Results tagged “southferry”

Last night, a man was stabbed at the South Ferry terminal after a dispute. According to the NY Post, victim Josh Davis, 21, apparently got into an argument on the subway: Davis had been "telling a female pal about how the suspect had threatened to pull a knife on him aboard the number 1 train, accusing him of looking at his girlfriend, according to Davis's friend Chantae Rivas. As he told the story just before midnight, the suspect and his girlfriend walked up and started threatening the victim again." Davis told the man, "What's your problem, I'm not trying to talk to your little girlfriend." Apparently that set the man off and he stabbed a knife into Davis. The suspect left the scene; Davis is in critical condition at Bellevue.

The new $530 million South Ferry subway terminal is opening today, after years, and more recently months, of delays. The station's new platform will allow all ten subway cars' doors to open (before only five could open on the short platform). The AP reports, "Governor David Paterson and other officials are scheduled to attend Monday's ribbon-cutting ceremony." It is also the first new station in 20 years and has some beautiful elements, like a topographic mosaic map of NYC. Photo: Ben Yankee on Flickr

Those images of the new South Ferry subway terminal will have to tantalize us for another few months: The new station, which was supposed to open this month, needs a little more work because, the NY Times reports, "the gap between the platform and the trains exceeds the three-inch maximum allowed by federal regulations guaranteeing access to mass transit to people with disabilities."

       

Yesterday, the MTA offered a first look at the new $530-million South Ferry subway terminal. The project, the bulk ($420 million) funded by the feds, is an definite upgrade. Second Ave. Sagas went on the tour and reports:

The current station at South Ferry is more than a bit decrepit. It’s a tiny station with room for five cars, and since it’s on a steep curve, it employs movable platforms. Somehow, it also serves six million passengers a year bound for Staten Island, Lady Liberty and all points in between...

Continue reading "New, "21st Century" South Ferry Subway Terminal"

The MTA unveiled its 2008-2013 Capital Plan, which explained almost $30 billion will be needed to improve mass transit and complete projects like the Second Avenue Subway, the East Side Access plan and more by 2030 (many of those projects will also be delayed). Though the current MTA capital plan doesn't expire until next year, the MTA presented this plan because the state congestion pricing legislation required them to present a plan by the end of the first quarter of 2008.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a stabbing at Coney Island Hospital in Brooklyn, another stabbing at 131st St. and 9th Ave. in Queens, and a third stabbing on West 167th St. in the Bronx.
• Three men sprayed mace in the face of a Diamond District jeweler at 1 p.m. last Wednesday in the Rockefeller Center subway station and grabbed his bag containing three spools of gold wire worth $115,000.
• Subwayblogger.com looks at MSNBC's list of the ten easiest airports to get to in the country and notices that according to the network, the AirTrain to JFK is free of charge to passengers. It's actually $5.
• NY1 looks at the progress being made on the new South Ferry Terminal being built for the 1 line. Riders will be able to transfer to the R/W lines at the new station, which will be cooled during the summer.
• The Bush administration declined to let New York expand its children's health insurance program to include an additional 70,000 kids, or families of four making up to $82,600.
• The Gowanus Lounge receives a picture and description of a rolling greenhouse in Park Slope.
• For the adventurous digital photographer, here's a short tutorial on the relatively simple process of how to do time-lapse photography.
• A cop's two pistols disappeared from a locker at Williamsburg's 90th Precinct house. Experiencing some problems at home, the officer had elected to have them vouchered at work to avoid any accusations of threatening someone with a firearm.

As recently discussed here and there, a group of scientists have tried to predict how more frequent flooding--induced by global climate change--could affect New York City.

A construction area collapse in Brooklyn yesterday cost a worker his life. The man was waterproofing the foundation of the Leif Ericson Day School in Dyker Heights while standing aside a trench dug next to the building. According to WCBS news, the trench was said to measure two to three feet wide, 15 feet long and eight feet deep. The construction worker, who hasn't been named, appears to have fallen into the trench as it collapsed at 2:40 p.m. yesterday afternoon.

