Parks and Historic Sites

NYU's Expansion Plan Challenged in Court Today

We wrote in last week's cover story about the brewing faculty rebellion at NYU driven in part by the school's ambitious plans to expand its footprint in Greenwich Village. But the fight against the 2031 plan, as it's known, extends beyond the no-confidence vote scheduled for next month. It's also be ... More >>

Gay Activists Join to Make One Last Plea to Stop Demolition of "Gay Commune" 186 Spring Street

Earlier today, around 40 gay activists and onlookers including State Senator Tom Duanes and City Councilmember Danny Dromm gathered in SoHo today in front of 186 Spring Street, the site of a nearly 200-year-old house that they argued played a major role in gay rights and AIDS activists history in th ... More >>

City OKs Another Art Installation Despite Artist-Vendor Policy (UPDATE)

As we have pointed out before, the Department of Parks and Recreation is totally down with traffic-blocking art installations but not cool with unregulated artist-vendors because said vendors allegedly block traffic and mess with public spaces' aesthetic. Yea, we are confused by the Department's a ... More >>

Who Will Run Washington Square, Union Square Parks? (UPDATE)

Some are now reporting that Becky Ferguson, administrator of Washington Square and Union Square Parks, is leaving her position. As mentioned in The Villager, "Becky Ferguson has left her job as administrator of not just Washington Square Park but also Union Square Park for a plum position with the ... More >>

Legal Controversy Over New York's Park Artists Continues With Complications (UPDATE)

As the years-long legal battle over New York's park artists crawls closer toward a conclusion, their main representative has submitted yet another court filing accusing the city of treating them differently from performers, violating the U.S. Constitution, and misconstruing facts. In a request to i ... More >>

Five Questions To Ask About An MLS Soccer Stadium In Flushing Meadows Park

The week before last, rumors began cropping up that Major League Soccer's long-running search for a place to put a new New York City team -- a search that had circumnavigated the boroughs from Pier 40 in the West Village to Randall's Island and Willets Point -- had settled on a site: the northeast c ... More >>

'Broadway by the Year' w/ Scott Siegel

Local Pols Say Federal Government is Getting in the Way of NYC's First Outdoor Film Studio *UPDATED*

New York City is oh so very close to being a better city for film and television than Hollywood -- if the federal government would just get out of the damn way! At least that was the message today on the corner of 36th Street in Astoria, Queens, where Sen. Chuck Schumer, flanked by relevant neighb ... More >>

IN BLOOM

View the cherry blossoms at Brooklyn Botanic Garden

TAKE A HIKE

Find new treasures in Central Park

It's Time To Throw Out Your Damn Christmas Tree Already

The end of today's non-work day means that the holidays are officially over. Yes, we know that Three Kings Day falls on January 6th but we're tired of waiting around so long for it. It's time to get rid of the lights and decorations and fall into the ho-hum that is winter in New York. So what do you ... More >>

North By Northwest

The Statue of Liberty Attracts a Heavily Weaponed Crowd

Leave your guns at home, Bill.​For some reason, tourists are bringing knives, brass knuckles, collapsible batons, screwdrivers, pepper spray, blackjacks, and other "miscellaneous weapons" with them to visit the Statue of Liberty. The Daily News reports that thousands of weapons have been seize ... More >>

There Are Sukkahs in Times Square to Celebrate Sukkot

​Sukkot is an eight day-long Jewish holiday that this year goes from October 12th to the 21st. One of the traditions of the holiday is the building of a sukkah, a walled, tent-like structure covered in plant material. The sukkah is intended as a memorial of sorts of the time the Israelites spe ... More >>

Southern Brooklyn Left Out of Wi-Fi Plans

via NYC Department of Parks & RecreationNot in southern Brooklyn.​Life in southern Brooklyn is rural. Last week we brought you the news that Wi-Fi is coming to 20 parks around the city this summer. But an article in The Brooklyn Paper today points out that none of those locations are south o ... More >>

You Can Still Smoke in Some NYC Parks

​The New York City smoking ban went into effect this week, and we noted the lax enforcement language, in which the city admits, "We expect the new law will be enforced by New Yorkers themselves, who will ask people to follow the law and stop smoking." But in Battery Park, it's going to be extr ... More >>

Videographer Captures 'Mystery Engagement' in Brooklyn Bridge Park...Was This You?

Despite our cold, corroded hearts, this video from an innocent bystander ostensibly hoping to capture the gorgeous sunset -- but instead getting on tape a couple's engagement moment -- kinda even brought out a few of what we call "eye tears." Unless it's staged! Be it not staged. Why must we be so c ... More >>

River of Grass

Live: The Roots, The Flaming Lips, Michael Stipe, And Patti Smith Dominate Carnegie Hall's Tibet House Benefit

Patti Smith, leading the charge as always. Pic by Tracy Ketcher.​21st-Annual Tibet House U.S. Benefit Concert Starring The Flaming Lips, the Roots, Taj Mahal, Michael Stipe, etc. Carnegie Hall Thursday, March 3 Better Than: "Auld Lang Syne" "Beauty is power -- violence is weak," we are told ... More >>

Man Attempts to Commit Suicide by Bear

​A man in Arizona named Tracy Province, who, along with two accomplices faces capital murder and carjacking charges for killing an Oklahoma couple and burning them in a trailer, decided after enduring great stress and losing 30 pounds due to his escape from prison that he would end it all rath ... More >>

