All posts by Andy

About Andy

Andy grew up alongside water all his life -- which made calling Battery Park City home an easy decision after coming to New York City over a decade ago. His favorite part of the neighborhood is the movie theater, where he enjoys being able to stroll in and watch a movie without taking a subway or cab.

Motorexpo Kicks Into Gear at World Financial Center Sunday

The New York Motorexpo rolls into the WFC for its fourth year (Photo credit: motorexpo.com)

For the fourth year in a row, the New York Motorexpo will be rolling into the World Financial Center beginning this Sunday, September 18. Touted as the world’s “biggest free to visit motoring event”, the expo will be open daily from Sunday to Friday, September 23.

Exhibitors this year will include Aston Martin, BMW, Cadillac, Ferrari, Fiat, Jaguar, Jeep, Land Rover, Lotus, Mercedes‐Benz, and MINI, among others. Exhibits will be set up both inside the Winter Garden and outside along the Esplanade.

According to the New York Times, a special-edition Fiat 500 by Gucci and a Gene Simmons Kiss edition MINI Countryman will be on display.

New York Motorexpo
World Financial Center
Sun, September 18 – 11am-5pm
Mon-Fri, September 20-23 – 10am-6pm

10th Annual Battery Park City Block Party

The 'best small town in the big apple' celebrates for tenth year (Photo credit: bpcblockparty.com)

Celebrating its tenth year in existence, the annual Battery Park City Block Party will take place this Saturday on the Esplanade. Born after the attacks on 9/11, organizers sought to bring the community together to celebrate and strengthen ties.

“Our party is unlike other block parties in other neighborhoods. We don’t have outside vendors. We showcase local restaurants, local vendors and local talent. It’s all about our community.”
–Rosalie Joseph, co-organizer

The event will bring back many of the features of previous years, along with some new additions:

  • Restaurant and vendor tents
  • Local artists’ booths
  • Apple pie contest
  • Children’s rides and activities
  • Dog parade
  • Human parade, including local talent (new)
  • Asphalt Green sports area (new)

Organizers will be providing tables where friends and families can grab a seat. The fun starts at 11:30am this Saturday.

10th Annual Battery Park City Block Party
Battery Park City Esplanade
Saturday, September 17
11:30 — 5pm

 

MANDATORY EVACUATION FOR ZONE A: BATTERY PARK CITY

MANDATORY EVACUATION FOR BATTERY PARK CITY

MANDATORY EVACUATION FOR ZONE A: BATTERY PARK CITY
MANDATORY EVACUATION FOR ZONE A: BATTERY PARK CITY

MANDATORY EVACUATIONS ORDERED FOR BATTERY PARK CITY.

At a press conference Friday, Mayor Bloomberg ordered a mandatory evacuation for all residents living in low-lying Zone A, including our area, Battery Park City.
According to the Mayor, “Nature is a force more powerful than any of us,” the Mayor said, “and it really is better to be safe than sorry.”

“We’ve never done a mandatary evacuation before, and we wouldn’t do it now if we didn’t think the storm had the potential to be very serious.”

The storms hurricane path is expected to travel faster than initially expected. This is the first time the city has ever called a mandatory evacuation in New York City history.

NYC.gov was overloaded and shutdown Friday morning as three times average volume in traffic hit the site. The website received 4.3 million hits, shattering the previous record of 2.2 million on January 26th.

The mayor urged New Yorkers to stay indoors from Saturday 9pm to Sunday 9pm to avoid injury from falling glass, tree limbs and blowing debris.

park 51 rendering

Park51 Looks to Improve “Image”

Architectural rendering of Park51's planned futuristic design. (Image courtesy park51.com)

Park 51 developers have unveiled a few renderings of what they have planned for their controversial community center. The designs, by consultants SOMA Architects, aim to be hip, futuristic and architecturally forward-thinking while incorporating some traditional motifs common in Arabic architecture.

While it certainly doesn’t hurt to have plans for an impressive looking structure, do these drawings do anything to lessen the ire of the mosque’s detractors?

What do you think? Do you feel any better about Park51 in our area having seen what it could look like?

Plans to Overhaul World Financial Released Tomorrow

World Financial Center
The Winter Garden and World Financial Center could look a lot different in 2013.

Brookfield Properties are set to release their plans for updating the World Financial Center tomorrow, according to the Wall Street Journal.

We’d heard rumblings of these changes, including the planned removal of the Winter Garden Stairs. In a Batteryparkcity.com poll, an overwhelming 90% of you were in favor of saving the stairs, a sentiment shared by 32BJ SEIU, a local union whose members work at the World Financial Center. City Planning Commission chairwoman Amanda Burden and Battery Park City community board members also question the removal of the stairs, an unintended icon of our post-9/11 reality.

Brookfield maintains that the stairs need to be removed to allow for an expansive street level entrance that will connect with new PATH and subway stations at the World Trade Center.

Stairs or no, expect to see more retail offerings in the World Financial Center. Citing the population increase in Battery Park City, Brookfield would like to offer more to residents who frequent the property on nights and weekends.

Construction could begin as soon as the end of this year, with completion scheduled for 2013.

Pita Grill's Battery Park City Taco

Get This Deal: Battery Park City Tacos!

Pita Grill's Battery Park City Taco
Pita Grill's Battery Park City Taco

PIta Grill Restaurant in the Financial District is offering some great lunchtime deals for the community.

