There are some really cute quotes from kids who got to swim with Michael Phelps at the McBurney YMCA yesterday. A little girl who told the Sun that Phelps is "the fastest swimmer in the world" said of her own speed, "I don't swim fast or slow — I'm just medium." The NY Times overheard children saying, “I want to ask him if he can make more medals, really" and “He was like a person......

Michael Wilson over at the Times wanders the boroughs to talk to working class types whose inability to afford gas or airplane tickets means they're stuck in town all summer. The article devotes over 1,400 to the phenomenon, which, as you no doubt know, is called a "staycation," in the parlance of our times. Wilson's crazy about the portmanteau, in a Seinfeldian sort of way: "...it’s a very fun word to say. Staycation. How was your staycation? My parents went on staycation, and all I got was this lousy T-shirt. Our son-in-law threw his back out on staycation." (Salsa, anyone?)...

The four waterfalls installed by artist Olafur Eliasson and the Public Art fund at various spots on the East River are supposed be taken down on October 13th, but some Brooklyn residents fear that could be too late. In response to mounting concerns that spray from the salty, semi-polluted East River is blowing onto trees and slowly killing them, Judy Stanton, head of the Brooklyn Heights Association, is calling for the falls to be stopped......

The Department of Health estimates that, per the Sun, "72 out of every 100,000 New Yorkers contracted HIV in 2006, compared to 23 out of every 100,000 individuals around the country." The new statistics are based on a new model the CDC uses to track infections, which led the agency to find the rate of infection was actually 40% higher. In the past year, the NYC DOH has said HIV diagnoses were rising among young......

This thrilling little video was uploaded to YouTube last summer, but with the city's (and the world's!) bedbug armies still on the march, it's well worth watching as a cautionary tale. Finish what you're eating and behold in horror as the videographer gets up-close and personal with a spectacularly infested apartment, scored to a jaunty cover of The Band's "The Shape I'm In." The whole thing kind of fizzles out at the end, but maybe......

The third and final day of Summer Streets was Saturday, and DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan tells the Times, “I’ve heard nothing but rave reviews. When I was along the route, most people I talked to wanted it done every weekend in the summer.” But as previously noted, some retailers complained about losing business during the five hours that streets were closed to motor vehicles – particularly "destination" shops like T. Anthony Ltd., a luxury luggage store on Park Avenue. Owner Jack Weiss theorizes that, “If someone is coming to buy luggage, they’re generally going to bring a car.” ...

How many trees have to die before someone does something about Olafur Eliasson’s waterfalls? Earlier this month the Parks Department and the Public Art Fund admitted that the salty East River spray from the Brooklyn Bridge waterfall was making the leaves on trees at the River Cafe in DUMBO go prematurely brown. Now the Brooklyn Paper reports that the trees at the Brooklyn Heights Promenade are suffering from the same affliction, brought on by the......

Annette Mateo appears to have been one toke over the line last night when she allegedly carjacked an NYPD van and took it for a joyride that almost immediately became devoid of joy. According to the Post, Mateo had gone to file an unspecified complaint at a police station in Harlem and became frustrated with the lackadaisical response from officers there. Storming out of the building at 9:40 p.m., she came upon two rookie cops......

Mayor Bloomberg took another step in introducing green ideas for New York City by announcing the city would start looking at off-shore windfarms. Or maybe those wind turbines could be a lot closer. From his speech at the Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas:Perhaps companies will want to put windfarms atop our bridges and skyscrapers, or use the enormous potential of powerful off-shore winds miles out in the Atlantic Ocean, where turbines could generate roughly......

This week the Times’s Frank Bruni rhapsodizes about Perbacco (pictured), which has been open for about five years on East 4th Street, but has a much-buzzed about new chef: 26-year-old Italian hot shot Simone Bonelli, who comes from “the northern city of Modena and the kitchen of Osteria La Francescana, where Italy’s old guard meets Spain’s New Wave.” A two star rating from the Times is a slam dunk for a casual restaurant in this......

