Monday, June 17, 2024
Sunny. High 85 degrees.
We’ve got the first true heat wave of the summer this week. Tuesday through Sunday temperatures will range from a high of 88 to 92 degrees, before cooling down again slightly next week.
Notices
Our calendar has lots of local events. Click on the link or the lady in the upper righthand corner to check.
As a reminder, Early Voting began Saturday in New York City. Election Day is Tuesday, June 25.
The West Side High School at 140 West 102nd Street is one of the Early Voting locations for the Assembly District 69 race, but you can find your polling site — HERE.
Upper West Side News
By Gus Saltonstall
Last week, we mentioned the construction surrounding the Naftali Group’s new building at 207 to 221 West 84th Street.
Over the weekend, renderings were revealed of the new UWS buildings at the corner of West 84th Street, as first reported by New York Yimby. The 18-story residential building at 211 West 84th Street, which the developer has dubbed The Henry, will hold 45 condo units and include 17 enclosed parking spaces.
The details of the building have not been fully revealed, however, renderings show an impressive roof patio, a lounge with a fireplace, a private garden, a bowling alley, a basketball court, movie theater, and indoor pickleball court.
The Naftali Group bought the address in 2022 for $71 million, but it was far from a smooth process to the beginning of construction.
When the development group originally purchased the property, the organization was able to get all the prior residents to move out except one — Ahmet Ozsu. Ozsu ended up holding out in his apartment, which eventually led to lawsuits from both sides and a well of media coverage. The tenant’s holdout delayed the start of construction, but a “sizable buyout” was eventually agreed on at the beginning of last summer.
The construction then began.
You can check out renderings of what the building will look like — HERE.
First the New York Post — and now the New York Times — have penned stories about the ongoing saga surrounding the “No Trespassing” signs installed last month at the recently renovated playground within the Wise Towers NYCHA complex, which West Side Rag reported first on May 24.
Last week, the Times published, “A Public Housing Playground Barred Outsiders. Neighbors Object.”
The sub-headline reads, “There have been tense encounters with some neighbors on the wealthy, liberal Upper West Side.”
The piece includes quotes from residents of Wise Towers at 117 West 90th Street, neighbors who also use the playground, and representatives from the Trinity School, which is the nearby private school that had used the playground for years, including for recess.
The Rag’s follow up story on Trinity pausing its recess within the playground is linked to in the New York Times article.
“They play with their color,” one Wise Towers’ resident told the Times, about the nonresidents who use the playground. “They don’t play nice.”
You can read the full story — HERE.
Kylie McCoy, a Columbia University graduate student, recently published a 14-minute documentary on the West 79th Street Boat Basin, and West Side Rag reporter and Hudson River waterfront expert Dan Katzive was featured multiple times.
Katzive provided a history of the boat basin within Riverside Park, and also a retelling of recent attempts and community pushback to the redesign of the boat house and dock area near West 79th Street.
Along with providing the history of the boat basin, the documentary sits down with boaters who called the marina home, and who plan to return once the construction project is complete.
Katzive speaks for the first time at around the 1 minute, 53 second mark.
On the topic of the boat basin, a new presentation will be made Monday night to Community Board 7’s Parks & Recreation Committee about the redesign of the 79th Street marina and dock house.
You can watch the documentary — HERE.
A new bakery on the Upper West Side will employ students on the autism spectrum.
Bear’s Boomin’ Bakery will open at 715 Columbus Avenue, between West 94th and 95th streets, as reported by I Love the Upper West Side. The nearby Manhattan Children’s Center is opening the new business to provide its students with opportunities to gain employment experience.
Manhattan Children’s Center is a leading private school for kids on the autism spectrum.
You can read more — HERE.
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Please label the photo “Closed street” because it is not open for its normal use. The term “open streets” that the advocates choose to use is very misleading.
please keep the photo correctly labeled as Open Street as on Sundays Columbus Ave is open to residents of the neighborhood rather than reserved for drivers to speed through.
