsheet
Volume 11 Number 4
March 3 - March 18, 2007
FROM SURCHARGE TO FLIP TAX:
HOT REAL ESTATE MARKET
CHANGES THE RULES
DELAY IN DEUTSCHE BANK
DECONSTRUCTION
EXPLAINED
RIVERHOUSE FINANCIAL AGREEMENT GIVES
NEW MEANING TO “PERPETUITY”
TOWER LIKELY TO BE
GONE END OF 2007
Once Decontamination Finished,
A Floor a Week Will Come Down
T
By Ari Paul
A
ccording to the Lower
Manhattan Construction Command
Center, the former Deutsche Bank
building at 130 Liberty Street will be
fully demolished by the end of the
year. But the fact that it has been
more than five years since the collapse of the World Trade Center – an
event that overwhelmed the building
with toxic dust and debris -- has left
many residents wondering what has
taken so long.
“A lot of legal and contractual
issues were holding up the process,”
said Catherine McVay Hughes, chair
of Community Board 1’s World
Trade
Center
Redevelopment
Committee, which recently met with
representatives of the LMCCC to discuss the building’s future.
Among the issues is the continuing presence of human remains, an
unsettling reminder of 9/11’s devastation. Construction workers first
found remains in September 2005,
causing an immediate work stoppage,
and further discoveries have cast an
even darker pall over the building’s
FOR EXPECTED BUYERS, ONE PERCENT OF A
MILLION IS A DROP IN THE BUCKET
still-shrouded presence. But at a
recent
WTC
Redevelopment
Committee meeting, LMCCC
Executive Director Charles Maikish
told the CB1 committee that future
discovery of human remains at 130
Liberty would not delay the deconstruction process.
Additionally, final deconstruction could not start until the
Environmental Protection Agency
gave the LMCCC full approval. It
made its first comments in January
2005 and submitted its ultimate
approval last autumn, said an agency
spokesperson.
The top floors of the building
have been decontaminated and are
ready for deconstruction, yet the
floors between the ground level and
the 35th floor have yet to be completely decontaminated. According to
Mr. Maikish, for the LMCCC to
make its end-of-the-year deadline, an
average of one floor per week must be
deconstructed, but he is confident
By Matthew Fenton
he financial agreement between
the Battery Park City Authority and
the Sheldrake Organization, which is
developing the Riverhouse condominium on North End Avenue across
from the Embassy Suites Hotel, contains several unusual provisions. The
arrangement not only requires that
Sheldrake convey to the Authority
three percent of the closing price for
each unit sold in the building, but
additionally mandates that the developer pay the Authority 20 percent of
all revenue above $850 per square
foot, once the building has been completely sold and an average persquare-foot sale price is calculated. Of
more direct concern to people who
buy apartments in Riverhouse, however, will be a third clause that imposes a “flip tax,” requiring payment to
the Authority of one percent of the
that the agency will meet this schedule.
When asked if she was confident
about the LMCCC’s most recent
timetable, Ms. McVay Hughes said,
in a telephone interview, “We don’t
have access to the schedule,” and
added, “We hope the
people in charge know
what they’re doing.”
closing price when those buyers sell
their units in the future, and again
when the units are subsequently
resold, and so on into perpetuity.
“I’m not aware of any other condominium in the community that
has these requirements,” said Gene
Glazer, chairman of Battery Park
City Homeowners Coalition. “The
Ritz-Carlton and Millennium Tower
buildings did have a surcharge on
initial sales, but it was only one percent. And they don’t impose any flip
tax on subsequent sales.” Mr. Glazer
added that Riverhouse will also be
the first building, to his knowledge,
where the Authority shares in revenue above a specific dollar-persquare-foot threshold. Two sources
familiar with Battery Park City real
estate, who asked not to be identified,
anticipated that current market conditions will push the average price
per square foot of apartments in
Riverhouse “substantially above” the
$850 trigger, which could translate
into significant revenue for the
Authority.
“The ground lease for each
building is different, based on changing market conditions,” said Leticia
Remauro, a spokesperson for the
BPC Authority. “And because the
Authority’s revenue ultimately goes
to the taxpayers of New York, we have
a legal obligation to make the best
deal we can on their behalf.”
Typically, when the Authority
negotiates a ground lease with a
developer, they consider the total
financial package over the lifetime of
the agreement. Mr. Glazer added that
“the ground rent at Riverhouse isn’t
especially high, but these payments
are only one component of a larger
package.” He inferred that the
Authority negotiated these terms for
Riverhouse “because it gives them
more of a upfront payment, rather
than realizing these profits over the
life of the lease. And this is what the
market will bear.”
Mr. Glazer also observed that
Riverhouse and the two other residential buildings currently being
developed in Battery Park City (for
which lease details and offering plans
are not yet available) “are very, very
high-end buildings. These apartments are being sold mostly to
wealthy people,” for whom a $10,000
charge per million dollars of value
© All Rights Reserved 2007
CB1 TASK FORCE
BEGINS MAJOR
PLANNING EFFORT
CITIZEN PARTICIPATION
NEEDED TO GUIDE
DOWNTOWN’S
ACCELERATING
DEVELOPMENT
PRIORITIES NEED TO BE
SET FOR GREENWICH
SOUTH NEIGHBORHOOD
By Matthew Fenton
“W
e’re dealing with zoning
codes that were originally designed to
apply to blacksmiths and horse stables,” said Rick Landman, chair of
Community Board 1’s 197a Task
Force, at the group’s kickoff meeting
on February 22, referring to Lower
Manhattan’s status as the oldest part
of New York. “Dating back to the
city’s days as New Amsterdam,” he
continued, “the street grid in this
area doesn’t mesh with the rest of
New York.” For this reason, much of
CB1 consists of multiple so-called
“special districts” like the Civic
Center, the Financial District, and
Battery Park City, where legal exceptions are made to the City’s regular
zoning ordinances.
Mr. Landman explained that
this peculiar status represents both a
challenge and an opportunity. “This
creates flexibility,” he said, “but many
of these labels are decades out of
date. Nobody thinks of the area
around City Hall as the Civic Center
anymore, and the investment and
finance industries are now mostly
headquartered
in
midtown.”
Updating
the
approach
to
Downtown planning is one of the
principal tasks of the panel Mr.
Landman is heading, which is
named for a provision in city law that
enables each community board to
will be a small part of the closing costs
usually incurred when buying or selling an apartment. “For these people,”
he said, “the additional
one percent is probably
not going to be a deal
breaker.”
#4 in a series
create a master plan for its district to
help guide future development.
While this may sound like
minutiae, many observers expect
these details to become vitally important as development Downtown heats
up in the near future. With tens of
millions of square feet of new construction already approved, and
builders now applying for permits to
erect millions more, Lower
Manhattan appears to be approaching
a watershed moment in its history.
“We’re laying the groundwork for a
strategic plan,” said Michael Levine,
CB1’s director of land use and planning, “looking separately at each
neighborhood within Community
Board 1.” He will focus on Battery
Park City in early March, surveying
board members from this area about
what aspects of the neighborhood
work best, and which need improvement. Eric Goldwyn, who is also
assisting the 197a Task Force in developing a comprehensive plan, added
that a recently completed survey of
Tribeca yielded the surprising find
that many residents are fond of the
old loading docks that adorn the
fronts of former warehouses now converted to industrial use. “They feel
these help give the neighborhood its
special character,” he explained.
Among the task force’s first priorities will be a “white paper” on the
development of Greenwich South,
the area of Greenwich Street between
World Trade Center site and the
Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel. Several
new hotels and large residential towers have been proposed for this neighborhood, where Mayor Michael
Bloomberg has also floated a plan for
a large new park to be built on an elevated deck above the entrance to the
tunnel, linking the new development
to Battery Park City. Mr. Landman
stressed the urgency of formulating a
“wish list” of priorities that has broad
support, “so that when developers
come to the community board and
ask ‘what do you want,’ we’re ready
with the best possible answers.”
