Mayor Bloomberg’s ambitious congestion pricing plan may be toast (or Governor Paterson may bring it back from the dead) but it seems that skyrocketing gas prices are succeeded where Hizzoner failed. The Times is reporting that traffic on the city’s bridges and tunnels dropped 4.7 percent in June, compared to the same time last year. Meanwhile, subway, bus, bicycle and commuter rail ridership has surged. A transportaion consultant predicts that “if we start eclipsing $5......

What's a Mayor to do? When he's not trying to quiet rumors that he has a bad relationship with Albany, Mayor Bloomberg is still getting shafted by Albany. The NY Times describes the latest indignity: How a city proposal for bus-only traffic lane enforcement was shot down. The bill, which would have put cameras on the new rapid transit buses (the whole bus rapid transit system will be complete by 2011) to catch cars the......

It seemed like Gov. Paterson had managed to cobble together a deal for the State to take over NYC OTB yesterday afternoon and prevent its closing. A state takeover would require a vote by the legislature Monday, but Sheldon Silver and Joseph Bruno both seemed amenable to the idea. Mayor Bloomber, however, is holding fast on his insistence that he is going to close all of the city's OTB parlors tomorrow. Gov. Paterson said......

According to various sources, Governor Paterson has reached a deal to take over Off Track Betting (OTB) parlors from New York City, in order to prevent its total shutdown Despite handling more than $1 billion in wagers annually, the company lost $13 million last year. When asked if about the possibility of an arrangement to could keep OTB open, Mayor Bloomberg was very brusque in his dismissal of the idea earlier this week. He answered,......

The Tony Awards are happening Sunday night, people! Who’s excited? Pretty much nobody, right? No surprise there, especially considering that a phenomenal show like Passing Strange has been playing to half-full houses. But what’s really ridiculous is that even the people who are tasked with voting for the Tony winners can’t be bothered to sit through these shows! As Jeremy Gerard reports on Bloomberg.com, a spectacular number of the 797 voters will cast votes without......

According to a recently released international survey, quality of life in New York City has been slipping compared to other cities around the world. New York ranked 46th in 2006, 48th in 2007 and now 49th. That’s twelve places behind Boston! Washington, D.C., Chicago and Portland are also ranked higher for “quality” living in the survey, which was conducted by a global consulting and investment firm, Mercer. At least we solidly defeated Baghdad, which came......

Image taken from rant, by rdcapasso at flickr The MTA's favorite tune is unfortunately recorded on a broken record that keeps repeating itself: commuters need to pay more, but don't expect to see much in the way of improvements for it. The agency is saying that given the huge budget shortfall projected for next year, it's already contemplating another fare hike just three months after the last one went into effect. It would be......

Last night the fashion world gathered behind the New York Public Library for the 26th annual CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America) Awards, which honors the top designers. The Daily News reports back, saying the night also gave the group a chance to celebrate the life of one of their own, Yves Saint Laurent, who died this past Sunday at the age of 71. Diane von Furstenberg held back tears as she announced that......

When the Bloomberg administration successfully rezoned large parts of Williamsburg and Brooklyn three years ago to facilitate the construction of massive housing condos, the deal came with a promise to deliver lots of new park space. But while the luxury residential buildings are going up, the parks have remained a pipe dream. And local City Councilman David Yassky tells the Post he’s “sickened” that the Bloomberg administration has made “almost zero progress on the......

An additional $1.25-a-pack tax on cigarettes goes into effect Tuesday, meaning that a carton of name brand smokes will cost a staggering $85. If the average cost of a box of premium brand cigarettes rises to $8.50, 50% of that cost is directly related to taxes ($2.75 to the State, $1.50 to the City). The Center for a Tobacco Free New York hopes that the latest tax increase will cause another 6% of the state's......

In the 1960s, New York Central Railroad invested in high speed rail and jet powered train testing, referred to as the M-497 tests. A U.S. rail-speed record of 183.85 miles per hour, which stands to this day, was set back then -- but eventually the train was scrapped for parts. The NY Sun reports on a resurrection of sorts, however, with news of a two-hour rocket train between New York and Washington in the......

Yesterday, the city was filled with parades and events paying tribute to the members of military who have given their lives or continue to fight on our behalf. At a wreath laying ceremony at the Soliders' and Sailors' Monument in Riverside Park, Mayor Bloomberg said, "These brave soldiers and so many others will be lovingly remembered and deeply missed by family and friends. Today their losses echo throughout our entire city." There were protesters present......

The Department of City Planning, under the orders of Bloomberg has discovered that the city's land mass is less than originally thought. After spending months analyzing aerial images the geographer of the department, Michael Miller, reports that the five boroughs contain 304.8 square miles, while for 20 years it's been documented at 322 square miles. Miller says the new number isn't a reflection of rising sea levels from global warming or beach erosion, just that......

Above Wonder Wheel photo courtesy NYCviaRachel As part of a plan to turn over 9 privately-owned acres of Coney Island amusements to the Parks Department, the Bloomberg administration is trying to wrest control of the landmark Wonder Wheel from the family that has owned and operated it since before Coney Island’s comeback. According to amNY, it was in 1948 that Coney Island hot dog vendor Denos Vourderis promised his girlfriend that if she married......

The MTA has called a special board meeting to approve a takeover of the Hudson Yards development project in Manhattan by developer The Related Companies and investment bank Goldman Sachs. The quick switch follows an abrupt departure by real estate development firm Tishman Speyer, that won approval after a tortuously long selection process. An MTA press release quotes Mayor Bloomberg:"Today's announcement that the MTA will award Related Companies, in partnership with Goldman Sachs, the......

