Last decade's decrepit property along a foully polluted industrial canal is just next decade's prime waterfront lots, ready for development by one the nation's premiere luxury homebuilders. The Gowanus Lounge uncovered a "scoping" document filed with the Department of City Housing by the Toll Brothers construction company. The early renderings portray a spread of mixed-use development between 2nd and Carroll Sts. and bounded by Bond St. and the Gowanus Canal itself. more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a partial facade collapse on East 148 St. in the Bronx, two pedestrians struck on 72nd St. and West End Ave. in Manhattan, a body found on Pioneer St. in Brooklyn.
  
• A developmentally disabled woman on Staten Island depends on Social Security benefits to survive, but the SSA keeps declaring her dead.
  
• A three alarm fire injured one person on East 166th St. and Teller Ave. in the Morrisania section of the Bronx early Saturday morning.
  
• The Gowanus Lounge wonders if the C-Town grocery store in Park Slope is a vortex of lust based on Missed Connections.
  
• NYC Transit is reporting that ridership is the highest it's been since 1969. During 2007, 2.3 billion rides were taken on subways and buses.
  
• A massive scaffolding collapse in Midwood, Brooklyn left no one injured, but brought down power lines and crushed cars on both sides of the street.
  
• Stephon Marbury's season with Knicks is over after he underwent surgery for bone spurs.
  
• Angel Rodriguez, 12, and Michael Mumford, 13 are the heroes of the weekend. When they smelled smoke 1 a.m. Sunday morning from a blaze that began on the 5th floor of their East 21st St. walk-up; instead of racing directly from the 6th floor apartment where they were watching a movie, the boys knocked on every door in the 30-unit building alerting neighbors of danger.
  

Get ready to groan: "I look forward to 'Phase Two' of the 'blinging up' of the Parachute Jump," said inveterate cornball Marty Markowitz during his recent State of the Borough speech. The 262-foot Coney Island landmark was retrofitted with a lighting system two years ago, but borough president Markowitz and others deemed the effect too subdued and “artsy.” Now the city is soliciting proposals from companies to create a flashier effect. more ›

A video artist and teacher visiting from San Francisco claims she’s the latest victim of police harassment of photographers in New York – and this time the overzealous cop may have been acting on behalf of Forest City Ratner, the corporation behind the controversial Atlantic Yards project in downtown Brooklyn. more ›

This weekend Gowanus Lounge was first to note the unexpected closure of the 2nd Street Cafe at Seventh Avenue in Park Slope. The decade old restaurant, which on weekends had all the charm of a daycare center on adderall, had undergone a major renovation last summer. OTBKB hears word from a former employee that he/she was given just two days notice. Part of the ever-widening quicksand consuming New York restaurants? No word yet on the reason for the closure; calls to the restaurant are going unanswered. more ›

News came this past week that surely rocked the cradles of many Park Slope babies: Union Hall is no longer stroller-friendly! Will this be the beginning of a trend where Park Slope parents get booted from their home turf bars? more ›

On The Square, by Ade in New York at flickr
• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: shots fired by police at Blake and Vermont in Brooklyn, an escaped prisoner at East 112th St. and Madison Ave. in Manhattan, and a person under a train at Central Park West and 60th St. in Manhattan.
• Hassan Askari was invited to the State of the Union Address as the guest of Queens Congressman Rep. Joseph Crowley. Askari came to the aid of several Jewish people who were being attacked on the subway.
• A new Bronx courthouse is finally set to open, only three years behind schedule and $100 million over budget.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an unconscious baby on Ralph Ave. in Brooklyn, a construction accident on Bedford Ave. and Crown St. in Brooklyn, and a found grenade at 54th Ave. and Junction Blvd. in Queens.
• Dave Chappelle made an unannounced appearance at a comedy club, where Radar learned he "took the stage at approximately 12:30 a.m. and didn't leave until club management turned off the lights at 4:20 a.m."
• Busta Rhymes got three years probation, 10 days of community service, $1,250 in fines and will have to cover court costs in relation to assorted offenses related to DWI and assault.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a homicide on Boyland St. in Brooklyn, a person under a train at 116th St. and Douglass Blvd. in Manhattan, and a body found on West 91st St. in Manhattan.
• Martha Stewart is still mad over the public spat she had with Donald Trump in 2005 over her The Apprentice spin-off series. We bet she prepares a wonderful cold revenge dish.
• Police are searching for a man who attacked a 17-year-old woman in Jamaica, Queens, forcing her at knife point to a secluded area where he sexually assaulted her. The attacker may be the same man responsible for four other similar assaults recently.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an abduction on Atlantic Ave. in Brooklyn, a double shooting at West 151st St. and Walton Ave. in the Bronx, and a pursuit/crash/bailout on 95th St. and the West Side Highway in Manhattan.
• The disbarred lawyer accused of murdering his wife and blaming it on a random carjacking admitted to cops that he'd sent flowers to his girlfriend that day and had various small affairs and used escorts outside of his marriage.
• The girlfriend who turned in her boyfriend with his huge cache of weapons this week used to work for "The King of All Pimps" Jason Itzler out of his brothel. She was upset with Suwei Chuang because she wanted to get married and he wasn't sure.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a person struck by a train at 14th St. and 8th Ave. in Manhattan, a shooting on Flatbush Ave. in Brooklyn, and a shooting on Houston St. in Manhattan.
• Yet another reason to celebrate: today is the 110th anniversary of Richmond County joining us as the 5th borough of NYC. The Staten Island Advance features a picture of a general store with a wooden Indian in front of it to remind readers what the county was like at the time.
• Queens Crap hands out its annual overdevelopment award. Crappy New Year Councilman John Liu!

