Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade 06
Kate Millett’s Life Celebrated 08
World AIDS Day Status Report 12
GRACIE MANSION’S 150-YEAR JOURNEY TO HOUSING MAYORS
Courtesy of Councilmember Mark Levine’s office
Councilmember Mark Levine is joined on Nov. 16 by members of the Bus Turnaround Coalition to introduce legislation to push the Department of Transportation to implement Transit Signal Priority on buses at a faster rate.
New Push On Buses, But Mostly Outside Manhattan BY REBECCA FIORE Even with legislation sponsored by Upper West Side City Councilmember Mark Levine and the creation of a Bus Turnaround Coalition (BTC) aimed at speeding up installation of Transit Signal Priority (TSP) on buses, Manhattan routes are not currently considered top priorities. TSP, a joint push by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the city’s Department of Transportation, has both passive and active priority systems, according a July 2017 DOT report titled “Green Means Go.” Passive TSP means traffic signals are coordinated to help the flow of traffic along a bus route. Active TSP allows coordination between a bus and traffic lights, either to extend a green light or shorten a red light. “It allows the bus to communicate to the street light,” explained Stephanie Burgos-Veras, community organizer for the Riders Alliance, a grassroots organization and part of the BTC. “If you don’t have to stand behind every single red light that moves things a bit quicker.” The BTC consists of the TransitCenter, a foundation that supports transit reform across the country; the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, a nonprofit advocacy organization serving New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut; the New York Public Interest Group’s BUS PUSH continued on p. 5
Photo courtesy of Gracie Mansion Conservancy
Gracie Mansion before First Lady Susan Wagner’s addition to the mayor’s official residence.
BY REBECCA FIORE At the General Society Library on W. 44th St., Paul Gunther, executive director of the Gracie Mansion Conservancy, spoke this week to a room filled with more than 50 people about the lively history of one of the oldest surviving wooden structures in Manhattan, often affectionately dubbed the city’s “Little White House.” Gunther began his Nov. 28 presentation, “Gracie Mansion: 75 Years as the People’s House — The Anatomy of a New York Landmark,” in 1799 with Archibald Gracie, the prosperous Scottish immigrant and New York Atlantic trade merchant who wanted a country home away from town, at what today is E. 88th St. and East End Ave., five miles north of the city limits at that time. While the designer of the building is not known with certainty, Gunther said it has been attributed to John McComb, Jr., responsible for the current day City Hall, and Ezra Weeks, a successful builder.
November 30 — December 13, 2017 | Vol. 03 No. 24
“Weeks almost certainly had slaves so the house would have been built in part by humans in bondage,” Gunther said. “We also have discovered recently that Mr. Gracie did hold slaves. He had two. He manumitted them in 1801.” In the same year the house was built, New York passed a Gradual Emancipation Act that freed children born into slavery, but indentured them until they were young adults. “The State Library lent it to us,” Guenther said of the original of the Act. “It was a vivid example of the circumstances in which Gracie built this house.” Due to financial troubles, Gracie sold the home to Joseph Foulke, who later sold it to Noah Wheaton. In 1896, at Wheaton’s death, the city appropriated the estate and its 11 acres due to unpaid taxes. For decades, the house was a concession stand and public restroom facility at Carl Schurz Park. HOUSING MAYORS continued on p. 5
MANHATTANEXPRESSNEWS.NYC