Thanks for your 2 cents, except this person was killed by a converted van to bus. I find buses the most aggressive vehicles on the road. Those open top tour buses spewing black smoke all day long? Travel to any part of the EU and you will see a completely different class of driver and quality of bus. — CplusC on In the News: Woman killed by Downtown Alliance bus

Thanks for your 2 cents, except this person was killed by a converted van to bus. I find buses the most aggressive vehicles on the road. Those open top tour buses spewing black smoke all day long? Travel to any part of the EU and you will see a completely different class of driver and quality of bus. — CplusC on In the News: Woman killed by Downtown Alliance bus

The problem is not the cobbles. They were laid in concrete which is totally crazy. Cobble stones are designed to naturally lock together like a capstone as the weight of traffic actually improves the quality of the roadway. Concrete is rigid and cracks. The results are clear. The one upside was that the uneven surface slows traffic to a crawl. The recent patch up job is the worst of all worlds. Looks ugly and encourages higher speeds while still impossible to cycle on. — CHRIS FINCH on Eyesore of the Week: Greenwich Street cobbles

What is the problem with NYPD and NYFD parking their cars on our TriBeCa streets? Fake placards I get but these people protect and serve our communities. Sure it would be nice if they took public transportation but many of them don't...I think we should be nicer to delivery services and companies as well. We are a small island and rely on all these people to bring us all of our stuff!!! Let's rid the neighborhood of these Rovers and Jeeps...that would be a good start but I know it isn't going to happen. — TG on In the News: A proposal to fill in Tribeca’s Hudson River Park

I too cycle the wrong way (gingerly) on Washington Street because of the cobble stones on Greenwich. In Europe they don't seem to have this problem...the cobble stones are not the way they are on Greenwich Street because of traffic...the person who placed them needs to go back to Cobblestone school. — TG on Eyesore of the Week: Greenwich Street cobbles

Our NYC taxi cabs are regulated to death with more and more fees put on the consumer without the drivers getting much of any of the proceeds while Uber & Co. are free market and it is literally killing us! Too many vehicles on our streets. A huge SUV to pick up a woman with a yoga mat! As a cyclist, pedestrian and driver I will take a driver of a NYC cab any day over a private company driver. I do have compassion for these drivers because they have been misled but they aren't trained. Poor Ms. Kalfus. RIP. — TG on In the News: Woman killed by Downtown Alliance bus

A bit about who the early American Sephardi who would have worshiped there were, and how they came here. The Portuguese exported the Inquisition to all of their colonies. The first Jewish families to arrive in the colony of New Amsterdam disembarked from the Ste. Catherine in early September 1654. These six men, seven women and ten children – Dutch citizens – were fleeing Brazil, an embattled Dutch colony that was increasingly being overtaken by Portugal – and coming under the Portuguese Inquisition, which promised torture or death to Jews living in its territories. Governor Peter Stuyvesant was furious. The new colonists were “enemies and blasphemers” he wrote to the Dutch West India Company, part of a “deceitful race” and would “infect and trouble this new colony”. The governor demanded they leave forthwith, on the next outbound vessel. But these bedraggled, penniless newcomers refused to be cowed. They too wrote urgent letters to the authorities in Holland, pointing out that they were “confirmed burghers” of the Netherlands, just like “all the other inhabitants of these lands” and demanded their right to live in the colony. For over a year, these 23 Jews and Governor Stuyvesant waited urgently for a reply that would determine the future of Jewish settlement in North America. Finally, in April 1655, a letter came from Amsterdam: forbidding Jews from the colony was “unreasonable and unfair”. Conditions were put upon the Jews that weren’t demanded of other colonists – they were barred from ever receiving charity from non-Jews – but their safety was ensured. These Jewish colonists established Shearith Israel – the first synagogue in Colonial America – and the oldest surviving congregation in the United States.... — A. on Seen & Heard: A marker for the first synagogue in North America

I suspect there are simply no competent cobblestone contractors left in NY. It's not a weight or traffic issue - plenty of European cities have perfect cobblestone streets that get 10x the traffic of Greenwich st. The contractor that did that job should have their fee clawed back. It was appalling work that started coming apart almost instantly. — John on Eyesore of the Week: Greenwich Street cobbles

Also anyone else find the displaced motorized bike messengers and Citibike users on the sidewalks are a BIG hazard? FYI: DOT and City Council person Margaret Chin have not been effective in correcting the problem. Neither has the Dept.of Design and Construction, the agency that oversaw the construction of this from Canal Street down to Hubert Street. I submitted a letter requesting repairs to the cobble stones be done to the NYC-DOT. Their response dated May 12 2017: "We appreciate your concerns and will make every effort to address the issue that you have raised. Your request has been assigned to the appropriate Operational Unit and has been given case # DOT-335480-D9X3 . The Manhattan Borough Commissioner will provide you with our recommendations." That was almost 2 years ago. After numerous requests, an in person meeting, photographs and documentation City Council person's office request I provided I did so on Feb 18 2018) to Vincent Fang at Councilperson Margaret Chin's office who then wrote me: "I have gone to the location and you're right. The cobble stones do not look great. The council member has asked DOT to look at every available option to address the issue." DOT Manhattan Borough Commissioner has since added paved asphalt over the cobblestones and the conditions remain unsafe. — Laight Street resident since 1977 on Eyesore of the Week: Greenwich Street cobbles

Got it. — Pam Frederick on Where in Tribeca?

