Subway Heroes Come to the Rescue of Fallen Treasures

Subway Heroes Come to the Rescue of Fallen Treasures - NYTimes.com

(Excerpt)

The requests trickle through the bowels of the New York City subway system, funneled to workers more accustomed to calls about tunnel fires or ceiling leaks.

A problem is reported at Columbus Circle one recent afternoon. A passenger could be in great distress. Delays are minimal, but movement on the tracks has perhaps never been slower.

So would a crew mind collecting its helmets and hauling its mechanical claw to rescue the turtle — fumbled by a rider — currently plotting its very methodical getaway from Midtown train traffic?

“It’s a big city,” a transit worker, Vinny Mangia, had said a day earlier, reciting a mantra of his office. “Somebody’s going to drop something.”

And somebody, if the item is sufficiently treasured, is going to try to pick it up. These are the fishermen of the subway system, cobbling together homemade instruments to pluck items from the tracks and release them to a grateful city.

Workers have returned a bag of hospital-bound blood and corralled a collection of artificial body parts, scooped engagement rings from the rails and reunited children with stuffed animals.

Sheepshead Bay Braces for a 30-Story Condo Tower - Coming Attractions - Curbed NY

Sheepshead Bay Braces for a 30-Story Condo Tower - Coming Attractions - Curbed NY

(Excerpt)

Plans have been filed with the Department of Buildings for a 333-foot-tallresidential tower at 1501 Voorhies Avenue in Sheepshead Bay. If the building rises, it will be four times taller than nearly everything in the surrounding neighborhood. New York YIMBY first spotted the new plans for the site, which was purchased in July by joint venture of Muss Development and AvalonBay.Sheepshead Bites points out that the seller, Acadia Realty Trust, had planned to build a two-building development with a 22-story condo tower that the neighborhood vehemently opposed, so they'll probably be totally on board with something even bigger, right?

The oddly shaped 110,028-square-foot chunk of land sits adjacent to elevated subway tracks, overlooking the Sheepshead Bay B/Q stop. It's just a couple blocks from the bay and was inundated with water during Hurricane Sandy, but the plans show that the mechanical systems will only be elevated to the first floor, which is better than the cellar, but not really "elevated." It will have 250 apartments, a 14,530-square-foot commercial space, 124 garage parking spaces, and 52 parking spaces in a surface lot. Perkins Eastman is the architect of record, and amenities—bike storage, a lounge, a playroom, and outdoor space—will be located on the second floor. The site needs zoning approvals, and community pushback should be expected.

AvalonBay currently has 10 projects in New York City, and two more are in development in Downtown Brooklyn. All of these are located in much trendier, more expensive neighborhoods than Sheepshead Bay, but Muss Development is very familiar with the farther reaches of the boroughs. Not far from the Voorhies Avenue site, Muss development the successful Oceana condos in Brighton Beach.

Transportation Alternatives, pro-bike group, condemns 'reckless behavior' of cyclist accused of hitting woman in Central Park

Pro-bike group condemns 'reckless behavior' of cyclist accused of hitting woman in Central Park - NY Daily News
(Excerpt)
The city’s leading pro-bicycling group, Transportation Alternatives, came out against the “reckless behavior” Jason Marshall has been accused of in striking Jill Tarlov of Connecticut.

“As the most vulnerable users of our streets, pedestrians must be safe from reckless cycling, just as they need to be protected from reckless driving,” the group’s executive director, Paul Steely White, said in a statement. “This is particularly true in our parks.”