Living in Civic Center / Tribeca East is very romantic for me. Architecturally, there are a host of buildings which I have come to love: the golden glow of Civic Fame atop the Renaissance revival Manhattan Municipal building, the big and blocky mid-century Javitz Federal building with its checkered black and grey facade, and the impossibly imposing, brutalist AT&T tower which becomes even more ominous after dark when it’s dramatically lit from below in cold white light.

Dotted throughout, are some fine cast iron buildings, a reminder when even industrial structures strived to be elegant. But lately, my romance with this neighborhood has been challenged by a series of protests in front of the Federal building. They've been occurring up to three times a week as a direct response to our current administration. I’ve never lived in an area which was so politically charged before: the protesters with signs, the omnipresent police, the barricades…it’s unsettling.

- KARLO STEEL, OCTOBER 2017