After three incidents where bottles have been placed outside the outbound Lincoln Tunnel--ensnaring commuters in hours of delays as the Port Authority police investigated--the authorities have finally made an arrest. The Jersey Journal reports that 39-year-old Lawrence Fellilppello of Vernon, NJ was charged with making a terroristic threat and the police are also looking for a second person. As for how the case was cracked: "Port Authority police had put out information concerning the type......

Last Friday afternoon-into-evening, commuters leaving NYC through the Lincoln Tunnel were treated to hours of delays, because a suspicious package was left on I-495 West. It turned out to be two bottles filled with an ultimately harmless liquid, but the damage was done: Traffic was diverted to local roads in NJ, commuter bus passengers were hating their devotion to mass transit, and there were still hours of residual delays. The Post dubs the perp, "Lincoln......

The race to get out of NYC through the Lincoln Tunnel was painful yesterday afternoon into evening as authorities investigated a suspicious package on I-495 West. MyFoxNY reports that the section right have the Weehawken exit was shut down between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. And after it was cleared up, there was another hour or two of residual delays! The suspicious package was a bottle. It turn out to be harmless, but the AP......

Board up your windshields and lock yourself in the trunk: The squeegee men—those Giuliani-era poster boys for quality-of-life crime—are making a comeback according to the Post, which has an alarming article about the "pests." Of which there are four. But be afraid! They're congregating near the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel, and a Hells Kitchen elevator manager tells the tabloid, "They get very aggressive. I was like, 'Dude, don't even think about it!'" The Post......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a pedestrian was struck at Neptune Ave. and Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn, a shooting on Bivona St. in the Bronx, and a burn victim at East 20th St. and the FDR in Manhattan. An assistant DA for Staten Island is considering possible charges against relatives who may have aided in the fugitive status of Rebekah Johnson, who is accused of attempting to murder a commune leader by shooting him......

Truck drivers entering New York will have to be patient: The NYPD is inspecting more of them for bomb materials as authorities step up counter-terrorism efforts, and two days ago, the NYPD ending up stopping 40 of 50 trucks that entered. It's called "Operation Rolling Vigilance," and according to the Post, cops will use radiation detectors to scan trucks at rotating checkpoints and will also work with the state and federal authorities to stop trucks......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an amputation at Lee Ave. and Wilson St. in Brooklyn, another amputation on Beach Channel Dr. in Queens, and an armed robbery with shooting at Lenox Ave. and West 134th St. in Manhattan. The New York Times looks at the effect of city term limits and finds a near-permanent state of campaigning by NYC politicians. A 44-year-old Queens grandmother and her two-year-old grandaughter have been missing from their home......

We've seen Port Authority workers measure the heights of trucks to make sure they will fit in either the Holland or Lincoln Tunnel. But yesterday one driver refused to stop and proceeded to drive his 13' 6" truck through the Lincoln Tunnel's 13' high center tube. And what does a truck look like after doing that? Well, check out the photograph from the NY Times, which describes its roof as being peeled back "as if......

The Port Authority is investigating adding a second bus lane to the Lincoln Tunnel. There's a bus lane already (carved out of a westbound lane between 6:15-10AM), which carries 51% of all passengers who use the tunnel, but the Post calls it a "victim of its own success," since it's operating at capacity. The second bus lane would be for buses - and perhaps for drivers who would pay a premium toll (over the current......

Yikes! A NJ Transit bus that just left the city via the Lincoln Tunnel crashed into a divider on I-495, near the Park Avenue exit in Weehawken. One of the commuters told WABC 7,"All of a sudden we were just on top of the divider. Nobody seems to know what happened. Everybody was jolted forward ... a lot of people sustained injuries to their face ... my friend got cut, she needed stitches ... a......

First the Brooklyn Bridge was shut down for Will Smith's new movie, I Am Legend, and now Matt Damon is causing some traffic by the Lincoln Tunnel. We hear the scene was a big 'ol mess with some pretty impatient travelers and commuters on Friday, and in the midst of the chaos stood Damon. This is for the latest of The Bourne Identity films, The Bourne Ultimatum (the last shot of The Bourne Supremacy......

Did you see CBS 2 Investigates: Too Good For Gridlock? The too-good-for-gridlock offender is Isaac Heschel, a diamond dealer who is also a rabbi and volunteers time as a chaplain to the MTA and Port Authority Police. Heschel frequently uses sirens and lights in his Crown Victoria, but neither agency gave him sirens or lights, meaning that Heschel pimped the car out for emergency fun himself. CBS 2 was tipped off by an anonymous member......

Yesterday afternoon, a 51 year old Bronx woman was fatally hit by a city bus. Rachel Levy had been crossing a road near the Henry Hudson Parkway around West 236th Street. The bus driver didn't realize someone was hit and didn't stop; the driver was not charged. And on Friday morning, 33 year old kidney surgeon Lawrence Yoo was hit by a bus at Ninth Avenue and 39th Street in Manhattan. Yoo, who was headed......

On the anniversary of the London subway bombings, US and city officials made a big show out of confirming that three men had been arrested for plotting to bomb various tunnels leading into Manhattan. But the tunnels they were looking at were PATH tunnels to the World Trade Center and Christopher Street - not the Holland Tunnel or even the Lincoln Tunnel as previously mentioned by the Daily News and Senator Schumer respectively. Interesting.......

