[TOP]

Why Don't We Do It In The Road?

People Are Traffic!

Commuter world

Congested Pricing

Transit Links

Drivers Links

AIR Links

Put up or shut up scroll

Sub- Way : MTA stench of 2 Braodway

RHYTHM OF THE STREETS

Rolling along

Media [Links]

[BOTTOM]

A 3rd Manhttan [CBD] Cental Business District? Where, why and what may the tipping point may be.

By the way, oh 2006 there was an increase from 3 to 29 NYC taxis of 12,487 are wheelchair accessible and the city is in the usual bureaucratic brou-ha-ha nonsense in seeking "proposals" etc. for some new fanciful designs, even though they exist elsewhere. If you cannot arrange for other specialised services most busses have working lifts.

Metrocard [pay per ride type only] accepted at PATH [phased in with new turnstiles started Nov 2003 at WTC] and some NYC-bordering suburban busses.

Harsh new subway behavior regulations taking effect early DEC 2005 being enforced. A few horror stories do make the press - such as $50+ tix [oh, NO ID- you will be arrested and held] for lady who rested her little shopping bag on the F, JAN 27 2006 when there were empty seats adjacent, got fined without a warning. She was detained while her records, whatever were checked but finally on Feb 27 her fine was dropped at a hearing.

Tickets ARE issued for walking between cars, [in 2006 there were 3,600 summonses issued]. SINCE subways are STATE property and everyone bu the cops are STATE employees, I NOT know under what authority the MAYOR and NYPD make rules and patrol STATE property such as the subway?

Service on the subway was BETTER just days after 9-11 and days after the Chambers St relay room fire - other track and construction work was stopped and all the trains seemed to run on time! The last time service was normal was back then in 2005 after repairs enabled services to be restored. Just checking, less than 50% of weekend services are on time according to MTA figure released JULY 27 2009.

The 2005 strike showed suburban transit riders are more fortunate than NYC "Borough" residents. They still had their MTA trains which are more highly subsidised MTA than the subway! Of course, NJ Transit and Port Auth PATH services were unaffected.

Suburban MTA rail riders DO NOT have as many rules as NYC transit rider do, foisted on them. They can even DRINK [alchohol] on the trains, though pre-MTA perks of original privately owned railroads such as the bar cars are long gone. F__ the MTA...

*BEWARE! Most NY-NYPD 'impound' closed nights and Sundays. At minimum you will not be ale to get your care back for almost a day. NYC tow pounds information. It took a long time for them to be pressured into accepting debit and credit cards.

No late-nite parking and NO standing tow zones adjacent to west side night clubs and on w8 st between 5-6Ave!*

SEPT 2009-NYS Vehicle registration 2yr. $44 raised to $105. Regular license renewal $50 raised to $80.50.

Most NYC meters are *1 hour 25c / 20 min.* There are NO residential parking permits or zones on public streets in NYC.

$20 and $50 parking cards available [CityStore or call 311] for blocks where receipt machines are used.

The highest roller parking-wise in Manhattan could be Jerry Seinfeld. He bought a small west side bldg in 1999 and renovated it in 2000 for his own private garage with office for 15-20 of his car collection, on w83st a couple of blocks from his NYC home.

National Assoc. of Insurance Commissioners - survey of 2003 rates released in Sept 2005]. New York roads are '31st' in poor or mediocre' -at 27 per cent in bad shape, according to 'TRIP' of Washington DC study in late 2001, *BUT* NJ is 8th worst and Connecticut is tied for 4th worst-[Georgia has best, next Alabama]

Add neighboring Long Island (w/ Nassau in top 10 metro areas by population) and - NJ! Hudson County w/ Hoboken and Jersey City, could be a "sixth Borough"- they are as integrated physically as much as Staten Island, despite the Hudson River, but then they are in another State, County, area codes, etc.

Why Don't We Do It In The Road?

New York cannot enlarge itself and remains at the boundaries of 1898 consolidation. Vehicle traffic is heavier and slower each year [I know, this was true a hundred years ago!] The population is grown past to all time high of approx 8.2 million projected to be few more years to 9.5 million[!] by 2030-31. Did these cold hard facts push the Mayor to create the New York 2030 [PlaNYC] Panel DEC 2006 in response? Findings so far indicate a 12-hour rush hour! Despite or BECAUSE of record population [note the actual "demographics"] and taxes and revenue and govt spending, they try to solve the resulting problems by growing GOVERNMENT more! Taxes are ever increasing [with only small compromises such as NY clothing sales tax partly eliminated and minor property tax rebate] but significantly higher user fees, fines and tolls.

It's all about charging more to keep [some] people away while actually squeezing ever more in. A million MORE people so eagerly anticipated by the Mayor, sure! Congestion pricing, sure. Private deals worked out in regular soirées between the Mayor and developer buds are rubber stamped by the Council and various city Agencies/entities that enable the developers maximum+ build-out, through UPZONING and handing over of city properties irregardless of transit and infrastructure inadequacies. The biggest projects received huge tax benefits and give back dubious or minimum public benefit or payment, notoriously the stadiums and Goldman Sachs! West side build up of Hudson Yards and PIER 40 plans are good examples, but Atlantic Yards planned superblocks with superdense use would create the most serious new traffic problems in the city.

Portions of the NY Subway system do NOT operate 24-hr a day [-more info see below->]. From 2005 and on there have been weekends when EVERY line in the system had service changes due to maintenance or construction, causing such severe disruption that the viability of the system is doubtful for any long trip for any inexperienced rider. There are NO nights/ weekends when there are NO reroutings! Past shut subway entrances and token booths, including the most centrally located, large stations, WERE NOT restored during the few years of budget surpluses in the late 1990s. The Penn Station / 8Av subway complex is plainly ridiculous. Entry on weekend nights from Penn Sta are a horribly difficult as passengers encounter closed turnstiles must enter through "iron maiden" gates. As if it is not already enough of a strain coming upstairs with luggage in Penn Sta as the few escalators are frequently out of service! At southbound local platform C-E on weekends there is only ONE exit open. Forget it if you are handicapped [or injured!]. Just 53 of 468 stations are accessible, if the elevators and stairs just worked! It is very difficult to navigate even in middle of Manhattan if you cannot use stairs. In general, stations with some elevator access are the "express stops" only.

Access to poorly interlinked lines is marginally improved by passeageway improvments over the years at some central subway stations. But try to find an entrance to the 59Lex uptown platform on weekends -there are only 2 exits - when Alexander's Dept store there existed there was three. The rebuilt 59-Lex exit in the side of Bloomberg Bldg [Vornado trust, owner] was kept closed by the MTA for two years in liability dispute over icing problem of the new bldg. It took two years to resolve [will open FEB 4 2007] stalemate with Vornado - they will NOT build a protective canopy and MTA will keep open the entrance except in storms when bldg above gets ice on it [-ah modern architecture].

Communications are still uncoordinated. Police even if arriving in time had to have keys to open the new full height iron-maiden-ish Metrocard turnstiles from the INSIDE, but the MTA too many of these away; after a great deal of pressure they changed them for panic bar equipped doors!

Squandering the FUTURE, AGAIN! Typified by fat fart Cong. "problem with funding the big items is that work could take years to start, too long to have any impact on employment now." Nadler Late 2009 MTA $6 bil to $10 billion short of capital funds could mean the end for the re-started 2Av subway and the East side LIRR and further delay and cuts to Fulton transit centre and 7Av extension. Neither bonds [what will the interest rate be!] sales and for first time about $4.5bil from the from the uncertain congestion pricing scheme and fed funding, fares, taxes and anything else is enough.Every MTA and PORT AUTHORITY post-911 transit project Gov Pataki milked as part of his "legacy" before his last term ended in 2006 is f___d!

Nothing happened for decades. "Whatever the reason, you have to wonder if the Latin words on the City Seal should be replaced with a quotation from Cicero: Nihil agere delectat. It is pleasant to do nothing." - We ride through decrepit tunnels and stations on lines that do not even go past [or to] the city boundaries [-see scroll box below about 'dollar van' fuss], to the airports directly or link to rail commuter lines just small distances away in neighbouring suburbs, yet they are part of one NY STATE "Authority" for a few DECADES! C. Haberman, NYC, NYTimes 4-13-2007 "Can It Be? A Miracle On 2nd Ave." Scratch that "real deal" and "we have the money" no matter what the Chair of the MTA said. Pataki last promised Second Av subway construction to start Dec 2004; the first section of 2Av line was due for opening 2013 on groundbreaking [photo-op] APRIL 2007. Phase I opnening then delayed toe 2014 $900mil short so make it Jun2015. NO, in Feb 2009 they figured more delays will push it to fall 2016! No in JULY 2009 they said as late as mid 2017 at cost of $4.88bil holding on to this pipe dream in the coming next 5 yr. Capital plan 2010-14. The East Side LIRR access to Grand Central is similarly further over budget and delayed.

"MTA Chief Elliot Sander said after a board meeting [2-27-2008] that delaying completion of the Second Avenue line and other projects would allow the agency to save money by signing smaller contracts for each job."[-AMNewYork 2-28-2008]. The project is still being scaled back [future cripple] in 2009; we may expect promises not to cancel it all again to be a lie. East Side Access LIRR to Grand Central was pushed back 7 months to FEB 2015. Commuter rail never made it directly to lower Manhattan and post 9-11, still does not include it. Yet officials continue to dismiss 42st light rail or trolley proposals [or for anywhere in NYC]!.. How about prodding the darling developers to build a NYC underground, a la Toronto or Montreal when they get NYC tax and zoning "incentives"? NONE of this is in new PlaNYC! Despite all the Mayor's P-C talk of lessening pollution from traffic and of "green" buildings, NYC is passing on construction [or not] of harbor freight tunnel to the PORT AUTH, and is still cool to any rehabbing of BK-QNS ol freight line which would eliminate thousands of truck miles! Inflation and zooming property values with lots of money chasing properties in the just passed "boom" forced construction costs up 1% to 2% a MONTH 2006-07 and now with 2008 semi-crash, revenue is starting to go down the toilet. Costs are always further bloated at the hands of the cancerous politician-developer complex.

A case study of NY dysfunction is the vital but TOTALLY F___ up Fulton Transit Center. PIE in the SKY, POST 9-11 PATAKI first said completion was for 2007! The project did start AUG 20 2005 started with DEY ST pedestrian tunneling. by Spring 2007 demolition on site of buildings to be cleared proceeded rapidly; the demolished buildings apparently were not so contaminated as they thought so the demolition was cleared by the EPA etc.in NOV 2006 the project was already 2 years behind schedule, $150mil over budget and already cut back in scale twice. Costs escalated and the scope was cut. First NY Gov Pataki cut the scope with a cut of the size of the dome [too bad-it is a skylight, too] AND cut the width of the passageway under DEY ST between the subways and new PATH centre from 40 to 29 feet [a dangerous move, while committing taxpayers for hundreds of millions for the Mets and Yankee stadiums plus another quarter-billion MORE towards Lincoln Ctr renovation!], then the skylight/dome] and completion dates were abandoned.

When the MTA received only 1 very over-budget $1.15billion[-from orig. $750mil for the Centre JAN 16 2008, prompted E. Sander, Exec. Director of the MTA to announce "..we cannot build the transit center as currently envisioned in this market.." meaning the above ground major entrance pavilion was reported as being cancelled. Yet in AUG 2008 Mr. Horodniceanu new [MTA] Capital Construction Co. President told Daily News [-see 8-4-2008] that a changed, but "transparent", "elegant" looking above-ground building WILL be "delivered." No contracts are let for it [-a smaller one has to be built on the other side of Broadway at Cortlandt]. All work is still below ground, and little is publicly known of the progress other than glaring demolition of buildings on Broadway, new stair to the 4/5 on Broadway, and cosmetic work [tiles and such] on 2/3 station area, plus work on the DEY St. passage! [-see Steve Cuozzo,"The MTA's Latest Disaster" NYPost 2-28-2008] With ALL its projects now are behind schedule, facing further cuts or in doubt besides the so-so performance of actual TRANSIT, it is past time to break up and eliminate the MTA! For this centre, they spent $157mil [$50mil was first budgeted] buying up properties to evict as final landlord about 2 block-fronts worth of businesses in 7 buildings SEPT 2006 after treated them very poorly. Dey St., parts of John St, Broadway and most of Fulton St are now an obstacle course. Cortland St subway [N_W] and DEY St are still closed for construction of underground passage to the PATH centre. Cortlandt #1 stop closed since 9/11 will be closed until near-completion of towers above [2010 2011 2012?] ...Pataki, Spitzer, Paterson and MTA can go to f__ hell!

" The city 'faces a total transportation investment need of between $35 and $50 billion over the next 25 years.'" Rohit Aggarwala [PlaNYC, Mayor's new planning initiative] but the Straphangers Campaign says figures show NYC contributions to the MTA core capital plan is at a 20-year low at around $70million, less than half of $200mil was during the last year of last KOCH term!-Newsday 3-2-2007 MTA- no way this "Authority" [PORK FE$T] should continue to EXIST as is. We also need tens of billion$$ of other infrastructure improvements and some progressive thinking and planning. The subway was nearly totally shut down for third time in 2007 by RAIN. Worst was AUG 8 2007, system 90% out of service in the am rush - OK it was about 3inches of rain in an hour, but it rained heavily before in the last 200 years in NYC, right? WORST of all they have NO coordinated way to communicate with riders down there! There is STILL no widespread video/text or PA system, and where any of it exists, it hardly works. No cell service. MTA people on site did not know the big picture. Riders were misdirected. Busses brought riders to closed stations. The express bus fleet of nearly 1,000 busses did not make extra stops or pick up to fill empty busses because the drivers did not have a clue - and are not authorised to do so on their own. The MTA web site was overloaded and down! Most subways pump into NYC sewers that are in more overloaded than ever and their back-ups kept water in the subway. NOTE 9,000 acres of NYC land paved over 1984-2002..and counting Know how much rain than can absorb? Over all, except for subway car air-conditioning and Metrocard, the system is still operated with early 20th cent technology and passengers navigate a work of space planning with the munificence of a cut-rate sewer. An international disgrace!

