Con Edison is getting set to Sandy-proof Lower Manhattan.

Over a four-year span, the power company will install 158 water-proof transformers capable of withstanding storm surges without short-circuiting, DNAinfo reports.

David Gmach, Con Ed’s director of public affairs, announced the new initiative at a recent meeting of Community Board 1, which encompasses the downtown neighborhoods that were worst-hit by surging floodwaters at the end of October, when Hurricane Sandy knocked out the power and darkened the skyline for days.

The project, which is just one part of a much larger, billion-dollar plan to storm-proof Con Edison’s equipment, will require the old transformers to be unearthed from streets and sidewalks with jack-hammers. Construction is slated to begin before the end of 2013.

“Sandy caused incredible damage to our energy delivery systems, disrupting the lives of millions of New Yorkers,” Con Edison CEO Kevin Burke said in a statement on Tuesday. “While we recognize that these weather events represent a ‘new normal,’ our goal through our investments is to lessen the hardships that violent weather causes for our customers.”

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Police are searching for a man who allegedly groped a 9-year-old girl in Lower Manhattan last month.

The suspect, described to be white male in his 30s or 40s, approached the victim at around 4:45 p.m. on April 14 and touched her buttocks. No injuries were reported.

Cops released a new surveillance photo of the suspect taken from 465 E. 10th St. shortly before the incident.

The man is described to be about 5-foot-8 to 5-foot-10, weighing approximately 240 lbs and has black and gray hair.

Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call Crime stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.

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According to the NYPD, landing gear apparently from an airliner on 9/11 was found downtown this week. 

The NYPD announced today that part of apparent landing gear was found wedged between the rear of 51 Park Place and the building behind it.

Cops are securing the location as they would a crime scene, NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said.

They will take photographs and later make a decision with the medical examiner’s office about whether to sift soil for possible human remains.

The plane includes a visible Boeing identification number, Browne said.

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This event is part of the River to River Festival

U R QR is an interactive project that unfolds in both public and digital spaces. Each participant has their face painted in a pattern to correspond with their own unique QR code. Every face makes one segment of the whole code.

During the workshop, LoVid will collect conversations with the participants about secret languages, codes, and their personal identity within the context of our networked society.

The final assembled QR design—composed of portraits of participants–will be presented in a public space in Lower Manhattan as a culminating testimony for this collaborative process.

LOVID

Tali Hinkis and Kyle Lapidus have worked as LoVid since 2001. The collaboration began with audiovisual performances and has expanded to include a wide range of media, from works on paper to app-based art. LoVid has performed and exhibited worldwide, in venues including Netherlands Media Art Institute, Holland, Netherlands; Science Museum, Jerusalem, Israel; Museum of the Moving Image, New York, NY; and, MoMA, New York, NY. LoVid has received support from Rhizome, Franklin Furnace, LMCC, NYSCA, and NYFA, among many others.

Event Date :  Workshops : Jun 22 – 23 and Installation : Jul 6 – 14

Event Time : Workshops : 1 – 6pm and  Installation : 8am – 10pm

For Event Venue click here

For further information click here

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Correction: The 17-year-old who was arrested for allegedly attempting to rape a woman near City Hall is not the person pictured in the photo above. Police released the above photo when they were looking to question the individual as a person of interest. He was never a suspect.

The suspect was separately apprehended and identified in a lineup, police said.

Police have arrested a 17-year-old Brooklyn man in connection with an attempted rape near City Hall Park last weekend. 

Amauri Azcona allegedly attacked a 28-year-old woman in the vicinity of Park Row and Beekman Street in Lower Manhattan just before 5 a.m. on Sunday, cops said. He followed the woman to Theatre Alley where he pushed her to the ground and tried to rape her.

The woman screamed and nearby construction workers ran to her rescue, scaring off the attacker.

Azcona has been charged with attempted rape, sex abuse, assault and strangulation.

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Correction: The man is the photo above was being sought by police as a person of interest, not a suspect.

Police are searching for a man who sexually assaulted a woman early Sunday morning near City Hall Park in lower Manhattan. 

The woman was attacked at about 4:45 a.m. in the vicinity of Park Row and Beekman Street, cops said. The suspect followed the 28-year-old victim into Theatre Alley, where he pushed her to the ground and then attempted to rape her.

Nearby construction workers heard the woman scream and ran over, scaring off the suspect, the New York Post reported.

The victim was taken to an area hospital where she was listed in stable condition. Police released a surveillance photo of a man wanted for questioning Sunday night.

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Firefighters battled a fire early Monday morning at a commercial building in Lower Manhattan.

It was the second fire that had broken out at the location in less than 24 hours.

A 4-alarm fire tore through 140 Fulton St. on Sunday morning. Firefighters spent the day putting the fire out, but another fire broke out at the same building just before 2 a.m. on Monday.

No injuries were reported on either day. Monday’s blaze went a second alarm at 2:25 a.m. and a third alarm at 3:39 a.m., the Wall Street Journal reported. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

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Police are investigating after a man attacked a woman who was walking in Battery Park just after midnight on Thursday.

The woman, 40, was walking in the park near the Bowling Green subway station when she was grabbed from behind and held in a choke hold, according to sources. The man grabbed at her pants, but the victim was able to fight off her attacker. She was not seriously injured.

The suspect is described as a Hispanic male in his early 20s.

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A 28-year-old man allegedly attacked a woman with a meat cleaver in Chinatown Sunday morning. Two firefighters from a firehouse across the street saved the victim by grabbing the man and holding him down.

The attack happened around 10:20 a.m. The firefighters flagged down a passing NYPD patrol car, and the officers arrested the suspect.

Cops said the victim was found in a restaurant several blocks away and taken to Bellevue Hospital in critical but stable condition. She had a total of 12 lacerations, a fracture at the back of her skull, and deep cuts to her right rib and right hip. Two of the wounds broke through her skull.

The man has been identified by police as Ming Guang Huang. He is being charged with attempted murder, assault, criminal possession of a weapon, and harassment.

Police say the victim is Huang’s estranged common-law wife. According to a law enforcement source, she showed police a text from Huang in Mandarin, sent on January 23, that said, “I am going to kill you and your sister with a knife.”

Cops said he has no prior arrests and is currently awaiting a psychiatric evaluation at Bellevue Hospital.

Follow Danielle Tcholakian on Twitter @danielleiat

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