Don’t agree with this post. When I moved into Tribeca in 2001 those streets were covered with beautiful cobblestone, almost smoothed flat as they had been there from the days they removed them from the weighted shipping boats and with no other use paved the streets of Manhattan with them. I remember the day they ripped up our beautiful streets and paved them to look like any other street in Manhattan. I could still navigate the streets in my 4” high hills but the charm was gone. I remember they day they started to replace the pavement with new cobblestone. Over what was most likely many months felt like years as my excitement grew for the completion of this “art installation.” And when the day came I gasped as I near toppled over in my heels, grabbing at my boyfriends hand. Those cobblestones have been a disaster from the day they were put in. You can’t walk on them. Certainly can’t bike ride over them - we are always forced illegally onto the sidewalk - and even driving over them is unpleasant to say the least. The DOT cannot come to the rescue because they destroyed what should have been a historical landmark that was working. I guess they finally realized their mistake but now we are left is with this. Our only hope is our great-grandkids benefit from the decades of corrosion/smoothing that will take place over the next century plus. — JD on Eyesore of the Week: Greenwich Street cobbles

Good Afternoon, this water mark is located outside Tribeca Spa of Tranquility which is located at 462 Greenwich Street. Have a wonderful weekend. The weather is terrific! regards, Sonia Stock — Sonia F. Stock on Where in Tribeca?

I would disagree- many places that still have cobblestones from the last time they were redone, perhaps the 1930's, still are in pretty good condition, whereas any place they have been torn up, or even worse, completely redone poorly (especially recently) do not hold up nearly as well. On North Moore Street, a relatively busy street as it gets heavy truck traffic heading to West Street including Ladder 8, the places where the stones had not been torn up were tightly packed, and solid, whereas places they had been removed and replaced for infrastructure work, were terrible. Six years ago or so, they redid the whole street from Hudson to Greenwich, and the cobblestones are already showing signs of unevenness and dips. As George said it is more a matter of how they are replaced when street work is done, but even more so, how well they are installed in the first place nowadays- which sadly was done terribly on Greenwich Street a few years back. — Robert Ripps on Eyesore of the Week: Greenwich Street cobbles

Kudos to the Car & Driver article for telling it like it is, albeit in a sensationalized and humorous manner. As a homeowner, let me count the ways in which we are taxed in NYC. Mortgage recording tax, mansion tax (although it should be called a 1 bedroom tax), sales tax, NYC income tax, state income tax, gas tax, property tax, MCTDT tax, taxicab ride tax, and many more. We should not be fans of new taxes so that the city can keep up its basic infrastructure with all the revenue streams that it already charges to residents and visitors alike! Perhaps we should ask the city to prioritize better? — Ted on In the News: A proposal to fill in Tribeca’s Hudson River Park

True the heavy traffic has an impact on the cobblestones. I think a bigger problem is when contractors remove them to do work, they never reinstall them correctly. The south side of Vestry by the Holland Tunnel has poorly laid stones. — George on Eyesore of the Week: Greenwich Street cobbles

Experienced the full 16 course and everything was amazing. Fish was fresh, everything was the right temperature, and watching him made the meal entertaining. Savored every bite and even tried several new things I probably wouldn’t have ordered on my own. Highly recommend for the experience and for the intimate ambiance. — Christa on New kid (just over) the border: Takeshi

I love that the one thing that has come out of Hurricane Sandy is that we should just create more landfill. We can just make a giant wall of luxury high rises around the perimeter to save the city! — mruptight on In the News: A proposal to fill in Tribeca’s Hudson River Park

... and presumably this is Synagogue is associated with the second oldest cemetery in New York, located just east of Tribeca. https://shearithisrael.org/content/chatham-square-cemetery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Shearith_Israel_Graveyard — Kacee on Seen & Heard: A marker for the first synagogue in North America

Ha. You'll have to avert your gaze. That is hardwired -- inherited from my grandmother. — Pam Frederick on Seven-story building coming to Lispenard and Church

Thanks for highlighting the state of the cobble stones...it's awful at the Laight & Greenwich intersection. Stones have shifted under the weight of high car traffic coming from the Holland tunnel spill off on Laight St to West Side highway and from Vestry spilling to Greenwich St off of West Side highway. I lived nearby when the cobblestones were originally replaced. Knew it was an unsustainable fix the first time walking across Greenwich street after a wet weather day. The "grouting" used to hold the stones turned into a watery grey puddle. Like cement mix, minus the reinforcement of cement. The original renovation was done poorly. It needs to be addressed. Makes sense for traffic patterns to be taken into consideration, as well. — DD on Eyesore of the Week: Greenwich Street cobbles

Cobblestones aren't meant for the volume of traffic they get, especially Laight St., which gets the Holland Tunnel exit traffic going to the Westside Highway. Yes, they're quaint but highly impractical. — Makes You Go "Hmm-m-m" on Eyesore of the Week: Greenwich Street cobbles

"simple, clean décor?" are you joking? they demolished the posters! and for what? an ugly white blandness with potted plants - on the walls? It's gross. the interior of le zinc and blaue gans reflected the history of the neighborhood. the people that opened this restaurant are ignorant fish peddlers. Again, gross. — M Lee on New Kid on the Block: Savida

We’ve been a few times and the quality of the sushi was excellent. Really nice addition to the area. — Cd on New kid (just over) the border: Takeshi

Could I ask that you not use “natch”. It hurts my brain. — CD on Seven-story building coming to Lispenard and Church

I could not agree more. I frequently walk along this section of Greenwich and see sedans bottom out, cars swerve to avoid the waves, etc. — bpc16 on Eyesore of the Week: Greenwich Street cobbles