"The IND lines were the first part of the system built by the city [not privately as the original lines were] in the 1930s. At that time in 1937/38 the first big round of replacing Queens and Brooklyn trolleys [street cars] with busses and the new subway lines happened, other trolley services operated in the BX until about 10 years later. The IND stations have not got even a hint of "deco." Some people in 1936 with some newspapers and local politicians were pinheaded enough to kill a WPA tile art project for the new "IND" lines because it is typical of what we call now "muscular socialist"; the finest examples of it actually adorn Rockefeller Center. The Board of Transportation killed it, new fir NYCity-built subways of the 1930s and 40s went totally undecorated. Small mosaic pieces of the type were placed in the underground section of NEWARK city [trolley] subway line [which look like a sewer also, anyway].

The QUEENS Blvd [E F V R] portion of these 1930s lines amongst most heavily disabled by floods! Sam Schwartz [20 years as Engineer for NYC D.O.T.] reminds us that if we did get the NY bridges into great shape it would only cost $150mil+ to maintain them - but NYC and every other locality is addicted to Fed capital funds to replace or fix the worst, but NOT maintain anything. SO stop all your f__ whining about IRAQ and Katrina and we don't get enough money!! So stop wondering why roads are closed and re-closed and repairs are never finished. Schwartz says NYC was spending about $400 a year to replace/rebuild broke bridges rather than maintain them. He had to go along with the program, when "..rather than lubricating the bearing plates that allow the Williamsburg bridge to slide back and forth with changes and temperature and loads, we let the bearing plates jam, which cracked the concrete pedestal the span sat on. Twice year we needed to stop traffic, jack the bridge up and slide the pedestal back in place." [-Catch Me, I'm Falling, NYTimes OpEd 8-13-2007]

DAILY NEWS NOV 2006 called the new PATH transit center a folly instead of citicising the bums who are f__ up projects the GOVERNOR of NY and his Public Authorities oversee. Of these, the JKF-Lower Manhattan Rail was barely funded, not designed and forgotten about, LIRR to [under] Grand Central-[at 38]st $1.8bil funded now of $6.3bil project, enough for kick-off -but OCT 2007 only bidder to excavate the station was $200mil higher than expected put. Project getting further behind schedule and more expensive and as borrers have worked their way towards the new station area for over a year. The #7 extension is an 1-stop boondoggle just linking the JAVITS Ctr when for much less than they are spending, the long-proposed 42st light rail could be built!. A ceremony was held on the advent of lowering of tunneling machine parts down FEB 20 2009, almost 2 years after properties began to be acquired and some excavation [not tunneling] occurred.

In OCT 2007 MTA $1.1bil contract cut the 10Av-41st station. Its last chance option was offically dropped early SEPT 2008 as NYC in its complex deal paying for the project at most would only fund 1/2 cost for the shell of the 10Av station. But MTA, NO one had anymore to put in. The City of NY [Bloomberg] officially said 10Av-41st station is not so important since development is and has happened in that area already without it! But the Mayor+ the power brokers want a station at 11Av-34 because despite the crash are pushing for HUDSON YARDS - Javits area high rise office precinct! So in NYC 2007 where multimillion condos line far w42 st and tourists by thousands go to attraction on water at 12 Av - NYC-NY State can't afford to invest in transit there! DO they want these residents to all get cars? And we will see if cost of 110 needed new subway cars let along probable subway yard expansion to accommodate them is funded, or not. One exception as a project actually being completed in AUG 2008 no, delayed to DEC 2008 FEB MAR 15 2009 is the new South Ferry #1 terminal.

MTA hit the wall on the L line [see scroll box below-], the NEW subway cars just placed in service can handle. More Brooklyn dysfunction coming as transit and streets in downtown Brooklyn are at capacity much of the day and [besides the crowd for the arena at nite] 6,860 apts, 853,000 sq ft of offices and a hotel [180rms] are part of the RATNER-Gehry "Brooklyn Yards" scheme. Local pols are being jerked off by the big money involved say there won't be any problem with traffic or transit! Manhattan E-Side W-Side cattle car conditions are getting worse too.

More than one river to cross?

