It was at a Latino-focused forum and the topic was immigration. And, as he’s done before, the former congressman blamed Republicans for the lack of movement on the issue.

“Unfortunately, every member of the Democratic caucus, you can say, didn’t get much done during the Bush years while I was on immigration committee,” the slender-framed Democrat said, pivoting to a joke. “When I got on that committee, I was six-four, 290 pounds. This is all that is left of me.”
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Politicker reached out to Mr. Catsimatidis for his reaction to these developments.
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Never forget. (William Alatriste/City Council)

The proposed ventilation plant. (Curbed)

As a resident of the West Village, Lee Ielpi trudged by a fence of ceramic tiles daily in the raw weeks after 9/11, one that developed a comforting presence over the next decade, transformed from an impromptu memorial to an enduring memorial. Now that they have been to a library nearby, on display for all to come see and remember that horrific day, Ielpi was fighting off tears at an unveiling this morning.

“Time does not heal the wound—it has a scab on it, and every now and then I peel it off and talk about my son,” said Mr. Ielpi, president of the September 11th Families’ Association. He lost his son, a firefighter, in the attacks. “We have an obligation to our children, to our grandchildren, to never forget. It is through education, it is through enlightenment. This is part of that process.”

The tiles had stood at the corner of Greenwich and 7th avenues since shortly after the attack before being moved to the Jefferson Market Library on 6th Avenue and 10th Street, an accommodation to the MTA, which had long-standing plans to build a ventilation plant on the old corner.  In there new home, the tiles will be displayed behind glass in an exhibition throughout 2013. Created by average New Yorkers and out-of-towners to honor those who perished in the World Trade Center attacks on September 11th, 2001, the Tiles for America project was originally the brainchild of Lorrie Veasey, a potter and purveyor of several local ceramics stores (and now a consumer website) Our Name is Mud.

Tiles for America had been a “spontaneous” memorial where Ms. Veasey and any member of the public could paint a tile with an inspirational message—one reads “fight hate with love”—and hang it on the fence. The MTA had been weighing its controversial plan for years, before deciding in the fall it would move ahead. Some in the neighborhood wanted the memorial to remain there, and the MTA has said it would incorporate some of the tiles into the plant’s design.

Some of the tiles were given to the families of 9/11 victims, some are missing—Ielpi stressed to reporters not to focus on the missing tiles—and the rest are on display at the Jlibrary, where Council Speaker Christine Quinn worked with New York Public Library President Tony Marx to have the tiles placed temporarily.

“They’ll stop, they’ll talk to their parents, and they’ll ask about these tiles and they’ll learn about the horrible act that happened that day,” Ms. Quinn said. “And then they’ll learn about the thousands of thousands of people who came looking for their loved ones but also who came just to send love and support and the difference that can make.”

dbox/Foster +Partners

It looks like the New York Public Library is finally ready to turn the page.

Today, bibliophiles can sneak a peek at the new design for the long-awaited renovation of the landmark Bryant Park branch. First announced in 2008, the $300 million overhaul will remove seven floors of stacks and open the building’s central axis from the Fifth Avenue side to the Bryant Park side.

In place of the stacks, which have never been open to the public, there will be a four-story atrium lined with bookshelves and seating areas. Floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Bryant Park will give dedicated researchers a much needed tan.

British architect Norman Foster, whose specialty is inserting contemporary designs into historic buildings,  is redesigning the library and work is expected to begin in the summer of 2013, though originally the redesign was forecast to be completed next year. If all goes according to plan (never a guarantee in this city), the renovation will be finished by 2018.

dbox/Foster +Partners

The renovation will also convert offices and storage space on the second floor into a public workspace that can fit up to 300 people. A new teen center, children’s room and below-ground education space will be included.

The redesign is centered around the relocation of the Mid-Manhattan branch across the street and the smaller Science Industry and Business Library on 34th Street into the 101-year-old 42nd Street building, something that makes “elegant sense,” according to New York Magazine.

After complaints that the new atrium would displace critical texts for research, NYPL announced an $88 million donation to create more space for books beneath the new circulating library. More than three million of the four and a half million volumes will now remain on site.

dbox/Foster +Partners

Critics had assailed NYPL for not being more forthcoming about the specifics of the redesign. Alterations to the 42nd Street building will need to be approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

“In August I was told schematics would be ready in September,” the architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable wrote this month in The Wall Street Journal. “In September I was told they would be available in October. In October I was told it would happen in November. In November I was promised a presentation in December … The library has been less than forthcoming, and sensitivity to criticism has obviously reached a fever pitch.”

NYPL, in response, simply said the design hadn’t been refined until now.

dbox/Foster +Partners

They came for the coffee. (YouTube)

No, there isn’t a hip noise-rock band called UFO tearing up the Brooklyn scene.

But there are literally unidentified flying objects burning across the borough’s sky, according to the intrepid folks over at UFO Sightings Daily. The website alleges that three “glowing UFOs” were spotted at the corner of Dean Street and Vanderbilt Avenue on Dec. 3. The video, hazy in that dubiously alluring way, shows three little dots moving through the night sky.

"This seems totally crazy but we saw strange lights over Brooklyn again tonight," an "eyewitness" told the website.

"There were three orbs glowing like fire and again flying in formation. Each of the three finally stopped at the same point in the sky, hovered, and then disappeared."

The slow-moving dots could be carrying the conquerors of the human race or even celestial fairies come at last to liberate our germ world, unleashing eons of fifth-dimensional bliss.

Or they could be airplanes. The choice is yours!