Like many, whenever we traverse any streets along Grand Army Plaza, we basically run (or bike) for our lives. So we were relieved when we read the Department of Transportation's announcement that construction has begun on the $400,000 project to remake the oval plaza constructed in 1870 by Olmsted and Vaux. It was originally called Prospect Park Plaza, but it was renamed in 1926 to pay homage to the Union Army, according to the......

Police arrested 16 year old Francisco Baez for the murder of Taishawn Bellevue. Bellevue was killed during an shocking Wednesday afternoon brawl in the Union Square Greenmarket, where about 50 teens convened with belts, bats, bricks and more. The fight may have been prompted by some students feeling insulted by others, which then led to groups of students from nearby Washington Irving High School and Brooklyn's Science Skills High School to meet. Baez was picked......

The battle for Washington Square Park rages on! Metro reports that a documentary seen on YouTube and myspace shows redesign architect George Vellonakis saying that the decrease to the park's central plaza will be just "5 percent" while in actuality, plans were showing decreases of much more. To summarize, the residents are upset with the city's renovation plans and the fact that the city didn't disclose the extent of plans, which some residents feel......

Interesting - the Post has a sorta followup to yesterday's Daily News story about Fashion Week being tents non grata at Bryant Park next February. Though yesterday's Daily News article had Vogue editor Anna Wintour saying that Mayor Bloomberg would support fashion - and tents in Bryant Park - in spite of the park's desire to keep the ice rink up, the Post says Diane Von Furstenberg couldn't convince Bloomberg to keep the tents......

The sun was almost shining yesterday when we headed over to Pier 40 for a behind-the-scenes, work-in-progress glimpse of a new exhibition as it was being installed for its end-of-the-week opening tomorrow. The Good Life: New Public Spaces for Recreation, presented by the Van Alen Institute, celebrates architects, designers and artists working with an eye toward 21st century recreation. Curated by Zoe Ryan and designed by Dan Wood and Amale Andraos of WORKac, the......

Yesterday, there was a press conference to herald the formation of the Grand Army Plaza Coalition, which will help improve Brooklyn's Grand Army Plaza for pedestrians. According to Transportation Alternatives, is coalition is "made up of civic associations such as the Park Slope Civic Council, the Prospect Heights Parents Association and the Eastern Parkway Cultural Row Association...cultural institutions such as the Prospect Park Alliance, the Brooklyn Public Library and the Heart of Brooklyn Cultural Partnership...advocacy......

Jane Jacobs, the urban activist whose influential book The Death and Life of Great American Cities reshaped thinking about urban communities, died overnight in Toronto. Jacobs, who lived in Canada since 1968, faced down NYC Parks Commissioner Robert Moses, arguably the most powerful man in the city at the time, in the 1960s, most famously stopping an expressway from being constructed downtown. Wikipedia on Jacobs. A 2004 Talk of the Town New Yorker piece about......

February 22: From Disaster to Dessert – the Fate of New Orleans Food Slow Food NYC and the Project for Public Spaces will host a panel discussion on the impact of hurricanes Katrina and Rita on food production in New Orleans and the surrounding Gulf region. Panelists include: Clara Gerica, an independent Gulf Coast shrimper; Richard McCarthy, founder of the New Orleans Crescent City Farmers Market; Poppy Tooker, the leader of Slow Food New Orleans;......

Imagine Manhattan streets with less cars, buses and exhaust and catered more towards pedestrians. It sure would have made walking around during the transit strike a bit nicer. Tonight Livable Streets: A New Vision For New York opens. The exhibit aims to explore new concepts for our city streets, such as turning them in to pedestrian-friendly public spaces. On display at the Urban Center, the exhibit launches the New York City Streets Renaissance Campaign —......

Psych - it's April Fool's Day! The Project for Public Spaces has issued its April Fool's newsletter, which includes a faux-Christo project that would involve gating city sewer grates in New York (photo, above). Gothamist loved this "quote" from the Mayor:"The Gates raised so much money we couldn't believe it. We've got to capitalize on this wrapping craze fast if we're going to fund the MTA's capital budget AND build the Jets stadium." Hee!......

Shin-pei Tsay, Plainclothes urban geographer...