Outdoor sports recreation space in the winter

While all of the grass fields of BPC are shut down for the winter, the unusually warm weather is causing kids and parents to seek out sport recreational spaces. The artificial turf fields on Murray are open and have ample space.

The Two Towers

(click images to enlarge)

The Two Towers: Goldma Sachs and Freedom Tower, February 4, 2012 By Steven Greer

Beating Time

We found this funny. The youngsters playing on the turf fields must not have much respect for time, as they beat the clock to oblivion with soccer balls, etc.

Beating time By Steven Greer

A shanty shack grows on South End Ave

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Update: February 3, 2012

By Steven Greer, MD

BatteryPark.TV delivers results once again. The despised shanty shack that had sprung up is now transformed back into a small fruit stand. It is still illegal and stealing business from the tax-paying Hudson Produce and Gristedes, and the red gas canisters are still there, but at least the eyesore is partially gone.

The First Precinct was the cause for the results. In contrast, the property manager of the nearby ex-Gate House porch, LeFrak, did not adequately act on the matter. This is the same property manager that allows the unsanitary dog urine to accumulate on the sidewalk in front of the Chase bank on South End Ave and fails to properly spray down the sidewalk.

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Update: February 2, 2012

A viewer informed us that the First Precinct stopped by the shanty shack and gave them a warning that the fruit stand can be no larger than eight feet. They will return later. Stay tuned.

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Update: January 31, 2012

One day after our report on the 27th, the boxes disappeared. The First Precinct replied to BatteryPark.TV that they were investigating and we spoke with the building owner of the old Gate House, upon which the illegal storage is taking place.

Now, four days later, the shanty shack has returned and the boxes are once again sprawled over the old Gate House porch. Neither the Gateway Plaza building property manager nor any official from the BPCA has responded to out requests for comment.

January 27, 201

Uptown BPC has the Shake Shack. Downtown BPC’ers have the Shanty Shack. BatteryPark.TV has received several emails complaining about the growing unsightly sloppy tent at the intersection of South End Avenue and Albany. A fruit vendor is expanding onto the empty porch of the closed down Gate House. He is now storing numerous boxes of fruit on the ground, and has an ugly makeshift tarpaulin over his stand. The merchants even have a 24-hour source of electricity from a gasoline generator with fuel canisters sitting on the sidewalk. The Gateway Plaza real estate group is the nearest property owner, and is allowing the storage of the boxes on their porch.

Also, across the street is a permanent, never moving, “Mobile” pastry and coffee cart. It is a favorite spot for tour buses and trucks that park illegally for hours on Albany using the food cart as their excuse for stopping. Brookfield Properties is the nearest property owner.

The nearby Hudson Produce, a legal establishment that loses money to both sidewalk vendors, was enthusiastic when BatteryPark.TV informed them that many in the community want the fruit shack to leave.

Where is the City Department of Health when they are needed? Do they only harass restaurants and collect fees? We asked Gayle Horwitz, CEO of the BPCA, whether they or some other agency is in charge of regulating this site, and she did not reply. We are awaiting replies from the property owners, City Hall, and the First Precinct.

What do you think? Should these unauthorized food vendors be shut down and evicted or do you value their services? Please post comments in the section below. They will be helpful to the community board and others.

Take our survey here.

Update: January 28, 2012

The First precinct community affairs replied to our story and they told us that they would investigate. We noticed that already the vendor has removed the numerous boxes, and the Gate House porch is empty. However, the ugly tarpaulin remains, as does the fuel canisters. The BPCA has still not replied to our questions.

(Click images to enlarge to full screen)

The permanent "mobile" pastry and coffee cart on Albany Street and South End Avenue

Battery Place Market in Goldman Sachs

***** BatteryPark.TV has ranked this establishment as the Best of Downtown for chocolates

The Battery Place Market of south BPC has opened a smaller satellite store in the shop alley of Goldman Sachs. We will have a full video tour soon. In the meantime, please see our previous video. One thing that caught our attention was the supply of Jacques Torres gourmet chocolate, made nearby on Hudson Street. Jacques is a nice guy and, hands down, makes the best chocolate in the city.