No stopping, no standing

Rolling along
an elitist's / fabu view of driving and Manhattan from chef-restaurateur Jean Gorges Vongerichten from NYPost 'My New York' 7-27-2008 Lives maybe in one of the Meier towers in W Village and new 'county house' in Westchester- "My daughter bicycles there along the river. I wish one day they're going to put that highway below, you know? It could be all green." [<-meaning like Westway] "I've driven every single day for the past 20 years. I think when you drive, you can can stop any place to want. You really discover the city. Most of the locations for my restaurants, I find them by driving around." - - - - NYC DEPT of TRANSPORTATION moving/ consolidating from 4 borough offices to 6 floors/ 368,147 sq. ft. of 55 Water St..oops they are delayed and NYC will pay $11.8 mil for empty space in year from lease payments APR 2008 to move in APR 2009. NYSun 8-1-2008 [$32 sq ft] NO easy pass: along with 2008 effort to take lifetime E Z Pass and transit benefits from former board members and some of their family, MTA SEPT 24 announced revoking free passage on NYC bridges/tunnel for official NYC police, fire, ambulance etc. ->MTA will only make estimated $10mil. The agency still gives out 2,800 free passes to some of THEIR staff. MTA rot exposed [just the latest->] track workers filmed 2008 shown on ABC NY work about 2 hours of the day and leave to do anything they want, yet even MTA chief and union President gave excuses such as they are not allowed to be on track during rush hour and they are not suppose to hang out in the stations...ALSO the MTA Chief SANDERS whose office is in Grand Central and insisted he rides the train to work has been getting [unmarked] police [MTA police?] rides to work- see various new NOV 16, Nov 17 2008. ........................................... emergency? ->"Less than 2/3 of the subway' power divions is in good shape, down from 95 percent 20 years ago [from MTA docuemtns] Haddon, AM NewYork-> "MTA faces power predicament.. Faltering electric equipemnt threatens vital flow of electyricity to subway system" could cause dangerous fires, halt service but MTA sauys its gonna spend $265mil over 5 years to start to fix it. REAL TIME SUBWAY Countdown DISPLAYS >1-7 lines displays now supposed to be installed thru 2010 with new PA system. Central computer finished 2008 cost $213mil, will be $171 mil at least to finish on these lines. "L" line project was finished 2007. OTHER *numbered* lines not scheduled until 2014 and maybe 2016+ to finish at hundreds of mil$ more. "A project to display real-time train arrival times in 152 subway stations is now behind schedule - by five years." -Donohue, DailyNews 9-24-2008 on 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 lines. original completion? 2006. ALSO failing to be implemented-GPS-WiFi bus tracking pilot plan started OCT 2007, turned off FEB 2008 was faulty, Transit 'smart cards' are very late, automated trains - there is a shortage of the cars. SEE more on these projects, below-> SIEMANS paid $452 of $160mil 2003 contract to install electronic message boards but the software is f__ up and can't get it to work -NYPost 10-20-2006. The only major tech upgrade for the public the MTA has gotten to work in the last couple of decades is the Metrocard. announced first use of subway car cams coming Spring 2008 first in N/R 4 or 5 cams per car! as an "anti-graffiti" tool. Are these in new cars, they say the cams will be built into the new R160 subway cars for L M N J Z coming in starting late by end of 2008...no, later. OCT 2008 MTA NY Subway new official "absolute on-time performance] figures worst line are #6 23.8% late [7th worst] to first worst is A 55% late. from AUG 2008 data. 2008 worsening subway delays-> MTA figures report to be released late FEB will show [NY Sun 2-21-2008] 31.4% subways delay increase over 2006 and 54% increase over 2005? The MTA like to says it is because of all the necessary construction..yes there are many reroutings etc. but STRAPHANGERS CAMPAIGN says service is just deteriorating. BUS RAPID TRNASIT BRT systems: Proposed for 2010 BRT on 1av/2av for M15 bus. Maybe Nostrand Av BK 2011 and 34st Man too and HYLAN Blvd SI 2013! A whole lane of parking gone up all of 1 and 2 Av are they crazy? 2008 JUNE 29 first of 5 BRT Bus Rapid Transit lines /SelectBus started on #12 bus any good? ->OCT 1 shop owners protested in front of City Hall- NO parking rules have killed business FORDHAM between Cambreling and Bathgate- 6 closings! EXTRA busses and staffing are making it seem like it works. They say there is about 20 percent speed up of the #12 route - but this is the limited stop bus anyway! It takes extra police to cars out of rush hours dedicated street lane. It is good that passengers can enter thru front or rear doors. But there is NO ROOM for the coin card vending machines in the standard 1 size only NYC bus shelter and for PEOPLE waiting! $100 fines for not having your payment receipt! A new group of enforcement agents have to be hired! There is no room on NYC streets for dedicated bus lanes! TRANSPONDERS may change lights, but short blocks in NYC and all the turning cars can negate its benefits. This is a half baked idea imported into NYC from less dense and more car- cultured cites such as LA with wide streets, less people crossing and some freeway stretches of bus runs! There are not stops every couple or few short blocks and in S. America where this started they have room for fare controlled entry shelters that are about as big as a bus! IN 1990s one was temp placed in display on Broadway outside of City Hall Park. --> NOTE IF they make more of these in Brooklyn etc. there will be more expenses for more machines, cops, enforcement agents etc. PLUS construction of "BUS BULBS" sidewalk extensions into street so they do not pull over. Its a bunch of crap, so why not go street cars like the Toronto TTC lines!! ==== More CONGESTION pricing: BE AFRAID these of these UK Gore-heads-> The Guardian LONDON Apr 18 2008 on the ALBANY stonewalling to defeat Congestion Pricing- "If New York, one of the most liberal, highly educated and globally aware parts of the country, cannot move ahead on something as modest as an $8 charge on driving in Manhattan, what hope is there for the drastic changes that will have to be made to avoid catastrophic climate change." 'Globally aware, drastic changes [needed!] se WE can STOP climate change?! And who is JAMES HANSEN-'America's top climate scientist' they cite giving warnings that is WORSE than they said before so we MUST close all coal electric plants by 2030? WHY the F___ are Daily News and multi other editors and activists going ga-ga over $500mil FED transit aid - with NYC commitment to spending it for a BILLING SYSTEM? Hundreds of mil would be needed to implement screwy congestion pricing scheme? BUT NY is needs tens of BILLION$ to finish up projects they are commiting to now! Read way further down below and get more sense of the expenses.. ->Does this guy really believe what he says? what kind of crap is he smoking? Drivers flood the streets because they NEED to - and many unavoidably pay HIGH TOLLS NOW at Port Authority and Triborough Bridge & Tunnel crossings! ->[7-17-2007 "Shelly's maddening 'maybe,' Bill Hammond Daily News-"Silver and his members don't want to take the blame for killing a plan that could improve the business climate, cut down on asthma and raise hundreds of millions of dollars for much-needed mass transit improvements. But he and his members couldn't take the political heat from the small percentage of commuters who insist on driving into Manhattan by car.." whammond@nydailynews.com ==== MTA and funding: Lame duck GOV PATAKIi packed the Govt [house] with actual HUNDREDS of appointments and reappointments before the end of the season legislative session June 2006 including another 6-year term for Peter Kalikow as head of MTA. KALIKOW says HE would NOT step down even if next GOVERNOR asks him to! F__ this s o b! NOV 2006->MTA reaped benefit of Stuyvesant Town sale- I didn't know MTA gets a small percent of mortgage tax - on $5.4Bil sale they say the amount its $52mil. Real estate revenue helped delay fare increase but the battle with a deficit is constantly in flux, at least by what little gets in the press. The STUY TOWN investors- have started to lose their shirts! -->FEB 2008 proposed new 5 yr capital plan more self deception counting on revenue they will not get, promises of projects they can't pay for. -->early to mid 2007 the money is all spent, NO money to start any other big projects. NY 2005 Transportation Bond Act $2.9Bil more debt- pressure is on the public to pass it because they say it enables matching FED funds. SO without saying it, 2nd av subway etc could be dead again if it is not passed. ANYWAY $1.139Bil of the bonds are for highway spending thru State Dept of Trans. Only $1.5Bil are for MTA capital const costs of many project so even the 2nd AV subway would get only a few hundred million$ With these bonds the MTA has authorized $10Bil in new debt and a total of about $56 BILLION in debt thru 2010. The MTA has mismanaged the transit system, lorded over corrupt construction of its own 2 Broadway HQ, created its own slush funds hiding budget surpluses and sold its property at below market value to the big connected developers for the west side stadium NETs Arena. [Oh, the Governor oversees the MTA, hmm.] NYSun is one of the few voices saying stop the madness and VOTE NO!-see NYSun 9-21-2005 ============================ YOU f___ new New Yorkers who blog and lecture us telling us if its too expensive for you in NYC "leave", if the old stores can't afford increased rent "close", etc, "free market"? bullshit...IT IS NOT A FREE MARKET IN NYC. We know about social welfare, but are you blind to the BILLIONS in corporate welfare? Wheeling and dealing that goes to the very BIGGEST! Just a bitty part of it: Passengers screwed by MTA / NYC deals with developers-> Increasing density landlords get perpetual increased revenue while allowed to shirk their contractual responsibility to maintain subway escalators, sometimes public spaces, too that they agreed to maintain /build in exchange for being allowed to build bigger than zoning allows..these deals made since 1970s on... MAY 5 2008 since some escalators been out for YEARS->"The Straphangers Campaign yesterday called for NYC Transit to make a public accounting.." of these. [5-6-2008] S.I. is a bunch of cow town multi villaged street layouts mostly, grinding its way to worst traffic in NYC overall considering. 5 or 6% of people but 15% of NYC cars.. Has stillborn/ incomplete highway system and bottlenecks on its major 'boulevards' where they become one lane ea direction. NIMBY worse then NJ attitude, street widening is blocked aided by NYC widespread permits to build on easements for future [now the past] street widening and straightenings. EVERY means to get more public transport or improve roads are stonewalled by some vested interest and city bureaucracy. See S.I. Advance "Stuck in the 19th century.." 10-19, 10-21-21 F__ S.I., go ahead split from NYC! JUNE 2007-CATTLE CARS - Subway crowding: there will be no solution EVER. Maybe patches by getting more busses into ever more crowded streets, maybe lengthening stations but that is a BIG expensive fuss, someone from a 'fiscal watchdog' even said IT - take seats out from some cars. WELCOME to FUN CITY 21st cent version! Petition for F train express service JUN 12 2007- service on express track may be anywhere up to 2012 to restart. NO ONE has ever said when express tracks were last used, further long-term tack work is needed. 2008 Feb12 broken bump [platform edge] board sends 14 year old down to track but he avoids getting hit by train, FEB 14 Subways President orders inspection and quick fix at all 468 subway stations... ============================ Major Rail Projects: 2010 completion? JUN 25 2007 Public Hearing on Bleecker St #6 renovation- first time they are going to connect uptown #6 with lower F-D-V platforms. Strange staggered platforms that do not align at ends made them leave it out when the city built the IND lines, and even the last renovation of F-D-V BWAY -NASSAU station, old walkways over lower platforms thatlead to unbuilt new connection point and tunnel from #6 were torn down. AMTRAK CEO Alex Kummant in NY OBSERVER AUG 18 2008 reminds us how much of a fantasy a bullet train or such a 2 -hr high speed direct train to DC from NY would be: A new dedicated right of way with a straight-ish design [as if you do not already understand that -don't you?] at a cost of tens of billion$ [ditto]..can't happen "Not with the current structure and the current funding. And not with eight different commuter agencies and 750,000 commuters on the Northeast corridor and 50 freight trains and a Civil War-era set of Baltimore tunnels." [!] is not on ANY agenda. ARC/ Access to Region's Core- 2009 JAN 14 Fed environmental assessment approved Tran Hudson Tunnel $7.6 to $10bil, Port Auth and NJ committed to $4.5 bil of that. 2009 start? New tunnel for NJ Transit to new station under 34 st 7-8Av. SNAFU-the project was cut down by the GOV PATAKI to make it a typical dumbf__ NY/NJ area project. CUTTING off MTA from it, it will not be interconnected with approach to/ Penn Station umm tracks...and a possible connection through to the new Grand Central LIRR East side a ccess station! -->SO, ALL AMTRAK and NJ will continue to run to/from PENN STA in 2 single-track Hudson tubes of 1910-ish and are a hazard and terrorist opportunity! ->three prelim designs shown JULY 2008..final agreements coming with Vornado to build? Late APRIL 2007- Port Authority intends to seek proposals for developers on dormant idea to build office tower[s] above the bus terminal. I HOPE they miss the bus on this one again- if they succeed there will be a tower above the north wing, then the south [main] section of the terminal which they say could even be sold off and a replacement[?] terminal be built on under developed Port Auth lots as far west a 10Av..THAT is insanity. ALL of the existing 1-1/3 full square NYC block terminal is already over capacity... would really f_ up commuters! However, the NY Times tower may have a bit of space left to lease, and new towers on 8Av-42 N_W and S_E corners could fill enough of demand for space to undercut the Port Authority. LOWER MANH to JFK dead for forseeable future: ->APR 2008 - one specialised rail car than can travel on LIRR track to connect via smaller Airline tracks to JFK? Somehow f__ PATAKI and his MTA buds made sure that PATAKI and his lesser Port Auth buds were blocked from any part of rail access by building incompatible Airlink! The public got f__ over again, and MTA is again MAYBE thinking about LIRR- AIRLINK connection, because PATAKi grand direct JFK rail into lower Manhattan would be via a new tunnel is NEVER gonna happen in our lives, late MAY 2007 unofficially JFK link to lower Manhattan was out. Republican Senators blocked it in 2006 even tho BUSH included the funding but SENATE had to approve conversion of post 9-11 tax credits to transit funding. In MAYORS dealings with Sheldon Silver [2Av line will run thru his district] to cooperate with Mayors plan for new NYC created transit "Authority" to rival MTA for new construction particularly the 2nd Av subway--> I think we have NOT heard ANYTHING on this since. FEB 2007 #7 extension in DOUBT? MTA says to NYC pay up! NYC allocated only $100mil --> to cost overruns but they are now about $1billion!! NYC f__ again in DC class-warfare- PC battle: JFK-Lower Manh rail "JFK Rail Link Could Become Victim of Estate Tax Battle- Senators Clinton, Schumer Seen Likely to Vote Against Transfer of Federal Funding For Project" as they vote against bill links those funds to Senate cut of inheritance tax, but hikes minimum wage and extends some tax breaks they say are too much for business and rich.... Plans moving ahead for LIRR third track project, main line 11.5 miles Hicksville to Queens Village. Homeowners in some areas too close will be forced out. Smaller project downtown Brooklyn connect Jay St A-C-F under Willoughby St to N-R is under way. ->OCT 2007- LIRR plans rebuilding original 1913 interlocking, add 6th platform and replace 1930s electomechanical signal system at Jamaica Sta for $387mil a "study" will be done thru 2009[!] work start 2001 and completion 2013 to enable more trains to pass thru and at more than current 'snails pace' announced...THEY should have had basic engineering or track layouts done years ago in anticipation! [-NYTimes 5-25-2007] Approx, costs of about $89,000 in all for the April 12 2007 groundbreaking photo op for 2 Av subway- MTA figures Tunnel cleaning and underground stage $61,000 Lighting/electrical $16,000 Security $6,000 Audio visual system $3,000 Souvenir DVD $1,600 Souvenir mini miners pickaxes inscribed with date $15,000 ->JULY 2008 one tunnel borer got near end of route to new next to Grand Central, later 2008 the other one wil get there then I guess they will dig out the station area. >DEC 18 2006:In addition to $2.8bil from latest MTA capital plan, Fed DOT is funding $2.63Bil over 7 yrs announced towards est $6.3Bil cost-so LIRR to Grand Central. Oh no big deal add 2 or 3 billion more to the other billions need for $17bil 2Av line, Fulton Transit Centre and more. BUT NYC does need the work done. they will finally utilise the lower level of [1969 project first used in 1989] 63 st tunnel to connect to new under-42 st station and a link to LIRR at Sunnyside Yards. -->Boring starts fall 2007. East Side Access- est $7.7BIL LIRR to Grand Central - mostly not funded- MTA looking to FEDs for $300Mil prelim funding in 2006 + $2Bil more. + $450mil more for construction from bonds.. 2012 completion estimate GONE year? delay and cost overrun SEE JULY 22 2009 NYPost etc. ->Tram will be shut for rebuilding or new cable etc in ___ 2009.. -->SEPT 2006 back in service Roosevelt Is tram breaks down 5:15 pm Apr 18, multiple causes blown fuses, back-up generator would not start. It took approx 11 hours to rescue last people trapped. backup generator was down and there were other maint problems. Its biggest service outage was fall 1980 for 119 days. And yes it is another NY State Authority that runs Roosevelt Is - "Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation" formed in to take over from scandal plagued Urban Development corporation that initially building and operating the development. ->"Lack of funds delay LIRR bridge work- Maloney, Newsday JUN 19 2007 Plans to fix structural problems on 12 Long Island Rail Road bridges - including where some wooden piles can no longer bear weight - have been held up since 2001 because of lack of construction funding, according to an LIRR document to be released tomorrow. Long Island City drawbridge Could collapse if it is not over-engineered? [yeah pols jerk most of you, promising new grand projects and let the rest fall down] FEB 2007 Cost overruns of new Calatrava designed- PATH complex come to public light and continue to steadily increase, along with changes in scope, materials. SEPT 6 2005 official groundbreaking for Port Auth -WTC transit hub. Renovated Bronx #4 170st, 176st reopened 11-22-04 There will be NO retail in the S I Ferry terminal until late 2009 at earliest.. ->FEB 19 2008 $75,000 jumbo fish tanks unveiled in waiting area of the SI terminal- maybe $100,000 year to maintain! Let's see how long this foolishness lasts. The rebuilt [Whitehall] SI ferry terminal was $55mil over-budget and a year and a half late -ribbon cutting was FEB 8 2005 but even in 2009 new retail shops are not open. Official "ribbon cutting" was MAY 20 2005 on the rebuilt SI [St. George side] ferry terminal [$31mil over budget] Rebuilt Stillwell Ave station reopened 5-23-2004-for F in APR 2004- Spring 2005 will be totally complete and D will go there OK fireworks not allowed in NY. But season 2006 besides PA stakeouts with arrests after crossing the border into NYC, and 58 vehicles already seized [NYPost 6-27-2006] of them. .................................... <rant> NOV 2008: $4million cost of NYState and $100,000 to NYC for new street signs in P-C renaming of Triborough Br to "Robert F. Kennedy Bridge! Ceremony held NOV 19 2008. Parking tickets a cost of doing business- they built this damn city with no place to stop or stand, [besides no back alleys or streets to collect garbage etc such as in even Chicago] BUT I did not know there was active de facto ticket discount system! 