"spot on" by ShhPeKo on flickr Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a baby in cardiac arrest on West 96th St. in Manhattan, a shooting on Church and Flatbush Aves. in Brooklyn, and a found grenade on East 196th St. and Bainbridge Ave. in the Bronx. More hand-sifted material has been transported to Fresh Kills, Staten Island. The material does not contain any human remains and is not located on a site that contains landfill.......

A group of influential paisans from Staten Island, drunk on the idea of starting the first vineyard in contemporary New York City, have been on a wine-tasting tour of Tuscany, researching vineyards to figure out the best way to bring their brain-child back to their home borough. Yes, you read that correctly – according to today’s Times, you’ll soon be able to step off the Staten Island Ferry and pick up a bottle of Fresh......

It's the future, now! The Daily Intelligencer posted this Skidmore, Owings & Merrill/SWIM rendering of Freedom Tower's lobby, and finds out from SOM's TJ Gottesdiener that the lobby will shed "light into the memorial pool." Notice how the way light falls in Freedom Tower's lobby mimics how light would fall in the World Trade Center's lobby. It's wild to think there's a lobby rendering - remember when Freedom Tower was just redesign upon redesign?......

When Omar Freilla founded Green Worker Cooperatives, an incubator for eco-friendly worker coops, he set the initial goal of $700,000. “We weren’t even sure how we were going to raise that much,” he said in a recent telephone call. Almost four years later, the organization has raised well beyond their initial goal, thanks to RSF Social Finance and numerous local churches. Environmental justice isn’t new to Freilla. Before founding GWC, Freilla spent his days as......

Staten Island is not having a good week. In addition to the outrage over the weird ad copy appearing in part of a Virgin Mobile campaign, the borough’s president has also called for an ice cream boycott. Last Friday, a perturbed James P. Molinaro wrote a letter to Scott and Kim Myles, husband and wife co-owners of the Queens-based 5 Boroughs Ice Cream company. Someone had shown Molinaro a copy of a flyer printed off......

A number of documents were filed yesterday in the lawsuit against the city by family members of 9/11 victims who want the city to search the debris on Staten Island for human remains. Among the affadavits filed was one by Erick Beck, a recycling supervisor, who stated that some of the finely sifted debris taken by the Department of Sanitation was used to "pave roads and fill in potholes, dips and ruts." Beck, whose company......

The planned makeover of Washington Square Park inched closer to reality yesterday following a decision by the state appeals court. The new ruling lifts an injunction imposed last summer in response to allegations that the Parks Department had not sufficiently disclosed its renovation plans to Community Board 2, The Landmarks Preservation Commission, and the Art Commission. The Sun says the plaintiffs will appeal the decision, but The Times says they're not so sure. Two other......

Politicians believe more names need to be mentioned at the World Trade Center Memorial Museum. Assemblyman Michael Gianaris of Queens and State Senator Marty Golden of Brooklyn will be introducing a bill that would ask that the names of deceased Ground Zero workers be included. Jimmy Nolan, carpenter who worked at Ground Zero tells the Daily News, "I'm a carpenter who's now allergic to wood. I was there for my country and my city, and......

If at first you don't succeed... dig a big trench and wait for the next high tide. Bill White, president of the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum announced yesterday that the Intrepid aircraft carrier is scheduled to be moved to Bayonne next Tuesday. The first attempt to move the ship on November 6th ended after only a few feet of movement as the 36,000 ton carrier's propellers got stuck in the mud. The......

WNBC has the only known video of September 11 terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui; it's taken as he is being transferred to to his maximum security prison in Colorado A man was killed under an E train around 34th Street The City still won't look for World Trade Center remains in the debris that was sent to Fresh Kills A mistrial was ordered in a Colombo mob trial -- the jurors were deadlocked and three of......

With the surprise discovery of human remains in a manhole at Ground Zero on Thursday, the city said they would start a new search for remains of September 11 victims. The contractor who realized that the debris found on Thursday was human remains spoke to the Post:"By the grace of God, I found the bones. I looked at what looked like bones, but it was muddy stuff. It might have been lumber. It turned......

There were hopes that the Department of Environmental Protection would be able to figure out the very gaseous smell that plagued Staten Island on Tuesday. But DEP testing cannot determine the origin of the stink, which the Staten Island Advance described as "though everyone had left their stoves on" and "similar to that of the chemical artificially added to natural gas to allow people to smell a leak." Hmm, no traces of a big spill......

