Speaking of 9/11 (and who isn't?), last Tuesday I was part of a talkathon on the subject at St. Paul's Chapel, the lovely little two-hundred-and-forty-five-year-old Episcopal church next door to Ground Zero.
Most of the blame can be laid, like a path of crazy paving, at the door of Ground Force, but even its success doesn't account for his ubiquity.
Pataki also controls the Empire State Development Corporation, the state agency that is empowered to build anything anywhere in the state and can override local zoning laws if it chooses; the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates the subway lines; and the Battery Park City Authority, which built and manages Battery Park City, next door to Ground Zero.
As the stewardess opened the door, the ground crew put leis, wreaths made of lavender and white orchids around the neck of my tiny mother who was 4'11".
On the chapel's south side are an additional door at ground level to the east and an exterior pulpit, designed after one at Magdalen College, Oxford, and named Bright Pulpit, in honor of John Bright.
Although it is plenty, you may still contemplate, if only for a moment, the idea of stopping at Mas Malo next door for ground beef and pickle tacos, just to add a little yang to the yin.
Next door, the grounds of St. Patrick Church offer the nearest green space.
It capped a year of opaque decisions behind closed doors, shifting ground rules and timetables, conspiracy theories about who holds true power, turbulence in the streets and growing political polarization during the military-led transition after the ouster of Hosni Mubarak.
And so, with every arrival, as I walk from the customs gate out to the doors marked Ground Transportation, I notice the bleary-eyed 20-year-olds hoisting their heavy packs and searching confusedly for the subway or city bus.
Holes in the roof, fashioned to look like skylights, will allow the birds to fly in and out, and doors at ground level allow access to the box's owner.
