more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a person struck by a train at 14th St. and 8th Ave. in Manhattan, a shooting on Flatbush Ave. in Brooklyn, and a shooting on Houston St. in Manhattan.
• Yet another reason to celebrate: today is the 110th anniversary of Richmond County joining us as the 5th borough of NYC. The Staten Island Advance features a picture of a general store with a wooden Indian in front of it to remind readers what the county was like at the time.
• Queens Crap hands out its annual overdevelopment award. Crappy New Year Councilman John Liu!

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting on Flatbush Ave. in Brooklyn, a high-angle rescue on West 18th St., in Manhattan, and a multi-vehicle accident on Farmers Blvd. and the South Conduit in Queens.
• Hoboken mayor David Roberts was apparently prescient to ask how many stops his SWAT team made on the trip back north--fearing more embarrassing photos of his police force as they returned from relief efforts after hurricane Katrina. Additional pictures of misbehavior have surfaced, this time featuring the town's police chief cavorting in Louisiana.
• Brooklyn native and former heavyweight boxing champ Mike Tyson was sentenced in an Arizona court to 24 hours in jail and three years probation for drug possession and DUI.
• The 2nd Ave. subway got a boost from $1.7 billion in federal funding earmarked for the project over the next seven years.
• New Yorkers aren't just cooler and better looking than the rest of the country, they make a lot more money. The average Manhattanite made more than $2,800 a week in the first quarter of this year.
• Former mayor Rudy Giuliani recommended securing the U.S.-Mexico border via a "virtual" system that would alert authorities of crossings.
• The Washington Post has a guide on how to get to NYC that includes more than "practice, practice, practice." It could be valuable for people wanting to get back to NYC.
• A very helpful guide to long- and short-distance runs in Brooklyn from the Brooklyn Road Runners Club.

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a pedestrian struck on 160th St. and Archer Ave. in Queens, a shooting on East 119th St. in Manhattan, and a construction accident on Flatbush Ave. in Brooklyn, Before anyone accuses A-Rod of greediness for spurning an offer of $30 million a year, let it be known that would make the top-performing athlete a pathetic piker among NYC earners. Maggie Gyllenhaal acclimates to Brooklyn: She isn't comfortable with her... more ›

The police arrested the man who fired the shot that hit a 16-year-old boy who looked outside his window earlier this week. Tavin Alves, a quiet ninth grader who was shot in the head and found slumped against a wall by his 5-year-old brother, was taken off a respirator by his family on Thursday; yesterday, they held a Stop Gun Violence rally. more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a bank robbery on 101st Ave. in Queens, a boat in distress at the Gateway Marina off Flatbush Ave. in Brooklyn, and an "unusual occurrence" on Wall St. in Manhattan.
• Brownstoner notes the arduous bureaucratic effort to get DUMBO landmarked, and developers' rush to build before that can happen.
• The NYPD is initiating TOMS––Total Order Maintenance Sweeps––aboard Metro-North and LIRR trains to deter terrorists commuting from the suburbs, after examining the methods employed in places like Spain and London.
• A 17-year-old kid was shot once in the head and once in the chest in an East Harlem KFC last night. He was declared dead at the hospital.
• A short film showing the anonymous street artist known as Banksy installing his own works inside the Metropolitan Museum, along with identifying placards.
• An upstate teenager from Brewster would've been working double duty with his fake ID if he had one, because the 15-year-old was arrested for driving while intoxicated, and driving.
• Ironically, the itinerant Madison Square Garden that destroyed Penn Station (the good one), could wind up ruining the proposed Moynihan Station at the Farley Post Office building as well.
• Republicans hope to regain an Upper East Side seat, once held by liberal Republican and former Mayor John Lindsay but since surrendered to Democrats, in a special election tomorrow.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a gas leak on Flatbush Ave. in Brooklyn, a shooting on Holland Ave. in the Bronx, and a boat in distress at the World's Fair Marina in Queens.
• Three Staten Island homes were looted following last week's nor'easter that damaged a retaining wall and forced residents to evacuate.
• Pope Benedict will be the third pontiff to visit NYC, but it won't be anytime this year.
• The fire that ultimately claimed the life of a grandmother to 20, as neighbors and family members jumped from upper-floor windows to escape flames, was started by a child playing with a lighter.
• A UPS delivery man was diverting guns addressed to a pistol and rifle range in Chelsea and selling them himself. The man in brown is arrested and the BATF is investigating who wound up with the undelivered packages.
• We're not sure who should be most offended by this: Muslims for having their traditional dress scorned, Elizabeth Wolff, whose editor forced her to dress in a chador all day and then write about it, or NY Post readers, who will soon be asked to fork over an extra quarter to read articles like this.
• Heads up for the young ladies: Joey Buttafuoco has been released from prison, again. If you're a woman too young to know who Joey Buttafuoco is, we are talking to you.
• Massachusetts prosecutors have arrested two Bostonians and charged them with the killing of a New York woman, just recently moved to the city.
• A 13-year-old riding his bike last night was hit and killed by the driver of an SUV that sped from the scene.

