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Hey Gothamist - Do you guys know what's up with the yellow cabs that have flowers painted on their hoods?
Personally, I think they're pretty tacky- and so do a lot of people I know, but no one I've asked knows exactly why they've been painted.
Well dear reader, we wrote about the flower covered cabs last year, but since we're getting several e-mails a day about it, we're going to revisit the issue.
The project is called Garden in Transit and it's a mobile public art project to help "celebrate the 100th anniversary of New York's first traditional metered taxicab." The decals that decorate the cabs were painted by 23,000 children and adults from organizations around New York City. The waterproof decals are decorating thousands of cabs in the city.
Portraits of Hope, the organization behind Garden in Transit, was originally started as a creative therapy program for seriously ill and physically disabled children, but has expanded since then to include children and adults that participate through various organizations like schools and hospitals. The organization reports that 90% of participants in Garden in Transit are from NYC public schools, hospitals and youth programs.
The flower covered cabs will be on the streets through the end of the year.
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what a waste of money....plant some trees instead!
I can't believe this Ask Gothamist question gets answered, yet I can't get an answer as to why all the kids are wearing those I *HEART* NY t-shirts.
I think they are really cool and I love them. Also, #1 misses the point. This project never was about the enviroment, it was about helping seriously ill and disabled children.
And what money is it wasting? It's privately funded and a wonderful project.
*what a waste of money....plant some trees instead!*
Private funds is a waste of money? What do they do in your home town of Minneapolis?
And what money is it wasting?
Give it to a charity instead of wasting it on a taxi, perhaps?
I think they're great. Such a nice change from the sea of taxi cab yellow you'd normally see looking up Park Ave, FDR, et al. And if it's for a good cause? All the more better...
-kcarm
Plant some trees? What a f*in idiot! What, you couldn't even bother to read the description of the project and the fact that its PRIVATELY FUNDED and has nothing to do with mentally incompetent wannabee-environmentalists like yourself. Yeah, tear up the concrete, and plant some trees. That's brilliant.
Here's a great example of private money (Bloomberg and friends) to help New York's poverty:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14009472
GOTHAMIST: Please do a study on using the credit card reader in the cabs. They always LIE and say it doesn't work, and they screw with it when you call them out on it (ie shut off the meter). That would be some very useful journalism, and it's absurd they keep going on strike and continue to pull this crap. The city should crack down on these striking dirtbags.(sorry for the cross post but I want someone to recognize this)
They look like shite! Also, what how does a "garden in transit" help celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the first metered cab? Not sure I understand the concept behind this.
cabbies do not want two things:
tabs when driving someone elses car (gps).
paying taxes (credit card machines).
my friend did this and she was beaming with pride and joy at helping people. I didn't have the heart to tell her that they were ugly as sin, and they were poluting the environment not to mention my eyes. this is the same crap as those painted cows.
"Yeah, tear up the concrete, and plant some trees. That's brilliant."
Sounds pretty good to me. I can think of a few places where this would work.
the "i heart ny" shirts are a cheap alternative (this season) to the traditional all white or all black t-shirts worn by urban kids. You can get 4 "i heart ny" shirts for $10, sometimes less (especially here in the BX). The multiple and also vivid colors the t-shirts come in allow the shirts to be matched with almost any pair of sneakers including very limited edition nike dunks and the like.
Also popular are "I heart BX", "I heart DR", I heart PR" "I heart my Money" and the "Go Heart your own city" shirt from Urban Outfitters (the latter running above $20 dollars and not as popular unless you are a poser)
When I'm stumbling out of a bar at 3am and the world is spinning,
the last thing I want to see is disgusting colored flowers on cabs
I'm trying to hail to get my drunk ass home!!!
this explains why a flower in transit told me to f*ck myself when i was crossing with the "Walk" sign! it was a cab in disguise!
Am I the only one who finds it ironic that these "seriously ill and disabled" children and adults who painted those decals are likely the very same population that can't use the thousands and thousands of non-accessible taxis here in the city?
don't be such jerks. this is as good of a cause as any. jesus- enough with the oh im so funny and smarter than you stupidity you hipster dumb fucks.
taxis suck!
imagine being 8 years old and knowing that a painting you did is helping to change the way the city looks. Sure beats hanging a drawing on the kitchen refrigerator. Fine, you think it's tacky, but its only for 3 months, so have a freaking heart and let 20,000 NYC kids feel proud of the work they've done.
You think it's tacky? What Midwestern/Long Island/Jersey backwater did you crawl out of, provincial fucktard?
Those flower cabs are absolutely FABULOOOUUUSSSSS
The multicolored (blue, purple, etc.) "I [heart] NY" shirts are this year's BAPES jackets.
The decals are ugly, the Gardens of Hope website is full of pretentious claptrap and this is all just a big PR job for Ed Massey.
Having participated as a volunteer with these kids at Portraits of Hope, it is was a great project. In addition painting these, the kids also spend time before talking about issues that they want to change in the world. And yes, they got a huge kick out of the fact that their work was going to be on the city cabs. In actuality, the by-laws had to be changed for this one time project because the NYC yellow cab is an iconic symbol and can't be altered. They are doing it this once and the law says that they can't be changed from any color but yellow for the next 100 years. The kids loved that.
So for all you nay-sayers, when these kids and thousands of volunteers who helped them paint and affix these decals were spending their nights and weekends doing this, what the hell were you doing?
My daughter went to one of the sessions with her school and brought me back to one of their open paint-in nights. Their studio was open to anyone and everyone who wanted to come in and paint (the night I was there I saw a homeless man painting next to an investment banker type).
This is real public art... leave it to elitist New Yorkers/suburban imports to be cynical and ignorant.
Its the revival of flower Power' or a pre-eminent ad for the revival of "Hair", the broadway musical.
A Fan
I just love the yellow cabbies painted in such bright colors - Excellent work. Too bad that the paintings will be removed by the year-end.
Congratulations and all the best to all the artists involved in this project. Thank you !!!
With warm regards,
Carmen
Queens, NY
BUT I TIP WELL
I get a funny feeling,
Which makes me feel a heel,
Though the taxicab is floral,
There's a veggie at the wheel.
There are 12,779 yellow cabs (2006) in New York City. Which is almost triple the amount of the 4,597 (2007) NYC buses which have all been converted to energy efficient hybrids. To convert that many cabs to hybrid or a better solution would cost the Taxi Limo Co. over 400 million. So in the meantime, New Yorkers will have to subject themselves to the constant 24 hour a day soot pollution from these cabs causing smog, VOCs which causes asthma, breathing problems and more. Soot pollution kills 40,000e Americans each year so I wonder how long this flower power disguise will last for these cabs. Soon or later someone will complain and take notice and force the TLC to comply with human standards.