This year Williamsburg has seen its fair share of stabbings and shootings, and in light of that "a number of local politicians and churches are sponsoring a prayer rally and concert to protest the recent spate of violence in the Southside." One of the latest crimes took place over the East River recently at the daylight drenched hour of 4:45 p.m. The Brooklyn Paper reported that "a gun-toting thug tried to mug a 28-year-old man......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a pedestrian struck on 87th St. and Central Park West in Manhattan, a DOA in a tree off Woodhaven Blvd. in Queens, and a burn victim on 42nd St. and Vanderbilt Ave. in Manhattan. Sidewalk chalk outline artist Ellis G[allagher] was arrested by police and held overnight as he was being filmed by a PBS crew last week in Boerum Hill. Charges were dropped the next day and Gallagher......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a white powder incident at 25 Beaver St. in Manhattan, report of a large crowd gathered at the center of the south side of the George Washington Bridge's upper level, and an explosion in the basement of a building at 77th St. and Lexington Ave. in Manhattan. Dedicated bike paths and fences separating them from traffic can only do so much when a cab driver really wants to take......

If you've ever struggled to figure out which direction you're facing when you step out of a subway station (and there are no landmarks or sun to guide you), you won't have those problems at four subway stations in Midtown anymore. That's because the Department of Transportation and the Grand Central Partnership are placing temporary directional compass decals outside them. DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan explained, "Not a single person, native New Yorker or visitor, can......

Tomorrow, the city and other organizations will mark the sixth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. Here's the official city commemoration:7AM: Families start to arrive at Zuccotti Park, where the ceremony will take place. 8:40AM: Mayor Bloomberg begins the program, which includes first responders reading victims' names and readings from NY Governor Spitzer, former NY Governor Pataki, NJ Governor Corzine and former NYC mayor Giuliani. Bagpipers and drummers lead......

Hurricane Dean continues to gain strength as it heads toward the Yucatán peninsula. The hurricane, with sustained winds of 150 miles an hour, may intensify to a category 5 storm before it hits land tomorrow. Dean is currently expected to cross the Yucatán near the Mexico-Belize border, where it will weaken, then regain strength over the Bay of Campeche before slamming into northern Mexico. The storm passed a hundred miles south of Jamaica and the......

This weekend, you could take a trip back to the 1860s with a visit to Governors Island. It's the Civil War Weekend, and the 119th New York Volunteer Historical Association will "recreate garrison life on Governors Island during the Civil War, portraying officers, soldiers and guards in the Regular Army conducting drills, a guard mount and historic weapons demonstrations." Here's a schedule of events for both Saturday and Sunday: 10:00: Witness the morning calls......

Noah Cicero's The Human War is a book of conversation. But it's not full of idle chatter. Rather, it contains the sort of talking we'd do if we weren't afraid of saying what troubles us most. If we spoke up we'd notice that we have similar, if not the same, things on our minds. The realization that others share our thoughts brings us closer as a people in a time when alienation runs rampant......

After hearing from concerned residents and noticing the problem ourselves, we've been following the Racked report on a lack of gyms in Williamsburg with interest. There is the Metropolitan Pool and Fitness Center, located on Bedford and Metropolitan. According to the Voice, it offers: "two gym rooms and a three-lane, 25-yard pool." Racked also got an email informing them of a new gym which will be opening soon on the south side near Graham Avenue......

It's been a couple of months since we found out that the mysterious building at 11 Spring Street would be converted into condos. Graffiti fans around the world instantly went into mourning, as the walls of 11 Spring have long been considered one of the finest streetart galleries in the United States, and redevelopment indicated that they'd soon be erased. But not so fast! Wooster Collective seems to be sponsoring a new project at......

Yesterday, two pedestrian fatalities were noted on the Newsmap - one in Brooklyn and one in midtown Manhattan. The Brooklyn incident involved an elderly woman trying to cross 65th Street near 23rd Avenue at 11AM when she was hit by a van. Then around noon, Pedro Rodriguez, was crushed by a box truck's rear wheels on 44th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. Rodriguez, who worked as a housekeeper at the Algonquin Hotel down the......

