Tribeca residents had been asking for a stop light at the corner of Duane and Greenwich for more than twenty years. The intersection sees a ton of pedestrian traffic from two schools, a park and playground, a senior center, and the large Independence Plaza development, as well as a high volume of speeding taxis and cars shooting down Greenwich at full speed. But despite more than ten accidents in recent years and dozens of requests from community residents and local officials, the Department of Transportation refused to install a new light. Then, five months ago, three-year old Ozzie Carty was struck by a taxi, and the DOT finally gave in. more ›

Founder of the Tribeca watering-hole boutique Bikini Bar fell to his death from the fifth floor of the business's location at 148 Duane Street last night. 48-year-old Stuart Robert Smith was found by a passerby and declared dead at the scene from what appears to be an accident. According to the shop's website, Smith was a former Navy diver who surveyed sunken ships from World War II and the idea for Bikini Bar arose from his love of the ocean. Smith's wife, fashion designer Aileen Oser, tells the Post that her husband liked going to a garden on the roof to "look at the sky." more ›

Roc-A-Fella Records co-founder Damon Dash has fallen from grace and reinvented himself as the host of a Tribeca salon where artists and artsy people do artistic things and smoke weed. Does that mean he's the new Andy Warhol? more ›

A Manhattan-based big thinker has innovative ideas about the future of plug-in hybrid electric cars. more ›

The Tribeca Film Festival is starting this Wednesday night, so you still have a few days to get your tickets and make dinner reservations. The New York Times gave a few local suggestions including Dennis Foy, Mai House, and Turks and Frogs. Cercle Rouge is offering a prix fixe, three-course menus for lunch ($19.95) and for dinner from 4 - 7 p.m. ($34.95), just for the occasion. more ›

In the world of traffic regulation/enforcement, we guess you should assume anything goes. Because this exchange on Streetsblog between Tribeca resident Charles Komanoff and the NYPD shows that even if there's a cop around to complain to, not much will come of it. more ›

In case you've been caught up in your holiday shopping, we wanted to let you know about some recent restaurant openings: more ›

Want to knock down your building and build a new one? You'll get to kick out your tenants, if you do! There are two interesting stories about apartment building owners using a loophole in order to evict their tenants who rent below market rates. more ›

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While federal officials finally selected a memorial design for the African Burial Ground, a Duane Street site where thousands of African-American skeletal remainds were found, many people were unhappy with the decision. Some heckled officials, complaining that the selected design by Rodney Leon of AARRIS Architects (rendering above) is too large and overwhelms the 5-acre plot. A preferred design is one by Cheryl McKissack of McKissack & McKissack, which leaves more of the ground in tact by having displays around the grounds. The opposition comes from the Committee of the Descendants of the Afrikan Ancestral Burial Ground, which claims that nothing was supposed to be built on the ground; supporters of the design, which include Representative Charles Rangel and Howard Dodson, told the Times "There's never been any question about whether or not a memorial should go on the site." There will probably be further discussions about which design is better, but given that it's been over a decade since the site has been found, it just goes to show that planning a memorial is a complex process, full of many opinions.
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