All posts by Lizbeth

About Lizbeth

Elizabeth has been a resident of Battery Park City since 1985, where she and her sister were beneficiaries of the neighborhood's first school bus stop. She loves to travel, but loves even more to come home. The Battery Park Esplanade is her favorite neighborhood fixture, where you'll often find her soaking up the sun, rollerblading, or simply enjoying the view.

Bus and Subway changes are in effect for Battery Park City

MTA Changes in Effect for Battery Park City

News, , , , , , , , ,
Bus and Subway changes are in effect for Battery Park City
Bus and Subway changes are in effect for Battery Park City

Your commute to and from work has forever changed today. After months of forewarning, the transit changes for buses and subways in our area have been solidified.
Here’s what the changes mean for us in the neighborhood

Trains by Station:
1/9 – The 1 line will continue to have interrupted service on the weekends to accommodate the construction of the South Ferry/Fulton Street transit hubs.
W- Completely eliminated.
R-  The R will replace the stops serviced by the defunct W line.
4/5/6- Unaffected. Service as usual to Fulton St., Wall St., Whitehall and Bowling Green stops.
A/C/E-  The A/E will continue to have interrupted service on Sundays to accommodate the construction of the South Ferry/Fulton Street transit hubs.
J/M/Z- Reduced train frequencies on the weekends to accommodate the construction of the South Ferry/Fulton Street transit hubs.
Bus Routes:
The bus changes will affect our area greatly as stipulated below:

Manhattan Bus Route Changes
: M1, M6, M8, M10, M11, M16, M18, M20, M21, M22, M27, M30, M42, M50, M66, M98, M100, M104, M116, B39, B51
•    M18, M27, M30, B39 and B51: all service will be discontinued.
•    M8, M21 and M50: weekend service will be discontinued.
•    M1, M8, M16, M22, M50 and M66: overnight service will be discontinued.
•    M11, M20, M21, M22, M98, M100 and M116: late night service will end earlier and/or early morning service will begin later.
•    M6 service will be discontinued with alternate service provided partially by the rerouted M5.
•    M10 service south of Columbus Circle will be discontinued.
•    M42 service will no longer operate to the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.
•    M98 service south of 65 St will be discontinued; service will no longer stop inside the George Washington Bridge bus station.
•    M104 service on 42 St will be discontinued.
Manhattan Bus Route Restructuring
: M1 M3 M5 M6
•    M5 service will be extended south to South Ferry via 5 Av/Broadway southbound and Church St/6 Av northbound to replace
discontinued M6 and M1 service south of 8 St.
•    M3 service will be rerouted from 9 St and University Place to 4 Av between 9 St and 14 St.
•    M1 service will be rerouted on weekdays to follow the M2 in both directions north of 8 St (5th/Madison/Park Avs)
•    M1 service will be discontinued on weekends south of 106 St.
M9 M15 M20 M21
•    M9 service will be rerouted from Avenue B to Avenue C to replace M21 and will terminate at the VA Hospital at East 23 St (Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town).
•    M9 service will be discontinued along Water St and in Battery Park City and will be extended along Park Row to City Hall replacing the M15.
•    M15 service to City Hall via Park Row will be discontinued replaced by the M9.
•    M21 service will be discontinued north of Houston St (along Avenue C) and extended along Houston St and the FDR Drive to Grand St (M21 service will not run on the weekends).
•    M20 service will be extended to South Ferry replacing a portion of the M9.

MTA Maps for bus changes in Lower Manhattan
MTA Maps for bus changes in Lower Manhattan (Courtesy MTA)

Do the transit changes affect your commute?

Battery Park City Picture of the Day: P.S. 276 Pizza Garden!

Food, , , , ,
Trees grow in Brooklyn. Pizza Gardens grow in Battery Park City.
Battery Park City's Pizza Garden

Pizza doesn’t grow on trees — but it does grow in a Battery Park City garden.