Anyone who has attempted to walk or bike from one side of Brooklyn's Grand Army Plaza to another knows that it can be a difficult journey, through which a constantly swiveling head is required to keep an eye on traffic coming from seemingly every direction. The above overhead image shows just a portion of the plaza where five different roads converge in an inner traffic loop, including Eastern Parkway and Prospect Park West, and the entire site is bisected by Flatbush Ave. It's also a destination for pedestrians and cyclists. Aside from the plaza's Memorial Arch and Bailey Fountain, Grand Army Plaza is the northwest entrance to Prospect Park, hosts a weekend greenmarket, and is the location of the main branch of the Brooklyn Public Library. more ›

Manhattan State Supreme Court Justice Joan Madden today declined to issue a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) that would have blocked developer Forest City Ratner from commencing demolitions within the footprint of the “Atlantic Yards” project before the legal challenge to the state’s environmental review and approval of the project, as well as a motion for a preliminary injunction, can be heard in court on May 3rd. more ›

If you've been following along with Gothamist, you'll know that the Splasher has been defacing streetart around the city recently. While many in the streetart community are upset with the Splasher's actions, Swoon has come up with her own solution - redo the pieces the vandal defaced. Sam Horine caught Swoon's pieces in Prospect Heights (around 5th Ave and Flatbush Ave), where you can still see the paint drippings from before she redid the pieces. more ›

Remember all the excitement surrounding the BAM Cultural District around, oh, 2001? Well, the NY Post is reporting that the previous plan for a theater and arts library has been expanded to include a dance studio, public park, museum and gallery, underground parking garage and residential housing. more ›

+ And check out the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum this week. Because of National Design Week, it's free! more ›

Well, Gateway National Recreation Area is right in our neck of the woods, extending in three New York City boroughs and into northern New Jersey. It is a good place to start your quest for the perfect patch of sand and cooling waters. more ›

"One doubles," a lady in line was ordering at the counter of Ali's Roti Shop. Is this some sort of code language that only Caribbeans know? How can you have just one doubles? It turns out that doubles is the essential snack food of Trinidad, and doubles is/are delicious. It starts with a small biscuit-sized disk of fried bread that is slathered with a thick chickpea curry and then topped with another round of bread. This finger sandwich of sorts may sound like a vegetarian dainty, but it packs a wallop. Especially if you ask for the hot sauce, and you should. The turmeric-colored bread is as soft and comforting as a pillow, and at first you might think you're taking a bite out of the Pillsbury dough boy. Then you hit the warming, earthy chickpea mixture, spiked with tamarind, cilantro, and cumin. more ›

FAIR: Tom of Finland Foundation is holding the 6th Annual New York City Erotic Art Fair all weekend. Thousands of works of Erotic Art by artists worldwide will be for sale, or just for looking at (pervert). This includes all media, gender & sexual orientation. There will also be life drawing workshops. The opening reception is tonight, so get the first peek. more ›

Yes, we are aware of widespread reports of a line of 56 Mitzvah Tanks driving slowly through Manhattan. At first, we thought the Hasidim had decided to topple the godless Bloomberg administration in a bloody coup, but then we got this press release from Lubavitcher World Headquarters: more ›

The New York Times City section profiles Domenico DeMarco, who has operated Di Fara Pizza for 40 years. Although pizza has become fast food, he says, "[t]his one is slow food. Anything you do, when you do it too fast, it's no good." Amen to that. more ›