Ground Breaks On The House That Construction Jobs Built

The House That Ruth Built is a sacred cathedral that inspires great reverence . . . which is why it must be demolished to make way for a more functional version of itself:

Declaring the start of a new era for the Yankees and for the Bronx, officials broke ground yesterday on a $1.2 billion project to build a 51,000-seat replacement stadium. The ceremony took place as throngs of police officers cordoned off protesters who oppose the project because it will eliminate most of two parks and require $400 million in public subsidies.

Gov. George E. Pataki and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg dismissed those complaints. The governor said the project would create more parkland than it would destroy and noted that the team would be responsible for any cost overruns. The mayor said the stadium would help revitalize the long-neglected South Bronx and create 6,500 construction jobs over the next four years, as well as 1,000 permanent jobs.

The ceremony, which drew the likes of the former Yankees catcher and manager Yogi Berra and the actor Billy Crystal, occurred on the 58th anniversary of the death of Babe Ruth.

The groundbreaking seemed to put to rest decades of speculation that the Yankees might return to Manhattan, where they played until 1923, or abandon New York altogether for New Jersey.

. . .

Bud Selig, the commissioner of Major League Baseball, recalled discovering Yankee Stadium as a teenager with his mother. “To many fans, the ballpark is a cathedral, because it’s a place that inspires great reverence, and it is a place for comfort. If ballparks are indeed cathedrals, then Yankee Stadium is one of the most revered.”

The five-level, open-air stadium will replicate the entry facade, roof frieze, auxiliary scoreboards and right-field bullpen of the current stadium, which opened in 1923 and was substantially modified in a 1974-75 renovation. The stadium is to be completed in 2009, and the Yankees will pay the $800 million construction costs using tax-exempt bonds.

The groundbreaking occurred on a running track at Macombs Dam Park, which will be largely eliminated, along with John Mullaly Park. Across River Avenue, where the No. 4 subway line runs overhead, demonstrators from Save Our Parks, a community group, chanted and shouted. Metal police barricades kept the demonstration separate from the ceremony.

Previously on . . .

I’m Not Sure If The Severity Of “Hit-And-Run” Applies To Cats, But I’ll Give You That He Was A Shooting Star That Burned Fast And Bright And Passed Too Quickly

Fred, the undercover cat who exposed an unlicensed veterinarian ring, has died after a car hit him:

Detective Fred, the highly decorated cat who bravely went undercover to help authorities nab a phony veterinarian, was killed in a hit-and-run accident outside his home Thursday.

Fred become a media star for going after the unlicensed creep passing himself off as a veterinarian to unsuspecting pet owners and performing surgeries on cats and dogs.

His owner, Assistant Brooklyn District Attorney Carol Moran, who coordinates animal cruelty cases for her office, volunteered Fred’s services in a sting operation last year that netted Steven Vassell, 29, of Brooklyn, after he offered to neuter the cat for $135.

“I suggested him [Fred] in the role because he would be really comfortable in remarkable situations,” she said.

For his work, Fred was showered with honors from Mayor Bloomberg and Hynes, and starred recently on Broadway at the Theater District’s adopt-a-thon benefit.

“Fred was a shooting star, he burned fast and bright and passed quickly,” Moran said yesterday with great sadness. “He was my baby.”

Hate The Church, Love Its Buildings

It was high-tension back-and-forth drama for St. Brigid’s Church last week, with details straight out of a movie script:

It was an anxious week for East Villagers who have been fighting to save the turn-of-the-century old P.S. 64 and 158-year-old St. Brigid’s Church from demolition. Some neighbors and activists have been involved in both struggles, and probably could have used a scorecard to keep up with the flurry of emergency press conferences outside the two historic Avenue B buildings — located just a block apart — plus a candlelight vigil and court hearing.

Last Friday, State Supreme Court Judge Barbara Kapnick enjoined further demolition of St. Brigid’s Church until Aug. 24, pending a Board of Standards and Appeals hearing on the validity of the demolition permit.

Last Thursday — just two days after demolition workers started hacking historic terracotta off the old P.S. 64 building on E. Ninth St. — a demolition crew a block to the south pounded an ugly hole through the back wall of St. Brigid’s Church, starting the destruction of the historic East Village famine church. The workers shoved antique wooden pews and delicate wainscoting from inside the church through the hole and into a rear yard. Then — as stunned and angry neighbors and former St. Brigid’s parishioners pleaded with him to stop — one of the workers, smiling, spun his bulldozer over the pile, crushing it all to bits.

. . .

Next morning at 7 a.m., to the anguish of about 20 neighbors, activists and former parishioners who showed up hoping to head off further destruction, the workers — this time wielding long crowbars — knocked out the seven, 25-foot-tall, painted, stained-glass windows on the church’s north side. Again, the neighbors and former parishioners begged them to stop.

“When I saw those crowbars destroying those stained-glass windows this morning, I thought about the Taliban destroying those Buddhas in Afghanistan,” said Matt Metzgar, a former East Village squatter who had been among the protesters shouting for the workers not to break the windows.

