By Helaina Hovitz

Last week, 330 CitiBike stations were installed in Manhattan and Brooklyn, garnering a reaction from most Manhattanites that can essentially be boiled down to this: not on my block.

Or, at least, not where it’s currently installed.

The CitiBike program, also called Bike Share, will place bike rental stations throughout parts of the city, allowing riders to pick up a bike at one location and drop it off at any other CitiBike spot.

Sponsored by CitiBank, the program is under the purview of the Department of Transportation (DOT).

On Thursday, May 2nd, Community Board 2 held a meeting at P.S. 41 to give West Village residents a chance to voice their concerns about the Bike Share program, but it wasn’t just West Villagers who showed up to gripe. People from all over the city came to speak their peace about the program — but some of it wasn’t so peaceful.

Chair David Gruber said that the board received 160 calls and emails, 70 percent of which were negative comments.

“The DOT chose not to come to this meeting, we don’t know why,” he said.

“People are upset about the size and volume, and once we saw it in place, we realized red dots on a map aren’t the same as something actually being on a street and installed,” Gruber said of the major complaints about Bike Share.

While most people in attendance said that while they actually weren’t “against” the program, they weren’t happy with the way it was being implemented.

“I’m shocked that this showed up on my block. The magnitude of it and the lack of notice provided to residents by DOT is unconscionable. They’re too big and too clunky on residential streets, and the community was not properly informed,” said West Village resident Lisa Cannistraci, who spoke for many when she added that “they obstruct building entranceways,” a problem that will worsen when the stations are filled with an average of 40 bikes each at the end of the month.

While many in attendance weren’t opposed to the bikes or the bike program, they were “opposed to the way that the city handled placing the bike racks around the city — mainly, in front of their entranceways.”
The bike racks on Barrow Street, for example, are located directly in front of residential buildings with 170 units. Residents claim that elderly people can’t get to their Access a Ride busses, and that ambulances can’t access the building, either.

“That means elderly and children will have to navigate around the bikes to get a cab or Access A Ride. We’re not opposed to the rack, but it needs to be moved, and we have alternative locations in mind,” said Cannistraci. “These bike stations located on historic landmarked blocks are a travesty. They need to be moved to more commercial locations, perhaps in front of the Citibanks, since this is their project.

West Village resident Charlie Decker, 69, wasn’t just concerned about the rack placement, though; he thinks that allowing inexperienced riders to hop on bikes whenever they feel like it, especially after they’ve had a few drinks, is a recipe for disaster.

CitiBike stations will be placed throughout downtown Manhattan.

“It’s dangerous to promote neophytes grabbing a bike in New York, especially tourists. Are you going to wait until 10 people are slaughtered to see that? Inexperienced bikers are going to get hurt riding around New York City,” he said.

Bikes lined the fence outside, and pro Citi Bikers with signs lined themselves up in front of the school’s entrance, eagerly awaiting press.

Hilda Cohen, who works in the West Village and lives in Fort Greene, said that those showing up to protest on Thursday were most likely absent at meetings held to discuss the plans.

“We’ve been involved since 2011, and we’ve been here every step of the way. We’re excited,” said Cohen. “I’ve never experienced a more inclusive community process than the one they did with Bike Share.

Jane Brown, who lives on West 4th between 7th Ave South and W. 10th, said that sanitation trucks haven’t been able to get through the racks, and piles of trash and water have been attracting mice.

“There’s no way for them to clean. It’s a health hazard. Someone’s going to get hit by a fire truck this summer pulling out,” Brown said. “If they’re benefiting and making money off of it, why doesn’t Citibank but them in front of their branches? Let them see the trash, the water, and the mice.“

Residents of 99 Bank Street, among other West Village Streets, countered that they were never alerted of their block being a potential location in the first place, that it was never a red dot on the map they were given.

Ed Zimbalatti, board president of 99 Bank Street, filed a lawsuit last week that has been re-filed as a petition. “The space in front of our building was never designated as a planned site. There was no outreach, it just showed up. Who made this decision, after all this outreach? That’s what we want to know,” said Zimbalatti.

In the middle of the night, a portion of the racks were removed and, for some reason, replaced by a giant slab of rock.