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting on Prospect Pl. in Brooklyn, a collapse at Flushing Ave. at Portland Ave. in Brooklyn, and an armed robbery on 157th St. and 109th Ave. in Queens.
• The Queens courtroom where three cops will be tried on charges of shooting Sean Bell to death is undergoing $175K in renovations in preparation for the trial, even though attorneys for the defense are arguing for a change of venue.
• Rehab center Silver Hill Hospital is being sued after a woman committed suicide while under the facility's care. The person bringing the suit is the executor of her estate, himself a former patient at Silver Hill and someone her doctor advised her to avoid.
• AM New York looks at some NYC bars beloved by Hollywood filmmakers.
• Alex Kelly, the high school rapist from Darien, CT who fled to Europe where he lived on the lam for years before being captured, was released from prison after serving 10 years of his 16 year sentence.
• Cops responding to a call that a woman was being assaulted inside Club Duvet on East 21st St. early this morning were instead met with a patron staggering out of the club with blood flowing from a chest wound. The victim died after being taken to St. Vincent's Hospital.
• A 14-month-old toddler fell out of an open window at his Brooklyn home yesterday, but landed without injury. The child fell 20 feet to the roof of an adjacent record store.
• The Gowanus Lounge reports that the IKEA in Red Hook believes in recycling. It will be using the paving stones that are being ripped up out of Beard St. for some secondary use on the store's property.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a construction accident on 23rd Ave. in Queens, a child was struck on West Houston and Thompson St. in Manhattan, and shots fired on 29th St. in Brooklyn.
• Going along with a network-wide environmentally conscious theme at NBC this season, the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center will be decorated with low power-consuming LEDs.
• The flat rate for a single subway fare will remain $2 until 2009. The fares will go up for all riders eventually, but not as much as previously expected. Also, only 15% of riders pay the $2 flat fare and will be spared any expected increase.
• Debbie Almontaser, the former principal of the Brooklyn dual-language school that teaches students Arabic, is suing the city. She maintains that she was forced out of her job under threat of closing the entire school.
• A man, woman, and young girl died in a Suffolk County apartment from carbon monoxide poisoning even though the building had already been condemned. We'll again stress the importance of making sure smoke and CO monitors are operable in your homes.
• If you missed the full display last year, we're sorry to say that the LED decorations around Brooklyn's Prospect Park will not be reinstalled this year. The Gowanus Lounge reports, however, that a Grand Army Plaza installation will be in place at the beginning of December.
• Despite being named Man of the Year by "the press" and making billions of dollars as a press magnate, Mayor Bloomberg finds the media annoying.
• Place those Christmas Eve carrots out for Santa instead of his reindeer, because some are saying that the plump jolly elf is a bad example for kids suffering from childhood obesity. We apparently need a Santa who's ripped and has sixpack abs.

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a pedestrian struck in a hit and run at Knickerbocker and Gates Aves. in Brooklyn, a wall collapse at Cromwell Ave. in the Bronx, and an escaped prisoner at 107th Ave. and 131st St. in Queens. Firefighters had to rescue a Queens cemetery worker who was buried up to his waist after a cave-in occurred in a 20-foot-deep pit where he was working. The cave-in broke the man's leg... more ›

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a pedestrian struck on 87th St. and Central Park West in Manhattan, a DOA in a tree off Woodhaven Blvd. in Queens, and a burn victim on 42nd St. and Vanderbilt Ave. in Manhattan. Sidewalk chalk outline artist Ellis G[allagher] was arrested by police and held overnight as he was being filmed by a PBS crew last week in Boerum Hill. Charges were dropped the next day and Gallagher... more ›

