Author Robert Sullivan, who writes provocative bicycling op-ed pieces for the Times when he's not writing about rats and the American Revolution, has a suggestion to solve the ongoing tension between cyclists and pedestrians on the Brooklyn Bridge walkway. He proposes that the city ban bicycles entirely from the walkway, and shift them down to the motor vehicle roadways by creating physically protected bike lanes. more ›

The NY Times' City section has a sprawling feature about biking in the city by writer Robert Sullivan. Sullivan (who wrote the wonderful about the rodent's history in NYC) noticed how his bike rides these days are much more pleasant—compared to 1987 when it included "navigating honks and taunts, the mayhem that was then on Cathedral Parkway"—thanks to more recent bicycle-friendly measures and, overall, more bicyclists on the road. more ›

Brooklyn writers are banding together to be the latest voice against Bruce Ratner's vision for Atlantic Yards. A number of local wordsmiths have contributed to Brooklyn Was Mine, an anthology consisting of short essays and stories put together by two Vogue editor to benefit Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn (a non-profit that fights development while uniting the community). From the press release:

"Brooklyn has given birth to some of America's greatest literary voices," note the anthology's co-editors, Chris Knutsen and Valerie Steiker. "Today, a new generation of authors has grown up or resettled here, a testament to Brooklyn's unique quality of life. These writers simply want to protect a community that has provided them with so much. Fortunately, the passion they feel for the place has yielded a vibrant collection of essays—and we are delighted that, with each book sold, something will be given back to Brooklyn."

The elements that have made City Hall Park so attractive to New York's humans have also made the area hospitable to the city's rodent population--so much so that the park has become overrun with rats, who don't seem to mind people company as much as people mind rat company. Regardless of the time of day or the number of people congregating there, rats--lots and lots of them--have made City Hall park their home. The New... more ›

You know what's awesome in high definition TV? Seeing images of huge, fat rats run around a fast food restaurant in the Village! WABC, WCBS, and WNBC descended on a Taco Bell-KFC location on Sixth Avenue at 4th Street. The restaurant had been open until 11PM last night, and someone called in a tip when they saw rats running around. While people have seen rats in restaurants, they probably haven't seen something that looked this close to the Rats of NIMH. This story also made the Today Show, in a broader piece about "Is food from your restaurant safe?" Which makes us wonder about the pros and cons of e. coli and rats. more ›

Today, there's a fascinating Op-Ed by Robert Sullivan about the state of NYC streets. Titled, "The City That Never Walks," Sullivan describes how NYC has "lost [its] golden pedestrian touch."

...yet, here in New York, we even have the debate over bicycle traffic backwards. We focus on drivers’ complaints about the bicycle commuter who races through red lights, rather than on the concerns of the mother biking her child around organic-food delivery trucks that idle in bike-only lanes. In December, the police say, a bicyclist was killed on the Hudson River Greenway by a drunken driver speeding along a bike lane that was completely separated from the road. Asked what was being done to improve safety in light of the biker’s death, Mayor Michael Bloomberg suggested that bikers “pay attention.” more ›

Who doesn't love a good story about city rats? The NY Times has a cool feature on the city's "epic battle" to reduce the rat population. Did you know that rats are "developing resistance to many of the poisons used on them"? Rats are so crafty! more ›

The lawyer representing of the family of the 18 year old girl who was killed when she fell through a Long Island Rail Road platform gap says the MTA "doesn't give a tinker's damn about drinking and intoxication on the railroad". more ›

Well, there's nothing like blaming the victim. The NY State Public Transportation Safety Board says that the August death of Natalie Smead, who fell into a gap at the Woodside LIRR station, was her own fault. The board issued a report saying that 19 year old Smead had been drinking with friends earlier and lost her balance when she fell in the 8-inch gap. When her cousin tried to help her, apparently Smead "pulled away" and crawled under another platform, where she was hit by a different train. more ›

The woman who was badly burned after the plane carrying Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle and flight instructor Tyler Stanger crashed into her 30th floor apartment finally left the hospital yesterday. Ilane Benhuri, who had the most serious burns among the people injured from the crash, had walked to New York Hospital with the help of her housekeeper immediately after the October 11 crash. She underwent operations and many skin grafts over the past month. After her release, Benhuri spoke to reporters yesterday about her ordeal:

Everything from outside, the windows and the walls and everything, with a big explosion, came just right into me and it threw me up in the air and threw me down in all the debris... more ›

The age-old question about whether or not there really is one rat per New Yorker arises in today's NY Times City Section. While the number of rats hasn't been officially counted, the Times answers:

As for “one rat per person,” that is a myth that has persisted for at least 100 years. As Robert Sullivan noted in his 2004 book, “Rats,” a naturalist named David E. Davis analyzed New York’s rat population in 1949 and called the one-rat-per-human statistic absurd. (The statistic had come from 19th-century England and was never more than a guess.) more ›

LAist editor Jason Toney was in town, and he captured this photograph of one of the city's fixtures. And some thoughtful passer-by made sure the bloated rat wouldn't be lonely on the street until the Department of Sanitation swept him up. Even though Gothamist is not always excited to see a rat, we have to say this is a pretty great, if gross, picture. more ›

Some more information about shows and links to music on Coolfer. Gothamist on Robert Sullivan's book, Rats. more ›

Sullivan's book, Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants, does seem like it'll be an interesting read. On an empty stomach, of course. more ›