Downtown Post NYC Bulletin Board

Pride Week 2020

The Pershing Viaduct was among the New York State landmarks that were lit in honor of Pride Month and the LGBTQ community.

Because of Covid-19, there were no large communal celebrations to mark the 51st anniversary of the Stonewall Inn uprising in Greenwich Village and the 50th anniversary of the first Gay Pride parade, which took place on June 28, 1970. However, New York State governor Andrew Cuomo observed Pride Week in other ways. On June 28, 2020, he announced that New York veterans who were denied honorable discharges due to their LGBTQ identity can begin submitting applications under The Restoration of Honor Act. This will allow veterans who were denied an honorable discharge because of their sexual orientation or gender identity to have their New York State veterans' benefits restored.

The Governor also announced an action by the New York State Department of Financial Services to futher protect LGBTQ New Yorkers from discrimination in healthcare as the federal government continues to remove or erode these protections.

A fisherman holding a blue crab that he just caught in the Hudson River. (Photo: © Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

ERV Works Dance at the Battery Dance Festival in 2023 presented a work called "Veiled from the Womb." Choreographed by Will A. Ervin Jr., it explores his legacy and upbringing as a young man, the descendant of an African American grandfather and a Puerto Rican and White grandmother whose cultural heritage was suppressed. (Photo: © Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

Proposed structure for the site at 250 Water St.

The Hebrew word "Mishpachah" means "family," and on Sunday, May 12, 2024 the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Battery Park City devoted an afternoon of programming to this subject. The problem for many Jews is that their knowledge of who their ancestors were, what they did for a living, what they looked like, where they lived and where they're buried goes back only three or maybe four generations before the trail peters out. All that remains are questions punctuated by a few hints perhaps, a few family stories and maybe a faded photograph with no one identified by name. The rest is silence.

But the desire to know more nags at many people and for some, becomes a life-long search. The proliferation of DNA testing sites has been helpful but not definitive. The results may show a significant number of shared genes between two people but don't necessarily establish the names of shared ancestors. One complication is that in Jewish genaology, there's something called "endogamy," which refers to the fact that for various reasons, Jews often married people to whom they were already related or who lived within their community.

The 2024 Mishpachah Festival explored the evolution and multifaceted cultural legacies of Jewish immigrant experiences. At this year's festival adults and families of all ages engaged with genealogy, learned Jewish languages, and reflected on how we tell our individual and collective stories.

These were some of the sessions on offer:

Genealogy: Experts from JewishGen and the Peter and Mary Kalikow Jewish Genealogy Center provided insights into genealogy and the resources available for further research into a family’s story.

Documenting Family Stories: Filmmaker Richard Kaplan offered guidance on how to jump-start a family’s oral legacy project including how to documenta family’s own story of immigrant experiences that future generations will treasure.

The Brooklyn Seltzer Boys father and son Kenny Gomberg and Alex Gomberg of Brooklyn Seltzer Boys shared their family history and provided insight into the family business. Founded by Moe Gomberg in 1953, Brooklyn Seltzer Boys delivers old-fashioned seltzer filled by the last remaining seltzer shop in New York City – Gomberg Seltzer Works, Inc.

A guided tour took a behind-the-scenes look at Courage to Act: Rescue in Denmark. The tour was led by Ellen Bari, an award-winning museum exhibit curator, multimedia producer and children’s book author.

A language workshop taught Yidish far der gantser mishpokhe / Yiddish for the entire family. Kolya Borodulin, master teacher and Director of Yiddish Programming at the Workers Circle in New York taught 50 words in 50 minutes. It was followed by an introduction to Ladino / Judeo-Spanish.

In Concert: Galeet Dardashti performed her multi-sensory project and album, Monajat, inspired by old and haunting recordings of Jewish prayers chanted by her late grandfather, Younes Dardashti, a famous master singer of Persian classical music in 1950s/60s Iran. A vocalist, composer, anthropologist and composer, Dardashti remixes samples of her grandfather’s legacy recordings and reinvents the ancient ritual of Selihot. This powerful work features original music performed by an acclaimed ensemble of Middle Eastern and jazz musicians accompanied by video art.

Unclaimed funds in New York: The New York State Comptroller's Office reports that it is holding nearly $14 billion in unclaimed money for New York residents who may have been charged superfluous fees or overpaid a bill, among other reasons for the money to end up in that office. Manhattan has the largest number of unclaimed funds in the New York area with just over 1.5 million potential cases. To search the comptroller's database and verify if you have unclaimed funds, click here or call (800) 221-9311 for more information.

Responding to hate crimes: New York City and New York State have launched programs to combat and report hateful and bias crimes against the LBGT, Muslim and immigrant communities. The City's initiative includes expansion of the Human Rights Commission information line to let people know about their legal rights and protections when confronted with, or witness to, bias and hateful events. They have also created a resource page for impacted communities. To see it, click here.

