••• Jessica Lappin of the Downtown Alliance sent in a response to the “Great FiDi Landgrab” post:

We wanted to correct some facts and misleading impressions your recent piece “The Great FiDi Landgrab”  may have left your readers with.

The Water St. text amendment approved by Community Board 1 on last Tuesday night (after being approved in two separate CB 1 Planning Committee votes) is the result of nearly 7 years of community driven planning lead by the Downtown Alliance. A diverse group of stakeholders including residents, not for profits, educational institutions, urban planners, elected officials, retailers and property owners together shaped the effort.

Among the top priorities for Water St. expressed over and over again by residents and those who work along the corridor is the need for a livelier more dynamic street life. A Water Street with more shops, restaurants and services. That can be only achieved by improving the street’s poorly designed and underused public spaces.

The proposed text amendment requires property owners to make substantial investments in the public spaces surrounding their buildings. Additional retail space is conditioned on the completion of plaza upgrades. These upgrades are not optional, they are not vague promises made by developers. They would be extensive, comprehensive and required by law.  These arcades (all of which are already privately owned) will be reinvented as vibrant and attractive small-mid-sized retail spaces appropriate for restaurants, cafes, community facilities and independent businesses.

Everyone has recognized for many years that the plazas along Water Street are a planning failure. They have proved themselves to be a bad deal for community  The question has always been how to fix the problem. Quite different from the impression the article seeks to impart, the proposed changes to Water Street we are advancing in partnership with City agencies are part of a well and broadly considered plan. It is literally the furthest thing from any kind of hastily pulled together, sub-rosa effort snuck in to facilitate a giveaway to a cabal of landowners that your piece seems to want to imply

We believe these changes would be a major step forward in helping the street realize its potential as an exciting place to live, work and visit.

••• Tribeca Film Festival tickets “go on sale for the general public [today], Tuesday, March 29 at 11 a.m. Tickets are available for screenings of the 101 feature and 74 short films from renowned filmmakers and actors; can’t miss special screenings and musical performances; and exclusive talks from industry leaders. Tickets are also on sale for the Festival’s experiential programming, including multimedia installations and reality experiences; and TFF’s first ever TV program, Tribeca Tune In, including discussions with the creators and stars of celebrated shows. Tickets can be purchased online, by telephone, or at the TFF Ticket Outlet at Bow Tie Chelsea Cinemas 9 and at Brookfield Place.”

••• May 7 at the BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center: Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny: The Holly Madison Story. More info here.

••• Press release: “3-Legged Dog and The Tank are thrilled to announce a one-week extension of the critically acclaimed YOUARENOWHERE, created and performed by Andrew Schneider. [It] now runs through through Sunday, April 10. Performances are at 3LD Art and Technology Center (80 Greenwich St.). […] YOUARENOWHERE is a rapid-fire existential meditation, which mixes physics lecture, pop culture and personal revelation to dissect subjects ranging from quantum mechanics and parallel universes to missed connections and AA recovery steps. Using an array of complex visual and aural effects to produce a fluid, shifting landscape of sensory overload, YOUARENOWHERE transforms the physical performance space and warps linear time to short-circuit preconceived notions of individual perspective and what it means to be here now. The New Yorker called it ‘an astonishing coup de théâtre.’ The Village Voice said it was ‘revelatory theater!'” Tickets are available at 866-811-4111 or 3ldnyc.org.

••• Robert Janz has been placing (and replacing) works at the northwest corner of Greene and Canal, so keep your eyes open when you’re over there.