Results tagged “narrowsbridge”

Two years ago the famed Saturday Night Fever dance floor was sold at auction for $188,000 when the Brooklyn club where the movie was filmed, Odyssey 2001 (later called Spectrum), was closed. Just yesterday the legendary movie turned 30 and amNewYork got nostalgic looking back at the Bay Ridge kid, Tony Manero, who sought refuge on that dance floor.

Thirty years ago this weekend, a tough young kid from Bay Ridge strutted across America's movie screens and struck his finger in the air to announce a new moment in the country's culture. Disco had been bubbling in the underground for a few years before the film came out, opening the sub-culture to a mass audience.

Continue reading "Disco is Dead, But Saturday Night Fever is Stayin' Alive"

Waiting for the 1, by jschumacher on Flickr

Eighteen-year-old Steven Molinaro, grandson of Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro, was found guilty of criminal contempt of violating an order of protection. His family says that the jury made a bad decision and James Molinaro said, "I think being my grandson hurt him."

Yesterday morning, two Bangladeshi brothers jumped off a freighter ship that was leaving the Port of Newark, "somewhere between the Kill van Kull and Verrazano-Narrows Bridge." One brother was found, while the other is still missing.

Yesterday afternoon, a worker took a fatal fall from the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. Manuel Pereira, 48, had been working on a catwalk next to the lower level of the bridge; the Staten Island Advance reports the concrete barrier "apparently...tipped over" onto the catwalk.

An excavator vehicle was placing "Jersey barriers" -- 8,500-pound, 10-foot-long concrete slabs that separate traffic from a construction area -- along the bridge at the time.

Continue reading "Worker Dies Falling Off Verrazano Narrows Bridge"

There are a couple construction-related accidents today. WNBC reports that a construction worker fell off the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge around 1:38PM: "A retaining wall on the edge of a bridge roadway under construction had collapsed, but it was unclear if the worker had fallen from that area." The SI Advance reports that the worker is "believed to have fallen on the Brooklyn-side, landing on the ground near the entrance to Fort Hamilton Army Base." We're hearing that the BQE and Belt Parkways have heavy delays, and local streets in Bay Ridge are also getting congested. Update: A firefighter tells the AP the worker was on a wooden catwalk, off the lower span, when the "[concrete] Jersey barrier somehow fell over onto the catwalk, causing the worker to fall.''

Last night, a woman was killed outside her Staten Island home. The victim, in her 40s, lived at 29 Newark Avenue in the Port Richmond section and was shot multiple times in her back. Her 26-year-old son was also shot in the stomach, and police believe he was trying to protect his mother.

Photograph by dietrich on Flickr

Google Maps has upped its considerable offering to include "Street View," which offers views of the certain locations at the street-level imagery. The areas where you can see images are noted by blue lines on the map (click the "Street View" button). Manhattan is pretty covered and downtown Brooklyn is covered, but the Bronx, Queens and State Island views are pretty much limited by major roads. Below is 1 Centre Street; you can't get an image of City Hall, because the blue line doesn't go into City Hall Park. Here's what Eastern Parkway at the Brooklyn Library looks like and this is the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.

Two bridges spanning the Hudson River just north of the city will be getting suicide prevention phones instead of physical barriers following three fatal leaps in close succession earlier this year. The phones to be installed on the Tappan Zee and Bear Mountain Bridges will be connected to a 24-hour suicide prevention hotline. Plans for installing physical barriers were turned down as being too expensive to install and maintain.

There are some very observant drivers on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and BQE. WCBS 2 reports that a number of drivers called 911 to report that a freighter ship was sinking in the New York Harbor. But it turns out the freighter, Dockwise Swan, is actually supposed to sink a little bit!

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: A serious MVA on the upper level of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, a suspicious package in Manhattan, and an overturned auto in Queens
• The things we learn as the Daily Intelligencer questions disclosure on Gawker... then FishbowlNY discloses some stuff about itself and Daily Intel
• Newly elected City Council members Mathieu Eugene and Vincent Ignizio are still not sworn in
• The stock market gained 0.4% today
• Do students really want their professors on Facebook? And will universities have to write some new rules about approaching students online? Hmm.
• On NY Turf looks at the City Council's pedicab vote today: "amendments entered by Quinn and the Mayor's administration the bill will effectively crush the nascent industry."
• There's a Working Families Party rally for NYC Public Schools tonight, as the Mayor announced a new "chief family engagement officer" would join the Department of Ed
• Gridskipper looks at the ugliest buildings in NYC; we'll have our thoughts tomorrow
Continue reading "Extra, Extra"

There is a competition to name the new seven wonders of the world, and the Statue of Liberty is the only NYC mention out of the 21 finalists. Run by New 7 Wonders and with experts like Cesar Pelli and Zaha Hadid on its panel, the finalists are quite a bunch: Stonehenge, the Pyramids of Giza, the Sydney Opera House, Easter Island statues, the Kremlin, the Eiffel Tower, and the Colosseum are just some. Which makes us wonder if the Statue of Liberty will make it to the final seven.

Yesterday morning, a Cessna 172 made an emergency landing in Calvert Vaux Park in Brooklyn yesterday. The pilot, Paul Dudley of Staten Island, had taken off from West Hampton Airport in Long Island and was headed to Linden Airport. But Dudley says after flying over the Jamaica Bay Inlet and Floyd Bennett Field, his engine went out and he decided to land the plane.

1. Lance Armstrong says tomorrow's marathon is the "anti-Tour de France." He's hoping to clock in at 3 hours, though the longest he's run is 16 miles. The NY Post covered the press conference: "When asked if he would feel safe surrounded by 37,000 runners, Armstrong said that after getting thousands of death threats during the Tour de France, he was not concerned about New York." Take note: NYC safer than France's bike country.
2. Great AP story on the manager of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, where the marathon starts. Bob Tozzi, who will retire in 12 days, says about the clothes strewn on the bridge, "There are so many clothes, we literally plow them into piles. Cold days are worse -- runners wear something until the cannon goes off to start the race, then they discard it."
3. Some more articles from Newsday and the Daily News -- remember that streets and roads will be closed - plus the NY Times' marathon section (check out the one about the wheelchair competitors)!
4. Today the International Friendship Run was held, with runners from all over the world in their country's colors running in the city.
5. Finally, good luck to everyone running tomorrow. You are all amazing and we hope you have a great day!

- Gothamist doesn't understand why musicians who have nothing to do with the city or do not seem to be famous for real estate are singing at various condo markeitng parties - jeez, at least try to Lenny Kravitz who seems like a real estate whore

Uh-uh