To report bias, discriminatory or hateful crimes, call these numbers:

• NYC Commission on Human Rights, (718) 722-3131

• The New York Police Department Hate Crimes Task Force, (646) 610-5267

• Manhattan District Attorney Hate Crime Hotline, (212) 335-3100

• Gov. Andrew Cuomo Special Unit to Investigate Hate Crimes, (888) 3923644

Robert Wilson, Bowne & Co.'s head printer, showed a mid-19th century printing press to a visitor. Bowne & Co. uses seven of the South Street Seaport Museum's antique printing presses and the museum's extensive collection of antique typefaces to print stationary, broadsides, greeting cards and other materials. (Photos: © Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

Robert Warner's Artwork

Robert Warner, former shopkeeper and master printer at Bowne & Company, died in 2023 leaving left behind a legacy of artworks that he had created from collage materials, vintage papers, ephemera, and memorabilia as well as many items that he had designed and printed on the museum’s antique presses. After the announcement of his retirement, a group of Museum and Bowne staff members began discussing what to do with these materials. The team included Martina Caruso, Director of Collections and Exhibitions, and Rob Wilson, Art Director and Operations Manager at Bowne & Co.

In 2023, the Seaport Museum formally accessioned 495 works on paper by Robert Warner as part of the Museum’s permanent collection, chosen for their connections to the Museum’s printing and graphic art collection, to the Museum’s historical memory, and to the local art community. The pieces could also potentially function as a gateway for new programming on contemporary art creation.

Warner’s works are examples of contemporary art made in the South Street Seaport Historic District with everyday objects, printing types, and printing equipment. In assembling these pieces of paper, fabric, and repurposed materials, he created a series of compositions that express the endless possibilities of letterpress-constructed narratives within the artistic community and society of the Seaport, and New York at large.

For more about the South Street Seaport Museum’s collection of Robert Warner’s artwork, click here.

The ribbon-cutting on May 16, 2023 for Century 21 New York's store at 22 Cortlandt St. was attended by a rapturous crowd of eager shoppers.

Cars in Jersey City, N.J. waiting to enter the Holland Tunnel, which links New York with New Jersey.

June 3, 2024 © Terese Loeb Kreuzer 2024

South Street Seaport Museum Collection Online

The South Street Seaport Museum’s free Collections Online Portal now features over 3,500 pieces on virtual display, allowing audiences from around the globe to explore New York City’s past through the archives, artifacts and photographs of the South Street Seaport Museum. In addition to the newspaper clippings, the latest update, recently released, also includes 150 paintings covering a variety of historical subjects and themes relating to the growth of New York City as a world port. This searchable database features selected items from the Museum’s permanent and working collections of over 60,000 items, encapsulating the rich maritime heritage of New York City. Whether you’re a friend of the Museum browsing casually from home or a researcher investigating a topic, you can explore the ever-growing Collections Online Portal at your leisure. For more information, click here.

New York State Lifts

Covid-19 Restrictions

June 15, 2021: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was brimming with happiness and eloquence when, at the World Trade Center in Manhattan, he announced that State-imposed Covid-19 restrictions would be lifted immediately. On Day 427 since the Covid-19 crisis came to public attention and Cuomo began his daily, unrelenting crusade to corral and fight the pandemic, he announced that 70 percent of New Yorkers, aged 18 and older, have received the first dose of their Covid-19 vaccination series and that the positivity rate in New York State is .40% — the lowest of any state in the United States. When all of this started, New York State had the highest positivity rate in the nation, and in fact, said Cuomo, the highest positivity rate on the globe.

Cuomo had a long list of people to thank, especially "the essential workers" who, he said, "came forward and whose effort and courage brought us through this day." Cuomo called them "our heroes."

To resounding applause from the audience, representatives of each group of essential workers were called to the stage and Cuomo gave each of them a plaque honoring their service: building service workers, the National Guard, food and hospitality workers, people who work in sanitation, transportation, retail stores and making deliveries. He cited hospital staff, teachers, corrections officers, government employees, EMT and ambulance workers, utility workers, people who work in construction and manufacturing, police officers, firefighters, doctors and nurses.

As Cuomo often said during the pandemic, these were the people who showed up for work to keep the city and the state running so that the rest of us could safely stay home.

Now, said Cuomo, "you want to honor the essential workers? I'll tell you how. You get vaccinated so you don't need the essential workers again."

Tonight, in honor of these people, all New York State assets such as the Empire State Building and the World Trade Center will be lit up in blue and gold. Also, there will be fireworks displays at 10 locations throughout the State. In Manhattan, they will be near The Battery and will start at 9:15 p.m.

Free Citizen Public Health

Training Program

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the creation of a Citizen Public Health Training Course for New Yorkers to teach preparedness for and prevention of public health emergencies. The free, online course is being taught by "top public health experts."

The training was developed by Cornell University's Master of Public Health Program and is being delivered through eCornell. It is a four-part online training program to equip New Yorkers with expertise and tools to help build and support community-led initiatives surrounding prevention, detection and response in the event of public health emergencies. After completing the training, participants will be designated a "NYS Citizen Public Health Leader" and will be informed about how they can volunteer in support of their local public health operations - especially during emergencies - as well as how to find, use and share verified information about public health matters from reliable sources.

