As we announced on Monday, a group of cycling clowns rode along Kent Avenue in Williamsburg today to protest what they call a growing "anti-bike sentiment in Brooklyn." Organized by Times Up, the ride was a response of sorts to vocal community opposition to the bike lane, which some residents and business owners blame for a sudden dearth of parking. Last month Hasidic Jews in the largely Satmar section of South Williamsburg vowed to protest......

......

We continue to receive emails about the controversial Kent Avenue bike lane in Brooklyn, which has become the front line in the battle over bike lanes. On one side are business owners and residents who insist that the new "No Stopping" signs on Kent, installed to accommodate the bike lane, are onerous; on the other side are cyclists who enjoy the sense of a safer commute between north and south Brooklyn, and cherish the......

Drivers, it's the last Friday in November—do you know where your car is? The day after Thanksgiving was the most-ticketed day of the last fiscal year, according to an extensive analysis of parking tickets conducted by the Times. The study concluded that parking tickets issued citywide have surged 42 percent since Mayor Bloomberg took office. During the last fiscal year, the city raked in $624 million in parking fines, which is more than the city spends to run the entire Department of Transportation. Officials, maintaining a straight face, insist the parking enforcement is not driven by revenue goals....

The battle over bike lanes is heating up, with members of the Hasidic community in South Williamsburg vowing to block traffic in protest against a new bike lane on Kent Avenue. You'll recall that some of the opposition has to do with the increasing number of female cyclists riding through the neighborhood wearing immodest clothing. The Hasidim are also fuming over a parking ticket blitz last October when, to make way for the bike lane,......

Saturday, DOT, is Shabbos, the Jewish day of rest. That means Orthodox Jews don't work, don't handle money, don't drive a car, and sure don't roll their wheels to the opposite side of the street to obey city parking regulations. Nevertheless, traffic cops went ahead and enforced a new change in parking rules in the predominantly Orthodox enclave of South Williamsburg, writing tickets for over 90 vehicles that hadn't been moved by 6:30 a.m. Saturday.......

Tickets to the upcoming Bruce Springsteen/Billy Joel "Change Rocks" fundraiser concert for Barack Obama are being scalped (shocking!). Tickets already cost $500 to $10,000--and even though the latter are still available, scalpers are hiking up the prices to as much as $25,000! The Campaign Silo reports that ticket scalping breaks campaign finance laws, and "fans who use scalpers could be complicit." David Donnelly of Campaign Money Watch explained, "If someone purchases tickets for the express......

Don't think for a second that Margaret Arrighi, head of the Bronx Business Alliance, lives in New York City—to her it's the Serengeti, and the traffic agents are the bloodthirsty predators: "They wait for you to park. They come up from behind, like a tiger waiting for its prey. They snap the machine and the ticket has begun to be written. Instead of tapping on the window, instead of asking you to move, they say,......

Since September 10th, when blocking the box was changed from a moving violation to a parking violation, the NYPD has issued over 1,000 citations to the tune of $150 each. But some traffic cops have come out against the change because they say they're ill-equipped to deal with traffic stops, which are "one of the most dangerous interactions even police officers engage in," according to Anthony Miranda of the National Latino Officers Association. He tells......

The Public Theater has busted up a group of "professional line sitters" who've been queuing up for hours every day to get free tickets to Hair in Central Park, then selling them through Craigslist for $150 a pair. one ticket-ring mastermind, William Conklin, tells the Times he was shooed away a couple weeks ago, along with 30 other others (including several people he subcontracts to wait for tickets). Public Theater employees became suspicious after seeing......

Tonight’s hot ticket, as you know, is Plants and Animals at Central Park Summerstage; the phenomenal Montreal trio will also be joined by up-and-comers Yeasayer and The National (never heard of ‘em.) This event is sold out, but funnyman Mike Birbiglia is giving away a pair of tickets to whoever writes “the nicest request on my Facebook wall.” To snag the tix, you'll at least have to top this misspelled plea: "I request that you......

Photo of Bat Signal at Woolworth Building courtesy Olga Bass. As you may know, it's been a major headache trying to get tickets to The Dark Knight at New York City's only IMAX theater at AMC Loews Lincoln Square. The Fandango website only sells advance tickets in seven day blocks, which have been flying faster then free Bon Jovi tickets. And even when the next block of tickets go on sale, the options for most......

If you happen to be reading this in East Harlem, you’ve got a good shot at getting quick tickets to the Shakespeare in the Park revival of that ‘60s rock musical HAIR – you know, the one with that song "Age of Aquarius" from The 40 Year Old Virgin. The Public Theater is giving away vouchers for free tickets in all five boroughs through Saturday – today they’re at the El Museo Del Barrio (1230......

When the Bergen Record revealed that Senator Frank Lautenberg wanted to buy $108 tickets to Bruce Springsteen's Giants stadium concert--and then "sell" them at $1,500 a pop to potential donors--sparking outrage, the NJ Sports and Exposition Authority decided not to allow the campaign to buy the tickets. The agency has typically allowed the powerful to get coveted seats (in this case, they would have been at the 40-yard line) at cost. A Lautenberg spokesperson it......

A Brooklyn TKTS – the discount Broadway and Off-Broadway ticket booth – was recently unveiled at MetroTech Center in downtown Brooklyn at the corner of Jay Street and Myrtle Avenue. Though it won’t be open on weekends like the Manhattan TKTS locations, it will give Brooklyn playgoers the edge on weekdays, when it opens a full four hours ahead of the Times Square TKTS, which is currently operating at the Marriot Marquis while the new......

