Photo: Food of the Future The East Williamsburg Moore Street Retail Market is one of four remaining city-run public markets built during the tail end of the Depression; opened by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia in 1941, the Brooklyn market was created to clear the streets of unhygienic peddlers and monitor the scales for customers. Today the market is occupied by 13 vendors selling mostly tropical produce, roots and other ethnic foods to the local......

Plans to renovate Pier A, the last remaining pier on the lower west side, are staggering forward again. The Victorian-era three-story pier was built immediately after the Brooklyn Bridge, using much of the same equipment, and was once one of the city’s proudest points of entry, boasting visits from boldface names like Amelia Earhart and the Queen of England. Today it’s a dilapidated eyesore that clashes with the rest of the lavishly rehabilitated west......

Luxury cruise line Cunard has many ships, but last night was the first time that its Queen Mary 2, Queen Elizabeth 2, and new Queen Victoria ships were in the "same port at the same time." And the port was the NewYork Harbor, under fireworks and gaze of the Statue of Liberty. Cunard scheduled the three ships' departures to coincide for this one time, an event two years in the planning, requiring logistics planning......

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......

According to Carousel News, "The New York City Economic Development Corporation (“NYCEDC”) is seeking a consultant or consultant team for restoration and reconstruction of the historic B&B Carousell." Of the many wooden carousels that adorned Coney Island, this is the last remaining one -- and was purchased by the city for $1.8 million two years ago. When it was last operational, it stood near the old entrance to Luna Park, surrounded by furniture shops. To......

A city may be putting the kibosh on Thor Equities' ambitious plan to transform Coney Island. The Daily News has an exclusive: A "high-ranking city officials" says the plan is "dead in the water." Apparently the city is bothered on a few counts: The fact that Thor wants $100 million in subsidies (there's no guarantee Thor won't sell the land after getting the zoning it wants) and its plan for time-share hotel space. From......

Ooh. The Post reports that Economic Development Corporation president Robert Lieber flew to Denmark to met with representatives of Tivoli Gardens, the 164-year-old Copenhagen amusement park, about the possibility of some Tivoli Gardens action in Brooklyn. The Post's headline? "TASTY APPLE DANISH FOR CONEY IS." Lieber says that Tivoli management is interested in Coney Island and that he and other EDC officials wanted to from Tivoli's success. He said a Tivoli branch in Coney......

Controversial plans for high-rise luxury condos at Coney Island have now been scrapped, with developer Thor revising its plans to instead include a glass enclosed water park and hotel space. The city's planning department was very concerned with condominiums being included in the plan, but Thor had argued condos would be critical in keeping the project profitable. Now Thor CEO Joseph Sitt explained, "This is our way of being responsible and putting out an......

With NYC's three major airports near full capacity and flight delays rising due to overcrowded runways and increased security regulations, Mayor Bloomberg is concerned that the city's lack of speedy entrance and egress by travellers to and from the city will start to stifle economic growth. Of the many proposals put before him, the mayor is apparently putting his weight behind one that would turn the city's waterways into runways by allowing seaplanes to land......

The NY Sun reports that the New York Aquarium has selected a plan for its redesign. The Wallace Roberts & Todd and Cloud 9 design has a dramatic "wavy, cage-like enclosure." NY Times critic Nicholas Ouroussoff said it resembles a whale last October when the design, along with two others, were announced as finalists. The Wildlife Conservation Society (which oversees the aquarium along with the city's zoos) is working on details of funding and......

Oh, to be a child again! The NY Times has a story about the city's efforts to develop a new playground concept for lower Manhattan. The city has been working with designer David Rockwell on a playground that would include things like foam blocks, water, cardboard tubes, burlap bags, ramps, climbing nets and even "play workers" to help kids, uh, play. Developers of the Lower Manhattan project envision groups of children collaborating, for instance,......

At Our Lady of Refuge Roman Catholic Church in the Bedford Park section of the Bronx, where for decades parishioners have rallied to denounce neighborhood drug dealers, people gathered last summer to demonstrate against an enemy that deals in digital cameras, toasters, shower curtains and thousands of other products. Where's Reverend Billy? That quote is from today's NY Times article about people trying to stop a Wal-Mart from coming to the Bronx. Nevermind that......

So, Battery Martime Building, which has been under renovations for the past few years, may become NYC's new enclosed greenmarket space. Or at least that's what the NYC Economic Development Corporation is hoping. While there may be challenges with its more remote location - and whether or not there are even enough people to sustain it, the NYC EDC and Community Board 1 think there's a great opportunity considering the lack of grocery stores downtown.......