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DOWNTOWN
POST NYC
News and Events
in Lower Manhattan
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Volume 5,
No. 8
May 6, 2018
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QUOTE OF THE DAY:
"I believe that sharing information is always good, especially with so many who are interested in the future of the Seaport District, which has so many moving parts."
- Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, commenting on the reasons for forming a Seaport Advisory Group
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 LETTER FROM THE EDITOR: A TALE OF TWO PIERS
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Terese Loeb Kreuzer, editor
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The executives of the Hudson River Park Trust, a partnership between New York State and City charged with the design, construction and operation of the four-mile Hudson River Park, must be celebrating these days. On April 24, repair work began on thousands of deteriorating steel pilings under Pier 40, which juts into the Hudson River at Houston Street.
The park is supposed to be self-sufficient financially, and it needs Pier 40. Revenue from the pier generates around $6 million a year - approximately 30 percent of HRPT's annual operating budget. The pier supports a parking garage, athletic fields and the administrative offices of the Hudson River Park Trust. But the pilings under the pier, installed in the 1960s, were in such bad shape that the pier was in danger of collapsing. According to Steve Ferker, the trust's chief engineer (as quoted in Crain's New York Business, "Sigh of relief as urgent repair of Pier 40's pilings begins," 4/24/18), some of the piles had holes in them big enough for a person's head to fit through. Ferker estimated that the work to repair the pier's 3,600 piles will take four to five years. The estimated cost is $104 million.
Meanwhile, on the other side of Lower Manhattan, another pier with deteriorated piles will have to be torn down, according to the New York City Economic Development Corporation, which administers the South Street Seaport site on behalf of the City. The site in question is the New Market Building, constructed on a pier in the East River.
The New Market Building opened in 1939 as the last structure specifically built for the centuries-old Fulton Fish Market. When the South Street Seaport Historic District was created in 1977, taking in the Tin Building, Schermerhorn Row on Fulton Street, and numerous Greek Revival warehouses, lofts and other commercial buildings, the New Market Building was excluded.
For years, Community Board 1 and other community organizations pleaded with the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission to designate the New Market Building as a New York City landmark, but nothing was done. Even though the New Market Building is within the South Street Seaport State and National Register Historic Districts, without New York City landmark designation it was and is fair game for demolition and redevelopment.
In 2013, The Howard Hughes Corporation, holder of a long-term lease on other parts of the Seaport, proposed building a 50-story-tall hotel/apartment tower on the New Market site. By 2014, Howard Hughes was talking about a 600-foot-tall residential tower on that site, and when that idea was shot down by the community aided by elected officials, Howard Hughes scaled back its proposal to a hotel and residential tower of a mere 492 feet. That, too, met with community resistance.
Howard Hughes tower proposals have come and gone over the last five years or so, but one thing has remained constant. The New York City Economic Development Corporation has invested only a minimal amount of money in preserving and maintaining the New Market Building and its pier and has been intent on seeing them both demolished.
Reports in the local press about this go back years. On May 14, 2015, for instance, Crain's New York Business ran an article entitled "Two historic buildings at South Street Seaport to be torn down - and the city is leading the demolition." The buildings in question were the Tin and New Market buildings. An EDC spokeswoman was quoted in the article as saying that the piles have "deteriorated to the point that they cannot hold the structures above it." EDC said that it would "demolish a portion of the rear of both buildings called the cooler areas, and then assess whether or not the rest of the structures needed to be razed as well." But - and this was the kicker - the article went on to say, "according to emails obtained by Crain's, back in April city officials already knew they would tear down both buildings in their entirety, and had aimed to begin the demolition June 8, a month or two earlier than current plans."
That was three years ago. What's happening now is that in January 2018, EDC notified Community Board 1 of its plans to demolish the New Market Building and in April also made a presentation to that effect in front of the newly formed Seaport Advisory Group.
A spokesperson for the Economic Development Corporation explains that EDC had received an engineering report in April 2017 that stated that the New Market Building was in danger of collapsing because the piles supporting the structure were deteriorating. A number of agencies would have to approve the demolition and EDC says it is currently working with them to obtain the necessary permits.
EDC has said nothing about what would happen to the New Market Building site, and The Howard Hughes Corporation, which previously had been eyeing the site hungrily, is also keeping mum. In answer to a question posed by this editor, "Does The Howard Hughes Corporation still have an option to develop the New Market Building site?" HHC replied, "We cannot comment at this time."
