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(Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

"It's been going on since September 2013 and it's worse now than it's ever been," she said. "I can't ask our volunteers to work under those circumstances. The stench is really incredible."

Habstritt said that she had brought the sewage overflow to the attention of her landlord, Hudson River Park Trust, "repeatedly."

 

"They have said they would have contractors coming out to address the problem, and there have been contractors coming out, but it's still not repaired," she said.  

Habstritt said that she didn't know where the sewage was coming from, but it certainly wasn't coming from the Lilac.

"I've shut off our toilets," she said. "We're only open three afternoons a week and we only have two toilets." In any event, refuse from the Lilac is pumped into a holding tank before it's discarded. 

"Bathrooms at 2 Lower Manhattan Churches: Packed by Tourists," New York Times, 8/14/14. "Tourist numbers are exploding downtown - 11.5 million tourists visited in 2012 alone - but public facilities have not kept pace," The New York Times observes. "The memorial plaza at the trade center site, for example, has no public restrooms. So Trinity Episcopal Church, at the foot of Wall Street, and its nearby satellite chapel, St. Paul's, have found themselves de facto rest stops for many of the three million to four million guests they welcome through their doors each year." According to The Times, it's costing Trinity around $169,000 a year for bathroom supplies and maintenance but Trinity parish, apparently, can afford the outlay. "It is among the richest in Christendom," says The Times, "with real estate holdings estimated to be worth about $3 billion, the remaining legacy of a 215-acre land grant from Queen Anne of England in 1705. Income from those holdings and other investments was $193 million in 2013, church documents state." For the complete article, click here.

"Naked man rescued from Hudson River buoy," New York Post, 8/14/14. "A buck-naked man was found sitting atop a buoy off Governors Island Thursday after he went for a dip near his Queens home and got swept eight miles down the East River," according to the New York Post. "Claudio Colome, 35, of Astoria, went for a swim off Rainey Park at around 4 a.m. but couldn't get back ashore in the strong current, he told NYPD Harbor cops. Nearly three hours later, the aspiring writer was found bobbing in his birthday suit." The Post reported that, "A crew member on the Staten Island Ferryboat Guy V. Molinari was the first to spot Colome on the buoy 200 feet off the northwest tip of Governors Island." For the complete article, click here.

"J&R to open boutique shop inside Century 21," The Real Deal, 8/15/14. "J&R Music and Computer World is back in business," says The Real Deal. "The electronics retailer, which closed its location at 15 Park Row after 43 years in business, is opening a 'J&R Express' boutique inside Century 21's flagship store. The downtown location is about a block away from J&R's old address. The shop inside Century 21 will be 1,500 square feet." For the complete article, click here.

"Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the Aeolian Ride," Wall Street Journal, 8/14/14. A decade ago, costumed bicyclists rode through Manhattan and over the Brooklyn Bridge in "the first instance of the Aeolian Ride, so named for Aeolus, who is the ruler of the winds in Greek mythology," says the Wall Street Journal. "Since then, the artist and creator Jessica Findley has organized rides in Brooklyn, Rockaway Beach and Governors Island, as well as in 18 other cities."
On Sunday, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the event, "bicyclists will don the inflatable costumes on the streets of New York. The sold-out ride for adults will start in Brooklyn and end with an open-to-the-public party on Governors Island. There, children can get in on the act with a smaller Aeolian Ride." For the complete article, click here.

Stop work order at 50 West St.: Two weeks ago, Curbed.com published a video showing the 63-story tower at 50 West St. rising like magic from a hole in the ground. Time Equities' retail and residential condominium is scheduled for completion in 2016, but it hit a momentary snag on Aug. 14 when the NYC Department of Buildings slapped a partial stop work order on it. The complaint said that the construction site was "unsafe for pedestrians" with construction occurring on the road that borders the site "and the pump connected to it on the sidewalk dropping cement/concrete" on the passageway used by pedestrians. "No protection for pedestrians," said the complaint, just to be perfectly clear. The issue has since been resolved.

"On the Market in New York City," New York Times, 8/15/14. A penthouse at 110 Duane St. in Tribeca is among three properties featured in this article. It's a furnished three-bedroom, two-bath duplex with a landscaped terrace and a hot tub. The asking price is $5.495 million. For the article with photos, click here.