“Clearly there were a lot of plants here,” said Jeff Barr, referring to the group standing with signs and countering their comments to reporters. Barr, who filed the lawsuit at 99 Bank, spoke while leaning on his own bike.

“They’re a great way to ride around, but this location was not properly thought out. The size of the stations are too big for where they are,” Barr said. “Nobody wants to stop the program. But it’s not safe. People will ride on the sidewalk to pull up to the posts.”

His sentiment was echoed by Decker, who expressed concern that “people are going to be popping out of nowhere, buses and trucks are going to be swerving and hitting either them, buildings, or pedestrians.”

Inside, the criticism continued.

“It’s going to be creating more traffic and congestion, and I don’t know how green that amount of pollution is,” said Marna Lawrence. “I also have an objection about using public land for private gain. Citibank has no right to steal public space.”

Michael Murphy, communications director of Transportation Alternatives, a biking/walking/mass transit advocacy group, said that he thinks “the burden of proof lies with the people raising these phantom concerns.”

“Since none of the other major cities currently operating a bike share program endure these problems, what possible reason do we have to think we will in New York City?” he said. “This isn’t a he said/she said situation – we can actually look at the cities where this program is underway and verify whether or not these concerns make any sense.”

The DOT did not respond to specific questions regarding community members’ concerns about safety of riders, garbage truck and emergency vehicle access, or whether some bike rack locations might be relocated. A spokesman said that Citi Bike in conjunction with DOT held 400 meetings with community boards to determine the best locations for the racks, and also consulted the 65,000 online requests and comments.

By Mayor Bloomberg’s estimates, the program will be “great for local businesses” and generate 170 new jobs along with $36 million in revenue for “the city.”

Still, citizens of Gotham remain skeptical.

“I’ll bet you Mayor Bloomberg has never been on a bike in New York City in his life,” Decker challenged on his way out. “And if he has, it wasn’t without an entourage of ten people riding around him.”

By Adam Janos

Many people love living downtown; it’s got some the city’s most iconic buildings, it’s at the heart of public transit, and night life and restaurants are popping up in a decade that has seen real estate values soar. Things sure are booming – just don’t expect your neighbor to necessarily stick around with you for the long haul.

According to a study conducted by Social Explorer and the Queens College Department of Applied Research of the Census Bureau, between the years 2007 and 2011, downtown Manhattan had the highest rates of transience in the city.  In ZIP code 10005, for example, 39.4 percent of those surveyed had been residents here for less than a year. In ZIP code 10006 (Battery Park), that number rose to 43.1 percent.  From the financial district to Gramercy Park to Tribeca and SoHo, rookie residents are making up 20-40 percent of the total population. As a point of comparison, in 10162 (Upper East Side), only 5.8 percent of their inhabitants had been around for less than year.

Downtown is putting the “New” in “New York.”

With such a small percentage of people who have been around for the time necessary to bring the neighborhood true consistency, business owners have to come up with different ways to draw steady clientele.  At Delmonico’s on Beaver Street, general manager Corrado Goglia says that, although the neighborhood has gotten more residential in the last five or six years, he still “sees lots of new faces. After 2007, a lot of people moved about. But between those who stay, the workers, and the tourists we continue to find business.” Like many in the area, Goglia is optimistic that those transience numbers will be turning around soon and that – regardless of what the Census Bureau’s data indicates – it’s become much more of a neighborhood in the fourteen years since he’s been general manager.

Others are not so sure. “It’s terrible,” says John Moran, owner of both the Mercantile Grill and Killarney Rose on Pearl Street. “You don’t see the same people from one year to the next… and that’s not good for places like this.  It’s only in the last two years that we’ve gotten a lot of residents down here.”

Which raises an interesting point: is the neighborhood transient, or is it simply growing? According to the Census Bureau, between 2000 and 2010 the population of downtown Manhattan has increased by 40,000. So even though people are moving in at staggering numbers every year doesn’t necessarily mean that they replacing others who have departed; it could also be a reflection of the general population growth of the neighborhood and the conversion of banking centers like 37 Wall Street into residential buildings flush with new tenants.

Mathematically speaking, though, even taking population growth into account doesn’t fully explain the high rates of new tenancy; as surely as some New Yorkers pursue apartments downtown, others are deserting it.