EDC's answer to that question was "HHC does not have rights on the New Market Building site under their lease."
Well, that's true, however, HHC did have an option to develop the site under a Letter of Intent signed on Dec. 12, 2011. Howard Hughes had until June 30, 2013 to exercise that option, and it met its deadline.
Now, apparently, HHC is talking not about towers on the New Market site but about the New Market building's air rights. An article in The Real Deal on April 25, 2018 ("Howard Hughes eyes 600 sf of air rights at South Street Seaport") cited Howard Hughes' annual review, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that day. It stated that if HHC exercised its "option" at the New Market site, 212,000 feet of air rights would become available.
Air rights are valuable. Air rights are helping to finance the $104 million rehabilitation of Pier 40 in Hudson River Park. The Hudson River Park Trust netted $100 million when it sold 200,000 square feet of unused development rights from Pier 40 to the private developer of a building at 550 Washington St.
The difference in the fate of these two piers - Pier 40 and the New Market Building and its pier - does not seem to be per se how much money it would cost to fix them or how badly deteriorated they are. The difference seems to be that the Hudson River Park Trust wants to keep Pier 40 whereas the Economic Development Corporation finds the New Market Building to be expendable.
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www.DowntownPostNYC.com.
Terese Loeb Kreuzer
Editor
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(Above) The New Market Building on South Street as it looked on March 28, 2018. The New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC), which is responsible for the building, plans to demolish it. (Photo: Barbara Mensch)
(Below) The New Market Building as it looked on May 3, 2014.
(Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)
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The emailed Downtown Post NYC newsletter is appearing less frequently than formerly, however,
Downtown Post NYC's website (www.DowntownPostNYC.com) is updated daily. That's the place to check for urgent messages, breaking news and reminders of interesting events in and around Lower Manhattan.
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SEAPORT ADVISORY GROUP HOPES TO END SEAPORT 'SURPRISES'
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| The Howard Hughes Corporation is currently demolishing the Tin Building in the South Street Seaport preparatory to elevating it out of the flood plain and moving it to a different location on South Street. (Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer) |
Four years ago, at a Community Board 1 meeting on Feb. 25, 2014, the formation of a Seaport Working Group was officially announced, including its mission and its membership. Responding to community outrage over plans by The Howard Hughes Corporation to build a 50-story tower on the site of the New Market Building, "Community stakeholders, elected officials, representatives of The Howard Hughes Corporation and the New York City Economic Development Corporation will engage in 'a collaborative, community-based planning process for development in the South Street Seaport,' according to a statement announcing the task force."
It met frequently for 11 weeks and on June 2, 2014, released guidelines that it had developed to shape the Seaport's future. The guidelines were specific but non-binding on the Economic Development Corporation (EDC) and Howard Hughes and now, because in part of that same problematic New Market Building, a successor task force has been convened called informally the Seaport Advisory Group. It met for the first time on April 16, 2018.
"The demolition of the New Market Building was the catalyst for the formation of this group," said Diana Switaj, Director of Land Use and Planning for Community Board 1.
Community Board 1 first heard about EDC's plans to tear down the New Market Building via a phone call on Jan. 3, 2018. The consternation that this precipitated caused Manhattan President Gale Brewer, City Councilmember Margaret Chin and Community Board 1 to form the Seaport Advisory Group as a "communications vehicle," in Switaj's words. "The long-term purpose of the group is still to be determined."
"While we've labeled it internally - as a shorthand - a Seaport advisory group, it's not at all formal or funded, like the original pre-planning effort a few years ago," said Jon Houston, Director of Communications for Manhattan Borough President Brewer. "It's more like a community advisory board than anything else. We brought together as many stakeholders as we could find who were willing to attend. That included the local electeds, community board members and EDC."
Despite repeated requests from Community Board 1 and from elected officials for a master plan for the South Street Seaport, neither The Howard Hughes Corporation, holder of a long-term lease on parts of the Seaport, nor the EDC, the City's landlord for the Seaport, has ever released one. As a result there have been frequent changes to announced and sometimes formally approved plans, blindsiding other Seaport stakeholders. In addition to the absence of a master plan, some agreements between Howard Hughes and EDC were signed in secret.
"I believe that sharing information is always good, especially with so many who are interested in the future of the Seaport District, which has so many moving parts," said Borough President Brewer of the Seaport Advisory Group. "Convening this way avoids a real-life game of 'telephone.' I plan to invite the group in again in a couple of months to continue the process."
