Citi Bike Share program to begin on Memorial Day

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May 7, 2013- The actual bicycles will be loaded and ready for use on Memorial Day.

April 30, 2013- Crain’s is reporting that the Citi Bike Share program will bring 170 new jobs and $36 Million in local economic activity. Full story here.

April 17, 2013- The Citi Bike Share unites are being installed on West Thames right now, and the bicycles will arrive “later this Spring”. A second bike station will go in by Gateway Plaza later, but discussions are still underway.

For a $90 annual membership, Continue reading

Posted in - Battery Park City Authority, - City and Mayor's Office, Dangerous West Thames and South End Ave crossings, Events and Activities, Health and lifestyle, Outdoor events, Sports and fitness | 1 Comment

Arabella: new clubhouse for North Cove Marina

Arabella in NewportArabella left

Arabella sternIntroducing Our New North Cove Clubhouse “Arabella”

April 28, 2013-By Mike Fortnebaugh

At our Silver Jubilee Annual Dinner, with Dennis Conner, Gary Jobson, Giovanni Soldini and more than 230 members in attendance, Commodore Fortenbaugh stepped to the microphone. In the final act of our club’s Silver Jubilee Season, he introduced our new North Cove clubhouse, the 150-foot mega-yacht “Arabella.” The crowd rose to its feet with thunderous applause.

Arabella was originally built in 1983 by Palmer Johnson. In 2000, she Continue reading

Posted in - Battery Park City Authority, Sailing/Yachting | Leave a comment

Some Léman Manhattan Preparatory School graduates

LemanMicaelaYang.JPGMicaela Yang – attending Bryn Mawr
Yang was heavily involved in many groups at Léman, participating in several musicals, mock trial, student government, volleyball, and the school newspaper. She was named a Commended Student in the highly competitive 2013 National Merit Scholarship Program, ranking her in the top five percent of students nationwide. Her grandfather, Dr. Chen-ning Yang, is a Nobel Prize Winning Physicist who also serves on Léman Manhattan’s advisory board.

LemanSamShermanSam Sherman – attending Duke

All-American swimmer and honor roll student Sherman is a decorated member of Asphalt Green Unified Aquatics’ (AGUA) national training group. He was recently chosen for a national open water select camp and will head to Florida next month to train with the country’s 30 top open water swimmers. This summer, he will also prepare for the World Championship Trials and Junior Nationals.

LemanMikaylaBarnett.JPGMikayla Barnett – University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School

Barnett, Léman Manhattan Prep’s senior class president, is an honor-roll student and is actively involved in student government, Model United Nations, and track-and-field. She plans to study business and economics at UPenn and aspires to eventually open healthy restaurants worldwide, after seeing a lack of diverse, nutritious choices in China during a school trip there last year.

LemanJackBrodsky.JPGJack Brodsky – attending Parsons The New School for Design

An exceptionally gifted artist, Jack islooking forward to harnessing his creativity at The New School for Design. While at Léman Manhattan, he has participated in Model United Nations while also maintaining a college-caliber television production internship at Gigantic! Productions.

Posted in Child care, Featured Residents, Schools | Leave a comment

Daily throw-away papers plague South End Avenue

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May 18, 2013- By Steven E. Greer

A woman who lives in Gateway Plaza stopped me yesterday on South End Avenue to ask whether BatteryPark.TV could help eliminate the numerous plastic daily newspaper containers. There are more than ten of them along the commercial strip of LeFrak-leased shops, and virtually no one reads anything from them. This is also related to the nearby phone booth that no one uses, and that serves as a convenient excuse for Gristedes to pile crates and garbage.

These problems were raised at the last CB1 meeting by this author, but the esteemed board interrupted me and seemed to care little. If others in the community voiced their concerns, it would matter. You can contact the Community Board at elacher@cb.nyc.gov

Trash on South End an eyesore and rat problem

South End Ave sidewalk to be cleaned up

Pick-A-Bagel delivery bikes pollute South End Ave

Letter: suggestions on sprucing up south BPC

Letter: Spend the BPCA budget surplus on Battery Park

LeFrak makes progress with efforts to clean up South End Ave commercial strip

 

Posted in - Battery Park City Authority, Gripes | 2 Comments

Gateway Plaza outdoor pool to open May 25, tentatively

GatewayPool

May 13, 2013- The Gateway Plaza newly renovated pool, which was converted from an enclosed dingy chlorine smelling location to a nicer outdoor pool, with grass, will open May 25th, if all goes well. The recent storm knocked a large tree over the wall adjacent to the pool, and it is yet to be determined whether that will delay the opening.

