A survey conducted by the Transportation Dept. and released yesterday [pdf file] illustrated the sorry state of parking in lower Manhattan. The survey showed that the number of cars far exceeded the number of available parking spots in the financial district, unless one possessed a city parking placard.In the area it covered, largely the area south of Canal Street, there were only 1,105 metered parking spaces and 871 unregulated spaces available to the drivers......

Sure, the 2008 election is exciting, but hundreds of candidates are expected to run for city office next year. Of the current City Council, 36 members out of 51 are up for reelection or getting the boot due to term limits. Former Bloomberg aide William Cunningham advised the Sun, "Put on your helmets and put on your seat belts: It's going to be like a demolition derby." It'll be a donation derby as candidates who......

The sister of the 23-year FDNY veteran who died during the Deutsche Bank building last August is suing city agencies and contractors, citing their "wanton, willful, and reckless conduct" in his death. The Deutsche Bank building had been undergoing a slow dismantling process, and a worker's cigarette likely started the 7-alarm fire. Robert Beddia, 53, (pictured) and Joseph Graffagnino, 34, died on the 14th floor, when they ran out of oxygen (the FDNY tapes are......

What Lower Manhattan will look like after Silverstein's buildings are completed; the Woolworth Building with its ornate green roof is on the left, 99 Church is the tall building to it right (and to the left of what is an illuminated Church street); to the right is the WTC site, with Freedom Tower and the other three towers; image from dbox/Silverstein Properties Developer Larry Silverstein announced yesterday that he will build an 80-story building......

Oh, MTA - you and your outlandish idea of putting a glorious glass dome at the renovated Fulton Street Transit Center! The proposed design, unveiled in 2004, seemed an inspiring idea for the agency. But, after years of attempts to start construction, costs have risen to $1.15 billion, from the initially estimated $750 million, causing MTA executive director Eliot Sander to say, "I am sad to say that we cannot build the transit center......

Computer rendering of the waterfalls by the Public Art Fund. Details have emerged on the ambitious, $15 million East River waterfalls project coming to New York in mid-July to cap off the Olafur Eliasson retrospective at MoMa. The project will consist of four man-made waterfalls, ranging 90 to 120-foot tall, installed temporarily at four sites along the shores of Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Governors Island: by the Brooklyn anchorage of the Brooklyn Bridge, between Piers......

Mayor Bloomberg's announcement that he would reduce the number of parking permits for civil servants by 20% has annoyed yet another group. Joining police officers, fire fighters, and other emergency workers are teachers. Teachers union president Randi Weingarten sent Mayor Bloomberg a letter to call the permit limits"deeply disturbing." Weingarten complains that teachers actually have too few permits. United Federation of Teachers vice-president Michael Mulgrew told the Sun that teachers end up making "informal deals"......

There's been a lot of ink, virtual and otherwise, already spilled on Governors Island. But today, NY Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff proclaimed that the new site "could well become the most inspired public park built here in generations." He also said the plan is "humble in scale but big on ambition." But didn't he say last spring that the designs lacked ambition? Hmm. We have to give him this: Of the five proposals,......

A construction crane crushed construction trailers and trapped a worker this morning. According to 1010WINS, the FDNY says "the crane dropped a load of steel it was carrying and crushed the trailers. At least one person was rescued; his condition was not immediately available." The accident took place at 200 Vesey Street - the very site where Goldman Sachs is building a new world headquarters. The city and state gave Goldman Sachs $650 million......

Just because the 2009 elections are over 22 months away doesn't mean some interesting moves can't happen. Adolfo Carrion Jr. (pictured, on left), the Bronx Borough President, has decided to run for City Comptroller in 2009, making it a tough field and shedding light on the mayoral contest. Carrion, born in Lower Manhattan and a former city planner, Community Board district manager, and City Council member (here's his bio), was seen as a likely candidate......