Located on West Murray Street in the Goldman Sachs building

(212) 323-6965

The Skyscraper Museum

Carol Willis, Founder and Director of The Skyscraper Museum in Battery Park City gives us a tour of the museum and the current exhibit: China Prophecy: Shanghai

The museum is located at 39 Battery Pl, New York, NY 10280. For more information, call (212) 968-1961

http://www.skyscraper.org

Ed Koch: Will Governor Cuomo become Obama’s VP?

July 7, 2011

We spoke with former Mayor Ed Koch again today. In Part 1, we asked him to prognosticate as to whether President Obama would shift VP Biden to Secretary of State and make Governor Cuomo the new VP for 2012. We also discussed the Governor’s recent accomplishments.

Ed Koch: Who will be the leading contenders for the NYC Mayoral race?

July 10, 2011

We interviewed former Mayor Ed Koch about the likely candidates for the 2013 New York City Mayoral race now that Anthony Weiner is no longer a viable candidate. NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn is his favorite candidate.

The North End Grill

**** BatteryPark.TV has selected this establishment as Best of Downtown for seafood

You can rank this restaurant here, and post your comments below

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The North End Grill

104 North End Avenue (West side of the Conrad Hotel)

T (646) 747-1600

January 23, 2012  By Steven Greer, MD

The North End Grill began its first dinner services for the regular public tonight. As one would expect from a Danny Meyer 4-star striving establishment, the details were well done. As a propitious welcome, the framed photographs at the entrance feature the Irish Memorial across the street (which almost no one will realize). The bar serves individual seltzer and Coke bottles with the drinks, and the glasses are the proper shape. Try the three-glass sampler of whiskeys and the ice cold local beers. The bar menu of $4 tacos, etc. will be a big hit.

Walking to the dining room one sees the open kitchen, which flaunts the fine ingredients and competent crew. There is nothing to hide. The row of seating overlooking the kitchen could be the best seats in the house for the circumspect diner. The dining room looks out onto the peaceful North End Avenue (thanks to BatteryPark.TV evicting the tour buses) and offers a peak of the Hudson River and sunsets.

Chef Floyd Cardoz and his team prepares the wild salmon perfectly, and the Brussels sprouts are creatively chopped and grilled. Other meats and fish are dipped into the unusual wood oven using a Spanish-inspired pair of large steel wheels. The Josper grill allows other meats to be charcoal broiled. Pork chops and steaks are also available.

A separate pastry desert station and a coffee roasting station offer the triptych completion to dinner that will compete the best restaurants. The pecan layer cake portion looks small when it arrives, but is more than enough. But to be honest, many of the southern classic baked deserts around the corner at Blue Smoke can’t be beat.

The best part of North End Grill (and Blue Smoke), is the new demographic that it draws to Battery Park. Although it was a rainy Monday night, the place was almost full. Danny Meyer came over to greet diners in person, and there was no pretentiousness or rudeness that plagues some nearby Tribeca joints like Locanda Verde.

Much as Mr. Meyer’s “Eleven Madison” progressed up to 4-stars, the putative progression of North End Grill should be no different. Hopefully, our idea for a Lincoln Center Jazz style venue will open up next door, and BPC residents will never have to take another depressing New York City cab ride again.

Is Facebook a great opportunity to short sell?

February 1, 2012

By Steven Greer, MD

Facebook finally submitted their SEC form called an S1, preparing to go IPO on the NYSE under ticker FB. They are valued by some metrics at more than five times what Google was in 2004. Are they worth it or is this the best opportunity retail investors will have to short a stock in their lifetimes?

Looking at the S1 found here, go to the risk factors on page 11:

Right away, they mention that American users are tapped out from “Facebook fatigue” and that new usership is flat. Go to page 44 for the chart. That is all that matters for valuation in this stock. An investor pays a large premium for stocks with huge remaining growth, not for mature stocks.

On page 14 they list strong competition as a risk factor. By some accounts, Google’s version of Facebook is exploding. Facebook has few barriers to entry if a large Apple or Google decide to get into this space.

