Today’s news:  The Civic Scene  The history of mankind has
always been a battle between those who respect historic sites
and those who want to build new things no matter what will be
torn down. New buildings can be interesting, but we should
appreciate the past to understand it and where we are headed.
There are many historic areas in Manhattan with a lot of old
money power, but community facilities and builders are
constantly trying to break the historic and preservation
districts to build big things. On the Upper West Side,
Congregation Shearth Israel wants permission to build a gigantic
condo over its property on West 70th Street, where gigantic
buildings are not supposed to be built.  In the Greenwich
Village Historic District, St. Vincent's Hospital wants to build
a big extension. You might say this is a worthy desire for a
community facility, but it wants to tear down nine buildings in
the district and build luxury condos. The community wants to
preserve this nice historic place, so it has vocally atte