DOWNTOWN
POST NYC

News and Events
in Lower Manhattan

Volume 1, No. 31 Feb. 24, 2014

IN THIS ISSUE

Quote of the day:

"Over the mountains/ and under the stars it is/ one hell of a ride." - A poem by Lucille Clifton quoted by Elizabeth Alexander when she lectured on Clifton at Poets House.

* South Street Seaport task force still under wraps
* Elizabeth Alexander evokes poet Lucille Clifton at Poets House
* Bits & Bytes: New tenants for Stock Exchange; Wine dinner; Leonard Street penthouse
* Letter to the editor: Arriving in New York City aboard the S.S. United States
* Downtown bulletin board: Lower East Side CSA
* Community Board 1 full board meeting agenda
* Calendar

Masthead photo: An exhibit about poet Lucille Clifton at Poets House. Feb. 22, 2014
(Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

SOUTH STREET SEAPORT TASK FORCE STILL UNDER WRAPS

Part of The Howard Hughes Corporation's SEC filing of Feb. 12, 2014

Six weeks have elapsed since the Jan. 13 Town Hall meeting convened by Community Board 1 to discuss plans and ideas for the South Street Seaport. At that meeting, most people said they opposed The Howard Hughes Corporation's stated plan to build a 50-story-tall tower on the site of what is now the New Market Building. But The Howard Hughes Corporation has given no indication that it has abandoned or modified those plans, which appeared in a filing that it put before the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Feb. 12, 2014.

Following that Town Hall meeting, the creation of a task force consisting of all the stakeholders was discussed. The idea was to get community members, the New York City Economic Development Corporation, The Howard Hughes Corporation, elected officials and representatives of the South Street Seaport Museum in one room to thrash out a solution for the Seaport that would be acceptable to all.

So far, there is no sign of that task force. Emails today to the elected officials asking about it went unanswered.

"We've been working on this very hard for a very long time," said Catherine McVay Hughes, chairperson of Community Board 1. "CB1 is still working with the elected officials and the relevant stakeholders to ensure that a task force is created. The goal of the task force would be to get all those players in the room at the same time."

Meanwhile, The Howard Hughes Corporation says "it is thinking big." In its SEC fiilng, it says, "Our vision is to be among the leading American brands of the 21st Century." In the SEC document, the Seaport tops the list of its projects.

- Terese Loeb Kreuzer

ELIZABETH ALEXANDER EVOKES POET LUCILLE CLIFTON AT POETS HOUSE

Elizabeth Alexander, a poet and professor at Yale University, lecturing at Poets House in Battery Park City about poet Lucille Clifton. (Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

Poet Lucille Clifton died on Feb. 13, 2010 at the age of 73 but, said Elizabeth Alexander as she stood before an audience at Poets House in Battery Park City on Feb. 22 to talk about Clifton, "Lucille is not gone. Her body is gone from this Earth."

Alexander, herself a poet and a professor at Yale University, knew Clifton as did many in her audience. They admired her, they loved her, they were in awe of her poetic gift, they recalled her generosity. Clifton was showered with honors during her lifetime including a National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize nominations, but she never made anyone feel small, one woman said.

Her poems were accessible - Alexander said she first read them when she was 10 years old - but layered with complexity. "Poetry isn't supposed to be so easy," said a woman in the audience, repeating a remark often made about Clifton's poetry.

"Read it 10 times and see if you think it's so simple," Alexander replied. She said that there was so much in Clifton's work that had not yet been explained.

Clifton, by most people's standards, had a difficult life. In a scrap of paper tucked into her daybook for 2010 she recalled some of it in what may be the last poem she wrote. It is in an exhibit now at Poets House.

"'I stand here before you having survived 3 bouts with cancer, a kidney transplant, the loss of my husband and two of my children and arthritis like you wouldn't believe. Indeed won't you celebrate with me?'" she wrote.

The lines were intended for an acceptance speech for a medal to be awarded by the Poetry Society of America that Clifton did not live to receive.

Clifton wrote about life and death and about "what it means to survive in bodies that are black and female," said Alexander.