10% for 5,000 and 2 f__ million vehicles[![ of companies that pay them all uncontested in bulk! ->may be written into LAW, with some fee modification! So forget about funding transportation infrastructure! Where are they doing that kind of stuff - oh lets say CHINA -why do you think all your stuff comes from friggin CHINA now, huh? SO the NYC subways will stay scratch n sniff. - - JAN 2005 Letter of the Month- Daily News 1-4-2005 "I am always reading about the need to diversify the NYPD and FDNY because they are "overwhelmingly" white. During the transit strike, it was noted that TWU membership is 70% black which seems pretty "overwhelming" to me. Why is there no need to diversify the TWU?" Barry Koppel, Kew Gardens Hills </rant> Police say there is NO crackdown New York Mag says there are MANY arrests lately near Central Park and jail for those caught driving with a suspended license- ut a change in State law requires the arrest. BUT jail even for WRONGLY suspended license is not the system working right. DOLLAR VAN fuss- lower income people who don't have care in eastern QUEENS and some of Brooklyn which are underserved by transit use them especially- Most of THESE jitney type services are illegal and flourished for decades. ALL were illegal until sometime in the 90s? when pressure made NYC legalise some routes that did not coincide with any regular bus routes. City Councilman FIDLER of BKLYN 2007 is trying to get a bill to make police ticket PASSENGERS in the vans to a hearing over some objection of the chair of the Transportation Committee. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Where the streets have two names- Dec 2005 - NYC Sanitation changed street cleaning in some commercial areas to mid day, hurting local shops whose customers get tickets so never come back. Store owners of Kew Gardens Rd, Richmond Hill QNS are to protest 12-9-05 the noon-1:30 no parking rule for cleaning 1 day a week. Sanitation Dept makes the schedule and Dept of Transportation enforces it. -------------------------------------------------------------------- The Wings of Man - A little dusty in NYC-> AIRPORTS NEAR MISSES: increasing around NYC->5 in MAY 2007! Fall 2006 announced new $62mil control tower will be built to replace vintage structure remaining from orig 1960s expansion, as that old terminal was rebuilt in the 1990s..ground breaking FEB28 2007 expected to be in service in 2010. Tower will be 82 ft higher than old one. Starting MARCH 2006 Wall St helicopter service direct to JFK will include all pre-boarding service include screening and baggage check- pier 11 near WALL st to JFK started MAR 2006. Similar services coming SEPT 2006 from e34, OCT 2006 LGA services, DEC 18 2006 service from Wall St heliport to Continental at Newark-Liberty. Fare now is $159 http://www.flyush.com Ceremonial groundbreaking 12-7-2005 -new 26 gate Jet Blue terminal complex expected to open in 2009 will include reopening the 1962 TWA Saarinen bldg. as a sort of lobby-centerpiece for the complex. JFK- Phase I American Airlines new terminal opens partially AUG 24 2005, [Customs will not be ready until later in 2006] Phase II completion is during 2007. JULY 2005. FEDS continue to f____ NYC ->FAA does NOT plan to upgrade ol ASDE [Airport Surface Detection Equip] at NY area airports to ASDE-X because they have a "good safety record." - all the recent near-ground collisions aside. New systems have been installed at 5 major airports and may go into 29 more. NYC- LaGuardia no. 1 in delayed flights total and percentage in US [61,120 = 15.58] FAA figures quoted in NY TIMES 1-31-01 in 2000. Newark Airport no. 3 in delayed flts. percentage. JFK Airport no. 11 - NYC not doing too good. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - NYState $316Mil Medicaid spending in 2003 for transportation. NYTimes, Metro 7-18-2005 "New York Medicaid Fraud May Reach Into Billions" Most of that money went to "450 ambulette services, about a fifth of which are clustered in Brooklyn." SO they don't reimburse people for regular public transit or taxis. The Times reports well known abuses incl kickbacks, fraudulent billing etc and that only 5 providers were audited even partially in State FY 2004. This violates the intent of the services which are supposed to be for people who are somewhat disabled and can't use public transit. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Street $1.85 mil of gasoline tax will be used for repair of 28 of 64 step streets in the Bronx. So repairs will be late 2006 or in 2007. OH -"PARTYBIKE' operated in Times Sq since sometime in 2004 with these huge round bicycles for 7 has been subject to harassment and closure by Police early 2006. Most of his bike have been impounded by the Police and, owner was arrested once for loitering and gotten hundreds of tickets for disorderly conduct and impeding traffic, he has a new competitor and the City Council proposed bill to license human -powered vehicles that seat 3 or more. Oy vey. SEPT 18 2002. "Prompt Hearings Are Ordered For Owners of Seized Cars" Fed. appeals court rules that owners of cars seized by NYC of drivers ACCUSED of DWI must be allowed to promptly challenge the seizures. Giuliani started the seizures in 1999. Cars were NOT returned unless their was a successful forfeiture suit. A class action suit filed in 1999 failed, but now in appeals succeeded as 3-judge panel said that possibility of owners lawsuits was not protection. Mid2002-NYC to add 200 fake red-light cams to existing 50 on the streets-fakes and real cams to be rotated secretly. *Jersey City right opposite lower Manhattan has #1 rate of auto theft in Metro area of pop. of 50,000 or more. Fresno CA. is no. 2, NYC is 5th, Newark NJ is 16th. - 1996 statistics Jersey City thefts per 100,000 registered vehicles was 2,795. About 20 insurance companies left NJ during the 90s. NYC car theft peaked in 1990, still big prob but may be 1/8 of what is was. -->2005: 125 pedestrians killed. -MOST pedestrian injuries and fatalities are to them WHILE CROSSING at intersections WITH the light! NYC encourages pedestrian deaths - -most of its efforts in the streets have been made to speed CARS - from BLOOMBERGs crosstown thru-streets to GIULIANIs midtown turning pockets, especially widespread in NYC are more restrictions on where you can walk or or cross so as not to be in the way of traffic. -most dangerous intersections are 33st-Park Av, and then Bklyn Utica Av-Eastern Parkway 25 killed 1995-2001, 609 people struck and Eastern Pkway is about half as long as Queens Blvd.[Bklyn doesn't get any 'respect'] *MOST dangerous STREET - 12-lane Queens Blvd. "Since 1993, 74 pedestrians, many of them elderly have been killed.." note area in Brooklyn around Grand Army Plaza is also very hostile to pedestrians as early as 1927 a "deathometer" tallied the carnage. <-April 2001. Grand Army Plz crossings will be upgrade and new pedestrian "islands" to be added by late NOV 2007. Queens Blvd- first one of the main things the city did was place signs along the street marking where various pedestrians were killed, place barriers and give fines to people jaywalking, putting in parking meters along the route [no one gets why that would help] and lastly crack down on speeders. HOUSTON St also very dangerous- 2006-07+ rebuilding under way - lawsuit to stop it OCT 2007 because MEDIANS are being narrowed way down. APRIL 2004 -crossing times 50st and LIE on Queens Blvd to be increased to one minute, from 30 seconds now. "A lot of people in that neighborhood were concerned with speeding on that road...One of the things we try to do to limit speeding is to install a bike lane." Lisis de Bourbon spokesman for NYC Dept. of Transportation on new bike lane on Shore Rd Bay Ridge Bklyn, Spr 2003 a curvy fast street where car lanes were narrowed from 17 ft [wider than NYC average] to 12 feet ea. -NYTimes, The City 6-22-03 -those bicyclists are expendable anyway...there are few dedicated strips for bike lanes, the streets are narrow or traffic choked as are most sidewalk [yes, in much of the city 2 wide or slow people can block a sidewalk in many places where there are other obstructions such as newsstands, garbage or newspaper receptacles and subway stairs.] ANYWAY- there's no place to put a bike path besides the street by taking a few feet away from car lanes. Strip-like parks-bike lanes in NY ran mostly around the PERIMETER-until 2007-08 and the first divided bike lanes along some part of some streets ave were installed... JUNE 13 2006 Mayor revoked general parking permits for film crews, movie location scouts etc [not affecting filming permit areas] well there is just not enough parking. Sure it was changed back sometime afterwards.. .......................................... NYC 6,200 school busses are OWNED by 52 private companies, largest and prob dirtiest fleet in US and long overdue for new, cleaner busses. 60 percent were made before 1996. Current replacement schedule would take a dozen years unless more action is taken. SO FAR pollution filters are being phased in which are NOT effective in the older busses and a 20-year age limit is being imposed. Happy trails to you! - NYTimes 10-11-05 ............................................ PORT AUTHORITY - to make things clear to those who are not familiar - Note a former Executive Director, George J. Marlin [see NYPost 11-23-2005] "PA Power Grab" note he started privatization efforts in mid 1990s and "Incensed bureaucrats vehemently resisted my effort because he feared loss of control and clout." and cautioned Mayor Bloomberg in his latest efforts at prodding work to start at the WTC site. The Port Auth leases NYC land at the 3 major area airports and control Port facilities and NY to NJ bridges and tunnels. ..................................................... * TRANSIT FLASH! -Service as usual The subway will be the sewers of tomorrow in NY- over and over just like in the past...Budget crisis again- early 2008 MTA says may cut back on using tiles on floors when renovating stations and go back to concrete. Policy on paint is stations are only repainted when they get reconstructed...causing an outcry they are giving in and will repaint some needing it.. WEATHER increasingly causes big service problems -> MELTDOWN 8-8-2007 ->OCT 10 2007 Entire #7 line shut early rush hour almost 3 hours MTA-subway power problem. ->AUG 8 2007 about 2-1/2 to 3 inches rain in an hour to 2 hours, a tornado goes 9 miles from S.I to Ditmas Pk, services shut down so widely that 8:30 am MTA officially said NOT to use the subway! SOME lines were not in normal service until late WEDS evening. SO they said it the system can't handle more than 1-1/2 inches of rain in an hour -we can't handle the MTA. SUBWAYS pump into the regular sewer system and if that backed up... ->HEAT July 19 2006 voltage problems cause service disruptions then suspensions on several lines. July 18 3rd rai l buckling Rockaway A heading to Beach Channel. ->Simple summer heavy 1 inch-30 min rain am 7-5-2006 halted A C L for 1/2 hour and F service for 2 hours in various Brooklyn and Queens locations. ->JUNE 5 2006 Service on LEX lines stopped for two periods mid-day that lasted an hour, because of switch problems. ->JUNE 2 2006 late afternoon ordinary but heavy thunderstorm starts to shut down the transit system again... ->Feb 12, 13 2006 SNOW slowed or cut services on most lines. -->"Governor Spitzer blames Mayor Bloomberg's Department of Environmental Protection, which is responsible for the sewers. Mayor Bloomberg directed questions to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority - meaning the governor. The head of the MTA, Elliot Sander, blamed the Bush administration, or least the National Weather Service. The public advocate, Betsy Gotbaum and the Speaker of the City Council, Christine Quinn blamed the MTA's Chairman, Peter Kalikow, The long- suffering New Yorkers blames the whole lot of them. If Mr. Bloomberg wants to run for President, he'd best not do it on a rainy day. N Y Sun 8-9-2007 APRIL 2006-MTA inspector general report released about ->SEPT 8 2004 flooding, near paralysis of much of subway system in heavy thunderstorm. Fault lies with corrupt bloated bureaucracy neglecting maintenance for decades of valves connecting subway to sewer system and stuff clogging pumping systems etc. and slow emergency response. Very much like NEW ORLEANS! Aug 4 2003 RAIN floods N/R in lower Manhattan. 1,2, 9, 3 suspended. ============ MTA bus shortage of regular busses come to light DEC 2007 with complaints -on Brooklyn B1 and B64 using express busses for regular neighbourhood routes. Also in Queens -Jamaica I saw this too. ->new passenger subway grades will be solicited spring 2008. IF there is any significant improvement, will NOT be due to the lack of $$$. BUT we should doubt these new line managers can do much about any of their new responsibilities! ->12-6-07 Oh no Roberts was at MTA in the 1980s!- so now he wants to install General Manager's for ea 24 subway lines, phased in over next 3 years with most discrete lines first no. 7 and the L to improve service with accountibility..hmmm. ->The real deal about this - less than 7% response rate on these from passengers- this is characterised as a "pet project" by new [Mar 2007] MTA President Howard Roberts just from being VP of Citibank, who used such a thing more appropriately for customers of its branches. What a dumbf__! Take the subway, yourself! "Rider Report Card" grades for subway lines being taken and released Sept - NOV 2007 so far NOV 12- Shuttle got highest mark B- EVERY other line so far got C to D+! NYSUN 4-30-2007 re CLARK ST 2/3 station elevators- 1 of 3 are usually out of order the elevators were installed w some WWII aircraft carrier elevator parts and these were replaced in 2000 [s what was there BEFORE?} . BUT it still keeps breaking - they say tunnel winds push debris and meal dust into the mechanisms. A report for the Manhattan Boro Pres said 78% of Manhattan elevators were in violation of building code for not being inspected ea year. JAN 29-OOPS rest of the story-platform was a bit too wide found out in test summer 2008, and cut edges down! Such poor quality, shoddy const, how many non-English speakers did it take to do this? 80% Fed funded- do YOU or they care how much endless $$ it takes to do this?->Donohue, DailyNews 1-28-2009->Delay in NEW South Ferry Station poor construction of platforms gap up to 1 inch wider than AADA/Fed law allows! Filling in a bit costs extra $200k. oh the place is already leaking. Opening late Feb-early MAR. Don t fall into the gap at Time Sq shuttle station - 1940s vintage retractable gap fillers are not going to be replaced between 2010- 2014 under new capital plan -Newsday March 15 2007 NYC Comptroller found 76 of 201 subway fan plants not in good repair - "..repairs to tunnel fans that remove smoke in case of fire have been delayed 21 years to the year 2128." Subway rail yards and infrastructureare sorta crumbling as work is dragged on and delayed, while the MTA has gone ahead with Metro North and LIRR work that is making progress. 2-1-2007 "Women on crash diets fainting are a top cause of subway delay, MTA staffers say" -am New York JAN 2 2007 huh? even I don't believe that...but that's what some of those "sick passenger" [3rd leading cause] of delays are! NYC buses avg speed [all NYC or Manhattan?] avg 7.5 mph - slowest in country. AUG 2006- Lawsuit of 2004 by EPA to Transit Authority cost $165,000 in fines poor maintenance of AC units [stops leaks of and replace refrigerant] in ol "Redbird' cars which were removed from service between 1998 and 2003 anyway! ->OCT 15 2007 S. Goldsmith re NYC surveillance cameras- 69 with 1600 cameras and more subway stations phased in with identification [digicams networked to facial recognition software or such -and MTA share "data" with NYPD! This must be at station where you see a little domed cam for each turnstile! ->NO wonder you can't find a cop - they are all watching TV. 2006- digital BUS cameras to be installed in pilot program on 400 Manhattan busses AUG 2006 thru early 2007.- that is, more than one in each bus and each day of video will be archived centrally for 90 days! Program will be extended to all Manhattan busses then prob most or all others in NYC. Daily News 8-3-2006 says these Integrian, Inc. TransitCams can also be networked to send live feeds, and this will be considered after the pilot phase of program. OH but there won't be microphones.-Daily news 8-3] July 28 2006 Newsday "Trick to keep tracks dry may be a hazard" .. Firehazard! 'At subway stops along flood-prone Queens Boulevard lines, the MTA has placed plywood planks over sidewalk level ventilation grates." The Fire Dept is looking the other way and MTA sys they are only over a "small percentage" of the gratings. July 7 2006 Daily News says hot Wilburg-E Wilburg Etc areas caused so much growth in L subway line use they HAVE TO add older subway cars to new fleet of 2002-03 of 212 subway cars that was set up especially for that line - after modernized signals are adapted for regular ol NYC subway car type again....OF COURSE many THOUSANDS more apartment units are being encouraged by NYC as goodies to developers on ol waterfront industrial land in rezoning coup in addition to many hundreds coming in immediately.. April 17-18 2006 -Transit contract was finally approved by workers, but MTA say NO. They want ongoing arbitration to produce a new deal, The union was fined $2.5mil and check off payment of dues was stopped, R Toussaint received 10 days jail time.-got an escort to report to jail in a stunt walk across the Brooklyn Br with other union leaders, he got out after 5 days for good behaviour-F__ the average citizen.->and yes [prob Union-provided] Toussaint drives a Cadillac Escalade SUV. - - - - - - - - [NYPD] sting, entrapment OR panic inducement? Is this anytime for Police to leave unattended bags in stations? SO, JUST friggin call 911 - -mid-Feb 'Good Guy' Was Left Holding The Bag - NYPost 3-13-2006. Anthony Tirado claims when he picked up a bag [hmm if you see something don't keep it to yourself[?] SO he was arrested when he picked it up by a cluster f___ of undercover police while claiming he was going to take the blue backpack on a bench at 14st-7av to the "token booth" to turn in FEB 14 2006. How many years delay will there be before promised Station display showing time to next train are scheduled that was supposed on 'IRT' 1-6 o be installed at first from fall 2005m then 2007 now who knows! Figures released JAN 2006 show increase in 2005 of track fire by almost 20 percent over 2004 mm - performance artists fined [arrested?] by NYPD on subway en masse taking down pants and posing in boxer short--oh NAKED Cowboy, well in briefs, strumming guitar in middle of TIMES SQ has been OK! Roosevelt-74st subway sta rehab and bus term rebuild completed July 2005* Ongoing litagation in aftermath of strike and still contract dispute finds MTA using private lawyers at rates of $176 to $540hr despite having MTA and Transit Auth legal and labor dept staff of over 500. Daily News 5-30-2006 New transit contract ends JAN 15 2009. New contract was rejected by 7 votes! --may be binding arbitration. Oh yes, the strike. Please note that during an prior re reelection campaign in the 1990s, PATAKi made permanent and for all transit workers 55 year old/25 year svs retirement. 1994 goodie for workers was optional 55 year old retirement with optional pension contribution necessary. IN 2000 Pataki eliminated pension contributions after 10 years on job for all State workers and guaranteed annual cost of living increases for retirees. 2005 new contract is to have refund of these MTA worker contributions refunded, but workers are pissed that it is being counted as taxable but still likely a $100 million give back to post strike workers that is far more than estimated the $35Mil Taylor-law fine required. OH and maybe coming to a contract near me- new contract require 1.5% health insurance contribution. The basic plans [we have and they may have similar] like GHI and regular HIP require no extra deduction. CONTRACT RATIFICATION oh well we know that happened but strike threat rumbles from a few.. NOTE -MTA bus drivers in NEW "MTA Busses" made of workers from the 7 "nationalized" private bus companies have lower wages and pension benefits. The city[?] bought out for the MTA or whatever because it cost US the money. JUNE 2009-You must get up from "priority seat" designated for disabled etc. when they need it. It is rarely enforced but now transit is putting up warning notices noting $50 fine for first time. Diability includes mental, emphysema, other non-visible things. DEC 4 2005 harsher, revised subway conduct regulations take effect. harshest may be NO moving between subway cars at ANY time. And why not just a fine for spilling stuff instead of a total ban on open beverages? And will the cops be "fair" on enforcing no bags on seats when train is crowded rule? ->About 350 of the cars are in service but no more added when late FEB 2008 grease leaks from gearboxes- no more to be used until fix is done, maybe by late 2008 or early 2009 estimated. -[Finally, like the new 'IRT' cars, new one on lettered lines use wheels that feel ROUND!] ->Spring 2007 new subway cars to be added to N and Q, first. 660 new R160 to be in service by mid 2008. or so. Many C and R boxy clunkers are vintage 1964 [rehabbed more than once since.] by Alstom - Kawasaki __-2006 New R160 cars to start service! I hope F line gets them, but it may be the N and Q in late 2006 first. The contract for 600 cars was awarded OCT 2002. 