The official announcement will be made on April 25 - the opening day of the South Street Seaport Museum's 2015 season - but unofficially Capt. Jonathan Boulware, formerly the interim president of the museum, is now its executive director.

Boulware joined the museum in November 2011 as Waterfront Director. He was appointed interim president in July 2013 after the Museum of the City of New York said that it could no longer manage the museum in the wake of the unrepaired damage from Superstorm Sandy.

Prior to joining the museum, Boulware served as captain of numerous educational "tall ships," sailing with students on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. He views the museum's educational mission as key to its long-term development.

"The Seaport is quite literally the birthplace of this city we love," he said. "The Seaport is first and foremost an educational institution. Our collections, historic  buildings and fleet of ships all support this core mission."

Boulware is responsible for the strategic planning, program development, fundraising and the operation of the museum. He is leading the museum in a feasibility study to refine its mission and see which of its holdings it will be practical to keep.

The iron-hulled sailing ship, Wavertree, built at Southampton, England in 1885 for R.W. Leyland & Company of Liverpool, will be the keystone of the museum's fleet along with the schooner, Pioneer, which also dates from 1885, and was built to carry sand mined near the mouth of the Delaware Bay to an iron foundry in Chester, Pa. Pioneer now carries passengers in New York Harbor. The first public sail of the season will occur at the end of May.

Wavertree is scheduled to go to a shipyard in the near future for $9 million in repairs.

April 25: Opening Day events
On April 25, City Councilmember Margaret Chin and other local officials will join the South Street

The lightship Ambrose.

Seaport Museum to kick off a new season of programming on the institution's historic vessels. From 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., opening Day at Pier 16 will include free and family-friendly activities and tours. Chin will ring in the new season on the lightship Ambrose's bell during a ceremony at 2 p.m. on Pier 16.  
 
Throughout the day, there will be arts and crafts activities, a Seaport scavenger hunt, historic ship tours, and live music. At Pier 16, hands-on educational programs will include learning about sailors' navigation, observing some of the creatures that make New York Harbor a living estuary habitat, and making a boat out of clay and then testing to see if it floats.

Also on Pier 16, Bowne Printers will demonstrate traditional printing at its Mobile Printshop. A printer will operate a tabletop Kelsey press and print delightful giveaways.

Visitors will be able to watch the "uprigging" on the schooner Lettie G. Howard in preparation for the spring season and will be able to observe and ask questions about the process of rigging a fishing schooner built in 1893.

Aboard the historic 1911 barque Peking, museum historian Jack Putnam will tell "Sailor Stories." The ship itself is a marvel because of its size and because it was powered by sails and human hands alone. This was one of the last great commercial sailing vessels ever built.

Moored across from Peking at Pier 16, the National Historic Landmark lightship Ambrose reveals what it was like to man a lightship in some of New York harbor's most treacherous channels, warning other ships away from the shoals. Visitors will be able to learn how this ship had a profound impact on the history of New York, and see what life was like for the crews that served her.

At the 12 Fulton St. Visitors Center, children and adults� will be able to paint a mural of images related to Opening Day at the Seaport on the new Seaport Storywall. Opening Day will also feature live musical performances on the museum's Pier 16 stage including The Lobbyists, performers in the upcoming concert/play "Seawife," presented by Naked Angels in partnership with South Street Seaport Museum (coming to Melville Gallery on Water Street in June 2015).

At 11:30 a.m. and at 2:30 p.m., there will be tours of Schermerhorn Row - a landmark built in 1811 and sometimes described as New York City's first World Trade Center, and at 12:45 p.m. there will be a tour of the South Street Seaport district.

In honor of opening day, the museum is offering $1 memberships to new members. Memberships will be valid for six months and are for the Individual Level only. They can be obtained at the information booth on Pier 16 or from a museum staff member.
 
In case of rain on April 25, Opening Day will be re-scheduled for Saturday, May 2.
 

Lower Manhattan is a wasteland when it comes to affordable housing. There was little to begin with. In the last few years, many rent-stabilized buildings have been converted to condominiums or have reverted to market rents because tax benefits expired. Perhaps the biggest single loss, Southbridge Towers, with its 1,651 co-op apartments, is probably about to exit the subsidized Mitchell-Lama program and go to market prices.

Now, the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) is stepping in to try to preserve some affordable housing in Lower Manhattan, south of Houston Street.

On Friday, April 17, HPD Commissioner Vicki Been announced that the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) - a City-State corporation created after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorism attack to coordinate the efforts to rebuild and revitalize Lower Manhattan - and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) are providing $11.8 million to bolster affordable housing in Lower Manhattan. The money will go to the Lower Manhattan Acquisition Program to spur property acquisitions and to better leverage available funding for affordable housing.

The Lower Manhattan Acquisition Program helps to advance the goals of the Mayor's "Housing New York: A Five-Borough, Ten-Year Plan" by infusing additional resources into the preservation of quality, affordable housing in thriving New York City neighborhoods. Through the Request for Qualifications (RFQ) released on Friday, HPD seeks to attract a diverse group of sponsors to acquire, rehabilitate and manage affordable housing projects in Lower Manhattan south of, and including properties on, Houston Street.

The geographic area has been expanded, and is now bounded by the Hudson and East Rivers. Not-for-profit organizations that qualify under the RFQ may identify housing properties that fit the eligibility criteria for purchase and long-term ownership.

This RFQ is open to not-for-profit entities that have the experience and organizational capacity to successfully rehabilitate and manage affordable housing buildings. For more information regarding the RFQ and NOFA, click here. 

Bits & Bytes

For more photos of the opening day, click here.

From early May to late October, the Battery Park City Parks Conservancy organizes a wide range of programs for adults and children including an Explorers Club that helps 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders examine the natural world of Battery Park City's parks. (Photo courtesy of the Battery Park City Parks Conservancy)

(Re: "City hands developer Howard Hughes Corp. a tax break: No tax due on millions of dollars in South Street Seaport property," DPNYC, 4/15/15.) This is beyond outrageous!  If you or I tried this stunt, we would be thrown under the jail. As it is, HHC doesn't even get a slap on the wrist!  This is just one more reason why EDC [the New York City Economic Development Corporation] does not need to be in charge of the South Street Seaport Museum and the entire South Street Seaport Historic District.  The conflict of intrest is just too large - and too obvious.

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