VOLUME 29, NUMBER 16
Game of drones Governors Island hosts national drone-racing championships BY COLIN MIXSON It’s official — playing with radio-controlled toys is now a sport. Governors Island played host to the 2016 U.S. National Drone Racing Championships last weekend, where competitors ranging from teens to midlifers dueled in the air with homemade aircraft that soared at speeds of more than 120 miles per hour. Some devoted drone aficionados traveled from out-of-state to the island park for a chance to hobnob with the hobbyists turned athletes, while locals were enticed across the water by little more than the prospect of a thrilling show. “It’s nuts how fast these things go,” said Joe Astill, who settled in the Downtown area a decade ago, and currently lives near the South Street Seaport. The races featured two types of drones, including the common quad-rotor variety — which are stabilized by computer-controlled gyroscopes — with pilots guiding them at breakneck speeds through a course of padded hoops. The quad-copters were joined by the flying aces of winged drones — larger, faster, and more challenging machines bearing a greater resemblance to traditional airplanes, and which lack the userfriendly, fly-by-wire qualities of their smaller, multirotor cousins. Like the difference between an automatic and manual transmission in a car, wing pilots enjoy the more intimate connection between man and machine, according to Ian Jefferys, who flew out from Los Angeles to compete in — and ultimately win — the tournament’s winged category. “The experience of flying a quad, it’s disconnected from the environment in a way that wings are not,” Jefferys said. “With the wings, every little bump in the air, you have to manually correct for that. They also fly faster, go further, and all that other stuff.” Brand-name clothing and tech companies subsidized a few competitors, but most were self-funded hobbyists, who spent big money on their craft — and airfare, according to one pit guy. “I know me, I paid for all my airfare and lodging and food,” said Adam Dube, a Nova Scotian drone enthusiast who supported Team Legit. “There were a few guys that were paid — the top team pilots
AUGUST 11 – AUGUST 24, 2016
Talking trash Downtowners demand city take action to kick residential garbage off the curb
BY ALEX ELLEFSON With the residential development boom set to bring an additional 38 tons of garbage to Lower Manhattan’s sidewalks every collection day, locals are calling on the city to help prevent Downtown from becoming a literal wasteland. “The time is ripe for us to look at this. Our streets look like the 1968 garbage strike,” said Paul Proulx, a member of the Financial District Neighborhood Association, which recently met with Sanitation Department officials to discuss solutions.
The surging residential population in Lower Manhattan, where developments have added an estimated 4,623 new units to the area since 2010, has already created a garbage glut. The amount of residential trash picked up each day in Community District 1 rose by 13.6 tons between 2010 and 2015 — representing half the increase across the entire borough of Manhattan, according to city figures. With even more trash on the way over the next three years, community leaders are urging regulators to get in front of
the problem before their neighborhood is swallowed by a tidal wave of garbage. “This is going to be a top priority for us in the fall,” said Pat Moore, chairwoman of Community Board 1’s Quality of Life Committee. “We’re asking the city to come up with a plan so I don’t have to walk out of my building into a wall of trash.” Neighborhood advocates are calling for a range of measures to buttress their community against trash Continued on page 15
Rio on t he Hudson
Photo by Milo Hess
Olympic sponsor Citigroup brought some of the excitement of the Rio games — but none of the zika! — to Pier 26 this week with its “Rio on the Hudson” event from Aug. 5–11, featuring samba dancing, capoeira demonstrations, U.S. Olympian meet-and-greets, games, crafts, and even a faux Olympic flame. For more, see page 3.
drones Continued on page 23 1 M e t r o t e c h • N YC 112 0 1 • C o p y r i g h t © 2 0 16 N YC C o mm u n i t y M e d i a , L L C