A storefront at the corner of Vanderbilt Avenue and 43rd Street (across from Grand Central) may be a window into the future of the West Side Rail Yards. The MTA unveiled an exhibition of the five proposals to redevelop the rail yards on the Far West Side of Manhattan, and the public will get a chance to see the models every day (except Thanksgiving) through December 3. And what's more, the MTA wants the......

Plans for a new Penn Station and Madison Square Garden at the historic Farley Post Office building remain as murky as ever. But a recent poll undertaken by the Municipal Art Society (MAS) suggests that Penn Station commuters overwhelmingly favor the prospect of a grand new train station--but they need more information. If and when the project proceeds, who will keep watch over the three mega-developers (the state-run ESDC, along with private companies Related Group......

LAist is experimenting with blogging dates from J-Date, but finds the best men are found offline. Some date vicariously online and that is one reason why porn is big -- really freaking big -- so they ask if they should cover XXX since the heart of it lays in the city's San Fernando Valley. A writer grapples with her food porn photography obsession, another gets censored on Flickr, one gets scooped by the LA......

The city's Far West Side dreams are at stake as the MTA will auction off the buildings rights to the West Side railyards. The NY Times takes a broad look the 26-acre swath of land where Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff says the Bloomberg administration wants to create the "21st century Rockefeller Center." Well, a Rockefeller Center with many huge buildings, as the article's lede calls the lots "where the Bloomberg administration envisions the equivalent......

It's difficult to know quite what to say about the huge transformations on the horizon for the Far West Side. That's partly because major negotiations and plans regarding the future of Madison Square Garden, the Farley Post Office, the Javits Center, the 7-train extension, and rezoning are taking place behind closed doors. Another reason is the uneven pace at which the planning proceeds-- years of plodding speculation followed by the sudden unveiling of a proposal,......

Galas make us kind of nervous, but we attended this week's Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation dinner at Balthazar honoring the work and life of Jane Jacobs to hear what more could be said about the revered author and activist. New Yorker architecture critic Paul Goldberger called Jacobs "the great prophet of the Village" and praised her legacy of radical intervention. "What she believed," he said, "is that every place has an essence,......

Have we mentioned that we love the Villager? No? Because really, we do. Maybe because it's the paper for the 'hood in which we grew up, though we doubt it, but regularly we're struck by what a good job the folks over there are doing covering an area in which more seems to happen in a single day than happens in some cities in a year. Take this weeks issue for example. On top of......

The city has announced its final Olympic venue plan for the NYC 2012 Olympics bid. There are three main clusters where the games would be held: "Olympic Square at Hudson Yards on the Far West Side of Manhattan" for track & field, the opening and closing ceremonies, plus other actitivities like fencing and judo at the Javits Center; "Olympic Park at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park," where archery, rowing, slalom (!!!), tennis and water polo would be;......

This is awesome: A group of people opposed to Jets Stadium on the West Side, including a state assemblyman, dug deep into the Jets Stadium proposal's Envirnomental Impact Statement to find that New York Region > Stadium Could Send Sewage Into River, Lawmaker Says" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/25/nyregion/25stadium.html">sewage might be dumped into the river with the stadium's development. The NY Times reports, "Deep in its 4,300 pages the statement says that the sewage flow from the West Side......

As if there weren't enough disagreements over the West Side stadium, the Regional Plan Association, a private planning organization, released a report yesterday saying that the plan to build a new stadium for the Jets should be scrapped. In its place, the RPA suggested the area should be rezoned for high-rise commercial and residential development. Their report also said that the expansion of the Javits Center should proceed as planned and that the stadium would......

NYC and NY State are looking to announce plans to build a stadium, renovate Javits, and develop the West Side tomorrow. The plans' costs would be funded by the city and state ($600 million each), a temporary hotel tax ($500 million), the Jets ($800 million), and other private sources, the centerpiece being a $1.4 billion Jets stadium. After a lot of back and forth between the city and state, many feel that the announcement signals......

The Corcoran says that there are only 6,000 apartments for sale in Manhattan, which is the lowest number in five years. Wall Street bonuses are up, interest rates are down, and, as one realtor says, "Buyers are ready to pounce. They're educated, they're anxious and they want to move quickly." The lack of apartments for sale can only mean one thing: Rents go up. Or that Gothamist should re-look at our plans to build a......

–Lower East Side tenement photo galleries –There may be a sports stadium yet on the Far West Side –Today's interning NYers –Orlando Bloom wears a t-shirt –How many Republicans can you fit onto a boat during next year's Republican convention? –None, since New Yorkers are getting their way. –Times Square: Not for walking –Stop your debating: Nicole Richie is black –NY crime continues to fall –What not to do if dumped this holiday season......

The possibility of giving the NY Jets its own stadium may be announced next year, as the Jets have reportedly agreed to pay $800 million for a West Side stadium if the city and state kick in $300-400 million for a retractable roof (important because then the stadium could host events year-round), AC system, and the platform for the stadium to sit on. The proposed stadium would also be used for the Olympics if NYC......

– The Meatpacking District gets sponsored – Surprise! People like their technology – Our January 4 is booked up – We're not the only ones who think our cellphone service sucks – High school class of '94s, here's your chance – The ugliest $6,000 shower curtain Gothamist has ever seen – CSI: New York? We're not so interested – The BBQ King of the Far West Side takes on steak – When clowns attack frogs:......

The drive to develop the "Far West Side" got an extra push from Manhattan Borough President Virginia C. Fields, who asked Mayor Bloomberg to start development soon, specifically on the expansion of the Javits Center. NY now ranks #18 (ahead of Detroit and San Francisco) of the top 20 U.S. Cities for conventions; L.A., San Francisco, and Chicago consistently attract conventions with their facilities. The Mayor's Office says, "The mayor is firmly committed to the......

Another step closer to trying to create a new vibrant neighborhood in Manhattan, Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff unveiled plans for the Far West Side, which runs from 24th Street to 42nd Street, 8th Avenue to the Hudson River. The goal is to build two platforms over the railyards, which apparently was done with Grand Central Terminal. The Post reports that other parts of the proposal include: - A park the size of Bryant Park, shops,......