Program participants will learn about COVID-19, public health emergency preparedness and response, and other public health issues, while gaining insight into information and resources that will benefit their communities. Those interested in enrolling or getting more information about becoming a NYS Citizen Public Health Leader can go to the program website by clicking here.

People lined up at the Downtown Boathouse on Pier 26 in Hudson River Park to participate in the Downtown Boathouse's free kayaking program on the Hudson River. (Photos: © Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

New State-wide paid sick leave benefits: As of Jan. 1, 2021 New Yorkers can begin using sick leave benefits under New York State's newly enacted paid sick leave law. This legislation, which was advanced in the Governor's 2020 State of the State address and enacted as part of the FY 2021 Budget, secures paid sick leave for workers at medium and large businesses and paid or unpaid leave for those at small businesses, depending on the employer's net income. Under this groundbreaking law, New Yorkers can use guaranteed sick leave to recover from an illness themselves, care for a sick family member, or address safety needs if they or a family member are the victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, or human trafficking. More information is available on the state's Paid Sick Leave website. Click here.

New City Council District Map for Manhattan

The New York City Districting Commission has just published new City Council district maps that will be in place for the next decade. The maps resulted from over eight months of work during which there were 20 public meetings and hearings where public testimony was presented both in person and virtually. To see an enlargement of the map, click here.

SCRIE and DRIE application assistance: The Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE, also known as the NYC Rent Freeze Program) freezes the rent for head-of-household seniors 62 and older who live in rent-regulated apartments. A companion program, the Disability Rent Increase Exemption (DRIE, also known as the NYC Rent Freeze Program) is an exemption against future rent increases for eligible disabled persons living in rent-controlled, rent-stabilized, Mitchell-Lama and other eligible apartments. It turns out that many New Yorkers who would be eligible for this assistance are not using it. For information about how to apply for SCRIE and/or DRIE, click here.

City's archives now open on Saturday mornings: One of the unsung gems in city government, the New York City Municipal Archives and Library (managed by the city's Department of Records and Information Services) is now open on Saturday mornings. The additional hours provide greater access to the historical and contemporary records of New York City. Visit to learn about your family's history; explore historical records, mayoral collections, and government publications; and tour the exhibition of Police Department surveillance materials, "Unlikely Historians." Specialized researchers should email research@records.nyc.gov in case archival records must be pulled from offsite storage. Place: 31 Chambers St., in the historic Surrogate's Courthouse. Hours: 9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday); 9:30 a.m. - 7 p.m. (Thursday), and 9:30 a.m. - 12:30 pm (Saturdays).

COVID-19 testing: On May 17, 2020 Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced a new website that will help New Yorkers to find sites where they can be tested for COVID-19. The URL is https://coronavirus.health.ny.gov/covid-19-testing

Robert Warner retires as South Street Seaport Museum's shopkeeper and master printer

Robert Warner, who transformed the South Street Seaport Museum's shop at 211 Water St. into a charming emporium of old-fashioned, artistic and idiosyncratic treasures, has retired both as shopkeeper and as Bowne & Co. Stationers' master printer. For the last 24 years, he has been a beloved part of the museum's staff. As curator of the shop, he selected and stocked its wares, decorated its windows and its streetscape, greeted customers and sometimes gave classes in collage. At the back of the shop Warner often demonstrated his printing expertise on some of the museum's antique printing presses. Warner was one of a kind and irreplaceable. He will be missed.

(Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

Estuarium Design Meeting

On Feb. 27, Hudson River Park Trust (HRPT) had an online meeting regarding the Estuarium which HRPT is going to build on the upland side of Pier 26. The purpose of the meeting was to solicit ideas from the public as to some of the things that should be considered in the design. The Estuarium will educate visitors about the Hudson River, including its land and water environment and will conduct research on the river and its ecosystem. The Hudson River Park Trust, through its River Project, will be the operator of the Estuarium. The Hudson River Park Trust recently hired a comprehensive design team led by a Tribeca-based firm, Sage and Coombe, as the Architect of Record and EHDD Architecture, as the Design Architect for this project.

Before starting the building design, the team is incorporating community comments. It is also confirming survey and geotechnical information, verifying flood zone requirements and determining Hudson River water and aquatic wildlife support systems.

The participants in the online meeting were broken up into smaller groups so that everyone would have a chance to comment. The comments reflected a broad range of interests and backgrounds, depending on previous interactions with the River Project and with the Hudson River itself.

