Last year Mayor Bloomberg announced a $3 billion plan to seize 61 acres of the Willets Point district next to the forthcoming Citi Field in Queens through eminent domain, raze it, and construct 5,500 units of housing, a hotel, convention center and over 2 million square feet of office space, restaurants and retail shops. But business owners in the target zone have been fighting it, saying their ‘hood, dubbed the Iron Triangle for its chop......

Image of firefighters trying to put out overturned fuel tanker fire in Queens from WNBC A two-alarm fire was ignited on the Van Wyck Expressway when a tanker crashed near North Conduit Avenue - and JFK Airport - around noon. The driver could not escape and died in the blaze. The was extinguished by 1:30PM, but WCBS 2 reported, "A sea of foam covered the ramp and surrounding ground area, even catching fire at......

Not too long ago it was reported that Jennifer Lopez was ready to burst as her belly swelled with twins on the way. She had visited a Long Island hospital with husband Marc Anthony and her couture hospital gowns, but it must have been a false alarm, because soon after she was attending Fashion Week events. Initially it was reported she would have a Cesarean birth that was scheduled for Valentine's Day; no word yet......

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on Gothamist. The 2009 Toyota Corolla, which encourages you to "Live the Dream for Less Coin." Campaign for New York's Future, encouraging you to send a letter in support of congestion pricing. Joe Jackson's Rain, available now on Amazon.com. Jeremy Fisher, performing at the Canal Room tonight. Other People's Love Letters, the book where you can see 150 love letters you were never......

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on Gothamist. The 2009 Toyota Corolla, which encourages you to "Live the Dream for Less Coin." Other People's Love Letters, the book where you can see 150 love letters you were never meant to see. Joe Jackson's Rain, available now on Amazon.com. Nik Bärtsch's Ronin, the new album that's available now. Elsewares, where you can get a 10% off your order with the......

Last we checked in on Gwyneth Paltrow she was being wheeled into Mount Sinai Hospital for what ended up being a "gastrointestinal situation." Bouncing back quickly, she was at a UNICEF event last week where she dropped the bomb about a new bambino:“People who have a lot also often feel like they have a lot to give. I have a good friend who always says that if you’re a person of means at all, then......

An animal near and dear to the Gothamist heart has been embroiled in a Super Bowl controversy! This year's wardrobe malfunction is now the debate over an animated ad from SalesGenie.com that features pandas. During the commercials, two pandas discuss how to stay in business while speaking with Chinese (English-as-a-second-language) accents. There is also one panda who speaks in non-accented English. After the growing criticism (even College Humor dubbed it "the first commercial to......

Yesterday's fire at Lydig Avenue and White Plains Road in the Bronx ended up being a five-alarm blaze that tore through twelve businesses. Over 200 firefighters from 44 units were on the scene to fight the fire, which started around 8AM; the fifth alarm was called before 10AM, and the fire was under control by 11:39AM. The fire started in a laundromat and spread to other businesses, many of which do not have insurance. The......

It's not just property values that are collapsing in New York; a construction crane collapsed in Tribeca and injured two workers who were working to repair the crane on the 300-unit residence building. The crane was 200 feet tall and buckled Friday under the strain of an overweighted payload of lumber. Initial reports said that there were no injuries and that several buildings surrounding the 450 Washington St. address had to be evacuated. A later......

Photograph of News Corp.'s Midtown headquarters by Triborough on Flickr Now that Rupert Murdoch owns The Wall Street Journal, he wants all his toys in one toychest properties in one building, namely News Corporation's Sixth Avenue building. The Wall Street Journal newsroom has always been downtown and is currently located at the World Financial Center. What's interesting is it seems like WSJ staffers would welcome a move to Midtown. The World Trade Center attacks......

As of 8 this morning the starting points for this year's Idiotarod had already been changed twice. As with every year, the effort to dodge police and the scramble to find the most updated starting line is still underway, but the carts should be off soon...and we'll keep you updated. In the meantime, check out Team Danger Zone's ride! Photo via lobster rocket's flickr. 12:35pm - Where are the carts? We just received this message:......

Rose Morat, the 101-year-old victim of a vicious mugging caught on surveillance tape last year, testified at a special videotaped hearing in a Queens courtroom yesterday. Morat will turn 102 next month and Queens prosecutors thought it would be prudent to make sure her testimony was recorded, as the actual case probably won't go to trial for another year. Morat didn't seem to take the precaution personally. Upon taking the stand, Morat described the events......

Okay people, time for your morning update on The Ledge – come on, you know you want it. Even Daniel Day Lewis says there’s nothing else to talk about. (Scroll down.) Sorry we’re late, but there are a lot of new developments this morning. First and foremost, Heath Ledger is, sadly, still dead. Second! Before calling 911, Diana Wolozin, the unlicensed massage therapist who found Ledger’s body, used Ledger’s phone to speed dial Mary-Kate Olsen......

Photo of tuna at Tsukiji Market in Tokyo courtesy Tien Mao. Hold onto your chopsticks; the Times recently commissioned a toxicology report on sushi from 13 local establishments and got back some rather unappetizing results:More than half of the restaurants and stores surveyed sold sushi with so much mercury that eating just six pieces a week would exceed the amount the EPA says can be safely consumed by an adult of average weight, which the......

Satellite map rendering of 475 Kent Avenue from Live Search Maps Over 150 residents of an eleven-story building at Kent Avenue in South Williamsburg were evacuated yesterday after the Fire Department and Buildings Department found a number of violations. The building had been illegally converted to residences and a matzoh factory, complete with two silos of (highly combustible) grain in the basement. A neighboring building was cited as well, and the violations ranged from......