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2007:
The 40th Anniversary of
Battery Park City
The Esplanade
T
he problem with trying to appreciate Battery Park City’s Esplanade
today is that you need a time machine
to grasp completely how daring, original, and important it was when its
first quarter-mile long section opened
in June, 1983. For centuries,
Manhattan’s waterfront had been
used for one thing: industry. With
very few exceptions, the closest the
public ever got to enjoying the harbor
was when Robert Moses built one of
his highways alongside it. Worse, in
the 1960s and 70s the city’s Parks
Department had begun to retreat
from decades of noble design tradition: granite and brick, iron and
wood were being replaced by concrete, asphalt, and chain-link fences.
“The fear of vandalism was so great,”
recalls Stanton Eckstut, one of the
Esplanade’s designers, “that even
benches were being made out of concrete, so they couldn’t be burned.”
But as the first buildings opened
in Battery Park City in the early
1980s, a consensus emerged that this
mile-plus park along the water was
going to be different. “We had an
enormous opportunity,” recalls
Amanda Burden (then the Battery
Park City Authority’s vice president
of planning and design, now the City
Planning Commissioner), “because it
was such a long stretch. There was
going to be a necklace of lights on the
water and it was going to be a setting
where people could feel totally at
peace and tranquil. So designing the
Esplanade was almost the first thing
we did.”
Ms. Burden oversaw Mr. Eckstut
and his then-partner, Alexander
Cooper, in their effort to steer New
York back in a direction it seemed to
have lost. “The original Battery Park
City Master Plan called for more of a
California solution,” Mr. Eckstut
recalls, “with an esplanade that was
mostly concrete and a lot of split levcontinued on back page
Battery Park City
March 2007
News &
Comment
Gov. Spitzer Orders Webcasting
And Auditing for Transparency;
BPCA Finances “Sound”
As part of a new transparency in government initiative, the administration
of Governor Eliot Spitzer issued an
order on January 1, 2007 that state
agencies and authorities (including
the Battery Park City Authority)
begin webcasting their board meetings by July 1. The 100-plus agencies
covered by the order have until March
1 to present a plan for compliance to
the governor's office, or to request a
waiver or extension. The BPC
Authority expects to be able to meet
these deadlines. “We fully expect to be
in compliance with the Governor’s
order,” said James Cavanaugh, president. “The Authority’s practice is to
make public meetings and information as accessible as possible.
Webcasting will be one further step in
that direction.”
Additionally, to meet a requirement of the Public Authorities
Accountability Act signed into law in
January of last year, the board of the
BPC Authority has established an
audit committee to oversee selection
of the Authority’s independent auditors and set their compensation. At
the first meeting of this committee, on
February 15, chief financial officer
Robert Serpico reviewed the
Authority’s finances and pronounced
them sound. Outside accountants
from KPMG also presented their
year-end audit report, which contained an “unqualified opinion”
(meaning that the outside accountants deemed the information they
had received to be accurate and complete), with no reportable internal
control deficiencies. Mr. Serpico
noted that the Authority has $ 1.1 billion in tax-exempt debt outstanding,
and said, “We’re one of the few state
bond issuers whose debt is rated
triple-A by all the major rating agencies.” He went on to note that the
Authority conveyed $107.2 million to
New York City in June 2006, and
expects to remit $111.4 million to the
city this year.
THE BATTERY PARK CITY BROADSHEET
Page 2
Letters
PRICED OUT
Dear Editor,
I am writing with respect to your article about the pending conversion of
333 Rector Place by Buttonwood Real
Estate with financing from Bonjour
Capital.
As a current resident of this
building, I must dispute the altruistic
tone of the article, which depicts
Buttonwood Developers as downtown do-gooders, operating under a
“non-eviction plan.” The truth of the
matter is this: While it is true that
Rockrose Development, who is selling the building to Buttonwood, has
been renewing leases in the building
for the last 6 months and therefore
not evicting anyone outright, the
lease renewals contain rent increases
of up to 50 percent. (One family saw
its rent increase on their 3 bedroom
apartment from $4800 to $8600 when
they received their lease renewal
package from Rockrose on February
1.) As troubling, the lease renewals
contain a clause authorizing
Rockrose (soon to be Buttonwood) to
evict tenants out of their apartments
with 60 days notice, if they decide
they want the space back. Do these
sound like actions that are consistent
with a non-eviction plan?
I am certainly not disputing the
right of a developer to purchase a
rental building and covert it to condominiums. However, in this case, you
should call it like it is- another developer converting a building in lower
Manhattan with little regard for the
current tenants. Anything else is
disingenuous.
Name Withheld
SENIOR MOMENTS
To the editors,
In response to the Jan. 18 article
about the scarcity of local activities for
older adults, please inform readers
that Battery Park City Parks
Conservancy promotes intergenerational programming and wholeheartedly welcomes older adults to programs, drop-in activities and special
events.
Free BPCPC programs that are
popular with seniors include art classes (materials provided), tai chi, bird
watching, nature walks, garden tours,
talks by authors, fishing, blues concerts, and folk dances. Senior adults
are not likely to sense ageism at BPC
Parks programs since staff program
leaders include septuagenarians.
Older adults volunteer in
BPCPC's Master Angler fishing program by teaching visiting school
groups and the public how to catch
and release fish and protect the environment, and in horticulture tending
gardens alongside staff. We welcome
more volunteers. Seniors regularly
attend storytelling, preschool play
and more as their grandchildren's
escort to cultural and social programs.
This winter, BPCPC is offering a live
model art class that is popular with
retired people.
The Community Center at
Stuyvesant High School, managed by
BPC Parks Conservancy, offers an
annual senior rate of $150 that
includes use of the pool, gyms, weight
room, and discounts on yoga and tai
chi, at nearly two-thirds less than the
cost of regular membership.
Please visit our website
www.bpcparks.org in April to view
programs for May - October, or call
212-267-9700 for a calendar. Keep
an eye on the Parks bulletin boards
for weekly updates, and visit
www.ccshs for information about the
Community Center at Stuyvesant
High School.
We look forward to your participation and suggestions for new programs.
Abby Ehrlich
Director of Parks Programming
BPCPC
We welcome letters. Correspondence
must contain your name (we will
withhold name if requested) and
phone number for verification. The
Broadsheet reserves the right to edit
correspondence for length and clarity.
The Broadsheet
[email protected]
375 South End Avenue NYC 10280
March 3 - March 18, 2007
neighbors
Third Thursday:
KURLANSKY ON OYSTERS
B
WE SHOULDA BEEN CALLED
THE BIG OYSTER
arry Skolnick is prepared to discuss practically any subject in
the news, micro to macro, from the functionality of the Liberty
Street Bridge elevator to mounting unrest in Afghanistan. He
tends to stay up late to get all his reading in: The New York Times,
Daily News, New York Post, Newsday, Broadsheet, Tribeca Trib and
Downtown Express, cover to cover on the day each is published. A
wonk? Only in the best sense of the word.
Mr. Skolnick has a degree in communications from Queens
College and a masters degree in higher education administration
from NYU. For 33 years he has worked in human resources for
the city – first for the Department of Transportation, then for the
mayor’s office under the Giuliani administration, and currently
for the Deputy Commissioner’s office for housing operations
(part of the city’s Office of Housing Preservation and
Development). A Battery Park City resident for more than 20
years, he is a member of Community Board 1, the First Precinct
Community Council, the PS 89 PTA, and the Gateway Plaza
Tenants Association executive board. His wife is a substitute
teacher and his daughter is a fourth grader at PS 89.
ample supplies of
oysters, liquor and
friendly women once
found in broadway’s
oyster cellars
By Terese Loeb Kreuzer
Berenice Abbott
T
Barry Skolnick
Oyster Houses, South Street and Pike slip, Manhattan April 1, 1937
Photography Collection, the New York Public Library
he way Mark Kurlansky tells it,
the Big Apple should really have been
named the Big Oyster.