The most indispensable member of Council Speaker Christine Quinn's staff seems to be an unpaid 81-year-old World War II veteran, her father Lawrence P. Quinn. An endearing profile in the Times today spotlights his ongoing efforts for his daughter, who will run for mayor next year. Ms. Quinn, an openly gay liberal, calls him "an all-purpose schlepper" who comes in handy for retirement home photo-ops. Mr. Quinn, a practicing Catholic, seems to be crying for......

Get ready to "slow your roll" New York; the mass-produced version of "Purple Drank" will hit shelves in Manhattan and the Bronx tomorrow, Fork in the Road reports. According to Wikipedia, the homemade version of the beverage is "a recreational drug popular in the hip-hop community of the southern United States. Its main ingredient is prescription-strength cough syrup containing codeine and promethazine." Purple Drank was supposedly popularized by Houston's DJ Screw, who then died in......

That new law enabling tenants to sue their landlords for harassment could be overturned. A lawsuit filed in state Supreme Court by the misleadingly-named Rent Stabilization Association and the poetically-named Prometheus Realty Corp. (because the corporation is chained to the rock of onerous regulation while tenants peck at their livers) argues that while the NYPD is free to intervene in cases of tenant harassment, it is not within the city’s power to regulate housing issues,......

Photograph by SHARPSHOOTA.com on Flickr There's a pretty amusing NY Times article on tourists' impressions of New York City and New Yorkers. Given that the Big Apple draws about 9 million foreign visitors (on top of about 39 million American tourists), there are a lot of impressions. A few: “In the ladies’ toilets you can see people’s feet. It’s the first time I’ve seen something like that. Where I’m from we have full doors......

The surf was definitely not up on the city's waterways today, but that didn't stop a crowd of surfers from hanging ten in a paddle parade around Manhattan. The surreal sight of men and women standing on boards as they paddled up the East River was brought to you by Sea Paddle NYC, the second annual fundraiser for autism charities and the Surfers' Environmental Alliance. Razor Wire reports the 28 mile odyssey started at South Street Seaport at 9 a.m. this morning and finished in Battery Park City this afternoon. More photos here....

Um, those deathly looking clouds you see? Probably why a tornado warning is in effect. According to WNBC, the warning is for "Manhattan, the Bronx and Eastern Bergen counties until 5:45 p.m. and for Southern Westchester County until 6 p.m." Per the National Weather Service: "TORNADO WARNING FOR...SOUTHERN WESTCHESTER COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST NEW YORK... UNTIL 600 PM EDT...AT 520 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO NEAR......

Watch your back, Dick Cheney! Actor Ed Asner, former Dallas Cowboy Mark Stepnoski, and formerly famous hip hop group Arrested Development are leading a petition drive to get a referendum on New York City’s November ballot that would establish a new 9/11 investigation. If the group, called 911 Truth, can collect 30,000 signatures before September 4th, the City Council will be required to consider the measure, which calls for an investigative panel with subpoena......

This week finds the Times's Frank Bruni rhapsodizing about Matsugen, the new haute soba restaurant in Tribeca from chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, who's kind of a big deal. Actually, as Bruni makes clear, only half the place is Jean-Georges; the other half, which includes the kitchen, is run by Taka, Yoshi and Masa Matsushita, brothers who also operate Matsugen restaurants in Tokyo and Honolulu. "Their soba, condiments, dips, broths and interlopers... are so clearly and cleanly......

Artist Olafur Eliasson may soon have tree blood on his hands – the Brooklyn Bridge waterfall installation is kicking up such a salty spray that downwind trees are turning brown and “looking as if it's November,” the Post reports. The saltwater is interfering with their photosynthesis, and the owner of the River Café, which has gardens just south of the bridge, is worried that the trees he planted over three decades ago are suffering too......

Gotham Gazette has an in-depth look at potential pitfalls in the city’s new law requiring chain restaurants to prominently display calorie info on all foods and beverages. Namely, the Health Department does not conduct systematic testing to ensure that restaurants are not miscalculating – or misrepresenting – their data. Chipotle’s calorie info was previously disputed, and the Center for Science in the Public Interest found that Olive Garden’s cappellini pomodoro, posted as under 640 calories,......

