Kickball players, rejoice: City Councilman Stephen Levin is putting $930,000 towards fixing the constantly-flooded McCarren Park. One softball player tells DNAinfo, "It's a nuisance, but it's also become a part of the landscape. People ride their bikes through it, kids are dying to play in it and the parents are like, 'Don't go in there!' because it's so dirty," and reveals she and her friends call it "Hipster Lake." Another park visitor's dog "sat vomiting after slurping up a fetid puddle." more ›

This weekend we looked at an old traffic congestion solution that involved draining the East River in 1924. Turns out that about 10 years later, a similar plan to pave over the Hudson River was proposed. Modern Mechanix has an article detailing the $1 billion project, which would have involved plugging up the Hudson at both ends of Manhattan and diverting the water into the Harlem River "so that it might flow out into the East River and down to the Atlantic Ocean." The drained portion would be filled, connecting the Island of Manhattan with... New Jersey! more ›

In this issue of Popular Science, circa 1924, there's an article discussing New York's traffic problem — which at the time was reportedly causing the city to lose over $1M a day. One proposed solution: drain the East River and convert it into a 5-mile system accommodating roadways and the subway, while also providing parking spaces in garages and housing city centers. more ›

The Bronx swamp's green water is glowing because the Department of Environmental Protection put dye in it to figure out where the water was coming from, NY1 reports. The waterway formed over abandoned freight train tracks, but it's nowhere near as glamorous as the High Line. The sanitation department has been cleaning out the trash, and the network reports that on August 22nd the city starting pumping out the water, even though they still don't know who owns the property. Locals seem to be happy with the progress, and one told them, "I am still getting bitten by mosquitoes, because as they clean it there are still mosquitoes. But it is getting cleaner now." The city is researching putting a drainage system in; as for the mystery of where the water is coming from, one man says, "There in that tunnel, I remember when I walked under there was running water on the walls. I believe it could be a river or a natural stream that actually may be running and pouring water in. The water was clean, crystal clear. As they were pumping it out, it became more and more clear." more ›