Posts from — May 2008

From the Bronx to Bay Ridge, there are growing signs that New Yorkers are getting fed up with the gradual replacement of the city’s supermarkets with chain drug stores and other retailers. Those who want their Key Foods, Fine Fares, and Met Foods to stay put are now taking to the streets with increasing frequency in attempts to keep their local supermarkets from closing. City supermarkets have faced increasing pressure as tight profit margins, changing zoning regulations, and rising rents make it difficult to continue to do business, and many are folding across the five boroughs.

In Bay Ridge, which has lost a Grand Union, a Kings Supermarket, and an A&P, State Senator Martin Goldin will lead a rally on Saturday, May 31st, at 11 A.M. outside a threatened Key Food store (planned to become a Walgreens) on 3rd Avenue at 95th Street. He recently commented on the brewing “crisis,” [Read more →]

Con Ed Tower on Flickr.

As the city’s hot and humid summer season kicks off, now is the time to acquaint yourself with New York’s often overlooked steamy underbelly. One of the city’s oldest and most reliable sources of energy, the extensive steam system has been providing heat, hot water, and cooling to many of New York’s most famous landmarks, hospitals, museums, and businesses for more than 125 years. Saumil Shukla, Vice President of Steam Operations for Con Edison and James Gallagher, Senior Vice President, Energy and Telecommunications, New York Economic Development Corporation, will talk about the history of steam generation, explain how the massive system works, and discuss steam’s environmental benefits and plans for maintaining and upgrading the steam system in New York.

New York Infrastructure: The Steamy Side of New York City
Thursday, May 29, 6:30 P.M.
Museum of the City of New York
1220 5th Avenue at 103rd Street
New York, NY 10029
(212) 534-1672, ext. 3395
www.mcny.org

Reservations Required
$9 General admission
$5 Museum members, seniors, and students

Keep it Movin’ on Flickr.

Even though most of New York City’s subway lines have seen dramatic increases in ridership in the past years, the city’s bus ridership numbers have leveled off and in some cases decreased.

Recent figures show that during weekdays in March, ridership numbers on local and express bus routes declined by 14,000 riders compared to the same time period last year, while the subway system saw an increase of about 200,000 people compared to last year. The MTA points to a large decrease in riders using Staten Island express buses because of worsening traffic conditions on the Verrazano Bridge as major source of the fall off in ridership. The traffic problems are not limited to the Verrazano, unfortunately, and increasing traffic citywide causes unexpected delays, bunching, and a consistent inablility to keep up with schedules. In many cases it’s just easier to take the extra-long walk to the subway to avoid the unpredictability of a bus trip.

[Read more →]

For Rent on Flickr.

Cooper Union’s funky new academic building along the east side of Cooper Square has been growing in recent months (you can watch the progress via webcam here), and recently a new “For Rent” sign has sprung up along the scaffolding. The 3,000 square feet of retail space–no cooking please–is planned to be available for possession in March of 2009.

The listing also highlights that the space would be perfect for a “cafe, bank, pharmacy, or general neighborhood services,” because we all know that if the East Village needs anything, it’s more cafes, banks, and pharmacies (if we knew what “general neighborhood services” really meant we’d be cranky about that one too).

If you don’t want to leave your mark on the school with a retail outlet, you can always name the whole building for $35 million.

Click here for the full ground-level floorplan.

Flushing Advertising on Flickr.

Soldiers by amg2000 on Flickr.

Yesterday City Council Member Eric Gioia (D-Queens) announced a proposal for a new initiative that would that would try to make available paid city internships to all veterans returning from active duty in Afghanistan and Iraq. In order to help put veterans on a path to permanent jobs with the city, Gioia wants the city’s agencies to hold internship positions open for the new crop of veterans. Where spaces have already been filled, new intern positions would be created to fill the demand from those who served. The plan is based on a similar program in Los Angeles that has been successful in getting veterans employment with the city government.

The proposal comes on the heels of Pace University’s recent announcement that it will offer 50% tuition breaks to veterans who have served in Afghanistan and Iraq since September 11, 2001. The half-off tuition rates apply to almost all undergraduate and graduate degree programs with exceptions for law, doctoral, and executive MBA degrees. Application fees for veterans will also be waived. Pace is one of the only private universities that offer such wide-ranging benefits for returning veterans.

Crews continue to work to get things back to normal on West 10th Street near West 4th Street, where a 20-inch, 150-year-old water main ruptured late Saturday night. Residents have been allowed back into their homes and water service was restored around 9:30 P.M. last night.

Many basements were flooded–up to three feet in some places–and many residents were forced to find a place to stay as inspectors checked to be sure building foundations weren’t compromised.

For a pipe installed before the Civil War, it’s pretty amazing that it lasted as long as it did (and pretty amazing, though not surprising, that it had not been replaced sooner).

“The young ladies from Miss Knapp’s select school have an outing at Coney Island N.Y.,” circa 1905.

The late Eddie Boros’ 65-foot tall tower constructed of found materials at the East 6th Street and Avenue B community garden was recently deemed unsafe and uninsurable by the Department of Parks and Recreation. This past week it has been quickly dismantled and now rests in pieces in a large Parks Department dumpster in the street. The tower, built in fits and starts over twenty years by Boros, generated mixed reactions from those who viewed it as a great folk-art piece and landmark to community character and from those who were just plain creeped out by the deteriorating stuffed animals tacked up to the structure’s convoluted skeleton. Either way, the block seems a little bare without the familiar presence of the quirky tower among the garden’s trees.

Fordham Road Shop Signs in the Bronx on Flickr.