The local paper for the Upper er East Side CELEBRATE THE HOLIDAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD < CITYARTS, P.12
WEEK OF DECEMBER
11-17 2014
OURTOWNNY.COM
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CITY LANDMARKS COMMISSION ABANDONS PLAN FOR A CLEAN SLATE Move would have wiped 100 potential landmarks off of the group’s agenda BY DANIEL FITZSIMMONS
The Landmarks Preservation Commission scrapped a plan to take almost 100 potential landmarks and two potential historic districts off their hearing calendar after the city’s preservation community and some elected officials mobilized against it. The LPC announced publicly over Thanksgiving it would be taking action on decades-old sites that have languished on its calendar by not taking any action at all and simply removing them from consideration.
Some of the sites, like the Con Edison power plant on 57th Street and 12th Avenue, have been on the commission’s calendar for over 40 years. Also on the list was the Bergdorf Goodman building at Park Avenue and 72nd Street on the Upper East Side. Downtown, Union Square Park was set to be decalendared, as the process is called. Being on the commission’s calendar gives a potential landmark some measure of protection because the Dept. of Buildings notifies the LPC if a demolition permit has been filed for a site that’s under consideration. Of the 95 sites, more than 30 have
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COOPERATION ON PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE DESIGN NEWS Community to negotiate with city on final plan for bridge at East 81st Street BY DANIEL FITZSIMMONS
A rendering of the proposed design for the upgraded East 81st Street pedestrian bridge.
Upper East Side residents are nothing if not engaged in their community, a characteristic that has come to the forefront in an impassioned debate over the fate of one small bridge. Members of the city’s Dept. of Design and Construction met with Community Board 8’s transportation committee and residents who live near 81st Street and East End Avenue to discuss plans for a pedestrian bridge connecting the Upper East Side with the East River
waterfront that will be built there in the spring. The current bridge does not offer handicap access and is sorely in need of repair, a condition that prompted the city to decide years ago that it should be replaced altogether. The intervening years have been spent securing funding and coming up with a design, which is now being negotiated at the community board level with input from residents who live in the immediate vicinity. At issue is the way the bridge looks in renderings supplied by the city. Residents who will have to look at it every day say the existing bridge proposal, with its eight-foot-high fence, looks like
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In Brief N.Y.C. POSTAL SERVICE LAUNCHES ‘OPERATION SANTA’ The U.S. Postal Service in New York City has launched its 102nd annual “Operation Santa” letterwriting program — with security measures in place to protect the mostly needy children. At Manhattan’s James A. Farley Post Office on Tuesday, members of the public started responding to letters from children describing their holiday dream list — often just necessities. Volunteers must bring an ID and fill out a form that allows them to read mail addressed to Santa. Twenty major U.S. cities are participating in the program, with kids asking Santa for warm coats, food, clothes, and shoes — plus toys. The gifts are then mailed to families. Names and addresses are not visible to donors. One desperate mother wrote: “I would be very grateful if you can help us out by sending my children’s some gifts, so they have something to open on Christmas Day.” In another letter, a 13-yearold named Franklin says he has two sisters and a brother. “I just wanted to ask if you can help my mom with some presents for my family,” the teen writes. Children’s Santa letters may be picked up at postal branches in 20 U.S. cities this year, including New York, Chicago, Washington, San Francisco, Boston, Orlando, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Houston and Los Angeles. In addition, a website dubbed Be An Elf offers information. “There’s no middle man or charity,” says the site. “It’s microphilanthropy, direct from you to a child, when you volunteer in this way.” Jewish women and girls light up th world by lighting the Shabbat candle every Friday evening 18 minutes before sunset. Friday December 12 – 4:11 pm For more information visit www.chabaduppereastside.com.