Additional comments for the design team can be sent to
estuariumproject@gmail.com

Hudson River trip with Poets House
Oct. 18, 2024: As a fundraiser for Poets House, a sunset ferry cruise down the Hudson River took place on Oct. 18. Entitled "Epic Voices: A Voyage on the Hudson" with readings from The Iliad, translated by Emily Wilson, all proceeds are being used to support Poets House. For more information, click here.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul Calls for an Indefinite Pause on Congestion Pricing

Congestion Pricing for the Central Business District of Manhattan had been approved meaning that with few exceptions, there would be tolls for vehicle drivers below 60th Street. However on Wednesday, June 5, 2024, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul called an "indefinite" pause to the program that would have charged a base toll of $15 a day to any cars entering Midtown and Lower Manhattan. The program was expected to begin in June with a 30-day testing phase and a 60-day public information campaign before the start of toll collection. However, even before Gov. Hochul's announcement, five lawsuits had challenged the plan in a way that could have deferred or blocked its enactment, at least on the planned schedule.

On Feb. 15, State Senator Brian Kavanagh hosted a congestion pricing information session with the MTA. It was intended for Lower Manhattan residents (South of 14th St.) Although the MTA representatives spoke enthusiastically about the benefits of congestion pricing saying that it would unclog streets for emergency vehicles, improve air quality and speed up buses, it was clear from audience questions that the current plans would have numerous unintended consequences that would make life more difficult and more expensive for numerous people in Lower Manhattan and elsewhere in New York City. In early March, the MTA held public hearings during which the public could comment in person, via Zoom or by conference call. The hearings were videotaped and can be seen on YouTube. For a video of the March 4, 2024 hearing, click here.

Gov. Hochul doesn't have the legal authority to overturn a 2019 law that required congestion tolling but she does exert considerable influence over the MTA since she can select most of its board members and can designate its chairman.

So far, Gov. Hochul's congestion pricing pause has been praised by some Albany lawmakers who had already expressed their opposition to congestion pricing. Their concerns included how congestion pricing would affect outer-borough communities and how it would affect people living in "transit deserts" who, of necessity, rely on their cars to get to Manhattan. Among their other concerns were adverse effects on small businesses, people traveling for medical treatment, seniors trying to visit family members and residents living on the outer boundaries of the congestion pricing zone whose parking would be used by those not wanting to drive into the congestion area.

Proponents of congestion pricing are pointing out that the revenue that it was supposed to generate was going to fund several major transit projects. They include fixing subway signals to improve speed and safety, expanding the Second Avenue subway and extending subway service into East Harlem.

In announcing the pause in congestion pricing, Gov. Hochul said that she was committed to funding the Second Avenue subway though it was not immediately clear where that money would come from.

Congressman Jerrold Nadler, who for years represented the 10th Congressional District in Lower Manhattan and who now represents the 12th Congressional District on the Upper East and Upper West Sides of Manhattan, was adamant in his disappointment at Gov. Hochul's "pause."

“As a longtime champion of Congestion Pricing and the Congressional Representative of a significant portion of the Central Business District (CBD), I am disappointed by reports that Governor Hochul will not implement Congestion Pricing on June 30, as previously planned," Nadler said. "After years of delays, we need congestion pricing now more than ever to reduce paralyzing vehicle traffic in the CBD, improve air quality in our city and region, and raise desperately needed capital funds to enhance the public transit system that millions depend on..... Over 1.3 million people rely on transit daily to enter the CBD for work, compared to 143,000 drivers. It’s evident that congestion pricing will significantly benefit the vast majority of commuters who rely on the MTA, rather than a small, vocal minority of drivers who don’t qualify for exemptions or discounts. Congestion pricing is crucial for delivering the capital improvements necessary to make the MTA more reliable." — Terese Loeb Kreuzer

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Congestion Pricing Update: August 29, 2024

The latest installment in the war over congestion pricing in Manhattan south of 60th Street is taking place in Manhattan Supreme Court according to amny.com. In response to Gov. Kathy Hochul's pause on the congestion pricing program, three current lawmakers and one former one have filed an amicus brief stating that Gov. Hochul has no legal authority under New York law to interfere with the congestion pricing plan that was supposed to begin in June 2024. The Traffic Mobility Act of 2019 established the congestion pricing program in principle and explicitly stated that its implementation would be in the hands of the MTA in order to keep implementation free of political pressures.

The governor of New York State does appoint six of the MTA's 17 Board of Directors as well as the chair but beyond that, is supposed to stay clear of decision-making.

However, Gov. Hochul continues to state that "this is not the right time to implement congestion pricing" and the pause that she implemented is still in place. — Terese Loeb Kreuzer

Volunteer on Governors Island

Governors Island is a 172-acre island, 800 yards from Lower Manhattan and around 400 yards from Brooklyn. The National Park Service administers a small part of the northern side of the island as a National Monument. The Trust for Governors Island administers the remaining 150 acres as a public park. This part of Governors Island relies on volunteers for a variety of jobs. They include providing information for visitors, serving as tour guides on in-depth public walking tours, helping the horticultural staff to care for the island's meadows, forest groves, ornamental flower beds and landscaped hillsides and performing seasonal gardening tasks such as planting and pruning. Volunteers must be at least 16 years old. For more information and to apply, click here.