Iridesco Watercooler put together this cool graph of the data released earlier this week by the Center for Urban Future breaking down chain stores in NYC. With a borough by borough breakdown, the graph illustrates how Dunkin Donuts outer borough presence (including a whopping 29 Staten Island locations!) gave it the top spot amongst the retail giants. The blog also pointed out this alarming statistic: there are as many American Apparel locations in the five......

Restaurant Week, which was supposed to end after Friday night, has been turned into Restaurant Summer, with 130 restaurants extending their prix-fixe deals on weekdays all the way through Labor Day. The special three course menus – $24.07 for lunch and $35.00 for dinner – have proven extra-popular with recession minded diners this month, according to NYC & Company, which organizes the biannual deal. Restaurants participating in the Labor Day extension include such well-reviewed places......

NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly told reporters yesterday that in a “relatively short period of time” people will be able to send “video and text straight to 911 to increase the flow of information.” Kelly didn’t go into details about how the technology would work, but he did say that “generally speaking, it’s helpful when people record an event taking place that helps us during an investigation.” The commissioner’s statement would seem to include recent “events”......

The Center for Urban Future has compiled what they say is the first-ever ranking of national retailers that have the most stores in New York City. Fittingly called “Attack of the Chains,” the ranking includes data on more than 160 retailers operating in the city. (The recently announced Starbucks closings will reduce the coffee retailer's presence in New York to a scant 235 locations – unless the passionate protests of one Bay Ridge man......

On Tuesday the L.A. city council passed a bill that would prevent new fast food restaurants from opening in certain parts of the city for at least one year. Not to be outdone, New York City Council member Eric Gioia is proposing the same thing here. He tells the Sun, "People are literally being poisoned by their diets – LA's idea deserves serious consideration as we look for holistic solutions to a serious problem." Suprisingly,......

Today’s police brutality video comes via a security camera that caught an NYPD officer beating a handcuffed Army vet. The Daily News has a description of the July 18th attack, but the video isn’t on line… yet. According to police sources, the officer (not pictured here) paused for 90 seconds during the beating to take a call on his cell phone, and then resumed “smashing the man with his baton.” The recipient of the alleged......

Environmental group Times Up! is taking advantage of all the publicity generated by the video of a cop shoving a cyclist off his bike by reminding everyone that this is hardly the first such incident, nor the only one caught on video. The group points out that in 2007 one Richard Vazquez was taken down by a cop in Times Square during a Critical Mass ride, and in 2006 Adrienne Wheeler, a Critical Mass legal......

That video depicting a rookie cop bodyslamming a cyclist to the curb in Times Square? Just routine policework, according to the president of the police union. Apparently 22-year-old rookie Patrick Pogan was simply acting "under direct orders” when he spotted cyclist Christopher Long “creating a hazardous condition for the public and took action," union head Patrick Lynch told reporters yesterday. See, the video actually proves Pogan was just doing his job:Instead of slowing down or......

The cyclist who was videotaped being body slammed off his bike in an apparently unprovoked attack by an NYPD officer during Friday night’s Critical Mass ride has been identified as Christopher Long, a 29-year-old resident of Bloomfield, New Jersey who works at the Union Square Greenmarket. His boss tells the Daily News that Long is an Army veteran and "mild-mannered environmental activist." Craig Radhuber, 54, was riding behind Long Friday night and describes incident:......

Another Critical Mass ride, another stunning display of police brutality. Watch as one of New York's finest violently shoves a cyclist off his bicycle, launching him through the air to the curb at 46th street and Seventh Avenue during Friday night's monthly Critical Mass ride. digg_url = 'http://digg.com/world_news/NYPD_Knocks_Cyclist_to_Curb_Unbelievable'; Although a judge ruled in 2006 that the monthly Critical Mass bicycle rides could proceed without a permit, the NYPD's stance remains somewhat adversarial. Though the city......