Saturday, July 4, 2009

"Pepsi Sign" park opens

From NY1:

A new six-acre portion of the Gantry Plaza State Park opened to the public Wednesday.

Great for viewing fireworks! But sorry, folks, they're on the Hudson this year.

22 comments:

Kevin Walsh said...

Hammocks in LIC...folding chairs in Times Square...

Bloomberg better get cracking banning fast food, or we'll all be blubbering piles of protoplasm

www.forgotten-ny.com

Ann Onymous said...

I guess you can say our mayor is full of sit.

-Joe said...

Just LOOK AT THOSE SLOBS AND WHAT THEY ARE WEARING.

Where did these people come from F_ing IOWA, MASShole ?

It make me sick no east
river fireworks now THIS !

What are you guys doing for the 4th ?

Anonymous said...

whats the matter crapper and your cronies, nothing negative to say, cat got your tongues?

Anonymous said...

whats the matter crapper and your cronies, nothing negative to say, cat got your tongues?

We were just waiting for you to make an appearance. What's the matter, Evan? Are you lonely cause Mommy's gotta stay in Albany? Didn't she warn you to stay away from the crapper site?

Blumturd is a joke said...

Bed bug havens.

Anonymous said...

You got that right, from stupid subway grates well on their way to being garbage catchers, to chairs on Broadway, to bike lanes while hospitals are closing, New York is well on its way to transformed from on the edge, gritty, to a goofy playground for the rich and cluessless spinelss rubes from the interior.

Anonymous said...

The bike lanes are stupid, but don't knock the subway grates--they work. We've had the rainiest month in a long time, but minimal disruption in subway service. Remember the horrible flooding we had a couple years ago? That scene wasn't replayed this month thanks to those grates. Read this: MTA corks flooding sites (NYDN)

Anonymous said...

The grates are stupid stupid stupid, now they are adding an extra step or two on the subway stations.

We have never had a flooding problem. The issue is maintenance. They never maintained the system as it was designed.

In a few years they will be removing those grates. They already have tags on them.

Put them in Manhattan.

Anonymous said...

A lawsuit waiting to happen. Someone will fall of, or some unatteded yuppie kid with idiot parents will strangle in them.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
The grates are stupid stupid stupid, now they are adding an extra step or two on the subway stations.

We have never had a flooding problem. The issue is maintenance. They never maintained the system as it was designed.

In a few years they will be removing those grates. They already have tags on them.

Put them in Manhattan.

Sunday, July 05, 2009
================================

The grates are in Manhattan, and they're working there as well.

The old grates were being cleaned; the city has never maintained their storm sewer system, or installed enough storm sewers. The MTA had to do more to deal with the flooding problem, and they did.

Erik Baard said...

Bloomberg has nothing to do with this state park.

As for bike lanes...really, the bike lanes are for rich people and the cost of paint shut hospitals? That's some fancy math.

Anonymous said...

Why should only rich people have parks like this?

Blumturd should show leadership. Why is there a Hudson Park all the way up to Albany?

Maybe our waterfront advocates could explain why developers should have the Queens waterfront - monster towers 30, 40, 50 stories tall.

Or how the people of Greenpoint were betrayed when they gave their waterfront to developers.

Why the silence?

Anonymous said...

As for bike lanes...really, the bike lanes are for rich people and the cost of paint shut hospitals? That's some fancy math.
---

Resources should be used to provide services that people really need instead of squandered on foolishness.

Anonymous said...

Just LOOK AT THOSE SLOBS AND WHAT THEY ARE WEARING.
Where did these people come from F_ing IOWA, MASShole ?


Okay, Riverchuck -Joe... in what language was that supposed to make sense? What's a F_ing IOWA, MASShole? Maybe you only have those out in Riverchuck, Nort Fark.

Ridgewoodian said...

Anonymous:Resources should be used to provide services that people really need instead of squandered on foolishness.

I agree with you 100%. And since people need safe transportation and recreation - which a little planning and paint can help with - I'm sure you'll agree with me that money spent on bike lanes is actually money very well spent.

Anonymous said...

People already have safe transportation - the subway, and recreation - parks. Don't need to paint bike lanes.

Ridgewoodian said...

ANONYMOUS: People already have safe transportation - the subway, and recreation - parks. Don't need to paint bike lanes.

