Results tagged “riversideparksouth”

      

A few of the vessels in the Swimming Cities of the Switchback Sea installation have dropped anchor at Riverside Park South's Pier I, much to the amusement and confusion of some parkgoers.

We are sad to hear that Pier I Cafe at Riverside Park South (around 70th Street, underneath the West Side Highway) was closed by the Department of Health. A reader visited the cafe on Sunday, only to find "a note saying they're probably closed for the season because the city said the bathrooms they had weren't good enough." The cafe had an open kitchen and bar, and the bathrooms were built in a temporary building, kind of a step-up from porta-potties.

Given the suspected terrorist activity across the Atlantic in Britain and Scotland, New York City has been on the look out for suspicious activity. Yesterday, there were two incidents that brought increased police attention - as well as a partial evacuation of JFK and closing down part of Riverside Park. Now it turns out the strange package and abandoned vehicles were harmless.

With Britain at its top terror alert level after a flaming SUV crashed into Scotland's Glasgow Airport yesterday, New York City has stepped up security at area airports. Port Authority spokesman Steve Coleman (the PA oversees JFK, LaGuardia and Newark airpots) said, there were "increased security measures" in place.

Monitoring the city's job postings can pay off! Luckily, Streetsblog has been doing just that and pieces together how the city is serious about developing "comprehensive transportation and land use strategy for New York City."

The first signal came at the beginning of Mayor Bloomberg's second term when DOT Commissioner Iris Weinhall was knocked one rung down the Administration's org chart. She is now reporting directly to Doctoroff.

Continue reading "Planning Has to Start Somewhere"

Gothamist loves city parks, and we might love sleeping even more, so we were pretty intrigued by the Times story about public "lounge chairs" in various parks in the city. Since New Yorkers are more (!) civilized (!) than (!) ever (!), the city - and the landscape architects it works with - finds it easier to put more lounge-like park outdoor furniture out there. Formerly, residents didn't even want benches, for fear of loitering people or homeless camping out, but nowadays, it's more palatable. Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe explains why these chairs will only be seen in certain parks, "When you think of a chaise longue, you think of a beach or the waterfront. It's a type of furniture that fits more into a modernist landscape than in a traditional landscape." So none in Central Park - you'll still need to bring your blankets for the Sheep Meadow. One of the chairs is this "Chill" lounge from Landscape Forms (but in blue); three are at the ferry terminal. And there are plans to put glow in the dark "sculptural lounges" at the federal plaza!

It was a kinder and gentler time back when Donald Trump started to build Trump Place south of West 72nd Street and Riverside Drive. Sure, it was pure bombastic Trump, battling neighborhood groups and neighboring apartments to develop Trumpland, even if he was going to extend Riverside Park by 21 acres, but it was a time when we didn't know the phrase "You're fired" was just scary, not funny in a yooge way. Now, Trump, plus a group of investors who bailed him out during the mid-90s, has sold three buildings and 77 acres for $1.8 billion, in what is considered the biggest residential sale in the city's history. The buyers are Extell Development Corporation and the Carlyle Group; Extell is expected to build eight more apartment buildings (a total of 3,000 units), to ensure the real estate bubble remain bubblicious. Of course, Trump is keeping four condo buildings along the made-up street, Riverside Boulevard, so Kelly Perdew can keep his job. We think.

There's a nice multimedia slideshow from the Times about the QM 2. NYC.gov has information on Queen Mary 2 festivities and viewing areas; they emphasize not to go near QM2 while it's in dock at Pier 92 due to security reasons. The big event will be on Sunday, when "both QM2 and QE2 will depart from the cruise terminal, at 7:30 p.m. and 7:45 p.m. respectively, sail down the Hudson River and slowly pass the Statue of Liberty at 8:30 p.m. with a fireworks display by Grucci."