December 2009

Downtown is our ‘hood so naturally we are glad that for a night like New Year’s the Tribeca Grand can represent so well. Join us to watch the spectacular ball drop in the Grand’s Church Lounge. Tickets are $125. Enjoy cocktails, passed hors d’oeuvres, open bar, and toast the New Year at midnight. Everyone will be in the highest of fashion so dress up. It’s your night to be seen.

Manhattan District Attorney-elect Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today announced members of his executive staff, who will lead the Office in prosecuting and preventing crime. Members of the executive staff will also oversee the development and implementation of new policies and programs for the Manhattan DA’s Office. Additions to the executive staff are expected in early 2010.

West coast salmon runs have been in decline for decades, stemming largely from the damming of rivers and the pollution throughout the fish’s extensive range from freshwater mountain streams to deep offshore ocean currents. Analysts estimate that only 0.1 percent of the tens of millions of salmon that used to darken rivers every summer and fall up and down the West Coast before white settlement still exist.

The Symphony Space in New York will come alive with The After Dinner Opera Company’s 60th anniversary premiere of The Day Boy and the Night Girl. The three-act opera by Jordan Wentworth Farrar is a modern adaptation of a classic Victorian fable written by George MacDonald.

Thousands of American municipalities add chlorine to their drinking water to get rid of microbes. But this inexpensive and highly effective disinfectant has a dark side. “Chlorine, added as an inexpensive and effective drinking water disinfectant, is also a known poison to the body,” says Vanessa Lausch of filter manufacturer Aquasana.

With love,

The SoHoHoHo Journal

The Manhattan Young Democrats had a phenomenal year. This has been a historically progressive time and the all-volunteer group has made sure to stay in the mix, riling feathers, and making a difference. Watch their journey above.

Remember old Soho? Think of a big empty warehouse space. Run by artists. For artists. Community not commodity. One of them is still here. Celebrate New Year’s Eve 2010 at the Ohio Theatre in Soho, New York by partying with downtown theatre’s makers & shakers.

In the hands-on Gingerbread Adventures program at The New York Botanical Garden, children can learn about the different plant parts used in creating the favorite holiday snack, gingerbread. Step into Gingerbread Town, a fun and whimsical backdrop where gingerbread people are hard at work and play, delivering mail, making music, and generally amusing visitors. Pop inside the larger-than-life model of a Gingerbread House decorated with frosting and festooned with candy and treats.

In his first press conference since being exonerated after serving 18 years for a crime he did not commit, Fernando Bermudez will join State Senator Eric T. Scheniderman, civil rights advocates and elected officials TOMORROW to endorse the “Actual innocence Act" (S.6234). This legislation establishes “actual innocence” as a lawful basis for vacating a prior conviction, giving the wrongfully convicted an opportunity to directly prove their innocence.

NYC Rescue Mission’s Monthly Food Pantry provides food assistance to poor/hungry families in Lower Manhattan, especially Chinatown. These families belong to the poorest population in NYC--ie. those who live below the poverty line; they seek food help from NYCRM’s 3rd-Saturday-of-the-month pantry to help make ends meet. Chinese-language-proficiency volunteers, such as recently elected Margaret Chin, are helpful during the 9:45am-11:45pm distribution of grocery bags, each of which contains 7 meals’ worth of food (including a balance of meat, vegetable, and starch). 50 preselected families.

Over the past summer, Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler and DSNY staff met frequently with the Community Sanitation Steering Committee to work through operational details for the HUDSON RISE PLAN. We have now been asked to reach out to our neighbors uptown to take their “fair share” of sanitation facilities, a necessary step to facilitating a two-district facility on Spring & Washington Streets. We have made some early progress involving Community Boards 4, 5 and 7 in these conversations.

December 2009

With love,

The SoHoHoHo Journal

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