The author of “The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell,” played to a packed house on February 15 at the second of this
year's Third Thursdays lectures, sponsored by the National Architectural Trust and under the auspices of the Alliance for
Downtown New York. The free lecture series, now in its third year, brings noted authors and experts to architecturally significant
settings in Lower Manhattan to talk about the area’s past, present and future
Appropriately, Mr. Kurlansky’s presentation on oysters took place at India House, built in 1852 to house the Hanover Bank,
and one of the few pre-Civil War bank buildings left in New York City. The elegant brownstone, decorated with marine paintings
and ships’ models, stands on Hanover Square at Pearl Street - Downtown’s original East River shoreline, named for its iridescent
oyster shells. When the first Europeans arrived in the estuary of the Hudson River “oysters were everywhere,” said Mr. Kurlansky.
They were reportedly “as large as a plate.” Today’s farmed oysters are harvested at around three years, but oysters can live 12 to
15 years. According to Mr. Kurlansky, New York’s oysters were so large and so tasty that they were gobbled greedily by locals and
shipped live to England and by canal and railroad to the Midwest. Like
today’s hot dogs, they were sold on street corners and in all-night markets near the ferries to Brooklyn, so that New Yorkers need never do
without their favorite bivalve. Oyster cellars along Broadway provided
customers with ample supplies of oysters, liquor and friendly women.
Oyster barges lined the downtown waterfront, their shore side resembling shops and their backs open to the river so that sloops could make
oyster deliveries. Bread and oysters were the food of the poor, while in
the posh private rooms of Delmonico’s, New York’s finest restaurant, a
waiter who often served Diamond Jim Brady and his pal, Miss Lillian
Russell, recorded they put away mountains of oysters in a single meal.
“You rarely find a food for all socio-economic classes at the same
time,” Mr. Kurlansky commented. “In New York, everybody ate oysters.”
What happened? Where are New York’s oysters now? That was
Mr. Kurlansky’s real theme for the evening - what happened. He
framed it as the recurring New York story: over-harvesting, commerThe Happy Hour Platter of Long Island
Oysters served up at P.J. Clarke’s in the
cial greed, careless disposal of garbage into the estuary so that the oysWorld Financial Center
ter beds became disease-ridden. The last of New York’s oyster beds
was closed down in 1927. By the 1960’s, the Hudson River itself was
so disastrously polluted that it practically seethed with chemicals.
"He was a bold man who first ate
In the 1970s, legislation mandated that New York City water
become swimmable and fishable. “Oysters are now being planted by
an oyster." - Charles Dickens
environmentalists,” said Mr. Kurlansky. “They’re good for the water
because they filter it for their food.”
Oysters are coming back, but Mr. Kurlansky indicated he still
a listing of
wouldn’t risk eating a homegrown oyster. It takes many decades to
downtown places
undo environmental damage. If only it had never happened in the first
to indulge:
place, Mr. Kurlansky concluded.
The next Third Thursday lecture will take place on March 15 at
the Diker Pavilion of The Smithsonian National Museum of the American
Indian at Bowling Green. Author Russell Shorto will talk about
“Greetings from New Amsterdam: How Manhattan Became the Island at
the Center of the World.”
Space is limited and advance reservations are required. For
information and reservations, go to www.downtownny.com/thirdthursdays.
2 WEST, BATTERY GARDENS
BAYARDS, BROUWERS, BOBBY VAN’S
CARMINES, CITY HALL
DANUBE, DELMONICO’S, FRESH,
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Barry Skolnick
Do you like your job?
It’s okay. I’ve had a lot of insight into city government. For a while
I might have been the only one who read the mayor’s executive
budget. I have a nose for news. In fact, when I was in college I was
the research editor for the Queens College newspaper.
You are a member of Community Board 1’s WTC Redevelopment Committee, Quality of Life/Affordable Housing
Committee, Battery Park City Committee, Youth/Education
Committee, and New Schools Task Force. You seem to thrive
on all the meetings.
I’ve always been someone who likes to influence things. When I
was in graduate school I was vice president of the student government. Even in elementary school, I was involved with the rules. I
don’t view myself as a good speaker, but I try to lobby for causes
that I believe in. These days, I focus on quality of life issues.
Besides getting a working elevator for the Liberty Street
Bridge, what is your proudest achievement?
If I’m successful in getting a school at the Women’s Museum
site, that’ll be my proudest achievement.
Last year, you learned that plans for the Women’s Museum, a
100,000 square foot site in Battery Park City, had not moved
forward since the late 90s. Many agreed with you that it was an
ill-conceived project, and now the Community Board, backed
by politicians, is pursuing the placement of a school there.
I asked questions, even though some people told me not to.
Obviously you didn’t pay attention to them. Which way do
you lean politically?
I’m not a Republican by any stretch of the imagination,
although on some issues I’m conservative. I am a member of
the Downtown Independent Democrats.
You were in a lonely position when you tried to rally the
Community Board to disapprove a $10,000 proposal from the
Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and the September 11th
Fund to place what came to be known as “dumpster” art on the
South Promenade. Some thought you were voting against art.
I think a lot of people are afraid to critique artists unless they’re
an official art reviewer. If you don’t think something is good art
you should have the freedom to say that, just as the artist has the
freedom to make the art. I also questioned how well-juried the
process was and how the money was appropriated. I don’t like to
be the lone dissenter, but I felt somebody should say something.
What do you do in your spare time?
I go to museums. I take yoga. I’m very involved with my family. I attend operettas, particularly those produced by the Village
Light Opera Group and the Gilbert & Sullivan Players.
What’s the latest community issue you’re focusing on?
You know how they’re supposed to put a park over the garage
below Liberty Street? The latest proposal is that the new building that will replace the Deutsche Bank building is going to be
cantilevered over the park. It has to do with an expansion of
trading floors downtown. I’ve been asking to have the landscaper of the park speak to us but they say they’re not ready to
discuss it. But obviously they’ve developed it to where they
know they want to put the trading floors over our park. And I
keep asking about the Liberty Street Bridge. I don’t have an
obsession with the bridge. I just really want to know how are
people going to go from Battery Park City through this area.
Exactly how are they going to configure that land? I’ve never
gotten an answer. They keep saying they’re not ready. I am concerned about that. I’ll have to keep on top of it.
EXPERIENCED & HARD WORKING
young woman seeks M-F babysitting position. Lots of wonderful qualities. Loves
being with kids, honest, polite, kind & flexible. Working papers. Call 718-810-8820
ask for Suzette.
NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS
For info call 212-374-1489
TRIBECA 40 Worth St. NYC 10013
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CUSTOM NURSERY MURALS by
Stephanie. Reasonable rates. Free
Estimates. 201-339-9627.
IPOD & COMPUTER MUSIC Organizer
& tutor. Apple & PC. Dennis 516-297-5772.
LOVELY WOMAN SEEKS secretary or
house keeping position. 5 years experience.
Excellent references available. Call Carrel
917-302-3343.
HONEST, RELIABLE, HARDWORKING
nanny seeks FT/PT position. I have 5
years experience with excellent references.
I love having fun exciting days with kids.
Call Denise 917-754-8895.
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MY NAME IS MARGARET. I am seeking a nanny position. FT or PT Live-in or
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Medical and
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Jack’s Unisex
Men’s Haircuts $20 Shave $15
In the New York Mercantile Exchange
1 North End Ave. south of the NJ Ferries
Tele: 212-619-4030
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Birth announcements are welcome.
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19 Murray Street
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The Broadsheet Inc.
The Battery Park City Broadsheet
was founded in October 1997 and
is published on the new and full moons.
editor and publisher
Robert Simko
news editor
Serena Hedison
contributing editor
Brian Rogers
contributors
Lisa Amand, Aseem Chhabra
Marti Cohen-Wolf, Fran Dickson,
Francis J. Duffy, Isabelle Dupuis,
Matthew Fenton, Terese Loeb Kreuzer,
Ari Paul
advertising manager
Kris Frederick
[email protected]
adspace@ebroadsheet
Ph: 212-912-1106
Annual subscriptions ($45) are available.
ISSN# 1539-9060
375 South End Avenue NYC 10280
All uncredited photographs © Robert Simko 2007
Next Issue: March 18
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Ad Deadline: March 9
212-912-1106
[email protected]
THE BATTERY PARK CITY BROADSHEET
March 3 - March 18, 2007
YOGA CLASSES
In the comfort of your own home or office.
