THE WEEKLY NEWSPAPER OF LOWER MANHATTAN | Volume 20 Issue 18 | September 14 - 20 , 2007
Editorial A date that changes with time As we mark the anniversary of that horrible Tuesday six years ago, we can’t help but notice that Sept. 11 is becoming more like another day in the calendar. It will never be “just” another day to us and most others who remember it so vividly, but many can now schedule appointments and go about their business without gasping as they do it. It appeared fewer family members attended the ceremony this year. These are all healthy signs that we are learning how to live with the memories of 9/11.
Downtown Express photo by Nick Brooks Too much bloodshed On Tuesday in front of the PATH train station, where the World Trade Center once stood, identical triplets Alicia, Kelly and Sara Casillio silently expressed their dissent against the Iraq War during the 9/11 memorial tribute. In their protest, one square inch of red ribbon equaled 12 dead. On the forehead of each was written a different number, representing either those who died in the 9/11 attack or the totals of U.S. troops or Iraqi civilians killed in the war to date.
The Penny Post Hillary and the boomers By Andrei Codrescu
I was reading Carl Bernstein’s sympathetic biography of Hillary Clinton, “A Woman in Charge,” and it made me think about timing. In 1992, her dream of universal health-care was premature. We baby boomers weren’t ready to think seriously about it because we still thought we were immortal. We weren’t ready for it in 1996 either because another no-so-endearing trait of my generation is total denial.
Courtesy New York Downtown Hospital Soft-Edge GeometryWorks by French painter Nadia Gould are on display and for sale at the New York Downtown Hospital’s Lehman Brothers Emergency Center Lobby through October 12.
A Tuesday tribute
The Tribute in Light shined above the Battery Tunnel Garage on Sept. 11, honoring the thousands killed by terrorists six years ago. The names of the 2,749 people who died at the World Trade Center were read across the street in Zuccotti Park in the morning, and family members descended down to the site’s bedrock to pay their respects.
With the benefit of distance, New Yorkers reflect on 9/11 exhibit By Jerry Tallmer
She thought she was watching a cartoon.
“Here was this little airplane two inches long,” said Sylvia Feiman, holding thumb and forefinger somewhat closer than that, “this little airplane flying into a building, and I thought: Who’s crazy enough to watch cartoons this early in the morning? Then I began to see the smoke, and then I saw the second plane hit a building …
Pelosi backs 9/11 health bill By Josh Rogers
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi came to the World Trade Center site Monday and announced her support for federally funded health care for anyone suffering from 9/11-related illnesses.
Silverstein unveils new W.T.C. tower details By Skye H. McFarlane
Amid the swirl of 9/11 memories and Deutsche Bank worries last week, Silverstein Properties released a bit of positive news about the World Trade Center site — that the three Greenwich St. towers are on schedule and designed to be both accessible and safe.
Committee votes to 86 Forty Deuce The Community Board 2 Business Committee voted unanimously after a packed meeting on Tuesday against a liquor license for Forty Deuce, a burlesque club proposed for the ground floor of 19 Kenmare St.
Brooklyn is so hip that swimmers take dip in race By Jefferson Siegel
Usually, the phrase “Go jump in the river” is an insult. However, last Saturday, it was a call to everyone gathered Downtown in East River Park to adjust their swim caps, take a deep breath and, well, jump in the river.
Downtown deadlines? Forget ’em for now, says Spitzer aide By Josh Rogers
Even when you see Downtown redevelopment construction under way, don’t believe any opening date predictions.
That message comes not from frustrated residents, small business owners or business leaders who change their subway routes and weave their way past large construction projects every day, but from Avi Schick, who leads Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s redevelopment program as chairperson of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. and president of the Empire State Development Corp.
Edwards impresses Downtown crowd with anti-terror plan By Josh Rogers
Presidential candidate John Edwards unveiled his anti-terrorism program three blocks from the World Trade Center last week and said if elected, he “will never rest” until Osama bin Laden is caught.
One arrest at Baruch Houses, but raid may have been a bust By Patrick Hedlund
A drug raid by a force of police officers on the Lower East Side late last month led to a just small-time bust after police swarmed a building in the Baruch Houses complex during the early-morning hours, according to local residents and law enforcement officials.
Boyfriend arrested in Soho woman’s stabbing murder By Lincoln Anderson
On Wed., Sept. 5, the body of a woman whom police identified as Denise Deperrie, 36, was found with two stab wounds by her roommate after he noticed a strange smell coming from her bedroom inside an apartment at 31 Crosby St., police said.
More B.P.C. library plans unveiled, money to come Kids will be front and center at the new public library in Battery Park City, according to new plans that were unveiled to Community Board 1 members at a Sept. 4 meeting.
Law firm drawn to Downtown energy & prices Two firms recently scooped more than 150,000 square feet of space in a Hanover Square office building, continuing the resurgence of office tenants back into the Financial District.
Community board puts Chinatown on the menu By Albert Amateau
The first meeting of Community Board 2’s Chinatown Committee last week was hailed as a historic occasion and the beginning of a redress of past neglect of the Chinatown community.
If it’s a dog-eat-rat world, Oscar’s the king By Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke
The first time Andrea Mitchell’s schnauzer Oscar saw a rat in Washington Square Park, he “went bananas.”
“I was like, ‘What is he doing!’” said Mitchell, recalling how the little dog tripped over himself and fell.
DOWNTOWN ART & LIFESTYLE
Hold Steady and more to hold court at 7 WTC By Lee Ann Westover
Between Sept. 11, 2001 and today, the cultural landscape of Lower Manhattan has been totally transformed as summer shows produced by River to River, the Seaport Music Festival, and even quirky Spiegelworld have become the norm. Now, another amazing concert series, created in 2005 as part of this wider effort to lure New Yorkers Downtown, is set to return before the season’s end.
Profusion, a rite of fall By Lori Ortiz
The brilliance of “40up,” DancenOw’s selection of choreographers and/or dancers over 40, opened this year’s festival, which ran September 4–10 at Dance Theater Workshop. The potpourri presaged an upcoming season of larger-than-life modern and contemporary dance, and led us into the festival in its totality — 70-plus works, each seven minutes or less.
Down Under film festival premieres Downtown By Rania Richardson
“Follow the puggle,” says Paola Freccero, referring to the pug/beagle mix that will accompany her to Tropfest@Tribeca, the free outdoor event on Sunday, September 23 at the World Financial Center. Both New Yorkers and their dogs are welcome to the festival of music and short films that will take place under the stars, on the cusp of the fall season.
Recounting the story of 9/11 through its imagery By Sarah Norris
Former Life photojournalist David Friend always wanted to assemble a book of photos generated over the course of one week, to prove the primacy of photography in our lives. The result, published last year, is “Watching the World Change: The Stories Behind the Images of 9/11,” a book of richly mined accounts and photographs from Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001 through the following Monday.
Listen to Downtown Express
Radio on the internet: Two residents who live near the former Deutsche Bank building, Pat Moore, a Community Board 1 member, and Dave Stanke, a Downtown Express columnist, talk about their concerns living near the skyscraper's dismantling and the construction as well as their thoughts on the Survivors' Stairway and other issues related to the World Trade Center site with hosts Josh Rogers and Skye H. McFarlane. Recorded June 4, 2007.
