Battery Park City’s Populist Sailing School May Lose Lease - NYTimes.com
by Anemona Hortecollis
Dipping into the murky waters of the Hudson River was part of the fun when Diana Tandia’s 10-year-old son, Mohamed, learned to sail on a small boat within sight of Lower Manhattan.
“It’s a bonding thing, getting dirty in the water, eating lunch together,” Ms. Tandia said this week, as she recalled her son’s sailing camp at North Cove Marina, in Battery Park City.
For 20 years, a Battery Park resident, Michael Fortenbaugh, has been a presence at the marina, running an adult sailing school and yacht club with shared boats, and more recently the junior sailing camp that Ms. Tandia’s son attended, a rarity in New York City. Supporters call it a populist outpost, populist for Manhattan anyway, where children can learn to sail for about $400 a week during the summer.
But Mr. Fortenbaugh’s days at the marina may be over. His contract to run the marina expires Dec. 31, and he has been told by the Battery Park City Authority, the agency that controls the land the neighborhood sits on, that he can continue to keep his boats there for 60 more days, but must relinquish control of the marina, which he interprets as a sign that his contract will not be renewed.'via Blog this'
