Remember last month, when a cyclist was really pissed that another cyclist locked in his bike, so he made a video about it? Well, apparently that same guy, Casey Neistat, has a penchant for making videos about small-scale street annoyances, and he's back with a new one focused around the hidden dangers of texting while walking. more ›

Like Gus Chiggins, Queens resident Raffi Stepanian is a modern day prospector with humble dreams: to avoid coyotes, and find his fortune in the sidewalks of midtown Manhattan. Stepanian made waves last summer when he was interviewed by the Post about panning for bits of gold, platinum and rare gems in the Diamond District. He has said that he makes up to $300 dollars a day: "The streets of 47th Street are literally paved with gold." More recently, Stepanian has been featured on the new show Penn and Teller Tell a Lie. Below, you can see that segment on him, as well as another video of Stepanian doing his thing. Of course, if Stepanian really wanted to make some money, he'd go straight for the taxi medallion gold. more ›

As you've wandered around the city on foot, trying to avoid the gum and the poop, have you noticed any blue and orange tokens paved into the ground? A tipster pointed them out to us, and wondered what they might be. They wrote: "I've seen them all over the city, and they seem to be permanent and not related to construction. This photo was taken on 65 and bway on the NE corner. The tokens have a number in the center and then a larger number on the surrounding ring, which looks to be an ID number." Could they be clues to some grand Freemasons-like conspiracy? more ›

The Natural Resources Defense Council's New York Urban Program Director Eric Goldstein (that's a mouthful) has gone undercover to see what Manhattan retail stores are blasting their air conditioning with open doors to lure the customer inside. This is illegal, of course, and as Goldstein points out, while "the issue isn't tops on the national environmental agenda... it does serve as something of a symbol of shameless wasting of fossil fuels by some of our fellow citizens." more ›

The city's Sidewalk Management Unit has not been doing a very good job, according to Comptroller William Thompson, Jr., who is releasing his annual report on the state of the sidewalks. Over the last several years, the city has paid an average of $63.5 million annually to settle claims relating to defective sidewalks. Thompson says millions could have been saved if the DOT hadn't failed to inspect one out of every five sidewalk defect complaints; he's also dismayed that violations remained unfixed for an average of four years. According to the Daily News, the DOT issues summonses to homeowners, and if they fail to fix the violation, the city is supposed to do the repairs and bill them. But when the repairs aren't done, the city is liable in court. (In 2003, a law was passed to make commercial businesses responsible for their sidewalks, which reduced the number of lawsuits against the city.) Another part of the problem is that parks officials don’t have the $34 million necessary to fix the 22,229 reported sidewalks that have been buckled by the city’s mischievous street trees. more ›

Last year City Councilwoman Gale Brewer proposed a bill that would fine establishments $200 per open door/window in air conditioned spaces (as well as heated spaces in the winter), the bill wasn't fully backed by the Bloomberg administration and never saw the light of day...until now! The NY Post reports that the environmentally friendly bill is now supported by Bloomberg and "is expected to win council approval tomorrow." more ›

The NY Times columnist Clyde Haberman is annoyed about shops that keep their air-conditioned stores' doors wide open and found other New Yorkers who share that gripe. One downtown resident was told by a Soho clothing store that the open door was "company policy," so the outraged resident called the store's main office, where someone "said they had a ‘green team’ forming." more ›

While you may not need an umbrella on a day like today, if rainy days often leave you fumbling as you multitask -- there may be a solution: this new umbrella from the future! It will keep you dry while you check emails on your iPhone, smoke a cigarette, and search your bag for coffee money (the website even shows a cyclist using one). more ›

Forget about leaving doors open to attract customers with air conditioning and heat, back in 1934 there was a vision of having air-conditioned sidewalks! In another article from the past, the idea is explored. more ›

The Neighbors Project has created a way to Thank You For Shoveling, with a polite little card campaign. Their website explains: "When you're trying to get somewhere during the winter -- work, bar, grocery store, gym, etc -- there's nothing more frustrating than being delayed because you're wading through inches of snow, or slipping and falling on the ice. It's a recipe for resentment on your block. So help spread the word about how much... more ›