Dozens of families that occupied approximately 30 apartments in an East Harlem apartment house found themselves out on the street yesterday, with what little belongings they could gather together as they were hustled from their homes. The Dept. of Buildings condemned the structure on 2nd Ave. and 120th St., noting that several partitions had recently been removed from the building's basement, causing the building's floor to sag in a sign of potential imminent collapse. In......

The New York Post continues its saga of poor document management by the Port Authority today, after exposing how a homeless man found confidential building plans for the Freedom Tower in a trash bin last week. The paper was contacted by a pair of "salvage experts" in the wake of that story, who wanted to let it know that they had reams of documents--all marked confidential--that they discovered in a dumpster behind 115 Broadway, where......

Internal investigators at the Port Authority are faulting the overwhelming bureaucracy surrounding the construction of the Freedom Tower for the loss of confidential blueprints that could have left the new building vulnerable to those determined to strike the WTC again. Per the New York Post, "Experts say there was enough detail in the blueprints to lead to a devastating terrorist attack." Homeless man Mike Fleming found the 150 page document labeled "Secure Document -- Confidential"......

Proving that there's a market for oversize shredders, a homeless man discovered two copies of blueprints for Freedom Tower, aka World Trade Center Tower One, in the trash at Sullivan and Houston Streets. The Post puts Mike Fleming (a "homeless, recovering drug addict") on the cover and questions the security lapse, pointing out, "It's a good thing Osama wasn't walking through SoHo yesterday morning." Fleming had been looking for cardboard to sleep on when he......

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. The suspected arsonist is a homeless man believed to be emotionally disturbed. The fire was noticed as park staff......

The killing of Mt. Vernon police officer Christopher Ridley, gunned down outside of a White Plains courthouse, resulted in no indictments this week. The four men who killed him were Westchester County police officers, and the grand jury did not believe there was reason to proceed to a criminal trial. Ridley was driving by the courthouse in January when he witnessed a fight among several homeless men. Although he was off-duty, Ridley pulled over and......

America's Next Top Model is back in New York and in its second episode, which airs tonight, things are getting a little bit real. The episode brings the fourteen newest model wannabes to the not always fashionable streets. After the troupe mingles with the tourists at their fashion show in Times Square, it's off to their first photo shoot. For regular watchers of the show you'll know there's always a theme to the shoots, well......

Although Rev. Al Sharpton appeared with officer Christopher Ridley's family after the Mt. Vernon cop's death, advising people not to rush to judgment, questions about the shooting are turning in the direction of race and societal divisions. The Friday night shooting occurred when Ridley, off-duty police officer, tried to stop a fight and Westchester police shot at him. White Plains is less than 20 miles from the South Bronx and about five miles west of......

A Gothamist tipster emailed us this photo of a prohibitively tall bench on the median of East Houston Street near Suffolk. Is this guerrilla art or city-sanctioned furniture? The new cool “Bench Club” for East Village scenesters? A lawsuit in-waiting from the city’s more vertically challenged residents? A prototype anti-homeless bench? A photoshop hoax? Lots and lots of phone calls to the City Council representative, the Community Board, the Parks Department and D.O.T. have......

SFist witnessed a student interrupt Sean Penn's Dennis Kucinich-endorsement speech at San Francisco State University, with sexy results. Sort of. Speaking of sort of sexy, SFist readers demanded to know: at what age does one become a cougar most? In local political news, it looked like San Francisco Public Utilities Commission chief Susan Leal might get the ax. Au revoir! And we found a startling aesthetic connection between the Omaha mall shooter and Rick......

Above are Oliver, Scout, and Simon Little, three Brooklyn siblings currently without a home. Fortunately, they have a kind neighbor who leaves them food and water and has some outdoor housing in her backyard. The other day she found Simon on her windowsill, caught out in the rain and looking forlorn. With the arrival of winter and snowstorms, these cats need a home. We spoke to their human friend (who would love to take......

The sewer main break that brought 15-20 feet of water to 90 West Street's basement garage now means its residents will be homeless for at least two weeks. Electricity and other utilities to the building were turned off and it was thought things would be fixed in 2-3 days, but building management told residents that the "central electrical distribution room" was so damaged that it needs to be "entirely replaced." One resident walked up 20......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a truck stuck underneath a train platform at 237th St. in the Bronx, an armed robbery on 4th Ave. in Brooklyn, and a burn victim at McKeever Pl. in Brooklyn. The husband who was strangled to death, allegedly by his wife in their new $1 million Long Island home, had a criminal record that included serving several years upstate for rape, robbery, and burglary. A fire at a homeless......

READING: Steve Martin proved he could write with Shopgirl, and now he's come out with a much more intriguing tale called, Born Standing Up. This is his memoir, which traces his life from an employee at Disneyland to an employee of Lorne Michaels and beyond -- tonight he'll regale you with some of these stories. 6:30pm // The Times Center [242 W 41st St] // Free PARTY: Before you warm up by a Thanksgiving meal,......

The Staten Island homeless man who repeatedly attempted to lay claim to the SoHo Grand Hotel has pleaded guilty and faces a year in prison. Kouadio Kouassi is an immigrant from the Ivory Coast and has been jailed since last December. He repeatedly filed claims with the city's Dept. of Finance in an attempt to assume legal ownership of the $76 million boutique hotel. Upon sentencing, Kouassi will like be quickly released and then deported......

