Would a bridge by any other name, bring you to JFK Airport just as smoothly as the Triborough? In all likelihood, yes, but the big question here is should it be renamed after JFK's younger brother, former New York senator Robert F. Kennedy. The NY Sun reports the Governor will address this during his State of the State address today, making him the latest governor to consider it. Governor Carey planned to rename it after......

The engines fueling Jane Jacobs' legacy are at full throttle, with the Municipal Art Society's new exhibition, titled "Jane Jacobs and the Future of New York." The show, opening this week at the Urban Center Galleries, delves into how today's (and tomorrow's) city fits into Jacobs' ideas and also examines how the public can draw on her values, given the major developments and rezoning now in progress. In case you've been sleeping for the past......

Above is a picture of the observation towers at the New York State pavilion of the 1964-65 World's Fair in Flushing Meadows, Queens. A flickr member scanned the picture, and many others, after he found a scrapbook on the street in Cambridge, MA. He believes that the photos were taken by a woman named Lillian Seymour, who visited the World's Fair in 1965. The 1964-65 World's Fair in Queens was the only World's Fair......

Did you hear about the new arts and music venue opening in Fort Greene? Well, chances are that all of the blood, sweat, tears and money (over $1M) that went into it may have been for nothing. Amber Art and Music Space was being built out of an old liquor store at Fulton Street and Ashland Place by three friends who are now being told they can no longer develop the space. At the end......

All too often, we read (and write) about horrible instances of traffic fatalities when motor vehicles fail to yield to pedestrians with the right of way. There used to be a simple solution to this problem, and it was known as the Barnes Dance. Although NYC traffic commissioner Henry Barnes didn't invent the concept, it became named after him in the 1960s by a City Hall reporter named John Buchanan. The Barnes Dance involved red......

The United Nations is finally moving ahead with plans to renovate its headquarters on Manhattan's East Side. The organization selected Swedish contractor Skanska AB to head up the preconstruction phase of the $1 billion project. Never known for being quick on its feet, a U.N. renovation project has been talked about since the mid-90s and is scheduled to take place in three phases over seven years, starting in early 2008. During each phase of......

That big empty cement pool in Greenpoint has become a landmark. The recently rejuvinated (but still dry) McCarren Park Pool was designated such by the Landmarks Preservation Commission yesterday morning. McCarren was the 8th of 11 huge pools built by the Works Progress Administration, it was opened in 1936 with a dedication ceremony on July 31st of that year (making it the ripe old age of 71 in a few days). With an original capacity......

Tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m., the Municipal Arts Society is holding a meeting at Hunter College to present a brainstormed plan for making the East River waterfront in Manhattan's midtown an accessible public waterfront. The idea is that if the rebuilding of the FDR Drive, the decommissioning of the Con Ed power plant, and the expansion of the U.N. are coordinated, there is the opportunity for a waterfront park to be built, and completing the......

The New York Times has an interesting story today on Sion Misrahi and the Lower East Side he helped transform. If you've walked down Rivington St. a few times, you've probably noticed the Misrahi Realty storefront business. Its owner is Sion Misrahi, who sold pants for his father in the neighborhood when he was fourteen. When it began to gentrify, he worked to classify the old bargain-shopping district as a landmark area. Then he decided......

Four months after the opening of three much mulled-over Robert Moses exhibitions, the debate over his legacy shows no signs of waning. Yesterday’s NY Times delved yet again into the morass, this time wondering whether the two perspectives are simply creatures of their cultural moments – a city embroiled in decay vs. a city experiencing a growth spurt. Here’s Power Broker author Robert Caro’s take: “I understand each age looks through its own prism,”......

A look at some noteworthy television this week: Nature - Dogs That Changed the World: Dogs by Design (Sunday, 8:00 p.m. WNET 13; Wednesday 9:00 p.m. WLIW 21) The second and final part of the story of the dog looks at how humans created the various dog breeds and the modern day consequences. Today (Monday, 7:00 a.m., WNBC 4) Another outing of Where in the World is Matt Lauer starts Monday morning. The Mormons (Monday......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a double shooting on St. Johns Pl. in Brooklyn, a collapse on Grant Ave. in the Bronx, and a barricaded emotionally disturbed person on 102nd St. in Queens. Like Robert Moses in reverse, Mayor Bloomberg wants highways to give way to housing by covering roads like the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, as well as rail yards, and constructing housing above them. New York's own Big Dig? Ricki Lake's documentary, which is......

There's a fun NY Times City section article about the Queens Museum of Art's Panorama Challenge. The Queens Museum of Art's panorama is a to-scale model of New York City: One inch equals 100 feet (the Empire State Building is 15 inches tall) and the model was originally designed for the 1964 World's Fair, as a "helicopter" ride over New York City. (And, yes, Parks Commissioner Robert Moses commissioned the panorama in 1964, just......

We love it when an itty-bitty concrete city park gets in the way of larger agendas, only because we hope that it results in the park's users receiving a totally overcompensatory parting prize. In what will be marked as one of the least ironic moves of New York development ever, the city wants to bulldoze the Robert Moses Playground on 42nd St. and 1st Ave. to construct a 35-story tower. So far, the primary interest......

Interesting: The new United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon asked Mayor Bloomberg deploying NYPD officers on U.N. peacekeeping missions. The U.N. tells the AP that one of its priorities is to recruit international police for its peacekeeping missions, and a spokesperson said, "New York City has one of the most diversified police forces around." The city has been unable to recruit enough police officers lately - the NYPD's low starting salary isn't helping - which makes......