On page 18 they list as a risk factor the heavy reliance on Zynga online game users as revenue. Most of the people stuck on Facebook all day long are unemployed gamers.

Page 18 also lists the risk that governments will pass new laws that will make the very essence of Facebook’s business model, which is to collect your personal information and sell it to marketers, become illegal.

Page 20 essentially lists Mark Zuckerberg himself as a risk factor since he owns so much of the company.

Understanding those risk factors, one then has to use the various valuation metrics of “tech land” to see if the stock is a short at whatever the price settles out to be upon trading. Consult with your money manager carefully before buying long ticker FB. The performances of other social networking stocks that went IPO last year have been dismal.

(Dr. Greer is a former Wall Street financial “sell side” analyst and portfolio manager. He is the founder of BatteryPark.TV and frequently contributes to NPR, The WSJ, CNBC, and Fox News)

Why Mitt Romney used a Swiss bank account and off shore investments

January 28, 2012

By Steven Greer, MD   BatteryPark.TV

When Mitt Romney was booed during the South Carolina GOP debates for not releasing his tax returns, and then finally released just his 2010 results, the press focused on Mr. Romney’s low absolute tax rate near 14%. However, what interested me as a former hedge fund portfolio manager more was his exceptional rate of return on what he described as “mutual funds and bonds in a blinded trust fund”. That seems pretty like some “plain vanilla” investing, yet he earned approximately a 14% return on investment (ROI), depending on the estimate for “total assets under management” one uses. Many of the best hedge funds in the world did not do that well in 2010, so I became interested and analyzed it in more detail.

I used to run my own small hedge fund, and later became the global healthcare portfolio manager for Merrill Lynch’s internal $10 Billion hedge fund. Mr. Romney’s tax returns demonstrate the sophisticated tax minimizing techniques used by complex hedge funds. He posted five different tax forms from 2010 on his campaign web site. On his joint return with his wife, he reported $21,661,344 in Income. All of that was derived from investment returns, with the exception of $528,871 in publishing and speaking fees. The joint couple paid nearly $3 million in taxes, or less than 14% of their $21.6 million income.

Although Mr. Romney is wealthy, he does have something in common with millions of Americans struggling in this five-year-long depression: he too is unemployed it seems. Mr. Romney cannot call anywhere his place of employment other than his speaking engagement company.

In order to determine the return on investment (ROI) for Mr. Romney’s pool of assets, one needs to know the assets under management to use as the denominator. The tax forms do not list that number, but in an interview, Mr. Romney said that he owns, “Between $150 and about $200 some-odd million dollars, I think that’s what the estimates are.” Aside from the fact that his degree of error in estimating his net worth is far larger than most American’s entire lifetime of earnings, by factors of ten, this means that his 2010 ROI ranged from between 11% and 14%.

How well did Mr. Romney’s stock brokers at Goldman Sachs, where he “prime brokers” most of his equities, do at investing in his “blind trust”? In 2010, some of the smartest hedge fund managers earned well less than 10%, and the overall average was 10.2%. So, his Goldman Sachs money managers beat the hedge funds. However, the overall markets gained 12.8 percent (S&P 500 index). The average long-only mutual fund rose 17.48 percent, according to data from Lipper Inc and Reuters reports. So, Mr. Romney’s ROI was a bit inferior to many mutual funds.

The complex global network of accounts used by Mr. Romney has been criticized in the press since he released his tax documents. Some have also questioned whether he was truly “blinded” and unaware of the investments being made. I spoke with a tax expert at the Georgetown University Law Center, John Buckley, J.D.

I asked him what legitimate reasons an American citizen living in The United States would have for opening a Swiss bank account. He replied “U.S. citizens who do not live in Switzerland, typically have Swiss bank accounts for one reason: to hide assets and/or income.” Recall, in 2009, the Justice Department sued UBS, the largest Swiss bank, to obtain the names of 52,000 names kept secret from the IRS and suspected of tax evasion. Mr. Buckley said, “I do not know whether (Romney) had his account at UBS.” According to the LA times, Mr. Romney failed to report this Swiss bank account in his presidential financial disclosure forms. Even conservative commentator Lou Dobbs could not justify Mr. Romney’s Swiss bank account when asked about it by Bill O’Reilly.

