Seen & Heard: Mail Trucks on Lispenard

••• Ginkgo trees are famous for (usually) dropping all of their leaves overnight. But I’ve never seen one drop leaves while they’re still green.

••• Best Made Co. opened a second store—it’s in L.A. at 145 S. La Brea.

A post shared by Best Made Co. (@bestmadeco) on

••• TMK had a good point about film shoots: “Julie Menin presented to CB1 about film shoots and was very proud of the accomplishment that they have minimal 311 complaints. Downtown, we usually have good experiences but when you do not… File a 311 complaint. That is the only way it is tracked and they know who is the bad apple…if you call the phone number on the poster, you may or may not get action & the film office has no idea.” Just to be perfectly clear: Calling 311 can be beneficial even if you know nothing will happen as a direct result. (Of course, you can’t really call 311 to complain about too many shoots in general.)

••• I’ve been stalking the fruit stalls in the Mulberry/Canal area lately, hoping for hachiya persimmons—sometimes they have them, sometimes not—and yesterday I came across what the vendor said was a sweet pomelo, but another vendor called a Vietnamese orange (or cam sành, as I discovered online). Haven’t tried it yet, but I know I’ll at least enjoy the novelty. (P.S. Fuyu persimmons are regularly available at the stall these days, and three-for-$1, vs. one-for-$3 at Eataly.)

••• “I was hoping for some advice as we don’t know what to do about the mail trucks from Canal Street Station parking their trucks on our street (Lispenard between Broadway and Church) for days on end,” emailed a reader. “One truck has been parked permanently outside our apartment building for the last 15 days, it has not been moved once during this time. There are usually about 3-4 trucks parked on any given day, blocking access for emergency vehicles, delivery trucks, etc. I have called 311 repeatedly, called the Department of Transportation to confirm it is indeed illegal since they are parked overnight, but I made the mistake of calling the postal office first to alert them, so now it seems they are continuing to park in front of my building in retribution to my complaints. I would appreciate any advice—as well as reaching out to the Community Board, is there any other department that could help us deal with this?” That’s a tough one. As indicated above, keep calling 311, and send those complain numbers to CB1. (And get your neighbors to do it, too.) My only other suggestion (beyond CB1) is to contact councilmember Margaret Chin’s office. I’ve never had any luck getting them to engage, but perhaps you will. And, come to think of it, congressperson Jerry Nadler’s office—he might be a better fit to deal with the USPS.

 

10 Comments

  1. I hear Congressman Nadler’s office is very concerned about the performance or lack thereof from Canal Street Station. One should definitely contact them with concerns and complaints. His office is said to be very responsive in these Canal Street Station matters. Canal Street Station will be very responsive to complaints conveyed by the Congressman’s office.

    Contact information, from Nadler’s website:

    Below you can find information for my Manhattan District office. You are welcome to phone or send a message to me through the U.S. Postal Service. Please note that postal mail is the slowest method for contacting me. All postal mail sent to my offices must be scanned for security purposes, which means it will take an additional two weeks for me to receive it. If you prefer, you may contact me by e-mail [at https://jerroldnadler.house.gov/forms/writeyourrep/default.aspx%5D

    201 Varick Street, Suite 669
    New York, NY 10014
    Phone: 212-367-7350

  2. Our office (Councilwoman Chin’s) will be following up with USPS and DOT regarding this issue. If any of your readers would like to forward any 311 complaint numbers, they can email pleonard@council.nyc.gov. Thanks

    • I’m still waiting to hear what DOT will do about the needlessly closed sidewalks at 456 Greenwich Street since the Councilperson’s office said they forwarded my complaint and 311 complaint #s to DOT about 3 months ago, in mid-August.

  3. I noticed the same leaf phenomenon yesterday as I was walking along the West Street esplanade. I was shocked that all of the dropped leaves were green though I was unaware that the Gingko drops them all overnight. I learned something today.

    • Be grateful that it was leaves and not the stinky pods the female tress drop!! : )

      • So true – I walked down a different than usual street the other day and happened upon a huge pod dump. Unbelievably foul – I’m so glad I’ve got a boy tree. And that same tree also dropped its green leaves overnight. We were robbed this year! Usually the golden glow of the changed leaves gives us a week or two of pleasure.

        Enjoy your pomelo Erik – they are sweet and the colour of the flesh is lovely. Also, it should be noted that hachiya persimmons are everywhere! in Toronto.

    • From my schooldays I remember being told that the ginkgo loses its leaves in the first night of frost. Actually they are not leaves but needles grown together.

  4. God the city must love hearing from you whiners. You don’t like the mail trucks. You don’t like city employees
    parking on the street. And those annoying police and fire permits. Oh and those bad delivery trucks that bring all our necessities to us on our little, populated island that is increasingly getting inhabited by people who need to do
    something other than complain. Boo hoo. I want more room for my Uber pick up. It just isn’t fair. Damn right isn’t.

  5. Collister Street between Hubert and Laight is closed to pedestrians yet again without warning, this time to facilitate a video shoot of a group of extremely loud street performers a la STOMP (trash cans, brooms, other implements). Are there absolutely no rules regarding when a street can be closed in Tribeca for personal or commercial use. It’s beyond maddening!

  6. If you’re willing to walk north, Brooklyn Fare has hachiya persimmons.