'Door to Hell' - 2013 National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest: Stunning travel snapshots submitted from across the globe

'Door to Hell' - 2013 National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest: Stunning travel snapshots submitted from across the globe - NY Daily News (Click to access all photos)

Photos: Smith-9th Street Station Finally Reopens But Isn't Handicap Accessible: Gothamist

Photos: Smith-9th Street Station Finally Reopens But Isn't Handicap Accessible: Gothamist

[UPDATE] Citi Bike Ate My Car (And Many Others Too, Apparently):

[UPDATE] Citi Bike Ate My Car (And Many Others Too, Apparently): Gothamist

[UPDATE BELOW] When it comes to selecting its prey, Citi Bike does not discriminate. Its all-consuming appetite has engorged Fort Greene, where residents blame the racks for sullying the beauty of their historic neighborhood, and inhaled Lower Manhattan, where newly installed stations have displaced longtime street vendors. But none of this could have prepared us for what we learned today: Citi Bike eats cars.
The trouble started for Chelsea resident Max Dowaliby on Wednesday afternoon, when he left his car on Bank Street, just west of Hudson Street in the West Village. When he returned on Thursday morning, his car had vanished, replaced by a row of Citi Bike stations standing innocently where his ride used to be. Remnants of "No Parking" signs were visible on poles across the street, he said, but Dowaliby insists that no such signs were visible where his car once sat.
Thinking the car had simply been relocated, Dowaliby called both the NYPD impound lot and the 6th Precinct, neither of whom had any information about the car. He tried again, and still...no luck. In an email, he explains: "My girlfriend was walking and saw another Citi Bike share install going on in the West Village, and asked where they were towing cars. They said to call Metropolitan Tow company, and that the cars were likely in Brooklyn… BROOKLYN." (Is that even in New York?) His saga continues:

2013 Sakura Matsuri - Brooklyn Botanic Garden

2013 Sakura Matsuri - Brooklyn Botanic Garden
(click above for more details and schedule)




Saturday, April 27–Sunday, April 28, 2013 | 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

A weekend celebrating traditional and contemporary Japanese culture

Taiko Drumming • Manga • Tea Ceremonies • J-Rock and Pop • Samurai Sword Fighting • Bonsai • Cosplay Fashion Show • Ikebana Flower Arranging • Hands-on Kids’ Workshops • Nihon Buyo Classical Dance • Puzzle Plaza and More!

NYC Council Member Letitia James: Bike-Share… Get Used To It

NYC Council Member Letitia James: Bike-Share… Get Used To It | Brooklyn Heights Blog

Despite mounting disdain in Brooklyn Heights—and throughout the borough—Citi bike-share is here to stay. At a Town Hall meeting Wednesday in Fort Greene that the New York Times deemed “raucous,” NYC Council Member Letitia James—who helped formulate the program with NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg—told 100+ neighborhood residents, “The public streets belong to all of us. We have to learn to get along.”

VOTE! Brooklyn Heights Blog Snap Poll in the upper left corner: “Great Idea” or “Worst Ever.”

Not good enough, according to area residents—including kiosks stickered with signs of protest in Fort Greene saying, “Landmark residential blocks are not for sale!” The Times quotes Fort Greene resident Dr. Noreen Hosier at the meet: “We pay a landscaper to maintain our property. They can no longer get to them. You talked about meetings held for locations? We never received anything.”

Others complained about sanitation issues, safety of bikers backing into the street and previously, that the bike stands don’t fit in with the historic tenor of Brooklyn brownstone neighborhoods. Regarding a loss of parking spaces because of the bike-share stations, James had no sympathy, claiming the BQE and Flatbush Avenue have fostered “one of the highest asthma rates in the city. We have to do our part to address global warming.”

Citi Bike docking stations have been installed by the Department of Transportation in the Heights, DUMBO, Fort Greene and Clinton Hill, so far, in preparation for the citywide bike-share program next month. In Brooklyn Heights, stands are now at the corner of Remsen & Hicks, Clinton & Joralemon and Clark & Henry (outside of the Hotel St. George), with locations coming to Clark & Montague and Borough Hall. Users can rent bikes by the ride, day or week.

Citibank and Mastercard sponsors the New York program, modeled after similar systems in Washington, London, Paris and Madrid.

Citi Bike stations raise both praise and opposition in NYC

Citi Bike stations raise both praise and opposition in NYC | Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Traffic, access, and historic district aesthetics at issue
By Robert Abruzzese and Mary Frost
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Walk up to any of the new Citi Bike stations throughout Brooklyn and there is no doubt a small group stopping to check it out. For the most part the flashy new bike sharing docks are met with excitement. There are some installations, however – especially in historic districts -- which have residents and businesses upset and feeling left out of the planning process.

Residents in areas like Brooklyn Heights, DUMBO and Washington Park in Fort Greene, and Tribeca, in Manhattan have complained about the logo-covered bike stations’ aesthetic intrusion on their neighborhoods and have expressed concerns about their impact on traffic safety and truck access.

The residents of 150 Joralemon Street in the historic Brooklyn Heights neighborhood are one of the groups upset with the station installed in front of their building this past Monday.

"It's very inappropriate to have a bike share station in front of our building," fumed resident Kenneth Wasserman. “This is a very busy block during the day and it's a very quiet block at night. To have 25 docks out there without anybody notifying us beforehand really pisses us off."

Anatomy of a Bike Share Docking Station Installation

Anatomy of a Bike Share Docking Station Installation - WNYC
(excerpt)
The station is located on a beautiful Soho block that's both residential and restaurant-heavy. (Side note: it's also home to a "virtual botanic garden" — but we digress.) When we arrived, a car whose driver had presumably ignored the "DO NOT PARK" signs was being towed away to make room for the station. As its car alarm blared, an elderly woman watching the street from an open third-floor window shouted down "this is going to ruin the block!"

Historic Brooklyn fights new bike-share program

Historic Brooklyn fights new bike-share program - NYPOST.com
(Excerpt)
The city’s just rolled out its bike-share program — and it’s already been targeted by a gang of preservationist vandals in Brooklyn. Flyers plastered yesterday on a “Citibike” station on Clermont Avenue in Fort Greene warned sponsor Citibank, “Residential landmark blocks are not for advertising or commercial activity.” Other messages ripping the use of Citibank’s corporate logo reportedly popped up at similar stations in another historic district in Clinton Hill, and the real estate blog Brownstoner fielded many other complaints. “Homeowners on these blocks can’t even repair a crack in their sidewalk without [the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission] watching so why does Citi get a free pass? Plus, they’re friggin’ hideous,” cracked one Brownstoner reader.

The Other Coney Island

The Other Coney Island | Brooklyn Community Foundation
(excerpt)
The west side of Coney Island is steeped in poverty. Most residents live in subsidized or public housing. For them, Sandy took what little they had. In the weeks after, without power, heat, or food, thousands waited in lines for hours for donated supplies.

Tweeting one early morning before Sandy

N train speeds through Gravesend

 

B train on a foggy morning in Sheepshead Bay