The other complex financial tool used by Mr. Romney to reduce his tax burden was to shield investments in hedge funds from the IRS by using Cayman Island and other off shore funds. These are known as “blocker” accounts according to Mr. Buckley. He explained, “Normal IRA accounts in mutual funds or individual stocks have tax deductions. However, hedge funds that use borrowed margin, or leverage, are not considered tax deducted IRA accounts. Therefore, one can invest in Cayman Island accounts to avoid taxes.” Given that Mr. Romney only released his 2010 tax forms, Mr. Buckley speculated whether the infamous Swiss bank account was listed in previous years tax forms.

The legalities of Mitt Romney’s “blind trust” are also uncertain. Mr. Buckley said that since Romney’s personal lawyer is also the administrator of the blinded trust, it raises obvious questions of the strength of that Chinese wall.

One can imagine now some good zingers that the loquacious President Obama could use this fall on the campaign trial. For example, he might say, “Mitt Romney lives off of his trust fund and does not need to work. He knows nothing about job creation. His Bain capital days caused thousands of people to lose their jobs”. Or, he could say, “Mitt Romney is a Swiss bank account Cayman Island Wall Street loving fat cat. I am reforming Wall Street.”

Any of those comments will score well in Nevada, Ohio, California, and other swing states with double digit unemployment. Mitt Romney would be forced to stutter a defense, such as, “Uggh. Uggghh. President Obama wants to punish success. I earned my money.”

Yes. President Obama could pull a brilliant Jiu-Jitsu move and actually make the bad economy a positive campaign rally if he ran against Mitt Romney.

While all of this shell gaming of assets used by the wealthy to reduce tax burdens is mostly legal, it is very foreign to almost all Americans. Moreover, the use of Swiss bank accounts is flat out tax fraud and illegal in most cases.

The “establishment” Republican party to which Newt Gingrich refers is placing their best bets on Mitt Romney to defeat Barack Obama because the current polls indicate that the two match up evenly in a head-to-head race. Romney is their manifest destiny candidate. They are literally panicked now that Gingrich is viable.

However, the Obama campaign over the next ten months could effectively portray Mitt Romney as an unemployed, out of touch with America, Wall Street loving, trust fund living, tax evader. That could likely be an effective and lethal strategy. Newt Gingrich, on the other hand, being guilty only of taking a few millions (small potatoes) as a “lobbyist”, would possibly be able to portray himself as an anti-establishment Tea Party crusader with an unimportant series personal marriage disasters (with a popular Vice President female running mate).

The same old-school GOP voices supporting Mitt Romney so desperately now in 2012 are the very same ones who allowed Barack Obama to win the 2008 election, and the Democrats to take over the House and Senate. Will Karl Rove, Tom DeLay, John McCain, or Bob Dole come through again and help President Obama win a second term, despite high unemployment and an economic depression? Stay tuned.

(Dr. Greer is a former Wall Street financial “sell side” analyst at Donaldson Lufkin and Jenrette, Credit Suisse, and portfolio manager for Merrill Lynch. He is the founder of The Healthcare Channel, CurrentMedicine.TV, and BatteryPark.TV, and frequently contributes to NPR, The WSJ, CNBC, and Fox News)

Outrage over high salaries of 9/11 Memorial staff amidst budget overruns

January 30, 2012

Construction of the September 11th Memorial has screeched to a halt as the numerous different state, federal, and city bureaucracies fight over the tab of the cost overruns. After rushing out a partially constructed memorial to avoid embarrassment on the tenth anniversary, not much progress has been made since.

Amidst this, we get a better sense today of the bloated number of bureaucrats on the September 11th Memorial staff leading the construction while they also reap huge financial rewards personally. The WSJ is reporting that top executives of the September 11 memorial have been receiving nearly $500,000 salaries. Relatives of those killed on 9/11 are outraged.

