5 Stories You Need to Pay Attention to This Week

NEW YORK, NY — From a re-zoning fight in northern Manhattan to a new pasta emporium in Lower Manhattan, there are plenty of news items to watch out for this week.

Patch runs down some of what you'll be talking about in the city Aug. 9 to 12.

1. Aug. 9: 4650 Broadway re-zoning — Residents of Inwood are intimately familiar with the tract of land at the corner of Broadway and Sherman Avenue, overlooking Fort Tryon Park. And they are largely unhappy with Acadia Trust's plans to change the zoning in order to build an apartment tower at 4650 Broadway. Tuesday morning, the City Council's Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises will take up the case — again. The height of the tower was already altered from 23 stories to 17 stories due to complaints.But even with the decrease, testimony at the public hearing held July 12 was largely negative. If it gets out of subcommittee, it'll be voted on by the Committee on Land Use the same morning. The area is just one of many sites in Inwood getting residents up in arms over the changing look of the neighborhood.
2. Aug. 11: White Park officially re-opens — The most famous park in Harlem is probably Rucker Park, but tiny White Park has been around since 1936. The park at 106th Street between Lexington and Third avenues just underwent a $3 million renovation starting in June 2015 and will officially re-open on Thursday (construction was completed in June). City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver will both be at the re-dedication. Oh, and if you're going to rob someone playing "Pokémon Go," don't retreat to this playground. You'll get caught.
3. Aug. 11: Downtown Eataly opens — Mario Batali's pasta empire expands to its second location in the city on Thursday. The first Eataly, in the Flatiron District, has been an overwhelming success for the celebrity chef. Patch took a tour of the new eatery ahead of its opening. The Italian market opens in 4 World Trade Center at noon, and will be open daily from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.
4. Aug. 12: A-Rod says goodbye — One of the most controversial players in baseball — even sports — history will play his last game on Friday against the Tampa Bay Rays. The Yankees came to the decision to cut the 41-year-old Alex Rodriguez, who's stumbled to an ugly end to an historic career, but he'll get a final week to say goodbye. Rodriguez enters the week with 696 home runs, fourth all-time in MLB history. But of course he's also been dogged by steroid accusations throughout his career, admitting to use while with Texas in the early-2000s and getting suspended for the entire 2014 season for PED use.
5. Aug. 12: Newsweek names its top schools — Much to your children's chagrin, the school year is already just around the corner. That means Newsweek will be releasing its annual list of the top high schools in the country. Last year, the top school in the city was the Bronx High School of Science — No. 20 in the country overall. Staten Island Technical High School was the second-best in the city and No. 23 overall. Townsend Harris High School was the best school in Queens (No. 35 overall) and Dante de Blasio's alma mater, Brooklyn Technical High School (No. 39 overall), was the best in Brooklyn. High School for Math, Science and Engineering at City College (No. 86 overall) was the best in Manhattan. We'll see where the best high schools in the city are in 2016 this Friday.

Photo Credit: Eataly via Sarah Kaufman/Patch