Quality of Life

Roosevelt Island's old connection to the Queensboro Bridge -- elevator building, 1916-1956

WABC's John Gambling spoke with Michael Bloomberg this morning. In anticipation of the Mayor's Earth Day speech, they discussed everything from congestion charging to light bulbs. Below are some highlights from their conversation; you can download to the entire show here.

One vision: Grand Army Plaza's fountain and arch connected to Prospect Park.

We don't understand a word of it, but in this video compilation from the Netherlands, we see what a well-funded television ad campaign to encourage cycling might look like. Or not. Check out the ad about three minutes in: It appears to show an Al Qaeda operative a Saddam Hussein-like guy on a bicycle with a machine gun strapped to his back chasing three Western politician businessman types. It's probably not the best sales pitch for the US market but you get the idea.

The SoHo Alliance is at it again. The neighborhood organization that specializes in persecuting street vendors and artists rather than helping to figure out ways to carve out a bit of street space for them and all of the people over-spilling SoHo's sidewalks, is now mobilizing against the City's plan to install new bike lanes along Prince and Bleecker Streets.

Gotham Gazette talked recently with Cecil Corbin-Mark, of West Harlem Environmental Action (WE ACT), about environmental justice in Upper Manhattan.

The CB2 Traffic & Transportation Committee met at the LGBT Center on Tuesday. 

Park Slope's 9th Street corridor, with Prospect Park on one end and the Battery Tunnel on the other, has long been known as one of the most dangerous streets in the neighborhood when it comes to car crashes.