The American Institute of Architects is looking to supplant the idea of replacing the Gowanus Expressway with a tunnel, and instead proposes a suspended highway and formation of a Gowanus Greenway. In 2006, the Dept. of Transportation gave a green light to a $12.8 billion proposal to build a 3.5 mile, seven lane tunnel underneath the Brooklyn Waterfront and then destroying the elevated highway. The plan for a Gowanus Tunnel appears to be in perpetual......

A motorboat crashed into a tugboat pulling a barge last night and two motorboat passengers died after the vessel overturned. The incident occurred in the Ambrose Channel, near the Verrazano Bridge. According to the Daily News, a 24-foot motorboat hit the tow line between the tugboat and barge. Apparently the tugboat's captain had warned the motorboat a number of times, but the motorboat continued on. The barge ended up hitting the motorboat and three people......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: falling debris on W 47th St. and 8th Ave. in Manhattan, a shooting on Broadway on Staten Island, and a suspicious boat at the Verrazano Bridge near Brooklyn. For a reason unrelated to terrorism, the U.S. Parks Dept. is going to keep the crown of the Statue of Liberty closed because it's a fire death-trap. Iranian President Mahmoud Amahdinejad's wish to visit Ground Zero was blocked due to security......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: A train derailed on Otto Rd. in Queens, a stabbing at Rockaway Blvd. and Broadway in Brooklyn, and a sexual assault at Coney Island Hospital in Brooklyn. Visitors to the New York-New York hotel-casino in Las Vegas got an extra dose of big city verisimilitude last night, when shots rang out in the casino's mezzanine. Three people were struck, but none were seriously injured before the gunman was tackled.......

Staten Island needs some cheerleaders every once in a while, especially after their ice cream flavor was named after their landfill. The NY Times has a piece on the borough's historian, "Brooklyn has Walt Whitman to sing praises of its 'ample hills.' Manhattan has Woody Allen to capture its outsize style and neuroses. And Staten Island? Well, Staten Island has Thomas W. Matteo for a borough historian to chronicle its glories, its goofs and, yes,......

There are some very observant drivers on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and BQE. WCBS 2 reports that a number of drivers called 911 to report that a freighter ship was sinking in the New York Harbor. But it turns out the freighter, Dockwise Swan, is actually supposed to sink a little bit! The ship is a "semi-submersible," and can submerge to allow cargo to be taken on or off using the "float-on/float-off," "roll-on/roll-off," "skid-on/skid-off, or "lift-on/lift-off"......

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......

-Mets 5 Pirates 0: The game could have ended after the first inning when New York jumped all over Kip Wells for all of their scoring. Jose Reyes led off the game with a triple and scored on Paul LoDuca’s single. The Mets loaded the bases and Jose Valentin doubled home two runs. After a wild pitch scored another run, Endy Chavez singled home the fifth run of the inning. That was all El Duque......

Birch Shambaugh, NYC Marathon Entrant...

There's a good question over at Apartment Therapy's "good questions" regular feature this week that stood out to us: "How do [NYers] incorporate nature or relaxation into their daily lives?" Finding a way to be comfortable and/or relaxed in the city is a tricky task, one that becomes increasingly important (and harder) as the days get shorter and shorter (damn you depleted daylight!). AT offers some sage advice (regular exercise and a calm home environment)......

The MTA is all over the news lately. As the transit workers contract approaches we're the MTA really try to get the good word out about itself, to varying degrees of sucess. On the one side is the flat out good press. A perfect example of this is the fluff "exclusive" that recently appeared in the Daily News touting the fact that the MTA is planning on eventually "shield the Verrazano Bridge's suspension cables......

Kevin Walsh, Forgotten NY...

You have to love an environmentalist who can swim the 315 mile length of the Hudson River and live to tell about it, even if it just reinforces the stereotype that environmentalists are "crazy" - and Gothamist means "crazy" in the best sense of the word (like "Crazy for You" or "Krazee Eyez Killa"). Christopher Swain became the first person to swim the Hudson last week, from Lake Tear of the Clouds all the way......

The last kite Gothamist flew prominently featured Rainbow Brite--but that might soon change. April is National Kite Month, and the American Kitefliers Association has put together a ton of activities in the New York area for kids, amateur fliers, and those, ahem, serious kite aficionados out there. Honestly, Gothamist can't believe the hipsters haven't reclaimed lovable, kitschy kiteflying as their weekend activity of choice. (It's the logical next step after rollerskating.) It probably has something......