A well-known ruin is crumbling. According to Roosevelt Island Historical Society president and historian Judith Berdy, part of the north wing of the Smallpox Hospital collapsed about a week ago. She writes, "The rest of the north wing especially the front is in danger of coming down any time... [The Roosevelt Island Operation Corporation] is working with TPL, the Southpoint park developers to find a way to do emergency stabilization of the rest of......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting on 155th Ave. and 79th St. in Queens, a bank robbery at the Chase branch on De Kalb and Bedford Ave. in Brooklyn, and a pedestrian struck at Hunts Point and Lafayette Aves. in the Bronx. The Guggenheim sent out a postcard inviting people to a seminar about Andy Warhol. The message on the reverse side is expletive-laced and describes Warhol and his fans in derogatory terms......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: A boat in distress at the Roosevelt Island Bridge, a homicide on Howard in Brooklyn, and a stabbing on Jamaica Avenue and 161st Street in Queens Hillary Clinton out-fund-raises Rudy Giuliani and Barack Obama in New York, which makes sense since she's been building her donor list as a Senator from New York. The big mystery of NYC: Where the middle class live. A man was fatally hit by......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: An overturned vehicle on the Triborough Bridge, which can't be good for all those getting away for the weekend; an escaped prisoner in The Bronx; and multiple pedestrians were struck Dyckman Street & Broadway. Early this morning in Bed-Stuy, a police officer sitting in a marked vehicle was shot in the arm. The officer was treated and released from Kings County Hospital but the NYPD is still searching for......

This October, artist Thom Sokoloski will build 100 white tents on Roosevelt Island, and the public will be able to see the illuminated tents at night as well as explore what's in them. The project is called The Encampment and here is a description the website:The Encampment is a large-scale public participatory art installation. 100 - 19th century luminous tents will be erected as a work of optical art on Roosevelt's Island Southpoint. From......

The alternative energy company that has plans to install hundreds of turbines in the East River to harness tidal energy and generate zero-emission electrical power is running into trouble due to the massive amount of energy they are dealing with. The small number of turbines already placed in the East River by Verdant Power have been temporarily removed as the strong currents continue to overwhelm the physical construction of the underwater "windmills." The six......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a vessel in distress off Rikers Island in the East River, a dead body found in the East River off Roosevelt Island and Queens, and an industrial accident on 52nd Ave. in Queens. Confirming recent speculation, The New York Times is cancelling its TimesSelect initiative, in which people subscribed to read a number of columnists and other special online content. Mayor Bloomberg signed autographs, greeted courtroom personnel, and posed......

Long-held plans to build a memorial to FDR on Roosevelt Island may finally be coming to fruition, although not everyone is pleased. Welfare Island in the East River was renamed Roosevelt Island in 1973, anticipating the installation of a memorial to Franklin Delano Roosevelt that had been in the planning stages since 1970. The renaming was probably also welcomed by future residents of the island's first residential housing that would open in 1976. Famed architect......

The 31st Annual Macy's 4th of July Fireworks extravaganza is just around the corner. This is the largest display in America and takes a year to plan. This year's show will stretch wider than usual in a "high definition" format, choreographed to the New York Pops (simulcast on 1010 WINS, TV broadcast on NBC). The Daily News has an interview with Gary Souza, fireworks designer for the event; he says, "We have a new......

THEATER: Gertrude Stein is regarded as an avant-garde intellectual whose adventurous prose has long overshadowed her plays – despite her Broadway hit Four Saints in Three Acts. (Who could forget?) A crack team of downtown experimental theater types are now hoisting six of Stein’s one-acts out of obscurity with a production in the East Village. The evening, irresistibly dubbed Steinese Takeout, boldly embraces Stein’s radicalism and runs with it. How radical are these plays? “How......

The five conceptual proposals for redeveloping Governors Island, "The Park at the Center of the World," have been floating for over a week now. Maybe you saw the technicolor article in last week's New York Magazine. Or maybe you've swooned among the large-scale paradise boards on display at the Center for Architecture. None of these five proposals will necessarily materialize. We're familiar with this type of conceptual process from design competitions at the WTC......

Restaurants vs. Bloggers -- the smackdown. Shouts go out to New York locals NYCNosh, Ed Levine, and the Amateur Gourmet. [The Food Section] We adore lambrusco -- now Vino and I Trulli are carrying a rare line of lambruscos fermented in the bottle, champagne-style. [Grub Street] Morandi -- now serving breakfast. [Eater] Why are there only two restaurants on Roosevelt Island? Could it be the work of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation? [NYCNosh] The Smoke......

Yesterday, the MTA lowered the first of many parts of the Tunnel Boring Machine into the lower level of the 63rd Street tunnel as part of the MTA’s East Side Access project. The lowering itself could have been dismissed by passersby as just some sort of generic routine construction work, but it was much more than just moving a boring machine. When finally assembled in about two months, the 600-ton automated Spanish-owned and Italian-made......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an abduction on Marmion Ave. in the Bronx., a pedestrian struck at Driggs Ave. and South 8th in Brooklyn, and a scaffolding collapse at 35th St. and 6th Ave in Manhattan. An up-and-coming rapper was shot dead in the lobby of his building. Is waving the state Attorney General past airport security a career-saving or career-ending move? That's up in the air. A bigger power plant for Roosevelt Island......

Living on Roosevelt Island may afford you gorgeous views and short commute to Manhattan, but residents really would like more ways out. The Sun reports residents want to build a staircase and elevator to the Queensboro Bridge in case of an emergency. An emergency like evil, goopy water? The president of the Roosevelt Island Residents Association Matthew Katz says, "You can't get off Roosevelt Island fast enough right now. We need to find alternative ways......

