Wired New York
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
WiredNewYork.com is a website dedicated to architectural projects, as well as commercial, real estate, and political news in New York City. Founded by Edward Sudentas in 2001, the site currently has over 4,000 registered members and 571 active members.[1]
The site has several forums frequented, including New York Skyscrapers and Architecture the most popular. Other popular forums include New York City Guide for Visitors, New York City Guide for New Yorkers, and New York Real Estate. There is also a Metro Section forum dedicated to news revolving around the New York Metropolitan Area.
Wired New York is known for the enthusiastic following of local architectural and real estate projects by its forumers. In covering projects such as the New York Times Tower in Midtown, and the rebuilding of the World Trade Center many forumers go out of their way, from time to time, to take pictures of the construction sites and post news articles on construction, as a way of updating fellow forumers and for those who view the webpage [2].
Over at the New York City Guide for Visitors forum, various local issues and events are covered, ranging from the city's population trends, to coverage of Bryant Park and the Hispanic Society of America's recent relocation to Lower Manhattan from Washington Heights.
[edit] Death of Broderick John Hehman
On April 1, 2006, Wired New York member J.B. Hehman, known to the site as "TLOZ Link5," was hit by a car in East Harlem while attempting to escape being robbed by several black youths. According to Assistant Manhattan District Attorney Joel Seidermann, at 125th Street, between Park and Lexington Avenues in Harlem, the group of teenagers cornered Hehman, as one of them grabbed him in a bear hug, while the other proceeded to punch him in the head while trying to rob him. Hehman managed to break free, but the group chased him down the street. One of them screamed "Get whitey." [3] At roughly 8:30 PM, Hehman was stuck by a Mercedes-Benz while running from the group.
Per Newsday.com: "He was thrown into the air and his head smashed into the windshield," Seidemann said. "The windshield shattered and he fell into the road. They didn't call an ambulance. They didn't call for help. Rather, they stood on the street corner and laughed as he lay in the road."[4]
Hehman endured fractures at the base and side of his skull, and died several days later of a brain hemorrhage at Harlem Hospital.
The NYPD has decided not to charge the teenagers with a hate crime, and they will stand trial as juveniles [5]
In reaction to Hehman's death, Wired New York has sought to raise money to establish a memorial fund in his name. The forum members and WiredNewYork website are working with the New York Restoration Project to create the JB Hehman Endowment for Environmental Education and performed a full-day community service project in JB Hehman's honor, beautifying Maggie's Garden, a park at 149th and Broadway in his honor. A plaque commemorates JB under a newly planted flowering tree in a renovated area of the garden. ""His death has stunned our online community," said forumer Rob Cammiso, ""We are determined to honor his memory and love of New York." [6]
Hehman was a student at New York University and majored in urban-studies, a fitting interest in relation to his love to New York and urban planning and affairs. Under his "TLOZ Link5" moniker, he posted eloquently about New York and its history. "New York has had many golden ages. They just take different forms and affect different aspects of the City." he said in a thread titled "Glory Days." [7] He proceeded to give a timeline of the city's ups and down from the late 1890s to the present day.
Perhaps his most memorable quote summarizing his love for New York: "If you love the place you live, love it with the same passion that so many New Yorkers do, then you'll learn to tolerate its imperfections if it hasn't been ingrained in you already. Be to its virtues very kind, but be to its faults a little blind."
