The local paper for Downtown wn SLEEP AND THE CITY ◄ P. 2
WEEK OF MAY
25-31 2017
FLOODWALLS FOR MANHATTAN? ENVIRONMENT City outlines infrastructure options to combat downtown storm surge BY MICHAEL GAROFALO
The driver of a Honda Accord plowed through a crowded Times Square sidewalk last week, killing one person and injuring 22. Preventing similar attacks in New York City will remain a challenge, security experts say. Photo: Francisco Díaz De Azevedo
AFTER TIMES SQUARE: CAR ATTACKS REMAIN A THREAT CRIME Thwarting vehicular strikes remains difficult, experts say BY MICHAEL GAROFALO
Law enforcement officials say they will evaluate protections in place to defend against vehicle attacks after a driver plowed through pedestrians on a crowded Times Square sidewalk last week, killing one person and injuring 22 others. Richard Rojas, a 26-year-old Bronx resident with a history of drunken driving arrests, was heading south on Seventh Avenue in his Honda Accord shortly before noon on May 18, when he abruptly made a U-turn near 42nd Street and drove onto
the sidewalk. He drove northbound on the sidewalk at high speed for about three blocks, striking and dragging pedestrians along the way. Alyssa Elsman, an 18-year-old tourist from Michigan, was hit between 42nd and 43rd Streets and died at the scene. The vehicle came to a stop when it hit a metal bollard on the northwest corner of West 45th Street. Rojas was quickly taken into custody and charged with one count of second-degree murder, 20 counts of second-degree attempted murder and five counts of aggravated vehicular homicide. City officials said that though the attack appeared to have been intentional, they had quickly determined that it was not
CONTINUED ON PAGE 6
Nearly five years after Hurricane Sandy inundated much of Lower Manhattan with floodwater, causing billions of dollars in damage, city officials are seeking community input on how to best keep downtown streets dry during New York’s next superstorm. Representatives of the Mayor’s Office of Recovery and Resiliency outlined potential steps the city could take to combat storm surge at three of Lower Manhattan’s most vulnerable locations at a May 18 community meeting at St. Paul’s Chapel. The session focused on various options for new flood mitigation infrastructure that could be installed in the South Street Seaport area, near Pier A and the Battery, and in the northern area of Battery Park City near Stuyvesant High School. The public workshop was part of the community engagement phase of the Lower Manhattan Coastal Resiliency project, part of the city’s $20 billion OneNYC resiliency program aimed at mitigating the impact of rising sea levels and severe storms, which are expected to increase in frequency in the next century. More than $100 million in city capital funding has been dedicated to improving infrastructure in Lower Manhattan, which is particularly vulnerable to flooding due to a number of low-lying waterfront areas. The problem of flooding is expected to worsen in the decades to come — by the 2050s, city officials say, sea levels are likely to rise one to two feet; by 2100, levels could rise by as many as three to six feet. Low elevations made the northern
Flooding in the South Street Seaport area caused by Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Photo: NYC Department of Small Business Services and southern ends of Battery Park City significant breach points for storm surge waters during Hurricane Sandy; much of West Street was flooded in the area by waters flowing from near Stuyvesant High School and Pier A. Planners outlined several measures that could be installed to protect crucial infrastructure in the area, such as subway lines, the Battery tunnel and various utilities. Near the Battery, planners said, a raised berm, potentially rising as high as ten feet above the surrounding terrain, could be installed between the sidewalk and the park area to hold back water during a flood. A bike path could be installed along the top of such a berm. Other infrastructure options were presented as better suited for the waterfront in the northern part of Battery Park City, Downtowner
OurTownDowntown
O OTDOWNTOWN.COM @OTDowntown
Crime Watch Voices NYC Now City Arts
3 8 10 12
Restaurant Ratings Business Real Estate 15 Minutes
14 16 17 21
WEEK OF APRIL
SPRING ARTS PREVIEW < CITYARTS, P.12
FOR HIM, SETTLING SMALL CLAIMS IS A BIG DEAL presided over Arbitration Man has three decades. for informal hearings about it He’s now blogging BY RICHARD KHAVKINE
