Seen & Heard: Greca’s New Menus

••• Good thing it’s a quiet Columbus Day morning because this crash could’ve been much worse.  Thanks to I. for the photos.

••• Here are the lunch and dinner menus for the “new” Greca. It seems less café-y and more of a traditional restaurant like the Greek.

••• Kerry Schuss has moved his gallery back to 73 Leonard, where it was before it went to Orchard Street in 2012. Up now: A group show, “Strange Attractors: The Anthology of Interplanetary Folk Art, Vol. 2: The Rings of Saturn.”

••• Kaede restaurant on Chambers is changing its name to Takumi. The folks at Takumi Taco say they’re not related.

••• It’s nice that 70 Vestry didn’t leave its eastern wall unfinished, but do the frames have a purpose? Maybe we can get images of Tom and Gisele.

••• The Battery Park City Authority released the results of its survey about its parks: “The full BPC Parks User Count & Study is available on the BPCA website for download and review. Key findings from the Study include….”

Well over one-half million people – approximately 690,000 – use the parks of Battery Park City each year; this usage rate compares with that of Prospect Park, and is markedly less than the High Line, Brooklyn Bridge Park, and Hudson River Park.

1. BPC parks saw a higher percentage of non-resident visitors (45%) than resident visitors over the course of the Study; the researchers also encountered regular visitors who work in BPC (16%) as well as commute through BPC (6%). BPCA is therefore providing services to multiple communities in accordance with its public mission;

2. The average length of residency for those surveyed is eight years; the average length of time having worked in BPC is six-and-one-half years; and the average time that people have been coming to BPC parks is six years;

3. About 47% of visitors come from the New York City Metro area, 31% of visitors come from out-of-state, and 22% are within walking distance of BPC;

4. Most visitors to BPC parks (residents and non-residents alike) come in a group (six out of 10) and about three in 10 people come with a dog; about 11% of people come to BPC parks on bikes;

5. About 25% of visitors to BPC parks were there for the first-time;

6. The Esplanade and views of the Hudson were named as most users’ favorite part of BPC parks.

7. Almost four out of 10 of the people visit the public spaces of BPC daily, though residents, perhaps unsurprisingly, are more likely to do so (69%, compared with 32% of non-residents);

8. When asked what brought them to BPC parks on the day of the survey, about three in 10 people report that they came to BPC parks to sightsee, 19% said that they came to walk, and 10% report that they came to walk dogs;

9. When asked about their least favorite things about BPC parks, the highest percentage of respondents (35%) could either think of nothing or said they like everything about BPC parks.

 

4 Comments

  1. Does anyone know when the Bogardus Park overhaul will be done? It seems like it has been going on forever, and so far all they seem to be doing is updating the utilities under Hudson Street. The project is a constant source of noise, and of the 15 or so workers typically on site, it seems as if only a handful are doing anything but standing around. I have counted as many as four at a time of the workers holding “stop/slow” signs at the intersection of Hudson and Reade Streets. Yikes!

    • yikes is the word. this has been going on forever & every time it looks they are be done it gets ripped up again. what are plans once they are finished. does anyone know?

      • It’s being renovated into a park, with a cohesive design instead of a separate fenced-off green area and plaza. You can see renderings here. I don’t know whether the work is still on schedule, but my understanding with these projects is that the difficult, time-consuming stuff is what happens underground; the planters, etc., won’t take as long.

  2. The return of Kerry’s gallery to the block is most welcome. Enterprises that have moved in over the past few years haven’t been as fitting to the immediate neighborhood’s origins, and Kerry is a longtime resident. It’s encouraging, and I wish him well!

Comment: