Results tagged “dandoctoroff”

Mayor Bloomberg and the New York City Office of Emergency Management have announced 10 winners in the contest to design temporary housing for the thousands of New Yorkers who might be displaced in the event of a catastrophe, like a direct hit from a Category 3 hurricane. The 117 submissions from 30 countries had to create quickly assembled housing for 38,000 families from Prospect Shore, a fictional neighborhood set along a mile of the New York City coastline.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a water condition at Surf Ave. and West 8th St. in Brooklyn, a car vs. building at 49th St. and 5th Ave. in Manhattan, and a fatality with a person under a subway train at Sutter and Snediker Aves. in Brooklyn.
• The editors at The New York Times apologize for asserting that Presidential candidate Ron Paul was allied with white supremacists and the American Nazi Party.
• Racked notes that the much-anticipated Uniqlo sample sale was a total bust because everything had already been sold in a pre-sale to PR types and members of the press.

The proposed expansion of the Jacob J. Javitz convention center is essentially dead in the water as government officials admitted that the amount of money it would cost to undertake the project would not be worth the marginal return on investment that additional tax revenues would provide. Empire State Development Corporation chairman Pat Foye testified that about half of the expansion plan's $1.6 billion budget would be consumed just making repairs to the existing Javits structure.

New York City's Conflict of Interest Board ruled that there was no problem in Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff continuing to work with real estate developers on multi-billion dollar real estate projects while a city employee, even though he'll be shortly negotiating with these same developers as a private citizen and President of Bloomberg LP, the Mayor's media corporation. According to the New York Post, the board cited "extraordinary circumstances" and said that Doctoroff's negotiations on behalf of the city with Vornado Realty Trust regarding the development of the Hudson Yards and Moynihan station were allowable. Doctoroff recently announced that he will be leaving his City Hall job for the position of President of Bloomberg LP. That company will be negotiating with Vornado for additional space at the building that houses Bloomberg LP's headquarters on Lexington Ave., since Vornado owns that building. The Conflicts of Interest Board gave its blessing on the condition that Doctoroff have no direct dealings with Vornado for a year after he leaves his position as Deputy Mayor.

Mayor Bloomberg's generosity has been noted from educational institutions (like his alma mater Johns Hopkins) and even city organizations (like the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation). He gave staffers on his re-election campaign payouts as big as $300,000-400,000. And when Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff announced he would leave City Hall to become president of the mayor's business, Bloomberg LP, it suggested that the Mayor rewarded staffers he trusts. Well, the NY Times now looks at how some Bloomberg aides' salaries have grown since taking the government jobs in City Hall.

Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff, who was in charge of Economic Development and Rebuilding in the Bloomberg administration, announced he would resign by the end of the year. The Post called the news "stunning," but we'd like to call it "classic," because his new job will be president of a little company called Bloomberg LP. At a City Hall press conference, Mayor Bloomberg said, "As a result of Dan's efforts, we've allowed for the creation of...

Yesterday, Governor Spitzer, Mayor Bloomberg, MTA CEO and Executive Director Lee Sander and other officials kicked off the extension of the 7 line by unveiling a new sign in Times Square pointing the way to Hudson Yards. Ah, nothing like putting in signs for things that won't be ready for years - the 7 will reach 34th and 11th Avenue in 2013. The 7 line extension will cost $2 billion for the 1.5 miles...

A storefront at the corner of Vanderbilt Avenue and 43rd Street (across from Grand Central) may be a window into the future of the West Side Rail Yards. The MTA unveiled an exhibition of the five proposals to redevelop the rail yards on the Far West Side of Manhattan, and the public will get a chance to see the models every day (except Thanksgiving) through December 3. And what's more, the MTA wants the...

Another over-the-top Coney Island development proposal is in the works. Mayor Bloomberg unveiled a plan today to build the nation's biggest urban amusement park there, including 4,500 residential units (20 percent are set-asides for low- and middle-income housing) and some retail establishments. The proposal basically spells doom for Thor Equities' $1.5 million Vegas-style entertainment complex that can only get built if the city provides zoning for it. Don't worry, the Cyclone isn't going anywhere....

Were safety concerns about the Deutsche Bank's demolition ignored by aides to Governors Pataki and Spitzer and Mayor Bloomberg? That's what the NY Post is reporting, as the investigation into the August fire that claimed two firefighters lives continues.

Seething over their many, ignored complaints about new construction at 808 Columbus Avenue, residents of Park West Village held a rally to demand an investigation. All 280 apartments at one Park West building, 784 Columbus, were evacuated when a retaining wall collapsed at the 808 site on Wednesday night. However, there were a number of calls to the Department of Buildings from 784 residents, complaining that the building was shaking as workers blasted in the 808 site.

The New York Times notes an interesting and under-stressed part of Mayor Bloomberg's congestion pricing plan that would charge drivers $8 for entering a certain zone in midtown and lower Manhattan: the plan is also going to charge drivers $8 to leave midtown and downtown Manhattan. The Times seems to think that charging drivers to exit a proposed congestion zone is counterintuitive, prompting Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff to admit that congestion pricing has less to do with reducing congestion, than just getting people not to drive in Manhattan at all.

Let's paraphrase what we wrote yesterday: How is it again, with Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff and Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan riding their bikes, that NYC remains a bike-unfriendly city? Yesterday, two bicyclists died in separate incidents in Brooklyn and the Bronx. At 9AM, 18-year-old Luis Ramos was biking to his job at George's Spanish and American Restaurant when a woman opened her car door in his path on Flushing Avenue near Beaver Street. The Post describes that "Ramos slammed into the door, flew over his handlebars and fell into traffic, where a school bus ran over him." Ramos' brother Lucas had been biking about two blocks behind him and saw the police at the scene. He said, "I ran over to him to hug him. But the cops told me not to touch him." Ramos was pronounced dead at Woodhull Hospital and the police did not issue any summons.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a water rescue at Emmons Ave. and Knapp St. in Brooklyn, a serious assault on West 37th St. and 11th Ave. in Manhattan, and a bank robbery on Flatlands Ave. in Queens.
• The body of the Ecuadorian man who was killed in a bar fight earlier this week will be returned home at the expense of a businessman, also from Ecuador, who appreciated the man's abbreviated attempt to support his family from abroad.
• The woman thought to have been trying to throw herself from the Staten Island Ferry in a suicide attempt was actually just drunk.
• Showing up subway-riding Mayor Bloomberg, Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff commutes to work on his bike. How is it again, with bike-riding DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, that NYC remains a bike-unfriendly city?
• Woody Allen is trying his hand at opera, from the safe distance of LA. He'll be staging one act of Puccini's three-part "Il Trittico" for the Los Angeles Opera company.
• A jury found that the author who published under the name JT Leroy did defraud a film company and she's been ordered to pay damages.
• The Snapple Theater Center has renamed the space currently hosting a revival of "The Fantasticks" The Jerry Orbach Theater.
• Politics reach a new level of childishness as Giuliani says of Bloomberg: He's copying me.

The Parks Department says that there are approximately 500,000 street trees decorating New York's five boroughs. That number is based on a 1996 survey. Another tree census was conducted last year and The New York Times puts the current number at nearly 592,000, out of a total of 5.2 million trees in the whole city. The new decade-long tree-planting project would add 210,000 street trees around the city.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: shots fired early this evening on Blake Ave. in Brooklyn, a homicide/suicide on 225th St. in Queens this afternoon, and a sexual assault early this morning on West 120th St. in Manhattan.
• City Council Speaker Christine Quinn wants black activist Sonny Carson stricken from the list of nominees for proposed street names because she thinks he was divisive and anti-white. Former Black Panther and current Brooklyn Council Member Charles Barron disagrees with the exclusion, noting that Brooklyn is full of streets named after racists and slaveholders, and calls Carson a hero.
• City Council members will vote on a proposal to restrict the growth of pedicabs in the city the day after Earth Day (Sunday the 22nd). Opponents hope the proximity of the two events will sway Council Members in favor of the pedicabs.
• The founder of the Zone Chefs diet service plead guilty along with several mobsters of running a boiler-room stock scheme designed to thin investors' wallets.
• Mayor Bloomberg reactivated a portion of the Staten Island Railroad in order to shift waste transfer from New York to New Jersey away from trucks and towards rail transport.
• Rep. Jerrold Nadler and City Councilwoman Gale Brewer are two more politicians who wrote letters in support of a class trip to Cuba, that wasn't actually a school event and that no one knew anything about at the time.
• Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff says the plan for a Santiago Calatrava-designed gondola is still in the works. The elaborate cable car system would transport passengers to and from Manhattan and Brooklyn via Governors Island.
• Despite pouring boiling water all over his victim to destroy DNA evidence, the Washington Hamilton Heights rapist did leave some at the scene and the police are in possession of it.
• The Tom Cruise-hosted fund-raiser to support a 9/11 rescue worker detoxification program isn't until tomorrow, but the City Council has already issued a proclamation honoring the late Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard for contributing his vitamin and sauna therapy program to the world.

It's been 33 years since the last Second Avenue Subway groundbreaking, so it's high time for new generations of straphangers to revel in the hope of a new subway line. We also expect the public -- especially the Upper East Side-residing public -- to become jaded with construction delays, traffic issues, and noise. Here's the press release from the MTA:

Tomorrow morning's historic groundbreaking ceremony for the Second Avenue Subway can be seen by all New Yorkers live on NY1, beginning at 10:30 a.m. The groundbreaking ceremony will take place in one of the subway tunnels built under Second Ave. in the 1970s but never used. Due to the limited capacity of the tunnel, the MTA arranged for the live broadcast with NY1 and will open its board room at 347 Madison Avenue for members of the public to join MTA staff for a public viewing and celebration.

Continue reading "Second Avenue Subway Groundbreaking Day!"

• Today on Gothamist Newsmap: a bank robbery at East 238th & Katonah Ave. in the Bronx, a triple stabbing on 34th Ave. in Queens, and a Fire Dept.-involved multi-vehicle accident at Utica & St. John's in Brooklyn.
• Officer Jarred Barretti talked a man perched on a midtown Manhattan ledge out of jumping. They had a sort of rapport as Barretti had arrested the same man in Queens three months earlier.
• Mayor Bloomberg doesn't know if metal bats are more or less dangerous than wooden bats, but he's going to veto the City Council's ban on them. The City Council appears to have more than enough votes to override the Mayor's veto.
• Matthew Titone, the newly elected and first openly gay Assemblyman from Staten Island, has a construction worker boyfriend who's still in the closet as far as his hardhat co-workers know.
• No need to wait for "Legally Blonde" to open on Broadway, its giftshop is open and selling LB yoga pants.
• Why does Dan Doctoroff hate the children? Plans being discussed for 35-story tower to replace a playground.
• NY vs. NY in '08? Rudy and Hillary outperforming respective rivals in early polls of "Super Duper Tuesday" states.
• Bello the Ringling Bros. clown got his bike back from good samaritan Ricky Robinson, who found it on the street.
• A paraplegic man charged with assault who broke his hip when guards let his wheelchair tip over during transport is suing the city. Also, a paraplegic man was charged with assault in 2004.
• They Might Be Giant's performing two nights at Joe's Pub in May during "secret warm-up tour" for their new album.

It's on the cool side but today is the first full day of spring. While winter temperatures linger a day longer than they're supposed to let Gothamist entertain you with links to giant mutant snowflakes and snow donuts. Let us assure you that there is no snow in the forecast. There's a slight chance of light rain mixed with sleet late tonight, but no snow.

Post reports that building and construction permits are down this year. Some figures:

- Other world cities, many of which are competitors with New York for business investment and job creation, are moving aggressively to reduce the burden that traffic places on economic activity.The report recommends that the city investigate adding a congestion tax for cars, as well as increasing parking fees, adding more ferry service and designing better freight loading facilities.

Sometimes we think deputy mayor Dan Doctoroff is a little nuts. Take for instance his newest brain-child: The New York Harbor District. Whereas most official districts in the city are defined by geographic proximity and commercial interests the Harbor district, which recently formed an advisory board and is seeking a director and consultants to help define it, will include Governors Island, the Statue of LIberty, Ellis Island, parts of the Brooklyn waterfront Battery Park City.

- The Deutsche Bank might collapse as workers are still trying to clean it up

And once again Moynihan Station has hit a bump in the road. The Times today has a story on the newest set of roadblocks for the oft-delayed station. After years of delays the problems plaguing the station can still be summed up in one word: Politics.

They say that history repeats itself, but this is re-dunk-u-lous. Moynihan Station, the long-planned Penn Station expansion into the Farley Post Office that is intended to make up for the destruction of the late, great, original Penn Station (above) hasn't even been built yet but developers are already vying to build a new Madison Square Garden on top of and around it. And yes, this would be MSG number 5 for those of you keeping count at home.

"New York might need an extra million or so slices of cake for its 400th birthday party in 2025."

Today's Times takes a long look at possible futures for the city's next big thing: Governors Island. The 172-acre island just off the southern tip o' Manhattan, Dan Doctoroff's newest playground, is ready for some serious redevelopment the money for which is finally starting to come in.

So this had already been kinda mentioned, but in case you were worried what Bloomberg and Dan Doctoroff were going to focus on next now that the West Side Stadium and the Olympics are dead (and assuming Blooms wins the election) the Daily News has the answer for you: Governors Island.