The parade of Santas

December 11, 2011

Local resident Fran Miller sent these to us

(Click images to enlarge)

By Fran Miller

Too many Fuddy-duddies stifle entertainment Downtown

December 9, 2011

The Financial District, Tribeca, and Battery Park City have few places for the citizens to enjoy good music, drinks, and New York class society. The main problem is that the local press consists of Fuddy-duddy people who have zero interest in promoting this culture. As Mayor Bloomberg progressively required earlier and earlier closing times as a condition for liquor license renewals, this all went unreported for the most part.

An example of this pro-boring reporting was in a local throw-away today. The W New York Downtown and their Living Room bar attempted to throw a Rock and Roll style party with art. The paper focused on the noise and nuisance to the city, see below. The W Hotel is a few feet from the massive noise of the World Trade Center construction site and anyone living nearby should be quite accustomed to noise.

The Battery Park Broadsheet article read, “W New York — Downtown, the hotel located at the intersection of Washington and Albany Streets, made W history with its first-ever rock concert on Wednesday evening, but raised more than a few hackles among local residents kept awake by noise levels during sound testing on Tuesday and the concert on Wednesday. The event — which celebrated ROCKED, a photo exhibit of cutting-edge musical talent featured in W Hotel concerts — took place in a temporary, plastic tent behind the hotel without more than a few hours advance notification….Lucas Visser, a resident on West Street, said that the W hotel alerted his building manager at 4:30 p.m. on the day of the concert. “During the day on the 6th and 7th they were blasting music so loud that my windows were shaking badly. It was loud enough that talking on the phone was near impossible. The actual event began last night at 6:00 pm and lasted until midnight, and again the windows were shaking. My children were up later than usual, though amazingly they were able to get to sleep. My wife and I weren’t as fortunate,” wrote Mr. Visser in an e-mail…..Noise concerns were not as important as the lack of advance notification for Esther Regelson, a 26-year resident of Washington Street. “That space behind the W Hotel was supposed to be public space, and that space lay fallow until suddenly they have a party to pat themselves on the back. It seemed outrageous! They should be having a party for the neighborhood. It just smacks of being a bad neighbor,” she said.”

W Hotel Living Room

Drawing in the Park

May 21, 2011

(Viewable in full-screen 1080iHD)

One of the many activities in Battery Park that is produced by the Parks Conservancy is Drawing in the Park. Free art supplies and a tutor are supplied for adults to sketch landscapes and nature.

Figure al Fresco

May 11, 2011

The Figure al Fresco program convenes on Wednesday afternoons, starting at 2:30 PM,  on the esplanade by the South Cove. An art instructor helps guide residents as the sketch a standing model. For more information, call (212) 267-9700 or visit http://www.bpcparks.org/bpcp/home/

The NYPD Museum

October 14, 2010

Julie Bose, Director of the NYPD Museum, takes us on a video tour of the museum with two new exhibits. The first one is “Artist as Witness” by artist Aggie Kenny who was given extraordinary access to the first-responders to 9/11. The second exhibit is the new children’s wing of the museum called “Junior Officers Discovery Zone”.

For more details, call (212) 480-3100 or visit http://www.nycpm.org

Big meeting tonight to discuss the fate of the polluting NY Waterway boats

November 1, 2011

By Steven Greer, MD

The CB1 Battery Park City subcommittee will meet tonight to discuss the fate of the BillyBey Ferry Company’s air and noise polluting ferry boats (6:00 PM, 1 World Financial Center, 24th floor). After several meetings leading up to this one, scheduled to be in attendance tonight are the CEO of BillyBey, representatives from Senator Gillibrand and Rep. Nadler’s offices, the EPA, the DOT, the non-profit environmental watchdog group the NRDC, and The New York Times.

Key issues to be determined will be:

• What did BillyBey do with the more than $7 Million in grants provided by an arcane grant from the State and City specifically meant for cleaning up ferry boat exhaust? “The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), in partnership with the New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), announces the Deployment Phase of the New York City Private Ferry Emission Reduction Program.”
• BillyBey claims that several of their boats have already been retrofitted with diesel particulate filters. However, per our filming and reporting, not a single New York Waterway ferry that docks at the Vesey Street slip seems to have any such filter.
• BillyBey also claims to be completely replacing older diesel engines with more modern “clean diesel”. When will this take place?
• What happened to the brand new super-clean and quiet Goldman Sachs ferry boats, seen briefly in April and reported by the New York Times? They seem to have disappeared and never made it into service. BillyBey CEO Goodman refused to answer that question in our previous call with him.
• What powers does the federal Clean Air Act give our local EPA to enforce pollution violations that appear to be committed by the BillyBey New York Waterway ferries? The well-funded non-profit environmental watchdog group, the NRDC, and the EPA, will shed some light onto that.
• What role will the Port Authority, operator of the Vesey Street slip and contractor with BillyBey, play in resolving this public health problem?
• What role will the city play now that the city is in contract with BillyBey for the East River new ferry services?

