Public Art

Installing the stars. Photo: The Windmill Factory.

The Stars Come Out in the Hudson

Wednesday night, as The Observer crossed the West Side Highway at Bank Street and walked over to Pier 49, the pink-orange sun was reflecting onto the Hudson River, and people had filled the surrounding patches of grass, waiting for the official unveiling of a new public artwork by artist Jon Morris called Reflecting the Stars, Read More

Poop Deck

NY Kayak Polo

Step Off Your High Horse, and Into This Kayak

Arriving to the Pier 66 boathouse on the Hudson River Wednesday evening, The Observer admitted we hadn’t been in a kayak for at least ten years. Even then, we just splashed around at summer camp.

“Do you know how to swim?” asked Lev Grote, president of the New York Kayak Water Polo Club. “That’s key.” Read More

A Cleaner and Even Swimmable Hudson River

In the early 1980′s a water engineer once described the Hudson River to me as "the biggest and fastest flushing toilet in the world". Until the North River sewage treatment plant opened in 1986 for what was called "advanced preliminary treatment" we dumped all of the west side’s raw sewage straight into the Hudson. No Read More

Pete Seeger: A Green Hero for Our Time

Over the weekend I had the pleasure of reading

The Federal Water Pollution Control Act was passed in 1972 over then President Richard Nixon’s veto. Pete Seeger was an important voice in the chorus that demanded government action on cleaning up our water. For nearly forty years the Clearwater has continued its educational mission. Read More

‘It’s Inspectors Gone Wild’

Location: The Feb. 23 video of rats overrunning a health-inspector-approved KFC/Taco Bell in Greenwich Village triggered a city Health Department crackdown, resulting in three times as many daily restaurant closures as usual.

Hunt: It’s actually four times as many.

O.K., four times. Isn’t it about time the city put some teeth into the inspection process? Read More

McCain Response

Well, today’s McCain story has generated quite a lot of letter writing from addresses we usually don’t see here at the li’l old Observer. Most of the e-mails coming in are from conservatives west of the Hudson River, and they argue that McCain’s moderate stance on domestic issues does not represent their values. Many Read More

Many Weeks of Excitement to Come!

We know guessing when the Ground Zero negotiations will end is a game no one wins, but we couldn’t help noticing the time frame Port Authority Chairman Anthony Coscia mentioned in a press huddle after his meeting today:

“We are very optimistic that in the ensuing weeks that we are going to come to Read More