ABC Nightly News used the same distorted logic as did the New York Times back in May and made the moral equivalence of pornography shops and strip clubs many blocks away from Ground Zero to a proposed Islamic mosque. Presumably, ABC did this to make the point that Ground Zero is not the “hallowed ground” that mosque protestors claim. Therefore, to oppose the proposed mosque based on the grounds that Ground Zero is special is hypocritical. Read below our original commentary on the flaws of that logic.
Op-Ed May 28, 2010
In what could be one of the poorest uses of logic in recent mainstream media history, the New York Times featured a column by Clyde Haberman supporting the construction of a five-story Islamic mosque near “Ground Zero” (The name for the former World Trade Center sites demolished after the Islamic terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 that killed thousands). In his column, Mr. Haberman compares the insult of an Islamic site of possible future anti-American teaching to a strip club and off-track betting shop that are already nearby ground zero.
He wrote, “No one is known to have protested the fact that three blocks from ground zero, on Murray Street off West Broadway, there is a strip joint. It prefers to call itself a gentlemen’s club. A man stood on the street corner the other day handing out free passes to willing gentlemen.”
Huh? How does a passive purveyor of porn compare to militant murdering terrorists? Pornography and incubators of mass murder are not morally equivalent.
The organizers of this unfunded mosque idea have tried to soften it up by referring to it as a cultural center. Will the mosque really be this multi-religious “cultural center” that it claims to be? Will women be allowed inside without being covered up with various forms of head shrouds? Will the acts on 9/11 and radical Islam be condemned? Of course not.
Mr. Haberman does not seem to be willing to admit publicly that the terrorists who attacked us on September 11, 2001, were all brainwashed by Islamic radicals in extremist mosques. Perhaps he is pandering to the mayor who supports the mosque. The NY Times would benefit from an acquisition by Bloomberg News.
The authorities will undoubtedly keep close tabs on this “Ground Zero mosque” if it is ever built, but critics are justified in raising concern. In contrast, no adult porn shop or off-track betting site ever produced a jihad of America-hating murderers.
As evidence of the continued weak real estate market in NYC, TV chef Emeril Lagasse had to slash the price of his Midtown loft by 40%: from $7.6 Million to $4.6 Million. The WSJ has more.
The WSJ is reporting today an update on apartment sales prices and number of units sold. The good news is that the number of units increased 179% yoy to 383 units (137 in April of 2009), and a 20% increase from last month. However, the bad news is that prices are way down. Compared to 2009, the selling price of apartments in Battery Park City and the Financial District had the largest drop of Manhattan: down 17%.
Red areas represent the largest price declines.
Keep in mind that 2009 was the bottom in the economic recession in NYC. Despite the ample bonuses paid out in 2010, it has not seemed to impact selling prices.
The real estate speculators who started large condo projects at the height of the bubble continue to struggle. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Trump SOHO is discounting prices by 25% to boost slumping sales. Previously, it was reported that the prices of housing sales in the Battery Park City region saw one of the biggest decreases in the entire city.
BatteryPark.TV recently got an exclusive look at the yet to be opened outdoor pool area of the Trump SoHo and we were disappointed. The pool is very small and more of a large hot tub. The “pool” of the new Standard Hotel is also extremely small. It is not clear what zoning or building laws prohibit proper sized pools atop New York skyscrapers.
It was confirmed at the CB1 meeting that Danny Meyer is bringing his duo of Shake Shack and Blue Smoke to BPC. In addition, a third Danny Meyer restaurant will open in the location of the old Pac Rim restaurant on the West side of the Embassy suites. It will be high-end fine dining comparable to his Union Square Cafe and other restaurants in Midtown. The hotel itself will be redesigned and opened as a luxury Conrad hotel.
The 30,000 square feet of retail space currently occupied by DSW shoes and the additional 10,000 once occupied by New York Sports Club will be remade into a ballroom and banquet hall, to the anger of CB1 member Tom Goodkind.
July 10, 2010
Goldman Sachs has finally done something for the neighborhood that is not controversial, it seems. New York Magazine is reporting that the vacated Applebee’s and Chevy’s locations will be replaced by a Danny Meyer duo of Shake Shack and Blue Smoke. Inferior quality restaurants have long underserved BPC. Perhaps this will come to an end. It will be interesting to see what Goldman Sachs does with the vacant old steak house on the Southwest corner of their Embassy Suites building.
New York City Council takes advice from Community Boards on matters such as liquor licenses and construction permits. Community Board 1 oversees lower Manhattan and is divided into subcommittees by region, such as Battery Park, Tribeca, Financial District, etc. Tribeca committee Chairman Peter Braus explains how the system works.
The other shoe to drop for New York City will be the massive rate of defaults on commercial real estate loans. Up to a trillion dollars in loans could go unpaid within the next year or two. Will lenders renegotiate or will they evict all of the businesses in those buildings causing an even great unemployment problem and tax revenue shortage?
The WSJ has an interesting article about how hotels were caught at the worst time taking out large loans to renovate right before the economic collapse of lat 2007 through 2009. They focus on the Hawaiian hotel market as an example, but the data are relevant to New York City.
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.
- City Council, - Mayor's Office, In the News, Op-Ed, Real estate | admin | 
September 3, 2010 1:53 am | 
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