Being that this writer loves nothing more than Battery Park City and  pizza — the addition of a pizza garden has immediately increased the value of living here by about 1000%.

Better watch out Picasso, Pizzabola and Inatesso — Pizza may not grow on trees, but PS 276 has planted the seeds for an excellent idea.

So Congratulations PS 276 for thinking outside the pizza box and into the pizza garden. Today we declare you our first official “Neighbor of the Day!”

P.S. 276 plants their pizza garden (bpcschool.org)
P.S. 276 plants their pizza garden
Subway Sandwich Trailer in World Trade Center site.

Subway in the Sky: A Birds Eye View

Food, Restaurant Reviews, , , ,
Subway Sandwich Trailer in World Trade Center site.
Subway Sandwich Trailer in World Trade Center site.

If you live or work within a 1 mile radius, you might not have a difficult time procuring a $5 dollar footlong.
Now for those who work at the World Trade Center, they won’t either as workers have called a new Subway trailer their lunch home a top the construction site.

It’s a far cry from a PB&J and thermos, but it’s a close meatball hero. Who doesn’t like the smell of fresh baked bread at the office?

Ed's Lobster Bar at World Financial Center

Claws Come Out On the Plaza…The Lobster Type

Food, Restaurant Reviews, , , ,
Ed's Lobster Bar at World Financial Center
Ed's Lobster Bar at World Financial Center

Anyone who has strolled through the World Financial Plaza might have noticed a few things recently. A big ol’ country house built smack in the middle of the esplanade, a glass encased metal contraption that has something to do with the weather, and not just one — but two new food stands on the upper level of the plaza.

The trend seemed to have started last year, when Merchants opened up a satellite BBQ stand on the plaza. The food was ambitious — filling in a gap for smokey bbq that doesn’t quite exist on this side of the highway. BBQ is not the easiest thing to cook up or serve to transient tourists and button down banker crowds. This year, they decided to forgo their spitfire aspirations and flip things up with a “quality burger.” Merchants has seemed to monopolize the majority of eateries this side of Broadway owning Merchants, Southwest, the newly acquired Steamers Landing and now Quality Burger.

So I was quite surprised to see standing right next to the expected Merchants fare — Ed’s Lobster Bar. One might plausibly expect that it’s just another Merchants restaurant, but this is not the case. Bringing their claws out on the plaza, Ed’s Lobster Bar serves up an easy to eat, summery and refreshing lobster roll. Some other sandwich offerings are a Grilled Shrimp Po’ Boy, Peekytoe Crab Roll, Tuna Roll and a Soft Shell Sandwich.

The average price for a meal is around $20. Which is not cheap, but unlike the impersonal burger conveyor belt service served at Quality Burger — customer service at the Lobster Bar is exceptional. Case and point, after arriving just before closing at 7pm– they stayed open long enough to receive a few late coming customers. After running out of grilled corn on the cob, they were able to procure a few stalks and offered them up to a patron for free. They were communicative towards the time it would take to grill shrimp skewers and lobster roll — all with a friendly smile and that it was no problem to stay open later than they needed to. Making the meal taste that much better.

So with open hearts and stomachs, we whole heartedly welcome Ed’s Lobster Bar to the neighborhood.

battery park city news

Welcome to BatteryParkCity.com! :)

News, Op-Ed, , ,
We're putting out the welcome mat for the community on BatteryParkCity.com
Welcome to BatteryParkCity.com

Dear Reader,

It’s with open arms that I welcome you into BatteryParkCity.com! It had been years in the dreaming, and months in the making but the site is finally here! We encourage you to visit the site where we promise to bring you Battery Park City “made fresh daily.” To get to know the site, is to get to know a little bit about me and the rest of us who contribute to BatteryParkCity.com.

I have lived and grown up in Battery Park City since since 1985. For the little girl in me, the World Financial Center was my playground. The system of bridges and tall skyscrapers to a young girl in the 80’s felt like a fortress of strength. Indestructable and protective. Battery Park City’s esplanade was where I sold my first cup of lemonade, I had my first kiss, the path on which I rollerbladed to Stuyvesant High School, where I had my first job at Foxhounds. It’s the backdrop of both my prom picture, my wedding photo, and when my heart broke forever on that fateful September day.

