Results tagged “christopherstreet”

Thousands (possibly hundreds of thousands) of people gathered for today's Gay Pride March, and it seems that the NYPD is serious about revelers on Christopher Street not watching the parade from fire escapes. While the Sixth Precinct's letter to Christopher Street residents simply "recommended" that fire escapes not be used for march viewing due to concerns about the escapes' structural integrity and for the public, we hear that cops are taking their suggestion seriously—a tipster says, "They just made a party of folks leave their fire escape (I think at 100 Christopher)."

    

This Sunday is the annual LGBT Gay Pride March, which starts on Fifth Avenue at 52nd Street and then makes its way down Fifth, swings right onto West 8th Street and ends on Christopher Street. Reader Sacha Lecca let us know that on Wednesday night, signs were posted on all the apartment buildings on Christopher Street. The NYPD "recommended that viewing of this weekend's Heritage of Pride Parade not be done from fire escapes," due to safety—given concern over the structural integrity of the fire escapes and the possible harm to not only people on them but people below.

Watch out, Wes Autrey. There's a new subway hero in town—and he's not afraid to go under the Hudson River. Terrence Kelsor, a PATH security guard, spotted a drunk man stumble onto the tracks of the Christopher Street station late Friday night and was able to lift him to safety moments before a train arrived. The unknown victim stumbled back into the night after being rescued. Kelsor describes him as so intoxicated that "you could smell it coming out of his pores." The News says that the man who fell was over 250 pounds, while Kelsor only checks in at 5'7" and 170 pounds. The Newark man told the paper, "Somehow, I had superhuman strength. It was by the grace of God. It could have been his life. It could have been mine. Both our lives were in jeopardy." If there was any doubt to his bravery, even an Iraq vet confirms it. A witness from the Army Corps of Engineers said, "He didn't hesitate. I hesitated, and I just got back from Iraq."

A noontime manhole fire has helped knock out some PATH train service tonight. WNBC reports the Christopher Street station was filled with smoke and evacuated, and the "fire damaged signals and power cables." Path service between 33rd Street and the Journal Square and Hoboken stations is suspended in both directions this evening and it's unclear if it'll be back up for tomorrow.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: A large fight at Heritage High School in Manhattan, a trench rescue in Queens, and a suspicious substance at Canal & 6th Avenue
• Aw, Hakan Yalincak, the NYU student who conned people out of millions, filed an ethics complaint against his lawyer; his lawyer's lawyer told Yalincak (who faces prison time), "You are the ultimate evil person. Have a good time in jail. Watch out for the bathrooms."
• Peter Rivera, assemblyman from the Bronx, wants to make "An Inconvenient Truth" required viewing for k-12 students, but there are many questions from the Empire Zone, like will kindergarteners understand and does this mean kids will have to see it every year for 13 years?
• Christopher Street at night is a "hell hole," according to Curbed readers hashing out what to do when youths hang out in and around the building
• Awesome: The NY Post Photoshops McGreevey into a priest's outfit as news that the former NJ governor may be headed to a seminary catches on
• State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver censured a Republican assemblyman from Buffalo after it turned out the married-with-two-kids Michael Cole spent the night in an intern's bedroom; Cole says he slept on her floor because he walked her home from a sports bar and felt too drunk to drive home
• Chinese authorities have arrested the head of a company that added melamine to wheat gluten that eventually ended up in pet food
• Spider-Man sold out? Go see Barbara Stanwyck at BAM!
• Staten Island police say that a man exposed himself to a woman in Silver Lake Park earlier this week, but the suspect, Russell Farriola, who happens to be the "number one graffiti vandal" on SI denies it

And in case you missed the Publisher's note yesterday: Gothamist is looking for a new weekend editor. Responsibilities include writing 10 posts per day on Saturday and Sunday and organizing the flow of contributions from other writers. The pay is competitive with blog-writing gigs for other NYC media companies. Requirements: real blogging experience, a serious appetite for NYC-related content, and a genuine love for the city. This job can be done from anywhere within the five boroughs, but you may be called downtown to meet with us once or twice a month. If you're interested, email Jake (at) Gothamist-- no attachments please-- just a short paragraph about you and a few links to relevant work on the web.

Reader Sacha sent us this picture of a flyer seen on Christopher Street. It looks like any ol' Wanted sign, until you see the words "Zodiac Killer" on it!

