The Daily News has an entertaining story today about the possibility of the five-block radius surrounding the Empire State Building becoming a sort of Bermuda Triangle for cars. Apparently, a number of cars have to be towed from that area every day, which makes people suspicious. The common denominator: the ESB.“We get about 10 to 15 cars stuck near there every day,” said Isaac Leviev, manager of Citywide Towing, the AAA’s exclusive roadside assistance provider......

Time Out NY has a list of PETA's most wanted in the city. The organization has 25,000 of its 1.6 million members based right here, and while we wish they'd have a crack team of those members targeting folks like Brooklyn's Cruella DeVil, here are some of the big offenders. • The Ringling Brothers circus is back in town in March 2008 and PETA is again questioning the way the circus treats its animals. The......

As many people wonder about the state of the bridges in the New York City region, in the wake of I-35 collapsing in Minneapolis, the city's Department of Transportation is trying to reassure residents that our bridges are safe. Though many bridges meet the definition of "deficient" - 19% of bridges are in "fair" or "poor" condition, 15% meet the federal definition of "structurally deficient" - a DOT first deputy commissioner Lori Ardito says,......

After the Sun mentioned the Mayor's upcoming Earth Day PlaNYC speech may include mention of a congestion tax, even more details about what the speech will include have come out. The NY Times says the Mayor is "expected to advocate more than 100 proposals," from cleaning up polluted sites to making buildings more energy efficient. The most controversial part of the plan is the congestion pricing idea. The NY Times says Bloomberg administration staffers......

Around midnight, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus came into Manhattan with its traditional procession of elephants, other animals and performers through the Queens Midtown Tunnel towards Madison Square Garden. Kelly Loudenberg was on the scene and captured comments from the circus as well as protesters. She also writes:City Council Member Rosie Mendez has introduced legislation to ban wild animal acts. The legislation would prohibit the display of wild or exotic animals......

Finally we have details about when the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is coming to town - and, more importantly, when the elephants are planning their annual walk through Manhattan. For all you pachyderm enthusiasts, get ready to stay up late next Tuesday night:Unload Stock Cars: 11:30 PM (Tuesday, March 27) The Walk Begins: 11:59 PM Time At Tunnel: Approx 12:20 AM (Wednesday morning) In Manhattan, the elephants will emerge from the......

A man working a toll booth at the Queens Midtown Tunnel was taking his own special toll according to Queens DA. Robert Applegate of Woodside was charged with grand larceny for stealing $2,077.21 in toll money while on the job (tolls are $4.50 for cars). How was he found out? MTA compared the number of cars that went through his toll booth with what he collected! Applegate was fired yesterday and MTA told amNew......

If we gave out an annual award for excellence in NYC elephant photography, we'd be awarding it today to DrewBic, for this great shot of the troupe entering the Midtown Tunnel in Long Island City. While most of the crowd was waiting on the Manhattan side, Drew was over in Queens, where the elephants are unloaded from the trains. Does anyone else have pictures from there? [Via the ever vigilant eyes of CityRag.] Photo......

Last night the Ringling Brothers circus arrived in Manhattan. As usual, the elephants did the final leg of the journey to Madison Square Garden on foot, because they're a little too big to truck or train into the city. The running was a delayed by a car accident on the Queens side of the Midtown Tunnel-- word from the cops on the scene was that the police had to clean up a bunch of......

We've received a flurry of emails about this in the past few days, so we want to confirm that TONIGHT is the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey elephants will enter Manhattan from Queens, to spend a few weeks at Madison Square Garden. And, not to leave the equine sector out, there are horses as well. The walk will begin at the north tube of the Queens Midtown Tunnel (36th Street & 2nd Avenue)......

The annual march of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus elephants from Queens, through the Midtown Tunnel, and westward towards Madison Square Garden is set for 12:01AM on Tuesday, March 21 (that means it's 2 minutes after 11:59PM on Monday night - Gothamist is just spelling it out because we get confused about those thigns). The circus starts an almost four week stand at the Garden on Thursday, March 23, and tickets are......

There's a sad article about the elephants at the Bronx Zoo today. The NY Times reports that the zoo will close the elephant exhibit if one or two of the three elephants - Patty, Maxine and Happy - die. Why? Because only two elephants alone might be uneasy (three's is company) and only one elephant in the exhibit is "inhumane." The article goes onto to detail other American zoos that have ended its elephants exhibits......

Some single guy has purchased a $20,000 per month billboard at the Midtown Tunnel to help find a wife. Basically, it directs people to go to his website, see-tom (it'll launch at noon)... which makes Gothamist think this is a reverse Jason Mulgrew! The Daily News story on Tom Barrella says that it's not a publicity stunt for the former record executive/ former computer businessman/ current high school teacher and that he really wants to......

Perhaps spurred on by the H&M ad on the Flatiron building fracas, the City has revised the laws to remove the loophole that let companies challenge fines from the Department of Buildings. The new law will let the DoB give heftier fines of $25,000 but Gothamist wonders if that's a daily fine, because paying $25,000 to keep a billboard in a $250,000 ad space seems do-able, if annoying. And the NY Post says the illegal......

Last night, Ringling Brothers Circus arrived in Manhattan by way of the Midtown Tunnel. The main attraction was the running of the elephants up 34th Street around 12:30am. The scene was wonderful chaos- a pack of ten or more elephants, followed by horses, shetland ponies, and two or three squads of PETA protesters. A bunch of the photobloggers were on hand to document the happening- throw a link in the comments and we'll add......

I saw a poster today that said the Ringling Bros. circus is coming to NYC and was wondering when the elephants will be walking through the Midtown Tunnel. Where is a good place watch this? David The last time a bunch of elephants came to midtown, thousands of political activists lined the streets, security forces were on high alert and hundreds of protesters - and more than a few unsuspecting bystanders - were hauled......

At 11PM, the elephants in Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus will be walking through the Midtown Tunnel to Madison Square Garden. Now, we know that elephants are sturdy creatures, but how are they going to fare in the snow? Surely this isn't the first year elephants have needed to traipse through snow to get to Madison Square Garden, but this is the first time Gothamist is thinking about it. Luckily, it seems......