Roads are designed for cars, buses, ambulances, etc. Sidewalks and parks are designed for pedestrians and gatherings. Lots of those nearby. Some of those drivers speeding through are ambulances, the elderly going to visit family and friends, and many others who appreciate that there is a big world beyond our little UWS shtetl.
The closed streets advocates are incredibly selfish and narrow minded. Some day when they or one of their loved ones is sitting in traffic in an ambulance waiting for their lives to be saved but held up by traffic generated by Closed Streets they might finally understand. But I’m sure they will still come up with some kind of whataboutism and blame it on someone or something else.
There are other neighborhoods where this is a good idea. Or perhaps even do it on a side street. But this makes no sense on a major avenue on the UWS where there are huge parks nearby.
The Manhattan street grid was designed in 1811, well before the car was invented and the streets were certainly not designed for anything like the amount of traffic it gets today.
Spend any time at an Open Street and its not hard to see that it makes the neighborhood a million times more pleasant.
Perhaps it is more pleasant for you. But it is less pleasant for many others. But who cares about them. You get exercise your right to walk in the middle of the street, and that’s all that matters. Rejoice! Rejoice!
I think back to Free to Be You and Me where the children were freely frolicking in Central Park. Ah, the good old days.
It is more pleasant for those who live here and pay taxes here on the UWS. I’m sure it is less pleasant for those are driving in from New Jersey. I think our neighborhood should prioritize those who live and work here, not make ourselves a highway for drivers passing through.
It isn’t more pleasant for those with limited mobility who rely on buses that now don’t run on Columbus on Sundays
It’s much more open in what you call its closed state than when it’s “open” to traffic.
I walked by the Wise playground areas recently given all the recent newsworthiness. What I haven’t seen talked about is just how many “Residents Only” signs there are. It’s a ton! There’s no claiming one didn’t see the signs, and that there are so many should be an immediate turn-off to anyone even thinking about moseying in. Point made!
Re: Playground, once again the mighty NYT fails to credit local news sources that break stories. What’s so tough about having, “As first reported in West Side Rag…” in the copy? Hrumph.
Funny how the Left is essentially re-segregating America. All presumably in the name of “equity” and justice. So the residents of Wise don’t want those rich white kids around. This playground isn’t for “you people”. In a similar vein, numerous Ivy League schools have separate graduation ceremonies for black and other non-white students, as well as basically racially segregated dorms and dining halls. All presumably to protect these fragile students from the poison of “whiteness”. Seems like a backward move, eh?
The comments about separate dorms, ceremonies, etc for black vs white students are totally wrong, based on all my full-time and long-term exposure to academic institutions both Ivy League and others as well as state (public) institutions.
Please give us some evidence and experiential information. Do you mean NYC, the Northeast, the whole USA, other parts of the country?
These claims about separate graduations and dining halls are blatantly false.
Just curious: which Ivy League schools “have separate graduation ceremonies for black and other non-white students…”? Could you please list them? Or name one? And which schools have segregated dorms and dining halls? This is important news and it’s amazing you have uncovered this!
The video about the 79th St Boat Basin is terrific. I have lived on W79th for over 40 years and I never understood that the boating residents were a close-knit community of unique individuals. I hope they get their docks back soon.
I have passed by MCC many times. I had assumed it was connected to Chabad.. I will check it out
Taxpayer dollars help fund NYCHA. On that measure alone, I believe there should at least be a conversation regarding the “residents only” status of the playground.
I’m glad the NYTimes cleared up a point for WSR readers. “NYCHA campuses are private property” so having resident only playgrounds is like the situation at Lincoln Towers. The Trinity School.should be ashamed of themselves for taking over a private playground for recess without anu compensation.
NYCHA is a state public benefit corporation like the MTA or HHC, so it’s not private property as most people would think of it. It’s the same status as a public hospital, not private property.
“NYCHA campuses are private property” is a quote from the TImes article.
In any case, while we have public hospitals we can’t just go traipsing through them. The hospital management gets to decide where we can and cannot go.
