What's good news for archeologists, historians, preservationists and other past-minded folk may be bad news for subway and ferry riders, office workers, and other finish-the-construction-already-darnit-minded folk down at the Battery, where contractors uncovered a bit o' history in the form of an underground stone wall. It could be 250+ years old, yes, but right about now, it's doing what walls for time immemorial have done: Get in the way.
Therein lies the problem, for all parties involved, especially the MTA and its contractors, who'd hoped to have Battery Park looking spiffier by summer, and have the new South Ferry subway terminal done by late 2007. As the old crooners say, something's gotta give. Or if that standard doesn't float your boat, let parks commissioner Adrian Benepe sum it up with the obvious On the Town reference: "Everybody knows that the Bronx is up and the Battery's down. But I don't think anybody anticipated that the Battery was 10 feet down."
· Found: Old Wall in New York, and It's Blocking the Subway [NYT]