The pool is part of an overall renovation of Gateway Plaza. The gym was opened in April, and costs only $50 per month. In addition, a rooftop terrace over the parking garage will open soon to compliment the ground level courtyard.

Please send us photos if you live in Gateway.

RooftopGatewayCourtyard

Posted in Child care, Real estate, Sports and fitness | Leave a comment

US post office using Albany Street for storage

USPOMay 20, 2013- Letter to Editor from R. Anderson

Last year, I had a months-long battle with the US Postal Service to stop using Albany St as a storage area for their orange bins. It took the intervention of the elected Federal Representative’s office and BPC to finally get the US Postal Service to comply.  The problem was finally cleared up late last summer.

However, the problem returned two weeks ago.  The orange bins collect trash in addition to acting as outdoor storage for USPS white bins.

In your greatly appreciated efforts to address the run-down problems in south Battery Park city, I thought you’d appreciate these pictures.  I have lost the email addresses of the BPC offices when my computer died.

Might you be willing to take up this issue to have both the BPC authorities and postal service to once again clean up our streets? As it stands now, the USPS is once again using our residential street for commercial storage.

Also I have noticed more newspaper bins which were not present in 2012.

Thanks, R Anderson

Reply from Editor: Yes. Coincidentally, we have brought this to the attention of the CB1 and BPCA, and have not heard back from anyone. It seems it will be up to us, once again. Please try to find your contacts that helped you last time.

Daily throw-away papers plague South End Avenue

 

Posted in - Battery Park City Authority, - Federal government, Gripes | Leave a comment

Exclusive: PS 89 opens 4th K class, waitlist resolved

PS 89

Update May 17, 2013- By Steven E. Greer, MD

PS 89 opened another kindergarten class, and all of the parents on the waitlist seem to have been offered spots. The school wrote, “Hi everyone,  You will be happy to hear that PS 89 is opening a 4th kindergarten class for next year. We are able to offer all of your children seats at PS 89.  Please let me know if you are accepting this offer, and then we will make an appointment for you to bring your child to school and pre-register.  I hope we are able to register everyone by the end of next week. We do registration in the mornings between 9 and 11, so if you let me know what day is good, I will arrange it. Thank you for your patience throughout this process. I am very pleased that we are able to welcome you and your child to PS 89.”

The other school in Battery Park, PS 276, is still not planning on opening another kindergarten class. The waitlist there remains unresolved.

Update May 3, 2013- Some students in PS 150, Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

ConEd destroys brand new sidewalk and street in Battery Park

DSC01473May 18, 2013- We asked the crew contracted by ConEd why they are digging up Battery Place yet again. The foreman explained that, after the Hurricane Sandy and electrical outages in Downtown (which did not affect Battery Park City), more nearby buildings are installing natural gas powered turbine generators as backup. The destruction of the new sidewalk by the same crew in March was simply an “exploratory” mission to find where the best location would be to install new regulators. The work ongoing is supposedly to actually install the new devices.

An employee of the Visioniare building, which is adjacent to the road excavation, had his doubts. That building already has a rooftop backup gas generator, and all of the units are powered by gas. He postulated that the older buildings across the street might need the new gas lines. Continue reading

Posted in Gripes | Leave a comment

Making a Yorganic juicer

Mets, reds ace relief pitcher John Franco

Mets, reds ace relief pitcher John Franco

Posted in Health and lifestyle, Juices, health foods, Videos | Leave a comment

Trash on South End an eyesore and rat problem

April 15, 2013- Anyone walking about tonight saw a stunning site. An organized group of “Freegans” were sifting through the trash of Gristedes and Hudson Produce looking for food to eat. Continue reading

Posted in - Battery Park City Authority, Charities Philanthropy, Health and lifestyle, In the News, Volunteering | Leave a comment

Yorganic (juices, Vegan, organic)

Mets, reds ace relief pitcher John Franco

Mets, reds ace relief pitcher John Franco

Continue reading

Posted in Health and lifestyle, Juices, health foods | Leave a comment

Asphalt Green Open House

May 17, 2013- The lobby is open for tours. New treadmill and stair exercise equipment was ordered.

DSC01461AG LobbyDSC01460

 

Posted in Asphalt Green, Sports and fitness | Leave a comment

Letters to the editor 5-17-2013

Responses to Exclusive: PS 89 opens 4th K class, waitlist resolved

Mother on waitlist says: April 13, 2013 at 11:46 am (Edit)

Thank you Steven! The article reads very well. We will keep you posted. Have a nice weekend.