A dispatch from the field - the Ditmars Boulevard field, that is - from Dan Dickinson, who says that there is no N service into Manhattan from Queens. Why? A broken rail at Lexington! Now the MTA's service advisory is up, and it's a doozy:

Due to a rail condition at the Lexington Avenue-59th Street Station:

Continue reading "Never and Whenever Train Riders, Brace Yourself"

Remember the old wall, some of which is now on display at Castle Clinton, the MTA found while excavating for the new South Ferry terminal? One of the archaeologists hired to document the seawall fractured her pelvis, lost two teeth and broke a toe when the trench collapsed, burying most of her in soil. The archaeologist, Alison Boles, filed a lawsuit against the MTA last week. The Post quotes her as saying "It's a very lonely feeling being buried in soild with your teeth knocked out."

For those who plan on commuting to or from the Upper East Side many years from now, you have something to look forward to - oh, and those of you living along Second Avenue, you might be annoyed - the MTA is getting ready to award a tunneling contract for the Second Avenue Subway's first phase this year, with digging actually starting in 2008, which means there's still time to relocate! Phase 1 of the long-long-gestating project would start at East 96th Street and go down to East 72nd Street, and make a connection to the East 63rd Street tracks. The only thing standing in the way may be Native American villages and burial grounds. The Post reports that the MTA will have archeologists "on hand to halt the massive tunnel-boring machine at the first sign of artifacts dating back hundreds of years." The MTA probably learned their lesson after coming across the big wall in Battery Park while trying to expand the South Ferry station.

- Smells like sewageAnd a major problem, politicians note, is that the city wants to really ramp up development in Greenpoint, so it would make sense for the MTA to improve service. Well, you see, the MTA is interested in expanding service in Manhattan - 7 line, Second Avenue line... - so G is for "Good Luck." There's been talk of expanding the G's line in Brooklyn, but that's probably all it is - just "talk." What the G line is good for is the G line sprint, though OPTO-ization makes that slightly harder at times.

The MTA is so sneaky. We were so excited to read the Daily News story about cooler subway platforms. But there's a catch: The stations that will have these special cooling units are ones that are being renovated or will be built in the future. Well, of course we'd hope that any new subway platforms for have better ventilation instead of making subway platforms a sauna of terrible smells (we're shocked we haven't heard about anyone passing out in the stations). The MTA doesn't expect to retro-cool stations, because many of the existing stations are so old, making an upgrade expensive and a pain in the neck. The unbuilt and/or in transition stations that will get a more high-tech cooling system are the Second Avenue line, the 7 line's additional stops, and South Ferry - so you can start waiting now.

As if the insane heat and humidity isn't enough, there are signal problems at Times Square that are affecting the 1, 2 and 3 lines. The 1 has been suspended between 137th Street and South Ferry and the 2 is running on the 5 line between 149th Street/Grand Concourse in The Bronx and Nevins Street in Brooklyn. The 3 is in even worse shape as it's not running at all. Gothamist is getting reports that the buses along the West Side are already packed as it doesn't seem like people want to walk to work in this weather.

Gothamist LOVES the story about the wall from the 1700s, possibly the 1600s, (probably from Dutch colonial times!) being found as the MTA was trying to excavate for a new subway tunnel. The MTA now has to wait for for archaelogists to examine the wall and the area around it, to determine how old it might be, which means the expanded station for South Ferry may have to wait even longer. The wall is 40 feet by 7 feet, made out of mortared stone. A statement from City Hall says the wall may be part of a gun battery, which makes sense given that Castle Clinton is there - one needs to protect the coastline and all. Also found near the wall: Delft pottery, a coin from 1744, and pipe stems.

The NY Times spoke to the employees of hotels where delegates are staying:

A woman who works in the laundry at the W, who gave her name only as Mrs. Kelly, no relation, reported that the delegates' linens were "very, very clean." At the Park Central on West 56th Street, Martin Benjamin, a building engineer, said the delegates from Idaho, Kansas and Maryland were not putting any undue strain on the plumbing system.

Gothamist on the Second Avenue Subway.

The U.S. Department of Transportation has given NYC $2.85 billion for the renovation of 3 transit sites. When Secretary of Transportation Norman Minetta was asked where the money is, he said, "It's in the mail," with Mayor Bloomberg showing his expertise in billion dollar transactions by further explaining, "The federal government doesn't drive up a truck into the back and out pours bills." But that would be cooler. It turned out that $750 million was wired yesterday morning to fund a new Fulton Street Transit Center and later another $400 million was wired for a South Ferry station. Another transfer of $1.7 billion is expected later for the new PATH station.