L train outage = M trains go to Upper East Side

"Here's one for you:

For the L Train Shutdown, the MTA is not planning on increasing M service to LIC/Court Square (where a huge influx of G train riders will be trying to transfer and continue to Manhattan).

Instead, they will be sending the M train to the Upper East Side late nights and weekends - cutting the service to Court Square in half.

This is also a continuation of their draconian cuts to Queens Blvd service when they killed the V train and cut the G back to Court Square.

This is purely a move born of cheapness - they can save a few pennies by not having to run the M all the way to Forest Hills.

Check out page 19 of their pdf for the proof.

No Queens representatives are doing anything about this of course. Literally no one cares about Queens commuters." - anonymous

Owner wants to demolish landmarked buildings

From NY1:

The battle is raging over the landmark status of two buildings on the Upper East Side.

The buildings, both located on York Avenue between 64th and 65th streets, are part of the First Avenue Estates complex.

The owner, Stahl York Avenue, is trying to have that designation removed so they can be demolished.

The owner has filed a "hardship application" with the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission, hoping to prove the buildings don't turn enough of a profit to merit landmark status.

Longtime residents are urging the commission to deny the owner's application.

Upper East Side McMansions?

From Curbed:

Given the staggering value of townhouses in the Upper East Side Historic District, it's hard to imagine anyone intentionally shrinking their ranks, but that's precisely what developers the Chetrit Group suggested to the Landmarks Preservation Commission yesterday. At stake is the future of 110-120 East 76th Street, six brownstones built in 1885 that were owned by nearby Lenox Hill Hospital for decades, which is also how long the structures were left to rot as plans for a sports medicine center gradually died. Now in the driver's seat, the Chetrit Group—along with architecture firm Macrae-Gibson—has another ambitious plan, which involves gutting, restoring and altering the homes, combining them into three single-family megamansions and—attention pitchfork-wielding Upper East Siders—slapping rooftop additions on each. Here comes controversy!

In addition to combining the townhouses and adding two-story rooftop additions (creating three 18,000-square-foot mansions), the Chetrit Group wants to demolish the rear facades of all the buildings, modify the front facades (going limestone in the middle and brownstone on the outer two, while adding touches like balconies and big picture windows), add double-door entrances and more. The opponents in attendance pounced, derisively referring to the mutated double-wides as "bloated McMansions." The LPC didn't vote on the modifications, but the commissioners expressed concerns over combining the townhouses, which is not a good sign for the developer.