Under Cover

Bourne again
For movie fans, “The Bourne Ultimatum” provides a third, and perhaps final, chance to witness the amnesiac assassin Jason Bourne (played by Matt Damon) kicking butt and taking names en route to unearthing the secrets of his past.

But for Downtowners, the movie’s tagline — “This Summer Jason Bourne Comes Home” — rings a little truer. The movie features a car chase that was filmed on several streets near the South Street Seaport. The film also shows the Family Court building at 60 Lafayette St., although the building is disguised as 415 East 71st St. to further a movie plot point.

Although many Seaport residents were tweaked over the street closures that took place during filming, we’d guess that more than a few of them will go see the movie anyway, particularly since Damon was more neighborly than Will Smith and his “I Am Legend” shoot by the Brooklyn Bridge earlier this year.

Chasing Kohn
The cantilevered design for World Trade Center Tower 5 is hypothetical no more. Architect Eugene Kohn, who was hired by the Port Authority to create a preliminary design for the tower, has now been officially hired by JPMorgan Chase, the tower’s tenant.

Kohn’s cantilevered design — intended to squeeze large trading floors onto a site that is otherwise too small for them — has raised eyebrows. However, his optimistic attitude about Liberty Park (as well as some favorable shadow studies) helped win him some support at a Community Board 1 meeting last month.

At last week’s full board meeting, board vice chairperson Catherine McVay Hughes said she was very happy to hear of Kohn’s hiring since Kohn — unlike his new employers at Chase — had already responded to requests to appear before the board.

Spray it ain’t so
We hear some of Councilmember Alan Gerson’s constituents aren’t too happy that he was the Council’s only member to vote against a bill banning the sale of wide-tip magic markers, spray paint and etching acid to youths age 21 and under. However, Paul Nagle, Gerson’s spokesperson, said, “They were making the distinction between wide-tip and razor-point — but we just felt there’s a real First Amendment problem.” Nagle admitted that most graffitists do fall within the 16-to-21-year-old age range, but noted that the majority of youth in this demographic do not graffiti. As for spray paint, well, it’s used to make costumes, he noted. “It’s not like [Gerson] defeated the bill,” Nagle added.

Wyoming bound
The folks from La Barge, Wyoming, were hanging out at the Moondance Diner on Sixth Ave. at Grand St. on Wednesday waiting for the okay from the F.D.N.Y. to load the diner onto a rig and take it out to La Barge. “We came in on Sunday and we thought we’d take it out on Monday but we’re still here,” said Kent Profit, who made the truck trip east with his daughter and son-in-law, Sheryl and Vince Pierce. “Everybody back there is waiting for it,” he said. “Everybody” is 614 people according to the 2007 census estimate.

Glick’s pride
Speaking at the Community Board 1 full board meeting last Tuesday, state Assemblymember Deborah Glick took a brief break from discussing parks, education and congestion pricing to applaud her fellow Assemblymembers for passing Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s gay marriage bill in June.

Although the bill is not likely to pass the Republican-majority Senate anytime soon, Glick, a lesbian, said she was very pleased by the strong 85-61 vote in the Assembly. Going into the three-and-a-half hour debate, Glick said she thought that the bill might garner 81 positive votes. For the tally to have reached 85 — including four Republicans — Glick reasoned that some legislators must have changed their minds during the debate.

“Clearly the debate was the most attentive debate I’ve seen during my time in Albany,” Glick said.

Traveling umbrella
The iconic red Citigroup umbrella, which sheltered pedestrians at the plaza at 388 Greenwich St. for so many years, was finally removed on Saturday, Aug. 4. The paperwork to remove the umbrella, which Citigroup filed two months ago, went through late Aug. 3. The building facade umbrella folded in June.

Travelers Insurance Group plans to install the large red sculpture in its plaza in Hartford, Conn., according to spokesperson Marlene Ibsen. No date has been set.