Fairway Receives Extended Loading Zone Hours
By Allen Houston with additional reporting by Shilpa Agrawal and Hannah O’Grady
The famed West Side market has jumped another hurdle in its move to East 86th Street, between Second and Third avenues. Fairway recently received extended loading zone hours from the Department of Transportation that will allow it to load and unload trucks between 5 a.m. and 10 p.m., seven days per week. The size of the loading zone is yet to be determined. Read more
Subway Construction Updates
Sam Schwartz Engineering recently released a schedule for Second Avenue Subway construction slated to take place through September 21.
Crews will excavate and install sewer, electrical manhole and service boxes on the west side of the street between East 100th and East 97th streets. Read more
Attorney General Candidates Share Vision for Office
By Dan Rivoli
Eliot Spitzer, before his stunning downfall as governor, was the white knight of Wall Street as attorney general. Before him, Robert Abrams put the attorney general office’s focus on consumer rights.
Each attorney general puts their stamp on an office that commands more than 650 lawyers. This September, five candidates are running for the state’s top law job, a position held by Andrew Cuomo, the front-runner to be the state’s next governor. Read more
Telephone Call From The Past
Writer pens ode to 100th Street phone booth
By Reid Spagna
Born in Pittsburgh, Peter Ackerman received a Bachelor’s degree in English from Yale and attended The American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco to study acting. Among other works he is the co-author of Ice Age and Ice Age 3.
The writer met his wife when she starred in his play, Things You Shouldn’t Say Past Midnight. The couple settled down on West End Avenue and has two sons.
Most recently, he is the author of The Lonely Phone Booth, his newly released children’s book. Read more
Bing, Lundahl Make Their Case
By Dan Rivoli
Assembly Member Jonathan Bing and his challenger Gregg Lundahl laid out their agenda for Albany recently in separate interviews with Our Town. The Democratic primary is Sept. 14.
Bing, who is seeking his fifth term in the Assembly, talked about the bills he has authored and passed into law during his eight years in Albany. Read more
Subway Changes More Than Neighborhoods
Writer bases play around coming of Second Avenue Subway
By Dan Rivoli
For straphangers that ride the 4/5/6 train lines, the Second Avenue Subway means relief from overcrowding. For East Siders that live along the river, the subway means more transportation options. For some Second Avenue residents, the subway means leaving their home.
But for Brooklyn playwright Chad Beckim, the Second Avenue Subway forces a trio of roommates to reassess their friendship. Read more
Q&A: Susan Cheever
The author discusses books and life on the UES
Author Susan Cheever has spent a number of years probing the American psyche with her works. The long time New York resident has written about topics as divergent as Alcoholics Anonymous, her father John Cheever, motherhood, sexual addiction, and historical figures such as Louisa May Alcott and Nathaniel Hawthorne, in American Bloomsbury. She is also the author of five novels. Read more
Steven Sater’s Spring Awakening
By Alice Robb
“New York is my love,” said Tony Award-winning writer Steven Sater, best known for writing the lyrics and book of Broadway rock musical Spring Awakening.
The writer divides his time between Los Angeles and New York City. Though his wife and two children live in L.A., in a big house with a full-sized refrigerator and a yard, he opts to work out of his apartment in the Dakota Building. Read more
East Side Intersections Get Countdown Signals
By Dan Rivoli
The city announced the installation of 1,500 countdown signals at intersections, including Park Avenue, after a report found pedestrian injuries happen more on multi-lane streets.
“The report and actions detailed today, including the installation of pedestrian countdown signals across the city, will make our streets even safer,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a statement, “especially for the pedestrians who, year in and year out, account for the majority of New York’s traffic fatalities.” Read more
Maloney Agrees To Debate
By Dan Rivoli
Rep. Carolyn Maloney has agreed to debate her challenger Reshma Saujani after months of trying to cajole the incumbent into sharing a stage.
But Saujani is unsatisfied.