According to the WSJ, “Joan Gerner received $296,565 upon leaving her position as executive vice president of design and construction in May 2010, bringing her total compensation that year to $439,463, recently released tax records show. She was the group’s highest-compensated employee that year….. In 2010, seven other executives with the organization received compensation in excess of $200,000, records show, and four received compensation packages of more than $300,000, including the president, Joseph Daniels, who earned $378,288 in salary and other benefits…. Retired FDNY Deputy Chief Jim Riches, whose son, Jimmy, also a firefighter, died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, called the foundation executives’ salaries, and specifically Ms. Gerner’s severance payment, “totally obscene” and an “insult” to victims and their families. “They shouldn’t be having contracts like they’re professional athletes—it’s totally disgusting,” Mr. Riches said. “It’s a shame, and they have no shame.”"

According to the WSJ, Mayor Bloomberg has been supportive of the high pay and large staff. “But Mr. Bloomberg has long defended the executive compensation at the memorial and other such organizations. Julie Wood, a spokeswoman for Mr. Bloomberg, said the mayor believes the “professionals at the 9/11 memorial are paid only a fraction of what they’re worth, but at a level similar to people at comparable nonprofits.”"

From Wall Street Journal

Huge crowds for Chinese New Year celebrations at the Winter Garden

January 28, 2012

(Click images to expand to full screen)

Dr. Greer’s medical tips for an optimal annual physical exam

By Steven Greer, MD

Many people schedule their annual physical for either the end of the year or the start of the year. Your doctor undoubtedly delegates most of the tests and data collection to the staff, and they are often improperly performed. Some common mistakes to watch for are:

• Make sure all of the staff washes their hands.
• Make sure the nurse actually measures your height and weight. You likely lie to yourself about both and the nurse should not take your word for it.
• Make sure the ECG leads are actually placed on the ankles and not on the abdomen. Nurses and most doctors often do not understand the artifacts caused by improper leads and they only glance at the ECG to look for obvious rhythm disorders. For an ECG to be of use in identifying old infarcts, the leads have to be properly placed across the chest, both arms, and both legs.
• When they draw the blood, have them penetrate the vein at a 90-degree right angle, not close to parallel to the skin at an acute angle. A right angle works better and is less painful.
• Make sure the doctor checks the soles of your feet the pulses in ankles. Ask your doctor to measure the “Ankle/brachial index” to pick up peripheral vascular disease in the legs.
• Make sure the doctor looks in your ears. You probably have cerumen (wax) and you will hear those iPods better if the canals are clean. Use hydrogen peroxide dipped in Q-tips to gently clean your ears without compacting the wax deeper, or see an ear doctor if you have the luxury.
• Particularly if you are Caucasian, make sure the doctor looks for nevi (moles) and signs of skin damage from the sun. If you are over age 40 or are younger with fair skin, this is very important. Have the doctor chart the lesions found. If you have any doubt, just go to a dermatologist and have the lesion removed. For widespread skin damage, photodynamic therapy works well.
• If you are over age 50, go to an eye doctor to have a real eye exam where your pupils are dilated by drops. Your primary care doctor is just going through the motions by looking in your undilated eyes and cannot see much at all other than cataracts. Signs of early eye disease that will lead to blindness can only be seen when the pupils are dilated.
• Ask about adult vaccinations for diseases such as shingles, flu, pneumonia, etc. Financial reasons have caused most primary care offices to stop administering vaccines.
• If your doctor recommends any form of medication to prevent a cardiology problem, such as high cholesterol or high blood pressure, get a second opinion and search http://www.currentmedicine.tv/ for the topic. In general, get a second opinion before starting any new therapy.

Weeks later, if the laboratory testing company tries to bill you, do not pay. They are not allowed to bill you for the balance of what insurance does not pay as long as your doctor is “in network”. Be generous with your doctor, however. Most primary care doctors are underpaid.

