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Morning Bulletin: Mandarin Duck’s Suspicious Disappearance, Columbia’s New Tower, PTA Power, Latke List

December 9, 2019 | 12:17 PM
in NEWS
10

December 9, 2019 Weather: Rainy, with a high of 55 degrees.

Notices:
A White Christmas singalong and other local events are on our calendar!

News:
The famed Mandarin Duck of Central Park disappeared in March. Now some birdwatchers like David Barrett of the Manhattan Bird Alert Twitter account think fowl play may have been involved. “It’s vexing: how does the world’s most famous duck, one that looks distinctly different from any other native duck, just fly off and vanish?” Barrett asked rhetorically. “Maybe he was ducknapped, given his popularity?” I asked. “Yes,” Barrett said, “that is part of the ‘tragic event’ scenario!”

Columbia is planning to build a new 34-story tower on the site of a former McDonald’s on 125th. “Construction on the tower is expected to start in early 2020 and wrap up by Summer 2022, a university spokesperson said. The project should reduce demand on the local housing market, the spokesperson added. Columbia said it will steer 35 percent of contracting to local-, women- and minority-owned firms.”

Several Upper West Side PTAs raised more money than PTAs in other areas of the city, according to new stats released by the city. “At the Upper West Side’s P.S. 87, for instance, the PTA raised roughly $2.1 million, or about $2,320 per student.”

Barney Greengrass made a Grubstreet list of best spots for latkes in NYC. “Tucking into a plate of latkes in the vintage dining room at this Upper West Side temple of appetizing is the stuff of New York legend.”

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Penny
Penny
5 years ago

“Columbia said it will steer 35 percent of contracting to local-, women- and minority-owned firms.”

Subtext: that means 65 percent of contracting will be done by large, white male-controlled conglomerates.

0
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Mark Moore
Mark Moore
5 years ago
Reply to  Penny

35 percent MWBE is a lot. It might be hard to for them to find enough firms to take all that work.

0
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Noma
Noma
5 years ago
Reply to  Penny

Seems better than 100%?

0
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alex silverman
alex silverman
5 years ago
Reply to  Penny

“Subtext: that means 65 percent of contracting will be done by large, white male-controlled conglomerates.”

like it or not, the VAST majority of the building services companies are either male owned or large multi-national corporations.

0
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UWSHebrew
UWSHebrew
5 years ago

Fischer Bros & Leslie has the tastiest latkes I’ve had in Manhattan

0
Reply
JerryV
JerryV
5 years ago

My commiserations to David Barrett over the apparent ducknapping. I hope that they are able to speedily quack the case.

0
Reply
Jpod
Jpod
5 years ago

Barney Greengrass has the best latkes I have ever eaten. The. Best.

0
Reply
Oona
Oona
5 years ago

UWS PTA’s have managed to distort Public School Education create private school conditions by generous donations – the upside. PTA’s have shame already burdened parents with a “voluntary donation” -the downside. The solution is to make all school donations anonymous to any other parent within the school.

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Mandarin Duck in Westchester
Mandarin Duck in Westchester
5 years ago

The famed Mandarin Duck of Central Park Was spotted with three of the same in a large lake in Pelham New York near the Hutchison River Parkway through most of the spring and summer. It was in there local newspaper If you months ago.

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SeriousFresser
SeriousFresser
5 years ago

Grill212 tucked away on 80th Street, makes latkes and fried-on-the-spot doughnuts on Chanuka. Sensational and the only ones with little bits of (kosher) meat in them to give deep flavor! Wow, only on the feinshmecker West Side

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