We're halfway through the G train's month-long disappearance on weekends, and naturally there have been horror stories of inconvenient commutes by shuttle bus to under-served parts of Brooklyn and Queens. That Greenpoint blog New York Shitty published a photo series of forsaken commuters waiting for the shuttle bus in Williamsburg, calling it "Waiting for G(odot)," with a dedication to the MTA. And another blogger described an annoying ride on packed shuttle that passed her usual stop by half a block. Nightmare! But not everyone misses the G train, and some wish it would stay disappeared for good.
Is No G Train Better Than Slow G Train?
Video of the Day: 7th Annual Great NYC Commuter Race
Streetfilms had five camera operators covering yesterday’s suspenseful rush hour race between a cyclist, driver and MTA commuter, and they’ve quickly edited together a video of the competition, which takes a bit of inspiration from Mike Figgis’s split-screen movie Time Code, sometimes showing the contestants battling it out simultaneously.
Cyclist Wins Race Against Car and MTA Again
The 7th Annual “Great NYC Commuter Race” went down this morning, with three commuters racing to see who could get from Fort Greene to Union Square during rush hour in the least amount of time. Social worker Jamie Favaro traveled by bicycle; April Green, who works at an art foundation, took a foolish bus/subway combo; and photographer Emmanuel Fuentebella made irresponsible carbon footprints with his car.
Brooklyn Shooting Leaves Teen Dead, Another Injured
A clash between teenagers in Fort Green has left a 16-year-old dead and a 17-year-old injured. The shooting took place around 6PM outside the Whitman-Ingersoll Houses on North Portland Avenue. A 16-year-old was confronted by three other people and shot in the neck and torso.
Pencil This In
EVENT: The American Opera Project has taken on...baseball? Tonight they present Baseball Through The Eye of the Artist. You'll catch some scenes from Daniel Sonenberg's opera-under-development The Summer King. And stick around for Bang The Drum Slowly, "the acclaimed 1973 baseball film that marked the beginning of Robert DeNiro's illustrious film career."
Anniversary Day and the Kids Are Out of School
Students at all NYC schools have a day off today in what is officially noted on the Dept. of Education's calendar as a Chancellor's Conference Day for Staff Development. That dry description actually masks the fact that today's day off from school is a tradition that dates back to 1829 and used to be one of the most widely celebrated holidays in Brooklyn and Queens. Dating back 178 years, Anniversary Day was a school holiday to celebrate and commemorate the founding of the first Sunday School (a de facto Protestant institution at the time) on Long Island. [See our post on Anniversary Day 2006]
Dine in Brooklyn 2007
From beastly brisket sandwiches to Bruni-sanctioned shrines to pork, Brooklyn has established itself as a dining destination worthy of a restaurant week all its own. Now in its fourth year, Dine in Brooklyn (Monday, March 19, through Friday, March 30) offers an opportunity to sample nearly 200 of the borough’s best at $21.12 (honoring Brooklyn’s zip code, ‘112’) for three courses.
Pre-Marathon Roundup: Start Your Engines!
“The guy never even came over to see what had happened,” Ms. Kelly said in a near-whisper. “He got out of his truck and walked away.” As she pleaded for someone to call 911, the driver and some of his colleagues “just stood off and watched,” she said. “Nobody offered anything, nothing like, ‘Can I help?’ That all came from other bikers who came upon the scene.”
Bubble? What Bubble?
Some real estate types are saying that people's best bets for owning a place in the city lie in the Upper East Side (but not really, given how boring and homogenous some areas are), upper Manhattan, and the outer boroughs. Also, rents in chi-chi areas are scarily expensive as well - we're talking $6000/month lofts in SoHo and Tribeca. Leading the boom outside of Manhattan is Fort Green, Brooklyn, Curbed's Neighborhood of the Year, where average prices there were up 35% in 2004.
A Different Kind of Subway Robbery
Where is that Jared when you need him? He could take the pants he no longer needs and use them as a netting to catch the robber.