Some of Clifton's poems are funny, some are wrenching. "She is frequently and remarkably a poet of woe," Alexander commented.

One of Clifton's sons, who had drug and mental health problems, predeceased her. "Oh, Absalom, my son, my son," Clifton wrote in a poem that ends, "Oh, my son, my son, what does the Lord require?"

"It is not a rhetorical question," Alexander said. "It is not theatrical. It is a real question."

In another of her poems, Clifton wrote, "Over the mountains/ and under the stars it is/ one hell of a ride."

"In her poems that walked between life and death, Lucille Clifton found poetic truth," Alexander said.

She concluded her lecture by reading a poem that Clifton wrote as though her mother were speaking to her. Clifton's mother, Thelma Sayles, was herself a poet, who died young. When her husband refused to let her have her poems published, she burned them. Lucille Clifton's poem is called "The message of Thelma Sayles." Listen to it here.

- Terese Loeb Kreuzer

Elizabeth Alexander described the exhibit, "come celebrate with me: The Work of Lucille Clifton," now on view at Poets House, as "the incredible things touched by her hands that are upstairs."

The exhibit features rare photos, letters, manuscripts and more, from Emory University's Danowski Poetry Library at the Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Book Library. Poets House is at 10 River Terrace. For information, including hours, click here.

The gallery at Poets House with an exhibit about Lucille Clifton.
(Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

Bits & Bytes

NEW TENANTS FOR STOCK EXCHANGE; WINE DINNER; LEONARD STREET PENTHOUSE GOES ON THE MARKET

Broad and Wall Streets. (Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

"Law Firm Leaves Midtown South for FiDi," Commercial Observer, 2/20/14. Lucas & Mercanti, a firm that specializes in intellectual property law, has signed a 10-year, 14,880-square-foot lease for the entire 21st floor at 30 Broad St., according to the Commercial Observer. The 46-story office building at 30 Broad St. is also known as the New York Stock Exchange building. In addition to the New York Stock Exchange, the tenants include Posner Advertising, Bank of New York and MAXIMUS. For the complete article, click here.

Wine dinner at Acqua: Acqua at 21 Peck Slip is hosting the first of four five-course wine dinners this Thursday, Feb. 27, at 7:30 p.m. For more information, click here.

"Final 56 Leonard Penthouse To Hit the Market for $18.75M," Curbed.com, 2/24/14. If you missed the boat on snagging a penthouse at 56 Leonard St., you're in luck. "Reps sent word today that the building's final penthouse, no. 52A, is set to be put on the market for $18.75 million," reports Curbed.com. The 3,658-square-foot apartment, which includes 510 square feet of exterior space, could be combined with one of the other two unclaimed penthouses in the building." For the complete article, including a floor plan, click here.

Letter to the Editor

ARRIVING IN NEW YORK ABOARD THE SS UNITED STATES

The S.S. United States.

To the Editor:
My name is Erna Cielecki and it will be 56 years ago, on Feb.11 that I left Germany to immigrate to the U.S. I came on the S.S. United States and we landed at one of the piers in N.Y. harbor. Since then, I have forgotten which one! Downtown Post NYC brought it all back to mind! I enjoy reading about the city!

Erna Cielecki

From the Editor:
Three weeks ago, we received this email from Erna Cielecki, along with a photo of an Iowa farm covered with snow. Since then, Erna told us something about her life. She grew up in Schleswig-Holstein, north of Hamburg, Germany, and said that she would have been a farmer's wife had she stayed there. She and her husband live in Iowa, and are now retired. They live in a small sub-division on what was once an Iowa farm.

"A relative, who lived in Iowa, was my sponsor," Erna wrote in answer to questions we asked after receiving that first email. "We met in Germany in 1957 and I expressed my desire to go with her to Amerika, but the quota was full at that time and I had to wait till February of 1958. I was 21 years old then."

Erna remembered her Atlantic crossing on the S.S. United States as "stormy." She said she was seasick for a few days.

The S.S. United States, often called "America's greatest ocean liner," entered service in 1952 and was retired in November 1969. She still holds the Blue Riband as the fastest passenger liner in regular service to cross the Atlantic Ocean. On her maiden voyage in July 1952, she broke the speed record previously held by Cunard's Queen Mary.