After decades of being subjected to noise and air pollution from the BillyBey New York Waterway ferries, our community seems to the most support ever for resolving this problem. Please attend the meeting tonight.

(unedited filming of ferry boat pollution)

The 2011 9/11 Memorial Police Bagpipe Parade

September 9, 2011

(View in full screen 1080iHD)

CB 1 Meeting October 4

October 4, 2011

By Steven Greer

The Battery Park City division of Community Board 1 met tonight. Two Hudson river complaints were discussed. The first one dealt with the annual loud speed boat race. Then, the meeting turned to the topic of diesel exhaust air pollution from the New York Waterway ferry boats on the Vesey Street slip.

In attendance were staffers from Senator Gillibrand’s and Rep. Nadler’s offices. Surprisingly, the EPA ignored the invitation to attend, despite being the agency most empowered to do something about the problem (see our previous stories).

Steven Greer began with a video from BatteryPark.TV of medical doctor expert on air pollution and the effects to children’s lung development.  A 20-year study at USC has demonstrated that air pollution increases asthma, slows lung growth in children, and increases overall mortality rates. Several local residents expressed outrage over the ferry boat noise and pollution.

The committee decided to do the following:

• Have some entity, to be determined, test the levels of air pollution by the waterfall pond near the slip
• Request the Port Authority to deal with the New York Waterway company since the Authority controls the slip
• Continue to deal with the EPA and state DEC and invite those entities to the next meeting
• Continue to engage the federal representatives for lower Manhattan, namely Rep. Nadler and Senator Gillibrand, in order to use the enforcement powers of the federal EPA via the Clean Air Act. The state and city agencies have failed to act on this problem for decades.
• Look into any financial “green” incentives that might encourage the ferry boat operator to clean up their boats

Do these NY Waterway ferries look safe to you?

June 24, 2011

By Steven Greer, MD

In the wake of numerous discount tour bus massacres along New Jersey highways killing dozens of passengers traveling to casinos aboard astonishingly unregulated buses, one with a convicted murderer as a bus drivers, are our waterways also vulnerable?

Interstate business such as furniture movers, trucking, busing, etc. are often unregulated as they fall outside the jurisdiction of cities and states. The NY Waterway ferries, spanning New Jersey and New York via the Hudson River, are regulated by the Port Authority mostly.

A CB1 spokesperson wrote, “What is similar (to the tour buses that crashed) is that the city can’t regulate the buses in some instances because they are inter-state and need to be regulated at a federal level. Similarly, the city can’t set rules for vessels operating on the river because it is not city jurisdiction. The Port Authority has leverage over them but we don’t always have the leverage we need with the PA in this area. We raised issues pertaining to noise and pollutants from the boats in several meetings with operators and government agencies. They made some changes including putting some new, cleaner boats into service and retiring older boats. More needs to be done and I expect that we will hold additional meetings as it is an ongoing effort. Regulations are not as stringent as they could be.

With that in mind, we have been noticing the decrepit conditions of these NY Waterway ferries that dock by Vesey Street and the Irish Memorial.

You decide for yourself. Do these boats, filthy in diesel soot, paint peeling from all surfaces, do they look safe to you?

(Click images to expand and fully appreciate the dilapidated status of the boats)

George Washington has seen better days

The real Senator Lautenberg looks younger than this boat

Brooklyn given a bad name here?

A letter to the EPA about the NY Waterway ferries polluting the children’s playgrounds

Kenneth Eng

Chief, Air Compliance Branch

US EPA, Region 2

Mr. Eng

I am a medical doctor and am reporting a serious air quality health hazard at the west end of Vesey Street where the New York Waterway ferries dock. They have old, unclean diesel engines in all of the boats. When they dock, the boats rev the engines and dark black exhaust spews out (see video). This happens every day.

The direct and acute health hazard comes from the fact that 60 yards away, on land, is a well-kept and popular series of children’s playgrounds. At certain times of the day when multiple ferries are docked at once, the fumes are so powerful that they burn the eyes and throat. These fumes contain benzene, ozone, and many other toxic compounds that the Clean Air Act would never find permissible.