Funny. I didn’t see “Privately-Raised Capital” in the schedule of revenue sources for NYCHA, But I did see $3bn of “Federal Subsidies” and $250mm of “City Funds”. Didn’t see a private organization monitoring its shenanigans either, but it does have a Federal monitor, which I’m sure you’ll find positively hilarious.
“Built on private property owned by the Authority” (in NYCHA’s own description) is not exactly the same thing as “private property” when the “Authority” would be bankrupt in 5 minutes without the general taxpaying public, is it?
By that logic, any new condo building with an x-year tax abatement should open its amenities to all the taxpayers who are effectively subsidizing that abatement.
I agree with Brandon. My goodness, let the people who live in the complex have a place for their kids to play with each other, without being inundated by others who have more resources and choices. Ugh.
Nope. I’m not a lawyer, or versed in the legal authority of a public-private partnership to restrict access to its facilities. So I’m happy to err on your side for that. But let’s not kid ourselves about all this “shame” or “compensation” nonsense. That’s just offensive to everyone else.
As for your point, what % of the private condos’ operating budget or construction costs are subsidized thru the tax abatements? Because it’s pretty clear what that % is for NYCHA.
The Naftali project on 84th and Broadway replaces at least 60 units of housing with 45 units and indoor pickleball. Literally.
And to boot they had the nerve to ask for reserved curb space on 84th for their privileged few, and I trust that the community board turned them down.
We need to turn a spotlight on any project that leaves the city with fewer housing units than it starts with.
It’s a horrendous project. Should never have been allowed to go forward without a one-to-one replacement for affordable units.
Once again a hideous redesign for the 79th Street boathousehas been presented. Why is this being pushed in such a modern, glass and metal direction to sit in the midst of park land graced with beautiful stone walls and arches? Organic materials and a design that looks nautical would be far more in keeping with the surroundings.
What would a stone walled structure featuring riverside park style arches look like over the water on the Hudson?
Riverbank State Park?
https://www.dattner.com/projects/view/riverbank-state-park/
Once again we are being presented with a hideous redesign of the boat basin marina. Why is another ultra modern, metal and glass structure being considered? Why not use organic materials more in keeping with with surroundings? Wood shingles and double hung windows come to mind. Those seem to survive for generations in places like Nantucket and would look far more appropriate.
So many commenters are angry that working class black and brown folks are utilizing a tool often used against them by upper class white New Yorkers, it’s giving “how dare they treat us like we treat them” energy.
I dunno, I’m not personally wealthy enough to have access to a private park but think NYC works best when neighborhood playgrounds are open to all. Waterline square for example has a very nice playground that is open to the public even though I suspect it is technically privately owned.
My three year old daughter likes to play at the wise towers playground before we pick-up her older siblings from a nearby public school. Unfortunately, now I have to explain to her that the people who live there don’t want to share the playground with her. I understand not wanting large school groups to use the space, but I think it’s silly to keep all neighbors out. There are a lot of assumptions being made about me and my life based on my skin color (which was made clear when wise towers residents and a facility worker were whispering to each other and pointing at my daughter and I when we stopped by for 15 min before school pick up). We did play there from time to time before the renovation and there was no exclusivity.
Glad to hear about the new bakery and the opportunity to provide the neighborhood with delicacies and the young people from the MCC with needed training. I’ve wondered what that sign was about, and now I know! Yay hurray!
I walked by the Wise Tower playground on Sunday mid-morning and it was practically empty with about 5 kids playing. The signs are clearly deterring others but for what? So a spacious new playground can sit empty?
[…] in this week’s Monday Bulletin, Bear’s Boomin’ Bakery has signage up at 715 Columbus Avenue, between West 94th and 95th […]
Beyond baffled that folks think it is OK for Open Streets to be on an avenue and forcing bus detours, denying people access to essential mass transit (and which people pay for)?
Open Streets for more brunch and chalk-drawing?
Central Park is one block away.
Have lived here my entire and never thought the City would subvert MTA bus transit