Results tagged “cityhallstation”

After a year of build up, the NYC Subway system officially turns 100 today. We love how the NY Times' Randy Kennedy starts his feature about the subway's 100th year (which has some nice interactive features as well):

For a New Yorker just one day shy of turning 100 years old, the subway kept crazy hours yesterday. In other words, there were no hours it did not keep. As its neighbors around the world locked up their stations and turned out their lights, the subway started a new day, just as it has more than 36,000 times since Oct. 27, 1904.

Of course, Gothamist is worried that the subway will no longer be the 24 hour party animal with looming budget problems, but we're going to try to stay focused on the wonders the subway does bring us. Today, Mayor Bloomberg, Governor Pataki, MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow, Ms. Subways, and other dignitaries will take a nostalgia train from City Hall Station, to reenact the first subway ride 100 years ago to the day by Mayor McLellan. They will be riding in this train, the Lo-V train, to 42nd Street. And City Hall station was recently reopened for the event, though it's just a temporary opening; here's a gallery of City Hall station, which is a truly dazzling station (chandeliers!) and makes Gothamist wish it could be open permanently. And the Straphangers are offering a slice of Junior's cheesecake to the first 100 people to sign a birthday card to the subway at the Municipal Arts Society's Urban Gallery (457 Madison Avenue at 51st Street) starting at 1:30PM in Midtown, according to Newsday.

As part of the centennial celebration of NYC subways, the MTA brought back the Ms. Subways competition, which had been Miss Subways and dormant since 1976, and crowned Caroline Sanchez-Bernat, an actress from Morningside Heights, the new Ms. Subways. The Post says Sanchez-Bernat takes the C train, and part of her duties will include riding the special centennial train at City Hall Station with Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Pataki tomorrow as well as being on MTA posters, which Gothamist expects New Yorkers to lovingly deface. The new Ms. Subways contest was sponsored by the NY Post, and the finalists are very NY, representing the multi-culti fabric of our city. Entrants had to answer the questions "Why are you proud to be a New Yorker?", "Why do you think that you deserve to be Ms. Subway 2004?", and "Why is the subway important to you?" Gothamist read Sanchez-Bernat's mini-essays and we liked why the subway was important to her:

...I can rely on it to get me safely to work in the morning and home at night. It's also my favorite place to people watch. Where else can you see fifteen different ethnicities represented on one subway car? The more I ride the subway the more I learn about what it is to be a New Yorker...

Oh, Gothamist is kinda teary-eyed over that! We're appreciative of the "I Love NY" and "I Love The Subways" aspect of Ms. Subways, but in terms of competition, it's not America's Next Top Model.

The NY Times points out that the huge financial problems were foreseen and that the blame can be attributed to both NYC mayors and the governor, but Governor Pataki wields the most power when making decisions about the MTA, and we feel one of the worst ones was Chairman E. Virgil Conaway who "adopted a new capital program, without any new sources of aid, that relied more heavily on borrowing than in the past." Really, the article is depressing, but Gothamist strongly urges you to read the article and become familiar with the names of officials involved, because on the election day, perhaps you'll be able to vote for Assembly members and State Senators who have our interests at heart. For a lucid explanation of the fare hike, look at this Straphangers' press release. The Straphangers also have this handy page that explains how can get involved in telling your elected leaders/MTA officials what you think.