National September 11th Memorial - 2011

After two months of waiting for the date of our reservation to arrive, Andy and I went last Friday to survey the progress on the 9/11 Memorial.  The experience was moving, impressive and well managed.  After being asked by seven (7) different attendants for our proof of reservation and I.D. along the maze of stanchioned entry paths, we arrived at the airport-style security room.

Stay in your Lane, or How I Could Have Made the City $3,565 in One Day

The penalty for parking or standing in a marked bike lane is $115.  I biked to work and back and snapped violations in ONE DAY.

Crown Heights on foot, May 1, 2011 Herbs, Cloves, Spices

Inspired by the beautiful weather, and a desire to get my garden going, Andy and I took a walk to King's County Nursery in Crown Heights (the new hood) to get some containers and extra seedlings.

We took off down Nostrand toward Empire Blvd. having decided to try and find the remnants of Old Clove Road, the first Dutch road that once linked Greenpoint and Canarsie when brooklyn was nothing but fields and farms and forests.  The road appears in maps through the last several centuries, but was all but totally covered up by the modern grid system by the late 1800s.  Only one block of the original "highway" remains . . . a confusing alley-like section we found at an angle to the grid here:

Old Clove Road (the block that remains)

The Belgian Block paving from the 1800s

Labeled with NYC street signs as "Clove Rd.", it seems to be an actual city street, and is half-paved, but impassable due to a city street light's being placed directly in the center of the access to Montgomery St.  It seems like you can get your car onto this lost road by Malbone St. (another historical remnant only 1/2 block long).  Malbone St. and Nostrand Ave. (my street) is where a saloon brawl (at Nealy's Saloon) led to the death of one Thomas Lennon in 1896.  Francis J. Hamlin was one young man detained in the murder investigation, and he lived in MY HOUSE.  See below from the NYTimes:

It's all coming together.  But on to the nursery.

For a carless New Yorker like me, King's County Nursery is a MAJOR find.  In the heart of Crown Heights, it is a family owned and operated (I'm pretty sure the son lugged our soil, the dad found our buckets, and the grandad rang us up) full-service nursery within walking distance!

I had started some seedlings inside the house, and after a few thoroughly enjoyable hours on my fire escape with soil, buckets, and water, I had sun-smacked shoulders and this:

"Balcony" garden day one

Ariel view

Looking forward to beans, peppers, tomatoes, celery (we'll see), basil, rosemary, and lavender . . . and the fun and challenge of gardening in a world of rats, pigeons, and lugging six gallons of water out the window every day . . . gotta devise a  watering system for that.

You'd think that would round out the day nicely, but after all that soil lugging, and planting and climbing in and out of windows, a man gets hungry.  And wants  . . . wings, of course.

Enter our new favorite Sunday pleasure:  SUPER WINGS  I have no idea how this woman does it, but this joint has the BEST wings I have ever had.  Ever.  

Super Wings.  Go here.

We waited about 25 minutes (and met some great people) and then carted three pounds of them home where they looked like this:

We got:  Ginger Buff, Trini Tamarind, and Spice Island Rubbed, and they were "Shut your mouth" good (with sides of corn salad, chick pea fritters, and spinach balls, and lots of ohmygoding)

Later (like 12 minutes later):

There are like eight other flavors left to try, but I'd be happy with Spice Island Rubbed as my desert island only choice.

So, in summation, Herbs in the garden, Old Clove Road, and Spice Island Rubbed.  A fine day, the first of May.  Hope you all had an equally beautiful one.

Great Short Film on Highway Removal

From Streetfilms:

A Little Logic from Streetfilms

"Floating Parking" & Bike Buffer Zone in Separated Bike Lanes from Streetfilms on Vimeo.

BRING ON THE BIKE LANES!!

BRILLIANT piece in the Daily News!!!

Take the Z,E,N Trains to Tunestown.

Here's a little rainy-day brilliance plucked (literally) from the geometry of the NYC subway system. The artist/musician Alexander Chen has made an "interactive string instrument" out of the MTA's actual schedule, operating in "realtime by spawning trains which departed in the last minute."

For those of you who are sticklers, or can't quite follow your line, the visuals are based on Massimo Vignelli's 1972 diagram (as above) which is fun and arty and easy to read, but does not represent the geography of the actual city as faithfully.