Mayor Bloomberg, Police Commissioner Kelly, and representatives from the Port Authority and FBI gave a press conference about the tunnel terror plot a few hours ago. This morning, the Daily News revealed that officials had "foiled" a plot to flood the city Katrina-style (no matter how technically unfeasible it would be), sending people into a tailspin, both the "crap, no" and the "the government is making this too big a deal" kinds. From the......

- DC is so weird - they're all about naming their developments after NYC neighborhoods - Disgraced Enron CEO Kenneth Lay dies in Aspen, leaving the Wikipedia writers to guess as to how he died - Where is the Hallo Berlin street food cart? - Would you really want to live in a rental building over the Lincoln Tunnel? - The city has struck a tentative deal wtih school bus drivers - guess the......

Move over regular ol' pedicabs - the BicyTaxi has come to town. It seems like BicyTaxi hopes to make money off advertising on the vehicle, but the fare is supposed to be $1 per block and a $10 minimum. What's interesting is that BicyTaxi also urges people to order the vehicles in advance. We're not sure if these BicyTaxis will need to be regulated, but if they become for-public vehicles, we imagine they will. Has......

Ooooh! Apparently Manhattan geography mashups are the new black. Kottke's Manhattan Elsewhere project has apparently inspired others to make their own. What makes this Miami/Manhattan mashup so cool is that Maximus actually connected all the roads-- so the MacArthur Causeway turns into the Lincoln Tunnel, and the Venetian Causeway connects to the Westside Highway. That is some attention to detail! What we'd love to see is someone connect all the great cities like this--......

An auto club, AutoVantage, found the NYC ranks third out of major U.S. cities for road rage. Considering that L.A. is fourth (number 1 is Miami, followed by Phoenix; Boston is 5th), that is quite an accomplishment. Yet it makes perfect sense. Roads are narrow, there's double-parking galore, pedestrians are pretty aggressive, out-of-towners try to turn on red - and throw in all the buses and taxis. So, who knew people were so angry in......

Hooray, there's an explanation for the burglar found in an apartment building chimney near Lincoln Tunnel. Domique Singer, who lives at 402 West 40th Street, heard cries yesterday morning and thought it was a neighbor, so she called the police. But since it wasn't coming from any neighbors or anyone in 404 West 40th, the noise was coming from the walls where Serafin Sanchez, a homeless thief, who tried to escape police a couple hours......

Real estate disputes are, almost by definition, never pretty and no matter what somebody is going to come out of them looking bad. In the case of the landmarked Starrett-Lehigh Building on 26th street and 11th Avenue the bad looking people would be the buildings owners, 601 West Associates, and one famous tenant whose name starts with "M" and ends with "artha Stewart". To wit: yesterday Ask Gothamist got this self-answering question in our......

Weird report Gothamist heard this morning: A man was stuck in a chimney at Dyer Avenue and 40th Street in the early hours. And then it turned out he was no ordinary man stuck in a chimney - he was a thief stuck there, either trying to get in or out of the building! D'oh! EMS removed him, and we can only hope the local news tonight and tabloids tomorrow will be all over it.......

New Yorkers can find some comfort - at least there's one good thing to watch at Madison Square Garden. Last night, in a 5-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs, Jaromir Jagr picked up his 100th point of the season and reaching a milestone in Ranger history. Only five other Rangers have reached the century mark before. Henrik Lundqvist is near his own Ranger record. With three more victories, he will become the first rookie......

The New York Times explains a lot about the New Yorker sign that we always see when we're driving through the Lincoln Tunnel from New Jersey (yes, that happens sometimes). The sign, which refers to the New Yorker Hotel, not the magazine (which was never that far West - heavens!), at 481 Eighth Avenue and 34th Street, is in the process of trading in its white letters for red ones that can light up. Built......

Gothamist was there for the Campaign to End AIDS' protest walk through the Lincoln Tunnel this morning. The C2EA is walking all the way to Washington DC over the next couple of weeks, but we only tagged along for the first leg of the trip. Several hundred people turned out for the event, which kicked off at 7:30am this morning. In addition to supporting a good cause, we were very curious to check out......

And like that Open House New York is over(ish). Our general impression has been that the rain and icky weather really kept people away this year. But that's just our impression. Anyone have any good stories? Take, or find, any good pictures? That's what comments are for. In the meantime, if you're already thinking about what in the world you are going to do next week might we point this out to you. As......

Raising the Fawn...

This past weekend was the last stand for the Chelsea Flea Market, which will became the Hell's Kitchen Flea Market! Yes, you may or may not find bargains at 39th Street between 9th and 10th Avenues, in the shadow of the Port Authority, in the fumes of the Lincoln Tunnel, starting this weekend. The Village Voice interviewed Flea Market founder Alan Boss, who confirmed that he found a space for a flea market on Smith......

The New York Knicks and the New Jersey Nets will meet each other in the first round of the NBA Playoffs this Saturday. It has already been dubbed the "Bridge and Tunnel Battle", the "Lincoln Tunnel Series", the "Tunnel Tussle", and the "Battle of the News" (we came up with that lame one). It's Stephon Marbury vs. Jason Kidd, Old (Coach Wilkens) vs. New (Coach Frank), Knicks vs. Nets, Marbury playing his old team, it's......