Roughly six years have passed since the controversial Red Hook IKEA was first proposed, further dividing an already fragmented community. Next month the 346,000-square-foot store, the first IKEA in New York City, will finally open on Beard Street, and, you guessed it, the community is still divided. John McGettrick, co-chair of the Red Hook Civic Alliance, insists IKEA is a waste of 22 acres of prime waterfront property and will create a traffic nightmare on......

The farewell party for the famous "Toy Tower" at the Avenue B and 6th Street community garden took place yesterday. Vanishing New York estimates about 100 well-wishers were in attendance to eulogize the found object art tower, which rose to a height of 65 feet over the course of two decades. The eclectic structure is the work of the colorful East Village character Eddie Boros, who passed away one year ago this month. Adrian Benepe,......

Today, in the wake of the CB6 meeting that took place last night, Eugene Mirman tells us what he really thinks of his nagging neighbors; sentiments that are surely being echoed from his speech last night. Put in some earplugs and read carefully Crow & Co.I feel bad that some people are genuinely bothered by the noise outside the bar — and Union Hall has done a lot to remedy the situation. I don’t live......

A State Supreme Court judge has issued a “preliminary injunction” prohibiting the city from turning the 78-year-old Pavilion in Union Square park into a restaurant. Last week the court ruled that the $21 million overhaul to the north end of the park could proceed while a lawsuit brought by community groups moves forward, but temporary stalled work on the Pavilion. Opponents object to what they see as the privatization of park space and insist the......

A tipster tells Vanishing New York that the iconic found object “Tower of Toys” that began rising out of the Avenue B and 6th Street Community Garden in the mid-80s will be demolished by the Parks Department. According to the garden's executive committee, the 65-foot tower has been deemed unsafe. And, let’s face it, it’s just not in keeping with the city’s ever-expanding ‘generic and soulless’ real estate trend. The creator of the tower, Eddie......

UPDATE: NY1's first report yesterday on the Union Square Pavilion lawsuit has been corrected. It turns out that, contrary to the initial news, the injunction stopping work on the park’s 78-year-old Pavilion is still in effect. While parts of the planned renovation to the north end of the park can now proceed, including construction of the expanded playground, the judge has also temporarily stopped the city from cutting down any trees while a lawsuit brought......

A state judge has issued a temporary restraining order to stop the city’s $21 million overhaul of the north end of Union Square Park, which would install a new restaurant in the historic Pavilion, redesign two playgrounds and repave asphalt where the Greenmarket had been operating. A coalition of community groups and parks advocates who brought the lawsuit say the city needs to get approval from the state legislature before privatizing part of the park,......

Last spring, it was announced that Galapagos was being priced out of their N 6th Street digs in Williamsburg, which the club had inhabited permanently since 1998. More recently, TONY hinted that Southpaw owner Matthew Roff planned to sign a lease to take over the space, and today it's been confimed; from a press release:In an exciting development for New York City’s performing arts and music scene, Michael Palms, Matthew Roff, of Southpaw, & Larry......

As anticipated, last night's gala event at the Brooklyn Museum honoring real estate developer Bruce Ratner attracted protesters opposed to the $4 billion Atlantic Yards stadium and residential development proposed for a 22-acre site just a stone's throw from the museum. Atlantic Yards Report was at the scene and writes: "The protest organized by Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn last night outside the museum was notably angry, with some 80 people gathering at one point, many......

Brooklyn community groups opposed to the Atlantic Yards project are outraged developer Bruce Ratner will be honored tonight at a gala at the Brooklyn Museum. Ratner's Forest City Foundation gave $100,000 to the museum in ’05 and again in ’06; now the museum's is giving him their highest honor, the Augustus Graham Medal. Brooklyn resident Michael White is organizing a protest, and tells the Daily News, "A museum should be a good neighbor to its......

The Staten Island Advance has been following the turmoil brewing between a Wiccan family and their neighbors. The South Shore home at the center of the controversy is a duplex, half belonging to the Wiccan devotees, Ivy Colmer Vanderborgh, her husband and mother (the husband isn't Wiccan). Not hiding their practices, their property is decorated with a "witchy weather vane and cauldron out front," along with a massive stained-glass pentacle. Before the front yard cauldron......

Since New York developers love to put on a happy face while spinning their architecture plans to the public, Lost City has made a translation guide so it's a bit easier to follow along. Here are a few key phrases:Statement: "Our design is meant to respect the historical and architectural context of the neighborhood." Translation: "This building is not as big and ugly as we'd like it to be." Statement: "We support the approval process."......

Mini Butterfly, by j_bary at flickrToday on the Gothamis Newsmap: a bank robbery on 40th St. and 7th Ave. in Manhattan, a stabbing on Morris Ave. and East 190th St. in the Bronx, and a sinkhole on 68th St. and Madison Ave. in Manhattan. The original and exisiting Coney Island boardwalk originated from wood chopped down from the Amazon rainforest. The new and improved CI boardwalk will be made of plastic, made from oil.......

In a few days the city will begin its promised crackdown on the glut of parking placards issued to civil servants. But according to Uncivil Servants, a website that documents illegally parked cars displaying city permits, employees of Park East, an Upper East Side synagogue, have been using bogus DIY parking placards for years. And since they don’t even work for the city, their privileges won’t be affected by the new rules. Uncivil Servants says......

Sure, the 2008 election is exciting, but hundreds of candidates are expected to run for city office next year. Of the current City Council, 36 members out of 51 are up for reelection or getting the boot due to term limits. Former Bloomberg aide William Cunningham advised the Sun, "Put on your helmets and put on your seat belts: It's going to be like a demolition derby." It'll be a donation derby as candidates who......

