May 30 Ceremony to Mark End of WTC Cleanup
The city will mark the official end of the World Trade Center cleanup and recovery operation on May 30 with a ceremony at Ground Zero, Mayor Bloomberg announced on May 16. At the event, which will be attended by families of victims and thousands of workers, an empty stretcher, in honor of victims who were not recovered, and the last remaining beam from the towers will be carried out from the site. (Posted May 17)

Public Hearing on WTC Site Set for May 23
The public will have a chance to voice their opinions on development plans for the World Trade Center site and Lower Manhattan at a public hearing at Pace University on May 23, the first in a series of hearings planned by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and the Port Authority. The timetable for the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site and the process for soliciting public input were outlined by Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Pataki at a May 16 press conference. (Posted May 17)

Free Fun For All Ages, Coming Up This Month
All kinds of free events are coming up in the next few weeks, including opera in Washington Market Park and Sheryl Crow in Battery Park, a family party, a kids festival and Memorial Day Weekend concerts at the South Street Seaport. (Posted May 17)

Silverstein Offers Peek at New 7 World Trade
Appearing before members of Community Board 1, Larry Silverstein's architects unveiled plans for the commercial building that will replace the developer's 7 World Trade Center. The new, mostly glass tower, described as "a light-emanating shaft," would be taller but narrower than the original, allowing Greenwich Street to be restored. (Posted May 15)

Protestors Fault Whitman for Too Little, Too Late
Christine Todd Whitman, head of the federal Environmental Protection Agency, came to Tribeca May 9 to receive an environmental award. But downstairs from the Tribeca Rooftop, where she received the award, 60 protestors charged her with ignoring the need for clean air in Lower Manhattan. (Posted May 15, Updated May 17)

EPA To Clean Downtown Apartments
After asserting for 8 months that it was not responsible for cleaning interiors of buildings, the federal Environmental Protection Agency announced on May 8 that it will lead an effort by government agencies to clean apartments below Canal Street that were polluted with dust and ash from the attack on the World Trade Center. (Posted May 11)

Community Gets Look at Design for Winter Garden
The World Financial Center’s Winter Garden, the widely-adored Downtown space that was badly damaged by part of the collapsing north tower on Sept. 11, is being reconstructed with a sleek new eastern facade and entrance designed by the building's original architects. The new design was presented to Community Board 1’s Battery Park City Committee on May 7. (Posted May 11)

One Barge Down, One to Go
After nearly 8 months on a job that no one could have imagined, one of two crane carrying barges left Pier 25 Tuesday morning, May 7. The second and final barge, part of the operation that has tranferred 1.6 million tons of World Trade Center material off of Manhattan, will leave when the recovery operation ends next month. To some parents at Stuyvesant High School and residents in Independence Plaza housing complex, located across West Street from the pier, the winding down of the barge operation has reduced concerns and complaints about air pollution and noise from the dumping of debris. (Posted May 7)

BPC Dispute Settled: Bigger Playground and New Dog Run
In a settlement to a dispute over a proposed dog run near Gateway Plaza, Battery Park City residents will get a 3,000 square foot dog run and a 3,500 square foot playground.
(Posted May 10)

Viewing Fence Will Encircle WTC Site
It will be months before they decide what will go on the World Trade Center site. But now there’s no mystery to what will go around it. A proposed wall would provide a vista of rebuilding and symbolize moving on. Once completed, the fence will be the frame and focal point around Ground Zero for years to come. (Posted May 2)

Board to Film Fest VIPs: ‘Keep Off the Grass’
The Washington Market Park’s Board of Directors, ever-vigilant protectors of Tribeca’s green gem at Greenwich and Chambers streets, made no exception for Mayor Bloomberg, Gov. Pataki, Robert De Niro and other luminaries, turning down the Tribeca Film Festival’s proposal to hold its May 8 opening ceremony in the park. (Posted May 2)

LMDC Expands Incentive Plan for Residents
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation revised an incentive plan to attract and retain Lower Manhattan residents, offering more money for more people Downtown, including a bonus for households with children. (Posted May 2)

Turnover at CB1 as Eight More Downtowners Are Appointed
Eight people were appointed to Community Board 1 last month, bringing to 12 the number of new members. The 50-member board had unusually high turnover this year. (Posted May 2)

Prospective Bar Owner Faces Neighbors’ Wall of Opposition
Kaarin Von, the 30-year-old proprietor of Von, a bar at Bleecker and Bowery, had hoped to open a second establishment at 465 Washington St., a residential building near Canal Street where the ground-floor commercial space has sat vacant since October. But at a meeting of Community Board 1’s Quality of Life Committee, some of her prospective neighbors showed up to oppose her. (Posted May 2)

Flotilla and Music Celebrate Return of Governor’s Island
A day of festivities on water and land, highlighted by a flotilla of up to 1,000 boats, is planned for June 2, to celebrate the federal government’s return of Governor’s Island to New York and to call on the government to create public spaces on the historic island. (Posted May 2)

For a PS 234 Parent, the Gifts Keep Giving
Thousands of gifts to the once-displaced students of P.S. 234 started arriving in mid-September, and seven months later, Annie Luce, a P.S. 234 parent, is archiving every last item in the vast collection. (Posted May 2)

Park Playground to close until September
Beginning May 13, the popular Washington Market Park playground is to be fenced off until September as work begins on the long-awaited new play area. (Posted May 3)

Nerves of Steel
When Native American ironworkers from the Mohawk tribe climbed atop the pile of World Trade Center rubble and cut through webs of mangled steel, allowing rescue and debris removal teams to do their jobs, they were dismantling the very towers that members of their tribe had helped construct. Mohawk men helped build much of the New York City skyline, and the National Museum of the American Indian pay tribute to them in a new photography exhibition. (Posted May 2)

What a Scene: The Tribeca Film Festival
Tribeca comes alive as never before with the first annual Tribeca Film Festival. The five-day spectacle of parties, premieres, panel discussions, concerts and screenings at seven Downtown venues, kicks off on Wednesday May 8. (Posted May 3)

Cleanup Controversy Isn’t Going Away
Government agencies last month continued to plan environmental cleanups near the World Trade Center site—the DEP released a list of 236 buildings below Chambers Street whose exteriors it will clean—amid complaints that they were doing too little too late. (Posted May 2)

Difficult Hunt Continues for a BPC Dog Run Site
Heated deliberations continued last month about where to build a permanent dog run in Battery Park City. At the end of last month, a committee was still looking for alternatives to a plan to build a dog run near the Gateway Plaza complex, after some Gateway residents staunchly opposed the plan. (Posted May 2)

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