For breaking news, go to www.DowntownPostNYC.com

Dog photo op on Fulton Street in the South Street Seaport.  June 15, 2014.
(Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

The shuttered galleries of the South Street Seaport Museum at 12 Fulton St.

"It seems like the promised efforts of the developer to revive the Seaport District are more designed to choke the life out of it," said David Sheldon, a member of Save Our Seaport, a group of volunteers that has been working for several years to preserve the historic South Street Seaport District.

At its May 27 meeting, Community Board 1 passed a resolution opposing the food trucks and "strongly urging" that HHC remove them "immediately."

The resolution was emailed to several Howard Hughes executives on June 4, with no response. In fact, on the evening of June 15, there were seven food trucks on Fulton Street - more than ever.

A food truck with the Titanic Memorial Lighthouse behind it.

"Those trucks are a blight to the area," said Paul Hovitz, a Southbridge Towers resident and member of CB1's Seaport/Civic Center Committee. "I have heard from at least three restaurants (Barbalu, Acqua and Trading Post) that they have lost business since the trucks appeared. Tourists simply stop there and do not seek out local restaurants. The trucks add to the air, noise, and visual pollution of the Seaport. It's typical of HHC not to understand our historic district and the businesses that depend on it."

"Since Superstorm Sandy, Community Board 1 has been on the record through numerous resolutions and testimonies that the uplands need to be restored and reactivated," said Catherine McVay Hughes, chairperson of Community Board 1.  "This is the second summer after Superstorm Sandy. Next summer, this temporary activation, blocking the view corridor for Fulton Street, cannot happen again."

Phillip St. Pierre, Howard Hughes' general manager for the Seaport, is scheduled to make a presentation to Community Board 1's Seaport/Civic Center Committee on Tuesday,  June 17 at 6 p.m. He is supposed to discuss construction on Pier 17, which HHC is currently demolishing, the Fulton Market Building, currently closed and blocked by the shipping containers, and the Seaport uplands.

The meeting at which St. Pierre will speak will be held at 49-51 Chambers St., Room 709. All are welcome to attend.

More than half of New York City's renters are considered "rent burdened." (Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer appealed to the New York City Rent Guidelines Board on Monday to have mercy on rent-strapped New Yorkers.

"After years of consistent rent increases, I am pleased that this Board-for the first time in its 46 year history may enact a rent freeze," said Stringer. "One-year increases of zero percent to three percent and two-year increases of 0.5 percent to 4.5 percent were proposed just over a month ago in a nearly unanimous vote and I strongly urge you to follow your own recommendation and impose a rent freeze that will provide much-needed relief to households throughout the five boroughs."

Brewer thought that any rent increase was too much. "While you may view a proposed three or four per cent rent increase as minimal or reasonable, I urge you not to evaluate that percentage in isolation, standing alone, but in the full context of the last ten or fifteen years of consistent, relentless, substantial rent increases that have been imposed on tenants in this City," she said.

According to Brewer, "Within five of the twelve community districts in Manhattan, the median household income is below $42,000, and pursuant to generally accepted measures of budgeting, [these tenants] are able to pay just over $1,000 per month in rent. The median rents in those community districts now hover at or above affordability for thousands of families. Put simply, rents have risen beyond the point of affordability for average, working New Yorkers."

Citywide, more than half of renting households are considered rent burdened, she said.

At the same time, according to Brewer,  in recent years, annual adjustments have favored landlords. The Net Operating Income for most buildings has increased faster than expenses.

"The result is that tenants are made to stomach rent increases that do not simply cover the rise in building expenses-that would be a right reason to increase regulated units' rent-but also to increase the profit for landlords," she said. "This happened even during one of the toughest recessions in the City's recent history."

The Rent Guidelines Board, chaired by de Blasio-appointee Rachel Godsil, determines annual rent adjustments for the approximately one million apartments in New York City subject to rent stabilization. All members of the board are appointed by the Mayor. Two represent tenant interests, two represent landlords, and the balance of the members are supposed to represent the general public.

In addition to Stringer and Brewer, Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and Public Advocate Letitia James testified today. The Rent Guidelines Board will vote on June 23.

Fulton Street in the South Street Seaport. (Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

Community Board 1 meetings are held at 49-51 Chambers St., Room 709, starting at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Bring photo ID to enter the building. All are welcome.

