For the past two months, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer has gotten a taste of what it's like to live on the Upper East Side in the middle of the Second Avenue subway construction shit-storm. And even for a big shot politician insulated up in a tony high-rise, it still tastes like burning! Stringer, whose permanent residence is over in God's country on the west side, temporarily relocated to the east after fire damage rendered his apartment temporarily uninhabitable. According to this cute story in the Times, Stringer was not prepared for the horror that awaited him: more ›

Forget trying to find some unmarked hotspot—Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer is worried about regular ol' buildings that don't display their numbers! Today, he released a study that shows nearly 40% of buildings studied along certain stretches of 13 busy corridors do not display their addresses. In fact, along East 42nd Street, 8th Avenue and Columbus Avenue, over 50% of the buildings don't have visible addresses. more ›

There are some residual delays on Metro-North this morning after yesterday's East Harlem building collapse that led to the suspension of all service in and out of Grand Central. The trains' speed restrictions were lifted at 6:30 a.m. and there may be 5-10 delays. more ›

Some troubling news about yesterday's three-alarm fire at 200 East 72nd Street which left 19 firefighters and 14 resident injured. Apparently the fire alarm system had been undergoing repairs (there were complaints about "multiple false alarms" according to the Sun), which led to chaos. The building is "fireproof," and the FDNY says residents should have just stayed in their apartment, but many tried to leave the building. more ›

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Norman Siegel, former NYCLU director, is taking the city to court today on behalf of Harlem residents opposed to the city’s plan for sports fields on Randall's Island. The city is building 63 new fields on the island in addition to the 36 fields already there; the construction is being partially financed by a consortium of private schools who will be given exclusive access to most of the fields between 3pm and 6pm on weekdays. more ›

A reader sent us this horrible but all-too-familiar story:

I was on the 7 train riding from Flushing Main Street when a man sat across from me (a few stops before 82nd street Jackson Heights he got on) with a newspaper on his lap pretending to be sleeping. I glanced over and to my horror all his goods were in plain view. I did not react and I pulled out my cell phone and took a picture of him. He got really nervous and was rustling around; I then proceeded to call 911 as I was still sitting across from him and was giving a description of him as I was looking right at him. He got nervous and got off at the next stop which was 82nd Street-Jackson Heights. more ›

Hollaback! A man was arrested for menacing, stalking and exposing himself to a woman on the B and Q trains on Monday. The Post reports that the police caught 24-year-old Jay Arungah after the victim showed them a camera phone picture of a naked Arungah. more ›

The Fire Department is investigating whether standpipes failed to bring firefighters water to help fight a seven-alarm fire that broke out on the 17th floor of the Deutsche Bank building on Saturday. The cause of the fire, which spread between the 14th and 26th floors of the lower Manhattan building, is also unclear, though the FDNY suspects it may have been caused by a cigarette or a faulty electrical panel. more ›

Second Avenue Sagas notes that the survey was emailed to 20,000 people (the Manhattan Borough President's office worked with a number of organizations, including the Straphanger's Campaign, Right Rides, NOW, Hollaback, to get out the word about the online survey), which suggests the statistics could be somewhat inflated, given that the almost 1800 respondents who did fill out the subway may have been weighted towards people who have experienced subway harassment (indeed, about 67% of the respondents are women). This is a point the study acknowledges as a limitation, but says it still serves as "an invaluable 'snapshot' of a problem that persists but is inherently difficult to quantify." more ›

Seething over their many, ignored complaints about new construction at 808 Columbus Avenue, residents of Park West Village held a rally to demand an investigation. All 280 apartments at one Park West building, 784 Columbus, were evacuated when a retaining wall collapsed at the 808 site on Wednesday night. However, there were a number of calls to the Department of Buildings from 784 residents, complaining that the building was shaking as workers blasted in the 808 site. more ›

Residents of 784 Columbus Avenue are saying "I told you so" as the Department of Buildings continues its investigation into the retaining wall collapse at 808 Columbus Avenue. Residents at 784 have been complaining about the new constructions for some time and detailed how they've been wearing earplugs and noise-canceling headphones. more ›

Hundreds of residents near West 97th Street and Columbus Avenue were evacuated when a retaining wall collapsed last night. more ›

Mayor Bloomberg just hates congestion: He announced a plan to more aggressively go after drivers who "block the box" at intersections. The city describe box blocking as "driving into an intersection as the light is changing without room to continue through it, thus blocking traffic," and it seriously sucks. Mayor Bloomberg wants to allow all 2,800 traffic agents to issue tickets (for some reason, only a few traffic enforcement agents can issue them now) in a faster and more efficient way with handheld devices and increase the fine from $90 to $115. more ›

Congratulations to everyone graduating this month! As NYU's commencement was today, with speaker jazz musician Wynton Marsalis, we decided to list the many NYC commencement speakers, with help from The Chronicle of Higher Education (if we've missed any or gotten it wrong, let us know in comments): more ›

Yesterday, the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to uphold the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act. Immediately, politicians weighed in with their reactions, including two notable presidential wannabes from our area. Senator Hillary Clinton calling it a "dramatic departure from Supreme Court rulings that upheld a woman's right to choose" while former mayor Rudy Giuliani said the Supreme court came to the "correct conclusion." Which the Daily News points out is a reversal from his 2000 position, when he opposed a partial-birth abortion ban. more ›

It's been 33 years since the last Second Avenue Subway groundbreaking, so it's high time for new generations of straphangers to revel in the hope of a new subway line. We also expect the public -- especially the Upper East Side-residing public -- to become jaded with construction delays, traffic issues, and noise. Here's the press release from the MTA:

Tomorrow morning's historic groundbreaking ceremony for the Second Avenue Subway can be seen by all New Yorkers live on NY1, beginning at 10:30 a.m. The groundbreaking ceremony will take place in one of the subway tunnels built under Second Ave. in the 1970s but never used. Due to the limited capacity of the tunnel, the MTA arranged for the live broadcast with NY1 and will open its board room at 347 Madison Avenue for members of the public to join MTA staff for a public viewing and celebration. more ›

Workers at Vietnamese restaurant Saigon Grill have gone on strike - and have also been locked out by the owners - for over two weeks. Now, the workers have filed a lawsuit against Saigon Grill for a wide range of labor violations. more ›

The city's Franchise and Concession Review Committee is scheduled to vote this coming week on whether or not to approve a proposal to have twenty Manhattan private schools pay for part of the renovation of Randall's Island athletic fields in return for exclusive use of a majority of the fields. The plan, which is separate from the controversial water park, calls for schools such as Dalton and Spence to pay the city $52 million dollars over twenty years. The city would kick in an additional $18 million for the fields, and $53 million for island infrastructure. In return for the payment the schools would get exclusive 3-6 p.m. use of at least two-thirds of the 63 playing fields. more ›

Augh! The NY Sun reports:

Speculation is heating up that the Municipal Building, the soaring limestone landmark that overlooks City Hall, could be among the government real estate assets to be sold off and converted to residential buildings as municipal employees prepare to move into a new, privately managed office building planned for ground zero.

Apparently the way to celebrate a NY Times endorsement in Mark Green's household is to get your email on. And by email, we mean "E-mail people that have endorsed Andrew Cuomo instead of Mark Green". The Daily Politics has an email that Green's daughter Jenya sent to one of Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer's aides, with Jenya criticizing Stringer for being "so totally controlled....and therefore unfit to hold office" and excerpting part of the Times endorsement of her dad. Of course, now Mark Green's camp is saying that he'll be apologizing to Stringer later, and that Jenya was just being "overprotective." And then the Daily Politics found out that staffers in Representative Jerry Nadler's and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn's offices got emails like that too! Even though Jenya is an adult, we bet she is so grounded. more ›

We used to think it was pretty sweet that disabled people got themselves a handsome little discount when riding subways and buses. But we always felt that there was probably some downside that we didn't see. In fact, it turns out that only a little over 10% of the subway stations in NYC are actually even accessible to the disabled. And apparently even a $300 million renovation of the Stillwell Avenue Station in Brooklyn wasn't enough to ensure that elevators at the stop would be ready in time for actual traffic. We were pretty excited when the terminal reopened two years ago, with its solar panels and all. But its elevators, that were supposed to be up and running in May, weren't ready until last month and even then experienced frequent service outages. Sadly, since the stop was listed as an all-access type, many disabled people who rode out there found no way out of the station and had to turn around and go find another way out. more ›

Considering the redunkulous prices for shoe-boxes there it's hard to believe, but apparently there really are abandoned properties on the isle of Manhattan. How many there are is an open question though. That's why today Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer's office has organized "the first large-scale count of abandoned properties in Manhattan." As part of the count volunteers will scour designated neighborhoods looking for any vacant lots and buildings which look not be occupied and "has visible signs of distress." more ›

Gothamist can't so much drive (well, this part of Gothamist) and yet even we know that one of the basic principles of driving in the city is "Don't Block The Box." It's a simple rule for a complicated city and it can make all the difference in keeping traffic flowing, especially in the grids of Manhattan. But in order for a rule to be effective, we've always thought, it is a good idea to actually enforce it. more ›

Assemblyman John Faso of Columbia Country beat former Massachusettes governor William Weld for the GOP nomination for NY State governor yesterday. However, Weld did have enough support to stay on the ballot and force a primary this fall. The split between the two candidates represents many problems in the Republican party: On one side, you've got moderate, socially progressive members (Weld is pro-choice), on the other side, it's the conservatives (Faso is anti-abortion and the Conservation party nominee). Weld's people are playing it tough and tell the Times, "There's also a stature gap: Weld's big-time, a tough prosecutor, a former governor. Faso is an Albany insider and former lobbyist." At any rate, there are problems in the NY Republican party, and it's pretty clear that Spitzer will be our next governor. more ›

If you're in the West Village or Chelsea today, swing by one of these happenings: more ›

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"We're here to say if you're in a car and you want to get around Manhattan, you're better off going around Central Park. It's clear, to ensure that those of all ages who choose to run, walk, bike and play in the park can enjoy themselves in a healthy and safe environment, we have to say no to cars and yes to quality recreation. Parks are for people, not cars," says Manhattan Borough President Stringer.

There's a funny article in the NY Times about how many linguists believe Mayor Bloomberg has shed his Boston accent for a... well, it's hard to say whether or not he speaks New Yorkese, but it's definitely less Boston than before. There is a funny quote from Barry Popik, the administrative judge, former candidate for Manhattan Borough President, member of the American Dialect Society and Big Apple enthusiast:

"It appears to me that Bloomberg's been studying two new languages - Spanish and New York Jewish. He's not sounding like Fran Drescher's 'The Nanny' yet, but it appears to me that he's picked some of that up."

No longer will children have to go to Hurricane Harbor or Dorney Park because the Daily News reports that the city has a proposal in hand for a $168 million, 26 acre water park on Randall's Island in the East River. The park, originally proposed in as a smaller 12 acre park in 1999, would be paid for by Aquatic Development Group, who would have a 35-year lease with the city. The park plans call for all your typical water park features like wave pools and water slides but also a manmade river for rafters and an indoor beach. more ›