Residential parking permits in Long Island City and Brooklyn Heights? Park and Ride areas near train stations? Eliminating government parking placards? The NY Sun has a look a what the Bloomberg administration is considering to "sweeten" the congestion pricing proposal as it works to gain support for the plan (it's up for consideration in 6 weeks) and it includes all of the above. Reporter Annie Karni writes:

Residential parking permits could be established in Brooklyn Heights, Upper Manhattan, Long Island City, and other neighborhoods surrounding Manhattan's central business district — a concession to those communities that would discourage drivers from approaching the edges of tolled Manhattan and clogging up their streets to avoid paying the $8 congestion fee. more ›

Yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg presented PlaNYC: A Greener, Greater New York, his administration's thinking about what the city needs to do by the year 2030 in order meet sustainability goals. The plan involves 127 initiatives under the areas of Brownfield Remediation, Housing, Open Space, Transportation, Energy, the Water Network, Water Quality, Air Quality and Climate Change, but the big topic was congestion pricing. After much speculation, Mayor Bloomberg even acknowledged that congestion pricing was the "elephant in the room" and explained that the city would ask the state to embark on a 3-year pilot program:

I’ve thought about [the congestion pricing] question a lot. And I understand the hesitation about charging a fee. I was a skeptic myself. But I looked at the facts, and that’s what I’m asking New Yorkers to do. And the fact is in cities like London and Singapore, fees succeeded in reducing congestion and improving air quality. Many people are already paying to drive into Manhattan – there are tolls on most bridges and the four tunnels. But to avoid those tolls, many people drive through neighborhood streets. That not only clogs the streets, it increases air pollution – and asthma rates... more ›

Most New Yorkers love the Pepsi-Cola sign in Long Island City. But the for the new Queens West residents, the neon can be annoying. The NY Times spoke to tenants who live behind the sign:

Like many of his neighbors in this new glass high-rise in Long Island City, Queens, [Yo Han] Cho is a newcomer to New York. When he first moved into his “humble room,” as he calls it, he did not quite understand. more ›

It's been a busy week out in Park City, Utah as the 2006 Sundance Film Festival draws to a close this weekend. Most New Yorkers are uninterested in the daily screenings and sales at Sundance unless you're in the "industry," but Gothamist finds the whole spectacle sort of fascinating because the festival is such a great prognosticator of what will be hot in indie cinema in the coming year. more ›

A group of dancers is suing the New York City over its cabaret laws. Currently, NYC requires any establishment with three or more dancers to have a license. And many establishments don't, because they are difficult to get and are only allowed in certain areas. Norman Siegel is representing the dancers, and told the press, "Most New Yorkers think we're making it up. They [people] don't believe ... if you get up and move your body to a jukebox and that bar or restaurant doesn't have a cabaret license, [it] can be padlocked." Newsday also had this fabulous quote from the Mayor, though it's unclear when he gave it: "I don't think in this day and age we need dance police." But we do need the smoking police! Gothamist hopes the dancers are successful in keeping dancing where it belongs: Wherever the bootyshakers want it to belong. more ›

If you happen to have a working fireplace, be sure to read the FDNY's tips for using it. Most New Yorkers' familiarity with fireplaces begins and ends with the WPIX Yule Log - you can have you own Flash yule log on your computer screen thanks, thanks to WPIX's programmers. And there are always space heaters out there; be sure to get ones that shut down if they overheat or are knocked over. more ›

Paul Ford more ›