11-17-05 THURs- ONLY! 250,000 40-day [at 30-day price $76] MetroCards to be on sale only thru NOV 29 and can be used ONLY between NOV 23-JAN 1 2006. Huh? What the hell kind of break is that by the MTA. Get it soon or FORGET it. CASH ONLY! at "token booths". July 2006- Report that when high gates started being installed where they were only means out, they were against State code and MTA went ahead while secretly trying to get a variance. 11-1-2005 DailyNews showed the prototype alarmed emergency exit door installed at Lawrence St N-R with 1,370 of these doors aimed to be installed by end of DEC2006.--so we won't be like the people in steerage in Titanic. the NEW ["finished" Sept 10] NYC transit Command Center comms failed - all contact with subway trains etc shut down SEPT 20 2005. Operations were restarted back at old facility at Jay Street which remained as back-up. MTA [and BART] ordered cease and desist to iPod transit map man- who made free mini subway maps available online www.ipodsubwaymaps.com for iPod display. Afterwards MTA offered a license for $500 year to him to continue to distribute the maps free.[-9-30-05 Newsday] After JAN 24 2005 relay room fire 80% services restored Feb 2 2005, Rockaway Pk Express restored Feb14. 1-9 "skip-stop" service ended mid MAY 2005 2-22-2004 Manhattan Bridge routes fully restored for 1st time since 1986 changes on W, N, B Q,and D Lex-53 AM rush hours transfer restrictions at 53-LEX ended OCT 20 2003-one new escalator completed, new elevator and mezzanine [due Spring 2004] opened Spring 2005 Bloomberg spearheaded an announced Apr2004 takeover and transfer to the MTA Bus CO. [huh, I NEVER heard that name before] in July 2004 of franchised private bus lines in stages. The buyout agreements were all late, with last one was finalised 11-30-05 for takeover for Command [12-5], Green [1-9-06], Jamaica [1-30] and Triborough 1-20-2006]. [49-year] leases of bus depots of all lines bought out cost $1.1BIL[!] in addition to NYC expense of $51.7Mil for all the other assets of the bus companies. OCT 2005 one hundred busses including 30 new are still stored unused -it is against the law to let the private companies use them- awaiting finalization of MTA takeover agreements. The unanswered QUESTION - what does this all do for the RIDERS and the taxpayers? And NYC Transit is **MTA**- a NYState Authority - I DO NOT understand the role of NYC in these deals and payments.* Contracts will be awarded install fire and intrusion alarms at signal rooms. such as one that burned JAN 2005 and temp nearly crippled [IND] A-C and forced changes in interconnected lines. OLD existing alarms where present, will be replaced. -Donohue, Daily News 1-20-2006 "TA spends 4mil on security & file alarms" SEPT 2007->agreement for first subway station cell service for 23-8Av plus 14st 6, 7, 8 Av lines and the L stations connected beneath with Transit Wireless consortium of 4 companies 2 year pilot program. Afterwards, $46.8mil guaranteed + 50% share of any profit over $148mil in the life of the 10-year agreement with MTA, they will start wiring the stations over a 4-years period -not the tunnels-. 4 bids received to wire the 277 underground subway stations for cell service -Summer 2006 no action by MTA on any proposals. In JAN 2005, 4 bids were received to wire the 277 underground subway stations for cell service [not the tunnels]-Summer 2006 no action by MTA on any proposals- AUG 8 2007 floods and near shut down of WHOLE system helped force their hand to do something.. BEWARE of broken handicapped gate entry gates. Though some card readers dont work and the gates may even be unlocked. undercover cops love to stake them out and issue tickets to stroller moms and even handicapped entering, technically without paying. SEE "token booth" agent for entry clearance in any Metrocard entry problem. Ray Sanchez - "Transit Funds off the Radar" Newsday 9-15-05, says the our lovely occasional subway -riding Mayors Bloombergs' reps on MTA voted FOR-> fare increases 2003, the cuts in services like elevator operators and station ["token"] booth closings. Also that there is no transportation advisor and what I think is WORST - his part in enabling planned taxpayer give away sales of MTA properties for W SIDE Stadium. MTA says real estate tax revenues brought in $733MIL of the $1Bil "surplus" in 2005 to the MTA from the NYC property transfer tax and the mortgage recording tax [+ 1/8 of a cent from sales tax]- YET $350Mil of this money is needed for PENSION obligations and both MTA capital and MTA maint prog are underfunded in PATAKI's budget by several $billion. MTA appealed [futile]! lower court ruling late-May to roll-back the 2003 increases. NY State Appelate judge ruled July 15 2003 that MTA had legal right to raise tolls and fares. 9-29-05 BLOOMBERG says NYPD should be lead over all other local POLICE in any transit emergency incl over Port Auth police etc. BUT is the GOVERNOR is in charge of the MTA - I still want to know- -[but not that I want to see State or MTA police on the subway, I don't mean to "cut of my nose to spite my face" - State run, state property? right] Under what authority does the NYPD enforce law in the SUBWAY? THE MTA DOES have its own [1,500] POLICE too - THEY patrol the LIRR even in NYC adn are at Grand Cent/Penn Sta, some road and commuter rail facilities The TBTA [Triborough Br & Tunnel Auth], Port Auth [under auth of 2 Governors NY AND NJ!-, US Post Office, AMTRAK, US Customs, and others ALL have their own uniformed law enforcement on their "turf too. BURN baby, Burn! Unattended "sealed" off stations are a danger! [-->Update see top of scroll 11-1-2005 proto emerg exit door installed] One type of subway car has end doors that are locked [as most are] and that DO NOT open when power goes off - cars used on some E F G and R, while full-width conductor compartments in 2, 4, 5, 6 and L prevent evacuations. May 2005-FAMILY suing NYC for $10mil over FEB shooting death->COPS have no METROCARD and so NO ACCESS to station! After 12 min cops and paramedics had to use riders Metrocards to get into 18st-7av subway to help a shooting victim who died. Weekend access to unmanned station [downtown side only] is only via full height iron-maiden" type gate. BEWARE this is coming to more and more stations and is now clearly shown to an unacceptable danger. ->NOT to mention what a criminal could do to trap you in the big gates or stop you from getting out in an emergency! In ALL PATH stations in Manhattan and NJ there are just regular height turnstiles, NEVER attendants and Port Authority police use cameras at each station keep fare jumpers to low number! 2009 Sept 25 announced in a break from practice BECAUSE it got so BAD. $657mil will be spent on repairs and at 36 of the worst station - all in BK, Qns, plus Grand St F in Manh! ->Sadler/Namako, NYPost 9-25-2009 OFFICIAL policy is to let stations decay until major/Capital improvments are budgets and approved thru NY State pols. NOV 3 2005 Daily News published list of 10 worst subway stations in their survey which included riders, Straphangers Campaign advocacy group and NYC Transit Riders Council. There may be some relief for a few ONLY of the stations that are due for rehab or reconstruction ->[and this list omit other disgraceful stations] 1. 205st Bronx D train end of line 2. 182-183st B/D Bronx [under Grand Concourse] 3. 3av-138st Bronx 6 4. Bowery J/M/Z [under Delancey St]. Out of sight for most, so best out of mind. 5. Brook Ave no. 6 Bronx 6. Fulton St- Broadway Nassau complex A C 2 3 J M 4 5 [my station near the office] 3 station connected will be partially rebuilt a part of Fulton St transit ctr A hugely busy gateway to NYC so it is a great shame that it ummm is so bad. 7. 21st Long Island City Queens G. Also out of sight for most and best out of mind. 8. Mosholu Parkway 4 BRONX. Ah, an elevated station in decay."..scheduled for an overhaul" 9. Bay Parkway N, Bensonhurst. 10.Smith-9th - F/G highest elevated station in NYC is decayed. Pray the escalator works but you still have stairs to navigate. -->add 21st on G line runs under foul Newtown Creek leaks into it and suspicions are leaks w toxic materials are contaminating the stinky station. === MTA Board perks->former 8-yr MTA board member Alan Friedberg refused to return his parking placard after he left MTA in 2002, was caught illegally parked Jan 4 near Times Sq. so turned it in Jan 7 2009 ->DailyNews 1-9-2009 "Wheely, whelly dumb" N Y Knucklehead Award. Friedberg is now on NYC Economic Development Corp. [license NYC25 -Jaguar] -> 20% of the lifetime passes were not returned and the MTA is gonna deactivate. in mid SEPT 2008.[or by OCT?] amounted to 140 various passes. -->JUN 17 2008-imperious David Mack, a Vice Chair of MTA, of the MACKS/ Mack Cali developers, huffed and puffed how dare MTA say give up the E Z Pass - he reports stuff that needs to be done while he is driving because complaints by the public are tossed in the trash, that he could not ride any transit if he could not do it free -[rides railroad less than once a month] a Pataki appointee to the board in 1993..why he said al the fuss in the press of the passes is just to stir up the "common people"!' -->some employees are getting to keep passes after retirement. TOKENS of APPRECIATION, or are the dead also required to pay full fare? -->"Mike crony on E-Z Street"- bit I have not used those passes, he says. Donohue, Daily News 5-6-2008-Marc Shaw MTA Exec Director 1996-2001 and NYC Dep Mayor of Operations 2002-2006, then on Commission planning for the Congestion Pricing, got his free E-Z Pass, rare MTA park almost anywhere placard. NOW, he is exec with big developer - EXTELL!->THAT is the story... MTA Exec Director Katherine Lapp given $42,500 RAISE earlier in 2004. 58 present/past MTA board members (and spouses) given free transit LIRR/Metrocard and LIRR passes for LIFE - otherwise, they serve "uncompensated" by law. Free Metrocards and as many tags as they have cars!-free transit for life! Transit watchdogs?/ advocates get some too, the LIRR rider advocate, Pres/ or heads of Transit Riders Council [what is that?] and MetroNorth Commuter Council have lifetime E-Z Passes! [-See Daily News 5-27-2008 'On E-Z Street'] As MTA made motions towards revoking some and restricting tags to business use, including the passes still registered to DEAD members[?], it was further disclosed a number of their wives, and even some girlfriends got some various MTA rail passes. [see Daily News 5-20-2008] "The MTA [has] 444 employees work[ing] in public relations, 698 in human resources, 359 in budgeting..It has a staff of 445 in the legal department, and spends another $10 million every year on outside legal consultants." -Gifford Miller City Council Speaker decrying the bloated MTA. MTA says he doesn't get what it takes to provide support staff for movers of 8 million people a day and its $8Bil budget.[NYPost 5-13-05] -and there are NO fire alarms at subway station. SO YES the MTA plans to spend big big bucks on fibre optic PA and display system that will take many years to install if at all - BUT we are in EMERGENCY need to add comms to 131 stations that DONT HAVE THEM..there is NO THOUGHT of spending the couple of thousand whatever, it would take to install a line from a token booth in ea station to the platforms. F__ THE MTA again! New capital [2005-09] plan funds public address systems at 60 of 131 without them still, such as my home station, CARROLL [F], maybe PA systems will take till 2014 to install subway-wide -THEIR spokesman - despite $200+Mil cam and sensor network security system recently announced. 9-21-05, plans call for message display systems with speakers to be added in 201 stations by 2009. AND we wonder about all those night time-weekend service changes. Projected time to bring subway support systems to "state of good repair" Pump rooms 2008, Power substations 2015, Line structures 2014, Yard signals 2018, Tunnel lighting 2022, fan plants 2018, Stations 2024, and Signals 2027. -NYPost 1-30-2005 from MTA Capital Plan 2005-2009. Automated, though attended, L line function turned ON FEB 24 2009. AUG 30 2005 Arbitrator ordered halt to one-person train operation as a violation of labor agreements OOPs the compromise reached was motorman has to press "the button" every 20 seconds to keep it going! L line automation project started Dec 1999 supposed to be done DEC 2004. Dec 2005 now that MTA controls the express busses there is NO service during the strike. Great deal, put all the city's public transit assets in the hands of the MTA! July 1 2004 oops no, in PHASES from early 2005 thru JAN 2006-NYC to finalise take over operations of 7 private bus cos. providing svc. in Queens and Bklyn and replace the bus fleets at cost of $322Mil. Subsidies given to old no-bid private companies for the Express bus services reached almost $200Mil for 82 routes serving 41,000 riders mostly from parts of Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens especially. Most of these services are from areas at edges of NYC with poor transit connections are considered lifelines to many residents who would not take long combined subway -bus trips in many cases for regular commute or to go out nights-weekends to Manhattan otherwise. The cause or crusade driving the takeovers? "I believe that the MTA, which is charged with the responsibility of providing affordable mass transportation for the people of our metropolitan area, has the requisite economies of scale and transportation expertise to provide the highest quality of service for the riding public. The transfer of these routes to the MTA brings us one step closer to achieving one unified and streamlined bus system. "Mayor Bloomberg mar 29 2005 as NY Bus Service [Bx] operating Auth extended into Sept 2005 during an extended transition to complete takeover by MTA because some of the NY Bus Svc facilities provide school bus service. Earliest completion date for Second Ave subway -[the "T" line"] 2020+, cost nearing $20 billion - DON'T count on that. Even the start date for first segment isn't set yet WASh DC has to give sorta promised funds to add to Transport bond [approval NOV 8 2006] funding only $450Mil toward $3.8Bil for first segment 63st-96st [3 stations] that will connect to 63st-Lex [F] tunnel and let Q travel uptown. MTA chairman Kalikow expects this segment to be complete in 2012. SO when can we ever expect the whole thing to be done?? Second Av subway is being designed NOT to have those damn street corner blocking stairs, but with entrances inside the bottom of various bldgs. SO, of course NO ONE wants their bldg, business etc to be affected or displaced. Slowest NYC bus line accord to NY Straphangers Campaign [-NYPost 11-13-03] is 23st crosstown 3.4 mph during afternoon rush..that is when it isn't stuck in traffic. Only 2 of the top 10 slowest were not in Manhattan. Fare hikes for MID FEB 2005 approved by MTA in mid DEC 2004. CT train fares metro north increase 5.5% JAN 1 2004 though. 164 token booths closings plus other service cuts too! Earlier 2001 plan to close booths advanced AUG 17 2003 5 subway token booth closings. 62 part time booths were planned to be closed by late 2003, more full height turnstiles to be installed. Gov blocked attempt to delay the closings more. On top of 2003 cuts, fare increased APRIL 4 2003. Weekday ridership went down in 2003 by 2.3% Tokens not being sold or used on subway. [Token + 50c ok on busses thru Dec 31 2003 and on Roosevelt Island tram. into Feb 2004. Then NO MORE tokens accepted PERIOD. 2004 budget approved Dec 18 2003 cuts 486 incl. cleaners, maintenance positions and elevator operators to save $88 mil. JULY 2005 "Setbacks Plaque a City Contract for 660 Replacement Subway Care" -Metro, NYTimes 7-27-2005 for new R160 cars for BMT, IND lines. Poor quality work has been turned out at the assembly plant being used in Brazil. SO THATs why I am riding in all the same crappy ol cars when they have new ones on the 6, 1, 2,3, etc. The $1.1Bil contract with French Co. ALSTOM from 2002. Test train is late, deliv of cars will prob very late too. Kawasaki is to build 260 of 660 ordered. AUGUST 2002 the last of the Bombardier [IRT lines] new subway cars are expected to be delivered-a year and three months late. These cars are also performing below spec and need maint early. Fixes are being worked on, but the other new KAWASAKI subway cars so far are doing fine. Kawasaki and a French maker are bidding on next subway car order. ->and what of emptier and emptier [now 7 of 13 floors] at MTA[ was NYCTA] bldg at JAY ST Brooklyn, awaiting more emptying before $150+ in renovations start?? Why the wait since the late 1990s? THEY are not can not or will not lease or sell it. This is a city-owned bldg yet NYC leases MILLIONS of sq ft of space and HOW DARE NYC keep this vacant while floating cost of bldgs by leasing space from landlords from all over NYC! "Renovations of the MTA's [2 Broadway] new headquarters is $100 million over budget - but that didn't stop a top construction official on the project from taking a Concorde to Europe to shop for marble." NY POST 9-28-2000. MTA prob. moving NYCTA HQ from Jay St. in Brooklyn to 2 Broadway.-2002 still has not happened. - - - - - LONG ISLAND R R- double deck cars running on 3 branches - 2000. 1,100 riders surveyed give overall rating to LIRR system of C+ study released Oct. 23. NEW M-7 cars start to be put in svc. OCT 30 2002. - - - - - Metro-North Jan 2004 Winter takes a heavy toll on cars putting 40% or so out of service. Not enough money to replace all the cars either. APRIL 6 2001- Seats installed at bus shelters in NYC for the first time! 75 [of how many hundreds of shelters? ] benches with dividers will be installed by the end of the summer. Some community opposition exists, as there are *some* basis in fact that homeless may make themselves too comfortable, as this is also one reason there is resistance to public toilets too. JAN 2005-The switching system on the subways are mostly the original using 19th cent. technology. Oh yeah suspicious fire JAN 23 2005 at Chambers St relay room cut out C service -slowed A, and forced major rerouting and schedule changes for nine days before TEMPORARY rig up using old parts found enabled service to be partially normalised then completely restored Spring 2005. BUT NO REPAIRS have been started as of JAN 2006 of damaged equipment while a bigger upgrade to include the other such old equipment at the station before and after is being worked out! The system is vulnerable --the "works" are not well protecting and they are making such a friggin' fuss over rules to ban pics! 1999 fire Bergen St [F,G] caused weeks of rerouting and actual restoration of equipment still ongoing in 2005! Complete modernization to be at some unspecified future date..may in 22 century! but the first automated line will be the 'L' which has its own separate right of way coming by 2004 or so...$135 million est. cost. 2nd line to be automated [but with crew to observe] is to be the no. line-NY POST -"TA set to boot up computer trains"- May 20 2001 Little relief as antiquated signal system does not permit closer spacing of trains Longer trains also ruled out. MAY 15 97: all subway stations and NYCTA busses take Metrocard. JAN. 98: 10% discount is given on Metrocard purchases of $15. and over. JULY 98 -7 day/ 30 day passes available. 2003-4 vandalism taking toll on Metrocard machines putting so many temp out of services in 'bad areas' ya know what I mean these guys jam machines and stay nearby and sell rides on their own selection of "unlimited" cards. Crime only counts as a misdemeanor. Sometimes they just get jammed anyway with old bills or slugs. Fare evasion arrest 15,337 in 2004 increase of 10% over 2003. TA says $16mil lost in a year to fare evasion. Card bending in particular continues. 