Private, Semi-private and Corporate
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Flexible Schedule and Great Rates
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Page 3
RTS
DVOCATE
EATING
DOWNTOWN
A
In Business
by Marti Cohen-Wolf
Experimental Theater at 3 Legged Dog,
Classic Poetry in Tribeca
Merchants Café
World Trade Art Gallery
Custom Framing
&
90 Washington Street at Rector
212-363-6000
Vinny Ponte
RIVAL
By Cabe Franklin
Art Sale
Monday - Friday 8:30-6:00
Saturday 10-4
F
Merchants Café bustles at lunchtime.
or viewers of “The Office,” the NBC comedy
74 Trinity Place
about life in a Northeastern paper company,
212-619-5241
Stamford holds a certain appeal. The show’s main characters work in with some pasta, sandwiches, salads, and light seafood touches. On a recent
Scranton, in a windowless room of beige walls and dusty blinds. For their visit, a friend and I started with some spring rolls ($6) and the asparagus and
counterparts in Stamford, a better-performing division of the same company, Portobello tempura ($8). Unfortunately, the spring rolls and the asparagus
everything is nicer – bright sunlight, brushed-metal furnishings, a view of the came out slightly past their prime as fried food: chewy, rather than crisp. In
contrast, the Portobello tempura was a scrumpwater. Life is better in Stamford, more urbane without
tious appetizer: a perfect blend of light but firm
being too gritty.
DERMATOLOGY, P.C.
outer shell and juicy burst of flavor inside.
Something about eating at Merchants NY Café,
Hirshel Kahn, MD
For entrees, we had hoped to order the lobManhattan’s third Merchants outpost (the others are in
Andrea Cambio, MD
ster
ravioli
with cognac and cream ($13), but
Chelsea
and
on
the
east
side),
makes
you
feel
like
Richard Berry, MD
were told they had run out. (This at 8:30PM on
you’ve
left
the
city,
but
not
that
you’ve
gone
so
far
you
109 Reade St. NYC
a night when the lobster ravioli was listed as a
can’t grab a decent meal. There’s friendlier service,
212-964-4400
special.) We fell back to the flatiron steak with
more space, lower prices, and more general affability
We are pleased to offer
caramelized shallot butter ($15) and the fettuc• Botox
than most of us have come to expect from New York
•Chemical peels
cine Bolognese ($10), also ordering a lobster
restaurants.
If
the
kitchen
is
sometimes
less
than
daz•Microdermabrasion
•Sclerotheraphy
club ($16) to make up for missing the cut on the
zling,
that
has
to
be
recognized
as
part
of
the
overall
•Laser Hair & Vein Removal
crustacean.
picture.
Like the Portobello tempura, the steak was
Merchants
a
delight:
a good cut of meat, cooked perfectly, it
gets some of its
Chef Ignacia Romero
Tel: 212-786-1789 Web: www.batteryparkrealty.com
was tender, juicy, and flavorful from start to finish.
sense of spaciousness
by making the most of its corner loca- My partner wasn’t as lucky with her clumpy, bland Bolognese, although she
We are the premier broker in Battery Park City & Downtown area.
tion, with full walls of floor-to-ceiling admitted to being pleased
Millennium Tower, new “green” bldg w/top appliances, we sold over 30 units.
windows on its east and north faces. enough with the value
Our listings are available for sale and rent.
The north windows look out on an at the low price. The
G line, 2br/2ba, 1,190sf, west river view, $1.7+M sale, $6,5K rent
inviting patio of seats and shade lobster club, piled high
E line, 2br/2.5ba, 1,526sf, s/e water/park/city views, $1.8+M, $7,5K rent
A line, 3br/3ba, 1,698sf, n/w river/statue views, $2.59M, $9K rent
umbrellas, which will no doubt be with Maine lobster,
F line, 3br/3.5ba, 2,097sf, s/w terrace/river/statue/park views $2.5M-3.2M
avocado,
packed as soon as temperatures crack bacon,
BPC Bldg: 2br/2ba, 1,095sf, terrace/water/statue view, $1.59M, $6K rent
sixty sometime this May. The restau- sprouts, and tomato,
1br/1ba, park/partial river view/free gym/ large living room, $515K
rant is set far back from Rector Street to felt overloaded rather
New construction “green” bldg. studio to 4br, gym/pool/water/city views,
make room for the patio, and this than thoughtfully con$600+K - $6M, call for earliest appointment.
design move gives inside diners a rare structed to provide a
Rental: 1-3 Br, water/park/city views, $2,600- $9000
sense of openness for a New York subtle interplay of fla15 Broad St., Loft, 2Br/2.5Ba, 2,000+SF, High fl., S/W city/water views,
vors and textures, but
streetscape.
gym/spa, $9K rent
The menu is straightforward, to be fair, the sandwich
Please visit out street front office at 21 South End Ave, in the Regatta Building.
is probably betterManager Ali Webster
enjoyed at lunch outside
on a hot day than at dinner inside on a cold night in February in conjunction
with other entrees.
As for the bar, the drinks were generous and the wine list was reasonable,
made even more so by the waiter’s recommendation of a bottle at the lower
end of the price range, a Camelot pinot noir, which turned out to be an excellent choice. Merchants also has a list of specialty cocktails and may be one of
the few restaurants in America that can serve a lychee martini and still be
called unpretentious.
The original Merchants opened ten years ago in Chelsea, and its late
night kitchen and wood-burning fireplace have made it a favorite relaxation
spot for its locals. In Merchants NY Café, downtown has a new place to sit
and relax, which will likely come into its own as temperatures warm up. For
now, it’s worth the short trip to Washington Street to find the stars on the
menu and experience the relaxing vibe of a seaside town in winter.
TriBeCa
BATTERY PARK REALTY
Merchants NY Café
90 Washington Street near Rector Street
Sunday-Monday noon – 10PM
Delivery Noon to 10PM
Brunch Saturday and Sunday noon to 4PM.
Starters $4-10 Mains $10-17
IT HAPPENED
February 14
200 Chambers Party
Aldo Perez in “The Curse of the Mystic Renaldo The”
Photo: 3LD Art and Technology Center
T
op-notch experimental theater awaits you on lower Greenwich Street,
where 3 Legged Dog Art and Technology Center opened “The Curse of the
Mystic Renaldo The” last week for a limited engagement. Go and mingle with
the beautiful rockers in their rectangular black glasses who always thought
they knew Downtown until they found their way to this lonely arts outpost at
the entrance to the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. You might feel right at home.
The noirish evening begins with the screening of a “restored” silent movie
that documents the life of the aristocratic buffoon Renaldo The. Soon the
screening turns into a tableau vivant, as Renaldo, his valet and the maid come
to glorious, slapstick life. Aldo Perez, a marvelous actor and musician, plays
Renaldo with an arsenal of rubbery movement and grimaces used to hilarious
effect. Richard Ginnoccio plays the straightfaced valet, and Jenny Lee Mitchell
is superb as the sexy maid. Layers of theater and terrific live music keep you
riveted, as you try to catch endless, erudite references to art, music and history
while guffawing at the bawdy jokes. 3 Legged Dog’s emphasis on high quality sound and lighting results in a remarkably vivid experience.
“The Curse of the Mystic Renaldo The,” Thursday and Friday nights at 6:30PM and
9PM, and Saturday nights at 9PM, through March 17. Appropriate for ages 13+.
$20. 3 Legged Dog Art and Technology Center, 80 Greenwich Street.
I
In the spring of 2004, professional
skateboarder Vinny Ponte and snowboarding friends opened Rival, a
skate and snowboard shop that
catered to those counter-culture
sports much the way surf shops did
in the 70s. It carried the Nike sneakers the owners loved, as well as the
hot, sometimes transient clothing
brands, boards, and accessories that
fed the hype and outfitted the sports’
devotees. Last spring, Mr. Ponte
shed the snowboards and winter
clothing, along with his partners and
their idea to become an upscale boutique, to narrow his store’s focus.