All our dreams that West 11th Street between 5th and 6th Aveunes was classy have been dashed by Manhattan Offender. Sure, those townhouses are gorgeous, but MO noticed a distressing scaffolding set-up:If you are walking on West Eleventh Street between Fifth and Sixth, my advice is to walk on the south side of the street. On the north side is scaffolding. And no, I'm not afraid of walking under scaffolding, but this set is especially......

The big real estate news of the day is that the empty lot on the southeastern corner of West 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue - right near the movie theater on the south side of 42nd Street - will finally get developed. The NY TImes' coverage of the deal starts off with:A New Jersey developer plans to build a $1 billion office tower on the last parcel in the 13-acre Times Square redevelopment district,......

The Daily News revealed the top ten ideas in the running for the redevelopment of Governor's Island. Only 25 proposals were submitted, and while the other ideas may still be considered, these the ones the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation is "concentrating" on:Nickelodeon Recreation/Miller Global Properties: Development of a Nickelodeon Family Suites themed resort complex. The company presently runs a similar operation in Orlando, near Disney World. Federal Development LLC/City University of New......

I've never wanted a vast loft space dwelling more than the day I wandered around Moss and saw the sheep. They were basically three sizes of sawhorse designed to look like grazing sheep for sitting astride. I immediately had visions of a small flock of seats gathered in a shady corner of a huge apartment on Astroturf with maybe the skin of one of these awesome chairs laid over a similar wolf stool. Imagine the......

We were skating down 2nd Avenue in Sunset Park the other day, when we spotted this weird fish on the side of an abandoned building. The fish is on the south side of the street (in the 20s? Lower 30s?), about 15 feet off the ground. Does anyone know who created this fish? What's the story behind it?......

While biking over the Williamsburg Bridge yesterday, Gothamist noticed that a construction crew had closed the entire south side of the path. On of the guys on the crew told us that they were removing and replacing the 26 speedbumps on the Manhattan side of the Bridge-- oh happy day! Bikers have been complaining about these nefarious bumps since they were installed in 2002. Each of the 2" high bumps offers a new opportunity......

Most of the work won't be visible on street level for a while longer, but if the construction that started on August 1 is completed as expected than come January 2008 Houston St. between the Bowery and West St. won't be the same (it won't be that different either but what's a little hyperbole among friends). The Villager has a look at the $29.4 million dollars of work being put into effect: -Sewer and......

Navigating a wine store can be as difficult as trying to walk against traffic in Times Square. Aisle after aisle of labels that might as well be written hieroglyphic codes and cramped little spaces, which are almost begging you to knock a bottle off the shelf, is enough to drive you to drink (hmmm…coincidence or marketing strategy?). Well, times they are a changing - Discovery Wines, a unique and innovative wine store in Alphabet......

Louis Alvarado, U.S. Citizen...

Ricardo Dominguez, Artist and Electronic Civil Disobedience Pioneer...

This week's NYT Dining section dove into one of Gothamist's favorite subjects: street food. The Times highlights the "Arepa Lady," who is very well known to visitors to the Chowhound message boards; Alpha hound Jim Leff has attempted to explain her magic: Nearby, others grill arepas on street carts, but they are not The Arepa Lady (look for the tiny, ageless woman with the beatific smile). They all use the same ingredients and similar grills,......

As a band, Radio 4 (Greg Collins, Anthony Roman, Tommy Williams, Gerard Gerone, PJ O�Connor) has existed for about five years. As a concept, they�re about as old as the city from which they�ve sprung. In many ways, Radio 4 is the quintessential New York band. Understated yet vocal, cynical yet hopeful, blas� and yet undeniably excited by their peers, Radio 4 take the amalgam of sub-cultural emotions and meld them into danceable middle-finger......

This little clothing company is getting a lot of play among the Carroll Gardens/Williamsburg/Noe Valley hipster set. Basically they put the name of your neighborhood on a classic old sweatshirt. NeighborHoodies.com... We weren't sure what neighborhood to get- K thought "West SoHo" sounded real stupid. We ended up going with "Thompson St." Other neighborhood choices that I liked: Orchard St., Vinegar Hill, Arsenal, Battersea, Dreamland (a subway stop in Boston), Little Tokyo, Sunset, Watts, South......