Williamsburg cyclists got a new bike lane on Bedford Avenue yesterday morning, but they lost one last night when dozens of cars obstructed the cycling path on Kent Avenue. Just hours after biking activists repainted a cycling path on Bedford Avenue that was recently removed by the city, the equally controversial Kent Avenue bike lane was blocked by parked cars for a major Hasidic celebration. more ›

The Gotham Awards gala run by the Independent Feature Project (IFP) will be held in Brooklyn for the first time tonight, after 17 years spent bouncing around between Roseland, Hammerstein Ballroom and Chelsea Piers. This year the independent film awards will take place on the soundstage of Steiner Studios in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Among the thousand-plus guests expected to attend are Javier Bardem, Sean Penn, Laura Linney, Uma Thurman, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Brooklyn’s... more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting at Stanton and Rivington Sts. in Manhattan, a homicide on Light St. in the Bronx, and a robbery at Sutter Ave. and Powell St. in Brooklyn.
• The 72nd St. exit ramp off the West Side Highway is officially closed.
• Times Square foot and vehicular traffic is held up as an example of why the city needs congestion pricing.
• Miss New Jersey, Amy Polumbo, received another package of possibly scandalous photos, along with a threatening letter.
• Brooklyn's very own dream factory: Steiner Studios. Business Week magazine looks at the film and television studio at the Navy Yard on Wallabout Bay.
• After the loss of an intimidating but diplomatic presence on 125th St. to a heart attack, a street community finds itself off balance.
• A 27-year-old man somehow fell six stories to his death yesterday afternoon on East 85th at the corner of 2nd Ave. in Manhattan.
• Bike sharing in NYC is undergoing a five day trial out of a SoHo storefront.

It's birdseed throwing or bubble blowing time with this weekend's NY Times wedding announcements. more ›

Way back in 2004, the city announced its super duper special NYC Tax Credit Program for film and TV producers (as well as commercial, music video, etc.) in order to motivate productions to happen here, versus Los Angeles or (gasp) Toronto. And it worked really well: Lindsay Lohan made a movie, Martin Scorsese shot a set-in-Boston movie mostly here, CBS brought us Love Monkey (then cancelled it), there's another Dick Wolf TV, plus countless others. But now it turns out that the film credits were maybe too much of a good thing: The NY Times reports that the film credit program will be revised because the $50 million allocated for the program over four years has been sapped away in just 13 months! Who knew, a city program that was too good to be true? more ›

- In terms of receiving 9/11 funds, Chinatown has been left in the dust. more ›

Chris and our production designer Howard and our cinematographer Stephen have all dedicated themselves to defying anyone to recognize that the entire film wasn't shot in NYC. We shall see, but from everything I've seen so far, I think they've done a great job. At any rate, the bottom line is that the East Village has changed so much from when Rent takes place that even when we did shoot there, Howard had to make adjustments to the buildings to make them look authentic to the time of the film.

- Concierge Service (assistance with story development, scouting assistance, budget analysis, and discounts on participating vendors)More details from the city. Mel Brooks yukked it up with Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Pataki, saying, "It was breaking my heart to think that we had to go to Bucharest or Toronto or Vancouver to somehow mimic this incredible city," he said. "Without the tax benefits, the truth is, the horrible truth is that this movie would probably be made in Kabul, wherever the cheapest place in the world to shoot is." Newsday covered the event, and the Mayor's and Mel's salty attitudes were on display:

When Bloomberg suggested he be cast as Max Bialystock, the swindler who seduces old ladies to finance his Broadway schemes, Brooks quipped, "We wanted somebody a little taller."
But Bloomberg -- slightly taller than Brooks but shorter on comedic stature -- got the biggest laugh of the day.
When Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver suggested Brooks get a second Bar Mitzvah during filming, Bloomberg shot back, "Or a second bris."

New York might get a boost to its film industry with the Steiner Studios in Brooklyn, which has been quietly breaking ground and emerging from the Navy Yard, at Flushing and Washington Avenues. Glenn Collins from the Times examines what the investors hope to bring to New York TV & film production, as well as Brooklyn. Backed by the Steiner Equities Group, facilities will have the largest soundstage in the Northeast (even bigger than Kaufman-Astoria, where most famously, Sesame Street films and The Cosby Show filmed) with high ceilings (for special-effects intensive films, something that current studio spaces lack). In March, the Village Voice examined the project as well, including possible sensitivities in the Hasidic neighborhood. Gothamist thinks building another production facility in the city is a good, as it can only mean more Law & Order spin-offs. more ›