After yesterday's shooting at the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. that left a security guard dead and the shooter (apparently an 88-year-old white supremacist) wounded, the NYPD has increased security at almost 60 Jewish sites in the city. Bomb sniffing dogs were seen at the Jewish Museum and uniformed cops were stationed outside the Museum of Jewish Heritage right after the D.C. shooting. The NYPD told the Daily News, "We adjust our counterterrorism resources on a daily basis depending on events around the world." David Norwell of the Museum of Jewish Heritage told WCBS 2, "The incident in Washington, ignorance dominates." more ›

Almost two years ago, the cornerstone at Ground Zero was placed at the World Trade Center site. But now it's been moved to Hauppague, NY! The NY Times reports that the largely symbolic slab of granite was moved in order to accomodate the new designs for the space, as there's been a new Freedom Tower design in the meantime. Developer Silverstein Properties said the cornerstone "needs to be repositioned to make sense in the new building." But don't fear: It will be on display at Innovative Stone where it was made - you need to make an appointment though. Well, at least people will be able to see it (we're trying to find the silver lining, because it's too easy to complain about anything to do with the WTC rebuilding process). more ›

Recently, it was announced that architect James Ingo Freed died last week. Who? He was a partner at Pei, Cobb, Freed and Partners - the firm started by I.M. Pei; you can read his bio here. While many obituaries called out the fact that he designed the Holocaust Museum in D.C. (here's a link to the museum), Freed designed a lot of recognizable city buildings: The Kips Bay Plaza housing, University Plaza Towers on Bleecker (also known as Silver Towers), 88 Pine Street in Wall Street, and the Jacob Javits Center. In fact, as noted in the Times obituary, the MoMA's Terrence Riley says that University Plaza and 88 Pine are "two of the most refined examples of modern design in all of Manhattan." more ›

Once again, City Council Speaker and mayoral hopeful Gifford Miller talks about the proposed West Side Stadium. But instead of saying he'd block it, now he wants to move it to Queens. Miller claims that putting the stadium in Queens will strengthen NYC's chances of landing the Olympics, but Gothamist has a feeling that the IOC is attracted to the idea of having a stadium in the center of the city, versus the outer boroughs, for the flash factor. And Miller's statement makes us think his aides said to him, "Hey, you're alienating the union guys by blocking the stadium. And your numbers in Queens are low, so why don't you suggest the stadium go in Queens?" Queens is not a new location to be mentioned in the same breath as this project, but the problem is that the Jets do not want to move there, even though it would make them closer to their Long Island fan base. more ›