Battery Park City has slowly but steadily rebuilt itself. I’ve seen families stay, I’ve seen families leave. I’ve watched businesses succeed and great businesses die because people in our neighborhood had no idea what was beyond the subway stop.  There is something about this neighborhood unlike any other in the city. For the great spirit we have here, I wanted to create a gift for the community. A place where we could all connect, learn, and keep in touch with the things that are going on in Battery Park City — online. For us who own homes, we’ve grown increasingly concerned with the real estate market as it affects our investments here. At times we feel like outsiders wondering what is happening at Ground Zero. Sometimes we just want to reach out to our neighbors and let them know we’ve got an extraordinary dining room table that needs a good home. Whatever the reason is, the focus of this site is to connect with one another… and it’s our goal to help achieve that! 🙂

The site is maintained and written by a handful of residents who both live and work in the area. I encourage others to drop us a note if you’d like to join as a contributor! Send us an email at [email protected].

So I welcome you again to BatteryParkCity.com. As much as it’s our site, it’s your site too. We openly welcome suggestions, comments and criticisms. (Just punch with kid gloves on the latter!)

Sincerely,
Elizabeth

Five Guys is coming to our area

Rumblings of a Shake Shack — but Five Guys is a Better Bet

Food, , , , ,
Five Guys is coming to our area
Rumblings of a Shake Shack, but Five Guys will be here first.

With the closing of Applebee’s this year, there has been a lot of speculation as to what new businesses will take over the newly and increasingly vacated spaces in the shadow of the new Goldman Sachs building.

Many have gone out on a limb to say that Danny Meyer of Shake Shack fame is setting his eyes on a downtown location. This would be great if confirmation of the move wasn’t veiled in so much secrecy. NY Eater has had it’s hand on the pulse of this alleged burger movement Downtown. Not to be overdone with the burgers, BLT is planning on opening their own Bar and Grill within The W this summer as well.

With all the hoopla surrounding the burger joint’s new arrival — I’m wondering why no one is touting another reputable burger institution, also setting it’s roots by our neighborhood.

Five Guys is set to open up on Fulton street shortly — which is a way more exciting newcomer for the following reasons:

1. Tourists + Lines for burgers = Hell.
Can you imagine the ruckus that the lines for Shake Shack would be like? For the fact that Shake Shack’s official website highlights waiting on line as part of the burger experience is sort of off putting. Why not show juicy burgers first?!

2. Five Guys has better fries.
Hands down. Plus the cost of a burger and fries from Five Guys would be half as much as a burger at PJ Clarke’s which requires us to BYOF* or else be left with a lonely hamburger.

3. Unlimited Toppings.
The topic choices at Five Guys is way more impressive than Shake Shack.

4.  Free peanuts.
Hey, in this crazy economy — if a burger joint is going to make you wait for a burger, being on a line won’t be the the only reward at Five Guys. Free peanuts for all who can ingest them.

To be fair — Shake Shack has ridiculously good custard, not sure I would welcome the lines, traffic and hoopla into our neighborhood for it. I was always glad to know that craziness existed far away from home. If the rumor becomes fact, we’ll just have to wait and see what the net effect will be.

Building Vacancies Drop in Battery Park City and Tribeca

Battery Park City and Tribeca Vacancy Rates Drop

Real Estate, , , ,

Rental Vacancies Dropped in April
Rental Vacancies Dropped in April

Signs of an uptick in the economy are showing. Rental vacancy rates in both Battery Park City and Tribeca/Soho are amongst the lowest in Manhattan. Battery Park City is shows only 1.04% vacancy rate while Tribeca shows half that at a o.52% vacancy rate — according to the Wall Street Journal. It should also be noted that the numbers for Tribeca also include a large section of the Soho area bordering the East Village boundaries.