Since these boats fall under interstate commerce, no single city or state seems able to do anything about this problem. I believe that your “Mobile source unit”, led by Mr. Michael Moltzen, might be able to deal with this and use new clean diesel regulations to deal with the problem.

We contacted the CEO of New York Waterway, Mr. Paul Goodman, and he refused to comment.

The EPA would certainly make thousands of friends down here if you can be the agency to finally solve this health hazard.

We filed a report at the EPA, # 987024

Steven Greer, MD

BatteryPark.TV

The people have spoken: No organized sports on the grass field

Update September 28, 2011

By Steven Greer, MD

The Parks Conservancy is now aerating the field and placing barrier fences to rest trampled areas of the lawn.

Update: September 16, 2011

Since our notes from September 14, a coach for the Downtown Soccer League, John Chow, said that the BPCA has been in talks with them and that they, “Will not be using the field after this week.”. The Principal from PS 276 was very responsive, and she informed her staff and after school programs partners about the tenuous status of the field. Also, the Parks Conservancy aerated the field on the 15th.

If you see organized soccer being played on the field, particularly by adults as we saw last year, the local PEPs should be called at once, (212) 417-3100, or email us info@batterypark.tv

Update September 14, 2011

By Steven Greer

Shortly after opening, the grass field is being allowed by the Battery Park City Parks Conservancy to be used in ways that the local residents do not want to see it used (see survey results below). Namely, the Downtown Soccer League organization is bringing groups of 30 or more children to play organized soccer and baseball. The parks staff is also failing to close the field as needed to allow for grass renewal.

As a result, portions of the grass field have already been trampled to death (see photos at bottom). The most recent community board meeting addressed these issues, but no conclusions or final rules were made. Moreover, at the meeting, The BPCA announced that they are still refusing to assign Battery Park PEP to patrol the area.

July 1, 2011

BatteryPark.TV recently conducted a survey of local residents asking thier opinion on how the newly sodded grass field in the West Thames Park should be used when it re-opens soon. Recall, the first attempt last year resulted in a mud field as soccer teams trampled the turf.

The survey will be discussed at an upcoming CB1 meeting. The results of the survey are as follows:

Question #1: Should organized soccer with 7 or more people be allowed on the new grass field of West Thames Park?

Yes: 22%
No : 78%

Question #2: Should organized baseball of more than 3 people be allowed on the grass field?

Yes: 39%
No: 61%

Question #3: Should the Parks Conservancy close the grass field as needed in order to protect the grass, in the same manner they do the other surrounding lawns?

Yes: 78%
No: 22%

Comments: How would you like to see the new grass field optimally used?

· Picnics, lounging, sleeping, resting, etc.
· like the great lawn in Central Park
· small family groups having picnics and playing games with their children…and no danger to passersby and people sitting at the tables on the southern edge from flying projectiles!!!
· As a tennis court or something that better fits the demographic of the area. Basketball is fine for men between 15 and 25: and we have so many courts, but it’s so obviously not the correct choice for BPC. CB1′s Battery Park City Committee was wrong on this choice for our community.
· picnics, sunbathing, decorative area
· Informally by local residents but without organized sports activity which will tend to destroy the grass
· while I would like the grass to look beautiful, I object to the conservancy’s attempt to take away traditional usage of the grass in order to create much finer manicured gardens. While we all want something beautiful to look at – - we all need somewhere to play with our children and our pets. It seems difficult for the conservancy to compromise their lovely plans in order to take into consideration the resident’s feelings that they need lawns downtown similar to Central Park where we can lounge, etc.
· Picnics, just sitting
· passive, low intensity recreation eg Frisbee, informal ball toss, etc
· For parents to spend time with their children teaching them to play ball or young kids playing together. I don’t have children and I play soccer but the grass cannot survive the traffic and the neighborhood would suffer. I would love to use the space but I can play soccer on either of the piers to the north. Everyone who walks from the trains walks by the field and if it were a mud hole like before that makes it unpleasant.
· They should invest in putting an artificial grass field instead of natural grass, like the one at Pier 25.
· Picnic type and enjoyment of the grass and park area for BPC residents.
· As a place for non-organized activities
· Full blown Recreational field. Astroturf and a track around it that could host events.