“I think this proves how important it is to develop and protect affordable housing in lower Manhattan, and in our city as a whole,” said Council Member Margaret Chin, who presides over three of the five most transient zip codes. “Rising rents is one of the primary causes of flight from neighborhoods, from Chinatown to the Financial District.”

“Over the past ten years, the residential population in the Financial District and Tribeca has more than doubled,” continued Chin. “Unfortunately, the development of essentials services, like supermarkets, public open spaces, and community faculties, has not kept up with this population growth.”

“We know people want to move into Lower Manhattan,” said State Senator Daniel Squadron. “Now it’s critical that our government provides the services that allow more people across the economic spectrum to make their lives here for the long term.”

Last week the FiDi Association brought several local businesses and community members together to the Léman Preparatory School ballroom to provide a flavor of the neighborhood and promote the Downtown Alliance’s “Going Green” program, which aims to beautify the area’s parks.

Brylee Maxfield, the communications manager at Léman, said one goal of the evening was to show community members they don’t have to leave the Financial District to patronize certain businesses or experience a sense of community.

“The Financial District is the fastest growing neighborhood in the City,” added Melissa Andreev, president of the FiDi Association and general manager of local business Maison du Chocolat, which had a prominent table at the event.

“It’s a completely livable neighborhood,” said Andreev.

This may come as a surprise to those who remember a neighborhood which used to darken and all but close down as soon as employees left their office buildings.

Jason Stahl, who works for “Downtown Magazine,” said that simply is no longer true.

“The Financial District doesn’t shut down at five anymore,” he said. “You can see that from the development in the area.”

“I would live down here if I could afford it,” Stahl, a Hoboken resident, added.

Stahl said the founder of “Downtown Magazine” lives in Battery Park City herself and her love for the area comes across in the magazine.

The magazine, like many local businesses, was hit hard by Hurricane Sandy, but Stahl said they have made a strong comeback, including putting out an issue on “resiliency.”

Jessica Lai, who attended the event with friends as a Financial District resident, said there is definitely a sense of community and livability in the area.

“It feels homey, safe, comfortable,” she said. “People recognize each other.”

Real estate broker Santo Rosabianco, representing the company Rosabianco & Associates, called the neighborhood “an exceptional place to live.”

Rosabianco pointed to the area’s parks, subway lines, commercial growth and booming night life.

“There are more childbirths down here than in any other area,” said Rosabianco, adding new school districts are coming about and strollers can be seen all around the neighborhood.

“It’s not just tourists down here anymore,” he said, indicating the nearly 70,000 people live in the area.

“Post-9/11, people didn’t necessarily want to come down here,” said Rosabianco. “Now we’re growing mightily.”

Still, as Stahl indicated, affordability is an issue for many.

Rosabianco offered his own take on the matter: “Look, it’s full-service living down here,” he said. “It’s the best bet for your bargain.”

The strike has come as a result of a stand-off between the city and Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1181. The union has alleged that the city’s plans for bidding on new contracts for over 1,000 bus routes could result in inexperienced drivers and pose a safety threat to schoolchildren.
Bloomberg has asserted that the union is demanding job protections that the city legally cannot guarantee, and has further made it known that the city’s exorbitant spending on bus contracts—$6,900 per student, or $1.1 billion a year—is unsustainable.

As of press time, neither side was willing to budge, and the thousands of children dependent on those yellow buses are finding their own way to school.

Play Ball?
The devastation of Hurricane Sandy is still actively present in Manhattan, especially in Battery Park City. With Little League season coming this April, the organization Downtown Little League is pushing for a particular repair: new turf ballfields in BPC.

According to DNAinfo, approximately 1,000 Lower Manhattan children have already registered for this upcoming Little League season despite the unusable condition of the fields. While Downtown Little League President Bill Martino has expressed his confidence in there being a full season this year, the required repairs have not yet been made.

Battery Park City Authority, the agency responsible for administering the necessary repairs, has officially issued requests for proposals to replace the destroyed turf. Even though the BPCA is taking all the necessary actions to get the ball rolling, they are not guaranteeing a successful completion by April 1.

