Today was the first day of the NY Times' new section consolidation. The main difference is that the Metro section is no longer--Metro-related stories are now in Section A Monday through Saturday. Business and Sports will be combined Tuesday through Friday (just think--after reading about your tanking stocks, you get to read about the crappy Knicks!). As the letter from NY Times Senior VP of Marketing and Circulation Yasmin Namini said, "Please note that were......

The front page of the NY Times' Metro Section has a big graphic showing how the Central Park Conservancy is restoring Bethesda Terrace that's very nice, but the interactive graphic from NYTimes.com is very cool as it breaks apart the terrace. It explains the different parts of the project, from the the new waterproof membrane on the upper terrace to reinstalling tile patterns. Back in 1984, over 16,000 tiles that were on the ceiling......

There's a fun article in the Observer today about NY Times Metro reporter Sewell Chan and his seemingly unending energy to churn out stories. Gabriel Sherman points out that he wrote four pieces yesterday (checking today's paper, Chan only has three pieces, but he contributed to another), making his byline appear an average of 1.15 times a day. There is amazement from colleagues (the Post's David Seifman says Chan is the only reporter to bring......

Last week Gothamist was greatly saddened to learn that Grampa Munster, the actor, restauranteur, green politician, and classic New York personality also known as Al Lewis, had passed on. In writing his death up in an Extra, Extra, we followed the lead of other obits and reported that Lewis was 95. Later that week we saw a few reports trickle in that in fact Lewis was 82. The discrepancy of 13 years seemed a......

Steven I. Weiss, Journalist/Blogger...

In today's Metro Section, Clyde Haberman, closet Gothamist, applauds the Belmont Stakes for changing their official song from "Sidewalks of New York" (which you might know from Ken Burns' documentary on the City, if no where else) to the slightly more up to date "New York, New York". Haberman feels however, that our fair Gotham is poorly represented by the whinings of a "self-involved parvenu who wants to be 'king of the hill, top of......