Erna said that she knew about the effort to restore the S.S. United States, which is now tied up at a pier

21 West St., where William Francis Gibbs, the architect of the S.S. United States, had an office. (Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

in Philadelphia, but, she said, "I rather doubt, that they will be able to raise the money. It would take a million or more! I saw pictures of the rusting ship. It makes me rather sad!"

We told her that William Francis Gibbs, the renowned naval architect who designed the S.S. United States, had an office at 21 West St., very near us in lower Manhattan - and that at the time he designed this great ocean liner, piers lined lower Manhattan and landfill that now separates West Street from the water wasn't there, so he could have looked down from his office directly on to an expansive view of the harbor, where he could have seen the ships coming and going.

The building where Gibbs worked is itself very interesting. It is in the Art Deco style and was erected in 1929-1931. In 1998, it was declared a New York City landmark.

As to the pier where Erna first set foot on U.S. soil - that would probably have been Pier 86 in midtown Manhattan, where the U.S.S. Intrepid is now berthed.

Downtown bulletin board

SIGN UP FOR SUMMER VEGGIES NOW WITH LOWER EAST SIDE CSA

El Poblano Farm operated a CSA at the New Amsterdam Market on South Street last year. (Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)s in New York City enable New Yorkers to buy shares of vegetables and sometimes other food from regional farmers who deliver to a central place every week, or every other week, for their shareholders to pick up.

Just Food, a non-profit organization that has helped to start more than 100 CSAs in New York City, has a list of where these CSAs have been located in the past, though for various reasons, that information changes.

The Grand Street CSA, which is definitely returning for the upcoming season (June to early November), is on the Lower East Side and is currently accepting applications.

CSA members and their local providers will be available to answer questions and provide samples on Tuesday, Feb. 25 at 7 p.m. in the Seward Park Co-Op Community Room (268 East Broadway, also known as Building 1).

Grand Street CSA partners with Norwich Meadows Farm in Norwich, N.Y. and Lebanon, N.J. for fresh vegetables, eggs, meat, and poultry, and fruit from Red Jacket Orchards in Geneva, N.Y.

This CSA also offers add-ons to the basic vegetable share, including organic pasta from Brooklyn's Sfoglini Pasta Shop, organic maple syrup from Circle C Maple Farm upstate, an expanded selection of dairy products from Milk Not Jails, and local fish from Village Fishmongers.

The weekly pick-up is on Tuesday evenings in front of Abrons Arts Center at 466 Grand St. The summer season starts in June and runs for 22 weeks.

For more information about what's offered and how much it costs, click here. To register online, click here.

Community Board 1

FULL BOARD MEETING ON FEB. 25

At a heated Community Board 1 Seaport/Civic Center Committee meeting on Feb. 18, Stacy L. Weiss, an attorney for Denny's, castigated Gabriel Levinson, an attorney for 150 Nassau St., where the Denny's will be located. Denny's liquor license application is on CB1's full board agenda. (Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

Community Board 1's full board meeting takes place on Tuesday, Feb. 25 at the Hunter College MFA building, 205 Hudson St. (The entrance is on Canal Street between Hudson and Greenwich Streets.) The meeting starts at 6 p.m. and will begin with a public hearing on the Mayor's preliminary budget for fiscal year 2015.

All are welcome to attend and to speak in the public session of the meeting. For more information call (212) 442-5050.

Matters that may be of special interest are indicated in red.