2000-> articulated busses introduced in Manhattan on some crosstown routes. DEC 2006 MTA says majority of subway heavy graffiti is is done by young "EURO TRASH" who tag and brag with the pictures of it they take! -Daily News 12-11-2006 Euros or not, the graffiti greatly increased in the last several years- NOV 2004 anti-graffiti "Citywide Vandals Task Force" formed combined NYPD and Transit Police [?] NYTimes says 8-5-05, huh I thought there is no separate Transit Police they must mean a subway UNIT. spring and fall 2000-> glass scratching affects ALL subway cars and many bus shelters is EXTREMELY WORSE by fall 2006 as acids are used sometimes mixed Acid or armor etch-all is sometimes mixed with paint etc making broad paint- like strokes. Windows are not replaced unless they are completely blocked or have obscenities. Paint graffiti is kept under control generally. ----------------------------------------------------------------- area RAIL- 2009: MTA LIRR budget cuts: 20 at least of 50 stations ticket offices will be closed for machines only.. JAN-FEB long delays LIRR so f__ up that some passenger walk off stranded trains - no info was forthcoming in the mindless announcements when- FEB 2 service disruption DEC 2006-looks like drinking on MTA suburban trains will start to be curbed. first proposal by an MTA board member is to eliminate MTA PENN STA, Flatbush, Jamaica platform bar carts weekday rush hour..you can bring on your own stuff. [MTA] Long Island Rail Road paid 533 claims [40% of those filed] and Metro North paid on 452 of 475 claims - $102,009.17 in last 4 years - for ripped clothes - due to new skinny, sticky arm rest that rips them on new M7 cars. NYTimes 12-6-2006 NJ Transit at Penn Sta new entrance at 31st off 7Av into the new NJ Transit councourse of a couple of years ago will start in JAN 2007 and be ready Spring 2008 Since 1989 alone at "heavily" curved SYOSSET Station, 39 people fell into the wide -up to 18"- gap - Newsday 1-22-200 -->NEWSDAY 1-19-2007 ok reasons for the gap date to 1830s original construction of the LIRR-+ 1910 Penn Station construction - lead to 1. Car size limitations [even MetroNorth does not have] + tracks are used for wider freight cars. 2-Land donated 150 years ago to LIRR by towns and villages sometimes lead to station with curved tracks 3-Vertical gaps [usual wheel wear] adds to problem. -->And into OCT 2006, the lawsuits are coming in fast-Ad hoc corrections such as edge boards being put in place NOV. 2006 In a few places they moved the tracks! NTSB Fed investigators "hiding" field gap survey results for now until they are ready. Fall into the Gap, indeed! AUG 5 2005 a woman did and died under a train, highlighted long-term problem of gaps at LIRR stations between low height and even same height platforms and train car s of 6 to 15 inches that over the years have NOT been fixed! Summer 2008 oh so the NJ Senators got $75mil towards the project..so what - will FEDS put in $2.5 to $3billion for it IF NJ comes up with about a $7billion financing plan by OCT 2008??? July 27 2006 $1bil various Port Auth funding plus $500mil from plus expected $1bil more from Port Auth end of 2006 2nd commuter rail tunnel to new under 34 st station expected to pave way for Fed funding needed to $7.2bil project that could start as early as 2009 to be done as "early" as 2016. Weekend NYC Penn to Atlantic City expected to start "late 2007" approved [JUN 19 2006] by NJ Transit sponsored by 3 of the casinos in a "Casino Reinvestment Development Authority" which will buy new trains cars and lease an engine[s] from Amtrak. www.aces-train.com/ MAY 2006 Amer Society of Civil Engineers gave LIRR Project of the Year award for its newly completed renovation of the Jamaica Station. City Comptroller audit of $73.8mil NYC and gave to MTA April 2004-Mar 2006 and site surveys too, for station maint shows it is going down a black hole with dirty hazardous conditions at all [well two of 26 stations did NOT have problems-Hunter Point and LIC] LIRR stations in NYC, and there is deterioration of late 1990s rehabbed Grand Central Station! -NY Post 5-9-2006 and Daily News 5-10-2006 -->May 5-6 and Suozzi says there should be a special charge to drivers on the LI Expressway during rush hour so that would be an incentive for them to use rail - see below.[don't vote for this d__ for Governor!]-> April-May 2006 NYState "gave" MTA $202mil 1st phase of a 11.2 mile third track to LIRR [main line I think] Need for the economy stupid, by State Senators and some local pols, Weld, and Suozzi candidates for governor say NO or put off a decision. They are whining NIMBY-you do not need to be able to travel to work! We do not have any studies of how this would affect the neighbors! We do not want this to take away any open space! F___ them all, eventually privatise or change the bloated State Authorities and f__ the average citizen that always re elects these dildos. APRIL 28- report APRIL 24 Iron Mountain Inc, vendor who moves data back ups of personnel records for Long Is railroad, lost the tape[e] of ALL past-present employees. April 26 2006 "Discarded Rail Link for Airport May Help Build Stadium Station" -who knew there was $40 million left [!] from $645MILLION set aside for construction of N-line extension to LGA ? Did this pet project of Giuliani which was "abandoned" [NOTHING was built!] cost over $600MILLION!! What the _!
Bikes, Pedicab, TAXi: Bike rider lawlessness surveyed: as best they could by Hunter College students and professor APRIL 2009 5,275 riders observed at 45 midtown intersections showed 37% did not stop at red lights and 8.3% used 'electronic devices' amongst many infractions. -Fenton/ Namako, NYpost 5-20-2009 It's fun! "..the guys who run the red lights are skillful enough to do it safely." said 37 y.o. Piotr Redlinski Rally JULY 27 2008 on QNS Blvd. NO bike lanes in site for blvd of death- mother of son killed on bike in Feb joined Councilman Gennaro at the protest. LIKE the renovated parks in NYC, are bike lanes mostly put in near where developer$ are actively building and so grea$ing the pols? 2008 under CEMUSA contract, first of 37 new bicycle 'shelters' were installed. -OCT 2007- 9Av 23st down to 16st wide seperated bike lane opened at [left] side of the avenue. - Think CITY and Mayor supports alternative transport? A "greener" NY? He speaks w forked tongue coated with B.S. read further- amNewYork 10-9-2007 letters-> "Last Friday I was pulled over by a police officer at the corner of 18th street and Broadway, I was pulled over on my bicycle by one of 15 police officer on scooters, who had parked on the side of the street and set up what can only be described as a "bike trap." My offense - "riding outside of the bike lane when provided." In the 20 minutes I was waiting for my ticket to be written, the police pulled over four or five other bikers- no cars or jaywalkers. When I left the scene, I saw a large group of bikers, stopped, only to soon find that the monthly ride of Time's Up Environment Organization was about to begin..."'Bike lanes should not be provided in order to trap and punish bikers for no using them." NOV 2007 past of Williamsburg KENT Av BOTH sides of street NO parking, painted-in bike lane on BOTH sides! Too f__ much for local hasidic who afraid for their kids being dropped on the street from school busses having to stop, bike lanes or NOT, DEC put up their own "detour" sign asking motorists to use Wythe during rush hours. JULY 2007 Williamsburg a first! 3 parking spots taken out next to subway Bedford Av L and sidewalk widened for a bike rack area Among latest NYPD bicycle seizures of those locked to poles, fences etc most seizures based on law about abandoned property on street ->NOTE NYPD Bicycle Safety Pamphlet ADVISES riders to lock their bikes to poles fences etc.! HA HA HA-NYC speaks w forked tongue as usual! MAY 30-31 e6st, e10st E Village + cops 2 arrests after took pics of cops taking them. Among worst anti bike offenders is NYC itself for its own employees who dare to try to ride to work..in its leased and owned spaces, bikes are usually strictly forbidden. JUNE 28 11 bikes seized outside BEDFORD Av subway., JULY 10 2007 by Parks Dept offices Continental Av and Corona Plz those locked to tree railings. IT IS almost FUNNY- these are young-ish mostly NEW NYers -the kind Bloomy loves to PACK into these newly or increasingly hip neighborhoods from E Village to Williamsburg etc., are mostly self -indulgent self -righteous middle class GORE-heads and THEY are getting f___ over by the city - almost a good thing. MANY are forced to pay $50 fines to get them back! [NJ] JUNE 2007 - NJ assembly on way to passing BAN on sale of bicycles with quick release wheels as they say they are accident-prone. AT the hands of CHRIS QUINN! Law takes effect SEPT 20 2007, 40% of existing ones will be outlawed because of limit of 325..NYC Agency now awarding licenses..will surely create a favored pedicab King by hassling independent and smaller fleet owners! MAR 14 2007 Mayor did NOT sign new pedicab regulation bill. Council over rode it. the industry wanted "regulation, not strangulation" SEPT 2006- Bicycle lane expansion proposed for streets, Mandatory helmet law is probably coming up too. Most dangerous areas? Park Slope 4av-St. Marks Pl. and Upper E Side in Manh and Hunts Pt areas in general. CITYRACKS www.nyc.gov/dot, 40 Worth Street - Room 1035, New York, NY 10013 CITYRACKS call (212) 442-7687, Fax # (212) 442-7823 The siting criteria for CITYRACKS are as follows: City-owned property; Wide concrete sidewalks (minimum sidewalk width 12 feet); Removed from the natural flow of pedestrians, usually at the curb and always away from crosswalks; Usually a minimum of 6 feet from other street furniture (e.g., street signs, mailboxes, benches, telephones) Greater distances from certain features (e.g., up to 13 feet from fire hydrants, and 15 feet from bus stop shelters and newsstands) CityRacks can NOT be installed on pavers, cobblestone, brick, stone/slate slabs, custom/patterned concrete or metal grating After a CITYRACKS request is received and evaluated, those sites deemed suitable for inspection will be given an on-site evaluation. If the location is approved, it will be added to the contractor's next order for manufacturing and installation. After installation, the CITYRACKS remain the property of the City of New York. The City assumes responsibility for the rack but not the bicycles parked at it. =========== TAXi: *FOLLOW the money! Who of TLC and company making the stuff is most connected to city pols? GPS It shows PASSENGERS LOTS of COMMERCIALs! and where cab is. Drivers who have it or seen it hate the new device over the cost and quirks carry out 48hr strike SEPT 5-6 2007. All cabs were at first required to have credit card readers by NOV 2005 -only 3,000 had them by end of 2006. The first group of cabbies with them were found by FOX 5 [local] news 9-27-04 NYC that they DO NOT WANT YOU to use a credit card even with their machines installed and they are generally lying saying the machine is broken, or else that the minimum charge is $10 no matter what the fare is. *Intl Auto Show NYC APR 2007- Design Trust for Public Spaces organised an exhibit of 8 TAXi concept cars. Why bother? The "system" makes it impossible to use innovative, let alone good choices for TAXIs- one simple design may get on the streets in 2008.* Complaints to NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission in FY 2005: 17,350. NYC taxi system sucks big time-its like a legal black market for restricted no of medallions [taxi permits] that got frozen due to "oversupply" at existing 37,595 in 1937. There are next to no owner -drivers. The drivers rent their cabs and have to make enough to cover their costs, not so easy with record gas prices and fines and tickets etc. Drivers only incentive is to drive the cabs fast and hard and put service and comfort last. To add $$$ to NYC budget, 116 NEW [!] medallions were auctioned 10-8-04 at an average price of $339,195.78- highest one at $360,000. Medallion prices continued to escalate past $400,000 -oops MAY 2007 $600,000. My grandfather was an old time NYC cabbie and he wouldn't recognize it all now. Anyway, these cabbies are pretty much fresh off the "boat" and many are very ready to take advantage of you, minimally by taking the longer or slower way. *MAY 2007 Bidding rules to change somewhat in face of minor scandale that taxi brokers helped bidders prep bids and skirt rules against collusion but mostly it gave brokers [-so the larger owners] inside track to making higher, wining bids...* Dec 2006 fare increase rate doubled for non-moving wait time to 40c minute.
Bridges Tunnels and Roads: Fed Transportation Bill 2005 courtesy of Congress and eagerly signed by the Bush - NY State is NO 4 in funding of highway bill pork- $990Mil for 494 State special projects which are nice BUT include many bicycle paths and sidewalk and street enhancements. *KOSCIUSKO fiasco-> This and TAPPAN ZEE [see further down] are becoming dangerous-> 2009Mar11 Fed Hiway Admin gave a final OK. Design can proceed..construction starts mid2013 tthru 2019, $1.7bil cost for now. 2008 NOV 12 ->and 'Dan Keefe of New York Historic Preservation Office say preliminary studies show the area could hold buried artifacts, NY has notified feds that some "ancestral land" of Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican [now in Wisconsin] and Delaware Nation [now in Oklahoma]-AP..so here we go...let's see $630 mil bridge go to $2billion or so! ->2008 JULY but the FEDS gotta do a review, mandated now for bridges that are $500mil or more..limit was lowered from $1bil in 2005. This is at least 2 month more delay. ->2008 MARCH-Preservation office dropped objections. This is a 6 month delay. ->early 2008 wacko preservationist hold up 1939 KOSCIUSKO bridge replacement that was about to go into final approvals and planning NOV 2007. Flagged with many more problems than average, poorly designed for driving over, ugly-ish bridge needs replacement. The FEDS were about to approve it but the State is now behind by 6 months because NY State Historic Preservation Office hold up State DOT from proceeding just because of interesting example of 'Warren truss'. these s__heads do not care that it is a bad bridge to drive over.. this time good riddance, exist KOSCIUSKO is better a memory. The Hist pres office waited til the last minute to sabotage the project! Goethals Br 1928 4 narrow lane no shoulder cantilever bridge SI to NJ needs replacing -AUG 14 2008 Port Authority showed rendering of cable stayed bridge only partly funded, it even is expected to take to 2010 - just for Fed/Coast Guard approval...so can anyone expect a new bridge by 2015? Ah, a hundred years ago NYC built the last 3 of the East River bridges in a few years - about at the same time! Bayonne Bridge barrier to shipping if not raised or changed to tunnel will increasingly hurt Port Newark and Elizabeth- biggest container ship so far cannot come, slightly less biggest ships have to wait for low tide. Will Port Auth do anything or just study the issue to death? S I Advance 6-25-08 "When 151 feet isn't enough" ->NYState Dept of Transportation Commish Astrid Glynn will be on holiday in BORNEO from MAR 17- APRIL 4 2009. "..when spending decisions are being made has made road and bridge contractors "frustrated and nervous" one industry source said.." but this woman's spokesperson said its no problem -"..we can call or fax her..." -Daily News 3-13-2009. Tappan Zee rebuilding or replacement bridge- unfunded, design not finalised project is behind, bogged down in the bureaucracies and no fnded/ $100Mil in repairs was expected in 2006 to keep Tappan Zee br open safely. It was built for only a 50-year life, the $85Mil 1955 bridge should not have to be used anymore. Started in Korean war, steel and such was expensive so they used wood pilings UNTREATED! under approaches; there could also be new to area in last few years ship borer umm worms. Too bad it will takes hundreds of millions to keep it open for the duration and $9 to $14.5bil estimate of new one and cost of rehab is up to $2Bil. . "From 156 Options, Down to 15 Ways to Go on Tappan Zee" NYTimes, Metro 7-24-03 and the least seems to be $1 billion to rehab the 48 year old 3 mile long cantilever and trestle bridge, other options incl tunnels, bridges at different sites were presented. -$11.5 mil study of the options, no money avail for any work and there's only a few more years left to the bridge's designed life. MANHATTAN Br closures 1986 thru FEB 2004 as it is stiffened to slow the twisting from eccentric forces of subway trains that use OUTER section of lower deck. It was repainted, too, NYC Dept of Transportation Commissioner says lower deck starting OCT and will be completely closed from NOV ___ thru ?, for "critical reconstruction" oh just in time for the holidays. Apple bridge blight 77% rated poor- NYPost 4-3-2005 on the 1,431 bridges in NYC "TRIP, a Washington-based transportation group, gave New York City a grade of "D" for their lack of upkeep in a January report." New York Univ said $13.7bil would be required for repairs but spending is going to be less than a third of that. The Federal Highway Auth listed 182 bridges as structurally deficient. BROOKLYN BR last paint job finished in 1991, needs it badly now. Funding is being secured for a bridge fix up to include an $85mil paint job. -NYSun 8-29-2006. NYC is NOT one of those placed where the huge paint job is an ongoing process of full-time painters that get to one end and then its time to start again.[like Golden Gate and I THINK- GW Bridge] But the city has had this paint job "in design" since 2002 and is not expected to start UNTIL 2009-so it WILL cost MORE! ++++++++++++++++++++++ ROAD WORK ->NJ roads worst in US..NY State was 3rd worse, after NJ and Alaska...RI 4th and Hawaii 5th worst concerning traffic, maintenance, fatalities, costs 1984-2005, results of study by UNC Charlotte and finance by Reason Foundation of LA..oh but the study overall said ND and SC ranked on top overall. POST 6-29-2007 and MA roads overall were safest. ->letter of the day: [Newsweek 8-20-2009] "If you drive inthe left lane [of newly repaved Southern State Parkway] every sewer has a dip. I just came back from a cross-country trip and never once experienced this on any roads outside of New york State." A. Reed, Wantagh 2004 NYS road conditions. NYC region worst in NY - 97.8 percent roads considered in less than good condition. BEST is "Region 1" Schenectady which I think includes Albany - still is not so good because majority 58.1 percent in less than good condition.- Tri-State Transportation Committee report based on federal data. * WORST ROAD IN AMERICA ->The Cross Bronx Expressway, poll in OVERDRIVE MAGAZINE (for Truckers) in 1991, 1992, does anyone know about the most current poll? * maybe not too far down the list - Long Island Expressway - beware-one rest stop ONLY on its whole length- parking only, no facilities - E of Exit 51 New York roads ranked 46 worst of 50 States overall, 41% of bridges rated deficient, 48 out of 50 on administrative cost to run road - 1998 UNC at Charlotte study quoted in NY POST 4-29-98, but also NY was 9 best in fatalities per vehicle mile and 26 of 50 (average!) in traffic congestion. "Tunnel under Grand Concourse still has leak problems after renovaton" Egbert, Daily New [Bx Borough ed] AUG 25 2009 After $32mil NYC reconstruction completed JAN 2009 of 161st tunnel. JAN 18-24 2007 QUEENS COURIER -Trucks are Coming "By the year 2020, truck traffic in Queens will increase by 83 percent, according to a report released by Congressman Anthony Wiener...Wiener proposed a four-point plan to alleviate truck congestion which has already increased nearly 30 percent on City roads since 1998, in conjunction with the report." NJ 2005- Garden State Turnpike UNION toll plaza booth removed southbound, Essex toll booths removed northbound. Southbound Bergen toll booths due to be removed late May 2006. Tolls do not decrease. It costs twice as much in the other direction. -> diplomats still owe over $18mil in unpaid tickets- NYDaily News 1-16-2007 even though Mayor had made it sound like progress was made...no 1 is EGYPT $1.9mil, then KUWAIT, then NIGERIA, INDONESIA + various amounts owed from mostly before a 2002 deal with the city to have some parking in exchange for paying up [some[ of the fines. Never say "Quota" --> MAY 24 2006 FOX 5 [TV] news- Five traffic agents [identity blocked out] blow the lid off the actual quotas, 27 day on foot or 40 in car. OR else! It is so much pressure it accounts for many false tickets, many which are false in that they have phony info written in. TOO many of these though and any cop or traffic agent is disciplined. NYPD just says it is a legitimate measurement of productivity! FEB 1 2006- FY 2007 budget proposal so many fees added for city service. ALSO MAYOR expects 412,000 more parking tickets - oh but it because they are to hire over 100 new traffic enforcement agents. say "expectations" traffic enforcement agents up about 300 in 2004. $500+Mil counted on from PARKING tickets alone. 2004-5 ticket blitz annoying even City Council members. AUG 2 2005 announced .."$71 million in Federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) funding to improve air quality, traffic congestion and safety across the City" over the next four years More like fritter away on feel- good projects such as $5 mil studying traffic trouble spots, $21mil on some bike lane [another BS program as implemented ON regular NYC streets] plus encouraging bike use and a "Walk to School Program". Of all $71mil the only solid use of the money is $14mil to +electronically connect more streets-roads to NYC Traffic management Center and maybe alternative fuel programs -[does it mean they actually will get the vehicles?] JULY 2003 Truck routes in NYC last revised in 1978. After a controversial attempt a few years ago, NYC DOT study and public hearings to address increasing residents complaints of heavy truck traffic even on streets where they're not supposed to be..whole process finally can't be comleted without Police Dept say on the matter. Housewives in posh NY suburbs in a tizzy over maids who will lose drivers licenses. NY State is now enforcing 1995 law [aimed at 'dead beat' dads] to give and for NYState verify Soc Sec # dealing with state. NY found tens of thousands phony sec sec # in checking DMV records..mostly illegal aliens making up a number when applying for a drivers license.