Photo prior to the field opening in 2011

Photo on September 14 of significant damage to field

NYPD 9/11 bagpipe parade 2009

The annual NYPD commemorative bagpipe parade honoring the police killed in the September 11th, 2001 attacks.

The Corporate Sailing League

August 17, 2011

(In 1080iHD full screen)

The results of the August 16th Corporate Sailing League, held at the North Cove Marina and run by Mike Fortnebaugh, were as follows:

• First Place: Merrill Lynch
• Second Place: Gerson Lehrman
• Third Place: Cravath, Swaine, and Moore LLP
• Fourth Place: Sullivan and Cromwell

West Thames Park grass field not opened, committee decides usage rules

Update: August 2, 2011

In what exemplifies the disconnect between the bureaucrats governing lower Manhattan and the what best serves the citizens, the still-squabbling DOT and BPCA delayed the opening of the coveted grass field for a full week to allow for small areas to regrow after crabgrass was removed. The new opening date is set for August 8th.

August 1, 2011

Despite signs promising an August 1 opening of the West Thames Park grass field, the BPCA, managed by Gayle Horwitz and Tess Huxley, failed to take down the chain link fence. No explanation was given or any new dates set for the opening.

On the same day, the Battery Park City division of Community Board 1 convened the “West Thames Park Task Force”, led by Jeff Galloway and Anthony Notaro, to decide what activities to recommend to the BPC CB1 meeting in September. The Task Force decided:

• No more than 50% of the field should be used by any organized team
• No cleated shows allowed
• Activities should be as safe as possible

These guidelines are somewhat consistent with the opinions of the local residents expressed in our online survey.

The FDNY’s fire boat Three Forty Three

July 30, 2011

The FDNY’s fire boat Three Forty Three

(Viewable in full screen 1080iHD)

Scammers at the Farmers’ Market?

Update: June 30, 2011 A more genuine farmer’s market already

The farmer’s market at the WFC seems more authentic already, since our first story. Gone are the corn and watermelon in June that were  clearly imported from thousands of miles away rather than from an “organic local farm”.  All that we saw today was genuine locally grown vegetables.

(click images to expand)

June 10, 2011

How to Make Sure You’re Supporting Local Farmers Be educated, be vigilant, know what’s in season!
By Colleen Vanderlinden of Planetgreen.com

Apparently, the popularity of farmers’ markets is just too much temptation for some unscrupulous vendors.

NBC Los Angeles’ news team decided to do some checking around at local farmer’s markets, and paid visits to the farms where the vendors claimed they grew the food they were selling. In some cases, they found fields full of weeds or dry, empty fields. The vendors were selling vegetables and fruit they had bought wholesale, and were selling it at premium prices at local farmer’s markets, claiming it was locally grown and organic.

As to the “organic” claim, NBCLA also sent several items purchased from vendors who claimed not to use pesticides to labs for testing, and the results came back positive for pesticides. One of the “farmers” claimed that the pesticides found on their produce was the result of overspray from nearby farms, but the levels found on the tested produce were too high for it have been mere “drift.”

This particular story was reported in California, but there’s no doubt that it’s happening all over the country. Near my home, for example, there is a “farmer’s market” in a church parking lot every weekend during the summer. How they managed to have perfect-looking “locally grown” watermelons in early May in Detroit is beyond me. Needless to say, I don’t shop there.

How To Make Sure You’re Supporting Local Farmers Rather than Slimy Opportunists

· Research, research, research. Try to get to know a few vendors really well. Ask where their farm is located, how long they’ve been farming, how they handle pest and disease issues. See if they’re listed on sites like LocalHarvest — not all farmers are, but it doesn’t hurt to check. Ask them the specific variety of whatever produce they’re selling. If they really grew it, they should be able to tell you that those are ‘Emerite’ filet beans, not just “green beans.”
· Look over the display. Really look. This is a great tip from Homegrown Evolution. Are all of the tomatoes the exact same shape and size? Do the apples have that waxy supermarket look? Are the cucumbers all perfectly uniform? Are they selling “local” watermelon in Detroit during the first week of May? If so, they probably went to the warehouse club and bought produce to sell at a premium at the farmer’s market. Steer clear.
· Know what’s in season! If you see watermelon in April or peppers in December in Minnesota or Michigan, chances are good that they have not been grown locally. While some farmers have large heated greenhouses to grow produce year-round, not all do, and it pays to ask questions if the vendor is displaying a lot of out-of-season produce.