Photos by Joe Schumacher and orangejuicy. Will the Bon Jovi madness never end? amNewYork reported that the line for the Saturday concert was expected to form last night. Hard core fans want to secure good spots, and not get pushed into the overflow section. As we mentioned earlier this week, only 50K of the 60K will have spots with a view, the rest are sent to a space with no sightline of the stage......

It's no surprise that ticket prices for the Bon Jovi concert being held in Central Park this Saturday went from free to $1500 in no time. As we mentioned yesterday, Spitzer had signed a legislation making online scalping legal, and Bloomberg agrees that there's not much that can be done. The mayor declared to the NY Post:"The scalping is just a way of life. I can't tell you it's not worth that kind of money.......

How much would you pay for free Jon Bon Jovi tickets? This much? As the big Bon Jovi concert approaches tickets to the free show are going for as much as $1500/pair, The NY Post reports. The show is going down this Saturday on the Great Lawn in Central Park, and an additional lot of tickets will be released at the Javits Center this Friday (more details at MLB.com). Hardcore fans of Jon Bon......

The addition of Katie Holmes to the cast of the upcoming production of All My Sons has done zilch to boost advance ticket sales, according to the Post. "I bought 1,000 tickets to the show," says one broker. "I still have them." Another wonders, "Where are all the Scientologists? Don't they want to see her?" Sure they do, but who has money left for theater after all those expensive classes on the way to OT......

Yesterday Bon Jovi fanatics rushed to the closest ballparks to pick up their tickets to a free concert on the Great Lawn next weekend. NY1 reports that fans lined up for hours at all four stadiums; the concert is part of the upcoming All-Star Game celebration. One fan declared of JBJ: "Back in the day he was number one and he still is," while others were happy he was doing the show for free and......

A former FedEx worker turned state trooper is accused of writing phony speeding tickets to get back at a man he had an argument with over a parking spot. The ticketing revenge allegedly began after office Lester Hooper (pictured), an East Flatbush resident who patrols Westchester, and his wife became outraged at a neighbor, Derrick Perry, for not moving his truck back in January. Perry, a house painter, tells the Journal News: "I didn't move......

Die hards are surely in line already, but here's your reminder that today is the big day -- in just a short time from now (at 9 a.m.) tickets to the July 12th Bon Jovi concert in Central Park will be handed out at Yankee, Shea, KeySpan Park and the Staten Island Yankees stadiums. Bon Jovi's site states that "free tickets can also be obtained on a first-come, first-served basis, two per fan," and that......

Photo by Joe Schumacher. Forget about the arrests for pot possession going up, it's now being reported that ticketing for not using the pooper-scooper is at an all time high! The Dept. of Sanitation reports that 775 tickets for not following the Canine Waste Law (est. 1978) have been handed out since last July, a number that has more than doubled since the previous year. It's expected that number will rise even higher as......

For the first time, tickets for the Public Theater’s free Shakespeare in Central Park shows will be made available online. While most tickets will still be given to those who wait for hours (pictured) in Central Park, a limited number will be available to theatergoers who log on to the Public theater website at midnight before each day’s show and submit a request for up to two tickets. The online tickets will then be allocated......

Oenophiles envious of the big wine expos held in Boston and D.C. can stop whining; this weekend marks the first annual New York Wine Expo at the Javits Center. Friday night and Saturday are open to the public, where more than 600 wines from over 170 vintners will be available for tasting. Here’s the list of all the wineries and vineyards at the Expo. And after sampling hundreds of different wines, what better way to......

ART: In 2002 Hamburger Eyes xeroxed some pamphlets for what became the first of the crew's photography magazine. Since then "Hamburger Eyes has become an elegant yet underground periodical combining the documentary approach of National Geographic with the hit-‘em-hard sensibility of a late-night tagger." Tonight, in conjunction with the Spring 2008 release of their first book, The powerHouse Arena will display a selection of photographs (one of which is pictured) by the magazine's masterminds......

CONTEST ALERT: Tomorrow night the indie-elite will gather at Terminal 5 for The Plug Awards -- featuring Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, St. Vincent, José Gonzalez, Dizzee Rascal, The Forms, DiVinci and more. Tickets are sold out, so you can either watch the show here, or you can win tickets from us! We're giving away 5 pairs, starting now. Just email GothamistContest@gmail.com and tell us why you want to go. MUSIC: White Williams,......

You may have heard that New York City will have two new ballparks to attend in 2009. Of course that means that Shea Stadium and Yankee Stadium will close their doors forever after the 2008 season. And if you want to be there for the last scheduled game at either venue, you better have a lot of money. Tickets for the finale at Yankees Stadium are being scalped online for as much as $17,000 with......

Magnetic Fields Attract Crowds to Town Hall No "Lost" spoilers in this post. Stephen Merritt doesn't bring the band around too often, so it's always a treat when The Magnetic Fields take the stage in town. Despite the band hailing from Brooklyn, this is the first local show they've played in quite a few years, and the sold-out 4 night run at Town Hall did not disappoint the anxious fans. While their latest album, Distortion,......

MOVIE: After Marion Cotillard took home the gold for best actress in La Vie en Rose last Sunday, French cinema is sure to be all the rage. Today the Rendez-Vous with French Cinema 2008 series kicks off with a screening of Roman de gare (pictured). Buy tickets and get the schedule here. Friday// 6:30 and 9pm // Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts [70 Lincoln Center Plaza] // $12 (stand......