- Terese Loeb Kreuzer
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GOVERNORS ISLAND, OPEN DAILY FOR THE 2018 SEASON,
OFFERS THE OPTION OF STAYING LATE ON FRIDAY NIGHTS
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Ferry service to Governors Island runs daily from the Battery Maritime Terminal in Lower Manhattan and on weekends starting May 5 from Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 6. Ferries are free through May 6. (Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)
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Governors Island, a treasure 800 yards from the coast of Manhattan and only 400 yards from Brooklyn, has opened for the 2018 season with something to interest, beguile and amaze just about anyone. For starters, there's the island itself, with its forts and other historical monuments, its shaded, grassy lawns, its vistas of the harbor, its sea and land birds, its wildflowers and its hills where a soft wind blows even when city streets are sticky and hot.
In addition, there's plenty to do.
This season, for instance, there will be a new outdoor film series: 'Escape in New York: Outdoor Films on Governors Island,' with four free film screenings - one each month beginning in June. The films will be shown on the Island's newly restored Parade Ground, an eight-acre lawn with dramatic views of Lower Manhattan. The first evening of films, on
June 8, will be "Escape from New York" (John Carpenter, 1981) paired with a short film by a local filmmaker, "The Road to Magnasanti (John Wilson, 2017). The Film Society of Lincoln Center, in partnership with the Trust for Governors Island has selected the films. (For more information, about the film series,
click here.)
New York City Audubon returns to the Island this year with a nature center in Nolan Park featuring displays on conservation, a children's room with books and activities and bird walks. The nature center is open on weekends from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
For the adventurous, Governors Island has a zipline enabling two people to zip down a 300-foot-long cable side by side, reaching speeds of up to 21 mph. There's also a 25-foot-tall climbing wall and a maze. (For more information,
click here.)
For the less adventurous, there are walking tours. Part of the Island is a National Monument under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service. Park rangers lead tours of Governors Island's forts, conduct historic weapons demonstrations and during one summer weekend, reenact events from the Civil War, when, among other military activities, Governors Island served as a prison for Confederate soliders. (For more information about Governors Island National Monument,
click here.)
On the part of the Island administered by the Trust for Governors Island, volunteers lead one-hour walking tours that describe the past of Governors Island and talk about its transformation and its future. Historic preservation, innovative design and environmental stewardship have all played a part. Walking tours begin at the Governors Island Welcome Center at Soissons Landing and are hosted by the Friends of Governors Island. (For more information about these walking tours,
click here.)
This summer, look for the return of a public art installation in Fort Jay called "Rock, Mosquito, and Hummingbird: A Pre-History of Governors Island." Artist David Brooks bore into the Island's core to depths of 90 to 125 feet at three sites on the Island's original footprint. He arranged the cores into sculptures that snake through what was once an ammunition magazine in Fort Jay, whose massive walls provide a time-textured backdrop for Brooks's meditation on history and time. (For more information,
click here.)
On
June 2, two monumental art works by New York-based artist Jacob Hashimoto will open inside St. Cornelius Chapel and in Liggett Hall Archway. One of them, "The Eclipse," consists of thousands of delicate, rice paper kites. St. Cornelius Chapel, owned by Trinity Wall Street, will be open for the first time in five years to display Hashimoto's work. His other sculpture for Governors Island, called "Never Comes Tomorrow," will be constructed of hundreds of wooden cubes and massive steel funnels. It will hang in the Liggett Arch passageway between the Island's historic district and its newly designed park.
Many visitors to Governors Island bring a picnic and a blanket to spread out on a lawn. There are barbecue grills with picnic tables that can be rented for $26 a day (reservations are necessary) and there are also dining options at Island Oyster, Taco Beach, Little Eva's Beer Garden and Grill, the Liggett Terrace Food Court, Blue Marble Ice Cream and Fauzia's Heavenly Delights, a family run food vendor that serves Jamaican fusion food. (For information on renting grills,
click here.)
This season, for the first time, Governors Island will be open until 10 p.m. every Friday night. The eating facilities will remain open, also.
Ferries to and from Governors Island leave from the Battery Maritime Building at 10 South St. and from Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pier 6. For ferry schedules and fees,
click here.
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Bits & Bytes
PIER 40 PILING REPAIRS BEGIN; RECOMMENDED TRIBECA DINING; CONDE NAST VACATING SOME OF ITS WORLD TRADE CENTER SPACE
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NYC Ferry service will be upgraded and expanded, beginning this summer.
(Photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office.
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"Sigh of relief as urgent repair of Pier 40's pilings begins,"
Crain's New York Business, 4/24/18. "The $104 million repair of thousands of deteriorating steel pilings that support Pier 40 began Tuesday [April 24]," says Crain's New York Business. "The work is necessary to prevent the pier, which is home to a popular sports complex in the West Village as well as parking facilities, from becoming structurally unstable. 'We will no longer have to worry about whether the pier can remain open,' said Madelyn Wils, the president and CEO of the Hudson River Park Trust, the joint city and state organization charged with managing the waterfront park, which includes the pier....To fix the roughly 3,600 steel piles underneath the pier, divers and support staff will clean each stanchion, then wrap them in rebar and a fiberglass sleeve that will allow concrete to be poured in to encase the piles. The piles, which were installed in the early 1960s when the pier was built, had become badly corroded with rust from years of exposure to salt water, said Steven Ferker, the trust's chief engineer. Some had holes in them big enough for a person's head to fit through, he said." For the complete article,
click here.
"LCOR eyes $400M sellout for condo conversion of 25 Broad,"
The Real Deal,
4/24/18. "LCOR is planning a nearly $400 million sellout for its condominium conversion of the 308-unit rental building at 25 Broad Street in the Financial District," says The Real Deal. "The development firm, which is majority owned by the California State Teachers Retirement System, filed an offering plan with the New York state Attorney General's office indicating a $395 million projected sellout for the project....The developer bought the 21-story building at a foreclosure auction in 2012 from Kent Swig, who had previously worked on converting the former office building to condominiums before defaulting on his mortgage with Lehman Brothers in 2009." For the complete article,
click here.
"Condé Nast looking to sublease a third of its WTC headquarters,"
New York Post, 4/24/18. "Condé Nast revealed on Monday [April 23] that consolidation plans underway will result in the publisher subleasing out more than a third of its headquarters at One World Trade Center," says the New York Post. "The sublease of 350,000 of its 1 million square feet of office space will mean that the seven of the 23 floors in the 104-story tower now rented by Condé Nast will be up for grabs." For the complete article,
click here.
"Danny Meyer's Sky-High FiDi Restaurant Will Be Called Manhatta,"
Eater.com,
4/24/18. "The super high, view-packed skyscraper restaurant that hospitality industry titan Danny Meyer has planned for FiDi now has a name: Manhatta," says Eater.com. "Union Square Hospitality Group has previously announced that it'd taken over a private events and restaurant space on the 60th floor of the 28 Liberty St. tower, with word from Meyer that the space with 'extraordinary' views would be serving approachable food....USHG's team says that Jason Pfeifer - the longtime Maialino chef - will be the head chef here, and Manhatta is expected to open this summer." For the complete article,
click here.
"17 of Tribeca's Top Places to Dine," Eater.com, 4/25/18. "Over the past two decades or so, the loft-filled, Hudson River-adjacent neighborhood of Tribeca has utterly transformed - the number of extremely luxurious apartments, celebrity inhabitants, and thus excellent restaurants, have all exponentially increased," says Eater.com. "Thanks in part to the latter two additions to the area, dining around here is best enjoyed with deep pockets and/or expense accounts, but there are some lower-priced options, too. The range of cuisines, many housed in special-feeling spaces, has become pretty impressive: There are French brasseries both comfortingly traditional and delightfully unconventional; difficult-to-find Laotian cuisine; multiple low key Italian joints; and both Korean barbecue and karaoke far south of Koreatown." For the complete article with a map and contact information for each restaurant mentioned,
click here.
New routes and more ferries coming to New York Harbor: NYC Ferry, launched on
May 1, 2017, has proven to be an unqualified success. Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Wednesday, May 3, that NYC Ferry's ridership could grow to as many as 9 million annual passengers by 2023, twice as many passengers as initially projected, and that the City will invest in a bigger ferry fleet to meet that demand. The Executive Budget includes $300 million in new capital over the next several years for new 350-passenger capacity ferries, improvements to piers and docks, and a second homeport where ferries will be maintained and repaired.
Original projections for NYC Ferry had predicted 4.6 million riders once all six routes were operational and fully rolled out. However, NYC Ferry carried 3.7 million passengers in its first year, with only four routes operating and only two of them running for the entire 12 months.
