Have you come to terms yet with losing McCarren Pool as you've known it for the past few years? It's time to move on, because last night the Landmarks Preservation Commission approved the new plans for the space. Expect all that stuff you've been hearing about and seeing in renderings: ice skating rink, pool, cafes, umbrellas and other resorty type things. As we noted last month, there will still be performances, and the Brooklyn Paper......

Photo courtesy Todd Hells Kitchen. File this one under unsurprising: The shiny new TKTS booth in Times Square that's supposed to finally open this month over 18 months late is also way over budget, the Post reports. The ambitious new discount theater ticket outlet, which features an all-glass skin with an amphitheater-style roof (pictured) and "a shimmering and floating carpet of color and light," has cost 100 percent more than its original $8 million estimate.......

Yesterday the Port Authority unveiled designs from three architects competing to build a 1.3 million-square-foot skyscraper atop the dreary west side bus terminal's north wing. Officials say they’ll choose a winning design in the next couple months, and construction on the office tower could start next year, or maybe 2010; but what's the rush? Demand for office space in New York City isn’t exactly critical. The three designs are all for a tower that......

Representative Anthony D. Weiner long advocated re-opening the Statue of Liberty's crown, which has been closed since the 9/11 attacks. Partly due to terrorism fears, the National Parks Service also noted the narrow staircase "violates every fire code in the city of New York and the state of New York and the state of New Jersey." However, Weiner blamed the park service for "a failure of creativity" by not solving the issues through renovation and......

Remember the plans for that fancy new TKTS theater ticket booth in Times Square that were unveiled back in Aught Six? Producer Ken Davenport (Altar Boyz) does, and the other day he was just wondering, you know, why the hell it’s not ready yet, since they originally said it would be open for business in just six short months. (The Times Square TKTS has been operating at the Marriot Marquis in the meantime.) So Davenport......

The New York Post continues its saga of poor document management by the Port Authority today, after exposing how a homeless man found confidential building plans for the Freedom Tower in a trash bin last week. The paper was contacted by a pair of "salvage experts" in the wake of that story, who wanted to let it know that they had reams of documents--all marked confidential--that they discovered in a dumpster behind 115 Broadway, where......

Photograph of MTA CEO and Executive Director Lee Sander during the inaugural State of the MTA Address, courtesy of the MTA This morning, the first-ever State of the MTA Address was given, with MTA CEO and Executive Director Elliot Sander Sander emphasizing the MTA was born 40 years ago out of crisis and needed federal, state, and municipal cooperation to get things done (in other words, nothing changes!). Sander said he's committed to creating......