Lunar flowers and luck
With temperatures climbing close to a remarkable 50 degrees, an estimated 35,000 people swarmed the pre-Lunar New Year flower market in Chinatown’s Sara D. Roosevelt Park Saturday and Sunday. “The New Year gods and weather gods are working together,” said a happy Charlie Lai, executive director of the Museum of Chinese in the Americas, which organizes the market. Flowers are supposed to bring luck for the year. Fireworks rang in 4703, the Year of the Rooster, Wednesday and the big Lion Dance parade is this Sunday, Feb. 13, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The colorful floats and costumed dancers will start at the corner of Bayard and Mott Sts. going along Mott St., up E. Broadway, before coming down Forsyth, Division, Bowery and Canal Sts. They will end at the corner of Mott and Worth Sts. (Downtown Express photo by Jennifer Weisbord )
INSIDE DOWNTOWN EXPRESS
Mayor, Silver and Ratner discuss new school’s details
By Josh Rogers
Downtown residents’ long-term efforts to get a new school in Lower Manhattan moved closer to reality Friday when Mayor Mike Bloomberg announced the city would build a K-8 school as part of a 75-story residential tower to be designed by Frank Gehry.
An embed photographer’s view of Iraq
 By Ramin Talaie
CAMP LIBERTY BAGHDAD, Iraq — I started packing with the essentials first: Thuraya hand-held sat-phone, R-BGAN Satellite for sending data/images Level 3A with level 4 ceramic plates (front and back), bulletproof vest, Kevlar Army issued helmet,Army issued goggles, jungle boots, sleeping bag capable of sleeping outdoors, 2 Nikon D1x bodies, one 17-35 mm and one 80-200 mm lenses, 5 flash cards capable of capturing over 1000 images in total, 5 D1 batteries, 1 Holga with Polaroid back, 7 packs of 3000 b&w Polaroid film, Sony Vaio laptop, SMC wireless cards, Universal electricity converter, Power strip cord, USB, Firewire, you name it wire, CD-R and CD-RWs to burn images to back up iPod for the fun of it, bout $1,000 in cash plus American Express and Master Card.After packing the above then I got to start packing my clothing! I packed only 2 pairs of pants, 1 pair of trek shoes and the above jungle-boots and a whole bunch of tees. I flew into Kuwait Jan. 21 and met with a military public information officer to make my way to APOD. APOD is the section of Kuwait City Airport used by the United States for its operations in the Iraqi theater. Flight time was 1:15 p.m., which was kept secret from me until I called in around midnight.
Landmarks takes dim view of glowing design
By Ronda Kaysen
An investment partner of former ImClone chief Sam Waksal has plans to build a nine-story residential building on Vestry St. in Tribeca.
An Alliance that has lasted ten years
The Alliance for Downtown New York celebrated it’s ten-year anniversary Monday with a party at the Marriott Financial Center.
Business group forms to help Chinatown
By Aman Singh
Chinatown Partnership Local Development Corporation selected ten new members for its board of directors and launched a search for a permanent executive director, the organization announced at a Feb. 7 meeting at Sweet-n-Tart Restaurant on Mott St.
Soho street artists fear Gerson’s next move
By Hemmy So
Street artists on West Broadway are feeling shock, anger and worry after Councilmember Alan Gerson’s recent bombshell announcement to them that proposed regulations would either restrict their numbers or relocate them outside the area to a pier or vacant lot.
Quakers explore bringing ‘Peace Pole’ to Downtown
By Divya Watal
The Downtown New York chapter of the Religious Society of Friends, a Quaker organization, recently proposed the installation of a “Peace Pole” in Lower Manhattan.
Freedom Tower will overshadow Tribeca project, developer says
By Ronda Kaysen
The shadow created by a 134-ft. tall residential development at Site 5B, across the street from P.S. 234, will be a trifle compared to the shadow created by two other nearby developments — the 1,776-ft. tall Freedom Tower at the new World Trade Center and the 800-ft. tall Goldman Sachs & Co. headquarters in Battery Park City — according to community officials and representatives for Site 5B.
Transportation officials propose West St. exercise stands
By Ronda Kaysen
Downtowners are going to get in shape — whether they like it or not. The city’s Department of Transportation unveiled plans last week to pepper promenade south, a stretch of parkland between Battery Place and West Thames St. now under development, with artsy exercise and activity stations.
Teens meet and learn about senior citizens
By Aman Singh
“I just closed my eyes and imagined it to be reggae and it was suddenly a lot of fun,” a student said, speaking about his experience while spending time enjoying opera music with a senior adult in one of New York City’s adult centers.
Downtown activist now battles cancer
And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?
Modern methods to expand for Orthodox synagogue
By Marvin Greisman
The landmark Bialystoker Synagogue recently celebrated its 125th anniversary at a gala dinner that marked the installation of the young rabbi Zvi David Romm as the leader of the historic congregation. Rabbi Romm is only the fifth rabbinical leader to hold that position in the 125-year-long history of this famed Lower East Side synagogue, at 7-11 Willett St./Bialystoker Pl. The dinner, which attracted an audience of 500 people and was held at the Grand Ballroom of the Sheraton Towers in Midtown, also honored State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, the shul’s vice president, for his contributions to the Jewish community and beyond.
TV studio redesigns its space
Lower Manhattan now has a newly revamped broadcast facility where interested residents can get training and equipment to create videos, TV shows and documentaries.
Downtown Homes and Lofts
Hudson Square Boom
By Hemmy So
According to one major real estate broker, Greenwich St. has become the new “Gold Coast,” a hot street for those in the market for a new home. Thanks to recent rezoning that now allows residential development in the formerly manufacturing area, Greenwich St. and its neighboring streets in Hudson Sq. have become ripe for sparkling new condominium projects.
While the
Sold and Closed
A century later,
Glamorous Spaces
|
|
