The DOT's $700,000 transformation of a seven block stretch of Broadway into a pedestrian esplanade with tables, chairs and planters is complete, and the Times has taken the anxious pulse of local workers lounging on their lunchbreaks. The consensus? A nice gesture, but it's only a matter of time before a cab swerves into the tables and turns the urban oasis into a scene of unspeakable carnage. Some choice observations from the men and women......

Surprise! Without a formal public announcement, the city has been moving ahead with a $700,000 plan to shrink part of Broadway in midtown from a four-lane to a two-lane street and use the rest of the space for a public esplanade, which the DOT is calling “Broadway Boulevard.” The change will be complete on August 15th, when the east side of Broadway between 42nd Street and Herald Square is turned over to a bicycle lane and a pedestrian walkway, teeming with cafe tables, chairs, umbrellas and flower-filled planters....

It's not rats at a KFC/Taco Bell, but little critters are all around--sometimes in very public areas. Reader Stacey sent us footage of a window at Macy's in Herald Square, where a little mouse is really enjoying the Macy's Flower Show. WARNING: You may think this is cute. Stacey said, "I know he needs to eat, but shouldn't there be plenty of food for him and his family down in the basement?" That's true -......

A driver for a private garbage trucking company was charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. Police say that Auvryn Scarlett lost control of his truck on West 35th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues Tuesday night, fatally hitting a couple and injuring a man; they believe Scarlett had a seizure and note he recently stopped taking his seizure medication. A passenger with Scarlett, who worked for Action Carting of Newark, NJ, told the police,......

Last night, a private garbage truck jumped a curbed, hitting and killing two pedestrians on West 35th Street near 6th Avenue in Manhattan. The truck driver suffered a heart attack, losing control of the truck. A police source told the News, "He traveled along the sidewalk taking out lampposts, signs, storefront." The truck first hit a woman, who the Post reports was "killed instantly." The News reports that a 48-year-old man died at Bellevue Hospital......

Stores were packed with post-Christmas shoppers, as retailers marked down their products in hopes of boosting holidays sales. So far, holiday period sales are up 3.6%, which is the "lower end" of expectations according to MasterCard Advisors. The question is, will marking down a part of $1,380 shoes to $150 or $1,500 Gucci purses to $750 at Saks Fifth Avenue help? Well, given that people were waiting for doors to open and "not walking......

In the middle of the month, Macy's announced it would be keeping eight locations in New York and New Jersey open from 7AM on December 21th until December 24th at 6PM - for 83 hours straight! Macy's chairman and CEO Ron Klein had explained, "We are giving our customers extra time to shop when it’s convenient for them," and said that the success of the Queens Center mall location staying open last year encouraged Macy's......

Will Macy's give its regards to Broadway? The NY Times reports that the developers who are trying to redevelop the James Farley Post Office building into the new Moynihan Station "are in the early stage of negotiations with Macy’s" to move from the store's landmark Herald Square location to the Farley building on Eighth Avenue. Charles Bagli's article summarizes the progress of the Penn Station redevelopment and Farley-into-Moynihan Station project: It's complex, given the......

That report of an EDP near Herald Square this morning? It turns out a man stabbed a woman - in the lobby of the Manhattan Mall! The Post says the woman was "stabbed in the back, arm and wrists" during the morning rush hour. The lobby was covered in blood, forcing the building to close the West 33rd Street entrance. The victim and attacker were both taken to Bellevue. The victim is described as the......

Earlier this year the law started cracking down on illegal bootleggers of all kinds, so those looking for more inexpensive gifts like Prada bags or not-yet-released DVDs on the city sidewalks may be barking up the wrong Christmas tree. The NY Post reports that cops are paying extra-special attention to the counterfeiters this year, leading to a big decline in sales for the sidewalk entrepreneurs and aiming the consumers to (gasp!) legit storefronts.That's great news......

Yesterday's lovely weather made the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade a big crowd pleaser. An estimated 3.5 million spectators watched as giant balloons, floats, and hundreds of parade performers sauntered from 77th and Central Park West to Herald Square. Some people waited since 4AM in hopes of catching a glimpse of their favorite performers, who included Dolly Parton, Wynonna, the cast of Legally Blonde, American Idol winner Jordin Sparks, Good Charlotte, Menudo (really!), the Rockettes......

amNewYork's cover story, "Grand Funk Railroad," takes a look at the special scent of subway stations. Subway smells were vividly described as being "rancid excrement" or "rotting garbage and vomit." Smelly subway platforms - and trains - are nothing new, but the New York City Transit Authority is adding 350 more cleaners to help fight the grossness; amNY reports the cleaners will "be able to respond to specific stenches faster." Bill Henderson, head MTA's......

What does the future of the Fulton Street Mall look like? If the Bloomberg administration and Downtown Brooklyn Partnership have their way, it'll look less gritty and more like Herald Square and Bryant Park in Manhattan. The Post has details on the city's $18 million investment to re-make the Fulton Street and Albee Square mall areas nicer. The Fulton Street mall will get the new bus shelters and benches, with more "lighting and trees," while......

Yesterday afternoon, hundreds of New Yorkers took to Fifth Avenue and participated in the first annual Dance Parade. From whirling dervishes to salsa dancers, from break dancers to hula hoopers, not even the rain could stop the two-hour celebration that started near Herald Square and ended in Wasington Square Park. Here's a brief description from the organizers about the parade's vision:To honor Dance's historical roots: New York has never celebrated the forms of dance......

Well, this is certainly makes the prospect of trying on clothes worse: A 16-year-old girl was attacked by a naked man in a dressing room at Macy's Herald Square. Ashley Sims tells the Post that she was trying on a dress for a special occasion in the junior girls' department when Dennis Green, who had been in an adjacent dressing room, "ripped open the door" of her room. "I had just started changing. I had......

