Video: Cyclist Contemplates the 46 Traffic Lights in Central Park
Bicyling Teen: Surveillance Video Shows Police Brutality
After Hijacking Yacht, Somali Pirates Kill 4 Americans
Mayor Signing Smoking Ban Today, Last Gasp Set for May 23rd
NYPD Busts Bushwick Gallery Patrons For Drinking Indoors
Senior citizens are outraged at the Queens Botanical Garden, who for the first time is charging the elderly for their plots in the Senior Garden, which some members have cultivated for 45 years. Membership fees recently rose from $30 to $45 a year, and on top of that seniors with plots, often used to grow vegetables and herbs, will have to pay $150 for plots that used to be free. “This is financial extortion,” said Joseph Siegel, 71. But the garden says they need to make the changes to account for budget losses.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Last night—after walking around sans pants all day—Lady Gaga took the stage at MSG for one of her hometown shows (she's there again tonight) which will air on HBO in May. Dan Meade (who took some photographs around MSG of her fans monsters, says, it "all felt like a cross between Harajuku and the Village Halloween Parade. Then, when I realized that we were standing there, cameras poised, waiting for get The Shot of people in Fame Monster outfits... it all started to get way too meta. And Weird. And a little disturbing."
Welcome to the Lunch Quadrant, where we offer you four lunch options (two standing, two sitting) by a given subway stop (in this case, technically two stops). After a trip to the Village today we head further downtown to look at quality lunch options available by Chambers Street on the West side. Specifically, we're going to places near the 1/2/3 and A/C Chambers stops (we'll head East in a later edition).
Today's mid-day links: Hipster Disney heroines, Rush Limbaugh doesn't know what he's talking about, a look inside Frank Gehry's first NYC skyscraper and more. And don't forget to follow Gothamist on Twitter and like us on Facebook.
Come spring (don't laugh, we can dream) cigarette smokers will be formally cast out of NYC parks, boardwalks, beaches, recreation centers, swimming pools and pedestrian plazas. Today Mayor Bloomberg will sign legislation forbidding smoking in public places, punishable by up to a $100 fine. Since the new law is considered unenforceable by many, it's hoped that future legislation will stiffen the penalties for smoking, perhaps mandating public stonings, or at least humiliating "I AM AN INCONSIDERATE SMOKER" sandwich boards.
The Port Authority has been spending the largest percentage of its budget working on the World Trade Center [pdf], so they're calling in a private-sector company to help build an entirely new Goethals Bridge. The bridge currently connects Staten Island to New Jersey over Arthur Kill, and new plans would widen it to six 12-foot-wide lanes and include a 10-foot-wide pedestrian and bike walkway. The Port Authority would have to pay back the winning company the estimated $1 billion over the next 30 years, but they would continue to collect tolls on the bridge. "We are buying a bridge, paying for it over a period of time and getting a guaranteed warranty on it," PA spokesman Steve Coleman said. Hey Port Authority, while you're on a shopping spree, we've got another bridge to sell you...
Here's a neat infographic comparing New York City and Chicago—since we already know which city is better (sorry Chicagoist), this one simply compares the unique qualities of each. A few sections are above, and you can view the full illustration right here. Basically, we have more tourists, more mafia families, we're the most expensive city to live in, and our pizza is subpar. Hmm, we're beginning to think someone in Chicago was behind this thing...
Early Sunday morning NYPD officers bravely rescued two West Point cadets who were stranded in a storm on a cliff on Storm King Mountain upstate. And would you know that the boys were ill prepared for the climb? The cadets were reportedly trying to rappel down a rockface on the eastern side of the mountain but got stranded 500 feet up because they didn't have enough rope.
Water: so boring, so predictable, so Gen X. While you and grandpa are still sucking down bland old water in stone age plastic bottles, Kraft Foods is rolling out the next big thing for the kids: a line of disposable liquid water enhancers called MiO. As this bizarre gay-minstrelsy commercial (eventually) explains, all you need to do "flip it, tip it, sip it!"
The hosts of a Today show had a brief scare when a man apparently lunged at them during a live segment on Rockefeller Plaza. According to the Post, "A deranged Brooklyn man lunged over a set of barricades and tried to approach them." No one was hurt, but "The program immediately went inside the studio where anchor Ann Curry began delivering the news as if nothing had happened."