BatteryPark.TV helps prompt City Council investigation of restaurant letter grading system

(In full screen 1080i HD)

January 13, 2012

Did BatteryPark.TV’s reporting from January 7 (And the much larger New York Post) cause this January 11 email from the City Council? Several restaurant owners seem to think so and forwarded us this email. If you feel you are being “shaked down” by inspectors, email us and we will send cameras over within minutes.

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City Council Launches Restaurant Inspection Survey 

January 11, 2012

From Speaker Christine C. Quinn

Council seeks feedback from restaurant owners on City’s food safety inspection process and new letter grading system.

As part of the City Council’s oversight of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) and in response to mounting concerns raised by city restaurateurs regarding the restaurant inspection process, yesterday I, along with Health Committee Chair Maria del Carmen Arroyo announced the launch of a comprehensive restaurant inspection survey. City restaurant owners and operators are urged to participate in this Council effort to gather information on food safety inspections, with particular emphasis on the recently implemented letter grading system and its impact on city restaurants. The survey is available online at www.surveymonkey.com/restaurantinspection and accessible through the Council’s website at www.council.nyc.gov. The questionnaire will also be available in six different languages. The survey results will provide a foundation for an oversight hearing in late February, where the Council intends to further explore the inspection process and possible areas for reform. 

I am troubled by the wave of complaints the Council has received from restaurants – even the ones that get A’s – about the fairness and inconsistency of the food safety inspection process. Any initiative – especially 18 months after establishment – calls for scrutiny. With this survey, we hope to learn more about what is and isn’t working, including whether the grading system has been implemented fairly. The participation of restaurateurs in this analysis is critical, and we look forward to hearing their input.

Divided into two sections, the first part of the survey seeks background information about the food establishment and solicits views on DOHMH’s inspection process and the letter grading system. The second section requests recent historical data about experiences with inspections and adjudication in administrative tribunals. Specifically, this section seeks details about violations issued during each inspection from 2008 to the present, along with costs accrued in connection with the payment of fines, consultants and improvements. Survey participants are encouraged to answer as many questions as possible.

In July 2010, DOHMH began requiring food service establishments to post letter grades corresponding with scores reflecting sanitary inspections during which restaurants receive points for violations. An inspection score of 0-13 violation points is an A, 14-27 violation points is a B, and 28 or more violation points is a C. Grade cards are meant to be clearly visible to the public.

Steven Greer, MD discusses with Bill O’Reilly the Japan radiation concern for the US?

April 2, 2011

Currently, the radioactive isotopes from the Fukushima meltdowns (plural) reaching the United States are of no concern. The levels are miniscule and of no medical harm. However, radiation exposure and subsequent risk to cancer is cumulative and the situation cannot be allowed to continue for months, ala the BP oil spill. What will the international community do next?

We discussed this with Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly.

The people have voted: “Bring quality music to the Conrad Hotel”

The results of our survey are in. Ideally, if the business model made sense, our viewers liked the idea of a high-quality jazz and performing arts venue to go into one of the remaining retail spots of the Conrad Hotel, owned by Goldman Sachs.

Multiple answers per rater are allowed, so the total exceeds 100%. “Joe’s Pub” and “Lincoln Center Jazz” are similar options.

Some “other” suggestions included a children’s retail shop, an Indian restaurant, and a strip club.

We will leave the survey active and see how it changes over time. Although, the results will be very unscientific.

Click here to take the survey

Goldman Sachs transforms BPC from a Staten Island annex vibe into the new Tribeca

January 10, 2012 By Steven Greer, MD

Battery Park City, since its formation in the early 70′s, has always been viewed by most New Yorkers as more of a Staten Island annex rather than a true part of Manhattan, and for good reason. With the West Side Highway as a barrier, the place took on a suburban vibe with a surreal David Lynch or Stephen King twist. All of that might change now as the new Goldman Sachs headquarters takes root.

Despite a large residential population with an average income well over $100,000,  Battery Park City has long been underserved by low quality shady restaurants barely meeting health inspection minimums, and has been totally devoid of respectable nightlife venues. After the financial collapse that began in 2007, things got even worse. The one bright spot of BPC, the Ritz Carleton hotel rooftop lounge, closed down, as did The Gate House and several shops in the Winter Garden of the World Financial Center.