Starting this week, they are offering a new student lunch menu where tons of items will be offered for $5 and under.

Battery Park City residents can also ask for a “Battery Park City Taco.”

You heard that correct, our neighborhood is now commemorated in taco deliciousness. There are two versions of the Battery Park City taco, including Chicken ($2) and Steak ($2.25).

Plus, all readers who mention this post or any first time orders at Pita Grill will be offered 10% off their entire meal.

Not too shabby for some affordable eats in the neighborhood.

Check out the menu here.

NYC Audubon warns about the Tribute in Light being a danger for Migrating birds.

Tribute in Light Fowls Bird Flight

NYC Audubon warns about the Tribute in Light being a danger for Migrating birds.
Tribute in Light is a danger for migrating birds (Credit: NYC Audubon)

Tonight, Jeremy asked,
“I know it might sound strange, but tonight when I was a couple of blocks away it looked like thousands of birds flying in them. Did they add sparkles or something like that?”

As much as we love them, as beautiful and revered as the Tribute in Light are as part of our nation’s 9/11 commemoration rituals… Jeremy brings up an excellent point.

Those are not sparkles, but thousands of migrating birds — lost within the beams of light, blinding their direction off course.

The migration patterns of birds during this time has caused their advocates to call for major skyscrapers to turn off their lights in order to alleviate bird collision deaths during migration. The most famous example is the Chrysler and Empire State Building, have recently agreed to shut off their lights at night until the end of the migration season on November 1st. Yet, it hasn’t stopped the Tribute in Light from being cast every September 11th.

The NYC Audubon society has conducted studies in which their findings indicated that birds fly at lower altitudes at night, causing them to collide into well-lit or glass fronted high buildings.

The Tribute in Light causes another concern as the lights have been found to blind the birds.
According to the group, “September is a peak month for many of the 200 or so species that head south over New York City. The majority of these fly during the night, and under certain conditions they can be placed at extreme risk. Birds can be strongly attracted to artificial lights, perhaps because some species use natural light-the stars, the moon-to navigate. When natural light is absent-during cloudy conditions, for example, or when the moon is new-artificial lights can have an amplified and sometimes deadly effect.”

If anything, it’s a good thing for our fine feathered friends that the tribute is only a night long event.

The elimination of the M9 bus affected Battery Park City residents

Community Board Revisits M9 Elimination

The elimination of the M9 bus affected Battery Park City residents
MTA's elimination of the M9 bus has affected Battery Park City residents

This summer’s cuts to MTA service left many Battery Park City residents in the lurch. The M9 bus was an important line to connect residents west of Broadway to points east, including Chinatown and much of the Lower East Side. (Of course, we also lost the convenience of the W train at area subway stops: a loss that, while not of the magnitude of the M9 removal, has added 15 minutes to this writer’s daily commute).

While the W train has waved its last goodbye, is there still hope for the M9?

Community Board 1’s Battery Park City Committee will be discussing the affects of losing the M9 bus in its next meeting on September 7th.

If you have been affected by the route elimination, please let us know how it has changed your commute — and what you have done to accomodate for the loss of service — by leaving a comment below or by emailing us at contribute@batteryparkcity.com. We’ll make sure to forward your stories to the committee to discuss during the September 7th session.

P.S. 276 Community Garden Battery Park City

Oh My How Your Garden Has Grown! (Photos)

P.S. 276 Community Garden Battery Park City
Battery Park City's Pizza Garden by P.S. 276

As we at BatteryParkCity.com are quite partial to our pizza and Italian food, it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that our favorite community gardens are both P.S. 276’s Pizza Garden and The Mercy Corps Lasagna Garden.

From the opening of the brand new community garden plots around Memorial Day, we’ve been excited to see the growth of both plots as we approach Labor Day weekend.

Truth be told, we were initially confused by Mercy Corps’ lasagna technique, as the plot looked looked abandoned, covered in cardboard. Happily, Mercy Corps knew what they were doing, and their plot is growing taller than several others.

Bravo neighbors!

Mercy Corps' Lasagna Garden
Five Guys burger and fries

Five Guys On Fulton Street Open!

Five Guys burger and fries
A Five Guys burger is like artwork to me.

Ever since we first reported the construction of a Five Guys in FiDi, I’ve been waiting with bated breath for its opening. Since last week, the latest expansion of this Virginia-based chain is now open to the public at the corner of Fulton and Nassau. Burgers lovers: Rejoice.

Yes, there is stiff competition for burgers in the area (and soon Shake Shack), but here are Five Reasons to give Five Guys a try:

5. Free peanuts
You probably won’t have to wait long, but here’s something to pass the time with, regardless

4. Lots of free toppings
I normally choose mayo, grilled onions and jalapenos, but feel free to go with grilled mushrooms, relish, hot sauce, or one of many more options to choose from.

3. It’s fast-food, thus cheap
You might pay more than the average McDonald’s combo meal, but you’re still all-in for less than $10.

2. Delicious fries
Regular or cajun-spiced. Either way, you’re in for a treat.

1. Juicy, great tasting meat
I don’t know the secret, but I like it nonetheless. Any place that defaults to two patties is my kinda place.

So give Five Guys (112 Fulton Street) a try. They don’t deliver to our neighborhood, but do offer call-in/pickup service. Just go take the short walk over to Fulton Street… the extra calories you’ll burn by walking will be more than made up for by eating.

Check out some of the pictures of the new location!