Community Magazine September 2012

Navy Yard Becomes Farm Yard A new rooftop farm in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, which is hoped to absorb over a million gallons of rain water annually, preventing runoff and water pollution, is expected to provide over 20,000 pounds of produce for restaurants and farm stands. Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently toured the 43,000-square-foot rooftop farm – the largest in NYC –which received a Green Infrastructure grant, and will produce salad greens, basil, eggplant, cucumbers and ground cherries. The farm is the grant program’s largest project to date and the first to be completed, and is a key component of the NYC Green Infrastructure Plan launched by Mayor Bloomberg in 2010. Green infrastructure uses vegetation, soils, and other structural elements to absorb and evaporate water – techniques that help manage stormwater and improve the quality of the city’s surrounding harbors and streams. Wi-Fi in the Subway? Free wireless service is now being provided in six New York City subway stations in Chelsea, part of a $200 million plan to connect the subway to the outside world. TransitWireless is working with numerous carriers to provide cellphone and data services to all 277 underground stations in New York by 2017. Customers of T-Mobile and AT&T can already use cellphones in the six stations. Critics say that having internet on the subway will be disruptive, but supporters note its importance in communicating in an emergency. Sponsoring Wi-Fi allows advertisers to reach over 1.6 billion riders annually. Operating costs for the service run several thousand dollars a month per station, paid for by the carriers. It is expected to take almost seven years to wire the entire system because of its complexity, the subways’ age and the fact that it is open around the clock. “Jewish” Group Opposing Use of Public Poles for Eruv Controversy has arisen surrounding the plan to erect an eruv in Southhampton Town, Long Island. The Jewish People for the Betterment of Westhampton Beach, an anti-eruv group, filed a complaint to prevent the use of Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) poles as part of the eruv, on the grounds that it would be unconstitutional. The Hamptons Synagogue originally requested an eruv in Westhampton Beach in 2008, but has been hit with a number of complaints and lawsuits. The ruling could affect other Long Island eruvim which use power poles as markers. The lawsuits are based on the fact that LIPA is a state entity, subject to the First Amendment, which forbids government from involvement in religious matters. New Design for 1 WTC New drawings of 1 World Trade Center, owned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, show recent design changes to the base and spire of the building, formerly known as the Freedom Tower. Whereas previously the spire was to have been sheathed in a protective covering, the new images show a spire exposed to the elements. Plans still call for the spire to rise to a symbolic 1,776 feet when construction is finished, but the first 20 stories have been given a new design. The base will be broader compared to original plans for an outward angle. NY Involved in Holocaust Restitution New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli is helping Project Heart track down property that belonged to Jewish victims of the Holocaust. The Holocaust restitution taskforce, set up by the Jewish Agency for Israel asked DiNapoli to search the state’s financial database for lost bank accounts of Jews who died in Europe during World War II. DiNapoli’s office will search for 48 million lost accounts of known Holocaust victims dating back to 1943. Life in the Big City 106 Community magazine