“No skateboarder wants to wear a
$200 tee shirt that will be dirty in five
minutes,” he explained. Rival now
concentrates on skateboards and all
that the boarder needs, and selling
Nike sneakers to sneakerheads, a
subculture resulting from the basketball sneaker fascination of the 80s,
hip-hop, and skateboarding.
Rival is a destination shop for
the urban skateboarder and sneaker
aficionado. In surfer-shop tradition,
it’s a comfortable and friendly place
that is a hangout to its clientele.
However, on any given day the store
is also frequented by mothers sneaker and clothing shopping for their
kids, rappers, and thirty-somethings
still into the sport of their youth.
Mr. Ponte relishes Rival being a
welcoming intersection for diverse
sections of society. “We do little
events, such as barbecues. We are
friendly with the police, and get lots
of support from the surrounding
community.”
n early February, a full house at the Tribeca
Performing Arts Center hung on Robert
Pinsky’s every word as the former poet laureate
discussed the poetry of Robert Frost and
William Carlos Williams. It was the first in this
season’s Branching Out NYC series sponsored
by Poets House, a SoHo institution moving to
Rival
Battery Park City next year.
212-929-7222
“Listen,” Mr. Pinsky, a man obsessed with
225 Hudson Street
the sounds of words, demanded at one point:
Monday – Friday, 11 AM-7 PM
“Fleckless light.”
Saturday, Noon-6 PM; Sunday, 1-4 PM
E. Ethelbert Miller
“Like sacks of sifted stone.”
As he had throughout the evening, he repeated phrases – these from the Williams poem “Fine Work With Pitch and
email:[email protected]
Copper” – playing with them, revealing how the order of words and their
sounds gives the poem movement; showing how cadence,
syncopation, inflection, changes in pitch, placement of
syllables and expressive linguistic sounds are used to
enrich the literal meaning of the words.
“Your breath is the medium for the poem,” he
reminded us, and we walked out into the cold night muttering poetry and eager for more.
More comes on March 6, when Branching Out presents another important American poet, E. Ethelbert
Miller, speaking on Langston Hughes, a poet best known
WEEKENDS at BROUWERS
for his work during the Harlem Renaissance of the
Every Saturday and Sunday
Twenties and Thirties.
Brunch Served
“I hope to whet people’s appetite,” Mr. Miller said in
11:30 a.m.-4:00 p.m.
a phone interview from his office at Washington’s
Appetizer, Entrée, Dessert and Coffee
Howard University, discussing his upcoming presentaComplimentary Bloody Mary,
tion and his strong connections to Lower Manhattan. It
Mimosa or Screwdriver
turns out he was born in New York and his mother lives
$20.00 Plus tax and gratuity
around the corner from the Tribeca Performing Arts
$3 Domestic – $4 Imported Pints
Center. “I want to share with them things about the poet.
ALL WEEKEND LONG
With Langston Hughes, you’re dealing with a writer
who’s really loved. I’ll show how we can interpret his
Private Party Room Available
poems in today’s world.” Mr. Miller, a “literary activist”
For Birthdays, Anniversaries,
and a gregarious fellow, should provide another
Baby or Bridal Showers
enthralling evening of words.
Packages starting at $30.00 Per Person
E. Ethelbert Miller on Langston Hughes, March 6 at 7PM.
$10 (half-price to Lower Manhattan residents, free to students), Tribeca Performing Arts Center, 199 Chambers Street.
Featuring the creative American Cuisine of
Michael Sullivan
Formerly of Chanterelle and Le Zinc
45 Stone Street
Btw South William and Pearl Street
Looking to benefit from a little Valentine’s Day desire, developer Jack Resnick
& Sons hosted a broker party at 200 Chambers, a new 30-story, glass and steel
condominium, on February 15. Downtown brokers swooned over the floor-toceiling expansive views and hoped their clients would lust after the nine-foot
ceilings, gourmet kitchens with Sub-Zero refrigerators and Bosch dishwashers,
marble bathrooms with deep-soaking Zuma bathtubs and building amenities
enough to consummate the deal.
- Marti Cohen Wolf
Photo by Steve Friedman
Clockwise from left: Cory Walter, Sales Manager, 200 Chambers Street;
Jackie Urgo, Director of Marketing, The Marketing Directors; Dennis
Brady, Managing Director, Jack Resnick & Sons; Kaley Pickett, Project
Coordinator, The Marketing Directors; Sheena Guido, Sales Associate,
200 Chambers Street.
Aminah et les amis
The premier Children's boutique in Battery Park City.
A European & American contemporary clothing
boutique for boys and girls, newborn to 12yrs.
From casual to dressy, including accessories
•IKKS
•Petit Bateau
•Tea Collection
•Jean Bourget
•3 Pommes
•imps&elfsamsterdam
•Aster Shoes
•Catimini
•Lola et Moi
•KicoKids
•Petit Patapon
•Widgeon
2 World Financial Center 2nd floor
(next to Ann Taylor)
212-227-0117
Tel 212.785.5400 • Fax 212.785.5472
www.brouwersnyc.com
THE BATTERY PARK CITY BROADSHEET
Volume 11 Number 4
March 3 - March 18, 2007
© All Rights Reserved
RiverWatch
continued from page 1
ARRIVALS &
DEPARTURES
2007:
The 40th Anniversary
of Battery Park City
els.” Mr. Eckstut and Mr. Cooper
began by visiting the great waterfront
spaces around the city: Riverside
Park, Carl Schultz Park, and the
Brooklyn Heights Esplanade.
“We found everything we needed to know in those riverfront parks,”
recalls Mr. Cooper. “We found a consistent language of materials and fixtures that made perfect sense.” This
design vocabulary included elegantly
hooked “bishop’s crook” street lamps,
the hexagonal paving stones originally designed by Frederick Law
Olmstead for Central Park, and a
gracefully curving metal rail
anchored to a rich granite wall at the
water’s edge. (The stone came from
the same Canadian quarry that Ms.
Burden’s step-father, William S.
Paley, had used in 1965 for the facade
of his Saarinen-designed CBS corporate headquarters in midtown.) In
place of arson-proof concrete settees,
the street furniture offered the classic
hooped bench that become famous at
the 1939 World’s Fair. (A spokesman
for Kenneth Lynch & Sons, the
Wilton, Connecticut company that
has manufactured this bench since
1928, recalls that its original design
was a three-way collaboration
between
New
York
Parks
Commissioner Robert Moses, his
friend, financier Bernard Baruch, and
an orthopedic surgeon.)
But while they were reinterpreting the design heritage of New York’s
parks, Mr. Eckstut and Mr. Cooper
had to contend with the unique engineering realities of Battery Park City.
“The Esplanade looks like solid
ground,” explains Mr. Eckstut, “but
it’s actually what architects call a ‘roof
terrace’ - a platform supported by
columns, with the Hudson River
flowing underneath it.” The designers knew they wanted to dot the
Esplanade with trees, but their
weight could be supported only if
each tree sat directly above one of the
supporting columns. “It was just
luck,” says Mr. Eckstut, “that these
pile caps happened to be spaced ideally for the placement of trees.”
Moreover, the plants that Ms. Burden
felt would be an essential part of the
landscape required soil. “And because
we couldn’t dig into the platform
itself,” recalls Mr. Cooper, “we had to
create a second, slightly higher level
where soil could be boxed in.” This
became the narrower walkway, closer
to the buildings and sheltered by
trees. Safety codes required that the
Esplanade be wide enough for fire
engines and police cars to reach all
buildings from the river side, “so the
lower level stayed wide and flat,”
explains Mr. Eckstut. The result was
a juxtaposition between spaces that
were formal and informal, public and
private, open and sheltered.
As the first section of the
Esplanade opened in 1983, running
from North Cove marina to Rector
Place, New York Times architecture
critic Paul Goldberger called it “the
best public space in Manhattan in a
generation - and surely the finest
riverfront park in New York City
since the esplanade at Brooklyn
Heights was completed.”
