Yesterday, the Triborough Bridge was renamed the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge to honor former Attorney General and Senator from New York. Former president Bill Clinton, Mayor Bloomberg and Governor David Paterson joined RFK's children and widow, Ethel Kennedy, for the event. Paterson said, "Robert F. Kennedy was a champion of social justice and human rights and his spirit is kept alive by his family’s continued commitment to those causes. I am particularly pleased to have had the opportunity to sign this bill into law, making possible the renaming of the Triborough Bridge as the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge, which is a fitting tribute to the man and his legacy.” The idea was proposed earlier this year by former governor Eliot Spitzer. more ›

There's been many opinions tossed around regarding the name change of the Triborough Bridge to the Robert F. Kennedy bridge, but like it or not it's all goin' down on November 19th. NYMag notes that there's a bit of irony surrounding the change, however, saying "there’s no reason to think Kennedy, an environmentalist before his time, would have wanted his name associated with the notorious bottleneck site." Columbia University's Kenneth T. Jackson says, "with the MTA facing a billion-dollar deficit, I think Bobby Kennedy would be calling for us to find ways to save the planet and run more buses and subways rather than spend money to change signage." Maybe that's all just more opinion, but he goes on to say that RFK "believed, appropriately, that cars didn’t belong in New York." Even RFK, Jr. agrees that there's some irony surrounding the naming, but says his father would have appreciated the honor nonetheless. The $4 million honor. more ›

In January former Governor Spitzer addressed the idea of former New York senator Robert F. Kennedy claiming name to the Triborough Bridge. It immediately rose questions about RFK's carpetbagger status, and his importance (or lack thereof) to New York's history. more ›

Earlier this month we tried to look at the Triborough Bridge as the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge when Governor Spitzer brought the name change up for consideration. While RFK supporters toss around the obvious "he built bridges" metaphor, The NY Times would like to point out that he also burned them. They suggest that the city stop looking for big names to attach to their structures and streets, and instead look at who built them. As such, they nominate Andrew Haswell Green, "a giant of 19th century urban planning who has been almost entirely forgotten." Since he's not in the running yet, it looks like we're left with a yay or nay vote, so what do you think? more ›

Would a bridge by any other name, bring you to JFK Airport just as smoothly as the Triborough? In all likelihood, yes, but the big question here is should it be renamed after JFK's younger brother, former New York senator Robert F. Kennedy. more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: A boat in distress at the Roosevelt Island Bridge, a homicide on Howard in Brooklyn, and a stabbing on Jamaica Avenue and 161st Street in Queens
• Hillary Clinton out-fund-raises Rudy Giuliani and Barack Obama in New York, which makes sense since she's been building her donor list as a Senator from New York.
• The big mystery of NYC: Where the middle class live.
• A man was fatally hit by a car on 54th Street between the West Side Highway and 11th Avenue; he apparently darted into traffic "to relieve himself on the side of the street."
• Is a honey bear in shoe-bomber Richard Reid's cell a deadly weapon? Maybe.
• Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas ate 173 Buffalo wings in 12 minutes, winning Buffalo's National Buffalo Wing Festival. Still, Nathan's Hot Dog eating champ Joey Chesnutt holds the record, eating 7.5 pounds of wings in 12 minutes (Thomas's 173 wings is about 5.17 pounds).
• In the wake of three people arraigned for their $5 million pot operation in Long Island, Newsday reports feds made 40% more indoor pot-farm busts between 2001 and 2006.
• If you find yourself near Chester, NJ, the Stony Hill Farm Market has a corn maze in the shape of the Manhattan skyline where you can also learn about Manhattan history!
• In addition to derision, there's much confusion about Julian Schnabel's pink palace, dubbed Palazzo Chupi.
• Nanny Diaries directors Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer-Berman explain the difficulties of filming an "apartment porn" movie to NYU: "[Robert] was like, 'I don’t know where you are, where are you guys,' we were like, 'We’re by the kitchen,' he was like, 'Which kitchen? There’s three kitchens.' It was crazy."

