Bedford Park: Here in the northwest Bronx, the Ursuline Sisters are using part of the land they’ve held for more than a century to build an ecofriendly housing complex for low-income seniors. That is the one of the coolest things nuns have done since they took the parts out of the Nazis’ cars so the Von Trapps could get away! [Norwood News]
East Village: The protest against the Economakis family, who are trying to evict holdouts from a tenement to make the whole thing their own mansion, takes an ugly ethnic turn: “The Greek community should be ashamed of this malaka.” And malaka is Greek for, like, wanker or asswipe. Yep, that’s where this is going. [Neither More Nor Less via Curbed]
Long Island City: Near the famous PepsiCo sign, an intense, unpleasant smell is filing the air during remediation of a former oil-refinery site that’s going residential. It’s sulfurous with a “slightly minty smell” on top of it from the foam being used in the cleanup. Euch. [NYDN via Queens Crap]
Lower Manhattan: Speaking of Greeks, Port Authority nears a final agreement to build a redo of the Greek Orthodox church that was destroyed during 9/11, a matter that’s long been holding up building ground zero’s southern foundation wall. [NYS]
Park Slope: People, don’t you think you’re getting a little too nostalgic when you lament the carting away of a crapped-out eyesore of an old trolley car that’s been sitting for years on Fourth Avenue? A trolley from Philly, no less? [Gowanus Lounge]
Times Square: Isn’t it funny to think about the New York Times (climb-able) building architect Renzo Piano on a beach in Sicily giving this quote over his mobile to one of the Times’ own reporters: “I’m frankly quite worried about this new fashion of going up on buildings … This is what I call an inappropriate use of the building.” Was some Italo-babe rubbing Bain de Soleil on his back when he said that? [NYT]
Upper East Side: The Daily News has a new section called “Real Estate Fellatio” where it shamelessly, gushingly flacks for the city’s top properties for sale, like the $64 mil Sloane Mansion on East 68th Street. Well, just kidding, but, based on this article, they may as well. [NYDN]