The final two routes of the first phase of ferry service - Soundview and the Lower East Side - are expected to begin operating in late summer 2018. They join the four existing routes: East River, Rockaway, South Brooklyn and Astoria. The City's Economic Development Corporation will study potential route expansions later this year.
Plans include nearly doubling the size of the ferry fleet and infrastructure improvements to existing NYC Ferry barges and landings to accommodate larger crowds.
The City's two main ferry terminals, Pier 11/Wall Street and East 34th Street, which see the highest traffic on a daily basis, will get wider gangways and new bow-loading locations to increase the number of vessels that can dock simultaneously.
Some of the projected changes will be immediately apparent. Beginning Memorial Day weekend, Governors Island will now be the last stop on the East River and South Brooklyn routes, increasing service to the popular summer destination. Throughout the ferry network, boats will arrive more frequently - every 20 to 30 minutes on weekdays and weekends on all four routes, compared with 25- to 60-minute headways for the same service last summer.
Since its launch one year ago, NYC Ferry has already employed over 250 people and is currently hiring for 75+ new positions, including captains, deckhands, customer service agents, ticketing, operations and more. New Yorkers of all backgrounds and skill levels are welcome to apply. Jobseekers can apply directly at
ferry.nyc.
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Chichi Chronicles, a Rediscovery of New York City History
by Chinon Maria
Exhibition at the World Trade Gallery April 13-May10
120 Broadway
For more information, click here |
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Downtown bulletin board
COMMUNITY CONVENTION; ANNUAL BROOKLYN BRIDGE POETRY WALK; NORTH COVE HARBOR CRUISES; VOLUNTEER AT THE BATTERY
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| Every year, Poets House organizes a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, interspersed with poetry readings and ending with dinner on the Brooklyn side of the bridge. This year, the walk will take place on June 11. Tickets are now on sale. (Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer) |
Community Convention: New York State Senator Brian Kavanagh will be continuing a tradition started by his predecessor, New York State Senator Daniel Squadron, when he chairs a community convention on
Sunday, May 6. The topics to be discussed this year include Defending Tenants' Rights and Affordability, Reforming Our Justice System, Educating and Uplifting our Youth, Preserving Our Neighborhoods, Enhancing Arts and Culture and more. The community convention will give Kavanagh's constituents in the 26th Senatorial District an opportunity to hear from elected officials, ask questions, and make their views known. Place: Stuyvesant High School, 245 Chambers St. Time: 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
RSVP by calling (212) 298-5565, emailing [email protected] or by clicking here.
Brooklyn Bridge Poetry Walk: The annual and much-anticipated poetry walk across the Brooklyn Bridge to benefit Poets House in Battery Park City takes place on
Monday, June 11. The walk from Manhattan to Brooklyn includes several stops along the way to hear poetry readings, this year from poets Sophie Cabot Black, Tina Chang, Willie Perdomo and Patricia Smith, as well as from special guest Bill Murray. In Brooklyn, there will be more readings, accompanied by wine, dinner and dessert inside a beautiful, historic foundry in DUMBO. All proceeds benefit Poets House's library, public programs and class trips for children and teens. Time: 6 p.m. (Walk begins in Manhattan, near One Centre St.); 8 p.m. (Seated dinner at 26 Bridge St. in DUMBO). Tickets: $300; $275 (Poets House members). All but $75 of each ticket is tax deductible. For more information, call Christina at (212) 431-7633, email
[email protected] or
click here.
North Cove Harbor Cruises: Classic Harbor Line is now offering harbor cruises that depart from and end at North Cove Marina in Battery Park City. Aboard two of the smaller yachts in the Classic Harbor Line fleet (the Kingston and the Full Moon), the offerings include sunset cocktail cruises, architecture tours around Manhattan hosted by a member of the American Institute of Architects, and a variety of harbor sightseeing cruises. On the Fourth of July, there will be a three-hour Fireworks Cruise. For more information and to make reservations,
click here.
Volunteer at The Battery: The Battery Conservancy, a nonprofit organization that designs, builds, and sustains the historic Battery - the 25-acre park at the southern tip of Manhattan - depends on volunteers for a variety of tasks:
Gardener: Gardeners work side-by-side with The Battery's professional horticulturalists to plant, weed, divide, prune, rake, and perform the tasks required to maintain The Battery's beautiful perennial gardens.