Add water to a list of things that are becoming less affordable to New York City residents, after the municipal Water Board approved a 14.5% rate hike on the heels of an 11.5% hike just a year ago. Perhaps the $5 glass of tap water that some restaurants are now serving is more reasonable than initially suspected. The new water rates, which take effect July 1, are expected to cost single family homeowners an extra......

Mayor Bloomberg met with non-NYPD affiliated police today, when joining a press conference with Sting & Co. The band announced that their final performance EVER will be right here in New York, later this year. From the press release:We kicked off our very first American tour at CBGB's in 1978 and this summer, thirty years later, our journey will come full circle as we play our final show here in New York City," said The......

The four city officials who are assigned a security detail no longer have to pay the expenses on their taxpayer-funded official cars and drivers when they use them for personal excursions, according to a ruling by the Conflicts of Interest Board. The lucky protected ones are Mayor Bloomberg, Comptroller William Thompson, Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. In 2006, former state Comptroller Alan Hevesi resigned after admitting he assigned a government......

Last September three women filed a lawsuit against Mayor Bloomberg’s company, Bloomberg LP, accusing Bloomberg of being personally responsible for creating a "systemic, top-down culture of discrimination," and accusing Bloomberg LP CEO Lex Fenwick of firing two pregnant employees with this gangsta riposte: “I'm not having any pregnant bitches working for me.” Now other 54 women have joined the lawsuit, after the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission [EEOC] conducted interviews with 478 woman who took maternity......

The 144,160 parking placards registered in the city inventory have been reduced by over 25,000, Deputy Mayor Edward Skyler announced yesterday. The cutbacks are targeted at what many frustrated drivers see as an abuse of a system that lets police, teachers and civil servants park for free at meters and many off-limits areas. Initial cuts have focused on the 80,770 placards issued to 68 city agencies, exempting the 63,390 placards used by the Education Department.......

Apparently, Mayor Bloomberg uses the word unconscionable so much that the Times poured 969 other words into analyzing the verbal tic. According to the article, Bloomberg’s U-bombing is definitely excessive; he drops the heavy pejorative in situations that don’t merit it, like when a reporter dared ask him if his trip to Israel was calculated to woo Jewish voters. (“That’s unconscionable. You should be ashamed to ask that question,” he reportedly snapped.) And when a......

Last year Mayor Bloomberg announced a $3 billion plan to seize 61 acres of the Willets Point district next to the forthcoming Citi Field in Queens through eminent domain, raze it, and construct 5,500 units of housing, a hotel, convention center and over 2 million square feet of office space, restaurants and retail shops. But business owners in the target zone have been fighting it, saying their ‘hood, dubbed the Iron Triangle for its chop......

Photo courtesy New York Shitty. Congestion pricing is toast, and so is Bloomberg’s “legacy,” so let’s start talking about the city’s next mayor. Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz says he’s not yet made up his mind about running, but, judging from this peculiar photo, eliminating mayoral term limits must be at the top of his agenda. Or is "Marty for Life" just an innocent campaign slogan? If so, it’s a lot catchier than the one......

State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has kept a relatively low profile over the past several months, as Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno battled with Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who would go on to self-destruct in a highly public style. With Mayor Bloomberg's beloved congestion pricing plan past the City Council hurdle and with the support of our new Gov. Paterson, it now lays stalled in the Assembly, where whatever Silver says pretty much goes. A profile......

Gov. Paterson is proposing cutting $60 million from the MTA's $10 billion operating budget. That's less than 1%, but further decreases in real estate revenues could make an even larger dent in the budget. According to the New York Post, real estate revenues were off $31 million this month, which could add up to hundreds of millions of dollars annually. The effect on riders will not make many happy: possible service cuts and another fare......

Later today ABC will join together Barack Obama with the ladies of The View. While they tell us the main focus of their interview segment is on the "controversial remarks of Reverend Jeremiah Wright" (something that Elizabeth Hasselbeck has slammed him for in the past), one of the clips shows Barbara Walters telling Obama he is, "very sexy looking." At which point the presidential candidate needs to fan himself from the 78-year-old news legend's......

Mayor Bloomberg's fight against the gun industry has now crossed over into the world of custom weaponry. The Daily News points out that a Wisconsin company is touting a new line of paints, "The Bloomberg Collection." Lauer Custom Weaponry offers DuraCoat Firearm Finishes, which are "extremely easy" for an "average gun owner" to apply (Lauer also offers DuraCoat workshops). There's the "Bloomberg Collection EZ Camo Kit," where you can pimp your weapon with the......

Today Mayor Bloomberg and DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan revealed details about their Residential Parking Permit (RPP) proposal, which would restrict parking in some neighborhoods to locals during specific times. The plan is part of the mayor’s Congestion Pricing proposal and the RPP program is designed to foil commuters who would drive into neighborhoods just outside the congestion pricing zone, leave their cars for the day on a residential street, and then take the subways or......

Some Capitol Hill offices received letters claiming responsibility for this morning's bombing in Times Square. WNBC reports that the letters, which arrived today, included a photo of the Army recruiting center "before it was bombed and...the words 'We did it.'" According to the AP, Senator Dianne Feinstein's office sent this email to other lawmakers:"A few offices on the House side have received a letter today addressed to 'Members of Congress' with a picture of a......

Photo by Raymond Haddad, at flickr Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a pedestrian struck on Broadway and 231st St. in the Bronx, an aircraft alert at JFK at Queens, and a person fatally struck by a train at 57th St. and 8th Ave. in Manhattan. Entries for the NYC Half-Marathon will start being accepted at 11:59pm on May 29th. Details. And the Design Trust for Public Space is accepting submissions for its Grand Army......