The rates compiled from Citi-Habitats a real-estate brokerage the city wide vacancy rate was 1.23% of apartments in April were vacant which is a significant drop from April 2009 which was at 2.28%.

For those of us who live here, that’s fantastic news! For those who want to live here — the market is no longer on their side to find housing in our area.

The vacancy rate is inversely proportional to the job market. Lower rental vacancies indicate that there is strength in the job market.

One downside to a low vacancy rate in our area are longer lines at the grocery store. Still good news all around for the economy.

Former World Trade Center Site

Ground Zero Watch: 9 Years Later Remains Still Being Found

News, , , ,
Former World Trade Center Site
Former World Trade Center Site

The fragments are smaller than a fingernail, but endless amounts of hope for the families of victims of September 11th still waiting to find identifying remains from their loved ones, nearly 9 years later.

48 instances of human bone have been found during reconstruction. The bone fragments were retrieved from otherwise inaccessible areas of the World Trade Center site.

Scientists at the Freshkills landfill have already started work to cross reference the remains with their DNA database.

Monell Study Loss of Smell Amongst WTC Workers

Ground Zero Watch: WTC Crews Lose Sense of Smell

News, , , , , , ,
Monell Study Loss of Smell Amongst WTC Workers
World Trade Center workers lose sense of smell

As we all recognize, first responders of the September 11th attacks had sacrificed their lives, their healths and as some doctors have found — their sense of smell.

The sense of smell is important for a human’s first line of defense against chemical poisons or spoiled foods. Nearly 22 emergency responders, construction workers and other crewmen reported a loss of smell for more than two years after their exposure to the World Trade Center site. An astounding 74% were unable to recognize irritants through smell as reported by doctors at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia.

If you’re thinking that this study might have been released a bit tardily, you are not incorrect. According to an article published in the Philadelphia Inquirer, “The findings could not be published until now, in the online edition of Environmental Health Perspectives, because it took until last year for the Mount Sinai people to extract personal histories for the over 100 subjects.” The studies indicate that there exists subsequent damage amongst the subjects olfactory nerves that may not be regained without nasal steroids and other treatments.

Cordoba House now called Park51

WTC Mosque: Do We Have Room for It Here?

News, Op-Ed, , , , ,
Cordoba House Map & Plan
Cordoba House Mosque Map & Plan

Like most longtime Battery Park City residents, there is a hole in our hearts where two towers used to be. It’s almost 9 years since the terrorist attacks occurred at the World Trade Center — we can’t help but be reminded that something terrible here happened when we pass the busloads of tourists and people hawking “Tragedy” books outside our door.

It has been previously announced of an initiative to build an Islamic mosque at 45 Park Avenue — the former site of the Burlington Coat Factory and merely 600 feet from the World Trade Center site.

Plans for the Cordoba House Mosque
Plans for the Cordoba House Mosque

The Mosque called the Cordoba House would be a 15 story Islmanic center which would include a mosque, performing arts center, meeting rooms and a recreational facility. According to its proponents, Daisy Kahn and her husbnd Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf members of the American Society of Muslim Advancement seek to “reverse the trend of extremism and the kind of ideology that extremists are spreading.”

A formal vote is scheduled to be heard tomorrow (May 25) before the Lower Manhattan Community Board. However, reaction to the plans for the Mosque have been mostly negative. Prompting action from September 11 Victim family members as well as creating websites and Facebook pages in protest of the mosque.

As of today, the Facebook page described as 1,000,000+ people who disapprove of building a mosque at Ground Zero! has over 72K members showing a strong solidarity against the initiative. There is also a dedicated website Nomosqueatwtc.com which is dedicated to highlighting their protest — as well as selling bumper stickers. The latter efforts are a bit suspicious … nevertheless a strong showing of anti-mosque sentiments.

How do you feel about it ? Do we have room in our hearts and in our home for Muslims in NYC to worship?