Downtown Express photo by Jefferson Siegel

Summer Downtown
To get a public beach all to yourself, you usually have to travel thousands of miles from New York City, but this Battery Park City family — Eve Mills and her children, Eden, 7, Hudson, 5 and Harrison, 2 — had their run of the sand Saturday at the Seaport, save for a few workers putting the final touches on Water Taxi Beach.

Advocates renew call to block Chatham Sq. plan
By Julie Shapiro
Politicians and activists opposed to the city’s plan for Chatham Square rallied Wednesday afternoon to prevent the project from getting funding.

Water main project will hit North Tribeca

Hard times hit luxury kids center

Chinatown forum

Landmarks to Rudin: Hospital tower is too tall
By Albert Amateau
The Landmarks Preservation Commission on May 12 looked at the residential side of the St. Vincent’s Hospital redevelopment project and found it better than it was a year ago. But commissioners still said the proposed Seventh Ave. apartment tower was too tall.

Slow response to seizure charged
Eva Delgado, 64, died after a seizure at the Grand St. Settlement’s Senior Center at 80 Pitt St. on Thursday morning, according to staff members who said it took three 911 calls and 20 minutes before help arrived from a nearby firehouse.

Island’s princely activities at a pauper’s price
As Leslie Koch described the packed calendar for Governors Island starting this weekend, there was one word that she kept using over and over again: free.

News

Budget hotel from 2 centuries ago hopes to expand
By Julie Shapiro
One of the city’s oldest no-frills hotels is getting a facelift — and possibly an expansion.

Chinatown school reopens after flu closure
By Julie Shapiro
P.S. 130 students flooded back into the building Tuesday morning, a week after the city closed the school because of concerns about swine flu.

Deal is sealed for pre-K classes in the Village
By Albert Amateau
Village parents who feared there would be no seats in their two zoned schools for their children entering kindergarten in September can breathe easier. The Department of Education reached a lease agreement Fri., May 22, with Greenwich House for space at 27 Barrow St., providing a short-term solution to the over-enrollment at P.S. 41 and P.S. 3.

M.T.A. backs down from bus cut after Silver letter
By Julie Shapiro
The M6 bus will continue barreling down Broadway and up Church St., thanks to a last-minute intervention by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

Community board faces budget cuts

Local dad’s tips for family dinners from soup to nuts
By Julie Shapiro
David Leach is no stranger to the kitchen, but the Tribeca father of two is still often daunted by the question of what to cook for dinner.

Helping sex-trafficking victims learn to shine
By WILL McKINLEY
It was a Friday night at the Bowery Poetry Club, and a group of ethnically diverse young women in their late teens and early twenties were preparing to take the stage.

Playwright Sherman mines the ‘Rashomon’ effect
BY JERRY TALLMER
Greeks, professors know the most clever truth wins.

Tumultuous landscapes reveal full force of nature
By Stephanie Buhmann
Favoring storms, turmoil over meditative tranquility.

Playing a boss and a bum, with equal aplomb
BY JERRY TALLMER
Multitalented actor multitasks, with multiple roles.

Koch on Film
By Ed Koch

Truly, deeply mad — or merely performing? 
BY ELENA MANCINI
Surreal life and work leave many questions unanswered.

Out with the Ragu, in with the Mambo Mouth
BY JERRY TALLMER
Historic, hard-to-kill theater renovates, rises again.

Will it Rock-n-Roll away with a Tony?
BY SCOTT HARRAH
Flashy but thematically hollow
jukebox musical amuses.

When reality meets fantasy 
BY STEPHANIE BUHMANN
Audubon denizens: awaiting Apocalypse or regeneration?