AGENDA:

I. Public Hearing

Mayor's Preliminary Budget for CB 1 for FY 2015 (1-2 minutes per speaker)

II. Welcome
Jennifer J. Raab, 13th President of Hunter College, the largest college of the City University of New York

III. Public Session
Comments by members of the public (6 p.m. to 7 p.m.) (1-2 minutes per speaker)

IV. Business Session
A) Adoption of January 2014 minutes
B) Chairperson's Report - C. McVay Hughes
Nomination of members to serve on Nominating Committee
C) District Manager's Report - N. Pfefferblit

V. Committee Reports
A) Executive Committee -- C. McVay Hughes
1) New York City Council Int. No. 28 to require that all community board full board meetings be webcast - Resolution

2) NYC Department of Buildings task force for extreme weather best practices - Resolution

3) Con Edison cost analysis and discussion on the use of non-corrosive sidewalk salt - Resolution
4) City Council hearing on best practices for recruitment and appointments to community boards - Discussion
5) Downtown Alliance - Report
6) Commissioner Marco A. Carri�n, Mayor's Community Assistance Unit - Report
7) CB1 Monthly Meetings for 2014 - Report

B) Quality of Life Committee -- P. Moore

1) NYC DOT - Report

2) Bus parking and idling policy enforcement - Report
3) RoadRunners Half Marathon - Report
4) Community District 1 subway station survey by Pace University students - Report
5) Police misconduct and citizen rights - Report
6) Rodent Academy - Report
7) Fire Safety Forum - Report
8) Concerns regarding radon levels in gas delivered to NYC homes - Report

C) Tribeca Committee -- P. Braus
1) Spring Studios - Report
2) Bogardus Capital Project - Report

3) Conversion of 1st Police Precinct stable into temporary WTC Security Command Center - Resolution

4) 5 White Street, application for transfer of liquor license to entity to be formed by Dan Abrams - Resolution
5) Tribeca Family Festival activity permit application for Greenwich Street between Hubert Street and Chambers Street; Beach Street between Hudson Street and Greenwich Street; North Moore Street between West Street and Hudson Street; Franklin Street between Hudson Street and Greenwich Street; Harrison Street between West Street and Hudson Street; Jay Street between Hudson Street and Greenwich Street, Duane Street between Hudson Street and Greenwich Street; Reade Street between Hudson Street and Greenwich Street, Saturday, April 26, 2014 10:00 am to 11:59 p.m. - Resolution
6) 175 Franklin Street, application for liquor license for 175 Franklin LLC - Resolution
7) 190A Duane Street, sidewalk caf� renewal application for Nonna Restaurant Corp, d/b/a Roc - Resolution
8) Bastille Day 2014 Street Activity Permit application for West Broadway between White Street and Walker Street, Thursday, July 10, 2014, 11:00 am to 7:00 pm - Resolution

D) Youth & Education Committee -- T. Joyce

1) Speaker Silver, Council member Chin and CEC D2 letters to Chancellor Farina regarding the restoration of seats to the Capital Plan and loss of Pre-K's downtown - Report

2) Parks free mobile event units - Report
3) CB1's Educational Priorities - Resolution

E) Financial District Committee -- R. Sheffe
Seaport/Civic Center Committee -- J. Fratta
Financial District Committee
1) 30 Park Place - Report

2) LMCCC - Update by Joseph Simenic, Executive Director

3) 66 John Street - Report

4) 133 Greenwich Street - Report
5) Proposal for canopy at the Pier 11 waiting area - Resolution
6) 123 William Street - Resolution
7) 66 Pearl Street, application for wine and beer license for Pachanga Inc., b/d/a Fika - Resolution
8) Street permit application by Chabad of Wall Street (Mardi Gras Festival Productions, promoter) on Monday, May 26, 2014, Liberty, Broadway and Trinity Place - Resolution
9) Street permit application by NYC Police Museum Fair (Mardi Gras Festival Productions, promoter) on Friday, June 6, 2014, Broad Street, South Street and Water Street - Resolution
10) Street permit application by ZIUA (Mardi Gras Festival Productions, promoter) on Sunday, June 22, 2014, Broadway, Liberty Street and Battery Place - Resolution
11) Street permit application by Sons of Italy Freedom (Mardi Gras Festival Productions, promoter) on Friday, August 1, 2014, Liberty Street, Broadway and Trinity Place - Resolution
12) Street permit application by the 1st Pct (Mardi Gras Festival Productions, promoter) on Friday, August 30, 2014, Liberty, Broadway and Trinity Place - Resolution
13) Street permit application by Bowling Green Association (Mardi Gras Festival Productions, promoter) on Sunday, October 13, 2014, Whitehall, Stone, Water, Morris, Liberty Streets, Battery Place and Broadway - Resolution
14) Street permit application by IPTA (Mardi Gras Festival Productions, promoter) on Monday, November 11, 2014, Broadway, Liberty Street and Battery Place - Resolution

