August 10, 2011 Weather: Isolated Thunderstorms, High of 90 Degrees.
Notices:
Upper West Sider Dimity Kirwan is hosting an event on Aug. 20 behind Hostel International on West 104th Street to set parents who need childcare and tutoring up with educators who can provide that care. It costs $12. Register here.
News:
Workers walked off the job at the Central Park Boathouse on Tuesday, and then staged a protest in front of the restaurant, chanting and telling customers not to dine there. The restaurant, as anyone who has seen it knows, is right on a lake, and a group of union organizers rented a rowboat and started protesting in front of customers who were dining on the lake. That’s when things got really ridiculous. Managers hopped in their own rowboat and rowed out to the union guys, hooking a line on their boat to try to haul them into shore. The line did not hold, and the union guys got away. Eventually, the rowboat rental operation shut down and the union organizers ordered them back to shore. The workers are in a feud with restaurant operator Dean Poll over what they claim is a campaign of intimidation against unionized workers. (New York Times)
66% of New Yorkers are in favor of bike lanes, a new Marist Poll says. More stats: 27% want the network of bike lanes to expand, while 23% want it to shrink; 44% think it should stay the same. 35% of men want more bike lanes, while 21% of women do. (Streetsblog)
The city approved a controversial redesign to Central Park’s historic Cherry Hill around 72nd Street despite protests from some landmark activists. It could pave the way for “Victorian-era themed” food carts there. (DNAinfo)
Alec Baldwin is leaving the Upper West Side because his current girlfriend prefers SoHo. But the actor had quite a few nice things to say about the neighborhood in an interview with the New York Times: “It is more real. There’s old people, it’s ethnic and it’s economically mixed. It’s not a little kind of jewel-box, privileged pocket of the city like some neighborhoods are…I am more comfortable living where it seems more middle class, and I have lived there deliberately.” Of course, Baldwin lived in the Eldorado, which ain’t exactly middle class. (New York Times)
Too many people around Columbus Circle spend all their time on their cell phones. (Marty After Dark)
Daniel Boulud’s relatively new Boulud Sud gets 2 stars. “Octopus cooked on a plancha — then served with Marcona almonds and an almond purée, along with arugula and a whisper of sherry vinegar simultaneously to tie the flavors together and set them apart — is fantastic.” Anyone else getting bored with Sam Sifton? (New York Times)