After receiving a dispensation from city officials last month to remain open until the end of their traditional season, the Red Hook Ball Field vendors are serving up their South and Central American and Mexican fare today and tomorrow for the last time this year. Whether they will return next spring is an open question. This summer the Parks Dept. proposed opening bidding for vending concessions at the fields, which would push most of the present vendors from the scene. Offering indigenous Latin American fare at low prices, there is little chance any of the vendors would be able to outbid a better capitalized organization. more ›

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a child was shot on East 98th St. and Lott Ave. in Brooklyn, an abduction on Exterior and East 138th Sts. in the Bronx, and there was a bank robbery on 8th Ave. and 52nd St. in Manhattan. Local politicians want to make the public display of a noose a felony crime after the incident when someone attached one to the office door of a professor at Columbia Teachers... more ›

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a partial collapse on West 123rd St. in Manhattan, an unusual trauma at Dewitt Clinton High School in the Bronx, and a shooting at Bergen St. and Buffalo Ave. in Brooklyn. The 7 train line was shut down for about two hours this afternoon after power to a number of signals failed. Service was back up by 4 p.m. AMNewYork looks at Rudy Giuliani's tendency to take phone calls... more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting on 126th St. in Manhattan, another shooting on Intervale Ave. and East 163rd St. in the Bronx, and a stabbing on Rockaway and Pitken Aves. in Brooklyn.
• Atlantic City's Borgata casino was in flames this morning.
• Connecticut's Governor suspended parole for inmates convicted of violent crimes after NYC cops shot a convict who drove a car stolen at knife point into the city.
• A Norwegian Cruise Line ship was held dockside in Manhattan for several hours yesterday evening until a bomb threat was determined to be false.
• The Gowanus Lounge notes a flier looking to ID witnesses to the brutality inherent in the system.
• Muslim and Jewish New Yorkers dined together last night on Manhattan's Upper West Side, as members of both religion broke fasts related to Yom Kippur and Ramadan after sunset.
• The effect of the metal bat ban on city baseball so far.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a child was found at 115th St. and Nicholas Ave. in Manhattan, an unusual incident at Columbus Circle in Manhattan with a man atop the globe in front of the Trump International, and a double shooting on Hegeman Ave. in Brooklyn.
• A worker fired from her job at the substance-abuse outreach organization Odyssey House said that her former supervisor would talk of his sexual exploits constantly. One of the weirder boasts: he would have sex in front of his cats, which would really turn the pets on.
• The New York Post looks at the most international pick-up spot in town: the Delegates Lounge at the U.N. The view is great, the drinks are strong, and many are looking to practice their international language skills.
• The second thresher shark in a week washed up on Rockaway Beach yesterday. A park manager and police gently pushed the three- to six-foot shark back into the water and it swam away.
• Alain Mariduena, or the graffiti artist known as Ket, pleaded guilty last Monday to painting a subway train in Brooklyn. He received probation, but his deal stipulated that he owes the city one mural to be commissioned by the DA's office, as long as it does not "condemn graffiti as an art form."
• The Gowanus Lounge helpfully points out why it's never a good idea to loan your shoes to the random guy who's already had his shoes, phone, and watch stolen, or let him crash on your couch because he has no idea where he lives. You probably won't get your shoes back.
• World leaders will be descending on midtown Manhattan this week as the 62nd U.N. General Assembly begins Tuesday, and Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be a featured speaker. Prepare for heightened security measures and nightmarish traffic situations.
• 21-year-old New Yorker and Mets fan Matt Murphy auctioned off the record-setting 756th home run ball, hit by Barry Bonds and that Murphy caught, for more than $750,000.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: two pedestrians struck at 71st St. and Northern Blvd. in Queens, a shooting at St. John's Pl. in Brooklyn, and a collapse at 52nd St. and 7th Ave. in Manhattan.
• Someone stole the "diamond dress" that Carol Channing wore during her stage run in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," from an unattended luggage cart. The $150,000 dress was about to be donated to the Smithsonian Museum.
• Annheuser Busch is moving a distribution plant from Long Island City in Queens to Hunts Point in the Bronx. Beer is seen as a vital fluid essence and economic stimulant to the revitalization of the downtrodden neighborhood.
• The Ground Zero remains of American Airlines Flight 11 passenger Laura Lee Morabito were identified recently through the use of advanced DNA testing techniques.
• Recording artists 50 Cent, L'il Kim and their two record companies are being sued for non-payment of royalties to a songwriter.
• A Nigerian immigrant New Yorker fashioned a bust of Mayor Bloomberg from the tickets he received from the Dept. of Sanitation.
• The Gowanus Lounge reports that Red Hook car owners and other Brooklyn neighborhood residents are pleased that street cleaning will be halved in the near future. Alternate side of the street parking switches will only occur once a week rather than two.
• A salvage team is looking for almost $10 million in silver bars that were never recovered from a 1903 incident when cargo belonging to the Guggenheim family fell overboard into the Arthur Kill on its way to South Amboy, NJ.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a possible abduction at the Mobil gas station off the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn, a suspicious death on Cornelia St. in Queens, and a pedestrian struck at Buffalo St. and Hylan Blvd. on Staten Island.
• The Dept. of Buildings declined to revoke permits for Donald Trump's planned 46-story Trump SoHo "hotel" on Spring St. near the Holland Tunnel.
• A State Bridge Task Force completed its inspection of New York's 49 steel deck-truss bridges and found them all to be structurally sound. Still, a bill before the Senate to boost federal spending on bridge maintenance would direct 10% of a $1 billion increase, or $100 million, to New York State.
• A Coast Guard vessel conducting a routine homeland security patrol came upon a 27-year-old man treading water without a life jacket about 400 yards southeast of Staten Island's South Beach.
• Gridskipper has a guide to establishments that brew, distill, and ferment all kinds of potent potables right here in NYC.
• The Gowanus Lounge reports that an F train express line could arrive as early as next year. Or maybe around 2012 or early 2013.
• The New York Times describes the run of the vintage six-car 'A' train yesterday on the line's 75th anniversary.
• IvyGate reports that bars surrounding Columbia University will all be getting ID scanners to keep out underage patrons, and Columbia itself will be picking up the tab for the devices.