In week 2 of the NYC Department of Education's busted school bus route changes, parents are still complaining and the media is loving it. There's 5 year old Michelle Baum in the Post today, waiting outside in the freezing weather for her bus. And the hotline the DOE has been directing parents to seems to be just as bad: In yesterday's Daily News, there was 11 year old Eleanor Shanahan whose family was told a......

Although we haven't heard the old "urban jungle" metaphor applied to New York lately, preservationists continue to churn out new lists of "endangered" architectural species. The newest, Ten to Save: Endangered NYC comes from an editor at amNewYork, Rolando Pujol. It is derived in part from the New York Landmark Conservancy's Endangered Buildings Online, which was unveiled last summer July. The driving concept behind the new list sounds by now quite familiar: "The soaring......

Oh no. Someone jumped in front of the F train at West 4th Street. Expect delays as service has been rerouted - from the MTA: Due to a Police investigation at the West 4th Street-Washington Square Station, the Brooklyn bound F train is running express from the 34th Street-Herald Square Station to the West 4th Street-Washington Square Station. The V train is running on the E line from the 5th Avenue-53rd Street Station to......

The New York City Journal is a blog about New York... in Sim City. It's author has spent many months laboriously recreating every detail of the five boroughs, from Times Square, to MSG, to Governors Island, to Roosevelt Island, and beyond. It's amazing stuff-- page through his monthly archives for reenactments of major New York events like September 11th and the Upper East Side plane crash. If you like this stuff, you should check out......

The National Transportation Safety Board released an update to its investigation into the October 11 plane crash carrying Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle and his flight instructor Tyler Stanger. It appears that the turn the plane was trying to make was too tight, and the wind may also have caused an issue when the plane crashed into the East 72nd Street apartment building. From the NTSB: Radar data indicate that the airplane was flying over......

"An eventual field of underwater turbines in NY's East River" sounds like a dream, but it turns out it may be a reality in a near future. Verdant Power, with the New York State Energy Research & Development Authority is working on the Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy Project that would bring up to 10 Megawatts of energy from an East River turbine field. While the first turbines are supposedly being deploye this year, Verdant has......

If you're thinking of taking advantage of a beautiful Sunday to hit up some Open House New York spots, you're in luck. Newyorkology has summarized Sunday locations that don't require reservations or have very small limits on tours. Some cool choices: - Octagon & Lighthouse Park, Roosevelt Island - The Montauk Club, Brooklyn - Jacob Riis Park Bathhouse, Queens - Washington Irving High School, Union Square Photograph of the New York City Marble Cemetery -......

-- The Caribbean Day Parade is tomorrow-- it starts at 11am on Eastern Parkway. But check this out: "the really cool kids will be lining up to watch predawn procession known as J'Ouvert that kicks off at 2 a.m." -- Banksy punks Paris Hilton's new CD in the UK-- but apparently he didn't do any in NYC on his recent visit. -- The NYPD is now 17% women, but surprise, surprise-- they only hold......

Just in time for the school year, the Roosevelt Island Tram is up and running again! It's been two and a half months since the tram stalled over for half a day with 68 people in two cars, and tram officials have said they have tested, re-tested, and tri-tested the cars, but still, more work would be done. WNBC reports Roosevelt Island Operation Cooperation president Herb Berman as saying "that in 2008, the entire......

-- According to Bruce Ratner, all the city papers are hugely in favor of the Atlantic Yards project. And why would he lie? -- The Times has some very moving coverage of the funeral of one of the shooting victims in the Queens Rampage case. -- The Roosevelt Island Tramway (now equiped with advanced bucket pee-system) goes back into action on Friday. -- This shot of squirrels snuggling is redonkulicious. -- PLG is claiming......

The residents of Roosevelt Island are a couple weeks closer to getting their tram back. That is, if they want it. The tram, which had two cars stuck for basically half a day with 68 people in them back in April, was tested yesterday and went well. The tram has been out of service since the April 18th stuckage-suckage, and the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation put $500,000 into upgrading machines and tested evacuation plans.......

Dan Dickinson let us know some interesting news from the world of anime. An upcoming Japanese anime series, RED GARDEN, will be set on Roosevelt Island. Apparently it's about kids who go to a high school on Roosevelt Island - and we guess hijinks will occur (we have a very poor understanding of Katakana - if someone who knows Japanese better wants to translate, we'd love that) - maybe they will involve stuck trams.......

"Where can I get a good view of the fireworks on 4th of July? Should I bring a folding chair? Can I bring alcohol? " If you haven't made friends with someone who has East River and/or Statue of Liberty waterfront views yet, we have some answers. The Macy's Fireworks Spectacular has 3 different fireworks launching sites this year (here's the map) - on the East River between 23rd and 42nd streets, between Liberty......

In an article about finding the "great outdoors" in our cramped city, the Post has a nice feature on how much people love their community gardens. A couple moving to NYC from Pennsylvania were thrilled to have a community garden near The Octogan (pricelessly described as a "former insane asylum that's been converted into 500 rental units on Roosevelt Island") and are now number 11 on the waiting list. And a woman in Hell's Kitchen......

Those poor residents of Roosevelt Island. The Roosevelt Island Tram, which was stuck for half a day with 68 people in two cars, has been out of service for almost a month while various agencies investigated the problems. For a while, the tram wouldn't move, but recently tram has been working on 400 test runs, thanks to a new electrical power source. But the tram still needs to be inspected by the Department of Labor......