(Left) Part of the Meatpacking District and West Street as seen from the Whitney Museum of American Art at 99 Gansevoort St. (Right) The exterior of the Whitney Museum of American Art. (Photos: © Terese Loeb Kreuzer).

South Street Seaport Museum

Book Club

The South Street Seaport Museum is hosting a maritime-themed book club in partnership with McNally Jackson Books at 4 Fulton St., where the book club meets. Seaport Museum staff and special guests lead the discussions on the last Monday of every other month. Each book selection is announced at least one month in advance. The book club meets at 6:30 p.m. and is free. If desired, the books can be purchased at McNally Jackson with a 10% discount. Advance registration is encouraged.

Fiddler on the Roof cast album

A cast album of the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbine's production of Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish is available from Amazon.com and elsewhere.

Directed by Academy Award-and-Tony Award winner Joel Grey, the Yiddish Fiddler on the Roof received universal positive praise from critics, including landing a place as a New York Times’ Critic’s Pick.” The Yiddish language Fiddler on the Roof is based on the Tevye the Dairyman vignettes by Sholem Aleichem and was translated by Shraga Friedman.

For Downtown Post NYC's review of the production plus some additional photographs, click here.

Jake Johnson is the manager of the National Museum of the American Indian store at 1 Bowling Green in Manhattan. "This iteration of the store opened in January 2018," he said. He added that he has been "stationed at NMAI-NY in my role since April 2016." Johnson is standing next to a totem pole carved by Francis Horne, Sr., a member of the Coast Salish, whose once little-known art he has helped to preserve. A self-taught artist, he is also a carver who has created both major totem poles and sculptures for international commissions. He teaches carving and practices First Nation spirituality. This totem pole costs $20,000. Around three-quarters of the items in the store are handmade and are one of a kind. The National Museum of the American Indian is open from Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free. (Photo: © Terese Loeb Kreuzer 2018)

City of Water Day in

Lower Manhattan

City of Water Day 2022 took place on July 16. It has become an annual summer tradition in New York Harbor designed to raise awareness of the fact that New York City is mostly built on islands and is an archipelago surrounded by water. The Hudson River on the western flank of Manhattan and the Bronx and the so-called East River separating Manhattan from Brooklyn and Queens (the East River is actually a tidal strait connected to Long Island Sound) are only two of New York City's numerous waterways. The Harlem River is a tidal strait flowing between the Hudson River and the East River, separating Manhattan from the Bronx. The Bronx River (the city's only fresh water river) separates the East Bronx from the West Bronx and then flows southward before emptying into Long Island Sound.

This is just a small sample of New York Harbor's waterways. City of Water Day used to provide a fun opportunity to go for a ride on some of the harbor's many boats in order to get a closer look at our maritime environment. Now City of Water Day is primarily land based with activities and exhibitions designed to make us aware of our vulnerability to climate change and sea level rise.

In Lower Manhattan, these activities included the following:

In Battery Park City's Rockefeller Park, you could learn about "environmental stewardship" by taking a nature walk culminating in an art project.

On Pier 40 in Hudson River Park, you could get a guided tour of the Wetlab, a research aquarium that is free and open to the public. This flow-through aquarium houses dozens of species of fish and invertebrates that were caught in the Hudson River.

The fireboat John J. Harvey was at Pier 66 in Hudson River Park with spectacular water displays and a chance to learn more about this historic vessel. There were also free public trips aboard John J. Harvey. .

In the South Street Seaport, an installation called "Art at the Blue Line" was installed to raise awareness of the risk of coastal flooding from rising sea levels and the failure to address climate change, The Blue Line refers to the projected high-tide line in 2100. Three artists are represented in this exhibiton on Piers 16 and 17. It will run through July 29.

Throughout the year, the Battery Park City Authority sponsors art classes, most of them free with materials provided.

(Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

Historic Fireboat John J. Harvey Hudson River Trips

From time to time, the public is invited to travel aboard the historic fireboat John Jay Harvey for cruises in New York harbor and on the Hudson River.

For more information about the John J. Harvey and/or to donate, click here. In 2018, the John J. Harvey traveled up the Hudson River to Waterford, N.Y. For more about the September 2018 Hudson River trip aboard the John J. Harvey to Waterford, N.Y. and back, click here.

(Photo: © Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

On City of Water Day in 2018, kayakers put out into the East River from a naturally formed beach on the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge. Discussions have been under way off and on since then about making that beach permanently accessible to the public, but so far, it hasn't happened. (Photo: © Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

At the Mishpachah Festival in 2023, Avraham Groll, Executive Director of JewishGen, an affiliate of the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Battery Park City, discussed JewishGen's voluminous databases that allow people of Ashkenazi Jewish heritage, whose ancestral knowledge has been fractured by the Holocaust and by the pogroms and forced migrations that preceded it, to learn about their ancestors. (Photo: © Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

250 Water St. in the South Street Seaport Historic District has been the site of litigation for decades.

The interior of the McNally Jackson bookstore at 4 Fulton St. in the South Street Seaport, which is co-sponsoring a monthly book club with the South Street Seaport Museum.

