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A daylily (Hemerocallis 'Pointsettia') blooming in Battery Park City's Wagner Park. July 10, 2014. (Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

"Saks Looks to Expand Downtown," Wall Street Journal, 7/13/14. Saks Fifth Avenue "is close to planting roots downtown," says the Wall Street Journal. "A year after being bought by Canadian department-store owner Hudson's Bay Co., Saks is planning both a department store and a Saks Off Fifth discount outlet in lower Manhattan, according to people familiar with the matter. In addition, Hudson's Bay is in talks for about 400,000 square feet of downtown office space that would serve as the consolidated U.S. headquarters for Saks, Saks Off Fifth, Hudson's Bay and department-store company Lord & Taylor, which combined with Hudson's Bay in 2008. In all cases, the landlord would be Brookfield Office Properties Inc., according to people familiar with the negotiations." For the complete article, click here.

"Industry Leader: 1 WTC a Lightning Rod," Commercial Observer, 7/11/14. "A week after

Lightning striking 1 World Trade Center. May 23, 2014

photos of lightning striking the steel spire of One World Trade Center made international news, experts familiar with the electric bolts pointed to the building's resilience against such dangers," says Commercial Observer. "The 1,776-foot skyscraper, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, sustained six lightning shocks since the end of June, said Rob Cooper, the president of top lightning protection system installer Associated Lightning Rod Company." Cooper said that 1 World Trade Center has lightning protection. "The needle on top is exposed structural steel that's attached to the structural steel core of the building, which goes all the way underground. Lightning protection is built into that structure," he said. For the complete article, click here.

"People Will Be Able To Cross Buttermilk Channel By Foot Again," Curbed.com, 7/11/14. "The channel between Governors Island and western Brooklyn was once walkable, and used as a place where farmers would graze their cattle," says Curbed.com. "At a distance of only 1,200 feet, or about four city blocks, the now-dredged stretch puts Governors Island tantalizingly close. Enter public artist Nancy Nowacek, whose apartment views from Brooklyn Heights to Governors Island inspired her to create a manmade connection between the two pieces of land, a stretch known as Buttermilk Channel." She has come up with something that she calls "the Citizen Bridge, a collection of plywood planks that are fastened to buoyant shipping drums. The pieces will stretch across the channel creating a makeshift buoyant bridge between Red Hook and the island. Railings provide stability for the single day's worth of crossings." But don't look for this any time soon. Nowacek is still seeking funding. For the complete article, click here.

"Nonprofit, Insurance Company Sign Big Seaport Leases," Commercial Observer, 7/14/14. "The nonprofit Center for Reproductive Rights and the Allied World Assurance Company signed new leases for more than 53,000 square feet at Jack Resnick & Sons' 199 Water Street building," according to the Commercial Observer. "The separate deals will move the advocacy organization into a 36,985-square-foot space for 10 years on the 22nd floor of the 35-story tower by early 2015 and expand the insurance firm's space by 16,296 feet on the 29th floor for 15 years to a collective 159,593 square feet in the structure that's adjacent to South Street Seaport." For the complete article, click here.

Fulton Street in the South Street Seaport, with picnic tables, a stage, shipping containers and fake grass installed by The Howard Hughes Corporation. (Photo: Barbara Mensch)

I am horrified by the news that the New Amsterdam Market is ending. There are no words for me to express my rage, horror, and disgust over the stupidity of all those responsible for this, namely our elected officials, most of whom prove to be cowards. Lack of vision, of the "we-can-do spirit" that brought America to the forefront of the world with our innovative thinking... is no more. Years ago the fishmongers on South Street predicted the day when the corporation would emerge, above all, the omnipresent power that it is today. They manipulate the law, they lie, they do whatever is necessary to reach their end game, which is greed, greed and more greed.