SUB - Way

Renovation of relocated LEASED [not OWNED] HQ of the MTA at 2 Broadway ballooned in cost from $135 mil to $430 million- MTA still leases but left 370 Jay St [BK] 1950 NYC owned [was Transit Auth] mostly emptied out in 2001 and deteriorataing ever since. [NYPost 4-25-03]-NYC is pissed that this State Agency is not paying any real estate taxes on leased 33-story bldg. costing NYC about $5 mil a year. See J. Vitullo-Martin "MTA asks for shard sacrifice - but squanders its assests" DailyNews Dec 10 2008.

Six people including big plumbing contractor & wife and son, plus 3 MTA officals were charged 12-16-03 in Manhattan Supreme Court with racketeering and other crimes $18Mil price-gouging by the Contractor over 4 yrs, with the MTA facilities officials receiving kick-backs. These investigations are reported to link back to those by two top security officials who were than suspended Apr 1 2003 w-pay, [though the Inspector General recommended firings.] - the NYTimes reported 4-1-03 that the IGs position was that [Louis Anemone and Nicholas Casale] "Two officials have been reckless and even dishonest in their zeal to uncover corruption and that they can no longer be trusted to continue in their jobs..[they] tried to cloak themselves in the garb of whistle-blowers before the M.T.A. could take action against them for misconduct."-in uncovering "...evidence of bid rigging, multimillion-dollar cost overruns and payoffs involving authority contractors.." Two of their employees, Weissman and Allan were fired Dec 2002 over evidence they took bribes and allowed contractors to submit fake bills..the Manhattan D.A. started a prelim. criminal investigation.

MTA officials think so much of themselves that post 9-11 and post LONDON 7-7-05 tube bombings there are still TWICE as many security guards as for the subway railyard system. Local 1 Int'l Union of Elevator Constructors agent Matthew Downey "pocketed more than a $million" and the former project developer Fred Contini, and the former treasurer James Roemer for Local 14 International Union of Operating Engineers pleaded guilty in this case earlier in April. The MTA was massively overcharged for two freight elevator operators on the 2 Broadway job, who worked off the books at low non-union wages in additon. In other cases, eight arrests by the feds were made over two years for fraud in the project. 4-19-2000-"The State official in charge of all courthouse construction in the city admitted [yesterday] he stole $500,000 through kickback and bid-rigging schemes..." a subordinate helped steal through inflating invoices and demanding kickbacks. John Wilson, worked for the NY State Dormitory Authority, to be sentenced June 7. 'The investigation is continuing' by Manhattan DA and State Police..[NY POST 4-19-2000] Transit Auth. supt. of track reconstruction Douglass Endall suspended for using TA workers on overtime to do work for private contractor and suspected of receiving a kickback from subcontractor and using TA employees on O/T to plant shrubs as needed on a TA project. MTA inspector general was investigating [NY Post 1-16-2000].

