Jack Jegerke, the proud captor of three cats in the Great Bowling Green Neighborhood Cat Roundup, after leading his pals in the cleanup campaign conducted by the Bowling Green Neighborhood Association, March 28, 1925. More than a thousand homeless cats, ekeing out a filthy existence along the waterfront, were gathered in and given homes by the children.

Photo: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images/Fine Art America

The sun rising on lower Manhattan

The Bowery, Manhattan, New York, 1989

/ Danny Lyon, The Destruction of Lower Manhattan, 1967

Charles Mingus - Bi Centenial, Lower Manhattan July 4, 1976, by Tom Marcello

Looking up in #Lower_Manhattan.

Virginia Berresford (American, 1904-1995), Lower Manhattan, c.1930. Oil on canvas, 10 1/4 x 7 1/2 in.

New York City

Photo: Dieter Krehbiel

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The Donald Trump hush money trial starts today in NYC.

Jury selection is the first order of business. In normal trials that may take a day or two. With Trump's legal foot-dragging, that could go into weeks.

There had been some doubts about Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's approach to this case. There is some new ground here. But Slate's Mark Joseph Stern, an attorney who initially had some reservations about the prosecution, is now "fully onboard" with it.

Over the past year, though, I have realized that my initial doubts about Bragg’s indictment were misplaced. It now seems clear that Trump’s New York trial, slated to begin this week, will be the former president’s only criminal trial before the November election. The other three strong indictments against him in other jurisdictions have unfortunately been delayed by a corrupt judge, a foot-dragging Supreme Court, and a district attorney’s questionable conduct in an already complex case. This, combined with Bragg’s excellent pretrial briefing, has substantially strengthened the case for this prosecution. It is important to American democracy that Trump be forced to defend at least some of his alleged criminal conduct before a jury of his peers in advance of Election Day. [ ... ] Shortly before the 2020 election, Trump wanted to kill a story about his alleged affair with Stormy Daniels, an adult film actress. So he allegedly directed his longtime fixer Michael Cohen to pay off Daniels, through a shell company, for her silence. Afterward, Trump funneled $420,000 to Cohen in installments. But he allegedly concealed the payments by listing them as legal expenses for a retainer that did not exist. Last year, I was uncertain whether this scheme, while sordid, rose to the level of a felony offense. I am now convinced that, if proved that he took these actions, it surely does. The falsification of business records is, by itself, a misdemeanor under New York law, but it’s a felony when it’s done with the “intent to commit another crime or to aid or conceal the commission thereof.” In his indictment, Bragg claims that Trump lied about the payments with the intent to violate election law, which is what elevates the crime to a felony. Initially, I was suspicious of this theory; what election law, exactly, was the former president attempting to violate? The district attorney’s initial statement of facts was hazy on this crucial point, raising the possibility that he couldn’t tie the underlying fraud to a state or federal statute. Turns out he could. Bragg has argued, convincingly, that the former president intended to violate at least two election laws—one state, one federal. First, Bragg asserted that Trump and Cohen ran afoul of the Federal Election Campaign Act by making unlawful campaign contributions (in the form of a payoff) at the direction of a candidate (that is, Trump).

As a criminal defendant, Trump has to be in court for the trial. And except for holidays, court will be in session four days a week.

So Trump will be in Lower Manhattan quite a bit for the next couple of months. The New York County (Manhattan) Courthouse is at 100 Centre Street. And he owns a major property at 40 Wall Street (modestly called The Trump Building) where he might occasionally be seen. Google Maps puts the walking distance between the two locations at 0.8 miles (1.28 km). So if you're tempted to exercise your First Amendment right to express your opinions to Trump...

Howard Thain, Where Broadway Begins, 1923. Oil on canvas.

Photo: NY Historical Society

Elisha Otis’s first elevator is installed at 488 Broadway New York City on March 23, 1857.

Lower Manhattan

🌱 Palestine is everywhere reports: Some photos from the end of Day 1 at the people’s park (aka zuccotti park). A library has been established. Soccer, frisbee, chess, hot food, conversation, dancing, artmaking, and more.

-- Within Our Lifetime, 1 Apr 2024

Rare Footage from 1999 of the Twin Towers of World Trade Center

Rare footage from 1999 of the Twin Towers of World Trade Center. At 2:19 you can see the south tower from "Windows of the World" restaurant in the north tower and at 2:38 you can see the Statue of Liberty.

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