As with many things when you’re trying to live a more sustainable life, we need to be vigilant and educated. Don’t trust that just because the sign says “farmers’ market,” you’re supporting nothing but local farmers. While the majority of vendors are legitimate, it’s unfortunately up to us to make sure that we’re buying from them, and not some crook who’s trying to take advantage of the situation.

A perfect day for sailing

June 8, 2011

A perfect 93 degree day brought out all of the sailing groups to New York Harbor.

(Viewable in full-screen 1080i HD)

Elton John opening the Tribeca Film Festival

April 20, 2011

Comparing radiation leaks from major nuclear events

March 15, 2011

Now that the multiple nuclear reactors in Japan are in meltdown, possibly on the scale of Chernobyl in 1986, the key safety questions are “How will this radiation accident compare to other previously documented events, such as Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, and will the radiation cause cancer?”

Using reports from our US NCR and the United Nations BEIR VII report, we tabulated rough estimates of radiation exposure and compared them to the gold standard of data, the WW2 Atom-bomb survivor studies (BEIR). The long-term cohort studies of the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are the best medical data available to correlate cancer risks to exposure.

It is premature to estimate the radiation amounts being leaked from Japan, but given that there are at least four reactors melting down, it is safe to assume that the Japan disaster will be on par, if not worse, than Chernobyl. Chernobyl contaminated areas of Europe thousands of miles away. Some areas were extremely high doses that were in cancer-causing range, but the average doses were not.

At this time, it is likely that radiation will reach Alaska and the continental U.S., but that the levels will be very low.

Click to enlarge graphic)

The Wall tour

October 6, 2010

“It was 30 years ago, almost to the day”, said Roger Waters, that he and his band Pink Floyd took The Wall on tour in 1980. The production was so elaborate and groundbreaking, with its 100-feet-high real wall of bricks, elaborate inflatable characters, and flying warplanes, that the tour made just a few stops around the world. Now, with improved stage technology, The Wall returned to Madison Square Garden on October 5^th and 6^th.

We were fortunate to have front and center seats to finally experience this historic spectacle. Surprisingly, there were plenty of fans in their twenties, along with parents who brought their young children to witness the event. The Wall continues to speak to several generations to this day, as does Dark Side of the Moon.

The concert was sold out, with the exception of some empty high-price VIP seats: a sight too common in this economic depression at other venues such as Yankee Stadium during the World Series. Not oblivious to the current climate, the concert began with a homeless man pushing a shopping cart across the front of the stage, followed by the thundering base of the first song, “In the Flesh”.

The stage production was just what any Pink Floyd fan would have wanted, with a 240-foot-wide, 35-foot-tall wall, and 25-foot-tall inflatable teacher, girlfriend, and mother. The physical wall now is made of framed material and not the Styrofoam bricks of 1980.

Roger’s ensemble band filling in for the original Pink Floyd (David Gilmour, Nick Mason, and the deceased Rick Wright) was an A-list of musicians. Robbie Wyckoff’s lyrics are almost indistinguishable from Gilmour’s original vocals. There were times when Wykoff was on the opposite side of the stage from Waters, and we thought that we were hearing a recorded Gilmour. Guitar work came from long-time Waters band member Snowy White and G.E. Smith. Graham Broad supplied the drums in lieu of Nick Mason. Mason had made some guest performances for the 2006 Waters tour of Dark Side of the Moon.

Prominently featured via projection onto the large wall throughout the concert were images of soldiers killed in WWII and the recent Gulf Wars, as well as 9/11 firefighters. Families can upload pictures of their “Fallen Loved Ones” to the tour’s web site.

Another theme of Mr. Waters in the year 2010 is that of Big Brother watching us and the loss of our privacy. A new animation by Gerald Scarfe is that of a London-style bulky security camera aiming its eye at the audience. Waters writes on his web site, “I recently came across this quote of mine from 22 years ago: “What it comes down to for me is this: Will the technologies of communication in our culture, serve to enlighten us and help us to understand one another better, or will they deceive us and keep us apart?” I believe this is still a supremely relevant question”

Regarding the performance by Roger Waters, since he is a bassist and not a guitarist, it’s mostly about his vocals. For the first half, or Album 1, Waters was often singing on top of his 1980 vocals, ostensibly to pay homage to the past. But just as one might think Waters planned to lip sync, he provided plenty of genuine powerful vocals for songs, such as Mother and Comfortably Numb, that sounded as if they came straight from the 1979 double-vinyl album set.

We highly recommend seeing The Wall concert if you can snag some tickets. All in all, it was all just bricks in the wall.