In the News: Junkyard-Inspired Playground on Governors Island

••• “A doorman is suing his former bosses at a Battery Park City apartment complex, saying they subjected him to a week from hell—sending him to deal with a tenant who had keeled over on the toilet from a heart ­attack and another who had committed suicide. Julius Booker also alleges in his suit that when he asked his bosses at Liberty House for a couple of days off to recover, they demanded he work a 16-hour shift. […] He quit the next week rather than work an assigned 16-hour shift, the suit says.” —New York Post

••• Paul Donzella is quoted in an article about how antiques dealers are bristling at a new 1stdibs policy “that all sales resulting from what it calls a ‘1stdibs lead,’ or interaction generated on the site, be processed through the company, so it can charge a commission of as much as 10 percent. The move effectively closes a loophole whereby dealers could finish a negotiation offline, thus avoiding the fee. The company will also start monitoring and recording conversations that take place over a message center and dedicated phone number where dealers and buyers interact.” This is reminiscent of the GrubHub Seamless situation: Middleman companies, in order to grow, need to put the pinch on at least one of their constituencies, and few dare to antagonize consumers. —New York Times

••• “Michael Connolly, a longtime Tribeca resident and member of Community Board 1, was honored Wednesday evening by the Church Street School for Music and Art for his years of advocacy on behalf of the school and the arts in Lower Manhattan.” —Tribeca Trib

••• “At this playground, whether it be old tires, planks of wood or puddles of mud, nothing is meant to be hands-off—aside from the parents. Adventure Playground, an open space modeled after a junkyard of sorts, is setting up 5,000 square feet of outdoor, freewheeling fun on Governors Island this summer.” —DNAinfo

 

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