is the common Arbitration Man their jurist. least folks’ hero. Or at Man has For 30 years, Arbitration court office of the civil few sat in a satellite Centre St. every building at 111 New Yorkers’ weeks and absorbed dry cleaning, burned lost accountings of fender benders, lousy paint jobs, and the like. And security deposits then he’s decided. Arbitration Man, About a year ago, so to not afwho requested anonymity started docuhe fect future proceedings, two dozen of what menting about compelling cases considers his most blog. in an eponymous about it because “I decided to write the stories but in a I was interested about it not from wanted to write from view but rather lawyer’s point of said Arbitration view,” of a lay point lawyer since 1961. Man, a practicing what’s at issue He first writes about post, renders and then, in a separatehow he arrived his decision, detailing blog the to Visitors at his conclusion. their opinions. often weigh in with get a rap going. I to “I really want whether they unreally want to know and why I did it,” I did derstood what don’t know how to he said. “Most people ... I’d like my cases the judge thinks. and also my trereflect my personalitythe law.” for mendous respect 80, went into indiMan, Arbitration suc in 1985, settling vidual practice
9-16
MANHATTAN'S APARTMENT BOOM, > PROPERTY, P.20
2015
In Brief MORE HELP FOR SMALL BUSINESS
The effort to help small seems to businesses in the city be gathering steam. Two city councilmembers, Robert Margaret Chin and Cornegy, have introduced create legislation that wouldSmall a new “Office of the within Business Advocate” of Small the city’s Department Business Services. Chin The new post, which have up told us she’d like to would and running this year, for serve as an ombudsman city small businesses within them clear government, helping to get through the bureaucracy things done. Perhaps even more also importantly, the ombudsman and number will tally the type small business of complaints by taken in owners, the actions policy response, and somefor ways to recommendations If done well, begin to fix things. report would the ombudsman’s give us the first quantitative with taste of what’s wrong the city, an small businesses in towards important first step fixing the problem. of for deTo really make a difference, is a mere formality will have to the work process looking to complete their advocate are the chances course, velopers precinct, but rising rents, -- thanks to a find a way to tackle business’ is being done legally of after-hours projects quickly. their own hours,” which remain many While Chin “They pick out boom in the number throughout who lives on most vexing problem. said Mildred Angelo,of the Ruppert construction permits gauge what Buildings one said it’s too early tocould have the 19th floor in The Department of the city. number three years, the Houses on 92nd Street between role the advocate She Over the past on the is handing out a record work perThird avenues. permits, there, more information of Second and an ongoing all-hours number of after-hours bad thing. of after-hours work the city’s Dept. problem can’t be a said there’s with the mits granted by nearby where according to new data jumped 30 percent, This step, combinedBorough construction project noise Buildings has data provided in workers constantly make efforts by Manhattan to mediate BY DANIEL FITZSIMMONS according to DOB of Informacement from trucks. President Gale Brewer offer response to a Freedom classifies transferring they want. They knows the the rent renewal process, request. The city They 6 “They do whatever signs Every New Yorker clang, tion Act go as they please. work between some early, tangible small any construction on the weekend, can come and sound: the metal-on-metal or the piercing of progress. For many have no respect.” p.m. and 7 a.m., can’t come of these that the hollow boom, issuance reverse. owners, in business moving The increased beeps of a truck has generto a correspond and you as after-hours. soon enough. variances has led at the alarm clock The surge in permits
SLEEPS, THANKS TO THE CITY THAT NEVER UCTION A BOOM IN LATE-NIGHT CONSTR NEWS
A glance it: it’s the middle can hardly believe yet construction of the night, and carries on full-tilt. your local police or You can call 311
n OurTownDowntow
COM
Newscheck Crime Watch Voices
for dollars in fees ated millions of and left some resithe city agency, that the application dents convinced
2 City Arts 3 Top 5 8 Real Estate 10 15 Minutes
12 13 14 18
CONTINUED ON PAGE
25
such as raising the entire esplanade or installing a permanent wall along the street, set back from the waterfront greenway. The South Street Seaport area poses its own challenges, such as the FDR Drive, where new flood intervention measures would have to be built around existing columns supporting the elevated highway. Planners outlined various types of barriers that could be installed under the highway overpass, including “deployable” walls, which could be stored elsewhere and installed prior to a storm. The planners urged community members to discuss tradeoffs between the various design concepts. For example, permanent walls would
CONTINUED ON PAGE 6
We deliver! Get Our Town Downtowner sent directly to your mailbox for $49 per year. Go to OTDowntown.com or call 212-868-0190