Photograph of one of the wooden platform rubbing boards boards at the Kings Highway subway station by Triborough on Flickr In the wake of a 14-year-old's fall into subway tracks after the platform edge crumbled, giving way, concerns are being raised over dangerous platforms at other stations. amNew York listed nine in Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Manhattan: Brooklyn, Q line: - Avenue J: boards are separated from the platform and warped. - Avenue M:......

The LA Times invaded the Big Apple to investigate the amazing fund-raising power of Hillary Clinton in Chinatown. The leading 2008 Democratic contender was able to raise $380,000 during one April fund-raiser - and back in 2004, John Kerry was only able to raise $24,000. Of course, Chinatown is in Clinton's backyard, too. But the LA Times questioned how some donors, like dishwashers or servers, would be able to donate amounts between $500 and......

The hilarity never ends when talking about cell phone service in the subways. The City Council spoke to the MTA about the agency's upcoming cell phone service plans, and apparently some members suggested that there should be "quiet cars" on the subway. We cannot stop laughing! City Councilman Oliver Koppell suggested that quiet cars would be a haven from the chattering masses who would use cell phones in the cars. (Let's not forget that the......

Because September 8, 2009 is 776 days away, let's talk the 2009 mayoral race. The Post reports that Police Commissioner Ray Kelly met with a "political guru" about his chances in the 2009 mayoral race. NYPD spokesman Paul Browne explained that Kelly was at a meeting that was also attended by Republican strategist Scott Reed, but politics weren't discussed. Still, Kelly's seems to be the name mentioned most often these days when speaking of......

There's a fantastic look at a cross-section of Queens residents in the Times today. There's a feature about a Wednesday night class at the James A. Bland Houses in Flushing, where a group of curious and determined residents are learning Mandarin. There's an Italian-American woman who explains, "Kind of like, ‘If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em,'" a few people who simply want to communicate with their neighbors, and an 85-year-old Holocaust survivor who......

After last week's revelation that a Bronx Chinese restaurant allegedly refused a diner's payment of $2.75 when it included 10 pennies and the ensuing media spectacle, the Daily News decided to send one of its reporters to test the penny tolerance of various fast food establishments. Reporter Ethan Rouen traveled to five eateries, including Jesus Taco and McDonald's. Rouen details the "dirty metallic reek" emanating from his hands and pitying stares from employees. But the......

Woe to the Segway commuter: A Brooklyn man who commutes from Brighton Beach to Midtown Manhattan has failed in his attempts to fight a $90 ticket he received while riding the contraption. Jonathan Gleich told the Post, "New York City wants to be green, but to me they're being mean. For me to get to work costs 15 cents instead of two bucks to take the subway. There are never delays, there are never strikes.......

Though the Department of Transportation is touting the fact that pedestrian deaths have dropped from 366 in 1990 to 161 last year, many still think the DOT has a lot of work to do. During a City Council hearing about pedestrian safety issues, amNew York reported that the grandfather of 3-year-old James Jaccaricce, who was killed by a Hummer in Brooklyn, asked, "If the DOT is really concerned about pedestrian safety, why aren't the......

The Drum Major Institute released a study titled "Saving Our Middle Class," which suggests that NYC's middle class continues to be under more and more strain. DMI surveyed a number of city leaders and found: It's harder to enter the middle class: 92% "agree that it is harder to enter the middle class today than it was ten years ago." - They believe middle-class income is now between $75,000 and $135,000 for families of......

As the City Council debated a bill that would open 10 taxi stands in the outer boroughs, the Taxi and Limousine Commissioner Matthew Daus said cabbies wouldn't be interested. Daus says that only 8% of cab rides outside of Manhattan are for non-airport destinations. In fact, his words were actually: "When there's an ocean of water to drink in Manhattan, why would they go for a puddle in the outer reaches of the city?"......

Nineteen-year-old Kevin Brown was senteced to 3 1/2 years in prison for his brutal attack on two Chinese teenagers in Queens. Last summer, Brown and a friend, Paul Heavey, drove up next to a Lexus driven by Raymond Liang, John Lu and other Chinese friends. Brown and Heavey shouted slurs at them and rammed their car into the Lexus. Liang drove away, and when Lu got out to check the damage on the car, Brown......

Feeling the sting of controversy - and perhaps wanting to keep relations with Chinese-Americans warm - after disqualifying a newborn Chinese-American baby born to non-legal U.S. residents in a New Year's scholarship contest, Toys R Us has decided to give all three babies in the drawing $25,000 scholarships. Here's the toy retailer's statement:"We love all babies. We deeply regret that this sweepstakes became a point of controversy. As a result, we have decided to award......

Yesterday, thousands of people walked down Fifth Avenue in to protest a police shooting against three unarmed men. Sean Bell was shot to death just hours before his wedding while his two friends, Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield, were wounded in a barrage of 50 bullets in less than a minute; undercover police claimed they saw a fourth man with a gun. The march was organized by the Reverend Al Sharpton, with the theme......

A week after her spectacularly failed attempt at the Chinese language, Rosie O'Donnell apologized for reducing Chinese to "ching chong" on The View this morning. From People:After running a clip of the offending segment, which originally ran Dec. 5, she said, "This apparently was very offensive to a lot of Asian people. So I asked Judy, who's Asian and works here in our hair and makeup department. I said, 'Was it offensive to you?' And......