This hasn’t satisfied Downtown Little League, and state Sen. Daniel Squadron and Speaker Sheldon Silver have both gotten involved to demand immediate action.

“With Little League season only a few months away, work has not begun to repair the Battery Park City ball fields,” Squadron said in a statement. “Let’s be clear: It is absolutely vital that the BPCA figures out how to get work started on the fields by the beginning of next month—period.”

The senator suggested employing a temporary option to make the fields available for players for this upcoming season and stressed that neighborhood families rely on the fields for their kids’ exercise and open space.

“Downtown Little League has already begun registering families for the 2013 season. It is simply not acceptable to tell the children of Battery Park City and Lower Manhattan that there will be no season this year,” Silver said in a letter to the BPCA.

The Downtown Little League Board of Directors issued a statement on its website that addresses the basic intention of all those involved.

“Our number one priority is the health and safety of our children and we are committed to providing them with a safe environment to play baseball and softball this spring.”

Walls Crumbling Down
A 194-year-old building on Canal Street has finally done what nearby residents and government agencies had feared and partially collapsed. According to DNAinfo, a wall within the building came apart last week, resulting in a metal roll-down gate falling to the sidewalk. It appears that no one was injured and, since this building has been vacant for years, that no one was inside.

New York City agencies have been informing Ponte Equities, the building’s landlord, that certain repairs had to be made to ensure the building’s stability. The Landmarks Preservation Commission decided that the building was in great danger of collapsing in 2010, and Ponte Equities promised to make repairs immediately. Department of Buildings records show that Ponte Equities had received building violations as recently as October of last year.

Compiled by Megan Bungeroth and Jessica Mastronardi

“We are shocked by [yesterday's] court decision,” said Richard McBee, President of Lower Manhattan’s Sixteenth Street Synagogue. The NYS Supreme Court has upheld the eviction of the synagogue from their home of more than 65 years by building owner Jack Braha. This decision marks a low point for McBee and the synagogue on the roller coaster ride of a real estate battle that has ensued over the Fifth Avenue property in the last few years.

Braha posted the five-day eviction notice two weeks ago, but the NYS Supreme Court put a Temporary Hold on the mandate, allowing the synagogue’s lawyers to argue their side in court. The Sixteenth Street Synagogue claims partial ownership of the building where they hold daily services and also asserts “moral rights” to the building based on the claim that Braha verbally promised to let the congregation remain rent-free when he purchased the building in 2005. Unfortunately, they have no paperwork to prove it.

Neither Braha nor his lawyer returned phone requests for comment.

As McBee promised, the synagogue will be filing an appeal of the decision in yet another attempt to save the religious community they’ve built over the years. “This action by the court forces our hand to pursue other options in our fight for our synagogue’s life and our own future as a community,” he said.

By Sharon Feiereisen

There’s nothing like the month of January to make you swear up and down that this will be the year you opt for fruit over chocolate or never skip spin class for sleep. If history holds true, however, things probably won’t go exactly as planned. In an effort to do all that we can to make sure that 2013 is unlike years past, we’ve scoured the city for the best treatments to keep your health and fitness resolutions in check.

The aptly named “New Year, New You” is a spa package offered by the Mandarin Oriental through March 31. For $1,925, you get accommodations at the posh hotel, The Spa’s detoxifying Clearing Factor treatment (a three-hour treatment that includes a body scrub, Swedish massage with lymphatic drainage, cupping and a body wrap), a private yoga class, one day’s worth of BluePrint Cleanse juices along with the 3-Day Cleanse book, and a complimentary spa gift.

Over at Bliss, you can indulge in their “Fatgirlslim Lean Machine” treatment. The circulation-promoting treatment—tailored to your trouble spots—includes a top-to-toe dry brushing to exfoliate, application of Bliss’s Fatgirl slim cream and a demo massage with their lean machine body contouring tool to help smooth, tone and visibly reduce the appearance of cellulite. A bargain at $195, given that you get to take home the contouring device (worth $145), the treatment lasts 30 minutes.

Body Sculpting ($285 per treatment—you get 10 percent off if you purchase a series) is now offered at Mecca Paul Labrecque; it combines endomologie and colon hydrotherapy to improve blood circulation, increase your metabolism and eliminate toxins from the liver and lymph nodes. The treatment also purports to increase collagen and elastin, thereby decreasing volume and bloating and generating a healthier, rejuvenated skin tone.