Battery Urban Farm: Volunteers help process compost collected at the Bowling Green Farmers' Market and assist in maintaining The Battery's vegetable and forest farms. Activities include layering and turning compost, bed prep, weeding, mulching, and occasionally planting and harvesting produce for donations.
Greeter: Greeters staff information tables from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on select weekdays and Saturdays from March through mid-November. They answer questions from visitors about directions, park information and The Battery Conservancy.
Tour Guide: Tour Guides lead free hour-long tours to inform the public about The Battery's rich history, landmarks and monuments, SeaGlass Carousel, 195,000 square feet of perennial gardens, and much more.
Office and Events: Volunteers help to complete occasional administrative and event production tasks with The Battery Conservancy staff.
All new volunteers are required to attend an orientation, and registration is mandatory. Orientation sessions occur on Tuesdays at 9:30 a.m. and on Saturdays at 10 a.m. For more information,
click here.
Wayfinding signage: The Battery Park City Authority is in the process of developing new wayfinding signage, intended to guide motorists, bicyclists, transit users, and pedestrians along and through streets (in concert and coordination with existing New York City street signage), sidewalks, public spaces, and transition points across Battery Park City's 92-acres. This process will result in the design and implementation of new signage across the neighborhood, replacing the old, dated, and in some cases worn signage now extant.
Over the course of the past few months the BPCA has been gathering feedback from various neighborhood and community stakeholders about wayfinding. To supplement that effort, the BPCA has created a short, online survey, the responses to which will help guide future signage content and design. That survey can be found by
clicking here.
In addition to this survey, the Battery Park City Authority will be seeking additional input from the community at forthcoming public meetings and presentations.
Most of the Downtown Post NYC bulletin board listings are now on the Downtown Post NYC website. To see the bulletin board listings,
click here.
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CALENDAR: May 2018
Spotlight: Summer in Battery Park City
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| The annual Swedish Midsummer Festival & Dance draws thousands of people to Battery Park City's Wagner Park to mark the summer solstice. This year, the festival takes place on June 22. (Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer) |
From May to August, Battery Park City's parks and garden are the settings for concerts, dances, lectures, classes, nature walks, festivals and games, all of them open to the public and most of them free. The programming is largely funded and produced by the Battery Park City Authority.
This summer, the BPCA has scheduled more than 600 public programs, the most ever. In fact, Battery Park City is celebrating a very special occasion - its 50th anniversary. In May 1968, Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller signed the Battery Park City Authority Act, creating what is now a fully formed community on what was then an idea that 92 acres of landfill could be deposited in the Hudson River and used as the platform for apartment and office buildings, cemented by commercial strips and 33 acres of parks.
May 31: This is the actual anniversary of Battery Park City's Golden Jubilee. Celebrate in BPC's Rockefeller Park. Bring a picnic dinner and listen to street music from Bang on a Can's Asphalt Orchestra and funky reggae from Brown Rice Family. The first 150 people to register at [email protected] will receive a free commemorative 50th anniversary picnic blanket. Time: 5:30 p.m.
June 3: A walk and talk on the subject of "The 50-Year-Greening of Battery Park City: From Landfill to Gardens" will explore the remarkable evolution of Battery Park City in its use of sustainable horticulturL practices and innovative design. Anne O'Neill, BPCA Director of Horticulture and James dePadua and Manuel Rivera, senior horticulturists, will lead the tour, which will start in South Cove. Time: 2 p.m.
June 16: Juneteeth Celebration. Juneteenth, or Emancipation Day, originated in Texas and commemorates the ending of slavery in the United States. Artists Autumn Ewalt and Dharmesh Patel, creators of the adjacent public art installation, "Sunrise, Sunset (Revolution)" will share tales of celebrating in Texas. The Federation of Black Cowboys with their horses will be there and there will be music by Naomi Shelton and the Gospel Queens and spoken word by Zell Miller III. Place: Pier A Plaza. Time: 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
These are among the events coming up in May and June. Also, look for a Fiddle Celebration on Thursdays at the Irish Hunger Memorial (June 7, June 14 and June 21 at 5 p.m.) and on June 22, the mammoth, glorious Swedish Midsummer Festival & Dance starting at 5 p.m. in Wagner Park.
For the complete calendar of Battery Park City events between May and August, click here.
For more calendar listings, go to the Downtown Post NYC website.
Click here.
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Downtown Post NYC is emailed to subscribers twice a week.
Editor: Terese Loeb Kreuzer
We welcome comments, questions and letters to the editor. Send them to
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