In an online talk, historian Jonathan H. Rees discussed his new book "The Fulton Fish Market: A History" (Columbia University Press, 2022). Among other things, Rees described the market’s workings and significance, tracing the transportation, retailing, and consumption of fish. Today, the once bustling fish market in lower Manhattan's South Street Seaport is a rebuilt retail destination with a new kind of marketing – but from its founding in 1822, through its move to the Bronx in 2005, the Fulton Fish Market was an iconic New York institution. At first a neighborhood market for many different kinds of food, by the late nineteenth century, it became the nation’s largest fish and seafood wholesaling center. Thousands of immigrants worked at the Fulton Fish Market and introduced the rest of the city to their seafood traditions. In popular culture, the market evoked images of the animated East River waterfront, late-night fishmongering, organized crime, and a vanished working-class New York. "The Fulton Fish Market: A History" can be purchased on Amazon.com, the McNally Jackson Bookstore at 4 Fulton St. in the South Street Seaport and elsewhere.

Bowne & Co. Stationers

Bowne & Co. Stationers at 211 Water St. in the South Street Seaport has shelves and tables filled with art supplies, notebooks, greeting cards and stationary printed on the South Street Seaport Museum's antique presses, plus all manner of intriguing curios. If you've been looking for a ship in a bottle or a carved whale, look no further. Notebooks and journals with decorative covers are piled high on the tables next to brightly colored pencil sharpeners and brush pens, crying out to be used. The shop is housed in a historic 19th-century storefront with brick walls and a beamed ceiling that once served as a warehouse for heating stoves. A painting of Robert Bowne who founded Bowne & Co. in 1775 hangs on the wall. The venerable shop that bears his name is New York’s oldest operating business under the same name. Bowne & Co. is open from Wednesdays through Sundays between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. Entry to visit the Bowne & Co. store is free with no museum admission required. For more information, click here.

An excerpt from "Here We Root" was presented on the third night of the Battery Dance Festival. "Here We Root" used text, theater and an original score to recount the experiences of Asian immigrants to the United States. (Photo: © Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

DOWNTOWN POST NYC BULLETIN BOARD 
(WITH EVENTS PAST AND PRESENT)

Lower Manhattan Walking Tour Focuses on LGBTQ+ History

A two-hour walking tour of Lower Manhattan highlights places of significance in downtown Manhattan's LGBTQ+ history. The tour starts at Castle Clinton in the Battery where immigrants to New York City were processed before Ellis Island opened and where some were denied admission to the United States because of suspected homosexuality. The tour ends in City Hall Park a little less than two miles away. Walt Whitman's name comes up on this tour. So does Keith Haring's. The U.S. Army's Selective Service induction facility on Whitehall Street figures in the tour as does the New York Stock Exchange. This walking tour is one of five whose development was funded by the Downtown Alliance. Tickets for this tour cost $49. For more information and for reservations, click here.

SOLE Defined gave its New York premiere of "Body Language" at the Battery Dance Festival in August 2023. It's a sonic and kinetic exploration of African Diasporic Percussive Dance. SOLE Defined, based in the Washington, D.C. metro area, specializes in percussive dance, using the body as an instrument synthesized with integrated media, technology and storytelling.

The South Street Seaport Museum on Schermerhorn Row once housed several hotels for seamen. In 1952, the writer Joseph Mitchell and Louis Morino, who owned a restaurant called Sloppy Louie's on this site (92 South St.) used this old elevator shaft to enter the boarded-up Fulton Ferry Hotel (in operation from 1874 to 1935) where they found iron bedsteads, bureaus and signs reading "All Gambling...Strictly Prohibited." (Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

Appellate Court Greenlights 325-Foot Tower at 250 Water St.

June 6: Today the Supreme Court of the State of New York Appellate Division: First Department handed down a unanimous decision overturning a ruling by a lower court that had denied a Certificate of Appropriateness (COA) allowing the Howard Hughes Corporation (HHC) to erect a 325-foot- tall building at 250 Water St. within the South Street Seaport Historic District. The COA had been granted by the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) of the City of New York. Now, the Howard Hughes Corporation can go ahead with building its tower. "We are gratified by the court’s decision, which confirms what we have maintained all along: The Landmarks Preservation Commission’s approval of our project was proper and made in full compliance with the landmarks law,” Howard Hughes co-president Zach Winick said in a statement.

The five judges who heard the case, selected at random from the 14 who hear cases in this court, were Tanya R. Kennedy, Jeffrey K. Oing, Barbara R. Kapnick, Peter H. Moulton and Manuel J. Mendez.

Downtown Post NYC photos for sale:If you would like to buy prints of a photograph that has appeared in Downtown Post NYC, email editor@downtownpostnyc.com with your request for more information about sizes and prices.