Get even more high-tech at Pure Flow Fitness, where treatments include Pure Pulsation ($200 per session) and Pure Oxygen ($125 per session). During the Pulsation treatment, your legs are strapped to a bed with heart rate monitors attached to your body; the straps around your thighs and calves tighten and release in synch with your heartbeat to accelerate your blood flow. By boosting circulation, this treatment claims to increase energy levels, improve fitness, enhance mental clarity and build endurance while revitalizing and oxygenating the tissues. The Oxygen treatment entails lying in what looks like an oversized body bag while your body absorbs pressurized oxygen. The treatment claims to stimulate healing, improve physical fitness and recovery, increase circulation and boost energy levels.

If you’ve been blaming an injury for your lack of physical activity, head over to Yamuna, a yoga and Pilates studio that also offers foot fitness and body rolling classes using 6-to-10-inch balls to release tension and discomfort ($20 per class). Or, get a diagnosis at the Hospital for Special Surgery where diagnostics are offered for various sports and activities. Their Running Mechanics Profile ($320), for example, lets you know how your running form is, whether you pronate, if you’re a heel-striker, if you’re in the right shoes, whether your running form is putting you at risk for injury and much more, so that you can have all the tools you need for safe workouts in 2013.

Lower East Side Teen Murdered for Parka
Last Friday night, 16-year-old Raphael Ward, a resident of the Lower East Side’s Baruch Houses, was shot and killed at the corner of Rivington and Columbia streets. According to several news accounts, the boy was wearing a pricey Marmot winter parka, and a group of teens had approached him earlier in the evening, trying to take his coat. He refused to give it up, and a short time later, at around 9 p.m., one of the would-be thieves returned with a gun and shot Ward, fatally, in the chest. He lived long enough to make his way, bleeding, into a nearby bodega and tell the shop owner that he was killed for his jacket.

The New York Post reports that the gunman, who is still being sought by police, was described by witnesses as 5-foot-6,- 120 to 140 pounds, wearing a dark wool hat and a ski mask.
State Sen. Dan Squadron and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver both released statements over the weekend expressing condolences to Ward’s family (he lived with his mother and younger brother) and friends and calling for tougher safety and gun control measures.

“We must continue to work together as a community to fight the scourge of gun violence and make our homes and our streets safer for our families,” Squadron said. “From stronger gun laws to improved safety at NYCHA developments, we are reminded far too often that the time to act is now.”

“As a father and a grandfather, it pains me greatly to see someone taken from us so young. My neighbors on the Lower East Side have suffered far too much from the scourge of gun violence,” Silver said. “We will continue to fight for tougher measures to keep guns out of the wrong hands and to make our neighborhood, particularly our public housing complexes, safer.”

Downtown to See Better Parking Signs
New York City drivers will soon hopefully have one less thing to distract and confuse them. The Department of Transportation, along with City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and East Side Council Member Dan Garodnick, announced the roll-out of 6,300 new parking signs, completely redesigned to reduce visual clutter and make parking rules more clear and understandable.

“You shouldn’t need a Ph.D. in parking signage to understand where you are allowed to leave your car in New York,” said Garodnick, who first proposed overhauling the signs in 2011 and has been a strong proponent of increased clarity. “The days of puzzled parkers trying to make sense of our Midtown signs are over.”

The simplified signs, which will be installed in Manhattan’s paid commercial parking areas, will soon be found in the area from 60th Street downtown to 14th Street and from Second to Ninth avenues, with additional areas in the Upper East Side, Lower Manhattan and the Financial District. The improved signs have reduced the number of characters from 250 to about 140 (they’re Tweet-able!), come in only two colors to delineate between commercial and regular parking, and all use the same fonts and layouts.

Mandell School to Open Downtown Preschool
The Mandell School, which had previously planned to open a preschool to serve Lower Manhattan families on Broad Street, announced this week that they’ve selected a new location and are on track to open downtown in September 2013.

The private school, which emphasizes experiential learning models, will open its newest location in the Archive, a historic landmark building on Greenwich Street between Barrow and Christopher streets in the West Village. The move comes after the Broad Street location was compromised by damage from Hurricane Sandy, and the new location will enable the school to stick to its timeline to open this fall.