April 28: Food and Wine Pairings: Remarkable Greece Food guru David Rosengarten and guest chef Jim Botsacos of Molyvos, will pair Greek wines with Greek delicacies for a Greek-o-riffic afternoon. De Gustibus 8th Floor Cooking School at Macy's Herald Square, 151 West 34th Street, 1:00 - 4:00PM, $95. April 29: Dining for Darfur Join Andrea Strong in her second annual fundraiser to raise awareness about the genocide in Darfur. Dine out at participating restaurants, which......

Yesterday, Shahawar Matin Siraj, who had been convicted of plotting to bomb the West 34th Street subway station at Herald Square, was sentenced to 30 years in jail. Siraj, in jail since his arrest in August 2004, had claimed he was entrapped by authorities, since a police informer had secretly taped their conversations where Siraj discussed his plans. After receiving his sentence, the 24 year old he said, "Your honor I want to apologize about......

We don't know what's up with the crazy gas smell. The reports we've read had the location at 34th Street and 5th-7th-8th Avenues in Manhattan, but our readers are smelling it from the Upper West Side to downtown. WNBC reports that the smell is so strong on the 6th floor of 30 Rockefeller Center, "people are leaving the building." NY1 says the smell is strong around Herald Square and in NY1's neighborhood in Chelsea."......

A childhood phobia of escalators requires us to update yesterday's story about the 2 year old whose finger was partially severed by an escalator at Macy's Herald Square. The Post reports that 2 year old Michael Grateraux "underwent surgery Sunday night at Bellevue" in an attempt to keep his thumb. Other reports said that Grateraux stuck his thumb while riding an up escalator, but his mother Sandy Lopez tells a different story. From the Post:......

Oh no. Someone jumped in front of the F train at West 4th Street. Expect delays as service has been rerouted - from the MTA: Due to a Police investigation at the West 4th Street-Washington Square Station, the Brooklyn bound F train is running express from the 34th Street-Herald Square Station to the West 4th Street-Washington Square Station. The V train is running on the E line from the 5th Avenue-53rd Street Station to......

Police are searching for a man who has been jamming Bank of America ATM card readers, taking $5,000 from customers' accounts; the man has duped 17 customers since August 23. His M.O. seems to be to insert some sort of jammer into the ATM's card reader that will make it difficult for a customer to remove his/her card. When customers enters, he watches them enter their PIN number and then waits for them to give......

The amNewYork cover story is about dangerous intersections in the city. Queens Boulevard, aka the "Boulevard of Death," has only had four fatalities in the past three years, but there have been a number of pedestrian injuries on Grand Concourse in the Bronx and at Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn. Grand Concourse has had 35 pedestrian injuries during the same period, while Eastern Parkway had seven pedestrian deaths in 1999 and 2005, not including many pedestrian......

A Lexus SUV jumped a curb and crashed into a store window at Broadway between 32nd and 33rd Streets. From WNBC:A woman who works across the street from the crash scene told NewsChannel 4 that she saw the SUV run down a potted plant and swerve into the storefront. The woman said she saw one woman and one man who were unconscious, as well as someone with bandages on his head.Three pedestrians were injured,......

A baby and the woman who was watching her have been missing since yesterday morning. Natawa Sayles had left her 6 month old niece with friend Crystal Corbet while she went on an interview at Macy's Herald Square. But when Sayles returned shortly later, she couldn't find either Corbet or baby Nyckay. According to Newsday, Nyckay's mother knew Corbet and knew Sayles was leaving the baby with Corbet during the interview - which led a......

If there was ever a reason to leave the cocoon of air-conditioning at work, it might be this: The FDNY's official 2007 Calendar of Heroes (the one we mentioned in June was the non-official one) is on sale today and the firefighters will be near Herald Square signing the calendars. The Daily News says that calendar's cover boy is Mark DeRosa from Ladder 18 on Pitt Street: He's 22, single, from Staten Island and......

Five different riders' groups - the Straphangers Campaign, the Empire State Passengers Association, the Institute for Rational Urban Mobility in New York, the New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers and the Lackawanna Coalition in New Jersey - sent a letter to NYC officials citing concerns that plans for railways and a commuter terminal are dangerous. The MTA and NJ Transit are planning new tunnels and a station that are 100-150 feet underground, and the natural......

- A funeral was held today for Amber Sadiq, who died when a bus pinned her to a Crown Heights street - A jury found the man accused of plotting to blow up the Herald Square subway station and other NYC areas guilty of conspiracy and other charges - Vampires may be immortal, but Lestat the Musical is 'closing after 30-some performances - The title says it all The East Village Idiot's Guide for......

- A new building that will house both actors and artists as well as the formerly homeless broke ground in Brooklyn - Quick - Wired just released a bunch of seats for Al Gore's sold out Town Hall appearance on Thursday - The jury gets the Herald Square bomb plot suspect case - ME says girl's hanging death by shower hose was an accident - Curbed has new pictures of Gehry's buildings in Manhattann......

- $500m spending cap for WTC Memorial? Not likely! - An 81 year old man was attacked and robbed in his Washington Heights apartment building elevator - Fox 5 went on the fritz last night - we think of it as slight justice for Rupert Murdoch effing up the channel 9 schedule - A Bryant Park webcam for those us stuck in our offices to envy those who get to leave - The skatebowl......

Yesterday, during the trial of suspected subway bomb plotter Shahawar Matin Siraj continues, prosecutors played tapes of Siraj talking to the police's informant. Siraj explained why Bill Gates had to be killed, perhaps they should get uranium from Area 51 (though he says Area 52), and that various bridges had to be destroyed because they impact the economy. Here's a tidbit of the tapes, from the NY Times:Speaking to his driver, he derides a passing......