Earlier this year some renderings for a Governors Island redesign were released. Out of the five contending designs, all of which the NY Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussof called "unambitious", a winner was finally chosen. Earlier today at the Whitehall Ferry Terminal, Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Spitzer announced the Dutch firm West 8 has been selected to recreate the open space on the island. This was one of the firms that Ouroussof pointed out......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a bank robbery on Austin St. in Queens, a pedestrian struck off Balfour Pl. and Empire Blvd. in Brooklyn, and a rescue on Bank St. in Manhattan. The Domino Sugar factory on Brooklyn's waterfront has achieved landmark status. David Chase is heading to court to face a former municipal court judge who claims he came up with an idea for a show about a northern NJ mob family. David......

At the direction of Gov. Spitzer, state inspector general Kristine Hamann (who handled the Troopergate investigation) is looking into allegations of "misfeasance and nonfeasance" at The Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor. The commission was formed in 1953 to root out corruption and mob control of the docks in New York. Ironically, it's now the waterfront watchdog that has come under scrutiny for misdeeds that include that it "hired unqualified police officers, inappropriately spent agency......

Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff, who was in charge of Economic Development and Rebuilding in the Bloomberg administration, announced he would resign by the end of the year. The Post called the news "stunning," but we'd like to call it "classic," because his new job will be president of a little company called Bloomberg LP. At a City Hall press conference, Mayor Bloomberg said, "As a result of Dan's efforts, we've allowed for the creation of......

Insert obligatory phoenix metaphor here: Brooklyn’s Freebird, the used book and corn dogs mecca that closed earlier this year, is set to re-emerge a little later this week from The Embers of Gentrification. While the NY Magazine article linked in that last sentence is about the real estate debacle of Red Hook, the shuttered Freebird, which is technically in Cobble Hill, is sometimes considered (with restaurants like Alma) to be an extension of that troubled......

The elements that have made City Hall Park so attractive to New York's humans have also made the area hospitable to the city's rodent population--so much so that the park has become overrun with rats, who don't seem to mind people company as much as people mind rat company. Regardless of the time of day or the number of people congregating there, rats--lots and lots of them--have made City Hall park their home. The New......

If you’ve got a sweet tooth and a couple hundred bucks to blow, you’ll want to mark your calendar for Friday November 16th, when the Food Network throws New York’s “largest dessert party ever.” Called Sweet, the event will unleash a massive tsunami of temptations from some of NewYork’s top pastry chefs, confectioners, cheese makers, bakers and chocolatiers. To wash it all down there’ll be a wide selection of champagne and wine, including samples from......

ART: Duke Riley brings his latest exhibit, After the Battle of Brooklyn: East River Incognita II, to Magnan Projects. Starting tonight and showing through December 22nd, the works imagine New York during the Revolutionary War and "interweave historical and contemporary events with elements of fiction and myth to create allegorical histories. His re-imagined narratives comment on a range of issues from the cultural impact of overdevelopment and gentrification of waterfront communities to contradictions within political......

This past weekend, an aluminum tree sculpture, dubbed A Tree for Anable Basin, built upon a floating island, set sail off Hunters Point. The project by Chico MacMurtrie and Amoprhic Robot Works was conceived to investigate and celebrate "the enigmatic, rapidly changing waterfront environment of Long Island City." It also acts as a "condominium for birds"; the press release reads:It is designed to emote the displacement of nature, specifically of migratory water birds by......

After receiving a dispensation from city officials last month to remain open until the end of their traditional season, the Red Hook Ball Field vendors are serving up their South and Central American and Mexican fare today and tomorrow for the last time this year. Whether they will return next spring is an open question. This summer the Parks Dept. proposed opening bidding for vending concessions at the fields, which would push most of the......

New York City was amply represented during last night's National Design Awards at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. The Landscape Design award went to PWP Landscape Architecture, the firm that won the World Trade Center Memorial design competition (with Michael Arad). PWP Principal Peter Walker thanked Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Pataki and described the last four years as "difficult," presumably for the number of redesigns and challenges with moving the project forward, but he......

The Real Deal (via Brownstoner) is reporting that, according to a recent court ruling, the city is taking two Williamsburg properties via eminent domain for Bushwick Inlet Park. The properties are located along the East River between North 9th and 10th streets. According to one real estate expert, the city will only pay about $100 per square foot, compared to the $200 per square foot it could garner on the open market, even though the......

Developer Charles J. Urstadt, the man behind the creation of Battery Park City in the 1970s, is eager to duplicate the feat further north up the Hudson by creating an additional 40 to 50 acres of Manhattan real estate. How? Well, by depositing fill dredged from Lower New York Bay. Urstadt estimates that the city could create land for $75 a square foot that could be worth $2,000 to $3,000 a square foot when developed......

Five architectural firms have banded together to brainstorm ideas for adding green space to the far west side from the Village to Tribeca, also known as Hudson Square. A plan to add more garbage trucks to the neighborhood, writes Downtown Express's Patrick Hedlund, led local stakeholders to elicit architectural visions. Five firms - Arquitectonica GEO , FLAnK, LTL Architects, SPaN and Zakrzewski + Hyde (in association with Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects and Planners) - were......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a fall victim on Davoe Terrace in the Bronx, a bank robbery on 2nd Ave. in Manhattan between 62nd and 63rd Sts., and a missing person on 180th St. and Clinton Ave. in the Bronx. Jay-Z is a significant partner interested in moving the Nets to Brooklyn, but the rapper apparently is also interested in the naming rights to the team's current Meadowland arena. Insurance broker Noel Lauria pleaded......