“We knew that if it was great,”
recalls Ms. Burden, “it would bring
people to Battery Park City, that they
would want to be here.” The
Esplanade succeeded not only in putting Battery Park City on
Manhattan’s architectural map; it
also inspired a revival of long-dormant design standards in New York’s
parks and other public spaces, which
soon began again to benefit from the
use of granite, brick, and other aesthetically pleasing, traditional materials. For the architects, though, the
Esplanade’s most fitting tribute is the
skeptical reaction often overheard
from visitors when they are told that
it’s barely two decades old. “It looks
like New York,” says Mr. Eckstut.
“That was the point: It was supposed
to look like it had always been here.”
- Matthew Fenton
The Broadsheet is interested in hearing
about the Battery Park City history that
you've lived. If you have a idea about
the community's past that we should
cover in this space, please e-mail it to
[email protected].
C RUISE S HIPS I N
THE
H ARBOR
Ships pass Battery Park City on their way to and from
the Passenger Ship Terminal located between
46th and 52nd streets on the Hudson River.
Stated times are based on broadsheet sighting histories and
published schedules. They are also subject to tides, fog,
winds, freak waves, hurricanes and
the whims of upper management.
inbound
While some of our fuel is consumed as a result of "addiction," a great deal of it is being used these days to
heat the rooms in which we live and work. As a quantifier of petroleum, the "barrel" is hard to comprehend
in any meaningful way. Maybe "barge" would better convey the sheer volume of our fuel consumption, as
here, where a full one goes upriver to unload somewhere in the metropolitan area and an empty heads
south for replenishment.
Calendar
FRI
Please confirm the information below by calling or checking online. Details may have changed since the printing of this edition.
2
Winter’s Palate: A Tasting
Festival
From lobster ravioli and sushi to silky gelato
and mini-burgers, the World Financial Center’s
restaurants are prepared to please the most discriminating palates with sample signature
menu items for $1-5. 11am-2:30pm. Winter
Garden. 212-945-0505. www.worldfinancialcenter.com
Clash of the Titans Art Talk
Hear Anna Tsouhlarakis (Creek/Navajo/Greek)
in an artist dialogue at the National Museum of
the American Indian. Ms. Tsouhlarakis is the
featured artist in an exhibit at the American
Indian Community House Gallery, at 11
Broadway. Free. 12pm. Smithsonian's National
Museum of the American Indian, One Bowling
Green. 212-514-3700. www.nmai.si.edu
Clash of the Titans
Opening reception for a new exhibit at Lower
Manhattan's newest cultural venue, the
American Indian Community House. Today is
the opening day of “Clash of the Titans,“
description. Through March 28. Gallery hours
are Tuesday through Saturday, noon to 6pm
(Tuesday: by appointment only). Free. 6pm8pm. American Indian Community House, 11
Broadway. 212-598-0100. www.aich.org
SAT
ArchiKids
As she passes Ellis Island, Noordam’s long tiers of balconied staterooms look a little like Washington, DC's Watergate
Apartments riding out to sea on the deck of a container ship. Well, maybe not, but for some time now ship designers
have been raising superstructures higher to bring more and more passengers out of portholed hull cabins into widewindowed, balconied staterooms above the hull. Holland America's Noordam, now sailing regularly out of New York,
carries up to 1,918 passengers, attended by a crew of 800. Her glitzy gold Atrium wouldn't look out of place on the
Vegas Strip, but high culture is not far away in the Explorations Cafe, which boasts the largest library at sea, music
listening stations, and Internet access.
- Brian Rogers
3
and land and draws upon language and symbolism. Free. Smithsonian’s National Museum
of the American Indian, One Bowling Green
212-514-3700. www.nmai.si.edu
SUN
4
New York Packet presents the
Johnson Girls
The world's best known and best loved women's
maritime song group performs with driving
rhythms and divine harmonies. $5 adults, $2
children. 3pm-5pm. South Street Seaport
Museum, Melville Gallery, 213 Water Street.
212-748-8568. www.southstseaport.org
MON
Concert at One
5
Branching Out NYC: E. Ethelbert
Miller on Langston Hughes
Through his examination of Langston Hughes
(1902-1967), Miller traces America's social
transformation from the 1920s through the Civil
Rights Movement and provides an intimate
inquiry into "this man who taught us how to
dream." E. Ethelbert Miller directs the African
American Resource Center at Howard University
and is the author, most recently, of "How We
Sleep On the Nights We Don't Make Love". $10,
$5 for Lower Manhattan residents, free for students. 7pm. Tribeca Performing Arts Center, 199
Chambers Street. 212-220-1460. www.tribecapac.org
WED
7
Yvonne Lam, violin, Susanne Son, piano. Works
by Janacek, Beethoven and Schubert. $2 suggested donation. 1pm. St. Paul’s Chapel,
Broadway at Fulton Street. 212-602-0747.
www.trinitywallstreet.org
The Watchman
TUE
Movie (2005-USA/Israel, 50 minutes, BETA SP),
followed by a discussion moderated by
Shoshana Bulow, LCSW, psychotherapist; with
Viva Hammer, attorney and fertility researcher;
Shosh Shlam, director; and Pearl Stroh, featured in film. For many Jewish women there is
no higher commandment than to “be fruitful
and multiply.” In some cases this results in families with 10, 12, or even 16 children. In this
6
Parents Network Breakfast
Parents, expectant parents and babies 012months are invited to a monthly breakfast.
Meet fellow parents to share tips and seek
advice. This is a free monthly event for BPC
Neighbors Association members and first
timers. Breakfast is provided. Children and newcomers are welcome! Membership applications
Robert Crais will discusss his new novel "The
Watchman." Free. 6pm-7:30pm. Mysterious
Bookshop, 58 Warren Street. 212-587-1011.
www.mysteriousbookshop.com
Be Fruitful and Multiply
Alongside architect Yves Roger, children ages 913 will explore skyscraper architecture and
work on a hands-on building project, which they
will be able to bring home. As they learn and
work, children will be surrounded by images,
vintage film and models of actual skyscrapers
of the past, present and future. Free. 10am12pm. Skyscraper Museum, 39 Battery Place
212-945-6324. www.skyscraper.org
Goldman Sachs Rises. After many months of digging and drilling and anchoring the base to
bedrock, a multitude of cranes and an army of workers with truckloads of materials have placed
steel girders above street level for the first time. The new Goldman Sachs world headquarters will
rise 740 feet into the sky with 43 stories of good-looking bankers.
available at the event. Free for members of the
Battery Park City Neighbors Association (and
first timers). 10am-11:30am. Applebees restaurant, Vesey Street, www.bpcnpa.com
The Old Port of New York
Much of the existing shoreline of Manhattan
Island is "man-made" land. Consequently, the
remains of the early port of New York lie largely beneath the streets of Manhattan. The construction of modern skyscrapers along shoreline
areas requires excavation of the old land-fill
areas, unearthing structures and artifacts representing 300 years of history. Free. 12:30pm1:30pm. Fraunces Tavern Museum, 54 Pearl
Street. 212-425-1778. www.frauncestavernmuseum.org
Bomb Squad
Book party celebrating the release of "Bomb
Squad: A Year Inside the Nation's Most Exclusive
Police Unit" by Richard Esposito and Ted
Gerstein. Free. 6:30pm-8pm. Mysterious
Bookshop, 58 Warren Street. 212-587-1011.
www.mysteriousbookshop.com
New York Review of Science
Fiction
Monthly New York Review of Science Fiction
Reading Series event, curated and produced by
Jim Freund. Free ($5 suggested donation).
7pm. South Street Seaport Museum, Melville
Gallery, 213 Water Street. 212-748-8568.
www.southstseaport.org
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even-handed documentary, director Shosh
Shlam examines the roles of ultra-Orthodox
women. Some of the women in the film revel in
their roles as head of their large families and
others decide to limit their family’s size. $10,
$7, $5. 7pm. Museum of Jewish Heritage -- A
Living Memorial to the Holocaust. 646-4374300. www.mjhnyc.org
THU
8
New York Scandia Symphony
Dorrit Matson, conductor. Works by Gade, Grieg,
Nielsen and Langgaard. $2 suggested donation.
1pm. Trinity Church, Broadway at Wall Street.
