VOLUME 27, NUMBER 25
MAY 21-JUNE 3, 2015
IN A SHOCK, DRIVER ARRESTED IN DOWNTOWN HIT & RUN BY D U SI CA SU E M A LE S E V IC iffany Murdaugh has been arrested and charged with three counts — including assault in the second degree, a felony — on Wednesday for an incident on Beekman St. that seriously injured a woman last month, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s office. Murdaugh, 34 and a New Jersey resident, was arraigned on charges in criminal court at 100 Centre St., which include reckless endangerment in the first degree and leaving the scene of an accident without reporting, according to the D.A.’s office. Heather Hensl, a 37-year-old mother of two young girls, was walk-
T
Continued on page 6
FREEDOM TOWER & 9/11 MUSEUM PG. 3
SUMMER FUN DOWNTOWN PG. 12
Image courtesy of Naima Rauam
Artist Naima’s Rauam 2005 painting, “Working through a Snowstorm, Fulton Fish Market” shows what she calls the “iconic” New Market Building.
Despite cries of foul, Seaport building appears headed for the wrecking ball B Y J O SH ROGERS or at least a decade or two, there hasn’t been much reason to hope the South Street Seaport’s New Market Building would be preserved, but the city likely began hammering the final nails in the building’s coffin last week. “It was just an iconic view with the Brooklyn Bridge in the background and the dawn light,” Seaport artist Naima Rauam, 69, who began her life’s work documenting the area in paintings nearly 50 years ago, said Tuesday. “You’d see this miraculous sunrise after the workers were done. It sparkled in the evening.”
F
The 1939 building was the last to be constructed for the Fulton Fish Market and its more modern look was at least one reason the city has never landmarked it. Rauam said the prominent “Fulton Fish Market” lettering on the building makes a strong visual tie to the history, particularly since smaller lettering on some of the 19th century buildings have faded long ago. Plans are to demolish the back “cooler area” of the building in July or August because the city’s Economic Development Corp. has determined it is in danger of collapse. Internal E.D.C. emails in April concluded a complete demolition was
1 MET ROT E CH • NYC 112 01 • COPYR IG HT © 2015 N YC COMMU N ITY MED IA , LLC
necessary, Crain’s reported last week. In response to Dow ntow n Express questions, Kelly Magee, E.D.C.’s spokesperson, did not deny the accuracy of the reports about the emails, or that officials still anticipate demolishing the cityowned building, but she maintains no final decision will be made until after the first phase. “The demolition of the cooler area is a first step,” she wrote in an email, and future work could “include full or partial demolition of the Tin and New Market buildings.” Unlike New Market, the Tin Continued on page 16