This afternoon, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously to give parts of the Domino Sugar Refinery in Williamsburg landmark status. Redevelopment plans for the old Domino location call for 2,200 apartments (about 660 will be affordable housing) on the entire 11.5 acre site. The Landmark status was specifically given to three buildings (the filter house, the pan house, and the finishing house). Even before the LPC acted, development of the site included some preservation......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: An unstable building in Murray Hill; a "serious trauma" not far from Shea Stadium in Queens; a bank robbery at Avenue A and 4th Street; and at 777 6th Ave there was a barricaded EDP (emotionally disturbed person). Remember those chemicals found at the United Nations? It turns out that they were probably just cleaning supplies. Hopefully these aren't the same tests the organization uses for biological weapons. If......

EXPLORE: Last call to visit the historic Governors Island this season! Free ferry rides depart hourly right next to the Staten Island Ferry terminal. Sitting 800 yards off the southern tip of Manhattan and about 400 from the Brooklyn waterfront, it isn't often you can get a view of the city and a house like that one to the right all from the same place. All Weekend // Governors Island // More info here READING:......

According to the Post, the Parks Department has confirmed that the "Floating Pool Lady" will be towed to another borough next summer. About 70,000 swimmers will have enjoyed the barge-borne pool on the Brooklyn Heights waterfront by the time it closes on Labor Day. Having opened during the rainstorms of July 4, it became a popular attraction reminiscent of the Water Taxi Beach in Long Island City. Its creator also sees it as a revival......

MUSIC: There's not a whole lot going on musically tonight, but the show at Cake Shop seems pretty...sweet. By The End of Tonight and Multitudes will be taking the stage -- the former is described as "the perfect marriage between the math-rockiness of Hella with the glistening, soaring guitars of Explosions in the Sky." 7pm // Cake Shop [152 Ludlow St] // $5 FILM: The Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance and the Municipal Art Society present their......

READING: Elizabeth Edwards, wife of Presidential candidate John Edwards, will have the spotlight on her for the night as she reads from her memoir, Saving Graces. The tale of her teenage son's death and her current battle with cancer may have you grabbing for a box of tissues (and voting for her hubby?). 7pm // Borders [461 Park Ave] // Free MOVIE: Postponed until Monday > Head out in the rain for a screening of......

NewYorkology has its eye on the high seas Buttermilk Channel today, reporting on Puccini's Il Tabarro which will be staged there next month. The Brooklyn waterfront will host four evenings of the opera in September, "aboard a retired fuel tanker tied up to the dock at the container port." The first performance of Il Taborro was at the Metropolitan Opera in 1918. The Mary Whalen (which is the name of the tanker) will bring the......

Another sunny and mild day is on tap for today. The wind has shifted to come out of the southwest ahead of an approaching cold front. The wind shift means we'll see slightly warmer, with a high close to 90, slightly more humid air today. The front is weak and there's not much moisture associated with it so we should stay dry until tomorrow. Tomorrow will see a stronger cold front approaching in the......

The NY Post reports on the ever-declining neighborhood of Red Hook today, with the area going through some changes that may make some suckers wonder why they just spent $800K on an apartment there. The Brooklyn Paper reported on the neighborhood last month as well, stating it "is in fact turning cold one year after New York’s gentrification guard branded it as The Next Big Thing." Of course, the "gentrification guard" had its eyes on......

COMEDY: This weekend marks the 9th Annual Del Close Marathon. Del Close, if you don't know by now, "was the driving force behind improvisational comedy in Chicago for over 30 years influencing Bill Murray, Tina Fey, Mike Myers, John Belushi, Chris Farley and the Upright Citizens Brigade to name a few." The annual weekend began after Del's passing in 1999. All Weekend // Various Times // UCB Theater [307 W 26th St] // $10 shows,......

The developer who plans to transform Brooklyn waterfront where the Domino Sugar factory stands unveiled the billion-dollar plans yesterday. According to the NY Sun, there will be 2,200 housing units, 120,000 square feet of retail space, and 100,000 square feet of community space. Thirty percent of the housing will be affordable: 530 will be rentals (100 units for families making $21,000; 330 for families making up to $40,000; "100 for seniors who make up......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a pedestrian struck at Richmond Terrace and Federal Place on Staten Island, a water rescue at Chambers St. and River Terrace off Manhattan, and a homicide at Bruner and Barnes Aves. in the Bronx. A Connecticut doctor lost his family yesterday after two men broke into his home and held them hostage, while one family member was taken to a nearby bank to withdraw money. After killing the man's......

Who doesn’t make a mistake every now and then? To err is human, right? But what matters in the end is if you get called out on it. When (if) you do, you should probably apologize and make right. Well, we got called out last week. To celebrate National Beer Month we decided to feature a beer that we thought was pretty good, Red Hook Sunrye Summer Ale. Now we don’t expect every reader to......

Today, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz will be kicking off another year of "Lighten Up Brooklyn" with a walk around Brooklyn Heights. "Lighten Up Brooklyn" was started a few years ago to encourage Brooklynites to lose weight and make their lifestyles healthier. And since he had stents put into his arteries last year, Lighten Up Brooklyn is a big deal to Markowitz. From his office's press release:Markowitz, who underwent a stent procedure last summer,......

Esquire has a story written by the person who discovered Spalding Gray's body which ends with this quote from Gray's wife, Kathleen Russo: "No, please, do whatever you like. You don't have to be tasteful. This is Spalding Gray. All he ever talked about was his own death." The 28-year old internet developer, Robin Snead, was with a friend at the Brooklyn waterfront in March 2004 and noticed "some feet poking out from under the......