Results tagged “thenycdepartment”

Last night the first of two meetings to discuss the future plans of (the recently landmarked) McCarren Park Pool took place. The NYC Department of Parks & Recreation and architects Rogers & Marvel unveiled their plans and how they will spend Mayor Bloomberg’s $50 million. The initial press release listed: renovating McCarren Park Pool for swimming, creating a year-round recreation center, and preserving and restoring the historic bathhouse building and entry arch, as top priorities (based on a survey).

On the front page of the NY Times section A, there was a photograph of some workers in Haoro, India and an article titled "New York Manhole Covers, Forged Barefoot in India." And in fact, the workers are barefoot, bare-chested, bare-handed, and bare-headed as they work in an iron foundry, making manhole covers for Con Ed and other cities. The Times explains that a photographer, J. Adam Huggins, who works with the newspaper brought...

Bedbugs are horrible and gross and nothing that anyone should have to deal with. That said, it's probably not a great idea to douse your mattress with gasoline in order to repel the critters. The FDNY has found a number of Queens residents who have taken to soaking their mattresses with gasoline - even children's mattresses - as a foolproof way of getting rid of bedbugs. Or even wiping it on themselves. Battalion Chief Robert Turner tells the Post, "Gasoline is very explosive - even static electricity from a rug can ignite it." Point taken, but we understand the desperation to get rid of the bugs.

- Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or serviceAccording to the records, Time Out closed, but Gothamist thought we saw it open in the past few months, so we assume they tried to bring themselves up to code. The NY Times says about 4,000 restaurants fail each year, with only 500 closing (there are 24,000 restaurants in city overall, with 100 inspectors).

The Port Authority is adding bomb shields to the George Washington Bridge. And we say "All right!" because when the bombs hit, we'll be fleeing to NJ and expect the tunnels to be flooded. The Daily News says that these are "first such bulwarks to appear on a New York-area bridge" - they will be shields around parts of the bridge's cables. The NYC Department of Transportation and MTA have made plans to reinforce other suspension bridges, but Gothamist wonders what is happening with the Brooklyn Bridge's security - as it was the focus of an Al Qaeda plot at one point.

The NYC Department of Health issued a drinking water advisory after the yesterday's flooding may have affected NYC's Hillview reservoir. The DoH says that "higher than normal levels of particles" have been detected in the water supply. While that water has been diverted, they ask that "infants, the elderly, pregnant women and New Yorkers with conditions that compromise their immune systems– those with HIV/AIDS, especially those with CD4 counts less than 200; those with leukemia; and those who are post bone marrow transplantation - use either boiled or bottled water as a precaution for the next 24 hours (until noon Friday)." The NYC DoH has information on what you should do with your water in the meantime; it's unclear whether a Brita filter works, so perhaps boiling water is just the safest thing. [Via Marisa]

With the forecast calling for possibly more than an inch and a half of rain over the next few days, the Mets will be lucky just to squeak in one game in their home opening series against the Braves. But the rain ensures that our reservoirs will remain in good shape especially compared to two years ago when we found ourselves in a Stage 1 drought emergency with the total level at 57.5%. The total reservoir storage level is currently at 98.3% (above the 96.4% normal level) with some reservoirs even reporting over 100% capacity (wouldn't that imply they are overflowing?)