THEATER: Teflon war criminal and Nobel laureate Henry Kissinger made news again this week with the revelation that Dr. Strangelove has secretly cautioned against any troop withdrawal from Iraq because, just like ‘Nam, such action would “become like salted peanuts to the American public; the more troops come home, the more will be demanded.” Kissinger’s breathtaking contempt for democracy is matched only by his Machiavellian genius; both attributes are skewered to great effect in this terrific revival of Nixon’s Nixon, which imagines what went down during Nixon’s historic meeting with Kissinger on the eve of his resignation. The play is getting great reviews, which further disproves Tom Lehrer’s quip that political satire became obsolete when Kissinger won the Nobel Peace Prize. - John Del Signore

For a while now trouble has been brewing in the West Village between the folks who live and work there and the youths who congregate there, today the City section catches up with it. Decades after Stonewall a new generation of gay boys and girls have, much to the consternation of the previous ones, discovered the charms of the West Village, specifically of Pier 45. Each night, especially on the weekends, they come to the pier from all over the metropolitan area to hang out, flirt and be who they don't necessarily feel comfortable being at home. On the other hand, “they have no manners,” Ahmed Mouhed, 40, who works at the Shada Deli and Grocery on Christopher Street told the Times. “They’re loud. They’re a lot of trouble.”

On the anniversary of the London subway bombings, US and city officials made a big show out of confirming that three men had been arrested for plotting to bomb various tunnels leading into Manhattan. But the tunnels they were looking at were PATH tunnels to the World Trade Center and Christopher Street - not the Holland Tunnel or even the Lincoln Tunnel as previously mentioned by the Daily News and Senator Schumer respectively. Interesting. The NY Times has an interesting quote from an anonymous counterterrorism source:

"These are bad guys in Canada and a bad guy in Lebanon talking, but it never advanced beyond that."

Continue reading "Terror Plot Actually Targeted the PATH"

The Gay Pride Parade started at noon at Fifth Avenue and 52nd Street, but don't worry, you'll be able to check it out as it winds its way down Fifth, making a right when it right 8th Street and then heads towards Christopher Street, and will take a few hours. And there will be lots of celebrating along the way and afterwards, what with Pridefest and the Dance on the Pier. The parade's co-Grand Marshals are Florent Morellet and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

We want more emcees, more beatboxers, more drummers to bang on the seats, more spoken word artists. Bring your cameras, your video cameras, your friends and let's restart hip hop. Let's restart music to consciousness again. No drums or kazoos or small portable amps.

Happy Friday the 13th! Get out there and tempt fate this weekend...

We were walking downtown to the office today when one of those big red tourist buses nearly ran us over (as usual!) Just as we were about to begin screaming obscenities, it hit us: the Gray Line has tons of buses, and they are running all over the city right now! For instance, their classic tour costs $50 for two days of hop-on hop-off privileges, and the buses complete a three-hour loop around the city. Might be a realistic option for those of you who live conveniently near a major tourist attraction. Bonus: you'll get to meet some nice people from outside New York!

Kate Wood, executive director, LANDMARK WEST!

There's something in the air these last couple of weeks-- and that something is pee. First, we noticed that notorious, disgusting sign in our building. Then we started noticing "no peeing" signs everywhere. Then Joe did a nice little piece where he pondered a very deep question: what street has the most no-peeing signs in Manhattan? His nomination was Weehawken Street, a short block just off Christopher Street near the West Side Highway, where he counted three. Our guess is Jersey Street, between Lafayette and Crosby, where we counted four. What's your guess? Perhaps when we have the answer, we can finally put this behind us.

An aspiring poet from Bay Ridge died yesterday after he jumped into the Hudson River near Christopher Street. Dennis Kim was 22, and died trying to retrieve his bookbag, apparently containing a book of him poems and a copy of Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer. After he jumped in, he swam out thirty feet into the river and managed to get the bag, but was overcome by the current as he tried to make it back to the pier. The Daily News has the whole heartbreaking story.

Meanwhile, police are talking to witnesses about Monday afternoon's shooting at the Wall Street 4/5 station where a man fired at another passenger (missing him) that got off the train. The Post reports more details on what the shooter had been saying: "I hate this country. I'm tired of this country. I want to leave this country"; and later, after the intended victim said something to him, "Oh, you think you're so big! I'm gonna cap your ass!" Words to live by.

Dear Gothamist,

Gothamist recently reported on people who plan to protest the Repuplican national convention by signing up as volunteers and then not showing up for their assignments. In the spirit of bipartisanship, websites such as shadowprotest.org are encouraging would-be protesters to volunteer on both sides of the aisle, so to speak, and then not follow through with their jobs in order to protest this country's two-party system. In the most highly-realized versions of the shadow protesters' goals, chaos - bible-thumping fundamentalists double-booked into hotel rooms with Log Cabin Republicans, left-leaning vegans served giant Big Macs - would bring both conventions to a grinding halt.