Here's Bowie's "Aladdin Sane" offa YT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crzy2e5RkUc
Feels like somebody should've linked it!
I think de Blasio only agreed to this so that he can appeal to those anti-car fanatics over on Transportation Alternatives, otherwise other said fanatics like the ones on Streetsblog would be calling him a grinch.
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Who do the morons running this city think support the DOT and the MTA? Drivers!!! We support NYC and NYS by paying car insurance, for inspections, license plates, tolls, parking meters and garages. Bicyclists pay nothing and there is no reason to close off blocks for people coming to see the tree. They have been able to navigate the streets for decades without every street being closed during business hours. What overpaid relative of whatever politician thought of this stupid, irrational idea?
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From today's "And Finally". "It’s Monday — aim for A’s.
A little looking around the computer found what could be the grading criteria for the residential energy inspectors in the area where I work, which seems similar to restaurant inspectors' criteria.
A = $2,000 tip
B = $500 tip
C= $20 tip
D = no tip
6th Avenue has been a mess with gridlock during Radio City events and when there are conventions at the local Hilton Hotel. It's been worse ever since the Buildings Dept allowed the Hilton Hotel to remove their driveway. Now 6th Avenue is a big taxi stand where cars are backed up on the avenue, Hilton door staff are now flag cabs in the middle of the street. How was this allowed? Does the Hilton Hotel care about the safety of their employees? Or, did they pay off the Buildings Dept to allow for the removal of their driveway?
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"By some estimates, New York has about three million on-street parking spaces — almost one for every three people. Nearly all of those spaces are free of charge."
May I ask what estimates - and what is the definition of "nearly all"? I see a lot of parking meters out there.
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Please rewrite the headline: Streets that welcome pedestrians for the holidays.
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What worries me most about this newly constructed tourist-zone around Rockefeller Center, is the fact that it worries our Fire Department.
Looks like I'll be taking the subway...
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I'm old enough to recall Wagner and Lindsey walking a lot. Not so much for more recent mayors. Bloomberg commuted to a subway station in a Suburban to make a daily appearance (NY Times 8/1/2007) . His 12 mpg guzzler still had to meet him at his daily destination negating any environmental benefit of his photo-ops.
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I'd like to mention that as of last week, 14th Street buses headed westbound were NOT stopping at 7th Avenue at all; too bad if that's where you need to go, b/c you'll have to walk the very long block from either 6th or 8th Avenue. Only the MTA can do this and consider it "good service."
If they keep eliminating stops, the bus speeds will increase ever more impressively.
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@L
Plus (unless something has changed recently) the MTA moved the start of the M7 from 14th Street and Sixth Avenue - to 18th Street.
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@SLM: Ugh! The M7 *used* to be the best way to get home from Lincoln Center when Broadway was still a usable thoroughfare - but now the M7 is useless for that.
MTA does not care (or count) how many fewer people go to Lincoln Center b/c of their heedless route change.
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That's okay. Lots of people don't care because Lincoln Center is for the "elites."
Oh, for the days when middle-class working stiffs like my parents listened to the Texaco broadcasts from the Metropolitan opera.
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Regarding the letter grades for buildings, how will the city grade those places that continue to leave their doors open on hot days so that the air conditioning flows out onto the sidewalk? You can have the most efficient building possible but poor management can negate all the energy savings.
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Interesting that even in New York where many do very little driving, measures to control cars face so much pushback. In RI restricting cars is never even suggested, motorists expect to drive everywhere, and fast, park everywhere, almost always for free, even though they know cars are a big factor in climate change and in destroying central cities. Come visit downtown Providence, Pawtucket, Woonsocket to see what I mean. Such places have done everything possible to accommodate cars - ever more parking, quick snow removal from streets (but not sidewalks) widening roads etc but it has not helped much, its just easier to drive and park in strip mall land. Maybe if NY is successful in reclaiming a few streets for the benefit of those not driving the idea will catch on.
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@NYrByChoice You should check your facts. Urban development didn’t revolve around cars in earnest until after the second world war, killing street life and slicing cities in half, bulldozing through neighborhoods, and architecture that turned it’s back on city streets. YES, automobile development, DID have a major effect on the decline of the American city, including the spread of suburbia. Let me send you a copy of Jane Jacobs, among others, for your reading pleasure
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Manhattan residents do not cause congestion on the streets where we live.
What we do is pay an absurd premium in the form of rents, mortgages, taxes and fees and higher prices for the goods and services we purchase.
Congestion is caused by out of borough drivers, the almost unlimited number of car services and commercial vehicles that double and triple park.
Congestion is contributed to by unenforced pedestrian laws. The Giuliani administration installed fences to keep people from crossing 5th ave and other streets at certain intersections. They installed mid-block crossing lights. They are widely ignored and never enforced.
Parking in Manhattan is near impossible but you don’t exactly need to commission a multi million dollar study to figure out why. Every other license plate is from NJ, CT, PA or MA and every other NY plate is from Westchester, Nassau, Suffolk or another NY suburb. Tens of thousands of spaces were lost to Lyft’s CitiBike stations. How ironic.
Residential parking permits are a great idea. They might also flush out people who register their cars to mommy and daddy’s house in the suburbs or out of state to avoid paying NYC insurance.
For some reason NY City Council members (and staff) being chauffeured around in taxpayer provided SUVs don’t think Manhattan residents have the same right to mobility as any other resident of any other major city.
Corey Johnson has declared a war on cars from the back seat of his Ford Explorer
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The holiday closure of lanes on Fifth Avenue will slow MTA buses. The MTA has criticized this closure, and noted that the MTA was not consulted.
The firefighters’ union has also expressed concern that this will impact on fire trucks and ambulances.
Actually bus transportation throughout Manhattan has been negatively impacted by bike lanes/street shrinkage.
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Mr. de Blasio's autocratic tendencies are in full display. Imagine not considering buses when deciding to close streets to traffic.
But then, why should Mr. SUV with police escort (to his gym, no less) worry about buses?
Goodness, de Blasio would make as good a president as Donald Trump.
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@B. - regarding "Mr. SUV with police escort (to his gym, no less)"
I wish people wouldn't minimize this, because it's really the only good thing I have to say for him in his second term, that for late 50s, he looks terrific!!! He certainly looked presidential, even though he broke the illusion by speaking more often than he should have. (Do you remember that shampoo called "Gee, Your Hair Smells Terrific" - what can anyone say about NYC's judgment at the polls except "Gee, Your Mayor Looks Terrific" and we can feel involved in that because tax dollars paid for those three stupendously wasteful hours a day that happens to be right in prime time when he'd be useful at the office working.)
What happened to de Blasio? I voted for him for second term, and I don't recall it being a grudging vote for his second term. It's almost like he said OK, I won, I'm done with them. (At least with Cuomo's waste and more waste, we telegraphed to him in primaries and election that we the people overwhelmingly wanted him for a third term for whatever reason, so we gave him reason to feel we wanted him to do exactly what he did before.)
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Freddie, it's true: Mr. de Blasio is very tall. So, of course, was George Washington. So, too, was The Thing, played by James Arness.
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