212-602-0747. www.trinitywallstreet.org
Women's History Month Lecture
Celebrates Leslie Marmon Silko
Hear author Leslie Silko lecture on her book
"Ceremony," celebrating its 30th anniversary.
The New York Times Book Review said,
"Without question Leslie Silko is the most
accomplished native American writer of her generation. Free. 6pm. Smithsonian's National
Museum of the American Indian, One Bowling
Green. 212-514-3700. www.nmai.si.edu
Seaport Book Club
Participate in lively discussion at the new
Seaport Book Club. On the second Thursday of
each month explore a different book related to
the history of the Port of New York or the
Maritime Atlantic. In honor of Women's History
Millie Byrum, Ph.d
Certified Psychologist
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212-786-3300
1021/2 North End Ave.
www.pizzabolla.com
Anxiety
Depression
Relationship Issues
Life Review
Adults of all ages,
especially welcoming seniors
Village location
212-674-1091
$50. 2pm-7:30pm. Community Center at
Stuyvesant High School. 212-267-9700.
www.bpcparks.org
Hanover Wind Symphony
tobacco, however, made the Jamestown Colony
in Virginia economically viable as smoking rapidly advanced in Europe. Mr. Burns’ book traces
the cultivation and consumption of tobacco from
the pre-Columbian era to the present. $6.
6:30pm. Fraunces Tavern Museum, 54 Pearl
Street. 212-425-1778. www.frauncestavernmuseum.org
SUN
My Father’s Secret War: A
Memoir
11
Why Israel Matters Today
Cabaret Jazz featuring Barbara Carroll with Ken
Peplowski, Jay Leonhart and Joe Ascione, and
the Paula West Quartet. $30, $27.50. 8pm.
Tribeca Performing Arts Center, 199 Chambers
Street. 212-220-1460. www.tribecapac.org
SAT
Walking Tour: Revolutionary New
York
Jack Kleinsinger's Highlights in
Jazz
10
Celebrate Women's History Month with Jennifer
Rice (Tuscarora) as she tells the story of
Jikonhsaseh, the "Mother of Nations" and other
stories about Haudenosaunee (Iroquois)
women. Then gather in the classroom to make
cornhusk dolls with Angela Friedlander (Metis).
Free. 12pm. Smithsonian's National Museum of
the American Indian, One Bowling Green. 212514-3700. www.nmai.si.edu
Family Program: Art of the High
Seas - Build a Boat
Explore the Museum's collection of ship models
in the Walter Lord Gallery. Using these models
as your guide, embark upon an imaginary journey overseas, and create a model boat of precision and imagination of your very own. Free
with admissions ($8, $6, $4). 1pm-4pm. South
Street Seaport Museum, Walter Lord Gallery,
209 Water Street. 212-748-8568. www.southstseaport.org
Babysitter's Training
This two-session babysitter's training for boys
and girls, ages 11 to 15, will teach young
babysitters to handle unexpected situations
calmly and competently. Designed to increase
leadership skills and professionalism, the
course covers such topics as essential safety,
first aid, safe play and basic care skills. $60,
8:45a
7:15a
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8:45a
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7:15a
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The Hanover Wind Symphony, an adult civic
semi-professional musical group, presents A
Musical Mosaic. The Hanover Wind Symphony is
joined by special guest, English euphonium virtuoso Steven Mead. The concert will feature traditional and contemporary literature for winds,
with notable works by Percy Grainger, Mark
Camphouse, Michael Colgrass, James Curnow,
Philip Sparke, and more. $35, $20. 8pm.
Tribeca Performing Arts Center, 199 Chambers
Street. 212-220-1460. www.tribecapac.org
Panel discussion moderated by Jeffrey
Goldberg, the Washington correspondent for
The New Yorker and author of Prisoners: A
Muslim and a Jew Across the Middle East
Divide. Nearly 60 years ago when the United
Nations approved the partition plan leading to
the creation of the State of Israel, the horrors of
the Holocaust were still fresh in people’s minds.
Now, in 2007, as Israel copes with the aftermath of the latest in an ongoing series of wars
with its Arab neighbors, and its very existence
is threatened, our group of diverse speakers
discusses Israel’s relevance today. $15, $12,
$10. 1pm-4pm. Museum of Jewish Heritage -- A
Living Memorial to the Holocaust. 646-4374300. www.mjhnyc.org
Children's Storybook Reading
and Workshop
Barnum’s Gallery of Wonders
Opening day of a new exhibit about landscape
art by Native Americans. The artists in Off the
Map reinvent and examine landscape from a
complex perspective, creating work that exists
outside of Western landscape traditions. Their
work also defies common expectations of Native
American art in both its form and content.
Jeffrey Gibson’s (Mississippi Band Choctaw/
Cherokee) paintings utilize intensely colored
marks, glossy and transparent pours, and pigmented silicone to depict an imaginary environment. Carlos Jacanamijoy (Inga) is inspired by
the light and sounds of Colombia’s tropical rainforest and the urban cityscape of his Brooklyn
home. James Lavadour's (Walla Walla) elegant
depictions of the landscape are rooted in his
relationship to the land near his home on the
Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon. Erica
Lord (Inuit/Athabascan), an emerging artist
known for work that addresses themes of race,
ethnicity and gender as well as memory and
home, challenges the audience’s perceptions of
reality and place. Emmi Whitehorse’s (Navajo)
multilayered abstract work explores memory
Collaborators since 1978, Art Bridgman and
Myrna Packer have constantly redefined the
possibilities of sensual and intensely physical
partnering. Today, Bridgman/Packer Dance premieres Memory Bank, exploring the intricacies
of identity, perception, intimacy and time, in an
integration of live performance and video technology. Bridgman and Packer distort identity
and reveal multiple layers of consciousness
through interaction with their life-size video
counterparts and the use of bodies as projection
screens. Collaborators include video artists Peter
Bobrow and Jim Monroe and composer Glen
Velez who will perform his score. Also on the
program is Bridgman/Packer's acclaimed 2005
work Under The Skin, score by Ken Field. Also
March 9 and 10. $25, $18. 8pm. Dance New
Amsterdam, 280 Broadway. 212-625-8369.
www.dnadance.org
Children explore building materials with the
Skyscraper Museum. Touch skyscraper materials, including a glass window, metal I-beam,
and a piece of concrete. Hear the story of the
Three Little Pigs (with a twist) and then help to
build a giant house of brick. Free. 10:30am11:30am. Skyscraper Museum, 39 Battery Place
212-945-6324. www.skyscraper.org
Off the Map artists Jeffrey Gibson, Erica Lord,
Emmi Whitehorse, Carlos Jacanamijoy and
James Lavadour conduct personal tours in the
National Museum of the American Indian's exhibition gallery. Free. 1pm-4pm. Smithsonian’s
National Museum of the American Indian, One
Bowling Green. 212-514-3700. www.nmai.si.edu
Off the Map: Landscape in the
Native Imagination
Bridgman/Packer Dance
Building Blocks
Off the Map: Meet the Artists
and Public Opening
From Seaport grocer to promoter extraordinaire, P.T. Barnum brought Lower Manhattan
the American Museum. Learn about Industrious
Fleas, the Feejee mermaid, Jumbo the elephant
and a handful of humbug! Come be a part of
the Greatest Show on Earth, with this festival of
triumph, trickery and trade! Free with admissions ($8, $6, $4). 1pm-4pm. South Street
Seaport Museum, Melville Gallery, 213 Water
Street. 212-748-8568. www.southstseaport.org
Month, the March selection delves into the littleknown world of female captains in the age of
sail. Space is limited; please RSVP. To reserve,
please call 212-748-8568 or email
[email protected]. $5 suggested donation. 6pm. South Street Seaport Museum, 12
Fulton Street. www.southstseaport.org
Sunday, Mar 4 Norwegian Spirit
Saturday, Mar 10 Noordam
Norwegian Spirit
Sunday, Mar 11 Norwegian Dawn
Sunday, Mar 18 Norwegian Spirit
Wednesday, Mar 21 Noordam
Thursday, Mar 22 Norwegian Dawn
Saturday, Mar 24 Norwegian Spirit
Saturday, Mar 31 Noordam
Sunday, Apr 1
Norwegian Dawn
Norwegian Spirit
Saturday, Apr 7 Norwegian Spirit
Tuesday, Apr 10 Queen Mary 2
Wednesday, Apr 11 Noordam
Thursday, Apr 12 Norwegian Dawn
March through the streets of Lower Manhattan
as you trace the footsteps of the men and
women who lived during the revolutionary era
of New York's history. Transport yourself back
in time as you experience the dawning of
democracy on the steps of Federal Hall, rally at
the Liberty Pole, discover how Wall Street got its
name, and choose a side in the conflict that
defined American freedom. Reservations
required. $12 adults, $8 children, ($4 discount
for Museum members). 1pm-3pm. South Street
Seaport Museum. Meet in Museum lobby at 12
Fulton Street by 12:45pm. 212-748-8757.
www.southstseaport.org
Reading and Book Signing
Simon Ortiz (Acoma Pueblo) will be reading
excerpts from his work. 6:30pm. American
Indian Community House, 11 Broadway. 212598-0100. www.aich.org
MON
Concert at One
12
Sonya R. Headlam, soprano, Djordje Stevan
Nesic, piano. $2 suggested donation. 1pm. St.