• 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.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting at West 138th St. and Broadway in Manhattan, a triple shooting on Hunter Ave. in the Bronx, and a bomb threat at the intersection of Prospect and 5th Aves. in Brooklyn.
• Residents of Starrett City received a letter from the housing complex's owners that they intend to opt out of the state's subsidized housing program. One third of the 6,000 apartments at Starrett City are subsidized and the owners would have to pay the balance of a $234 million state-subsidized mortgage.
• The Gowanus Lounge wonders if another developer has struck oil on the Roebling oil field in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
• Forget the F train, judging from recent Craigslist "Missed Connections" items, the place to find love is on the commuter trains headed to and from the Hoboken train station.
• A rookie cop miraculously survived a four-story fall after crashing through a skylight yesterday. The officer had been searching for a prowler in Crown Heights, who got away.
• The Times Square subway station Record Mart is scheduled to re-open sometime in early October.
• Kenneth Boss, who was acquitted of charges in the killing of Amadou Diallo and reinstated as a police officer forbidden to carry a firearm, lost his legal bid to get his gun back.
• John Feal was originally going to donate his kidney to Paul Grossfeld, but a better match for his kidney was found. Now Feal is donating his kidney to another patient, whose spouse will donate a kidney to a third patient, whose spouse will donate a kidney to Paul Grossfeld. Doctors at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center will perform the transplant chain.