We never thought it would happen, but shows what we know. The 2,200-acre Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island really is going to be turned into New York City's largest park. The Parks Department has already put 14 feet of soil over the dump since 2001 and is now ready to start giving tours! Fresh Kills Park will be nearly triple the size of Central Park and is expected to take more than 30......

New York Magazine decides to look at the city in the year 2016 in terms of architecture and real estate development - and how that'll impact New Yorkers. It's a great look at how drastically the city could change in ten years, which is all overwhelming, exciting, and kind of scary, because for every rendering of glassy buildings, what does that mean for the neighborhoods? Are they plans for more affordable housing to meet......

Yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg presented a $52.7 billion budget for 2007 with measured spending, in spite of a $3.4 billion surplus. He said the city had to anticipate slowdowns in real estate and from Wall Street, plus rising gas prices, with budget deficits in 2006, 2009 and 2010 possible; another concern is being able to address the rising cost of city employees benefits, so he's spending a few billion now to "reduce long-term costs." The budget......

- Really? NYU banned showing those controversial Danish cartoons at a campus talk called "Free Speech and the Danish Cartoons?" - Four teens are being charged in that NYU hit and run. - The Post and one spicy divorce lawyer go after the restaurant they like to call "Toxic on the Green." - Thinking about how to use, and not use, the McCarren Pool. - Shockingly,Eliot Spitzer doesn't think Pataki shows "leadership." And? -......

Have you heard of the Brooklyn Rock Festival? Neither did we, until now. It appears to be just three shows at three different bars, with one kickoff party - so the $25 pass could be worth it if you like at least 80% of the bands. Or something. Our math is a bit rusty. We do know that we haven't heard of 80% of the bands though. Here's the lineup... Thursday, February 16th @ Zabloski's......

In case you missed our reminder last weekend, this weekend is Open House New York. Some of the sites requiring reservations are already full, but with so many sites available for touring, there's almost something for everyone. This year, OHNY boasts over 150 sites on their list with sites all over the five boroughs. Last year, Gothamist went to a lot of cemeteries, which can be a little morbid (yet historically so), so this year,......

Later today, as you're stumbling to the next bar, when you pass the little kids and somewhat bigger ones who have the middle-age spread wearing taped-up spectacles and wizard hats, you'll know that you have entered the Harry Potter Zone. The sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, is being released tonight at midnight, and as there is nothing that the media likes better than getting quotes from kids, don't expect to escape unscathed.......

Now that the northbound Henry Hudson Parkway is open for business again after the city cleared away dirt that had collpased from a retaining wall, the focus is on who will pay for the repairs and cleanup. The NY Times reports that the city hopes to recoup the untold millions, most likely from Castle Village, the private co-op whose responsibilities include maintaing the wall. An insurance agency tells the Times that the apartment's liability insurance......

This is so great. Mayor Bloomberg is looking to put a new garbage transfer station on East 91st Street, right in the heart of City Council Speaker Gifford Miller's turf. And it's no ordinary garbage - it's solid-waste. The Mayor's plan would involve taking NYC's trash out by barge, a practice that has stopped with the closing of the Fresh Kills landfill. Upper East Siders protested the plan, with shirts that said "Stop" and signs......

Snapple, the "official" drink of New York City, has pulled a joke on their website that was made at Staten Island's expense. Question: "The most recognized smell in the world is -----?"Answer: "No, it's not Staten Island. It's coffee." Gothamist found it pretty funny, but we can see how it might not be the best joke if you're in a marketing partnership with the city and you're supposed to be marketing New York City around......

Controversy or not, the final bid for New York City's bid for the 2012 Olympics is in. The 600 page proposal covers every detail of the City's bid and is due to the International Olympic Committee on Monday. The bid, which has events all over NYC, including Fresh Kills landfill as a mountain bike site, is not without controversy. It hinges on the new West Side stadium for the Jets which would serve as the......

Mayor Bloomberg is proposing that the 2,200 Fresh Kills landfill be transformed into a Olympic park as the City finalizes its Olympic bid. Wow - the Mayor and his cronies never run out of ways to turn straw into gold! The Mayor, joined by Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro, City Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden and Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe, presided over a demonstration of "Mountain Biking and BMX, the Olympic Games' newest, exciting sport,"......

Dean Olsher, The Next Big Thing...

Mayor Bloomberg announced the city's plans to turn the closed Fresh Kills landkill into a park. The Times points out that the landfill is "a garbage dump site that is so large it can be seen from space," which is why it's a sensitive and important issue for Staten Islanders...especially Staten Islanders who can vote. Reporter Michel Cooper describes the city's renderings of a Fresh Kills Park as "Monet using Photoshop" or Andrew Wyeth-like. Staten......