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: An overturned vehicle on the Triborough Bridge, which can't be good for all those getting away for the weekend; an escaped prisoner in The Bronx; and multiple pedestrians were struck Dyckman Street & Broadway.
• Early this morning in Bed-Stuy, a police officer sitting in a marked vehicle was shot in the arm. The officer was treated and released from Kings County Hospital but the NYPD is still searching for the shooter.
• A cat rescue group was formed to trap Roosevelt Island's feral cats (there are about 100, but many die during the winter)
• If you're going to shoot a Tylenol commercial that isn't site-specific, why film at the Hotel Chelsea?
• Still stuck at work or out of vacation days already? Perhaps you should try getting a job at IBM, a company that doesn't keep track of how many vacation days you take a year. While the policy sounds great, apparently it makes people work longer hours and work during vacations.
• PETA is crying foul over the Orthodox Jewish and Hasidic ritual kapparot, where sins are symbolically transfered to a chicken that is swung over ones head. PETA says the chickens are disposed of improperly and possibly mishandled, but a Hasidic activist says the tradition where as many as 50,000 chickens in Brooklyn are used, will continue.
• Kew Gardens residents are upset with the Department of Education for creating a transfer school for "older students who may have had difficulty at their previous schools" in their neighborhood without telling them.

As many people wonder about the state of the bridges in the New York City region, in the wake of I-35 collapsing in Minneapolis, the city's Department of Transportation is trying to reassure residents that our bridges are safe. Though many bridges meet the definition of "deficient" - 19% of bridges are in "fair" or "poor" condition, 15% meet the federal definition of "structurally deficient" - a DOT first deputy commissioner Lori Ardito says, "In New York, we do not have any bridges that are structurally deficient." more ›

• 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.

This story has it all: Wild turkeys, bottle rockets and a 59-year-old man with connections to the Columbo crime family. Franklin Picone was arrested yesterday for allegedly setting off bottle rockets to disturb wild turkeys that roost in his Dongan Hills neighborhood. But Picone claims it wasn't him, even though he does admit to hating the turkeys and calling up the city to complain about them - there are about 40-50 that wander around. more ›

A totally wild carjacking unfolded yesterday across two boroughs. A man stole an orange Range Rover SUV at a Queens car wash, and then tried to run over a cop who stopped him at the Whitestone Bridge in the Bronx. The SUV's owner David Irish had called the police when his car was stolen from the car wash, so authorities were on the look out. more ›

The city's Franchise and Concession Review Committee is scheduled to vote this coming week on whether or not to approve a proposal to have twenty Manhattan private schools pay for part of the renovation of Randall's Island athletic fields in return for exclusive use of a majority of the fields. The plan, which is separate from the controversial water park, calls for schools such as Dalton and Spence to pay the city $52 million dollars over twenty years. The city would kick in an additional $18 million for the fields, and $53 million for island infrastructure. In return for the payment the schools would get exclusive 3-6 p.m. use of at least two-thirds of the 63 playing fields. more ›

Robert Moses’ legacy may be getting tweaked if organizers of three upcoming exhibitions have their way. more ›

Some of Gothamist's favorite stories in the city were about the animals of New York City. Here's how animals ruled the Big Apple in 2006: more ›

Clearly it's Thanksgiving when a wild turkey tries to hightail it out of the city by way of the Triborough Bridge. A 10 pound female bird was loose around the toll plaza on the Manhattan side, and six MTA workers chased her! After fifteen minutes, a construction worker helped catch the bird. more ›

Yow. Reaction to graffiti artist-vandal-user-whathaveyou Kiko's sentence (6 months and a $25,000 fine) for tagging various Queens locations was pretty straightforward - graffiti hating City Councilman Peter Vallone was upset Kiko didn't get more time with street art enthusiasts were sorry about it. ANIMAL New York wrote a post noting that Vallone's used graffiti as a "personal soapbox":

Although we do think KIKO should be punished in some form or another, specifically public service, we don’t think that any graffiti writer should ever have to serve jail time. In the long run this hurts the community more than any tag could. If anybody wants to do any peaceful renovations demonstrations, we suggest they travel to the belly of the beast. Here is Peter Vallone's home address, 21-46 19th St. as provided by his own district office and press hack, Andrew something or other. So stop by, check out the lovely views of the Triborough Bridge and the massive Con Ed power plant, plus exercise your 1st Amendment writes.