Last June Scientific American took a look at a human-less New York, a vision that was fairly on par with how the city was portrayed in I Am Legend. Now it's The History Channel's turn to jump on board the post-apocalyptic train, their show Life Without People will premiere this Monday (at 9pm). The scene is eerily similar to how Chernobyl looks after decades without human inhabitants. The show's site tells us: "Abandoned skyscrapers......

Photograph of Mayor Bloomberg and Lance Armstrong by Harry Cabluck/AP The day after giving his State of the City address, Mayor Bloomberg headed out of town and to capital of the Lone Star State. Sure, Bloomberg did have a press conference with Lance Armstrong and former Surgeon General Richard Carmona, but more interesting was his meeting with Ross Perot's former campaign manager! The billionaire mayor had a "private" meeting with Clay Mulford, who is......

People have been wondering about former mayor Rudy Giuliani's campaign for a long time (his presidential campaign plan notebook went missing last January! he pays more attention to his friends' advice versus that of election consultants). Now, with the Florida primary on the horizon, it seems his New York-based supporters are starting to worry. The first few weeks of the new year have brought Giuliani embarrassing finishes in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Michigan as......

Recently at one of our sister sites, LAist's Julie Wolfson spent an afternoon with Cloverfield director Matt Reeves. In the interview that follows he spills some juicy details about the film, including what the title really means, which will be in theaters this Friday. Over the years you have been very selective in your choice of projects. What made you want to direct your first monster movie? Well, I guess it had to do......

In June of 2007, Mark Malkoff made news with his attempt, documented in a funny video, to patronize each of Manhattan’s 171 Starbucks in a single day. Now the Comedy Central staffer is back in the press with his latest quirky idea; he spent last week living in the Paramus, New Jersey IKEA to avoid his fumigated apartment. The strange experiment has been humorously documented on his website; we got him on the phone in......

An AP report that Mayor Bloomberg has been "conducting extensive polling and voter analysis in all 50 states" continues to fan the flames of a possible Bloomberg '08 bid. We can just imagine it: People in Alaska, Missouri, Ohio, all getting phone calls and asked, "How would you feel if a billionaire who happened to also be a mayor of a certain urban area decided to run for President - as an independent?" So far,......

The fate of Pier 40, located at West Houston Street on the Hudson, was much discussed and debated last year, and 2008 seems to be a year of further reflection. At one point, there was a $625 million idea for it to become an elaborate entertainment venue with a Cirque du Soleil theater, restaurants, and more, while opposing forces wanted there simply to be more green space. In the waning weeks of December, another......

Mayor Bloomberg's trip to the University of Oklahoma to caucus with a bipartisan group of current and former politicians and grouse about Washington gridlock only fueled the fires of speculation that he is preparing a Presidential run. People are already strategizing about who his ideal running mate would be. Bloomberg is sticking to his (anti-)guns, however, and still claiming that he is not a candidate. But his pollster told the LA Times that our Mayor......

Shake Shack – that object of obsession for so many burger lovers within a 10-mile radius of Madison Square Park – reopens today for their first winter season. Gothamist commenter MaiaW articulated the passion and excitement best when we first reported the year-round Shaction last month: “OMG, OMG. Now I have absolutely NO excuse not to eat there once a week (calories shmalories). Woo hooooo!!” With typically disheartening lines stretching almost out of the......

Remember how a few years ago a 19-year-old girl climbed down onto the subway tracks to get her phone and got killed by an oncoming V train? It seems the lesson still hasn’t been learned and commuters are still risking their lives to retrieve dropped objects: Tourist Bijan Rezvani recently explained his reasons for venturing down there to collect his precious iPhone. It's the first time I've had a cool phone that does anything and......

From rats ruling a West Village KFC/Taco Bell to Governor Spitzer's downward spiral, from a shock jock's questionable words to an up-and-down year for the MTA (and its riders), we bring up the biggest stories of 2007. Midtown Steam Pipe Explosion On a July afternoon, an 83-year-old steam pipe near Grand Central Station exploded, ripping apart the street. Debris, including asbestos, filled the air and covered people as they ran from the scene. One woman......

Their day in the sun ocean is just around the corner, but the Polar Bear Club of Coney Island may be in too deep with one donation they recently accepted. The Brooklyn Paper reports that in spite of the club "growling in the anti-Thor procession during the Mermaid Parade," the Polar Bears have "made peace" with Thor. Polar Bears president Lou Scarcella explained that when Thor took condos out of their plans for Coney Island......

As violence continues in Pakistan in the wake of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto's assassination, New York City's Pakistani population was shocked by the news, watching news coverage and holding vigils. One woman said to the Daily News, "For us, this is like losing [President John] Kennedy. She wanted peace. She wanted democracy. And she lost her life for these things." And a man told the NY Times, “I think there will be......

In spite of the presence of a new governor, Albany politics has been as insanely frustrating as usual. And the NY Sun's year-end interviews with the top three lawmakers - Governor Eliot Spitzer, State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, and Assembly Leader Sheldon Silver - demonstrate why pretty much everyone sighs when they think of the capitol and state politicians. Bruno, the lone Republican, tells the Sun that Silver needs to deals with insults better,......

A 56-year-old man in the Flatlands section died in his apartment after his cigarette started a fire. Sixty fire fighters responded to the one alarm fire that broke out around 7:45AM on 1275 East 51 Street. The FDNY had it under control within 20 minutes of responsing, but they were unable to save the apartment's dweller, Harvey Kudisch. Neighbors describe the widower as a heavy smoker, with one telling the Post, "The smoke got so......