Paul's Chapel, Broadway at Fulton Street. 212602-0747. www.trinitywallstreet.org
Poets on Peck
The Modern Metrics poets pay another special
visit to Shooting Star Theatre on Peck Slip for a
reading by Len Krisak and and open mike for
metrical poems. $5. 7pm. Shooting Star
Theatre, 40 Peck Slip. 718-852-7773.
www.shootingstartheatre.org
TUE
13
Looking At: Jazz presents The
Jazz Swing Era
Free. 8pm. Tribeca Performing Arts Center, 199
Chambers Street. 212-220-1460. www.tribecapac.org
WED
14
The Smoke of the Gods: A Social
History of Tobacco
Eric Burns, host of Fox News Watch on the Fox
News Channel returns to Fraunces Tavern
Museum to discuss his new book on the history
of tobacco. Introduced to tobacco with the
founding of the Jamestown colony in Virginia,
King James I of England condemned it as a
“noxious weed.” The planting and sale of
In this riveting memoir, Pulitzer Prize-winning
journalist Lucinda Franks discovers that the
remote, troubled man she grew up with had in
fact been a daring spy in World War II. Sworn
to secrecy, he begins revealing details of his
wartime activities only in the last years of his
life — posing as a Nazi SS officer, slipping
behind enemy lines to blow up ammunition
dumps, and reporting on the atrocities found at
one of the first concentration camps liberated
by the Allies. A video presentation will accompany the discussion, which will be moderated by
Dan Rather. $5. 7pm. Museum of Jewish
Heritage -- A Living Memorial to the Holocaust.
646-437-4300. www.mjhnyc.org
Small Town
Rob Reddy’s Small Town is a 19-piece ensemble
consisting of five brass, five winds, seven
strings and two percussion. Grounded in rhythm
and melody, this new hour-long composition
showcases the distinctive musical talents of composer and conductor Rob Reddy and an impressive ensemble of the leading musicians from
New York City’s contemporary music scene. Part
of Tribeca Performing Arts Center's annual Work
& Show Festival. $10, $8. 7pm. Tribeca
Performing Arts Center, 199 Chambers Street.
212-220-1460. www.tribecapac.org
THU
Marimba Concert
15
Anne-Julie Caron performs works by SaintSaens, Bach, Espel, Piazzolla, Metheny and
Spencer. $2 suggested donation. 1pm. Trinity
Church, Broadway at Wall Street. 212-602-0747.
www.trinitywallstreet.org
Archi-Neering
Marrying engineering efficiencies and structural
solutions with dynamic material design has
made Helmut Jahn an innovator in energy-conscious high-rises, including the Deutsche Post
Tower in Bonn, Germany, and an affordable
housing project in Chicago. This lecture is part
of the Skyscraper Museum's "Mixed Greens"
series, which features architects and engineers
whose work in Europe, Asia, the U.S., and elsewhere demonstrates the leading edge in sustainable design and technology. Registration is
required. $10, $5. 6:30pm. 7 World Trade
Center. 212-945-6324. www.skyscraper.org
Small Town
Rob Reddy’s Small Town is a 19-piece ensemble
consisting of five brass, five winds, seven
strings and two percussion. Grounded in rhythm
and melody, this new hour-long composition
showcases the distinctive musical talents of composer and conductor Rob Reddy and an impressive ensemble of the leading musicians from
New York City’s contemporary music scene. Part
of Tribeca Performing Arts Center's annual Work
& Show Festival. $10, $8. 7pm. Tribeca
Performing Arts Center, 199 Chambers Street.
212-220-1460. www.tribecapac.org
Greetings from New Amsterdam:
How Manhattan Became the
Island at the Center of the World
outbound
4:30p
5:15p
4:30p
4:30p
4:30p
5:15p
4:30p
4:30p
5:15p
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notes
To Port Canaveral
To Tortola
To St. Thomas
To Great Stirrup Cay
To Port Canaveral
To Grand Turk
To St. Thomas
To St. Thomas
To Tortola
To St. Thomas
To Port Canaveral
To St. Thomas
To St. Thomas
To Grand Turk
To Great Stirrup Cay
Times Magazine, speak at the National Museum
of the American Indian. At One Bowling Green,
this Beaux-Arts building designed by Cass
Gilbert houses the new Diker Pavilion for Native
Arts and Cultures. The pavilion is distinguished
by its unique elliptical art and performance
space. Space is limited and registration is
required in advance for each lecture.
Reservations are on a first-come, first-served
basis. Free. 7pm (doors open at 6pm). The
Smithsonian National Museum of the American
Indian (One Bowling Green). www.downtownny.com/thirdthursdays
FRI
Susan McKeown
16
Free concert. 12:30pm. Winter Garden. 212-9450505. www.worldfinancialcenter.com
FREE Friday at South Street
Seaport Museum
Free evening of arts and cultural programming.
Visit Museum galleries during special extended
hours from 5 until 9 pm. Participation in selected programs is limited; admission to those
events will be on a first-come, first-served basis,
beginning at 5 pm. 5-9pm: Visit galleries. 6pm:
Tour the newest exhibition, The Fighting
Irishman. www.southstseaport.org
16 Stories
Part of Tribeca Performing Arts Center's annual
Work & Show Festival, "16 Stories" tells the
stories of the residents of a sixteen story apartment building, through text, movement and set,
utilizing dancer interaction and holographic
imagery. Christal Brown/Inspirit performs. Also
March 17. $10, $8. 7pm. Tribeca Performing
Arts Center, 199 Chambers Street. 212-2201460. www.tribecapac.org
SAT
17
Seaport Family Science Series:
Moon Magic
The moon continually influences the waters of
our planet, and has inspired legends across cultures. Discover the moon's phases, hear its stories, and use a model to explain the recent
lunar eclipse. Free with admission ($8, $6, $4)
1pm-4pm. South Street Seaport Museum, 12
Fulton Street. www.southstseaport.org
SUN
18
Special Program: Skyscrapers Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
Did you know that when it was built in 1812
Schermerhorn Row was the largest building in
the Seaport District? Just imagine what our
ancestors would think of the structures that
sculpt our city's skyline today. Join us for a special program co-presented by the Skyscraper
Museum that will explore the history of architecture in Lower Manhattan. First, explore our
early 19th-century structure Schermerhorn Row
with a museum educator. Then marvel at the
buildings of Lower Manhattan as we walk to our
final destination, the Skyscraper Museum. Once
there, we will take a tour of their facility and
learn about the future of these architectural
marvels. Reservations required. $12 adults, $8
children, ($4 discount for Museum members).
1pm-3pm. Walking tour and lecture co-sponsored by the South Street Seaport Museum and
the Skyscraper Museum. Start at South Street
Seaport. 212-748-8757. www.southstseaport.org
Part of a lecture series featuring prominent
architects, authors and historians exploring
themes and issues of particular relevance to
Lower Manhattan. Tonight, hear author Russell
Shorto, a contributing writer to The New York
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