At around 10 a.m. this morning, a driver lost control of her car and ended up in the Hudson River near 94th Street. She managed to get out of her car and was fished out of the water two blocks north. more ›

A recent review of complaints shows that the city's toll booth clerks may not be the worlds nicest people. The Port Authority recorded just 24 complaints and the MTA 153 in the past 19 months, and most of them revealed much more serious problems than just miscounted change. At least no one has pulled a gun... yet. more ›

A Greyhound bus' roof was sheared off when the driver ignored signs about an overpass that was lower than the bus' height. Passenger William Tedeschi said, "All that we heard was a big rip coming from the front to the back. I thanked God I was alive -- I was so scared." more ›

Police arrested a man for allegedly starting a fire that disrupted traffic along the Henry Hudson Parkway yesterday. The blaze required 60 firefighters to extinguish. While no one was injured, but the median between the north- and south-bound parkways were blocked for an hour as 12 FDNY units were required to put out the urban wildfire. more ›

A doctor who practices in NJ with admitting privileges at New York Presbyterian Hospital. His 94-year-old mother. Her $832,453 savings. And a wall collapse in Upper Manhattan. In a case Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau called "a mini-Astor case," Dr. Robin Motz was accused of stealing his mother's savings since 2003. more ›

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a commercial robbery on Atlantic Ave. in Brooklyn, a suspicious fire on Renwick St. in Manhattan, and an "air-mail incident" at Union St. and Franklin Ave in Brooklyn. We can't wait to hear what that possibly means. Six men were murdered Saturday morning in New York City. Separately! The Times reports that patrons of the Bohemian Hall and Beer Garden don't know what they're enthusiastically drinking to at a... more ›

Police are investigating the murder-suicide of an 18-year-old woman and a 40-year-old police officer. When 7-year veteran officer Fred Maselli didn't show up for work at the 34th Precinct, his colleagues were sent to his apartment at 3611 Henry Hudson Parkway West to investigate and found Maselli's body as well as the blood-soaked body of Shirley Fontanez. more ›

There's a fascinating obituary in the NY Times today for Harvey J. Weinstein (no relation to the movie producer). Weinstein died on May 13 at age 82 in Manhattan, and while he was once the head of the biggest tuxedo manufacturer, he gained a different kind of notoriety when he was kidnapped in 1993 by a man who worked at one of Weinstein's companies as a collar maker. more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a body was found at Schenk and Livonia Aves. in Brooklyn that was initially reported as body parts, a shooting on Prospect Ave. in the Bronx, and there was a police car multi-vehicle accident on the Henry Hudson Parkway near 79th St.
• A daycare cries child abuse as the artists who share their space are attempting to throw the tots out on the street.
• The head of neuropsychiatry at NYU Medical Center testified that Peter Braunstein was plotting to cap his life of crime by killing Vogue Editor Anna Wintour.
• A former domestic violence counselor was found strangled to death in her own home in Brooklyn.
• The Yankees cursed pitching staff suffers another setback as Darrell Rasner broke his finger in today's game against the Mets.
• New York's Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is investigating real estate practices that may have involved brokers pressuring appraisers to inflate values.
• Jason Giambi finally admits to taking steroids prior to the BALCO scandal and apologizes for it. Deafening silence is heard from other accused players.
• Eyewitness News anchor Liz Cho gave birth to a little girl this week.

Almost exactly two years after a 150-foot part of a 600-foot retaining wall next to the Castle Village apartment buildings collapsed into the Henry Hudson Parkway, the Department of Buildings is ready to release its report. The Post have the exclusive and says DOB investigators "determined that the managers of the apartment complex and an engineering firm brought in to examine the wall knew the structure was at imminent risk of falling." The DOB feels the firm could have warned the city about the wall's instability, since its engineers had seen the "65-foot-high wall move 9 inches away from the hillside in less than a week." more ›

Yesterday, two people were killed in different incidents where their cars crashed over guardrails and plunged 26-40 feet below the roadways. Near midnight on Saturday, Joseph Harris's car rammed one driven by Gretchen Patterson on the Henry Hudson Parkway near West 74th. As the Post reports, Patterson's car went "banging into a wall, flipping over it and then plunging down into Riverside Park." The 48-year-old Brooklyn woman was pronounced dead at St. Luke's Hospital, while Harris, who had been driving 90 MPH, was charged with DWI and vehicular manslaughter. more ›

Robert Moses’ legacy may be getting tweaked if organizers of three upcoming exhibitions have their way. more ›

A woman driving on the Henry Hudson Parkway died after a crash near the Moshulu Parkway. Police believe that 34 year old Lusaed Perez lost control of the car as she was putting on her makeup. A police source said, "There was makeup all over the air bag," plus there were open containers of makeup in the car. The Post says Perez's Mitsubishi "careened across an embankment, smashed into a lamppost then crashed into two trees." more ›

Yesterday afternoon, a 51 year old Bronx woman was fatally hit by a city bus. Rachel Levy had been crossing a road near the Henry Hudson Parkway around West 236th Street. The bus driver didn't realize someone was hit and didn't stop; the driver was not charged. more ›

The body of a 39 year old black woman was found on the shore of Riverside Park yesterday morning. A passer-by called 911 after seeing the body near Marginal Street and the West Side Highway. The Post says the woman lived on 143rd Street, with two children. A purse filled with cash was also found at the scene, but police did not see any "immediate signs of criminality," according to Newsday; the ME's office will perform an autopsy. more ›