“For New York City families, applying to schools is an uphill battle,” said Gabriella Rowe, head of the Mandell School, in a statement explaining the school’s expansion. “The number of independent school seats remains almost entirely stagnant and admission rates have hit record lows, even as the population of young children in our city increases.”

The Mandell School was founded on the Upper West Side in 1939 and currently operates a school from preschool through eighth grade.

By Caroline Lewis

Council Member Diana Reyna listens to a South Street Seaport small business owner talk about rebuilding her business after Hurricane Sandy. Photo by Aaron Adler

Made Fresh Daily, an all-natural café in the once-bustling South Street Seaport neighborhood, enjoyed a buzzing lunch hour on a recent Monday afternoon, seven weeks after Hurricane Sandy left a high-water mark halfway up the large window that looks out on historic Front Street. 
The triumphant café is the first to be profiled for the “Support NYC Small Businesses” campaign, centered around an interactive map of shops that are “Back in Business,” created in partnership with Yelp. But the view from owner Jacqueline Goewey’s café window is still bleak. Fourteen of her Front Street neighbors are shuttered.

“Our furniture was completely tossed around like rag dolls. There was nothing to repair,” said Fernando Dallorso, the owner of Stella Restaurant on Front Street.

The old landmark buildings in the Seaport District housed more than 100 small businesses before the storm: coffee shops, pet grooming, restaurants, retail stores. Many of their fates remain uncertain. Before he can think about reopening, Dallorso needs to appeal denied insurance claims and to figure out when—if—he will be able to return to his old building. He is banding together with other small business owners in the neighborhood, not just to seek legal and financial support, but also to bring back the concentration of diverse shops that make the Seaport an attraction.

“This has set the neighborhood 10 years back into history,” Dallorso said. “I don’t want to be the one guy, if I’m lucky and get power, to be standing in 10 blocks that are decimated.”

Last year, Lower Manhattan was one of New York’s fastest-growing communities, according to a report by New York City Small Business Services, but many residents and corporate employees have moved their homes and offices following the storm. Robert LaValva hosts a seasonal open-air market in the Seaport with 150 small entrepreneurs.

“It’s the small, independent local businesses that make [this neighborhood] an interesting place to come to and spend time in, so we very much see the whole neighborhood as interconnected,” he said.

“We’re really hoping that whatever solutions are worked out by various levels of government are very small-business focused,” LaValva said.

Mayor Bloomberg announced multiple initiatives to speed along the recovery process for small businesses this month, including individualized help for those in Business Recovery Zones like the Seaport District.

“Let’s get to the bottom of why we’ve been closed so long, why we’re going to continue to be closed,” said Amanda Byron, owner of a dog spa called the Salty Paw. “I can’t afford to take out any more loans. I’ve been in this neighborhood 17 years. I went through 9/11. Lots of us are paying back those loans from 9/11. We need grants.”

Low-interest loans are available from both city and federal agencies for small businesses impacted by the storm. So far, SBS has issued $4.2 million in loans to small businesses and has hundreds of applications pending. The loans must be paid back within two years, but the mayor also created a fund to offer matching grants of up to $10,000.

Grants with no strings attached are harder to come by. The Downtown Alliance closed the application window for its Back to Business Grant after being flooded with applications. The organization awarded the first grants to Lower Manhattan businesses this week and set aside $120,000 in deferred grants to be held for six applicants in South Street Seaport until they reopen.
Byron submitted her application, but said that even if she gets a grant from the Downtown Alliance, she may not be able to reopen by their April 30, 2013, deadline.

“We need grants that can help us rebuild,” Byron said.

Matthew Young, who helps to administer federal loans, now shares an office with SBS in order to streamline the loan application process.

“Some people are waiting on their insurance, they’re waiting on their grant money. We don’t need all that other information to get the process started,” Young said. “Get that application in so we can see if we can approve that loan.”

Dallorso is skeptical.

“None of us who already lost an average of three, four, five hundred thousand dollars, wants to get any further in debt by borrowing any money,” Dallorso said. “And the application, no matter what they say, is not that easy. It’s not that simple and it’s depending on your own capability to repay. I just lost my shop, I just lost my income,” Dallorso said. “What is my capability to repay? I have no idea.”