Man Trapped Underground for 69 Days is Whiny, Says Local Newspaper

​Edison Peña, one of the 33 Chilean miners rescued last month after 69 days trapped underground, has now had the pleasure of being insulted by the New York Post, which today calls the man "nitpicky" on his tour of New York. The tabloid is upset by Peña's reaction to various New York City tou ... More >>

Seats Still Available for Next Week's Outstanding in the Field Dinners

Outstanding in the FieldAl fresco dining at its finest.​Outstanding in the Field, the self-described "roving culinary adventure" known for staging five-course, white-tablecloth dinners in the farm fields and urban gardens where the food on the table originates, will hold a series of dinners in ... More >>

Ansel Adams Photo Negatives Found at a Garage Sale Are Worth $200 Million

via NPR, Ansel Adams Courtesy of Rick Norsigian​Construction worker and painter Rick Norsigian bartered for photo negatives at a Fresno, California, garage sale 10 years ago, purchasing 65 frames for $45 -- not much of a bargain for someone else's random landscape photos -- that is, until they ... More >>

North by Northwest

Wild Goose Chase in Prospect Park Continues for Bird Shot in the Neck

Garey Lewis via New York Times​A wild goose who essentially has an arrow-hole tracheotomy amazingly continues flying and eating in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. Hundreds of rangers, volunteers, and Parks Department employees are attempting to capture the bird to provide appropriate medical attentio ... More >>

Brooklyn's Largest Sandbox Opens Tomorrow, Will Become Union Pool for Brooklyn Toddlers

​Big news, literally: Tomorrow, not only will ferry service between Brooklyn Bridge Park and Governor's Island begin, but the park will also open up a new constructed portion to the public. Dare you ask what amazing things await the public in this new part of Brooklyn Bridge Park?

A HAZY SHADE OF SUMMER

A fete for the city's favorite folk duo

NATURE VS. FUN

Tea ceremonies, anime, DJs, and—oh, yeah—some trees

HAT TRICK

Celebrate the return of an East Village tradition

New Jersey's Liberty State Park to Get Maritime Parc Restaurant

KatrissaLiberty Landing Marina​New Jersey will get a waterfront eating option this summer when Maritime Parc opens in June at Liberty Landing Marina in Liberty State Park.

Help Save Jelly NYC's Pool Parties

We loved these things so much we had M. Wartella make this graphic that you're probably in somewhere.​The last days of summer at Jelly NYC's Pool Parties brought the curious sight of New York Senior Senator Chuck Schumer gladhanding hipsters and swaying, like Jay-Z, to the sinuous sounds of Gr ... More >>

Video: Bike Polo in Sara D. Roosevelt Park

NYC The Blog finds something we hadn't noticed: Bike Polo in Sara D. Roosevelt Park downtown. There's a U.S. Bicycle Polo Association, which claims the game's a hundred years old, but they seem to play on grass; Wikipedia traces "Hardcourt Bike Polo" to "early 2000s Seattle" and links to a "mall ... More >>

Ellis Island reopens after fire

​Ellis Island was evacuated yesterday after a transformer fire shut off electricity, trapping visitors in elevators. Jersey City Fire and Emergency Services Department responded to a call about the elevator problem at 12:50, and discovered a failed transformer in the mechanical room of the Imm ... More >>

Several City Beaches Closed for Hurricane Bill

​Hurricane Bill is at this writing hundreds of miles off the coast of Florida, but it's still strong enough to whip up surfs in our area. So the Department of Parks and Recreation has closed Rockaway Beach, Coney Island Beach, nearby Manhattan Beach, and Staten Island's South Beach, Midland Be ... More >>

Thompson: City Dumping Tons of Possibly Toxic Sludge in Parks, Elsewhere in City

The Bloomberg Administration is planning to take potentially toxic sediment dredged from New York Harbor and dump it in New York public places like the former Yankee Stadium, the Bronx terminal market, and the Brooklyn Bridge Park that runs along the East River waterfront, says Comptroller Bill Thom ... More >>

On Todd P's Unamplified Acoustic BBQ at Fort Tilden Beach on Sunday, From Which We Only Just Recovered

Todd P's Unamplified Show Acoustic BBQ Fort Tilden State Park Sunday, June 14 If the mind-melding absurdity of Sunday's unamplified acoustic all-day show at Fort Tilden National Park could be summed up in a scene, it'd have to be when Phosphorescent's Matthew Houck was in the middle of his gorgeo ... More >>

GHOST TOWN

Brian Rogers's redevelop (death valley)

Head of Statue of Liberty to Be Invaded on Obama's Command

Along with surrendering to terrorists on Gitmo and promoting abortion, President Obama is looking at opening the crown of the Statue of Liberty to visitors. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar visited the Statue today and says that a study on reopening the popular tourist attraction will be completed i ... More >>

I, Locavore -- Really, Really Local Honey

Indiana Jones and the Lost Billions, starring Bernie Madoff as the Grinch

Does the Yankees' Park Deal Cheat the Bronx?

DANGEROUS LIAISONS

A game of seduction and style

Spring Food Preview: Sailing and Scarfing

Where to eat as you take to NYC's bounding main

Black Pride Hits Queens Beach

Two Stadiums. No Waiting.

Yanks and Mets plans leave little room for public debate

1960

Monumental Errors

Can the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial Campaign Be Saved?

War at the Door

INS Crackdowns and Bureaucracy Threaten America’s Tradition as a Nation of Immigrants

Deflowering the Bronx

Parks Department Paves Green Spaces Saved by Volunteers

Uprooted

The City Yanks More Gardens Out of Harlem