Jump-starting our Battery
TWO more weeks marks another 9/11 anniversary. Hate tried to destroy us, but the letters in “us” stand for United States, the greatest country on this planet.
In the 1600s, the downtown tip of our land is where the Dutch trappers and traders established a battery of cannons to protect their infant settlement. Thus its name Battery Park. It’s partly where America began . . . where our history began . . . where our city began . . . where 9/12 again began . . . and where I did a walkabout . . .
Construction has replaced destruction. Everywhere, new multimilliondollar residential and professional skyscrapers. Glossy big ticket shops — Gucci, Hermès, Saks, Century 21. Young people leaving offices, pushing baby carriages, walking dogs, pedaling bikes in shorts.
And where else can you do dinner outdoors at a restaurant in the park on the waterfront overlooking the Statue of Liberty? I mean, Wisconsin it’s not.
A tankard of ale away, corner of Broad Street, stands landmarked historic Fraunces Tavern. Circa Colonial 1762, our oldest building is where Gen. George Washington dismissed his troops. The place recently booked a live DJ, but this we won’t even mention.
Cunard’s offices, in front of which grief-stricken relatives stood for news of the Titanic? Today that building fronts crowds taking selfies alongside the famous Little Girl and Big Bull, who gets some folk stroking parts of its various parts.
AND, listen, if you have a minute, take a look at the $4 billion Oculus in our new World Trade Center.
To live down there, save your money. Who knows, it might be valuable again someday.