“We were all yelling ‘Stop!’ We were screaming,” said Beth Sopkow. “We were all calling 311 and E.P.A, saying that there were hazardous conditions and dust.”

Patti Kelly, who has a stained-glass studio on Avenue C and also had sadly watched as the venerable windows depicting Jesus’ life were smashed, estimated they were worth $100,000 apiece.

“That was heartbreaking, because I know exactly what it takes to do those windows. It took them a year to do them,” she said.

Perhaps you assumed that godless New Yorkers were uninterested in churches. That would be untrue:

At a candlelight vigil outside St. Brigid’s the night before, East Villagers accused the archdiocese of planning to cash in by developing the prime property on the eastern edge of Tompkins Square Park.

A large silver crucifix ring on his finger, poet Barry Allen shouted, “Our Lord Jesus went into the temple and threw out the money changers — goddammit!”

“I love the building and the color, that beautiful yellow, right at the park,” said Susi Schropp. Though she never attended the church, she said, “It’s beyond just being a parishioner — it’s about the community being besieged.”

. . .

Jerome O’Connor, who used to own St. Dymphna’s bar on St. Mark’s Pl., originally had the idea to investigate the demolition permit to check if it was valid — which is the only thing currently standing in the way of the building being razed.

“You don’t tear down a 158-year-old church for anything,” O’Connor said. “I’d like to see all the Catholic churches leveled, because of what they do. But not this one.”

Competing Emotional Agendas

Brooke Astor’s son pushes back:

David Richenthal, who produced three Broadway plays with Anthony Marshall, defended him and disputed the allegations as “the most fabricated bunch of nonsense I’ve ever read.”

Mr. Richenthal said that he had worked in an office in Mrs. Astor’s duplex apartment for the last couple of years — an apartment he said was as beautiful as when Mrs. Astor was still regularly in the spotlight. He said that her doctors had diagnosed Alzheimer’s disease several years ago and that Mr. Marshall “spends a good deal of his energy taking beautiful care of his mother.”

Mr. Richenthal said that Mrs. Astor’s health had declined in the last 18 months or so, and that she was in an all but vegetative state. “She has no idea where she is,” he said, adding that when Mr. Marshall and his wife, Charlene, visit her, “she doesn’t know they’re in the room.”

He called Anthony Marshall “a completely dutiful son.”

“One can only guess that his own son has his own emotional agenda,” Mr. Richenthal said. “I’ve never seen him there.”

Previously on: Brooke Astor Is Being Nickel And Dimed To Death.

Brooke Astor Is Being Nickel And Dimed To Death

Brooke Astor’s 82-year-old son is depriving her of earthly pleasures, name-brand medicines and even her own pets, according to legal documents filed by Astor’s grandson:

Brooke Astor, the patron saint of philanthropy and society in New York, is being forced to live her remaining days in wretched, uncharitable conditions, according to court papers filed by her grandson.

Astor, now 104, is allegedly being kept inside her dilapidated Park Ave. duplex by her only child, Anthony Marshall — who controls her $45 million fortune, yet refuses to spend money for her care.

The grandson is seeking to transfer guardianship away from his father. The list of indignities is long:

• Although Astor had always used Estée Lauder cosmetics and face creams, her head maid, Mily Degernier, who has worked for Astor for 35 years, has instructed that a “cheaper brand” of makeup be used and that Vaseline be used instead of face cream.
• A prescription for Astor’s anemia, Procrit, which costs about $1,000 a month, was stopped for no medical reason.
• An enzyme supplement, CoQ10, to promote a healthy heart, and which may help in Astor’s battle against cancer, which costs $60 a bottle, was stopped at the instruction of Charlene Marshall, Anthony’s wife. She then told the aides to buy the medicine off the Internet, a diluted version that costs $26 for three bottles.
• When an aide’s request for two air purifiers — needed for the dust-filled apartment — was denied, they were bought by de la Renta.
• When a request for hair bonnets and no-skid socks was denied, Astor’s nurses bought them themselves.
• Astor apparently has not seen her beloved dogs, Boysie and Girlsie, in six months because they are kept locked in a pantry to keep them from damaging the apartment.
• Anthony Marshall, Astor’s son from her first marriage, repeatedly has refused to open up Holly Hill, her 75-acre estate in Briarcliff Manor, Westchester County, this year, even though Astor has said she wants to die there.
• While Astor has a nurse on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the staff has been cut back. She used to have two aides on duty at all times, according to an affidavit filed by one of her nurses, Minnette Christie.
• Astor’s physical therapy has been cut from three to two times a week over the protests of the therapist.
• While the apartment was once filled with art, figurines and fresh flowers, according to court papers, “which gave Mrs. Astor great pleasure,” some of the art and figurines have been removed. Floral arrangements have been replaced with one or two bouquets from the local Korean market.
• Although Astor was known for being always impeccably dressed, she is now reduced to wearing torn nightgowns and old clothes because her son won’t buy new ones.

I feel a two-hour episode of Law & Order coming on . . .