Were you stuck in crazy traffic on the west side last night? Here's why. more ›

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We're always looking for current bike path maps. The most authoratative comes from Transportation Alternatives, but it's a 1.5MB PDF, and hasn't been updated this year. The NYC Bike Map 2006 mashup pictured above is attempting to fill in the gaps, but seems to be missing a bunch of the smaller paths. We've already featured the Secret Bike Maps page-- but still haven't taken that trip to City Island. Has anyone successfully biked up there from Manhattan? We've circled the route on the map above, but we're not sure how long it would take to get there and back, and none of our pansy-ass friends will do it without some more information. more ›

The police are searching for a livery cab driver who drove his car into the Hudson River near 69th Street. Reports say that the driver was asked to move his car around noon, "from an area near West 69th Street and the Henry Hudson Parkway," and then he drove it off the pier. What's unclear is whether or not the cab was on the Henry Hudson Parkway, or actually in Riverside Park, where the pier is located. If you look at this photograph we took a few years ago of the pier during an icy period, you'll see that the Parkway is actually above the pier. Did the cab go through the parkway's railing, falling onto the pier, and then off the pier? Or was actually in front of one of the Trump buildings on the West Side (you know, Trumpistan), and it flew off from there, into the park, onto the pier, and into the water? This is very strange. more ›

Last night, one of the walls of 496 LaGuardia Place collapsed, causing the evacuation of all residents and Houston Street to be closed. Luckily, no one was hurt as a "cascade of bricks" fell at 6:30PM. Residents told the Daily News that there was no construction at the buliding; the Department of Buildings is investigating the collapse. And according to Wired New York, 496 LaGuardia was built in 1909 and converted to a condo building in 1984. more ›

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For our Sunday dose of wall alarmism, Gothamist enjoyed the NY Times examination of 126 retaining walls with "cracks, bulges and leaks", because now we'll be walking the streets, wondering if the wall next to us will suddenly collapse. Most retaining walls are located in the Bronx and northern Manhattan, because they are the hilliest parts of the city, but you may now notice retaining walls wherever you go, like around the cemetary at Trinity Church downtown. The Buildings Department emphasized that retaining walls are the responsibility of owners, and that they only checked them when there are complaints. To which Gothamist says, in light of the Henry Hudson Parkway retaining wall collapse, please call 311. Oh, and while it's good that the Church of St. John the Divine at Amsterdam and West 110th Street recognizes its 18-foot high wall has problems, just putting a chain link fence in front of it doesn't make us feel that much more safe. more ›

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 should cover the clean-up - but not the rebuilding of the wall. Zoinks! The insurance company president explained, "It's kind of industry standard that retaining walls that are not part of the building are not covered." Yeah, it's probably not something most people like to think about. What's interesting is that a shareholder in Castle Village says that rebuilding the wall might not be what they do: They might decide to "install a swimming pool or build another building." Well, make sure the land is stable first. more ›

The city was able to clear two lanes of the Henry Hudson Parkway last night, which was strewn with dirt and debris after Thursday's retaining wall collapse that closed the immediate area, and the first car drove by at 10:18PM. Over 25,000 cubic yards of dirt and rubbles from the area were removed by city construction crews around the clock. However, what caused the accident (probably water), what could have been done to prevent the accident, and who will pay for the accident is still up in the air. So far, it seems like the development's board is saying that the board trusted the engineering firms hired to monitor the wall to make the right decisions; the engineering firm hasn't had any comment on the situation so far. In the meantime, the city construced huge concrete barriers between the remnants of the retaining wall and the road, and even though the roadways are open, the Mayor is cautioning commuters to add some extra time to their journeys just in case. more ›

Yesterday afternoon, a 150 foot part of a 600 foot long retaining wall collapsed onto the Henry Hudson Parkway, sending city officials and nearby building residents into a frenzy. The City evacuated residents of 1380 Riverside Drive, the building just south of the wall, as they inspected the collapse, which poured tons of dirt, stone, and trees over a thankfully empty stretch of the highway and empty cars. It's unclear how long the northbound part of the Parkway, right near 181st Street, past the George Washington Bridge, will be closed, but the city will be working around the clock to survey the damage and get it removed. While a full investigation needs to be done, the early hypothesis is that water caused the wall's instability. It's been said before, but Gothamist is glad the weather looks clear - we can't even imagine what this would be like if it were raining. more ›

A retaining wall near the George Washington Bridge collapsed, creating a landslide of dirt onto the Henry Hudson Parkway. Dirtslide, we guess, since it's not quite the California kind. The firefighters were called to the area below Riverside Drive and 181st Street to remove dirt, which has buried some cars. No word on injuries yet, so we hope no one was near the cars. So, if you're headed back home and take the West Side Highway, don't...and if you need to take the GWB, take tunnels instead. more ›

You might find the History Channel's reenactments of various moments of history scary, creepy, or trippy (the Barbarians series was off the hook), but they are definitely informative. This week, the HC is tackling the Conquest of America, with appearances by Bering, Coranado, and more, but Gothamist is most interested in an Englishman named Henry Hudson whose extensive travels in our part of the country have made sure that the estuary we know as the Hudson River was named after him. Little did Hudson know that people would be swimming his namesake hundreds of years later to prove it was polluted. The Henry Hudson segment runs tomorrow night at 9PM on the History Channel, which isn't great in Gothamist's book because it's when Veronica Mars comes back with a BRAND NEW EPISODE, but it'll repeat over the weekend. more ›

Unlike Florida, which was devastated by Hurricane Charley, New York got lucky as Charley moved east and largely left us high and dry. Central Park received only a third of an inch of rain and our highest wind gust was 14 mph! As incredible as it may seem, as of midnight last night our rainfall for the month was below normal. The rain from Bonnie was intense for a few minutes as Gothamist drove down the Henry Hudson Parkway while going home Friday afternoon. more ›

The Post pointed out that the Mayor's office has a "no-siren policy" just to cut through traffic, and Mayor himself typically take the subway to work. But that is the beauty of living in Manhattan versus Riverdale. more ›