Brian Berger

United States

Journalist at Our Town Downtown

Featured in: Favicon

otdowntown.com

Articles

Necrophilia on the R Train; Attempted Rape of Woman at East Broadway

2 weeks ago | otdowntown.com | Brian Berger

Various people will tell you subway crime is down for various reasons. And, according to certain statistics, this might be true. As regular subway riders and crime stats analysts alike know, however, the difference between crime and reported crime is significant. Add in the constant threat of crime, and one can be horrified but not wholly shocked by two recent incidents in the downtown subway system.
2 Subway Crimes Target Women at Cortlandt St. & Union Square

2 weeks ago | otdowntown.com | Brian Berger

On April 10, at approximately 10:10 a.m., at the Cortlandt St. subway station (also known as the World Trade Center station), a 27-year-old female victim was approached by an unidentified woman. The unidentified woman took the victim's cell phone from her hand and punched her in the face with a closed fist. The violent thief then fled the station, on foot, to parts unknown. The victim was taken by EMS to New York Presbyterian-Lower Manhattan Hospital in stable condition.
Tartan Day Parade Thrills Thousands

2 weeks ago | otdowntown.com | Brian Berger

Thousands of Scots, other Celts and the friends of both took to the streets of midtown on Saturday afternoon April 5 for the 27th annual Tartan Day Parade. The event is the crown jewel of Tartan Week celebration, which stretched to the next morning with an exuberant Highland Dancing competition in Battery Park.
Gang of Four Attacks & Robs Man on Morning A Train

3 weeks ago | otdowntown.com | Brian Berger

While the NYPD boasts that subway crime is down, robbery is also commonplace on the subways, as a recent report from within the confines of the 1st Precinct / Transit District 2 shows. Details are as follows:On Tuesday, April 1 at approximately 6:05 a.m., a 36-year-old male victim was on the northbound A train traveling toward Spring St. when four unidentified individuals approached him. The gang of four, acting in concert, simulated a knife and demanded cash from the victim.
CitiBike E-Bike Gang Marauds Manhattan; Subway Fatality at Union Square

1 month ago | otdowntown.com | Brian Berger

There's a new robbery gang in town. Unsurprisingly, the gang chose CitiBike e-bikes to maraud Manhattan on Monday March 17, and steal the headphones off at least seven people's heads: five women, two men. Because CitiBike e-bikes-which can travel 20 mph with no physical effort-are easily stolen and can be checked out by means which leave no record of their actual user, NYPD is asking for help in ascertaining the identity and whereabouts of the perpetrators.
South Street Seaport Museum Opens Stunning Maritime City Exhibition

1 month ago | otdowntown.com | Brian Berger

Ship Ahoy! Have ye see the Maritime City exhibition? Hotly anticipated since last autumn, when the A.A. Thomson & Co. warehouse building at 213-215 Water Street was rededicated as the new home of the South Street Seaport Museum, its debut show opened to the public on Wednesday March 12. The October 2024 rededication was the culmination of a long and varied history for the building, which was completed in 1868, had many subsequent occupants, and was first leased to the Seaport Museum in 1973.
Out With Homeless Camps & Drug Dens, In With Chinatown Pride

1 month ago | otdowntown.com | Brian Berger

Call it the little park that could. Five months after Straus News' October 2024 expose "Anarchy in Sara D Roosevelt Park," conditions at the southernmost section-from Canal and Hester streets-of the long troubled linear oasis have not only improved markedly, things have remained improved. This distinction-that between a short-term cosmetic clean up and something more lasting-is important, and never one that can be taken for granted.
Gunman Kills Bouncer in Elizabeth St. Bar; Youth Mugs Senior on Bleecker St.

1 month ago | otdowntown.com | Brian Berger

Downtown's most shocking public homicide of the year occurred early Saturday March 1 around 3:20 a.m., outside Tom & Jerry's Bar at 288 Elizabeth Street, just north of Houston St. According to the Daily News, the 39-year-old victim, Anton Albert, was a part-time bouncer at the popular watering hole and that "the shooter was drunk and had just been ejected from the bar when the bullets started flying." Shortly after the suspected gunman fired four shots through the glass window, striking the...
"Turf Has Got to Go," Say Marte, and Supporters of Touch Grass Bill

1 month ago | otdowntown.com | Brian Berger |Garrett Owen

Standing on the steps of City Hall, District 1 Council Member Christopher Marte, flanked by council members, supporters, and advocacy groups, took aim at artificial turf fields in New York City. "Our parks should be green, healthy, and fighting climate change," Marte said on Feb. 27. The council member is the driving force behind the so-called "Touch Grass Bill," legislation that seeks to stop New York City from using artificial, synthetic turf in parks.
Local Botanist Seeks East River Dolphins-And Finds Them!

2 months ago | otdowntown.com | Brian Berger

Look, out in the East River: it's a barge, it's a ferry, it's the Circle Line-no it's a dolphin!Two of them, it would seem, and though their exact identities are unknown, from a distance they appeared to be common dolphins (Delphinus delphis), perhaps a mother and her calf. Though common dolphins are, as their name suggests, the most abundant of cetaceans, they aren't often seen in the East or Hudson Rivers and when they are excitement abounds.