Well, as you've probably noticed, the subways are packed and will only become more so in the future and it's incredibly expensive and takes years - if not decades - to bring new capacity online. And I notice you didn't mention buses because for the most part they're terrible. If by painting a few lines you can help reduce that crowding somewhat that's an excellent investment. And who says recreation only need take place in the parks?

Anonymous said...

It doesn't have to only take place in the park, but that's where we invest our tax dollars for safe recreation.

There are a handful of people who ride bikes compared to the hordes who take mass transit. Any reduction in rider congestion due to biking is negligible.

Ridgewoodian said...

ANONYMOUS: It [recreation]doesn't have to only take place in the park, but that's where we invest our tax dollars for safe recreation.

Well, since you yourself say that recreation doesn't have to take place only in the parks and it's emphatically the case that some recreation does take place outside of the parks doesn't it stand to reason that some portion of the tax money we invest in recreation should be spent outside the parks? For example (and this is not the only possible example) in providing safe bike lanes for those who would like to use them.

ANONYMOUS: There are a handful of people who ride bikes compared to the hordes who take mass transit. Any reduction in rider congestion due to biking is negligible.

According to the DOT around 30,000 bikers entered Manhattan every weekday during the spring, summer, and fall last year. That's not a HUGE number, true, in the grand sceme of New York City commuting but it's certainly more than a handful.(It's roughly the entire population of the town I grew up in.) It's a number of packed subway trains, that's for sure. How much would it cost the city if all those people got on a train or a bus or, worse, took a private car? Also - it should be remembered that the number of bike commuters increased by 35% over the number in 2007 and by almost 100% over 2000. As it becomes safer and more convenient for people - and bike lanes are a big part of that - more are going to do it, taking a little pressure off of the mass transit system.

Anonymous said...

That's 30,000 people who didn't pay a dime into the mass transit system that they preach everyone else should pay for and/or take to keep it running. 30,000 spread out over the many trains available during rush hour doesn't add to much more discomfort than there already is, and there is much more room now that a good number of NYers have lost their jobs.

There is recreation that exists outside of Parks, but it doesn't mean it's the taxpayers' duty to fund it. Maybe if the bikers wants bike lanes, they should pay a fee for their use, like everyone else does to use the streets.

Ridgewoodian said...

That's 30,000 people who have voluntarily given up their spots on the subways and buses and haven't resorted to automobiles - thus freeing up space for others. That's 30,000 that next year might be 35,000 or 40 and that in a few years could be 90 or 100,000. Because the easier and safer biking becomes the more people will do it - which benefits everyone.

As for those people not paying a dime I'll remind you that, while users of the MTA do pay a higher percentage of their transit costs at the farebox than do any other transit riders in the U.S. (I think it's around 60%) they don't pay it all and the rest comes from various taxes and fees. If they're citizens of this city they almost certainly do chip in, if perhaps only indirectly. Of course, in my own experience, I've known very few riders who leave the house without a MetroCard. So it's very probably that a large percentage of those 30,000 have in fact paid many dimes into the system.

I'm not sure what fee you're talking about to use the streets. I leave my home and walk down the street every day and there's no one collecting admission. On those few occasions when I drive most of the roads aren't tolled - only the bridges and tunnels and such. I do, of course, pay taxes - a portion of which go to the upkeep of the roads. (I hope you're not under the mistaken impression that gas taxes and registration fees cover that entirely.) I do this even though I derive very little direct benefit from the roads - as I said I only drive very, very occasionally. But I don't begrudge the money because it's for the common good. OOOH! Socialism! Car Communism! (I also don't begrudge the money I pay to educate the children of this city in the public schools, even though I didn't use the schools here myself, having grown up elsewhere, and I don't have any children of my own in the system.) When the city paints a few lines in a few of the roads what it’s doing is providing me and others like me safe(er) access to infrastructure I’ve actually already paid for but had never had the opportunity to fully utilize before. And with that access I can commute to work, if I so choose, or recreate, or go grocery shopping at the good store three miles away instead of at the crappy one down the block. In other words I can do everything drivers have been doing as a matter of course for decades - without poisoning anyone or causing any oil wars. All in all a lot of good for just a little bit of paint. And if it really is that offensive to you, sure - register my bike and I’ll kick in a couple of extra dollars a year. But somehow I doubt that would satisfy you or you bellyaching kind.