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Environment Updates (Updated Mar 21)
Gerson to Introduce Legislation on Barge Site
City Councilman Alan Gerson announced on March 20 he
will introduce legislation to bring the barge operation at Pier 25 under
stricter controls. (Posted Mar 21)
Officials Defend Cleanup Actions at Council
Hearing
At a March 8 City Council hearing, government officials
declined calls for new action on Lower Manhattan’s two most controversial
environmental issues. (Posted Mar 10)
City Creates Environmental Hotline and Task Force
Residents have a new number to call with questions and
concerns about the environment, and a new task force, initiated by Mayor
Bloomberg and Senator Clinton, will coordinate cleanup and testing activities.
(Posted Mar 10)
Nadler Report Blasts EPA on Environmental Response
Rep. Jerrold Nadler released a 20-page report on March
8 criticizing the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the
city for misleading the public about the safety of the Downtown environment,
and claiming that the EPA and city agencies failed to monitor and enforce
indoor cleanups. He asserted that the EPA had broken the law through its
inaction and called on the agency to systematically test and clean Downtown
buildings.
"It has been six months since the towers fell, and the interiors of
apartments and residences in the area have yet to be sensitively tested
for and thoroughly cleaned of hazardous waste," Nadler said.
The EPA has repeatedly defended its response to the disaster as rigorous
and comprehensive, and the agency’s administrator, Christine Whitman,
last month created an indoor air quality task force, which will meet for
the first time this week. (Posted Mar 10)
New Park Board Members Elected
Five new board members and one incumbent were elected
March 17 to the Washington Market
Park Board of Directors. (Posted Mar 18)
Disaster Assistance Center on Worth Street
to Change
Starting on March 18, the disaster assistance service
center at the corner of Worth and Centre streets will no longer include
city, state and volunteer agencies, but people seeking federal
aid for losses tied to the Sept. 11 terrorist attack will still be able
to get one-on-one help there. (Posted Mar 15)
City Creates Free Ferry Shuttle Downtown
The city announced a free ferry shuttle service to move people around
Lower Manhattan, which may begin operating by the end of this month. (Updated
Mar 19)
BPC Dog Run Plan Moves Forward
A 4,000-square-foot dog run is in the works for central
BPC, and the plan has taken a significant step forward. (Posted Mar
12)
Community Feels Grip of "Free Money"
Rich Tribeca residents doing up their million-dollar
lofts and buying designer clothes with handouts from the Red Cross’s
$850 million Liberty Disaster Relief Fund made headlines last month. But
it hardly told the story of the community’s complex response to the
rare offer of free money. (Posted Mar 5)
Rewards in Store for Residents Who Stay
News last month that two new financial relief packages
were in the works cheered most downtown residents, who will be eligible
to receive grants of up to $13,000 over two years. (Posted Mar
5)
Hearings Focus on 9/11 Health Worries
The environmental and health impacts of the World Trade
Center attack came under intense scrutiny last month in a slew of hearings
and reports, with elected officials, civic groups and residents raising
questions about lingering hazards downtown and criticizing the government’s
response to the disaster. (Posted Mar 5)
BPC Gardens Destroyed for Bridge
Members of Liberty Community Gardeners in Battery Park
City were shocked and angered last month when 15 of their plots were destroyed
by construction crews beginning work on the temporary pedestrian bridge
across West Street, at Rector Place. The gardeners believe that at least
nine more of the north garden’s 31 plots will fall victim to bulldozers
when the bridge’s ramp is built. (Posted Mar
5)
Critics Attack Ferry Terminal Plan for North
Cove
Battery Park City residents and waterfront business
owners strongly criticized a proposal recently floated by NY Waterway’s
president, Arthur Imperatore, Jr., to turn Battery Park City’s North
Cove Marina into a temporary ferry terminal. They charged that the company
for years has ignored community concerns about the impact of its ferries.
(Updated Mar 13)
Community Speaks Out on Two Memorials
After being closely scrutinized by Battery Park City residents, downtown
community leaders, and the families of victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist
attack, plans for two temporary World Trade Center memorials were formally
announced earlier this week by the city and state. Both memorials we be
installed by March 11, which will mark the half-year anniversary of the
disaster. (Updated Mar 8)
Parking to be restored at 80 North Moore
Fury over the loss of parking in front of 80 North
Moore Street will be coming to an end by the end of the month, according
to Community Board 1 assistant district manager Judy Duffy. (Updated
Mar 8)
Delayed Park Elections Set for March 14, 15,
16
Seven candidates are contending for six vacancies in
this month’s election for the Washington Market Park board of directors,
to be held March 14 and 15 from 8 to 10 a.m. and from 3 to 5 p.m., and
on March 16 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the park entrance at Greenwich
and Duane streets. After the World Trade Center attack, the election scheduled
for last November was postponed. (Posted Mar
5)
IN BRIEF (Posted Mar 6)
Goals for Rebuilding...
Ballfield Work to Begin...
Artist-in-Residence...
School Tours... (Updated
Mar 12)
BMCC Adult Education...
Health Forum...
An Evening of Remembrance...
Washington Market Park's News and Events...
Students’ Mural Dreams Are Coming True
The wall that runs along Chambers Street, just outside
the Washington Market Park tennis court, is a favorite after-school perch
for Stuyvesant students. Two of those students Christina Ward and Elizabeth
Lohr, have been working the city bureaucracy to get permission to paint
an Alice in Wonderland mural on the wall, and their efforts are close
to paying off. (Updated
Mar 6)
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