Financial District Committee and Seaport/Civic Center Committees
1) Street permit application by CB 1 (Mardi Gras Festival Productions, promoter) on Friday, June 27, 2014, Fulton, Water and Gold Streets - Resolution
2) Street permit application by CB1 (Mardi Gras Festival Productions, promoter) on Friday, July 18, 2014, Fulton Street, Water Street and William Street - Resolution
3) Street permit application by Seaport Community Coalition (Mardi Gras Festival Productions, promoter) on Saturday, August 2, 2014, Water Street, Fulton Street and Broad Street - Resolution
4) Street Activity Permit Application by Deepavali Festival (Association of Indians in America, promoter), Sunday, October 5, 2014, Water, Fulton, Fletcher, John, Front Streets and Maiden Lane - Resolution

F) Battery Park City Committee -- A. Notaro
1) Peck Slip School - Report
2) RoadRunners Half Marathon - Report

3) BPC Homeowners' Coalition - Report

4) Parks Enforcement Patrol - Report

5) Battery Park City Committee Report

6) 225 Liberty Street, application for liquor license for The Little Kitchen Restaurant Group LLC d/b/a Little Muenster - Resolution

G) Seaport/Civic Center Committee -- J. Fratta

1) Peck Slip School - Report

2) Street Co-Naming: Peck Slip & Harold Reed Way - Report
3) Old Seaport Alliance - Report
4) Brooklyn Bridge public space project by Pace University students - Report
5) 230 Canal Street, application for a new liquor license for 230 Canal Rest. Inc. - Report
6) Change in traffic direction on Peck Slip - Resolution
7) Street Activity Permit, application by Dushahra festival, Thursday, September 18 - Monday September 22, 2014, South Street between John and Beekman - Resolution
8) Street Activity Permit, application by Downtown Independent Democrats Festival, Sunday, April 20, 2014, Lafayette Street between Canal and Leonard - Resolution

9) 150 Nassau Street, application for a restaurant liquor license for Nassau 8793 LLC d/b/a/ Denny's - Resolution

10) 225 Front Street, application for a liquor license alteration for Dona Gallo Inc.d/b/a Barbalu - Resolution
11) 111 Fulton Street, application for a new wine and beer license for 111 Fulton LLC - Resolution
12) 27 Cliff Street, reconsideration of an application for a restaurant liquor license for Dalglish 7 Inc. - Resolution

H) Planning Committee -- J. Galloway
1) Proposed signage for East River Esplanade, New York City Economic Development Corporation - Resolution

2) Route 9 A - Report

I) Landmarks Committee -- B. Ehrmann
1) 44 Lispenard St., application for one story plus penthouse addition - Resolution
2) 105 Hudson St., application for reconstruction of platform and installation of new handicap lift - Resolution

3) Governors Island, application for historic monument relocation - Resolution

4) 32 Avenue of the Americas, application for installation of emergency generator on setback roof at 22nd floor - Resolution

VI. Old Business
VII. New Business
VIII. Adjournment

CALENDAR: Week of Feb. 24

"Discovery and Recovery: Preserving Iraqi Jewish Heritage" is an exhibit at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Battery Park City that displays and comments on historic materials relating to the Jewish community of Iraq that were found in the flooded basement of Saddam Hussein's intelligence headquarters. (Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

Feb. 24: "Bikeman: The 9/11 Theatrical Experience" is a new play by journalist Thomas F. Flynn based on his book describing the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. Flynn, an award-winning writer and producer for The CBS Evening News with Dan Rather, was outside his Greenwich Village home when the first plane flew directly over his head. He immediately called into the news desk to tell them he was headed downtown. He jumped on his bicycle and began his ride to the towers. His harrowing story recounts his transition from reporter to participant. Where: the Tribeca Performing Arts Center, 199 Chambers St. Time: 7 p.m. Tickets: $39-$79. For more information and tickets, click here.