Yesterday morning's car accident involving a man suspected of stabbing someone in Rhode Island is profoundly crazy. Joel Noonan was trying to drive away from MTA police on Lexington Avenue when his Jeep Cherokee crashed into Nissan Pathfinder near 63rd Street, hitting pedestrians, with the Pathfinder ultimately crashing into a travel office window. One woman, Eve Maria Boisbel, was hit so hard that she, as Newsday reports, was "wedged inside a black metal garbage can between the gray SUV and the storefront." In fact, the Daily News calls the trash can a "lifesaving helmet" since the Pathfinder had crashed the trash can into the store. more ›

Yesterday (we think), NY Times published a Q &A with its photo editor Michele McNally. It's very interesting and informative, with notes on what kinds of cameras are used, why color photos on actual newspapers can suck, the paper's policy on publishing pictures of wounded or dead American soldiers. But there was an odd part answering a university student's question, "after 9/11, what obstacles do your photographers encounter and how do they get the shot that they are allowed by the Constitution?" McNally wrote:

"If you are stopped by the police, I suggest that you cease shooting, explain yourself and never be confrontational. Shoot only from public spaces. You are prohibited from shooting bridges and tunnels, less so the subway."

It is perfectly legal to photograph bridges and tunnels from public areas. Imagine if you couldn't take photos of the Brooklyn Bridge? Port Authority and TBTA have signs up indicating no photography, but where is the law? Test it one day. more ›

The Triborough Bridge is 70 years old today. As the MTA puts it, the bridge is "actually three bridges, a viaduct, and 14 miles of approach roads connecting Manhattan, Queens, and the Bronx." And traveling along it can provide some of the most beautiful views of the city -and the bridges themselves aren't bad. Today, the NY Times looks at the history of the bridge and its creator, Robert Moses. We liked this quote about Moses, the scarily powerful Parks Commissioner:

“He was a visionary,” said Robert Del Bagno, exhibitions manager at the Transit Museum in Brooklyn Heights, where “The Triborough Bridge: Robert Moses and the Automobile Age” is on display through next year. more ›

-- And Larry King throws the deuces (is this after being a witness about today's UES fire?) more ›

Over the weekend, a driver took the time to U-turn and drive against traffic on the FDR for 30 blocks when police were tailing him. Apparently the driver, Thomas Mathurin, had been weaving on the Triborough Bridge and then paid no heed to the FDR's lane closures - there was a motorcycle procession. When he got to a blockade the police set up at East 44th, Mathurin turned around and headed north while still in the southbound lane. And did we mention that cops started to fire at him? Mathurin only stopped when he crashed into another patrol car around East 74th, and now he's charged with attempted murder and vehicular assault. more ›

On Sundays, Gothamist publishes essays about topics relevant to life in New York. The one below is by our favorite poet historian, Matt Levy-- master of the extended metaphor: more ›

Mayor Bloomberg lambasted the state's PACB decision to reject a plan to finance the West Side Stadium, telling New Yorkers, "We have let down America." Yes, Mayor Bloomberg was swimming in hyperbole, saying:

"We've lost a little bit of our spirit to go ahead and our can-do attitude. If you adopt this kind of policy, we never would have built Carnegie Hall, we never would have built Radio City Music Hall, we never would have built the airports, or the Triborough Bridge or Central Park. One of the great dangers is that developers are going to get disheartened and say, 'I can't build anything in New York City because the politics always get in the way.'"

The City Council said that any renaming discussion would have to be open to public debate. Gothamist would love to see that: The George Washington Bridge Brought to you by Washington Mutual Bank. more ›

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