Edgar White’s granddaughter sat down on a lower Broadway sidewalk last week near the strip commemorating the day in 1952, when White, an Olympic Gold Medallist in sailing, and his American teammates in the Helsinki Games were honored with a ticker tape parade up Broadway’s Canyon of Heroes. White, his family and other Olympic medallists came out last week to celebrate the 42nd strip being placed on the sidewalk as part of a $20 million plan by the Downtown Alliance to improve the look of the streets. The plan is expected to be completed next spring and is funded in part by the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. There will be at least 200 strips installed to mark the 200 parades up the canyon for sports champions, war heroes, astronauts and other honorees.
Lance-less raceDowntown
Lance Armstrong will not appear at the second annual New York City Cycling Championship to be held in Lower Manhattan on Sunday, August 3, as has been expected. He competed in last year’s competition, but the five-time Tour de France winner is giving himself a breather after his most grueling Tour which ended last weekend in Paris. Instead, Tyler Hamilton, the American cyclist who came in fourth this year despite breaking his collarbone early in the Tour, will start the race.
The daylong series of races will start and end at the intersection of Wall and Water Sts. Water St. will be closed from John to Whitehall Sts. on August 3 from 4:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Also closed will be a stretch of Front St. between Maiden Lane and John St., as well as Pearl St. between Whitehall St. and Coenties Slip. During the races, there will be no crossings allowed on Water St. The longest of these is the main event, the Men’s Pro Race, from noon to 2:30 p.m.
Festivities will include expo booths with food, drink and free samples in the parking lot of the South Street Seaport Museum, on Front and John Sts.
Imagine anL.M.D.C. addition
Holly Leicht, the co-founder of Imagine New York, a group formed to encourage the discussion of ideas about the World Trade Center site, has just joined the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. as the director of planning of off-site projects.
Leicht, who will report to the L.M.D.C.’s Chris Glaisek, will help manage the five major studies focused on subjects not on the W.T.C. site. The corporation is working on the studies with New York City. The studies are focused on Chinatown, Fulton St., the area south of Liberty St., housing, and privately-owned public spaces in Lower Manhattan.
She said the success of the plans to improve the areas surrounding the W.T.C. are crucial to the rebuilding efforts.
Glaisek and Andrew Winters were both promoted to vice president after Alexander Garden, the agency’s vice president of planning, resigned earlier this year. Winters took on Garvin’s W.T.C. site responsibilities and Glaisek the off-site.
Leicht had been the director of design and planning for the Municipal Art Society, which formed the Imagine group. Prior to joining M.A.S., she was a real estate attorney for Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, which coincidentally, is based in the same building as the L.M.D.C., One Liberty Plaza.
Maya Lin film
There will be a free screening of the 1994 documentary tracing the career of Maya Lin, who won the competition to design the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. when she was a young architecture student.
The design by Lin, one of the 13 jurors who will select the World Trade Center memorial design, was initially criticized by many Vietnam veterans, who tried unsuccessfully to get her removed from the project. Her design is now often cited as an example of one of the world’s best memorials.
The film, “A Strong Clear Vision,” was directed by Frieda Lee Mock and will be shown Aug. 6 at 6:30 p.m. at One Wall St. Court, located just south of Wall St. at the corner of Pearl and Beaver Sts. The event, which begins with a reception at 6 p.m., is co-sponsored by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and the Municipal Art Society. To reserve a free ticket, call 212-935-3960.
Chinatown fest
Asian Americans for Equality will hold its 12th annual Chinatown Summer Festival from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Sun. Aug. 3 on Bayard St. between Baxter and Elizabeth Sts., featuring Japanese, Filipino and Indian dance troupes, and Chinese acrobatics.
The third annual Cantonese opera singing contest involving seven solo performers from community centers in Manhattan and Brooklyn will highlight the festival. Musicians of the New York Fu Kai Cantonese Opera Training Center will play for the singers.
The festival, whose theme is Celebrating Immigrants, will honor three immigrants for their contribution to the community: Dada Tapan Kanti Baidya, an Indian classical music teacher and performer; Sudhir Jain, president of the WTC Residents Coalition and Jian Zhen Song, a volunteer for the Hamilton Madison House City Hall Senior Center.
Washington Mutual Bank is a new festival sponsor, joining Gouverneur Hospital, JP Morgan Chase and several others.
