Results tagged “bowerymission”

With the Bowery Hotel now open, Gothamist thought it was worth taking one final look at the Bowery of the 1970s and '80s through the lens of Luc Sante, author of Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York.

In June, it was determined the massive Greenpoint Terminal Warehouse fire in May had been set by homeless men looking for copper wire to sell, and Polish immigrant Leszek Kuczera was charged with arson. Though there had been some questions about whether Kuczera was involved, his case is being heard in court. The NY Times reports that deals have been discussed and, more unusually, the judge in the case took time to speak with the 59 year old defendant:

State Supreme Court in Brooklyn is no place to look for sympathy, but Mr. Kuczera has found it there. At a hearing yesterday, the judge overseeing his case conducted a long, private conference with the lawyers, then left the bench in full dress robes, walked across the courtroom and sat beside Mr. Kuczera at the defense table.

Continue reading "Greenpoint Warehouse Arson Suspect May Get Deal"

Police presence around Penn Station will be increased during the holidays. Not just because of possible terrorist threats, but because Police Commissioner Ray Kelly thinks there are too many panhandlers lurking around. While being driven by Penn Station, he was outraged by the number of beggars outside. And the NYPD spokesman said, "The police commissioner expects the police department to keep it free from panhandling." The NYPD will work with homeless services groups, though they have clashed in the past. One homeless man told the Daily News he noticed the NYPD's restrictive stance, saying, "I don't know what's going on this week. It's like President Bush is in town." Forget Bush, it's Commissioner Kelly, who at this point might be more powerful that the Commander in Chief. Hmm, we hope that Commissioner Kelly gets angry at people who don't scoop their dogs' poop next, because that impacts our quality of life a lot more.

Ooh: Sculptor Tom Otterness has a helium balloon in tomorrow's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade - a balloon of Humpty Dumpty. Humpty Dumpty seems like a perfect subject for Otterness, whose round figures do seem eggish. You can see the balloons for the parade being blown up on the Upper West Side, at West 77th and West 81st Streets and Central Park West (near the Museum of Natural History), from 3PM-10PM today. [Gothamist went two years ago, and we saw a nutty balloon orgy.] Today's Times also looks at the training baloon handlers are getting this year. Those who fail to remember history...blah blah blah. We can recall all the changes that Macy's made a year after the injury of a spectator in 1997, but it looks like those changes are history.

Our own Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston's Mayor Thomas Menino have once again made a "friendly wager" about the ALCS match-up between the Yankees and Red Sox. Mayor Menino is offerig up:

-An authentic New England Clam bake for four including lobsters, steamers, shrimp and clam chowder from Yankee Lobster;
- One case (10 lbs.) of Pearl Country Club ¼ lb. all beef natural casing frankfurters;
- One "You're a real winner" bouquet of balloons from Geneva Balloons;
- One case of Harpoon IPA;
- A case of Sam Adams Boston Lager;
- One case of Lobster Ravioli from Serino's in Hyde Park;
- "Congratulations, watch out next time" marble cake with white butter cream icing decorated with grey and blue pin stripes and Yankees logo from Dutchmaid Bakery in Dorchester;
- One case of coffee cake featuring red white and blue Patriot Coffee Cake from My Grandma's Coffee Cake in Hyde Park;
- Boston Cream Pie, the official dessert of the State of Massachusetts, from the Omni Parker House Hotel, where it was invented;
- Reverse the Curse Cookies from the Dancing Deer Baking Company in Roxbury;
- Two pounds of homemade milk chocolate baseballs from Phillips Candy in Dorchester;
- Two gallons of Boston homemade creamy ice cream from Ron's Ice Cream in Hyde Park;
A dozen Boston Pretzels baked at the Boston Pretzel Bakery in Jamaica Plain. And Homemade angel hair pasta dinner fine linguini noodle served in "RED SOX" clam sauce from Spinelli's in East Boston.

Wow, Boston certainly wants to kill New York with food. Mayor Bloomberg spoke with authority when announcing the NY side of the wager:

Ahh, the rites of fall - leaves changing, the Yankees in the World Series and New Yorkers noshing on great Boston food courtesy of the Red Sox. The people at the Bowery Mission really enjoyed your clambake last year, and we look forward to the best Beantown has to offer again this year. Here are some New York delicacies from Katz's Delicatessen to get your mouth watering: two pounds each of pastrami, corned beef and brisket (I know how much Mayor Menino enjoys a good brisket), a dozen knishes, three loaves of jumbo seedless rye bread, two pounds of mustard and a bucket of sour pickles to go with your sour grapes. And for dessert, a couple of cheesecakes from world famous Juniors Restaurant in Brooklyn. But don't get your hopes up, the boys in the Bronx will make sure you never taste this food.

Gothamist must say, while the offering sounds good, it's pretty meager compared with the cornucopia Boston is offering. We liked how last year's wager included foods from each borough; Gothamist think the Mayor's aide in charge of the wager was pre-occupied.