Conductor: www.mta.me from Alexander Chen on Vimeo.

I likey.

Earth Art Memorialized in sad but true exhibit in NYC

January 8, 2011 is the 25th anniversary of the destruction of Adam Purple's monumental "earthwork" The Garden of Eden.  Photos of the artwork and the artist by acclaimed photographer Harvey Wang (also director of The Last New Yorker) will be displayed for the first time at the FusionArts Museum on Stanton Street, from February 1 - 20.

Take the 7 to NEW JERSEY??

Mayor Bloomberg has unveiled an amazing new proposal to run the 7 train from the far west side of Manhattan, under the Hudson and into Seacaucus, New Jersey -- where it will connect with New Jersey transit.  The move will double the capacity of the currently overstuffed trains that link the two states, and bring New Jersey directly to Times Square and the entirety of the NYC subway system.  The glorious new idea comes on the heels of NJ gov. Christie scrapping the heavily subsidised and already begun tunnel plan from his state, and the risk it seems is that he will get credit for "big bro" NYC picking up the slack and fixing his greedy tragedy.  From the NYTimes:

"Last month, Mr. Christie, a Republican, put an end to the long-planned Hudson rail tunnel project after the estimated cost climbed to at least $11 billion, from an initial $8.7 billion. The project would have created two new tracks for New Jersey Transit from Secaucus to a new station deep under 34th Street, near Pennsylvania Station. The federal Transportation Department had pledged $3 billion, as had the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. New Jersey was responsible for the rest."

So Christie thumbed his nose at 3 billion from the Federal Gov't, and might gladly accept a similar proposal . . . as long as NYC picks up the tab?  What thinly-veiled slickery.  And if you know Christie, you hardly want to see him thinly-veiled.

A great short film about livable streets in NYC.

The Imaginary Debate (my op-ed in the Advocate)

The Imaginary Debate

Actor and blogger Chad Lindsey asks, if the secular and devout can comfortably share space at a drive-in theater in Michigan, why can’t the political right share lower Manhattan?

By Chad Lindsey

COMMENTARY: My parents taught me to share. They also taught me to work for a living and to mind my own business. I’m pretty sure that the vast majority of Americans are taught some version of these basics, but I’m beginning to think that most of us are losing sight of them as we reach adulthood in this, the Century of Emboldened Stupidity.

Summer 1989: On any given gray and humid early Sunday morning, my best friend Kent would aim his car toward the gravel entrance of the old drive-in theater. As the sky in the east just began to bleed with the colors of a ripe nectarine, he and I would pass through the empty ticket booths and wind along the driveway into the broad lot facing the tall dirty-white plywood screen, looming above the quickly warming scene.

New news is good news for NYC streets or Get those SUVs out of here

Left turns, male drivers, and darkest mid-winter are the most dangerous for pedestrians in NYC, but our city is getting MUCH safer for those of us who don't choose to tackle the grid in a car.  Pedestrian deaths down a shocking 20% since 2001, and a promise from transportation czar (yes) Janette Sadik-Kahn to remove even more parking in favor of bike lanes and broader visibility.  A breakdown of serious accidents (and another reason to implement congestion pricing):

• 79% involved private passenger cars 
• (huge fucking numbers gap here)
• 13% taxis or livery cars
• 4% trucks
• 3% buses

The last three on the list would not be subject to congestion pricing . . . not forced to pay to drive onto Manhattan, and doesn't it follow logically that we would reduce pedestrian death while raising millions and cleaning the city's air?  God, I wish it would happen.  Full Report HERE.

NYC MTA gets new train set.

The last of the new R160 subway cars is unloaded and ready to be put into service in the NYC subways.

"Transit officials have spoken glowingly of the new cars as they now average approximately 370,000 miles between mechanical failures. “A lot of work went into the development of the R160 fleet and these cars have allowed us to retire hundreds of subway cars that first entered service in the mid to late 1960s, Carmen Bianco, senior vice president of the Department of Subways, said. “These cars are state-of-the-art, and designed to provide customers with far more information and comfort than older models and they are designed to last at least through mid century.”  Full story HERE