Above, rendering of the proposed park; below, photograph of the site in its current state A $114 million plan to put a waterfront park on the East River, just south of the United Nations, came into focus yesterday; the four-acre site is where a parking lot for a Con Edison power plant used to reside. City Councilman Daniel Gardonick said, "The opportunity to create this riverfront park is an opportunity we cannot afford to......

Almost five years after the horrifying incident where the Staten Island Ferry crashed into wooden pilings at a pier, the city will pay $6.5 million to a man who lost part of his right leg. Shriram Agni was on the front of the boat when the ferry crashed, and his right leg was "sandwiched between collapsing seats." Agni's leg, six inches below the knee, was amputated due to complications and he learned to walk again......

Today the Times’s Frank Bruni marvels at Manhattan’s new wave of high tone restaurant openings during a recession, and pins the trend not on entrepreneurial bravado but on the fact that it takes years to get a fancy eatery open, and most of these new places were envisioned in flusher economic times. It is true that in 2005, the top fifth of earners in Manhattan made 52 times what the lowest fifth make – $365,826......

The fate of McCarren Park Pool turned around after being landmarked and given a $50 million gift from Bloomberg, yet its future look is still up in the air. Following the February 4th meeting, last night another Community Board meeting was held to discuss The Pool. This time architects Rogers Marvel and The Parks Department were on hand to present conceptual plans. Curbed has the reveal, but they note the renderings are merely "draft images......

There may be satisfaction on the horizon for fans of the southern comfort food dished out at Pies 'n' Thighs, the beloved South Williamsburg hole in the wall that shut down last month. Upon closing, the owners vowed to reopen a “bigger, better, more miraculous hole in the wall!” Eater caught wind of a local Community Board hearing last night, during which the owners' plans to obtain a license for beer and wine was......

Illustration of of the BMT from north and south vantage points, via the NYC Economic Development Corp. Plans to construct a glass addition to the top of the Battery Maritime Building moved a little closer to fruition this week with the approval of Community Board 1. The New York Post reports that the Board was a little concerned about the scale of the glass addition that will be added to the century-old structure, but......

Michael Lappin, CEO of the managing company for what is being called the "New Domino", responded yesterday to our questions about the proposed project via email. The iconic Domino Sugar sign is not included in these renderings. [We photoshopped it back in, above.] Is there any plan to preserve that somewhere at the site? We are making every effort to save the sign. We are looking at different engineering solutions regarding the “where and......

Last night the first of two meetings to discuss the future plans of (the recently landmarked) McCarren Park Pool took place. The NYC Department of Parks & Recreation and architects Rogers & Marvel unveiled their plans and how they will spend Mayor Bloomberg’s $50 million. The initial press release listed: renovating McCarren Park Pool for swimming, creating a year-round recreation center, and preserving and restoring the historic bathhouse building and entry arch, as top priorities......

The League of American Bicyclists has awarded New York City a bronze medal for bicycle friendliness. League representatives met with Mayor Bloomberg and DOT commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, who sometimes cycles to work, at City Hall yesterday to present the award. Though bronze is the lowest rung on the friendliness ladder, New York City is the only community in the region to be designated a Bike Friendly Community (BFC). While the total number of cycling fatalities......

Ever since real estate developer Vornado revealed plans for a boxy, glassy skyscraper at 125th Street and Park Avenue last March, people were curious what might companies might lease some of the 640,000 square feet. Now the NY Times reveals Major League Baseball will take a swing at starting its cable network in the building. Wow. The 21-story building, dubbed Harlem Park, would be Harlem's "first prime office to be built" in the neighborhood "in......

This week in the Times, Bruni one-stars Lebanese Ilili, saying “Ilili is probably the atmospherically grandest excursion into Middle Eastern cooking that New York has ever seen.” While much of the menu is inconsistent, he loves the kebabs and kaftas. Says the service is “occasionally confused.” And get the essmalieh for dessert. In Dining Briefs, Peter Meehan goes to Abraço Espresso (pictured), says “it’s tiny, it brews excellent coffee, and the little food that it......

MUSIC: The Stone has been bringing out the big names lately. Tonight Marc Ribot brings his solo act to the 8pm set, then follows himself up by delivering his experimental sounds with none other than Laurie Anderson. Avant-garde all the way. 8 and 10pm // The Stone [Ave C at E 2nd St] // $10 THEATER: In her multimedia musical theater piece North, Heather Christian, daughter of a go-go dancer and a blues musician, is......

Take a good, long look New York: You could be staring into the squinty eyes of your future mayor. (Yes, the white dude on the right.) Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, who describes himself as “somewhat comical” [emphasis added] is on the verge of announcing his candidacy for mayor. Fuhgeddaboutit? The Crown Heights native, who earned a B.A. at Brooklyn College after nine years of night school, has loudly occupied the largely ceremonial position......

Brooklyn bars and restaurants rejoice: you can once again put your sandwich board signs on the sidewalk without fear of tickets from the Department of Sanitation! Your free and effective method for seducing customers with daily specials and clever jokes about drinking the pain away is now perfectly legal. Of course, this does not give you permission to lose all restraint and play music or let people dance. Last fall a crackdown on the signs......

A building that formerly housed the Jamaica Savings Bank is total landmark bait. It was even called "the finest Beaux-Arts building in Queens" by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. But now the building's current owner may stand in the way of the third attempt to landmark the building. Built in 1898, the Jamaica Avenue limestone building designed by Hough & Deuell has been up for landmarking twice - and denied twice, after rejections from the Community......