Bright Lights, Big City
Neighborhood hopping is the only way to appreciate this town
By Lorraine Duffy Merkl
“There’s no life above 14th Street,” a former colleague was known to say. She is not the only lower Manhattanite I’ve heard utter those words. Perhaps they think it has a certain cool downtown cachet, but all I ever think is, How limiting. Read more
A Nose for the Cold
When a chronic sinus condition has anti-social side effects
By Ben Krull
In wintertime my nose acts as a thermometer. As a cold front approaches I find myself using more Kleenex than usual. When freezing temperatures arrive, my sinuses function as though someone has clipped a clothespin to my schnoz. Read more
Tennis Bubble Pushback at Queensboro Oval
Board 8 committee rejects Queenboro Oval takeover
By Dan Rivoli
Opponents of the plan to turn the Queensboro Oval into a year-round tennis club won a small victory Feb. 19 when Community Board 8’s Parks Committee unanimously rejected the proposal. Read more
Coming in 2012: Andrew Haswell Green Park
By Dan Rivoli
The design for a new park along the East River was unveiled Feb. 11 to the oohs and aahs of Community Board 8 members.
Right now, the spot is an abandoned, industrial stretch of land above the FDR Drive, between East 60th and 63rd streets. In the past, it has been used as a heliport and sanitation garage. The plan is to transform this space into a park with greenery, a lawn, benches, chairs and a pavilion. This project was born out of the community board, which started crafting a plan for the space in 2002 and received City Council approval for the project in 2006. Read more
Rep. Maloney: No Regrets
By Charlotte Eichna
Near-blizzard conditions may have kept Rep. Carolyn Maloney from Washington, D.C., but the weather did not deter her from a morning interview on MSNBC, or a visit to Manhattan Media’s offices later that day. The eight-term Congresswoman stopped by to talk about her latest legislative accomplishments, primary elections and what she’s been reading. By the end of the interview, she’d been called back by the cable news network for an evening appearance. Read more
Not Ford’s Time
To the Editor:
I read Hilda Classon’s Jan. 28 letter questioning what qualifies Harold Ford to be our junior senator, commenting on your Jan. 21 editorial, “Run, Harold, Run.”
I agree with Ms. Classon, and I believe I can add something to her discussion.
I was born in New York City, live on the Upper West Side, raised my family here. I know and like both Harold Ford and Kirsten Gillibrand, having met them and gotten to know them through my active involvement in Democratic politics for many years. Read more
Critique of Critic
To the Editor:
I have never liked Armond White’s film reviews. I find him smug and arrogant, a man who clearly believes he knows more than he does about filmmaking and film history, and thinks he is a better writer than he actually is. In this regard, I was shocked—shocked!—that he could not laud From Paris With Love without also trashing Syriana (“sanctimonious”), Inglourious Basterds (“appalling”), Death Proof (“piddling”) and The Hurt Locker (less “informed”), among others. Indeed, his suggestion that The Fifth Element (fun popcorn entertainment) is somehow greater or more important than Syriana (a truly incisive and disturbing film) is absurd in the extreme, and displays a serious lack of political, historical and cinematic savvy. Read more
Don’t Cut; CUNY Is a Success Story
An economic recession ought to be a time of prioritizing. Just as families prepare for an uncertain future by skipping vacations and safeguarding retirement and savings accounts, so too must governments give priority to areas that build towards the future. That includes New York’s governments, state and city.
So it’s puzzling to consider the 2010-11 State Executive Budget’s recommendations to cut support for The City University of New York—by about $84 million for the system’s senior colleges, and by almost $22 million for community colleges. One of the few, and the most important, ways that New Yorkers can meaningfully plan for the future is through higher education. A college degree is associated with better career opportunities, a higher lifetime income and improved health and job security. Read more
Kitty Coat
Two women from the Ty Beanie Babies company show off the latest in outerwear: coats adorned with Hello Kitty stuffed animals. The promotion was part of the New York City Toy Fair at the Jacob Javits Convention Center. Photo by Andrew Schwartz
ROAD SAFETY OFFICE PROPOSED
By Dan Rivoli
Council Member Jessica Lappin wants to create an office within the Department of Transportation that would focus on road safety.
Lappin introduced legislation Feb. 11 that would implement an office that would collaborate with the police department; develop street designs, enforcement and education programs; and devise traffic and pedestrian accident-reducing measures.
The office is intended to have a citywide scope to supplement accident prevention in dangerous intersections and roads.
“We’ve done a good job in parts of the city, but we need more than a piecemeal approach to this issue,” Lappin said in a statement. “By working together and making road safety a priority, our city agencies can save lives.”
The office would be required to file annual reports to the mayor’s office and the City Council about initiatives taken to reduce the number of traffic incidents. The office would also have to coordinate meetings at least once a month with the police department, health department and the vehicular crimes unit of the city’s district attorneys.
“No one agency can eliminate road fatalities on its own,” said Paul Steely White, executive director of Transportation Alternatives, an advocacy group for biking, walking and public transportation. “We need to leverage every possible tool in government and make ending this public health epidemic a priority.”
The legislation was introduced two weeks after Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Transportation Commissioner Jannette Sadik-Khan announced that there were 256 traffic fatalities in 2009, a record low.
Recent statistics on traffic incidents are publicly unavailable, but in 2005 there were five pedestrian and bicycle fatalities, and more than 500 injuries on the Upper East Side.
