http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2017/02/the-john-h-fraser-bldg-no-112-reade.html — James on In the News: A Dearth of Violent Crime

Since I can't imagine the Christmas set is for McCarthy's movie, I will settle for Happy. What makes me happy is the video screen on the set is showing knockoff Teletubbies farting rainbows between each other's bum. That makes me chuckle after this week. — mruptight on Seen & Heard: Advance Notice About Protests

Totally agree! Dogs have no self-control! Toddlers of the same height are model, well-behaved mini-citizens. Dogs are literally eating machines! God helps us if one of our angelic toddler's pudgy little forearms falls in the direct path of Fido's jaws of death and disease and the simmering Chicken Tikka Masala! Dogs are off-leash and out of control! Lock 'em all up! Build a wall or crate around them all! This stops now! Don't get me started on them pesky cats! — Jim Smithers on Seen & Heard: Advance Notice About Protests

Lispenard Street, Tataki Japanese restaurant. — Robert Ripps on Where in Tribeca…?

I see people with their dogs in Dean & Deluca (SOHO) all of the time. I don't think it's such a big deal, except that Dean & Deluca doesn't have multiple open food bars. Whole Foods does. If I were choosing my food from an open food bar, hot or cold, I'm not sure that I would feel comfortable with patrons walking their pets right next to open-faced bins of food. — sal on Seen & Heard: Advance Notice About Protests

I've seen those teeny styrofoam pellets once before coming from the roof or upper floor of a building on Hudson Street in the West Village. Anyone know the source of them? — KP on Seen & Heard: The Final Pieces of 56 Leonard

To answer your last question: You didn't miss any stairs. You have to walk around to the north or south side of the Oculus to get down (but using the Apple store is a good idea). The stair/escalator situation is bizarre throughout. When you enter from Vesey, for example, there are two levels with escalators, and in between them is a section with only stairs. (But at least there are stairs! I prefer stairs to escalators, so taking those narrow escalators to Eataly drives me nuts, as does the fact that there's no set of stairs leading up to Brookfield Place from the WTC/PATH.) — Erik Torkells on Seen & Heard: Extensive Underground Passageway

Yes, my son Max has been telling me that about the passages, so last week we took a tour from Chambers and Church to the Oculus, east to Fulton, and West past completed PATH. Still can't figure out if there will be an additional entrance to #1 from street level plaza, and not just Oculus. Also, it is strange how it was designed with escalator up to (and down from) the viewing "balconies," but nothing the last bit up to street level. It seems kind of silly. And for that matter, there seems to be no stairs from balcony level of the western end of the Oculus down to the lower level & PATH entrance. Did we miss them- we had to cut through Apple store to get down. — Robert Ripps on Seen & Heard: Extensive Underground Passageway

I think I see a propeller in that aircraft photo, perhaps it is a Northrop Grumman E-2 Hawkeye. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Grumman_E-2_Hawkeye — JPL on Seen & Heard: The Final Pieces of 56 Leonard

Elizabeth, Andrea is correct. IPN was first built as market-rate housing. I know this because my family and I were among the original tenants and someone at the rental office told us this fact. If it had been built as Mitchell-Lama housing, I doubt the IPN buildings would have had terraces and a swimming pool. — Judith on Tribeca in the 1980s

Just for the sake of it, WHY don't animals belong in grocery stores? In Europe, it's no problem, you just walk in with your dog, do your shopping, then pay and leave. No one dies. The sky doesn't fall. I know...it's illegal here. But is there a good reason? — Will on Seen & Heard: Advance Notice About Protests

Venting here feels nice (as I know from my own experience), but you should assume that local business owners won't see it—and that goes double for a big company. So the first thing you should do is try reaching out to the hotel: The general manager might not even be aware that it's an issue. If that doesn't work, you should try asking Community Board 1 whether there's any remedy it knows of. But if the hotel is in compliance with city law, CB1 won't have much leverage. — Erik Torkells on Nosy Neighbor: What’s Butler?