Freaked out about the explosions in your neighborhood, only to find out via 311 that it's just fireworks? Or wondering about the fire around the corner? Well, the city actually does want you to know about what's going on in your neighborhoods and announced the pilot program launch of Notify NYC, which will deliver "emergency public information by email, text messages and reverse-911 alerts in four City community districts." The four districts are Lower Manhattan,......

Yesterday morning's rain caused a recently installed sewer main to burst, flooding the basement and parking garage of a Battery Park City luxury apartment building. Water levels reached up to 20 feet. Not only were car owners greeted with news that their vehicles were either submerged or floating on top of sewer water, hundreds of tenants at 90 West Street were evacuated. Fire officials explained that, per WNBC, "rain flooded a re-routed sewer pipe,......

The old saw is that one can't fight City Hall, and we can apparently add the ivory tower to the bulwarks of imperviousness. Despite fierce community opposition, Columbia University will be expanding its upper-Manhattan campus to surrounding blocks. The plan to expand the university's property by 17 acres and several blocks in each direction was approved this afternoon by the New York City Planning Commission. CityRoom reports the neighborhood meeting wasn't exactly neighborly:A majority......

Over a hundred firefighters responded to a three-alarm fire at 80 Pine Street in Lower Manhattan last night. The fire broke out on the 29th floor, where money management firm Tullett & Tokyo has offices. It's unclear what started the fire, but around 12:30AM, flames were "shooting out of the windows" according to WABC 7. Glass fell onto Maiden Lane, narrowly missing pedestrians. The FDNY closed down the street and was able to put out......

No, no these photos aren't models from I Am Legend's portrayal of Union Square, but an "Apocalyptic Manhattan" two guys constructed. They've recreated 50 Manhattan buildings (via MUG) in three rooms of their apartment. Perhaps the most impressive part of their Manhattan creation is the background wallpaper - complete with buildings, and clouds/smoke. While there's no mention of any specific neighborhood, the architecture makes it look like parts of Lower Manhattan despite the inclusion......

Lawyers for the families of Joseph Graffagnino and Robert Beddia, the two firefighters who died in the August 18 Deutsche Bank fire, have filed notices of claim to sue city and state agencies for up to $180 million. The lawyers are claiming that the "reckless, willful and wanton actions and inactions" of the various agencies, including the FDNY, Port Authority and Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, caused the fatal response to the blaze. The Deutsche Bank,......

Those geniuses at Fallon London are at it again for Sony BRAVIA. First they had the bouncing balls in San Francisco, then the tower of paint in Glasgow, and now bunnies on the streets of Manhattan. Fair warning - if for some reason you're scared of bunnies, don't watch this video. The advertisement, titled "Play-doh" features 200 plasticine bunnies hopping around and a large 30 foot bunny in Thomas Paine Park in Lower Manhattan.......

Did contemporary art and music come together for the first time in New York? The holy (or unholy -- if you're not a Velvet Underground fan) union can be traced back to, where else, Andy Warhol's Factory scene. So why is the Sympathy for the Devil: Art and Rock and Roll Since 1967 exhibit being housed all the way in Chicago? The NY Times takes a look at the Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago) show,......

Yet another depressing fact revealed about the Deutsche Bank demolition in the wake of two firefighters' deaths. The NY Times reports that contractors had created an emergency exit plan through sealed stairwells, but the firefighters didn't know about the plan. Fire department spokesman Francis X. Gribbon told the Times, “The Fire Department was not involved in creating this plan, specifically — and most importantly — with regard to the sealed staircases. We were not notified......

Tenzing Bhutia, a 21-year-old Baruch College student, is being held on $75,000 bail after fatally driving into a young woman crossing Bowery near East 4th Street in Lower Manhattan. Bhutia did not stop after hitting Julia Thomson early Sunday morning, and when police found him - and his father's damaged Mercedes Benz in Queens - hours later, his blood alcohol was 0.087, above the 0.08 legal limit. The Post reports that Thomson (pictured), a Scottish......

