5 Stories You Need To Pay Attention To This Week

NEW YORK, NY — Fall is here, schools are back in session and New York baseball teams are in the playoff hunt. Oh, and there are plenty of development battles brewing across Manhattan — as usual.

First, a bonus story, because we gave it a whole separate article. Tuesday is Primary Day in New York City (again), so make sure you read Patch's preview and get out to the polls for what could be a more important vote than Election Day.

Now, Patch takes a look at five more stories you'll be paying attention to this week:

1. Sept. 14: The Terminal — You won't find a more disliked transportation hub in New York City than the Port Authority Bus Terminal. It makes Penn Station look like Grand Central by comparison. There's been a controversy brewing for months over the redesign of the terminal. Everyone agrees there needs to be a new building, but no one on the west side of Manhattan can agree on how the proposed $10 billion project gets done. City Councilman Corey Johnson and Borough President Gale Brewer are among the politicians who've called for the Port Authority to scrap its current Design and Deliverability Competition and start over from scratch with more public input. On Wednesday, Community Board 4's Land Use Committee an update will be provided on the Bus Terminal design competition. It's open to the public and it's sure to get heated. The meeting is at 6:30 p.m. at Cameo Studios (307 W. 43rd St.).
2. Sept. 14: Residential rising — Community Board 2's Land Use and Business Development Committee will meet on Wednesday to discuss the, uh, shall we say, unique, new residential building planned for 30 Thompson St. in SoHo. It's not landmarked, but the Board has to approve a zoning change to build residential units on the site (an empty garage sits there now). SoHo is going a little crazy with the unique residential buildings at the moment.
3. Sept. 15: Fall arrives — Get ready for cooler temperatures. The low on Thursday will be 59 degrees. Yes, that's under 60. Care to guess the last time the mercury fell under 60 this year? Try June 14. It's been essentially three months since we felt the 50s at any time during any day. Oh, and highs will be in the mid- to upper-70s all week.
4. Sept. 15: Playoffs!? Are you kidding me? — If you're like most Yankees fans, you stopped paying close attention to the team after they sold off Carlos Beltran, Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman at the trade deadline. Well, a month later, and a youth infusion has the Yankees right on the end of the playoffs with only 20 games left. Entering Sunday, they were just one game out of the second wild card, and actually just three games out of the AL East lead. Huh? How did this happen? And who are Tyler Austin, Luis Cessa and Blake Parker? The Yanks start a huge 11-game roadtrip all against AL East opponents in Boston on Thursday. They win six or seven games and the playoffs are a serious possibility.
5. Sept. 15: Now we feast — The biggest celebration of Italian heritage in the city begins on Thursday in Little Italy. The Feast of San Gennaro opens at 11:30 a.m. every morning from Sept. 15 to Sept. 25. The festival has been going strong for 90 years on Mulberry Street. With about 700,000 Italian-Americans in the city, you can bet there will be plenty of people heading to Little Italy for their fill of cannoli and sausage and peppers.

Photo Credit: Jazz Guy via Flickr/Creative Commons