Subway Lawsuit Filed
February 4, 2010
Residents at a co-op on Second Avenue and East 69th Street are fed up with the MTA’s plan for a ventilation structure next to their building and have filed a federal lawsuit against the transit authority. The plaintiffs claim that the building design residents saw at a Nov. 30, 2009 Community Board 8 meeting greatly differed from the one described in the 2004 final environmental review.
“It’s a substantial modification than what was shown and analyzed,” said Michael Zanlin, the lawyer for residents at 233 E. 69th St. “They were quite surprised that it had changed over the years without any additional disclosure, without any of the additional technical analysis or community input.” [Read more]
This Guy Will Try Anything
February 4, 2010
A.J. Jacobs sizes up his formidable foe, brown eyes narrowed behind the slim wire frames of his glasses. His enemy is freshly baked and smells temptingly like chocolate chips, cinnamon and nutmeg. His enemy is round, with crispy edges and a soft, chewy center. His enemy, right now, is a cookie.
Finally, Jacobs asks: “Is it organic?”
Unfortunately, it is not. He shrugs, and his face splits with a quick, sudden grin— the smile of a mischievous boy about to break the rules. [Read more]
Bus Routes Spared, But Service Cuts Possible
February 4, 2010
New York City Transit released a new plan for service cuts Jan. 21, with the goal of saving $77.6 million. Upper East Side residents will bear less of the pain they would have endured under the old plan, proposed in December 2009. In the revised cuts, overnight service through Central Park on the M79 and M96 bus lines are spared. Overnight service on the M102 and M103 bus lines that run on Lexington and Third avenues is also saved. Here’s how the new service cuts will affect East Side buses and subways. [Read more]
No Franks at the Wright
January 28, 2010
The Guggenheim has long been one of the few iconic museums without a destination dining spot. They have now transformed a somewhat generic, cafeteria-style café space into The Wright (as in a certain well-known architect), offering lunch, Sunday brunch and bar options as well as dinner seatings on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. David Bouley’s protégé Rodolfo Contreras created a “modern American” menu for the restaurant based on seasonal, local and sustainable ingredients. [Read more]
Jimmy Breslin
January 28, 2010
Jimmy Breslin moved about six months ago from West 68th Street and Broadway to a high rise on West 57th Street with sweeping views of the Hudson River. He’s not sure why—ask his wife, Ronnie Eldridge, a former City Council member and host of the CUNY TV show Eldridge and Co.
The pool in this new building isn’t ready yet, but Breslin says he still swims regularly at the Reebok Sports Club/NY on Columbus Avenue. [Read more]
Krueger’s Primary Foe Drops Out
January 21, 2010
The primary challenge to State Sen. Liz Krueger was a brief affair: Michael Cohen, counsel to Donald Trump, began announcing his bid to unseat the eight-year incumbent in December and declared he would not run Jan. 21.
Cohen released a statement citing professional and personal reasons that prevented him from mounting a successful campaign.
“Giving the people of this district anything less than a fully committed alternative to the status quo would be wrong,” he wrote in an e-mail. [Read more]
How Low Will They Go?
January 21, 2010
We thought we would never say it, but Manhattan is getting a little cheaper. Not if you want to shop or go out, but if you want to move into an apartment. As unemployment in the city hit 10 percent, and Wall Street jobs vanished into thin air, rents across the borough dropped 9.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009, according to a report by broker Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate and appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. [Read more]
Jeffrey Toobin
January 21, 2010
New Yorker staff writer, CNN senior analyst and fantasy football fanatic Jeffrey Toobin is a Harvard Law School graduate who has written several books about various high profile court cases. His work includes The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson and his most recent book, The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court. At an upcoming talk at the Society for the Advancement of Judaism, Toobin is slated to discuss the impact of Obama’s presidency on the Supreme Court.
Our Town recently sat down in Toobin’s Times Square office, decked with items including children’s artwork and a press pass from the 2006 World Cup, to talk about his writing, where he grew up and who he’d cast to play himself on screen. [Read more]
City Presents ‘Fast’ Bus Plan For East Side
January 21, 2010
The MTA and the city’s Department of Transportation revealed an early draft of a plan that would install an expedited bus system and protected bicycle lanes on First and Second avenues. The bus plan, alternately called “bus rapid transit” and “select bus service,” was presented by officials at a Jan. 14 Community Advisory Committee meeting at the Hunter College School of Social Work.
The proposal would dramatically change the landscape of two of the East Side’s—and the borough’s—main avenues. Transit officials estimate that the plans would increase bus travel speed by 20 to 25 percent. [Read more]
Turf War
January 13, 2010
New York City’s smaller islands offer a bit of a headache. For every Rikers Island or Hart Island, which fulfill their functions ably—the city’s prison and potter’s fields, respectively—there is an Ellis Island, which provoked a legal dispute between New York and New Jersey that reached the U.S. Supreme Court. Or a Governors Island, which nobody seems to know how best to utilize. Or a Randall’s Island, which, despite all of its advantages, is mostly known for controversy these days. [Read more]