Rhythm of the Streets - Many Broadways but Hardly High Street ...the best introduction to lost NYC streets, their changed names, and the overlooked and few alleys -nasty or nice- is on forgottenny.com What is funny are very old changes just after the Revolution when George Street[s], for example became a no-no, and in the early 19th cent when Brooklyn and Manhattan shared many more street names than now or seemd to swap some of the names in the changes! The last huge addition to the grid would have been Westway but that was defeated. In the first half of the 2oth cent there were two proposals to add an avenue between 5th and 6th - one by Mayor Gaynor in 1910 to go from 8st to 59th, and another plan at in the earliest schemes for Rockefeller Center was for to build new Met Opera complex to also include extension of Rockefeller Plaza [a street] uptown a few blocks more. Cut and cover subway construction created the extension 7AvSouth through the Village and a few blocks of lower 6 Av were created to connect thru to CHURCH St, Houston St was also widened for IND subway. Half the widths of blocks S of Houston between Orchard-Allen demolished for pre-war slum clearance makine wide Aleen St with umm a walkway in the middle. LaGuardia Pl is a post-war widened W. Broadway for urban renewal. Post-war, Robert Moses Lower Manhattan Expressway was to cut thru SoHo and to have a highway at LaGuardia Pl. sought to cut thru the Village into SoHo were blocked, ended by the late 1960s. The most notorious superblock in NYC is The World Trade Center. Urban renewal north of it then destroyed part of Washington St. and others. Reconstruction proposals are strongly urged to restore some of the street grid in the new WTC project. The civic ctr E from the Municipal Building to Police Plaza, Southbridge Towers the Al. Smith Projects around the Brooklyn Br approaches are made more difficult to navigate thru post 9-11 with Park Row and other street closures in its midst. Long stretches of streets were eliminated post WWWII east of this area paralelling the E River all the up to 14 St all with major housing projects construction [also StuyTown-Peter Cooper Vil]! The Manhattan grid is on an 'axis' tilted about 30 degrees n/e from true north-south. Wonderful exceptions are Astor Pl.-Stuyvesant St. running nearly true east-west and Broadway sometimes goes almost straight north and the short 4 Ave. runs almost true north. Manhattan bumps westward and becomes narrower at the north end. 10 Ave [intersects with Broadway at 218 st] at the north end of Manhattan is aligned with Amsterdam and 10 Ave. further south. To view the whole of NYC in its entirety, you can look at a map, an aerial pic, be in the air, but one unique and among the best is to go to the NYC Panorama, created for the 1965 Fair and updated thru 1992 at the Queens Museum Flushing Meadow Park [718-592-9700]. Manhattan one way streets EVEN run EAST and ODD go WEST. Using the alphabet east of 1st Av, Ave A-D are of lower East Side only umm but YORK Av updtown was originally the northern section of Ave A. Numbered Manhattan Avenues are 1-12 [a few blocks of a 13Ave almost created into the Hudson in 1837], 4 Ave from Union Sq north became Park Ave south. The highest numbered street in NY is *271* in eastern Queens, there is a loose grid system in Queens Aves. run E-W lowest no. at north of Qns., streets runs N-S from and lowest no. in eastern Queens. Staten Island hardly has numbered streets which top off at 10th, Brooklyn has many, numbered up to 101. Queens streets run in the direction [E-W] that Aves. do in Manhattan, I think the highest street no. in Riverdale [Bronx] is 263. The highest numbered Manhattan street is 228 in cut-off from the island Marble Hill, BX. and 220 St. on physical Manhattan island- a little block just before you cross north of the river (at that point actually a short canal) to Marble Hill! More confusion, but not for locals somehow, in widely spaced Brooklyn neighborhoods are Second St., North Second and South Second St. and East Second and West Second St. and some others like that. Main St in Bklyn is two blocks long in DUMBO, Main St on Roosevelt Is. [counted as a "Manhattan St.!]is no-cars quiet, Main St. Flushing is bustling almost bursting. There are more obscure Mains in S.I. [Tottenville] and The Bx [Edgewater Pk-sorta like Breezy Pt Rockaway]! NY not keen on any High Streets; High St BK was almost urban-renewaled out of existance to 1 block with a couple of loading docks; the exit from the subway High St station [A-C] does NOT lead onto it! N-S-E-W: There is an Eastern Parkway [BK], Eastern Blvd in BX became Bruckner Blvd- Expressway. Southern Blvd is in BX, Northern Blvd [QNs] which are all major streets, but only in Staten I. is a Western [Ave.] which seem to lead from nowhere from nowhere in an industrial area. The most notable aspect of the Manhattan street grid for newcomers is the uncoordinated numbering system along the Avenues which all start at varying points "downtown." We know as many Ave address locations as we can remember and just check ahead of time for anything else. By the way, you probably don't want to know the name of 3 *known* significant fault lines that cut across Manhattan and the Bronx, mostly under the streets whose names they bear, the 125 St., Dyckman and Mosholu Parkway faults. Two curious short streets with inside bends are picturesque Commerce St. in the West Villlage and bustling bendy Doyers St. in Chinatown. Walk up Doyers to PELL across to the slight inside bend [in the middle of a buidling!] of MOTT ST then down to picturesque 1-block long MOSCO St. Other Broadways OLD Broadway is east of Broadway 1 block 125-126 St and west of Broadway from 131-133 St. Forgotten NYC.com says this is part of original "Bloomingdale Road" that did not become part of newly created Broadway just because of it had a few curves. The north Manhattan part of Bloomingdale Rd./current Broadway also variously known as the trail "Albany Post Road" in 1672, in late 1676 part of it was King's Way and in less than 20 more years and some property + Spuyten Dyvil creek crossing changes became Kingsbridge Road up into the end of the 19th cent.

Amongst the most offensive block-busters is overlooked de-mapping of w59st block W off Columbus Circle for [now TimeWarner Ctr] demolished NYColiseum and a pair of Mitchell-Lama apartment buildings. SHOULDa been a covenant or requirement to return that block to a thru street on demolition of the Coliseum. The backside should NEVER have been closed of for a yard for the apartments! But the west side of the day there [and coming Lincoln Center] WAS the west side of "West Side Story" so demolition /urban renewal and super-blocks were seen as saving it! • BEYOND THE GRID in Manhattan - start with Broadway, the longest street in Manhattan, which does run from one end of Manhattan to it's north end and thru The Bronx and beyond. Some of the most interesting and celebrated places in NYC are where Broadway intersects the major crosstown streets: Times Square [why the hell is the east side of 7av at Duffy Sq numbered as BROADWAY addresses, just as street signs on Central Park side of 5av show "West _x_ St."?] Herald Square, Columbus Circle, etc. Amongst the shortest and most picturesquse downtown are Weehawken St. one block long off the west end of Christopher St. was declared the Weehawken St. Historic District, adjacent to the Greenwich Vil Historic District in 2006 and nearby amazingly charming -but now anchored at West St by the Meier glass towers- historic Charles Lane paved with actual cobblestones - not dead ended and no sidewalks, not defined as an alley. -See alleys section of ForgottenNY for MUCH more-. JERSEY St. at the south end of the PUCK Bldg. runs for 2 narrow blocks [each singly may be the shortest I've seen] makes a picturesque short gateway to fashionable, umm east Soho [northern Elizabeth St etc] and 2 blocks Staples St in Tribeca is very set-like cosmopoiltan. Tiny, overlooked Brooklyn's Dennet Pl. near Carroll Gdns has no parking being one-car wide; the front stairs of the little row houses only have room to go down to the sidewalk sideways. It is a bit like a little Philadelphia alley. Uptown in Manhattan are similarly sized Sylvan Terrace with are a row of flanking identical 1882 wooden row houses across the grounds of the Morris Jumel Mansion overlooking the [Harlem] river and lesser known Sylvan off 121st. Back downtown are some named alleys [Shinbone Alley?] that are mostly nasty places for trash and deliveries. Freeman's Alley [off Rivington] is a newly fab exception noted for Freeman's /Freeman's Sporting Club exclusive men's salon. Freeman's lines up with "Extra Place" just a few block north. so overlooked there is no street sign, it is an apppendix like lil [foul] lane branching up from 1st St. [Bowery-2Av]. Since the adjacent Avalon Bowery Pl owner is going to fabu-lize it it has come to the wider attention. In lower Manhattan a left over space with nothing on it and the utter pits is Eden Alley, [links Gold St-Fulton] has with an uphill 90 degree bend it it yet to Ryder Alley! Gold St in lower Manhattan is mostly so narrow and winding that it could be called Gold 'Lane', somewhat worth a look if in the area though a new [post- 9/11 Liberty Bond grea$ed. See More->] apartment hi-rise took out one chunk of Gold St for a modern 'plaza' - ROCKROSE built it and demolished the rest of the block for a new hi rise hotel, except for literally propping up a facade that is the last trace of a pair of 1831 commericial bldgs awaits its final fate as NYC did not approve demolition permit filed OCT 17 2007. In northern Manhattan and the West Bronx [& a few in the other Boroughs] are 94 step streets, many in "poor" neighborhoods. 'Step street' is a little misleading-there are no entrances to the buildings on the sides - also maintained poorly as they are also caught in bureaucratic fingerpointing of responsibility between Parks Dept. and D.O.T. The most curious isolated bits of NYC I spotted [from a map and aerial pic] is called either Meadowmere or Wanerville. There are two curious spits of land jutting into Jamaica Bay between the Rockaways and JFK airport -the pointy part fork is Bayview Av and the pointy part is Broad St, just W of Rockaway Bldg. It may as well be Okeefenokee; looks like there are a few ol houses w docks. Car and boat repair places line the single street through. Stranges keep away, I'm sire! An affluent little of the BRONX is just above the NORTH border of Pelham Bay Park of the N-E Bronx. Park Lane, Park Dr, Roosevelt Av [do not cross in any way into The Bronx] and Shore Rd [which DOES] lucky residents legally live in NYC but are cut off from it and are otherwise contiguous with Pelham Manor, Westchester. I hear it is a favored spot of govt people who have resideny rules to live in NYC. While at N-E corner of Van Cortlandt is a strip of apartments and houses [on Caryl Ave] Yonkers whose backyard, except for a fence I guess, is the park. There are a handful of waterside gated communities such as Sea Gate [BK], Silver Beach in the Bronx, and a few in QUEENS such as Breezy Pt. in Rockaway, Queens, non-gated but country-like shore communities [1997 designated as a historic district] Douglas Manor in farthest N-E Queens, has its own private beachfront. Fieldston in the midst of Riverdale in the BX has private patrols and will remove people walking or biking through. MALBA has their own private park on the water is in N-E Queens in the show of the Whitestone Bridge, and Forest Hills Gardens with private but open streets, Bay Ridge has no private waterfront, but just off the waterfront park and belt parkway, 19 private cul de sac or narrow private strets. The "Country Club" section of the East Bronx [on L I Sound] has no sidewalks in front the the houses. Residents are [summer 2002] opposed to a City project to fix up the streets because it includes putting in the sidewalks. Besides these private blocks that do allow through traffic, there is at least entirely private community even where the NYC Police do NOT go - with private security with complete arrest authority by NY State special approval - affluent Sea Gate, Brooklyn at the western end of Coney Island [which is NOT the only private community in NYC, it receives millions in aid with Army Corps of Engineers to maintain sea walls and moving tons of sand to protect the community]. East New York is a neighborhood in Brooklyn, and West New York is a city in New Jersey - near Weehawken (NJ). Also, the West (Greenwich) Village is where many streets askew to the Manhattan grid meet, such as W. 4 and W. 11. There *is* 2 1/2 block long First Street - off Houston St. (named for actual Mr. Houstoun, say hows-ton) and now IS noticed because of a small group of new bistros. BTW, some of the most charming urbane-urbane residences in few private 'places' or mews, midblock through or dead-ended, in the Village, like Patchin Pl. Pl. and Mac Dougal Alley, Pomander Walk on Upper West Side, and on the East Side Riverview Terrace (off Sutton Pl.), Sniffen Court [10 2-story houses] off e36 St. and Henderson Pl on e86st off East End Av. Brooklyn Hts has Love Lane and College Pl. and Albermarle-Kenmore Terrace. And most private of all 'streets' are the private back courts and garden houses, mostly in the village. There will be a gate with hardly a sign, and in some cases the may look like gate to a service entrance of ol apartment building! West Broadway - famous in now for its Soho but pretty fabu now in Tribeca too. East Broadway, in lower Manhattan.Broadway Alley is from e27-e27 bet 3rd and Lex. There are also Broadways in Brooklyn, Queens and S.I. with an East Broadway too.

Notices WARNING! ALL visitors and residents. WARNING! Severe NYC restrictions on public assembly, dancing[!], public photography, freedom of movement, trespass stings, etc. MAY you fined or detained!

NOTA BENE * No PICK-UP trucks here, guys. They have to be registered as commercial vehicles and so can't be parked on the street overnight. * No commercial vehicles incl pick ups and SUVs with commercial plates on the 'Parkways'. *No right on red AT ALL - except for a handfull of posted locations. =============================================================== 2005- new State law- Kid under 14 helmets for skateboarding. -already have to for bikes, and in-line skating. CAR SEATS required for all kids AGES 4,5,6 started MAR 26 2005 raised from age 4. ------------------------------------------------------------------- PATH Exchange PL security test FEB 2006- X-Ray and metal detectors->[Newsday 2-8-05] Dept of Homeland Security are also PHOTOGRAPHING entering passengers! IS this just a test or an operation? NO other media I saw reported the photos bit. NYC subway, bus, etc PHOTO BAN- Police are selctively enforcing PROPOSED regulation. If you are a pretty woman you'll be treated better at least. ANYWAY- rule is wrttten "No photograph, film or video recording device shall be made or taken in any (bus, train or subway) by any person." -registered press of course excluded. After many months of being an avg news item the MTA "secretly published this in the offical NYC Register meaning there is a 45 day public comment period from NOV 24 thru JAN 10 2005. [The NYC Straphangers Campaign group just knew about it Nov 29] about this outright prohibition on cameras. I'd say this says TOURISTS F-U GO HOME.. see www.mathq.org write MTA at 347 Madison Ave NYC 10017, call 212-878-7000 This is driven by Police Dept requests [who drives their request?] who do put security first- way over quality of life and usually common sense too. The Mayor has commented against the ban. ->amNewYork 11-30-04 "Since the Sept. 11 attacks last year [the MTA] has been confiscating the film from anyone caught taking pictures at the Verrazano-Narrows, the Queens Midtown Tunnel and other bridges and tunnels." "Use of cameras prohibited. Strictly Enforced" posted and enforced tho why the F__ won't an MTA official SAY he doesn't want to get into the reasons*..*A friend who has NO particular reason to know told me that someone who should know told him that lots of explosives WERE found under the Brooklyn Br. back then * We worked only down the street from the Bridge. Also BTW, they don't want pics taken on the bridge showing 'structural details' So tourist pics from a small distance aren't prevented. It is also reported the CHP has stopped "dozens" of people from taking pictures of the Golden Gate.