BPCResident says: April 13, 2013 at 6:28 pm (Edit)

just a great article. Well done.

Thanks for all you do with this site. I’ve been impressed in the past (some of the youtube videos are classics!) but you’ve outdone yourself with this piece.

Keep up the good work!

Catania says: May 17, 2013 at 11:42 am (Edit)

Thanks so much for your coverage on the overcrowding issue in BPC schools and the waitlisted children!!! Keep up the great work!

Vince says: May 17, 2013 at 11:40 am (Edit)

Keep up the good reporting

Responses to Any ornithologists out there? Continue reading

Posted in Featured Residents, Op-Ed | Leave a comment

Should the public school waitlists be a random lottery?

Update May 17, 2013- By Steven E. Greer, MD

PS 89 opened another kindergarten class, and all of the parents on the waitlist seem to have been offered spots. The school wrote, “Hi everyone,  You will be happy to hear that PS 89 is opening a 4th kindergarten class for next year. We are able to offer all of your children seats at PS 89.  Please let me know if you are accepting this offer, and then we will make an appointment for you to bring your child to school and pre-register.  I hope we are able to register everyone by the end of next week. We do registration in the mornings between 9 and 11, so if you let me know what day is good, I will arrange it. Thank you for your patience throughout this process. I am very pleased that we are able to welcome you and your child to PS 89.”

The other school in Battery Park, PS 276, is still not planning on opening another kindergarten class. the waitlist there remains unresolved.

Update April 24, 2013- The joint session of the CB1 met in the far off location of the Murry Bergtraum High School, at 411 Pearl Street, north of the Brooklyn Bridge entrance, because Continue reading

Posted in - City and Mayor's Office, - City Council, - State Government, Child care, Schools, Videos | 3 Comments

Any ornithologists out there?

birdWhat type of bird is this?

“Jeanne” wrote: “Young male Summer Tanager songbird. About a year old. Will be a a brilliant red when an adult. Migrates in Spring. Winters in Central America , even South America & Caribbean. Migrates at night so tall buildings and towers are a problem for collisions! Likes bees, wasps & fruit. A real beauty.”

Posted in Wildlife | 2 Comments

Confirmed: Nomura leaving the WFC

The dark WFC 4 building after Merrill Lynch moved to Midtown Bank of America tower

The dark WFC 4 building after Merrill Lynch moved to Midtown Bank of America tower

Update May 12, 2013- The WSJ is confirming that Nomura, in the WFC, is moving. BatteryPark.TV first exclusively reported that Nomura was shuttering its North America equities business.

September 6, 2012  By Steven E. Greer, MD

Bloomberg is reporting that Nomura, with the U.S. equities division headquartered in the World Financial Center (WFC) within Battery Park City, will be winding down and closing the business. The company is looking to cut $1 Billion in expenses. According to Bloomberg, “the brokerage employed 2,423 in the Americas, mostly in New York, among its 35,063 staff globally at the end of June.”.

Much as the departure of Merrill Lynch left the WFC 4 building virtually empty, the WFC 2 building will take a big hit as Nomura closes the equity teams housed within.

Posted in In the News, Wall Street | Leave a comment

Atlantic Cup winner arrives at North Cove Marina

BKRM7nOCcAABvO3.jpg largeThe North Cove Marina’s new Twitter account just posted this, about the Atlantic Cup “It’s official! @BodaciousDream is the first to cross the #NYC finish line #AtlanticCup

Posted in Sailing/Yachting | Leave a comment

Pigeon ducks

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Posted in - Battery Park City Authority, Photography, Wildlife | Leave a comment

Important school waitlist meeting tonight

May 14, 2013- Tonight Youth & Education Committee – 6:00 PM

Location: Community Board #1 – Office, 49-51 Chambers Street, Room 709
1. WTC Environmental Health Forum, June 3rd – Presentation by Kimberly Flynn
2. Relocation of PS 150 – Update and Discussion
3. Speaker Silver’s Overcrowding Task Force – Update
4. Waitlist/school overcrowding  – Update and Discussion
5. 2014 preliminary budget cuts to child care and after-school programs – Borough Board Resolution

Posted in - Community Board 1, Child care, Schools | Leave a comment

Sailing on New York Harbor tonight

The biggest sailing class in New York: North Cove Marina

Posted in Sailing/Yachting, Sports and fitness, Videos | 1 Comment