June 17: Seaport/Civic Center Committee

* Pier 17 Construction, Fulton Market Building and Seaport uplands - Update by Phillip St. Pierre, General Manager of the South Street Seaport, Howard Hughes Corporation

* Brooklyn Bridge George Washington Plaque - Resolution

* Taste of the Seaport street activity permit application for Front Street between Beekman Street and Peck Slip, Saturday, Oct. 18, 2014, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Resolution

The following notices have been received for renewal, upgrade, or transfer of wine and beer or liquor licenses or sidewalk cafe permits:

·         146 Beekman Street, application for renewal of a liquor license for Manhattan Island Group LLC d/b/a Fresh Salt

* Lower Manhattan Development Corporation - Update by David Emil, President

* CB1 procedures for review of applications to the NY State Liquor Authority - Update by Jeff Ehrlich

* Committee reports

June 19: Quality of Life Committee

            Location: Charlotte's Place, 107 Greenwich St. at 6 p.m.

* Tour bus management at the World Trade Center - Update by Luis Sanchez, Lower Manhattan Commissioner, NYC Department of Transportation

* Impact of 9/11 Memorial Plaza opening on pedestrian and vehicular flow - Discussion with government agencies and community members

The free River to River Festival takes place this year from June 19 to June 29 and includes music, dance, theater, visual art, film and "unique participatory experiences." One of the highlights is the annual Bang on a Can Marathon, this year on June 22 at Brookfield Place's Winter Garden.

The festival starts with a "block party" in Goldman Sachs Alley (between Vesey and Murray Streets in Battery Park City) on June 19 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. It will include discounts at area restaurants and retailers, performances by the dance troupe/rock band People Get Ready and family activities. It is co-sponsored by Conrad New York, Goldman Sachs, and area restaurants and retailers.

The Trisha Brown Dance Company will perform at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's Arts Center on Governors Island between June 20 and June 29. Times: Monday-Friday 12 p.m.-5 p.m., Saturdays 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sundays 12 p.m.-5 p.m. The performances will examine the artist's early work, collaborative practice and relationship to New York City, showing how she affected audiences, and her significant influence on a new generation of artists.

The husband and wife team, Caraballo-Farman, will create "The Signs of Paradise" from June 20 to June 29, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., in Battery Park. Every state in the United States has a town called Paradise. In this exhibition, 50 sign posts point to the 50 towns of Paradise - providing direction and mileage, and reflecting on the notion of the quintessential "American dream" and on the pursuit of paradise, freedom and happiness.

On June 20 and June 22 at 2 p.m., the dancer, Eiko, presents a duet with Japanese dancer Tomoe Aihara in a piece called "Two Women" at LMCC's Arts Center on Governors Island. The experimental performance focuses on their age difference and explores how two bodies sometimes mirror each other in parts or collide into one. The New York Times described Eiko as "the extraordinary Japanese dancer revered for her haunting collaborations with Koma, her usual male counterpart," and said that she would be shaking up her creative process by collaborating with Tomoe Aihara.

ETHEL playing at the Winter Garden in 2009. (Photo: Greg Barrett)

On June 24 at the Brookfield Place Winter Garden, world-renowned string quartet ETHEL is joined by guest guitarist Kaki King to present a special performance of "...And Other Stories." The collaboration is anchored by a re-imagining of Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 and includes works from ETHEL's repertoire by Phil Kline and John Zorn, plus original compositions by Kaki King and the world premiere of a work by Serbian composer Aleksandra Vrebalov composed especially for ETHEL and Kaki King.

Last year's successful partnership with Original Music Workshop, a new music venue set to open in Brooklyn in 2015, continues with three more "Ex-Situ" concerts of contemporary music in site-specific locations. Curated by composer Paola Prestini, this year's series is dedicated to the music and influences of master minimalist composer Terry Riley. It begins on June 20 with "Terry Riley and Friends," a concert featuring works by the composer performed by musicians including his son Gyan Riley, Tracy Silverman and the Young People's Chorus.

Other notable shows include Piñata Protest, Kuenta I Tambu (KiT), Helado Negro and SLV at The Uplands, South Street Seaport on June 27; composer/percussionist Susie Ibarra (who just teamed up with Mirah for Ecstatic Music Festival) & Roberto Rodriguez on June 21 at India House (1 p.m.), Peter Minuet Plaza (3 p.m.), and Tear Drop Park (5 p.m.); Sergio Mendoza (Devotchka, Calexico) with La Orkestra and Rey Vellenato Beto Jamiaca on June 29 at The Uplands, South Street Seaport; and more.

For a complete list of River to River events, click here.

Battery Park City's Irish Hunger Memorial has stones from every county in Ireland and plantings from County Mayo, where the famine started that killed around one million people and caused another million to emigrate. (Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)