Were safety concerns about the Deutsche Bank's demolition ignored by aides to Governors Pataki and Spitzer and Mayor Bloomberg? That's what the NY Post is reporting, as the investigation into the August fire that claimed two firefighters lives continues. Apparently Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center (the government agency overseeing the dismantling) head Charlie Maikish sent a memo to LMDC chairman Avi Schick on May 25, 2007, noting that the LMCC was not prepared to manage......

EVENT: All week long Lower Manhattan has become a stage. Today, "watching from behind a window overlooking the site, viewers observe Bill Shannon and crew engage with the public space and pedestrian traffic in their freestyle performance that taps into the hip-hop/skateboard tradition of street improvisation. The distance between audience and performers is mitigated by holographic screens and live audio and video mixing by special guests." DJ Excess will be on hand for some live......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a child was found at 115th St. and Nicholas Ave. in Manhattan, an unusual incident at Columbus Circle in Manhattan with a man atop the globe in front of the Trump International, and a double shooting on Hegeman Ave. in Brooklyn. A worker fired from her job at the substance-abuse outreach organization Odyssey House said that her former supervisor would talk of his sexual exploits constantly. One of the......

Early this morning, a pedestrian was fatally struck by a hit-and-run driver. WABC 7 reports that the police received "several 911 calls for a motor vehicle accident involving a pedestrian lying in the roadway" after 1:10AM. The victim, a man in his 30s who officials believe may be homeless (he had no ID), was pronounced dead at St. Vincent's Hospital. A 51-year-old man, who was driving a 2006 red Chevy Avalanche, has been arrested......

You can see how similar or different Lower Manhattan is against the 1660 Castello Plan map at this Yahoo Maps page. The map used is the 1916 re-draft of the original map; the Castello map is super-imposed over the same streets of today. You can manipulate the opacity of the map and realize "Hey, so that's what 400 years of landfill looks like!" We've looked at the 1660 map before, but in the context......

From yesterday evening to dawn this morning, the ethereal September 11-light installation Tribute in Light beamed into the skies from its downtown perch. Designed by artists Julian LaVerdiere and Paul Myoda, architects John Bennett and Gustavo Bonevardi of PROUN Space Studio, architect Richard Nash Gould, and lighting designer Paul Marantz and produced by the Municipal Art Society and Creative Time, the lights were first seen in March 2002 for a month and then became......

Thousands of cameras, license plate readers, radiation detectors, and street barriers to be installed downtown won't just observe and record the activity of vehicles and individuals, but will be programmed to sound alarms if they spot suspicious activity. The Lower Manhattan Security Initiative, patterned after London's Ring of Steel surveillance system, will place 3,000 cameras below Canal St., install 100 license plate readers at bridges and tunnels and around downtown, locate an undisclosed number of......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a two alarm fire at 80 Washington St in Lower Manhattan; an aircraft emergency at JFK this morning; two pedestrians struck on E. 53rd St.; and a "possible A.I. job" (whatever that is) in Woodhaven. The NYCLU objected yesterday to the number of cases the Civilian Complaint Review Board substantiated. The board, which investigates police misconduct, only substantiated 5% of the cases, but that's actually higher than that of......

The rebuilding process at Ground Zero took another small step forward today as final plans for Towers 2, 3, and 4 were unveiled. Larry Silverstein and a group of architects unveiled updated designs for the buildings, which are supposed to start construction in January. These plans are more detailed than the initial designs released last year, with more information on the lobbies, public spaces, and building facades. Silverstein says the buildings will be environmentally......

The Post created this handy graphic explaining the progress of buildings at the World Trade Center site. Describing construction as "booming," the Post suggests the "least heralded project" is the "massive, 80-foot-deep...bathtub" for three Church Street office towers and their foundations. Any takers on whether these projects get finished in time? We will bet that Freedom Tower opens in 2011, even if it's not completely finished, for a 10-years-after-September 11 ceremony. There are many......