As annoying as dealing with the MTA is for everyone, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer wants to make it a little less painful to two sets of vulnerable riders: seniors and the disabled. Today, Stringer pointed out that the current process for senior citizen and disabled customers to replace their reduced-fare Metrocards was "stressful and cumbersome," creating a "dangerous situation" for these very vulnerable riders. So, just how bothersome is the process? more ›

A Prospect Heights man says that when he arrived for jury duty in Brooklyn this morning he was forced to wait outside in 13 degree weather for almost a half hour with many others who were called, including a pregnant woman. The potential juror, who asked that we only identify him as Matthew W., tells us the building was open when he arrived shortly after 8 a.m., and various lawyers and court officers were entering the building. But the guard would not allow those summoned for jury duty to get in out of the cold and wait in the lobby! The Brrrrrrooklyn tipster tells us: more ›

Mark Twain once told a reporter who expected to find him on his deathbed, "The report of my death was an exaggeration." But Mark Twain was also living in a massive house in Connecticut so screw him. 71-year-old Staten Island resident Margaret Arrighetti has been declared dead three times by the Social Security Administration, and according to CBS has been denied prescription medication because of it. When asked what her current status with the SSA is, Arrighetti says, "I will cross my fingers and pray to God that I'm alive." Cogito ero sum, Margaret! more ›

Yesterday the City Council held hearings on three new bills that would require the DOT to "present bike projects to community boards, coordinate with other agencies before implementation, and report back on the results," as Streetsblog puts it. The thing is, the DOT already does this: despite what the anti-cyclist reactionaries would have you believe, existing law already requires CB hearings prior to the installation of most bike lanes (yes, even the Prospect Park bike lane, which opponents falsely claim was rammed down Park Slope's throat). But cycling advocates fear one of the bills could tangle the city's robust bike lane expansion in red tape. more ›

Sure, New York City has a pothole tumblr—The Daily Pothole—that brags about "6,290,591 square yards resurfaced in 2011" but for some residents, the potholes that are ruining their drives and vehicles aren't going to be fixed in a timely manner because the Department of Transportation considers them "street defects." The Post reports that former Taxi and Limousine Commissioner Fidel Del Valle contacted 311 to report potholes in Marine Park, only to be told they were "sinkholes" and therefore they were the responsibility of the Department of Environmental Protection. more ›

After a thorough and time-consuming analysis, the FBI has confirmed what many of us were not wondering: none of the 60,000 Ground Zero workers eligible for Federal aid are currently on a terrorist watch list. Not one! The FBI was required to check all the names due to a stipulation in the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. Rep. Cliff Stearns (R., Fla.) voted to pass the bill only on the condition that the FBI run background checks on anyone who might be getting compensation. If you think it was a pointless waste of time, you're not alone. more ›

Opening a restaurant in New York is, above all else, not easy. Beyond the basic stuff you need to know there are hundreds of hurdles a prospective restaurateur must pass—not to mention thousands of dollars they must spend—before they make it to opening night (which doesn't even come close to assuring success). But it doesn't necessarily have to be this way! Last December the city started to make moves to make the process easier with a program called the New Business Acceleration Team—think of the city's Business Express program, but for restaurants—and the first trickles of a plan are starting to emerge. more ›

Yup, looks like the rumor that the Cooper Square Hotel is going to be sold to the same people who run the Soho and Tribeca Grands is not a rumor. That much was confirmed at last night's relatively short Community Board 3 State Liquor Authority committee meeting (only two and a half hours!). more ›

For three long, confusing years starting in 2006, upstate New York resident June Smith received Medicare statements showing billing for lab work supposedly processed for her. Smith, a 72-year-old female who's had a hysterectomy, was surprised by the statements, because they were for semen analysis, prostate exams, and pregnancy tests! So she got on the phone to let the Medicare bureaucrats known someone was ripping off the government to the tune of $50,000 in bogus billings. Shockingly, she says they weren't very responsive. more ›

The NY Times has a lengthy front page article about the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board based on "18 months attending hearings, reviewing cases and interviewing participants" at the Queens office. Workers from different industries (a construction worker who has fallen from scaffolding, a retail clothing store worked injured while carrying items) "come to the board seeking authorization for medical treatment and replacement wages — in short, a quick and fair resolution from a system set up to replace fractious court fights between employers and employees" but instead find "a subbasement of the legal world, a $5.5 billion-a-year state-run bureaucracy" with "lawyers chatt[ing] on cellphones, crack[ing] bawdy jokes or read[ing] newspapers during testimony" and "expert witnesses... biased to the point of caricature." A lawyer for insurance companies tells the Times, “Comparing Supreme Court, say, to this is like comparing a hospital to a MASH unit. A lot of it is meatball justice.” more ›

The NY State Legislature has long been considered the most dysfunctional state government in the country, and NY Sun has a great article giving weight to that statement: "The Empire State's Legislature employs more people than any other state legislature in the nation." Well, all that dysfunction has to be enabled from someone - or many someones! more ›