Preparing for emergencies: Lower Manhattan is no stranger to natural and manmade disasters. Ready is a national public service campaign that was launched in 2003 to help people to prepare for, respond to and mitigate emergencies. Ready and its Spanish language version, Listo, recommend: (1) staying informed about the kinds of emergencies that could occur and their appropriate responses (2) making a family emergency plan, (3) building an emergency supply kit, and (4) getting involved in your community's efforts to prepare for emergencies. As we have seen in Puerto Rico, sometimes government help is not immediately available and neighbors will have to care for neighbors until other help arrives. Ready says that an emergency preparedness backpack should contain copies of important documents, non-perishable food and water, a battery-generated radio and flashlight for use if you have to shelter in place or evacuate. For more information, click here.

Community Board 1 website: Community Board 1's website includes information updated daily on alternate side of the street parking, garbage collection, subway schedules and school openings. There are also links to the Manhattan Borough President's Office, the New York City Mayor's Consumer Services Unit, the Department of Sanitation, 311 and other City departments and services. Community Board 1 meeting dates and agendas are listed in addition to reports that CB1 has prepared.Applicants for liquor licenses, newsstands, sidewalk cafés and landmarking will find the guidelines on the website. Presentations related to Wagner Park in Battery Park City and to The Howard Hughes Corporation's construction plans in the South Street Seaport are listed under the heading "External Information" where a link to the New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board can also be found. The website URL is http://www1.nyc.gov/site/manhattancb1/index.page

"If You See Something, Say Something"
New Yorkers are reminded to stay alert to their surroundings, and to report any suspicious activity. Reports can be made to the Counter Terrorism Center at the New York State Intelligence Center via its terrorism tip line: (866) SAFENYS (866-723-3697); or by email: ctcenter@nysic.ny.gov. New Yorkers can also download the See Something, Send Something app on your smartphone to inform authorities of a potential threat. Go to https://www.ny.gov/programs/see-something-send-something for more information.

How to Support Your Community: Donate!

South Street Seaport Museum: The evocative upper floors of Schermerhorn Row in the South Street Seaport have been mostly closed to the public since Superstorm Sandy destroyed the electrical system in the buildings on Oct. 29, 2012. During October 2018, the South Street Seaport Museum offered guided tours of the 4th floor where visitors could see the remnants of two hotels that in the 19th century provided accommodations for seamen, traveling salesmen and other visitors. Want to make a contribution to the South Street Seaport Museum to support its programs and services? Your money would go for educational programs, for curating and interpreting its collection of 27,000 works of art and artifacts that document the rise of the New York port, preserving and actively using its historic ships and printing presses and supporting the corps of nearly 300 volunteers and interns that make the Museum's work possible. For more information and to donate to the South Street Seaport Museum, click here. (Photo: © Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

Mishpachah Festival at the Museum of Jewish Heritage

Century 21 reopens

“Century 21 is back!” a shopper rejoiced. On May 16, 2023, the beloved department store finally reopened after having been closed for three years.

Century 21 was not just a store. It was a talisman for local shoppers in search of luxury goods at discounted prices, a tourist attraction, and a fixture in Lower Manhattan for decades.

It was founded in 1961 in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, eventually expanding to include 13 stores from New York to Florida. The flagship store was in Lower Manhattan, close enough to the World Trade Center site that it was significantly damaged during the attack on Sept. 11, 2001. Nevertheless, after a few months, it rebounded. However, it didn’t rebound from the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2020, the Gindi family, the owners of Century 21, filed for bankruptcy.

Although on May 16 the store at 22 Cortlandt Street wasn’t scheduled to open until noon, some shoppers were waiting in line as early as 6:30 a.m. After a few hours, the line stretched around the block.

Century 21 now occupies only four floors instead of six as it did before the pandemic but the quality of the merchandise and the discounts of at least 50 percent off haven’t changed. “So many things catch your eye!” said one woman. “It’s like a feast for the fashionable.”

Fraunces Tavern Museum Update

The Fraunces Tavern Museum and restaurant are at 54 Pearl St. For information about current programming, click here. (Photo: The Long Room in the Fraunces Tavern Museum. © Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

Bowne & Co. Stationers

When Bowne & Co. Stationers at 211 Water St. in the South Street Seaport reopened after a pandemic hiatus, its shelves and tables were filled as formerly with art supplies, notebooks, greeting cards and stationary printed on the South Street Seaport Museum's antique presses, plus all manner of intriguing curios. If you've been looking for a ship in a bottle or a carved whale, look no further. Notebooks and journals with decorative covers are piled high on the tables next to brightly colored pencil sharpeners and brush pens, crying out to be used.

The shop is housed in a historic 19th-century storefront with brick walls and a beamed ceiling that once served as a warehouse for heating stoves. A painting of Robert Bowne who founded Bowne & Co. in 1775 hangs on the wall. The venerable shop that bears his name is New York’s oldest operating business under the same name.

Bowne & Co. is open from Wednesdays through Sundays between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. Entry to visit the Bowne & Co. store is free with no museum admission required. For more information, click here.