The Rockefeller Foundation, which played a role in funding Jane Jacobs's pioneering research and writing 50 years ago, will now support her legacy by issuing two annual award grants in her honor. According to the NY Sun, one recipient will have made a lifetime contribution to urban design or theory, specifically in New York City, and the other will be on the cusp of a promising career. Each award is worth $200,000. The prize appears......

As the debate about the former Parks Commissioner rages on, Venerated newsman Gabe Pressman is cheerleading for Robert Moses. In an article posted on the WNBC web site, Pressman says that he knew the master builder. Here’s his take: Yes, Moses was tough. And he fought hard against those he believed were undermining his vision of what New York should be. But he was far from insensitive to the needs of people. The Yale-educated master......

As the world holds it's breath, teetering precariously on the cusp of the Superbowl (well, at least in America), the wheels of the -ists keep on turning. Austinist was in a musical frame of mind as they listened to the new Shins album, updated the SXSW band listings and got called "punk rock" for their efforts by MTV. And an ice storm swept through the area. Bostonist said goodbye to John Kerry's plans for......

Robert Moses’ legacy may be getting tweaked if organizers of three upcoming exhibitions have their way. The NY Times’ Robin Pogrebin is reporting that the Museum of the City of New York, the Queens Museum of Art and Columbia’s Wallach Art Gallery will unveil a three-parter over the next month on the master builder. Columbia University architectural historian Hilary Ballon says that Moses’ achievements have been overlooked. From the Times: Living in New York,......

Our acquaintances over at The Morning News have developed the city's most hilarious holiday t-shirt: "The Squirrel That Ate Christmas". Buy one today! Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: many suspicious packages all over town, a motorcycle accident on East 47th Street, and a jumper down on East 20th Street. We're not sure what's happening in this photo, but it may well be the cutest thing we've ever posted to Gothamist. AMNY has a great......

The conflicting interests of Columbia University and the West Harlem community continue to spawn new polemics from both sides, as the university inches ahead with its proposed 17-acre, $7 billion expansion. As the land-use contest heats up, so has the quest to find the perfect metaphor. The high-stakes name game begins with the conflicting designations of the territory in question. While Columbia has used the term "Manhattanville" to describe the area, which lies between 125th......

It's hot, humid, and I want to go to the beach. What are my options? Well, Gateway National Recreation Area is right in our neck of the woods, extending in three New York City boroughs and into northern New Jersey. It is a good place to start your quest for the perfect patch of sand and cooling waters. Queens: Jacob Riis Park 2 to Flatbush Ave., Q35 Bus to Riis Beach Staten Island: Great Kills......

The Triborough Bridge is 70 years old today. As the MTA puts it, the bridge is "actually three bridges, a viaduct, and 14 miles of approach roads connecting Manhattan, Queens, and the Bronx." And traveling along it can provide some of the most beautiful views of the city -and the bridges themselves aren't bad. Today, the NY Times looks at the history of the bridge and its creator, Robert Moses. We liked this quote......

The NY Sun looks at Lincoln Center's redesign as the arts organization broke ground on the first part of their redevelopment plans:The project is already underway, and the public will start to see evidence of construction soon. The Paul Milstein Plaza, which extends over 65th Street and is a hangout for Juilliard students, will be destroyed, and a temporary footbridge constructed between the Rose Building and the plaza level by Lincoln Center Theater. This......

A relaxing day on the beach became a 15-pound umbrella to the head for a Lower East Side woman six years ago. And yesterday, NY State agreed to pay $200,000 in damages to Phyllis Caliano-Bahaj over the incident at Robert Moses State Park. The "profession style" umbrella turned into a "flying torpedo in the air, like a missile" during strong winds - one lifeguard said it was about 20 feet in the air before hitting......

Today's NY Times article about the current shaping of Hudson River Park and how it was inspired by the failed Westway project. Westway would have meant a landfill extension into the Hudson along the West Side Highway much like Battery Park City (and with its mix of residential and commercial space) - and the highway would have been built underground, as the highway was crumbling. New York Voices has a good site explaining it,......

Could it be true? The New York Post is reporting that the DoT has approved a plan to build a 3.5 mile, $12.8 billion, seven lane tunnel under the Brooklyn waterfront, and then demolish the existing Gowanus Expressway. If funded, the project could be complete in about 15 years. Since Robert Moses approved construction of the expressway over a disused elevated rail in 1939, the highway has been a huge headache for the city.......

Jane Jacobs' death will be talked about for a while, because issues she questioned continue to be relevant today, and we expect many articles about her and influence to come. But, for now, here are a couple links on Jane Jacobs - and let us know about more: - The NY Times obituary has an extensive look at her life - The AP obituary has a quote from her editor, Jason Epstein ("She inspired a......

Jane Jacobs, the urban activist whose influential book The Death and Life of Great American Cities reshaped thinking about urban communities, died overnight in Toronto. Jacobs, who lived in Canada since 1968, faced down NYC Parks Commissioner Robert Moses, arguably the most powerful man in the city at the time, in the 1960s, most famously stopping an expressway from being constructed downtown. Wikipedia on Jacobs. A 2004 Talk of the Town New Yorker piece about......

The U.N. is not going ahead with its plans to build a temporary office tower in Midtown while its headquarters is being renovated. Originally, Mayor Bloomberg had proposed building a new, temporary headquarters for the world body over Robert Moses playground near its current building, however approvals and construction timing seem to be issues. Instead, the U.N. will look to rent space in Midtown (7 World Trade Center had been reviewed, but the U.N. thought......