A number of buildings with a possible connection to Brooklyn's abolitionist past and the Underground Railroad may be razed to make way for a public park and an underground parking garage. The commuter daily amNewYork reported yesterday that the Duffield Houses are slated for replacement by a public park along the lines of Manhattan's Bryant Park, mixed-use residential and commercial development, and the expansion of local colleges. Opponents to the plan include Lewis Greenstein, who owns the building at 233 Duffield St., which was built in 1847 and allegedly played a role in helping escaped slaves make their way to Canada. (Good coverage of the issue at Duffield St. Underground.) more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting on Sutter Ave. in Brooklyn, a water rescue off the Breezy Point Jetty in Queens, and a missing child on East 178th St. in the Bronx.
• Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum is upset that Coney Island native and Knicks star Stephon Marbury donated 3,000 pairs of his new Starbury basketball shoes to male high school basketball teams, while ignoring the female players.
• The Brooklyn Paper reports that the Lincoln Plaza Hotel, which was advertised as a bed and breakfast but in reality was a by-the-hour brothel, is being renovated into luxury condos. Well-heeled eventual residents should not be expecting a welcome wagon, because neighbors are complaining they'd rather have a whorehouse on their street than rich condo-owners.
• Leona Helmsley moved into her final residence today: a 1,300 square foot space that featues stained glass windows with skyline views and 12 granite columns. The mausoleum is located in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Westchester.
• The Dept. of Health reported that of the 800,000 smoking New Yorkers who tried to quit the habit in the last year, only 17% were successful. Quitting aids like nicotine gum and patches will be distributed at the Whitehall Ferry Terminal Tuesdays through Thursdays from 3pm to 6pm for the next five weeks.
• The Gowanus Lounge has an update on the state of negotiations between vendors at the Red Hook ballfields and the Dept. of Health.
• SPIN has a page of photos and video of this summer's McCarren Park Pool Party concert.
• The manufacturers of Krasdale Gravy dry dog food are saying that some of their 5 lb. bags of dog food may be contaminated with salmonella. They are instructing to toss the food out and bring the bags back to the point of purchase for a refund. The tainted food was sold in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania and the packaging has the UPC code 7513062596.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a bank robbery on 5th Ave. in Brooklyn, an electric shock at 25th Ave. and 49th St. in Queens, and a shooting on 101st St. and Columbus Ave. in Manhattan.
• Chazz Palminteri's stage and screen bildungsroman A Bronx Tale will appear again onstage this fall. The off-Broadway play was adapted to a 1993 movie featuring Palminteri, Robert De Niro, and screen newcomer Lillo Brancato. The latter is now facing a murder charge over a botched robbery in 2005 that ended in a cop-killing.
• Mayors Bloomberg's daughter, Georgina, is dating an Irish equestrian rider , who's also an Olympic gold medalist.
• The Clarett Group submitted plans to the Building Dept. to build the largest building in Brooklyn, topping the Williamsburgh Bank Building by two feet.
• Give a hoot and don't pollute. The Gowanus Lounge is publicizing an E-Waste Recycling Drive sponsored by the East Side Ecology Center that's an opportunity to drop off hardware that may harm the environment if just chucked in the trash.
• One-time good Samaritan Junior Suarez is now suing ConEd for the trauma he experienced comforting the severely burned tow-truck driver Gregory McCullough.
• A very interesting piece in the Times on the evolution of Elvis Presley as racial barrier-breaker to unfairly perceived racist.
• Privacy is for hitchhikers: Divorce lawyers are using E-Z Pass to nail philandering spouses in court.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a person struck by a police car at Canal St. and Broadway in Manhattan, an escaped prisoner at West 110th St. and 7th Ave. in Manhattan, and an amputation on Brewer Blvd. in Queens.
• A downturn in the markets will hurt more than those that work on Wall St. Mayor Bloomberg warns that a bear market will hurt the whole city as reduced tax revenues necessitate spending cuts.
• Woody Allen remembers filmmaker Ingmar Bergman in a Q&A with Time magazine.
• The Florida woman charged with abusing 11 adopted New York children managed to adopt eight of them in a four-month period in 1994, never once using her own name.
• The Gowanus Lounge looks at the feral dogs that used to reside in Red Hook, until they were rescued and spayed or neutered by an animal welfare organization.
• The Brooklyn Cyclones won the first politically-correct called baseball game in history against the home team Lowell Spinners in Massachusetts. Infielders were base persons and a vertically challenged stop. Errors weren't announced to spare the feelings of poor fielders.
• A Queens resident got in Mayor Bloomberg's face while on camera, telling him he can't take the borough for granted.
• Streetsblog clarifies the DOT's plan for bike traffic on 91st between 2nd and 3rd Aves., correcting misreporting by other media outlets that are getting the street's residents riled up -basically the DOT has no intention of painting or striping a bike lane on the street.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a fatal fall victim at Clove Rd. and Hillcrest Terrace on Staten Island, a severed finger on East 38th St. and Madison Ave., and an animal rescue at 173rd St. in Queens.
• Sirius satellite radio (channel 85) will feature tribute broadcasts of performances by the recently deceased Beverly Sills tonight and tomorrow evening, at 9 pm and 8 pm, respectively.
• Shooting of the film adaptation of Jerome Robbins' ballet Jazz Opus recently took place on the Highline.
• The Gowanus Lounge reports that the Dept. of Transportation has begun the installation of bike lanes and other traffic-calming measures on 9th St. in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
• Congress will be holding hearings to discuss the re-opening of the Statue of Liberty's crown to visitors.
• A Bronx man was arrested after a sneak preview screening of "Transformers" this weekend, in a police sting operation that caught him digitally recording the movie. He will be the first person prosecuted under new more severe anti-piracy laws and faces fines of $5,000 and up to six months in jail.
• Guss' Pickles on the Lower East Side is unhappy that Whole Foods is selling what it claims is an inferior product made by a supplier in the Bronx with the Guss' name.
• A Brooklyn grandfather who's never been accused of a crime is claiming that cops stole $600, broke religious figurines, and planted drugs in his apartment during a court-approved search, after they accused the man of selling drugs and guns.