Online Shop
For those who are unable to visit Bowne & Co. in person, check out the Bowne & Co. Online Shop which features a selection of offerings from Bowne & Co.: journals, writing paper, books, and house-designed notecards and broadside posters. Totes and other Seaport Museum branded merchandise are also available for purchase. Orders can be shipped anywhere in the United States via UPS Ground and are also available for local pickup. Click here for more information.

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Battery Dance Festival Returned

for Its 42nd Year

In August 2023, the Battery Dance Festival was back in town for its 42nd season of exhilarating and provocative dancing from an international array of companies. The Battery Dance Festival is New York City’s longest-running free public dance festival. In addition to the annual dance festival, for the past 40 years Battery Dance has toured, held master classes, lectured and presented, provided technical training, and conducted its signature arts education program Dancing to Connect in more than 54 countries worldwide. Battery Dance has partnered with over 200 foreign organizations and continues to lead the arts community in heralding new and innovative international collaborations. Contributions to Battery Dance are much appreciated. To contribute to Battery Dance, click here.

Downtown Post NYC

Con Ed Power Outage

Causes Downtown Post NYC to Go Down

Dec. 15, 2023: Starting late on Dec. 14 and continuing until 10 a.m. on Dec. 15, Downtown Post NYC lost Internet, telephone and television access because of the power outage at a Con Edison plant in Brooklyn. As reported by the New York Daily News, "a power substation in Vinegar Hill, Brooklyn, experienced an isolated high-voltage malfunction late Thursday, officials said. Con Edison, New York City’s largest utility supplier, said that a transmission line failed around 11:55 p.m. on Thursday. Most of New York City was likely affected by the momentary power outage, according to Con Edison. The disruption stemmed from a fault in a 27-kilowatt feeder at Con Edison’s Farragut Substation that also sparked a small fire at the riverside substation, said Zach Iscol, the city’s emergency management commissioner."

Downtown Post NYC uses computer Internet links for telephone and television access, so when the Internet went down, all means of communication and information were disrupted. Downtown Post NYC's Internet carrier's equipment in the Con Ed substation was damaged by the outage and the Internet carrier's technicians were unable to gain access and to make repairs for many hours after the initial transmission line failure. Undoubtedly many other businesses were also affected by the Con Edison outage. — Terese Loeb Kreuzer

Whitney Museum Gay Pride Observances (2023)

The Whitney Museum of American Art at 99 Gansevoort St. is located in New York City's former Meatpacking District on the West Side of Lower Manhattan. In the 1970s, the area began to be known not just for meatpacking and other industries but for night clubs catering to a gay clientele and for prostitution involving transsexuals. Beginning in the late 1990's, high-end boutiques opened in the area, and by 2004, the Meatpacking District had become fashionable, abetted in June 2009 by the opening of the first segment of the High Line.

The Whitney opened on May 1, 2015 near the southernmost entrance of the High Line. This is a museum noteworthy for its embrace of artists of varied backgrounds and for often mounting shows with politicized messages. So it's no wonder that the Whitney celebrated Gay Pride Month with a multitude of events that acknowledged the years when the streets around the museum were a hub of gay activity. The museum stated that "Whitney Pride is part of the Museum’s ongoing commitment to support LGBTQ+ artists and communities and offer an inclusive space for all to gather and enjoy American art."

On June 5, with the New York premiere of an HBO Documentary Film called "The Stroll" (2023), the Whitney celebrated the history of the Meatpacking District and honored the transgender women who helped shape it with a free after-hours event featuring music, dancing, and refreshments in the Museum’s Griffin Hall. "The Stroll" (2023) is a documentary film that explores the history of New York City's Meatpacking District through the eyes of the transgender women of color who lived and worked there. The film is titled after the block of 14th street between Ninth Avenue and the Hudson River where trans women, shunned from the workforce, turned to sex work as a means of survival. Their perspectives and insights contribute to an essential archive documenting how heavy policing, discrimination, violence, and gentrification created Manhattan’s built environment today. Though the Whitney'sscreening has passed, "The Stroll" became available as of June 21 on HBO and will be available to stream on Max coinciding with LGBTQ Pride Month.

Sign up for Notify NYC

New Yorkers are encouraged to sign up for Notify NYC, the City’s free emergency communications program, for the latest information and updates on storm and emergency events in NYC. To sign up for Notify NYC, download the free mobile application, visit NYC.gov/NotifyNYC, call 311, or follow @NotifyNYC on Twitter. For more severe weather information, go to www.NYC.gov/SevereWeather.

NYPD First Precinct Community Council Meetings

Monthly meetings of Manhattan's NYPD First Precinct Community Council take place starting at 6 p.m. at 16 Ericsson Place. The Community Council welcomes residents and businesses interested in police and security issues. Crime statistics and crime prevention tips are presented and quality of life issues are discussed. For more information, contact the First Precinct Community Affairs Officer, Nicolaos Iordanou at (212) 334-0640 or nicolaos.iordanou@nypd.org