Where the hell is Lisa Ling when Barbara Walters needs her? Last week, Rosie O'Donnell commented about the whole Danny DeVito drunk as a skunk on The View by imagining what people in China were hearing: "The fact is that it's news all over the world. You can imagine in China, it's like, ching chong ching chong ching chong Danny DeVito ching ching chong chong ching drunk The View chong."Of course, Rosie's riff has upset......

Today, there's an interesting NY Times feature on City Councilman John Liu which focuses on his zealous ability to have press conferences and issue press releases. Which is exactly what our readers noted when he got into the fight with DJ Star/Troi Torain over Torain's remarks on Hot 97 and when he held a press conference for three of the victims in the Queens hate crime incident last week. In fact, Liu's aggressive or pro-active......

Ah, we were wondering when we'd hear more of Troi Torain, aka DJ Star, the former morning show DJ who threatened to molest and urinate on the 4 year old daughter of a radio rival. Last week, it was announced that child endangerment charges against him would be dropped if Torain performed community service, and it seemed like Torain had settled with his rival DJ Envy's family. But now Torain is filing a $55 million......

Remember DJ Star? In May, he had threatened his morning radio DJ rival DJ Envy's wife and 4 year old daughter with racial slurs and sexual molestation - even offering a reward for where the child went to school. Well, after being fired from Power 105, getting arrested for the threats, and claiming that the hurtful words of other DJs led him to make those comments, a judge dismissed charges against him if he performs......

City Councilman John Liu, who heads the the Council's Transportation Committee, thinks the city should install the countdown signs at traffic lights - you know, the ones that tell you how much time there is until the light changes to red. But the counterargument would be that people underestimate the time it takes to walk across the street. Is that because people think their strides are longer than they really are? It'd be funny to......

Residents and politicians are up in arms over what seems like the latest stupidity from Con Ed: A 9 year old boy got an electrical shock while crossing the street at 127th Street and Malcolm X Boulevard yesterday afternoon. Con Ed did not find any stray voltage at the metal plate (you know, the ones that are on the road because there are potholes or massive digs below), though the original complaint called into Con......

Over the weekend, the NY Times had a story about immigration officials trying to deport a 7 year-old Canadian-born boy back to Canada - even though his mother is an American citizen (and after seeing the article, immigration officials decided to let him stay). Today, there's a story about a Chinese woman that immigration officials are trying to deport - and how their treatment of her could have caused her to miscarry her twins. Backstory:......

The MTA says their current offer is their "final offer" to the Transit Workers Union. And what's the offer? Three percent each year over a three year contract; the union wants 8% more. And benefits-wise, the MTA would ask new hires to pay 1% of their pay to go towards their health plans (workers do not do this now). Finally, the MTA wants to increase the retirement age from 55 to 62 after 30 years......

Mark your calendar for December 1. That's when the City Council will have a public hearing for commuters to complain about the insanity of weekend subway diversions (especially the ones on the L!). City Councilman John Liu, who heads the Council's Transportation Committee says, "We want the MTA to do whatever repair work is required...but the disruptions are so numerous and pervasive that there's serious lack of accountability." True, but will the NYC subway-riding public......

- A building facade collapse in the Lower East Side caused the MTA to reroute the F and V trains; Curbed reports that it was the LoSide diner ...and on the political bent...: - Brian Lehrer's show had lots of good stuff today, with City Councilman John Liu talking about co-op secrecy and John Ravitz from the Board of Elections talking about the voting machines - The Politicker will have telephone exit poll information tonight......

The Chinese food delivery man shot earlier this week by men who robbed him as he made a delivery to a Bronx apartment building died on Tuesday afternoon. Fahua Chen, 52, was shot in the eye as he tried to trap his robbers in the building's vestibule while waiting for the police. The robbers fled, and the police are still looking for them. Hearing about this, hearing that Chen's delivery was for only $9 and......

A 73 year old woman was attached by a 22 year old man while she was practicing tai chi at Kissena Park in Queens. Robert McKeon punched and then dragged the woman to some bushes yesterday morning and tried to rape her. Other parkgoers had called the police, who arrested McKeon after a chase, finding his boxers and sneakers along the way; McKeon was charged with "assault, unlawful imprisonment, rape, resisting arrest, harassment and marijuana......

After the NY Times reminded everyone that the MTA had only spent $30 million out of $600 million that it committed to upgrading subway security over the past few years (this was something that City Councilman John Liu had been outraged about back in March), New Yorkers wondered if the MTA was really concerned with subway security. Gothamist is totally pissed off about the MTA's feet dragging, but we can only assume that the $600......

In the wake of the London blasts, Mayor Bloomberg took the subway after arriving from Singapore, in an effort to show New Yorkers that mass transit was safe. Today, there is supposedly at least one police officer on each train (no word on whether they can pass between cars), as security overall has been stepped up all over the region and country. Helicopters are flying above, bomb-sniffing dogs are on patrol and machines guns......

The rape of an art student at the G train 21st Street stop in Long Island City is upsetting New Yorkers. Not only did a token booth clerk stay in his booth when he saw the attack (he did call for more help), it turns out that a police command booth was empty, because police had complained about air quality issues in the station. The NY Post says that these are actually "anti-terror posts/omega booths"......

Lately, it seems like the NYC subway system just likes fires. For what seems like the umpteenth time in the past few months, a fire in a substation caused a shutdown and New York Region > Harlem Subway Tunnel Fire Forces Evacuation of 600" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/08/nyregion/08blast.html">evacuation of riders on the A, B, C, and D lines, all the way from the Bronx to Brooklyn on some lines. A circuit breaker malfunction (far more serious than a......