Huge crowds for Chinese New Year celebrations at the Winter Garden

January 28, 2012

(Click images to expand to full screen)

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

The Christmas Tree Lighting in Battery Park City of 2011

December 8, 2011

By Steven Greer, MD

(In full screen 1080iHD)

Toy donations can be made by contacting Stockings with Care or caroline@stockingswithcare.org

New American Youth Ballet

Liz Conner interviews some members of Battery Park City’s New American Youth Ballet preparing for a June 18th appearance at Public School 89 called “Royal Wedding of Classical Music and Dance”.

(Viewable in full-screen 1080iHD)

The parade of Santas

December 11, 2011

Local resident Fran Miller sent these to us

(Click images to enlarge)

By Fran Miller

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/

NYPD 9/11 bagpipe parade 2007

Over 118,000 views and counting

(This is the file with the 100,00 views originally posted on YouTube at another location of ours)

NYPD 9/11 bagpipe parade 2009

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

Traditional Irish music

October 26

BatteyrPark.TV is very pleased to feature The Craobh Naithí Branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, which is an organization based in Dublin, Ireland that teaches and promotes traditional Irish music. The group is on a New York tour and stopped by the Irish Hunger Memorial in Battery Park City.

For more information, contact the CCE North American Public relations Officer, Paul Keating, at 201-965-6598

Save the Stairs

Update: June 17, 2011

The Winter Garden marble stairs are reportedly getting a pardon and will now be saved from demolition. Per our interview in March with grass roots leader Justine Cuccia, Brookfield Properties had wanted to demolish the awe-inspiring stairs in order to make room for what many called a “strip mall” that would connect to the new West Street tunnel and the 9/11 Memorial. The BPCA, which actually owns the property, had the final say on the matter, and seems to be backing the local BPC residents who strongly oppose the demolition.

Brookfield was basing the justification for the demolition all on a mystery “engineering report” that allegedly concluded the new pedestrian traffic from the tunnel would be so great as to create a “safety hazard”. Battery Park.TV openly challenged the validity of this report and requested that it be made public. The report was commissioned by Brookfield, and the unknown “engineering firm” was paid by Brookfield, creating a conflict of interest in the outcome.

Community Board 1 Chair Julie Menin confirmed that stairs seem to have been pulled from the jaws of death. She wrote to us,  “Yes the stairs are saved. Saving the Winter Garden staircase was tremendously important to the community both from a symbolic and functional standpoint. I am pleased that Brookfield responded to our advocacy on this and preserved the stairs.”

We are awaiting statements from the BPCA. The BPCA has been hostile to BatteryPark.TV and is now refusing to reply to any of our questions.

March 19, 2011

Justine Cuccia, Roberta Kahan, and Marilyn Masaryk have launched a grass roots effort to save the marble stairs inside the Winter Garden of the WFC. To join the petition, email

For more information, visit the Facebook page here.

Chinese zodiac

May 5, 2011

By Bernd Debusmann Jr. – Wed May 4 NEW YORK (Reuters)

Twelve large bronze animal heads by imprisoned Chinese artist Ai Weiwei were unveiled in New York City by Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Wednesday in what he described as a bittersweet moment.

Weiwei, 53, has not been heard from since he was detained by Chinese authorities at Beijing airport on April 3, an event that prompted strong international criticism. Chinese authorities have said he is being investigated for economic crimes, but have not given any specific details.

“Artists risk everything to create. They risk failure. They risk rejection. They risk public criticism,” Bloomberg said. “But artists like Ai Weiwei, who come from places that do not value and protect free speech, risk even more than that.”

“The fact that we do not know where he is or when he will be released, is very troubling,” he said.

Weiwei had been due to attend the opening of the exhibition, called “Circle of Animals”. The exhibit in Manhattan’s Central Park is made up of 12 bronze animal heads representing the 12 personalities of the Chinese Zodiac.

Each of the four-foot (1.2 meter) tall animal heads weighs about 800 pounds (363 kilograms) and stands atop large marble bases. They are inspired by the design of the fountain-clock of Yuanming Yuan, an 18th century imperial retreat near Beijing.

Weiwei is best known for his high-profile projects such as the “Bird’s Nest” Olympic Stadium in Beijing and “Sunflower Seeds”, a London-based exhibition comprised of 100 million hand-painted porcelain seeds.

“Circle of Animals” will be displayed in New York until June 26 before going to London, Los Angeles, Houston, Pittsburgh and Washington D.C.

(Editing by Michelle Nichols and Deborah Charles)

Elton John opening the Tribeca Film Festival

April 20, 2011

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.

Katy Perry’s double entendre

January 5, 2011

Watch pop singer Katy Perry make obvious double entendre comments about her girls.

Denis Leary in BPC

April 23, 2010

The FX show “Rescue Me”, starring Denis Leary, was filming on South End Avenue by the WFC 1 entrance. The Director was nice enough to allow us to film them as they shot a scene.

Battery Park City on Ice

Update September 14, 2010

BPC resident Matt Fenton is reporting that the seasonal ice skating rink which was installed this winter on top of the grass playing fields might not be repeated this year as the rink company, Rink Management Services, is hesitant to bring it back. There are reports that the rink was not profitable enough.

“RMS was disappointed in the rink’s financial performance. A spokesman for RMS did not return calls requesting comment…. “Right now, everything is up in the air,” Linda Belfer, chair of the Battery Park City Committee, said afterward. “The Authority clearly issued the RFP because they hope to have another manager in there this winter, and open the rink again. But whether they will be able to do that is not clear.”

BatteryPark.TV had a bad experience with Rink Management Services. BP.TV created a video feature of the rink as a public service and did not charge the rink for the video production. However, the management company was unappreciative. In fact, the company actually stole our content and placed it on their own website. In the course of dealing with Rink Management Services, many of the executives seemed unethical, in our opinion. An alternative ice rink company would be an improvement.

January 2010

An ice rink has been opened on the ball fields north of the Goldman Sachs building. It will be open until February. Rental skates and lessons are available.

Is that one of them artsy things?

August 25, 2010

BPC has featured many interesting temporary art exhibits near the North Cove Marina. The latest one called “Weather Beacon” by Erik Guzman is quite a mystery. If the goal is to perplex, it has certainly succeeded.

What is this thing? Give us your comments below.

9/11 memorial lights

Art on the walls of closed retail shops

October 12, 2009

The NY Times has a story about how so many ground level retail stores are empty in NYC that the landlords have turned to painting art on the walls to downplay the depressing sights.