Feb. 25: The "Tuesday Talks" series at Asphalt Green Battery Park City continue with Nancy Schulman, head of the early learning center at Avenues: The World School and former director of the 92nd St. Y Nursery School talking about "Discipline: Setting Limits, Saying No and Accepting No." Place: 212 North End Ave. Time: Noon to 1 p.m. Tickets: $22; $18 (members). For more information and tickets, click here.

Feb. 25: "Like a Straw Bird It Follows Me." Palestinian poet Ghassan Zaqtan reads from and discusses his visceral, narrative poetics with fellow poet and translator Fady Joudah. Zaqtan is the author of many collections in Arabic, including the newly translated Griffin Prize-winner, "Like a Straw Bird It Follows Me." Poet Mark Doty introduces the pair. Where: Poets House, 10 River Terrace. Time: 7 p.m. Tickets: $10; $7 for seniors and students; free to Poets House members. For more information, click here.

Feb. 26: DJ Felix Hernandez plays at Front/Row Stage, the Howard Hughes Corporation's heated music tent on Fulton Street east of Water Street. Time: 6 p.m.-11 p.m. Free. For ages 21+. For reservations, click here.

Feb. 27: Stella Blues Band at Front/Row Stage, the Howard Hughes Corporation's heated music tent on Fulton Street east of Water Street. Time: 6 p.m.-10 p.m. Free. For ages 21+. For reservations, click here.

Feb. 28: Classic Rock Tribute Night plays at Front/Row Stage, the Howard Hughes Corporation's heated music tent on Fulton Street east of Water Street. Time: 7 p.m.-11 p.m. Free. For ages 21+. For reservations, click here.

March 1 and March 2: "Out to See" is a neighborhood celebration of art and music in the South Street Seaport. From 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., works by local artists including sculptor Jonathan Durham, artist Mark Gagnon, and others, all curated by Sara Reisman of Percent for Art, will be displayed in 16 venues on Fulton, South, Pearl, Beekman, John and Front Streets and on Peck Slip. There will be music from local composer-songwriter Django Voris and others in the Front/Row Cube on Fulton Street from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. on March 1 and a raffle at 9:45 p.m. that evening. For more information, click here.

March 2: The New York Audubon Society in partnership with New York Water Taxi offers a cruise of New York harbor to see birds and seals that are only here in the winter. The two-hour cruise, "Winter Seals and Waterbirds of New York Harbor," takes place on Sundays through March 9, leaving from Pier 16 in the South Street Seaport. Time: Noon to 2 p.m. Tickets: $35, adults; $25, children, 3 to 12 years old. For more information and to buy tickets, click here.

Through March 14: The exhibition "come celebrate with me: The Work of Lucille Clifton," featuring rare photos, letters, manuscripts and more, from Emory University's Danowski Poetry Library at the Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Book Library. Place: Poets House, 10 River Terrace. Free. For more information, including hours, click here.

Through March 28: Exhibit of artwork done in classes sponsored by the Battery Park City Parks Conservancy. 75 Battery Place, weekdays, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Free.

Ongoing: "Discovery and Recovery: Preserving Iraqi Jewish Heritage," is at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Battery Park City. The exhibit details the dramatic recovery of historic materials relating to the Jewish community of Iraq in a flooded basement in Saddam Hussein's intelligence headquarters, and the National Archives' ongoing work in support of U.S. government efforts to preserve these materials. Through May 18, 2014. Place: 36 Battery Place. Varying hours. Museum admission fees: $12 (adults); $10 (seniors) and $7 (students). Members and children 12 and under, free. Free admission on Wednesdays from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. For more information, click here.

Ongoing: The National Museum of the American Indian is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with free admission. It offers free films, docent-led tours of its exhibitions and tours of its premises, the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House, designed by Cass Gilbert. The building, which was completed in 1907, is a National Historic Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. One Bowling Green. Phone: (212) 514-3700. For the museum's calendar, click here.

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Editor: Terese Loeb Kreuzer

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