A soggy start to the week, weather wise. A high of 58 today with showers continuing through the night, and maybe into tomorrow.
Happening today, University Settlement is hosting an unprecedented meeting of non-profit organizations from around the world, “The Settlement Summit.” We’ll have more details as the week goes on. As we reported Friday, the Chinatown Working Group meets tonight to choose new (interim) leaders and, possibly, to overhaul the way it does business. The Lower Manhattan Development Corp. will brief community organizations interested in applying for new grants (up to $17 million is available). And Community Board 3 (for the umpteenth time) takes up the issue of 183 East Broadway, a stalled building that’s the subject of a NYC “stop work order.” As always, you can find out more about neighborhood events on our Community Calendar.
In the news, Andrew Cuomo came to the Lower East Side Saturday to pick up the endorsements of a large group of Latino politicians, including our own Rep. Nydia Velazquez. During a press event at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, their message was basically, in contrast to Carl Palardino, Cuomo is a not a nut job.
Meanwhile, Frederic Dicker reports Governor Paterson will back off his threat to call a special session of the Legislature if Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver will commit to capping local property taxes in January.
Hunter College Professor Tom Angotti tells us what he thinks the Economic Development Corp. does. Noting the agency has taken a lead role in the redevelopment of the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area (SPURA), Angotti theorizes: “EDC’s emergence… particularly in the last decade when just about every new large-scale luxury residential project has a small component — usually 20 percent — of “affordable housing,” suggests that “public-private partnerships” driven by market-rate development are supplanting initiatives in which the public sector takes the lead.”
Speaking of SPURA, the neighborhood preservation group GOLES held the first of three community meetings yesterday — seeking feedback from residents about what should happen on the long dormant site. We’ll have a report this afternoon.
EV Grieve recaps the “largest paint party in the world,” which was shut down by the NYPD.
Stay dry and have a good week.
