Remembering a vision of peace
A prayer for peace procession and a Mass in honor of Our Lady of Fatima was held at St. Anthony’s Church on Sullivan and Houston Sts. last Thursday evening. On May 13, 1917, three children reported seeing an apparition of the Virgin Mary above an oak sapling in Fatima, Portugal, and said she told them that peace would come if people turned to God and put aside their sinful ways. One of them, Lucia, became a Carmelite nun and is now in her 80s. the two other children died shortly after the apparitions. Pilgrims have long since taken anything that remained of the tree.
Biotech Battery
Biotech is coming near Battery Park. Acceptys, Inc., a company that started at Columbia University Medical Center, will move its corporate headquarters to One Battery Park Plaza. City officials hailed the decision by Acceptys, which is working on a drug to fight breast cancer “This demonstrates that New York City can flourish as a center for the expansion of the biotechnology sector, an industry critical to our future growth,” said Mayor Mike Bloomberg in a statement.
New York City has an abundance of the kind of academic and clinical facilities that breed start-up biotech businesses. But after they launch, these businesses often leave the city for San Diego, Seattle, Boston and other locations that have much more commercial lab space, said Maria Gotsch, senior vice president of the New York City Investment Fund, a private organization with a $95 million fund to promote technology and innovation in the five boroughs of New York City.
Acceptys will move its research facility to the State University of New York in East Greenbush, Rensselaer County. In order to attract more companies to open labs in New York City, Gotsch’s organization has identified sites around the city that would be suitable for biotech uses.
If one major company agrees to become the anchor tenant on a site, then smaller companies will quickly follow, Gotsch said.
Three years ago, Governor George Pataki began a campaign to attract more technology companies to New York State. The governor’s proposed budget includes $350 million of support for the second phase of these efforts.
ISO Tribeca singles
Singles from all over town will be attending the Mix, Meet, Match event on Thursday May 27, at the A & M Roadhouse restaurant for a night of flirting.
The singles event, put on by the Tribeca Organization, will have continuous entertainment with a DJ and a live reggae band called One Tree. Kandice Pelletier, Miss Manhattan 2004, will also be in attendance. It is the second time the Tribeca Organization has run this type of event, the first one held at the Tribeca Grand hotel in early March.
The event starts at 6:30 p.m.- midnight, and there will be complimentary food and Beck’s beer throughout the night. Places are limited to 90 men and 90 women aged 21 and up, and tickets can be purchased on-line for $40 – www.tribeca.org.
A & M Roadhouse, 57 Murray St. (between Church and W.Broadway). Call 212-966-0063 for more information.
Landmark synagogue
The Landmarks Preservation Commission on May 11 designated Kehila Kedosha Janina, the 1927 synagogue at 208 Broome St., as a city landmark.
The two-story brick-faced house of worship, designed by the architect Sydney Daub, was commissioned by a congregation of Romaniote Jews who emigrated from Janina in northwestern Greece beginning in 1905.
“Kehila Kedosha is a jewel that captures the excitement of cultural life in New York City and contributes to the vibrant history of the Lower East Side,” said Robert Tierney, chairperson of the commission, said in a statement.
The synagogue was also one of nine restoration projects honored by the Landmarks Conservancy on May 10 with the 13th annual Lucy G. Moses Preservation Awards. The Kehila Kedosha Janina restoration last year was designed by the architect Leonard Colchamiro and executed by the contractor, Larry Burda.
Precinct meet
The First Precinct Residential Community Council will meet at 7 p.m. Tues. May 25 at the Independence Plaza North community meeting room at 310 Greenwich St.
Union bank near Wall St.
Amalgamated Bank, the venerable labor bank, has opened a Lower Manhattan branch at 52 Broadway, on the corner of Exchange Pl. The 80-year-old bank was the first to make unsecured personal loans to garment workers and to introduce a foreign funds transfer serve that allowed immigrants to send money overseas. Randi Weingarten, head of the United Federation of Teachers, joined other union and city officials at the ribbon-cutting ceremony on May 20.
C.B. 1 meetings
The upcoming week’s schedule of Community Board 1 meetings is as follows. Unless otherwise noted, meetings will be held in room 709 of 49-51 Chambers St.
On Tuesday, May 25, the youth and education committee will meet at 6 p.m. to hear an update on the new East Side school, a report on the crowding at P.S. 234, and an update on the feeder school.
On Wednesday, May 26, the waterfront committee will meet at 6 p.m. to discuss priorities for the East River waterfront.
On May 27, the art and entertainment task force will meet at 6 p.m. The agenda is to be determined.