The closest source for quality restaurants or entertainment has been in Tribeca with its block of restaurants, such as Nobu and The Tribeca Grill. But even Tribeca was seriously lacking in entertainment. With the housing bubble came $2 Million and up apartments, with owners more typically found in New Jersey or West Chester. As a result, the community board frowned upon 4:00 AM closing times or any noise whatsoever.

Some high-end wine or brandy bars have tried to establish in Tribeca but never flourished. The Tribeca Grand hotel lobby space and the Smyth Hotel venue are all struggling. The demand seems to be lacking. Bankers at nearby Citigroup bolt home after work, and poor management plagues the hotel attempts.

Along comes Goldman Sachs. The new headquarters opened in 2010 at the corner of Vesey Street and West Street, in Battery Park City. The adjacent hotel, also owned by Goldman Sachs, was gutted and converted into the new Conrad Hotel, upgrading it from the old Embassy Suites.

Dino Fusco and his Goldman Sachs team quickly evicted the failing Applebee’s, Chevy’s, and other low quality restaurants, and brought in some much improved establishment at the ground level of the hotel. Most of them are now open for business after more than a year of renovation.

Having been opened for just one week, the social scene has immediately changed for the better in Battery Park City. The crowds inside Mark Maynard-Parisi and Danny Meyer’s Blue Smoke southern cuisine restaurant do not remotely resemble the crowds of the old joints on South End Avenue. The place is packed with young executives who work nearby at American Express, Goldman Sachs, etc, or who live nearby in the newly built green apartments.

In addition to the Shake Shack, the other Danny Meyer establishment in the Conrad Hotel space is the North End Grill that is comparable to his midtown well-reviewed Union Square Cafe and Gramercy Tavern. No doubt, there will soon be seen lines of Maybach’s and limos on the street in front waiting for diners.

For the resident of Battery Park City with high standards, no longer will they need to trek over to Tribeca for decent dining. The entertainment situation might improve as well when the Conrad Hotel opens. A variety of lounges and music venues are rumored to be opening, including an outdoor rooftop space overlooking the Hudson River and New York Harbor. This might fill the void left when the Ritz Carlton gave up on this business. Ideally, residents would be getting a Jazz Standard next to the Blue Smoke, but that is not in the cards (despite BatteryPark.TV trying to convince people).

Due to its superior infrastructure, the Goldman Sachs-led reincarnation of Battery Park City actually has much more potential of becoming a premier Manhattan neighborhood than Tribeca ever did. For starters, there is a marina that can accommodate the largest yachts in the world. The area has an Asphalt Green training facility with an Olympic-size swimming pool and outdoor baseball/soccer fields. There are two newly constructed public schools. The BPCA-managed parks and botanical gardens are better than any others in the city. The high-rise housing is mostly all modern and green. It is easier to own a car and access the tunnels from Battery Park City than in Tribeca, and two of the best hotels in the city are in Battery Park (Institutional Investor Magazine ranked the Ritz as the best hotel in the world in 2007).

Good retail clothing shops will follow soon. In 2013, the renovation of the Winter Garden will be completed with numerous new businesses.

Please do not forward this article. A good thing is best kept quiet. We don’t want any riffraff from SoHo coming down here.

The Winter Garden at the WFC: site of new retail stores in 2013

Benvenuti Pizzeria

South Battery Park now has once again a local pizzeria and Italian deli. Benvenuti has opened up in the former location of Samantha’s.

(This restaurant has not yet been review) Please post your comments in the section below.

(212) 945-2100

250 South End Avenue

Will Fox Studios or Wall Street Journal move Downtown?

Crain’s has an article that mentions once again how News Corporation, parent company of Fox Studios and The Wall Street Journal, might move into some office space in the World Trade Center. Of course, the Dow Jones offices used to be in WFC Building 1 until a few years ago. The studio views high atop the Freedom Tower would be unprecedented.

(BatteryPark.TV collaborates with News Corp newspapers and TV)