Bad news for anyone who commutes on four wheels, ever tries to get out of the city, or lives remotely near the highway: the BQE and the Gowanus expressway won't be getting better anytime soon. The city has just killed plans to revamp and repair major chunks of both expressways, citing, unsurprisingly, a lack of cash. more ›

It was first rumored over the weekend, and now that MTA has confirmed it: your weeknight travel this winter will be a miserable thing. Huge parts of the subway will be shut down for five weeknights in a row to allow for nonstop track work, starting at the so-called "late-night" hour of 10 p.m. and continuing through 5 a.m. more ›

Remember those six felonies a day that happen in the subway? Well God forbid you have the press the emergency intercom for help, because in the subway, no one can hear you scream. That's because the emergency intercoms, like most everything in the system, take a long time to fix. An average of 11 days, to be specific. Andrew Albert, the riders' representative on the MTA board said, "It's unacceptable. There's a real safety concern." more ›

Play time's over, kids! The $800,000 playground at Brooklyn Bridge Park was shut down this week, and scheduled to reopen today. Earlier this month the metal orbs were under criticism after reaching 128 degrees and burning children, then the same playthings broke a child's nose, and now the foam surfacing needed repair! The playground has only been open for a month, so this doesn't bode well. more ›

Since the Department of Transportation can't fix all the cracked sidewalks in the city at once, they came up with a new system in which locals can pay their way to the front of the fix line. First off, even though sidewalks are city property, they are the responsibility of homeowners, who can be held liable for injuries. When a homeowner is issued a violation, they have to repair the sidewalk via a private contractor, or through the DOT, which may take a while. more ›

First the disabled, now the elderly—Hizzoner's really on a roll this month. When Margaret Ionescu, an 82-year-old Romanian immigrant, returned to her Astoria apartment after a recent hospital stay, she was dismayed to find that the ceiling was water-damaged, a faulty front door wouldn't close properly, and the bathroom mirror was damaged. When her superintendent failed to make the repairs, she knew where to turn for help: The 311 non-emergency hotline created by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. more ›

Madame Tussauds may attract a lot of tourists, but The NY Times journeys into the mostly unseen nooks of the wax museum, uncovering an oddity that locals would probably pay to see: the repair shop. This is where "unmouthed teeth and disembodied heads are strewn across the tables and the floor." The wax ER had Joan Rivers in when the paper visited, they were told people touch her dress a lot (causing frequent fix-ups), though not as much as Marilyn Monroe's! Another behind the scenes factoid: B-listers are often requesting the Tussaud treatment, wanting to live on forever in all their wax glory. For the chosen ones, they can get nitpicky; the artists are well aware of their works of art and their real-life counterparts, many of whom come back to check in on their figures. Al Roker, post weight-loss, requested a slimmer wax self...but there's no word on whether Lindsay is okay with her 2006 faux Lohan, which looks a little dated now. more ›