Follow the Money

Bank Robber Makes Off with Cash from Chase Branch on South End Avenue

The Chase Bank on South End Avenue was robbed on Monday.

On Monday afternoon, at approximately 4:15pm, the Chase Bank on South End Avenue was robbed. According to an NYPD spokesperson, “police responded to a 911 call of a robbery inside of a Chase Bank located at 331 South End Avenue within the confines of the First Precinct. Upon arrival officers were informed an unidentified individual entered the location, made threats to an employee, and demanded money. The subject fled the location with undetermined amount of currency. There are no arrests, and the investigation remains ongoing.”

The NYPD describes the suspect as, “a male, approximately 30 years of age, dark complexion, five feet, seven inches, and 150 pounds. He was last seen wearing a multi-colored sweatshirt, black pants and black hat.”

A corporate spokesman for Chase Bank did not respond to a request for comment.

Crime statistics compiled by the New York Police Department do not segregate bank robbery from the broader category of all robberies, but metrics for the First Precinct indicate that there have been 109 such crimes reported in Lower Manhattan thus far in 2023, which is down slightly from the same period last year (when 114 were reported). But both of these markers represent a steep decline from long-term historical trends. In 1990, for example, there 1,281 robberies reported in the First Precinct.

Matthew Fenton

Letters

[Re: The Accost of Living Downtown, October 25, 2023]

To the editor,

This really angers me as I walk my dogs every day and evening on the Esplanade. I have always felt safe out there, but now; not so much! And... I don't think it is a result of homeless or immigrants. Mostly the people who are loud and intimidating come in from other parts of the city!

Liz Modena

To the editor,

The reason people thought the assailant was at the shelter is because someone at the First Precinct told the family that the man was there and that it’s also a homeless shelter. No one is assuming it was a migrant.

Maggie Dallal

To the editor,

What happened to the security guards who once upon a time patrolled the esplanade by foot and patrol car? Now we have BPC Ambassadors who are glued to their cellphones and hide on benches at end of esplanade talking to each other. What is BPCA doing about this?

Carla Sanchez

To the editor,

Why do we tolerate this?

Vincent McGowan

Foot Traffic Control

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Lower Manhattan is gradually recovering from the Covid-induced falloff in the number of people on local streets, according to a report from Placer.ai, a mobile data analytics firm that tracks the location of cellular phones to infer trends about foot traffic and population density. This may have significant implications for indicators such as the state of the local economy, area property values, and back-to-the-office initiatives by employers. Read more...

DOWNTOWN CALENDAR

Wednesday, November 1

1pm

Bach at One

St. Paul's Chapel

The Choir of Trinity Wall Street, Trinity Baroque Orchestra, and conductor Avi Stein present BWV 174 and BWV 52. Free.

1pm-2pm 

Adult Chorus

200 Rector Place

Learn contemporary and classic songs and perform at community events throughout the year. Open to all. Free.

6pm

Community Board One's Battery Park City Committee

Livestreamed

Open to all. Agenda:

1. Pataki Greenway activation and programming survey and feedback results

2. BPC security update

3. Programming, construction and event updates

Thursday, November 2

Canstruction

Brookfield Place

Opening day of the annual design competition that challenges teams of architects, engineers, and contractors to build large sculptures made out of unopened cans of food. The sculptures are displayed in Brookfield Place through November 13 and then donated to City Harvest.

5:30pm

Paluma Sound

Perelman Performing Arts Center lobby

Brooklyn-based electronic music producer known for creating atmospheric soundscapes with dark textures and nostalgic R&B samples. Free.

6pm

First Precinct Community Council

Livestreamed

Open to all. Join the Zoom meeting at https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82158748102?pwd=nkBqDWmUKnzd8kg4aRLfTeZJTfKH2i.1. Meeting ID: 821 5874 8102, passcode: 291381.

6pm

Community Board One's Transportation & Street Permits Committee

Livestreamed

Open to all. Agenda:

1. New NYC Ferry contract with Hornblower Group

2. Thames Street Pedestrian Plaza: next steps

3. Proposed rule change: Prohibition of vending on elevated pedestrian walkways and bicycle lanes on a bridge or bridge approaches

4. Proposed rule change: Open Culture program, Open Street events and extension of street fair moratorium

5. Proposed rule change: Open Dining NYC, DiningOutNYC

6pm

Fresh Prints

211 Water Street

Established in 1775, this letterpress print shop is the city’s oldest operating business under the same name. Today, the shop continues the age-old tradition of small batch printing. Participants get to take home the items they print. Ages 12 and up. Free.

6:30pm

Noirvember Movie Night

6 River Terrace

Free popcorn will be served, and a discussion will follow the screenings. Tonight: The Set-Up (1949, Robert Wise). Expecting the usual loss, a boxing manager takes bribes from a betting gangster without telling his aging fighter. Free.

7pm

Eva Fedderly presents These Walls, in conversation with Julianna Haubner

McNally Jackson, 4 Fulton Street

Book reading and conversation. A deeply reported work of narrative nonfiction that takes readers behind the scenes of one of the most consequential decisions of our time—the closure of Rikers Island—and what it could mean for the future of prison reform and restorative justice.

7pm

What They Wanted Us to Know: Disinformation, Rumors, and Ignorance in the Holocaust

Museum of Jewish Heritage, 36 Battery Place

Antisemitic disinformation was a hallmark of the Nazi regime, from its early rise in 1933. This lecture will explore the methods Nazis used in their attempts to control citizens during the Holocaust, and how this history might shed light on our current information environment. $10 suggested donation.

7:30pm

Gibney Presents: 2nd Best Dance Company

Gibney, 280 Chambers Street

World premiere of The Myth of Forward Motion (or, The Box Dance). Physically rigorous, sometimes virtuosic, almost always slapstick, this new work walks the line between dance performance and nonlinear play. $27.50.

Photograph © Robert Simko