The art group collected under the name Flux Factory is being pushed out of their Queens warehouse gallery to make way for the MTA's $6.3 billion East Side Access project. more ›

Food bloggers from around the world are offering delicious prizes as part of Menu for Hope 4. Menu for Hope is an annual fundraising event hosted by Chez Pim. Last year, Menu for Hope raised an incredible $62,925 to help the UN World Food Programme feed the hungry. Want more details? Well, here’s the FAQ. From December 10-21, you can buy raffle tickets to bid on any on the food-related prizes being offered. Tickets cost... more ›

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The police officer accused of killing his ex-girlfriend during an argument on a Queens street was arraigned yesterday. Harry Rupnarine, 38, who joined the NYPD 2 years ago and worked on the transit task force, was charged with second degree murder. Though his lawyer said Rupnarine had family members willing to put up their life savings for bail, Rupnarine was held without bail. Queens DA Richard Brown said, "This is a tragic case from any perspective. A young woman is murdered. A New York City police officer is charged with her death. However, the sad reality is that this was, in essence, a domestic violence incident that occurs all too frequently and illustrates that police officers are not immune from social problems that are endemic in our society.” The NYPD has suspended him without pay. more ›

Since negotiations between the MTA and the TWU started way back in Ocotober the threat of a strike has loomed, and loomed, and loomed. And now the thinkable has happened. After a 25-minute address at the Javitz Center from TWU Local 100 President Roger Toussaint yesterday, more than 6,000 members of the union voted to illegally strike next week if an agreement with the MTA can not be reached in time. more ›

We are giving you fair warning: For better or for worse, in the next two months you are going to hear a lot about the plight of the modern transit worker and the incompetence of the MTA. Why? Because the last-mintue three-year contract that the Transport Workers Union signed with the MTA in 2002 expires at 12:01 a.m. on December 16. Isn't that still a bit off? Yes, but negotiations started yesterday. more ›

The Upper West Side is overrun with mice and rats! Or at least that's the idea you get from a story in the Post, which suggests that you might be able to stop buying the Fancy Feast and let your cats feast on Grade A New York City Rat. Complaints have been coming in fast and furious to 311 and Community Board 7, which says, "They're in the 60s, they're in the 100's. They're everywhere." Most people having been calling mice "rats," and one woman said, "Over the weekend, I heard a shriek coming from a nearby brownstone. Then I heard the homeowners congratulating their cat, Leonard, for catching a mouse." Gothamist wonders if Community Board should adopt some tough, alley-cat types from a local shelter and have a mousing patrol, because supers generally don't do that much. more ›

The first nine of the 164 token booths scheduled for closing will be shut down in April. The Daily News says the first retired booths will include ones in Union Square and Penn Station, and then the remaining booths will close weekly until October. Then, 600 of the clerks will be up and around, helping riders with the Metrocard machines and turnstiles. The Transit Authority emphasizes that even though the token booths are closing, the closures are just at stations where there will be one manned booth (and if you're at an unmanned entrance, there will be an intercom and you can ask to be buzzed in). Gothamist hopes that with these savings, there are more video cameras and monitoring, not to mention police presence, because we agree with 80 year-old Dorothy Francis who told the Daily News, "I can't run from robbers. I need protection in the subway." more ›

And the MTA's fare hikes have apparently caused a ridership decline. Gothamist is worried that the next step is for the MTA to demand the firstborn from monthly Metrocard holders. Gothamist on people hoarding tokens. more ›

New Yorkers always thinks they are the most clever, and the people who, upon hearing that the subway fare would be increased, thought they'd get the best of the MTA by buying tons of tokens at $1.50 and using them when the fare was $2.00. Little did they realize that tokens would no longer be accepted period. The Daily News examines these people and the problem of redeeming the tokens for cash. more ›