Scientific studies are ruining everything. First they tell us skinny jeans are bad for us, and now the man purse is on the chopping block. According to a new study (via the NY Post) a weighty man bag may be a quick way to land yourself some back pain and bad posture... or your neighbors calling you "a real fancy boy."
The billionaire David Koch and his brother Charles, who were the subject of an unflattering profile in The New Yorker over the summer, are very involved in politics, having funneled a total of $2 million to mostly Republican candidates in the last election cycle. Their money is also reportedly behind a lot of the Tea Party movement, and they finance the right-wing organization Americans for Prosperity. Yesterday the president of that non-profit (ha) group turned up in Madison, Wisconsin to lecture union protesters who have occupied the Capitol building for more than a week now.
Darn: "Afternoon Tryst" At Le Parker Meridien Is No More
We hope you took advantage of the $250-hourly-room-with-Champagne-and-adult-films package the Le Parker Meridien hotel was offering, because apparently it's over. A front desk clerk told CBS 2 it was a Valentine's Day only special (even though an employee told the Post it was still on this past weekend). But don't worry, we hear the Liberty Inn is just as chic and romantic, and you don't have to pay extra for their six selection in-house adult movie/video system.
Brooklyn residents currently living in F Train Hell can take solace that they aren't the only folks whose commutes are being messed with by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Starting on Monday, February 28, the MTA is closing two Bronx stations on the 6/IRT Pelham line, the Elder Ave. and St Lawrence Ave. stops, for eight months (!). Planned improvements for the stations include new canopies, repairs to stairs and railings, fixed-up floors, new lights and PA systems and a whole lotta structural work.
Amare Stoudemire finally has a star to share Madison Square Garden with: After much speculation, he Knicks have agreed to send Danilo Galinari, Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Timofey Mozgov, their 2014 first round draft pick, and two second-round draft picks (one in 2012 and one in 2013) and $3 million to the Denver Nuggets for Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Renaldo Balkman, Shelden Williams and Anthony Carter. Plus the Knicks will send Anthony Randolph, Eddy Curry and $3 million to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Corey Brewer. The Post reports, "An NBA source said Dolan was hell-bent on getting Anthony to keep him from Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov, who has become a rival. Denver preferred the Nets' draft-pick-laden trade offer until Mozgov was added."
In case you weren't aware, Brooklyn is hip with all the kids. Which means marketing opportunities! The borough has clothing (made in China), gin, Manhattan restaurants, beer, burgers, a farm in Queens and even a hold on a baseball team that hasn't even been a part of the borough for 57 years. Ad man Jason Rapport explains to BrooklynInk, “If Manhattan is filet mignon, Brooklyn is hangar steak. Both flavorful and fine cuts of meats, but some people like their steak a little tougher." And the Bronx is too tough to be anything but a boy's name.
Lest you forget where you are (New York City) and who you are (a very important New Yorker) here is a little sign to help you keep in check—located at 14th Street, it states: Please Do Not Smile At Strangers. Subway Art Blog thinks it may be to help out tourists, who come from places where it is perfectly acceptable to smile at strangers. Maybe the sunshine got to our head over the weekend, but we say go ahead and smile at strangers (how else would Missed Connections get filled up)! Just don't smile at the wrong stranger, like that guy who ties a string around his penis and rubs one out on the subway.
Four Americans were killed by Somali priates who had hijacked their yacht in the Indian Ocean near the coast of Somalia. The SV Quest, which was taken over on Friday, had been shadowed by a U.S. Navy warship. According to CBS News, "Gunshots aboard the yacht were heard, and the warship took action. All 4 Americans were dead, killed apparently by their captors. There were more than a dozen pirates on board, some dead and others captured."
NYPD Internal Affairs is investigating allegations of police brutality related to the arrest of a teenager in a Bronx bodega last Friday night. Surveillance video (below) from the bodega shows the teen, Jorge Cartagena Jr., saying something to an unidentified officer as the cop exits the deli. The cop then whirls around, grabs the teen, and flings him against a shelf of snack food. Moments earlier, outside the bodega, the officer had given Cartagena Jr., 19, a warning about riding his bike on the sidewalk.
Before becoming a fixture on the NYC alt-comedy scene, 27-year old Eliot Glazer was a member of NYU's acapella group and an intern at Conan and SNL. He started blogging his hilarious little heart out in 2006, which landed him gigs as a blogger at Buzzfeed and AOL's "scrappy little brother", Urlesque. While training at UCB, he also co-created the monthly variety show High School Talent Show with his sister and fellow comedian Ilana, which ran for three years.