EVENT: White Castle is sponsoring an "over the top" (heh) event today at Port Authority...it's the 30th Annual White Castle Empire State Golden Arm Tournament of Champions. Over 100 ladies and gents will face off to become the arm wrestling champ! The event starts at 12:30 and the finals begin at 3:30pm. More info here. 12:30 and 3:30pm // Port Authority Bus Terminal [North Wing/Main Concourse at 625 8th Ave] // Free MUSIC: The Scotland......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: A police impersonation on Ocean Parkway and Quentin in Brooklyn, a car vs. Pathmark at 107th Avenue at 105th Street in Queens, and an evidence search at 13 East 12th Street. The new report cards for public schools may mean principals will be fired and schools closed. A stop work order didn't stop a construction crew from tearing up the building where Gertel's once stood on Hester Street. Giuliani......

When residents of 17-17 Troutman St. woke Thursday morning, most were not aware that they would be homeless by the end of the day. The day before, notices were posted that city inspectors would be arriving to look the building over for violations at 9:30 a.m. It didn't take long Thursday for the Dept. of Buildings to designate the building as imminently perilous to residents and demand an almost-immediate evacuation. Residents had until 8 p.m.......

More than 200 people found themselves homeless last night after they were evicted from an enormous industrial building at 17-17 Troutman St. in the Ridgewood section of Queens, with Bushwick, Brooklyn just across the street. The loft residents were told to leave by the Department of Buildings and signs were posted saying that the building was "imminently perilous to life." Fire and building inspectors also cited numerous violations in the fire code and evidence......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a suspicious package at Broadway and Wall St. in Manhattan, a shooting at 158th St. and Linden Blvd. in Queens, and a homicide on Popham Ave. in the Bronx. Local One, New York's stagehands union, doesn't want Mayor Bloomberg to mediate in their negotiations with Broadway producers and theater owners. A 40-year-old Staten Island bus driver is accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old frequent passenger on his route. The......

A young man died when he fell from the roof of a C train last night. The 21-year-old had been riding on top of the southbound train car, "subway surfing" when he fell just north of the West 155th Street stop. A track worker told WNBC 4 that the victim "was holding on and he came to a wall that was long and it whacked him." Another witness said that the station was flooded with......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a child shot on Kingsborough Walk in Brooklyn, a person under a train at Kingston Ave. and Lincoln Pl. in Brooklyn, and a pedestrian struck at 12th St. and 8th Ave. in Manhattan. John Mayer performed an impromptu set at the Mercury Lounge to the surprise of attendees last night. John Galt Corp., the contractor doing the demolition work at the Deutsche Bank Building where two firefighters were killed,......

The city changed its emergency shelter policy yesterday at 5PM, vowing to turn away homeless families who had previously been deemed ineligible (because they could, potentially, stay with relatives or a friend). Previously, if a family went to the PATH office after business hours, they could be given emergency shelter for the night - and could reapply the next day. Some families seemed to rely on this opportunity and the city had claimed that a......

The city is changing its policy to let homeless people in its shelters, a move that worries advocates. Starting Friday, anyone arriving at the Bronx intake shelter after 5PM who has had their living situations investigated (many people been investigated when they apply for long-term housing) and were deemed ineligible for housing will be questioned again and turned away if nothing has changed. The city views this as a way to close a loophole......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a partial collapse on West 123rd St. in Manhattan, an unusual trauma at Dewitt Clinton High School in the Bronx, and a shooting at Bergen St. and Buffalo Ave. in Brooklyn. The 7 train line was shut down for about two hours this afternoon after power to a number of signals failed. Service was back up by 4 p.m. AMNewYork looks at Rudy Giuliani's tendency to take phone calls......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a carjacking at Tompkins and School Rds. on Staten Island, a person was killed by a 5 train at Bowling Green station in Manhattan, and an armed robbery at 51st Ave. and Northern Blvd. in Queens. Bidding closed at $2,600 for the new owner of the Seinfeld ASSMAN license plate prop on eBay. Another Mister Softee driver was busted for selling drugs out of his ice cream truck, this......

A homeless man was shot in the stomach by an off-duty transit police officer after he stabbed two people randomly in Murray Hill yesterday afternoon. The assailant, identified as 38-year-old Lee Coleman, was wounded and is in serious condition; he was charged with attempted murder, assault, and criminal possession of a weapon. Coleman's rampage began around 10:30AM. He first walked into a Starbucks on Second Avenue at 32nd Street and tried to take knives from......

A homeless man is in the burn unit of Cornell Medical Center after being viciously attacked by a group of teens. Police say that the victim was sleeping outside the Iglasia Christiana Betania on East 103rd Street when the teens "threw a gasoline-soaked towel on him." The victim was found after midnight, and residents said they "recognized him as a homeless man who often sought food and shelter at the church." One told WNBC, "He'd......

Girl Talk Double Dip (in Puke and Booze) Those who missed out on getting tickets to the electrospazzy one-two punch of Dan Deacon and Girl Talk at Webster Hall last Saturday night fell into a bit of luck as the weekend approached. A last minute, late night show was announced for Bowery Ballroom that same night, and the formerly out of luck were now sitting pretty, seeing the two perform in a smaller room at......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a home invasion robbery on 11th St. in Brooklyn, an unusual rescue on Selwyn Ave. in the Bronx, and a shooting on Rugby Rd. and Foster Ave. in Brooklyn. The 30-year-old homeless man charged with raping and torturing a Columbia student in her apartment in April was found mentally fit to stand trial. Negotiations between Thor Equities and several Coney Island boardwalk tenants are nearly settled, allowing many attractions......