Results tagged “transitmuseumstore”

If you ever thought wedding planners were a waste of money and a huge headache, you'll love this NY Times article about them. Sure, there are good ones out there (if you have any suggestions, feel free to list them in the comments), but there are many horror stories, like a couple who went through two "planzillas" (including one whose planning was turning their wedding into a million-dollar affair) until finding one they could tolerate. Our advice: See how much the catering manager of the venue you're planning your event is willing to take on. And then rope in an understanding, super patient friend or relative who is Type A enough to want to help you out. And if you have any other advice, let us know!

While umbrellas are most convenient when they are small enough to stow into a bag, this 43" umbrella is very tempting. It's the MTA Transit Museum Store's Grand Central Ceiling Umbrella, which was created with the Municipal Art Society.

Arching over the 80,000 square-foot Main Concourse, this extraordinary ceiling was painted from a design by French artist Paul Helleu. The blue-green and gold mural portrays the October to March zodiac and contains more than 2,500 starts, with 60 lighted to illustrate major constellations.

At the MTA board meeting, Chairman Peter Kalikow said there "probably" won't be a monthly Metrocard fare hike next year. But the "probably not" is contingent on the MTA having another surplus year, which could be possible, if they played their real estate cards right. The MTA has assumed fare increases for next year (and other years), and while Gothamist would hate an increase, we do understand that it might have to happen, what with the MTA's billions in defict. The Citizens Budget Commission released their ideas on how to balance the MTA budget (PDF), which include congestion pricing, East River tolls, and other fees.

- The Straphangers' Campaign's Gene Russianoff has a blog!

Instead, in this case, an unknown male remaining on the platform approached the subway and started to rifle through his victim’s bag. He held onto the handbag, opened it and removed her property—all while the woman was trying to pull her pocketbook to safety. Before she managed to free it, the thief absconded with a $100 Vidal Sassoon gift card, a $120 Metro-North 10-pack of tickets and her ladies’ Cole Haan wallet, in addition to her driver’s license and credit cards.That is just stonecold! If only there was an intrepid fellow straphanger who could take a photograph of the thief - maybe the NYPD could cross check that with anyone getting a new coif at Vidal Sassoon.

The MTA revealed that the bulk of a new subway car order is damaged. French manufacturer Alstom was contracted to build 400 of 660 new subway cars for the BMT and IND subway lines, but a variety of problems will prevent the company from delivering a prototype train to the MTA this Friday. The NY Times detailed an MTA report that said two of the train car shells were damaged in shipping to a NY plant, and then at the plant, "Windowpanes, ceiling panels and brake resistors did not fit properly. The window problems were discovered when the test cars were sprayed with water, which seeped in." Yeah, that's really not good, but Gothamist wondered if there was human testing of the train car's durability - think about riders leaning on train doors, doing pullups on the bars, poledancing, you name it. And you may remember Alstom as only one of the two companies in the whole world that could make repairs for the damaged A and C lines earlier this year. An interesting footnote from the article was that Alstom's lobbyist to get the MTA contract was none other than former Senator Alphonse D'Amato.

This is one of those stories that could have been terrible but luckily ended up all right: A 10 year-old boy was missing from his Bronx home for two days, worrying his family and the police. It turned out that Kingston Jamison decided to visit his uncle's house in Coney Island Friday afternoon. After hanging out with some friends, the Daily News says Jamison was "too afraid to come home when he knew he was going to be late," so he just stayed with his friends for another two days until he saw his photograph in the papers and on the news. So on Sunday, Jamison took the subway back and stood outside his building, still scared, until a neighbor brought him inside. His family was thrilled to have him back, but his sister said, "Tomorrow, we'll have a nice family talk about what's going on." Dunh dunh dunh!

Sensing that if 40-100 subway enthusiasts/camera owners are willing to stage a protest against the MTA's proposed photo ban on subways, the Straphangers have announced a subway photography contest. This comes on the heels of the Village Voice's subway photography contest. A comparison of the contests:

And the MTA's fare hikes have apparently caused a ridership decline. Gothamist is worried that the next step is for the MTA to demand the firstborn from monthly Metrocard holders. Gothamist on people hoarding tokens.