The bride wore blue - a blue veil, a spangly blue skirt with fish tails, turquoise blue and abalone jewelery and a spandex top decorated with seashells. The bridegroom sported a nautical cap and one gold earring, a turquoise pendant, a silver brooch depicting a sailing ship chained to a star and a belt with a scrimshaw buckle.

It seemed completely right that this pair - Jean Preece and John Doswell - should be married dressed as mermaid and captain and that their wedding on July 25 should be theatrical. Theater and boats have been omnipresent in their lives. Preece, 73, had a career as a Broadway dancer. Doswell, 71, founded a company that produced industrial shows and currently produces waterfront events. He has sailed boats and he has owned boats. He holds a U.S. Coast Guard Master's License for the operation of vessels of up to 100 tons under sail or power. He is the executive director of the Working Harbor Committee, a consultant for waterfront development in New York City and was one of the founders of the Friends of Hudson River Park. He is part owner of the retired New York City fireboat, John J. Harvey.

Doswell and Preece on the John J. Harvey.

The day of the wedding was glorious - sunny, with a sky painted with puffy clouds. Aboard the John J. Harvey, the wedding party came down the Hudson River from Pier 83 in midtown Manhattan to Pier 25 in Hudson River Park, where their guests were assembled aboard the historic lighthouse tender, Lilac.

As it processed down the river, the John J. Harvey, decorated with garlands of flowers, spewed arcs of water into the air. The crowd aboard the Lilac cheered. Preece and Doswell smiled and waved. Doswell said that's when it hit home - "the reality of it. It was amazing."

Preece and Doswell have been together for decades and have a daughter, Jhoneen, 37. "We think we've been married for 40 years," said Doswell.

When they were expecting Jhoneen, they made their own vows to each other. "We didn't go to the government," Doswell said. "We were committed anyway."

About the wedding, he said, "All we did was sign a license. It was for financial reasons: Social Security, pensions, legal stuff. The whole idea was that we were going to go down to City Hall, get married, not make a big deal, and maybe a month later, we might have a little party or something on Pier 66. Maybe. But Huntley Gill [an architectural preservation specialist] got wind of this and he is the one who made it the event that it was. He said, 'Doswell, don't do anything. Don't lift a finger. Just let us know some people and everything's going to be taken care of. And every time I tried to ask him, he said, 'Doswell, it's not your business. It's just your wedding. It's not your business.'"

Capt. Jonathan Boulware, interim president of the South Street Seaport Museum and a Universal Life minister for the occasion, officiated. "You are my north star as I am sometimes your north star," said Preece to Doswell. "I believe in you and I love you."

John, Jean and Jhoneen.

The couple swore to care for each other and take care of each other. "I can, I have and I will," they both swore. Then Doswell embraced his wife and his daughter and the crowd tossed Pepperidge Farm goldfish at them. Preece responded by tossing twizzlers at the guests, in lieu of a bouquet.

Drinks were passed around (blue Tai the Knots made of rum, pineapple juice, sour apple and blue Curaçao), food appeared and a bluegrass band, the NYCity Slickers began to play. Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer arrived in time to participate in reading a proclamation addressed to Doswell and Preece for their work on behalf of Hudson River Park and other parts of the waterfront.

Wedding cake.

A spectacular cake from Carlo's Bake Shop in Hoboken was brought out. It had blue icing and was decorated with fishes and other sea creatures. On top, a Doswellian figure in a rowboat held a fishing pole whose hook dangled seductively in front of a mermaid on the bottom layer who looked remarkably like Jean Preece.

The couple ate some cake and danced as the sun went down.

"Jhoneen loves it that we're married," said Doswell, a few weeks after the wedding. "We're very close," he said. "We see her all the time. I asked her, just casually around two weeks before the wedding, 'Jhoneen, when are you going to get married?' 'When I'm 70,' she said."

 

- Terese Loeb Kreuzer

 

An account of the wedding appeared in the Vows section of The New York Times. For that article, click here.  

 

Guests at the Doswell-Preece wedding.