His uncertainty has a lot to do with the state of the building to which he is trying to return.

“Besides destroying all the retail spaces, [Hurricane Sandy] also destroyed all the building’s mechanical systems, meaning the heating, the cooling, the electrical systems, the light safety, all the pumps,” explained Jordan Barowitz, a representative of the Durst Fetner development company, which owns the property where Stella Restaurant and a dozen or so other businesses were located.

“They’re old buildings. It’s a landmark project, they’re 200 years old.”

In addition to replacing floors and walls, Barowitz said the company plans to install a modern mechanical system that would be more resilient in the case of future disasters; one that would not be located in the basement. He could not yet give a timeline for completing all the work that has to be done.

“There’s also tremendous stress on the contractor and mechanical supply community and that’s making it even more difficult,” said Barowitz.

Mayor Bloomberg and Community Board 1 are pushing the approval of a new development for the undamaged Pier 17, featuring a multi-use glass structure, according to schedule.

“We just want to make sure that it’s done as quickly as possible with as much consideration for the individual businesses as possible,” said Michael Levine, director of planning and land use on Community Board 1.

For small-business owners, time is money.

“It’s great that we can open Wednesday,” said Sara Williams, co-owner of Fresh Salt on Beekman Street. Two days before re-opening, Williams stood amid frantic construction on the still-unfinished bar. Her building owner was able to agree to a rush re-construction job and had some friends who were contractors.

“But we’re going to be in trouble if we can’t get them back with us,” Williams said, looking toward empty storefronts across the street. “They have a whole other host of issues that I feel very lucky that we don’t, but at the same time, we are all together in this area and that’s how people’s perception of us is. We do need them open.”

Parts of Lower Manhattan may spend the holidays and beyond hooked up to noisy, noxious generators if building management companies don’t soon finish necessary repairs.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, many downtown Manhattan buildings relied on emergency generators for power in an effort to return to normalcy. As of last week, Council Member Margaret Chin’s office reported 105 emergency generators were still operating downtown, providing electricity to these buildings.

While these generators may be necessary in an emergency, community members and elected officials are concerned over why they still have such a prominent presence downtown. The generators emit potent, potentially hazardous fumes and often deafening noises. They also appear to be running largely unregulated by city agencies, which have not demonstrated much oversight in the situation, according to downtown’s elected officials.

“Many of the streets in Lower Manhattan, particularly in the Financial District, are literally lined with [these] generators,” said Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. “We all know that after 9/11, thousands of Lower Manhattan residents were exposed to air that caused serious health problems, and we cannot allow that to happen again.”

A Con Edison spokesperson explained that the buildings’ management companies are responsible for the generators still in place.

“They’re the ones who bore the brunt,” he said.

Chin’s office agreed that Con Edison is not to blame for the delay. The buildings’ management companies reportedly continue to push back the dates when they’ll be ready to reconnect to power, now giving time frames as late as April in some cases.

“Con Edison is willing and ready to hook these buildings back up,” said Kelly Magee, a spokesperson for the council member. “The buildings are not ready to receive power. The buildings have some kind of issue, whether it’s damage to the transformer or a part that needs a replacement—they’re unable to hook back up to the grid.”

Magee said these buildings’ management companies would not return their phone calls and there was no explanation as to why the dates kept getting pushed back. She speculated building management companies are taking advantage of this opportunity to make other repairs to their buildings. Without incentive for the management companies and enforcement by the city, she said there’s not enough pressure for the companies to act in a timely fashion.

Once a building is ready to be hooked back up to the Con Edison grid, only a quick inspection is necessary before this can take place.

Council Member Chin, whose Lower Manhattan district has many such generators, is disappointed in the city’s response thus far. She said her office has received many residential complaints over the last month and that she’s repeatedly reached out to the city and tried to work through official channels.

One woman called the council member’s office to complain she had fainted while exiting a downtown subway because of the overwhelming fumes released by the generators.

“The residents are contacting our office and saying they need help—these fumes are going right into their apartments,” explained Chin. “People have been very patient and they understand it’s an emergency, but week after week … it’s taking too long.”