In the days long before 9/11 it was possible to walk great distances underground and not just involving the subway. Many buildings throughout Manhattan are connected below street level by passages that were available to the public. I remember in the early 1990s New York Magazine did a story about the underground passages with maps. If I recall, the longest such route was in midtown and you go walk about 30 blocks or so. It was pretty cool, but then public access was blocked because of security concerns. — PeterD on Seen & Heard: Extensive Underground Passageway

Speaking of 13 Lispenard, the back door of the Sheraton: Is there anything to do about the unsightly and dangerous way they put their considerable trash out on Lispenard Street? The bins and bags go out at least once a day. They take up most of the sidewalk, usually allowing only one person at a time to pass on the sidewalk. It sits there for hours. The time it goes out is in no way coordinated with the time of pick-up. In this time it is usually being picked over by elderly Asians looking for deposit bottles. When their carter does pick up the refuse, there is never any attempt to clean the sidewalk and curb. Even when the sidewalk and curb are not littered with trash, the gutter is a solid mass of compacted garbage. They have a curb cut and a service garage right there. Why do they not store refuse there until pick-up. This is what Tribeca Grand (Roxy) does. It's what any considerate neighbor would do. — Friends of Tribeca Park on Nosy Neighbor: What’s Butler?

And WITH a Metrocard it is possible to go indoors and underground from 230 Vesey Street on the West all the way to William Street (at John and Fulton) on the East. — Luis Vazquez (FiDi Fan Page) on Seen & Heard: Extensive Underground Passageway

Thank you for providing a link to the Take Action NYC calendar for protest information. Since I'm not on Facebook, I'd been looking for something like this. — S. on Seen & Heard: Advance Notice About Protests

I totally agree that animals do not belong in grocery stores, but don't blame Whole Foods. All a dog owner has to do is say that the dog is a service animal, and the law says they cannot be asked for proof. I found this so unbelievable I had to look it up myself. http://www.nyc.gov/html/mopd/downloads/pdf/service_animal_one-sheeter_2014.pdf I suggest we all contact our City Councilpeople to ask that the law be changed so that REAL service animals have to be licensed and identified as such. Too many entitled scofflaws getting away with this. — S. on Seen & Heard: Advance Notice About Protests

Has anyone noted that since the reopening of the E train entrance at the World Trade Center, it is now possible to walk underground from the Chambers and Church A train entrance all the way to either Fulton Center or Brookfield Place without paying a fare, the equivalent of 8 to 10 blocks? A boon for those wishing to escape inclement weather or streetside cigarette smoke. — S. on Seen & Heard: Archive of Protest Signs

No need to apologize for telling me I'm wrong (at least when you have more facts than I do). I was recalling that at the CB1 Tribeca meeting in March of 2015, the committee members said they had not heard from you. From the Unofficial Minutes: "They worried that it was unfair to give this merchant an opportunity when subsequent applicants, should there be any, might get rejected because this one had come first. They wondered what Madeline Lanciani of Duane Park Patisserie across the street would make of it, even though she clearly didn’t care enough to come to the meeting (can’t blame you, Madeline!); one member reached out to her and got staffers, who said that it was already hard to get deliveries." https://tribecacitizen.wpengine.com/2015/03/12/cb1-tribeca-committee-the-unofficial-minutes-march/ — Erik Torkells on A New Tenant at Santos Party House

sorry Erik- but i HAVE objected verbally to CB1 members, and in writing, much for the sames reasons as TAMK has espressed- and a few more. — Madeline Lanciani on A New Tenant at Santos Party House

conceptually, i agree that this is just a loophole to get a sidewalk cafe. in practice, however, those parking spaces aren't very useful because they are usually taken by the cars of government workers who use permits to park their private vehicles all day. so basically, one scam offsets the other! — safe as milk on A New Tenant at Santos Party House

These issues were discussed at great length by Community Board 1's Tribeca Committee; neighboring businesses have had many opportunities to object, and they haven't. In fact, the café is likely quite beneficial to Stella and Nili Lotan, Laughing Man's neighbors. Street Seats have to be approved by the Department of Transportation and then the Community Board, so the likelihood of them popping up everywhere is slim (even if the DOT would like them to). — Erik Torkells on A New Tenant at Santos Party House

Does it bother anyone the concept and precedent setting that Laughing man has found a way to reduce public amenities (in this case parking) and get a sidewalk cafe? Don't the neighboring businesses use the parking for deliveries? How does this help or hurt their ability to operate? Why shouldn't every food and beverage place do the same? If they do will the area become one giant outdoor street seating zone? Yes it is "only another 2 or 3 spots" and don't misunderstand me, it is nice to sit there with a cup of coffee but if there why not everywhere... — TAMK on A New Tenant at Santos Party House

I could watch that drifting snow for hours. Reminds me of an old silent film. Well done. — jane freeman on Seen & Heard: Advance Notice About Protests

I've seen dogs in both Whole Foods and Best. And I'm not talking about service animals. The staff do nothing even when you ask them to. Dogs do not belong in grocery stores no matter how entitled their owners are. — bec NynyNa on Seen & Heard: Advance Notice About Protests