“The Department of Health needs to provide solutions,” said Chin. “Now they’re saying seal off your windows with plastic—that’s not an appropriate way to live.”

“The phone calls are seriously disturbing,” added Magee.

Magee said the council member’s office has been working to get the Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Mental Health and Hygiene to come out and regularly conduct inspections of the generators.

“What it seems like to us is in the beginning there was an emergency situation; a lot was done without much oversight, and it wasn’t until we asked for enforcement that the DEP started doing anything,” Magee said.

“We go and look around ourselves, and we can see the smoke spewing out,” she added. “The DEP needs to be down there every single day, and they need to get the dirty ones out.”

The council member said it seemed not much thought had been given to the generators’ physical placement either.

“To be listening to one 24 hours a day is a lot to ask of residents,” said Chin, who explained they were loud enough to drown out any conversation in the street.

Ryan Carlino works on Water Street, right by the river. He said he was not allowed to return to his office building until Dec. 4.

“We literally have to walk through a tunnel of generators to get to the entrance of our building,” he said. “There’s smoke everywhere. It constantly smells like diesel fumes.”

“I’m sure they’re safe, I guess,” he added. “They were OK’d by the EPA. But they look like they could blow up or electrocute someone at any point.”

The generators are also loud, according to Carlino. “The noise isn’t a huge inconvenience since you can’t hear them inside,” he said. “It’s just really weird and post-apocalyptic walking through them to get to work.”

When asked how he knew the generator had been approved by the EPA, Carlino said his company’s operations coordinators told workers the EPA had checked them out.

A Department of Environmental Protection spokesperson confirmed that DEP inspectors are going block by block in Lower Manhattan to ensure that all generators are properly certified and are meeting emissions standards, and the DEP has also teamed up with the city’s Health Department and the state Department of Environmental Conservation to monitor air quality. The agencies have installed three additional air testing sites since Hurricane Sandy and have not detected patterns of higher concentrations of particulate matter.

While they may technically be safe, the generators are still a huge nuisance. In many cases, residents cannot understand why the generators powering some commercial buildings must remain running all night.

“Imagine that happening continuously all day long and at night when people are supposed to be sleeping,” said Chin. “We have families and lots of young kids down here.”

Chin said the city has already established a rapid repair program with residential buildings, one which might soon have to extend to commercial buildings as well.

“It’s unacceptable that they will be there all winter,” she said. “If there are missing parts, get them.”
While the noise and pollutants affect residents and workers in the area, Chin is particularly concerned about generators operating directly outside of a downtown school complex.

“We need all the help we can get,” said Chin. “We want this done by Christmas. This is our Christmas present.”

Carlino is at least glad to be back in his own office building despite the generators. “We were up in Times Square,” he said. “It was awful.”

Council Member Margaret Chin, Downtowner of the Year

When we decided to start a tradition of presenting awards to outstanding community members who live and work in downtown Manhattan, the one thing we knew would be easy was finding recipients. We weren’t disappointed.

The inaugural Downtown OTTY (Our Town Thanks You) Awards honor a diverse group of amazing people from all neighborhoods, professions and backgrounds, but the one thing they have in common is their commitment to making downtown an incredible place. Whether it’s a school chef getting kids excited about kale chips, a longtime block association president dedicated to preserving local history or a yoga instructor who gives back, each of our winners brings their specific brand of vision, passion and talent to their community.

We hope you enjoy reading about the people who make your neighborhood great, and we know that they’ll all continue to impress us in the coming year.

Sincerely,

Megan Bungeroth

Editor-in-Chief, Our Town Downtown

2012 Downtown OTTY Award winners

Council Member Margaret Chin – Downtowner of the Year

Susan Henshaw Jones – Culture

Derrick Komorowski – Real Estate Royalty

Kit Yuen – Healthcare Pro

Liz Berger – Community Builder

Dr. James Cooper – Religion

Officer James Rudolph – Bravest & Finest

David Garza – Downtown Recovery

Barbara Warren – Healthcare Pro

Jenny Gensterblum – Culinary Excellence

Tricia Donegan – Entrepreneur

Christopher Kui – Downtown Recovery

Richard Blodgett – Community Builder