Put Your City On

Microsoft Zune projected their own advertisement above the Shepard Fairey advertisement on Houston Street on May 15, 2010

• If New York City ever becomes too much of a financial burden, you can always try St. Louis, where homes can be had for $20,000. Or less.
  
• Bronze sculptures by Spanish artist Manolo Valdes have been placed outside most subway stations from Columbus Circle to 166th Street [West Side Independent]
  
• Save The Lower East Side: "The city is full of crap." [Save The Lowers East Side!]
  
• More books are read in Manhattan in one month than the rest of the country in an entire year. [Readers Digest via Young Manhattanite]
  
• Avenue A by the numbers [Ev Grieve]
  

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Wall Street Journal Steps Off The New York Times

The Great Newspaper War of the 0'10 might be near a truce. The Wall Street Journal has stopped dropping their newspapers on top of The New York Times in Starbucks and other locations on the Upper East Side.

After introducing their Greater New York section, The Wall Street Journal tried their best to put the paper in your hands by covering The Times where ever they could.

That has stopped, but as seen in the photo top right, now The New York Observer and USA Today will have to suffer that fate, at least as witnessed in Starbucks.

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The Dalai Lama Goes Smoke Free

The Dalai Lama was last seen smoking the dope at the 6 train's 86th Street Lexington Station (see photo at left) in advance of his appearances at Radio City Music Hall this week. He has since gone smoke free, as witnessed below, where a new poster was laid on top of previous one.



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Put Your City On

Seen in the window of Coco de Mer, a sex shop with a "touch of class" on Elizabeth Street, between Houston and Prince

• Is a disgruntled graffiti writer using spackle or caulk to express himself in Little Italy? [NYC The Blog Facebook]
  
• Mott Haven’s money isn’t in banks [Mott Haven Herald]
  
• The AMC theater is in the Kips Bay neighborhood of Manhattan will charge $20 for an adult ticket [The Wall Street Journal]
• Win tickets to see Karen O and Nick Zinner at Moma [Own This City]
• Why enjoy your childhood when you can shine shoes? [The Bowery Boys]

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New York City DOB Goes On The Offensive Against Illegal Billboards

NPA billboards (seen top left) proliferated on corners all over Manhattan. That alone raised eyebrows, but it was those small "win these posters inside" signs sitting atop the ads that were really suspect. And though you really could win a poster as advertised, there was something fishy about the offer, as if they were used to skirt the regulation by changing intent.

Ryan Fitzgibbon, spokeswoman for the City Department of Buildings, told the New York Times:
“If outdoor advertisement is allowed, a permit from D.O.B. must be obtained in order to post an advertisement or a sign,” she said, adding, “Advertisements are not allowed on construction fences.”

The DOB has its work cut out for it—there are thousands of illegal advertisement structures in the city—but it seems that DOB has been making progress. On May 28, 2009, for the first time ever, the DOB forcibly removed an illegal ad at 174 Broadway. What's more, The New York Post reports that a federal appeals court ruling in February finally authorized the city to enforce regulations that the billboard industry has hotly contested since the Giuliani administration. This has resulted in a "blitz against illegal signs and billboards along the city's busiest roadways," with 53 voluntarily removed.

It's quite possible you've noticed the results in your own neighborhood. As of late, the DOB has also been focusing on street level billboards owned by NPA. The sites first get covered in white paper, before being taken down completely. Note the photo above showing the results of these efforts, on corner of Mulberry and Kenmare.

What about the signs advertising free posters?

The Color Purple Comes To FRD Drive: Repainting Extends Northward

The FDR overpass down at the South Street Seaport is being painted a very lovely violet, (UPDATE: yes, lavender) or an "almost purple" as the Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center calls it. The fresh coat of paint is just part of the New York City Economic Development Corp. East River Esplanade Project, which will refurbish the entire stretch of of overpass downtown.

As well, the project aims to greatly improve public space along the East River, which is currently underutilized and neglected. The plans will create new landscaped parks, proper bike paths and walkways, recreational pavilions and more, possibly comparable to the luxurious public space more affluent residents experience on the west side of Manhattan at the Hudson River.

Crews are currently sand blasting and painting the overpass between Old Slip and Pier 35 and hope to finish by June 2010.

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Put Your City On

Amateur plane spotter with security breaching prime seats at Bayhouse Restaurant in Queens captures Air Force One as it approaches the runway at JFK for President Obama's visit last week / Photo Credit: NYCAddict at NYCAviation.com

• Pier 62 Skatepark NYC Opening Day [Espn.com]
  
• "If you doin your thing out on West 4th, you get recognized..." [The Cage]
  
• Howard Stern enjoys a meal at Frying Pan in Hudson River Park [Twitpic via Twitter]
  
• When you're one of the best cafes below Houston St, it doesn't matter much that your website never really got off the ground. [CafeGitaneNYC.com]
  
• One resident's favorite spots for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Where are yours? [The Phenthouse]
  
• Robert Sietsema at The Village Voice visits the new Limelight Marketplace, and is enthused to dislike it. [Fork in the Road]
  
• Its the comment section that really adds a certain je ne se qua to a website [Eater]
  

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Did You Know The NYPD Has A Movie/TV Unit?

Did you know the NYPD has a Movie/TV Unit? They do, and the car seen in the photo at left (note the title on rear panel) was spotted on a set in the West Village a few weeks back.

The unit was founded along with the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting in 1966. They assist with traffic control, firearms, uniforms, safety, access to public space and more. They also help insure your robbery scene will not be interrupted by NYPD officers responding to reports of a robbery in progress with guns drawn. The unit's services are provided free of charge to the industry.

At the time I happened upon this particular unit, it was, from what I could gather, being enlisted to help with scouting an area the crew felt unsafe in. Moments later, three members of the film crew entered the car and off they went.

According to this comment at Filming in Brookly, the unit is the only one of it's kind in the world.

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Dirtffiti Infraction Spotted At Borough Hall Station

Seen any unsightly or offensive language on your morning commute lately? Did someone draw a large penis on the seat you were going to sit on?

If you've had it up to here with distasteful language on subway walls while commuting on your way to Kate Spade, you tweeted that shit right to the MTA's Twitter, @MTAinsider, informing them: "Sally Shitfoot" Court St, R, splash w/ water plz."

@MTA Insider promptly responded, passing the complaint along to @NYCTSubwayScoop. They in turn passed it along "to Line Management."

Hopefully Line Managemnt sent a crew down there that evening to erase the unsightly dirtffiti. Your morning commute is bad enough without being further beleaguered by messages some degenerate scrawled out of exhaust and filth and grime on the subway wall across from you.

Can anyone confirm if the offending language is still there? The infraction was committed on the MR line at the Court St - Borough Hall StationAddress: in Brooklyn. Send in your info!

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Put Your City On

Soho street artist uses the power of words, and a juicy ass, to set his work apart

• Columbia students still a favorite target of roughnecks in Washington Heights looking for a new iPod [Manhattan Times]
  
• Upper East Siders would prefer you not roast a pig in the alley [Flickr via Westside Independent]
• Ask About Free Events in New York’s Parks [City Room]
  
• Historic Chinatown Buildings Demolished To Avoid Landmarking [Curbed]
  
• Times Square Theater Plays to an Audience of One [DNAinfo]
  
• Obama Official Slams NY Food Stamp Policy [City Limits]
  
• The Lo-Down attends CD3 meeting last night, (as per usual) and half-way through files a report with intel on Freemans and the new Boahuas. [The Lo-Down]
  
• Dick Wolf Still Wants To Bring Law & Order Back [Gothamist]
  

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New York State Holding Unclaimed Funds For Newsweek, Anna Wintour, Rupert Murdoch, The MTA

New York State has almost 10 billion dollars in unclaimed monies waiting to be reunited with its proper owners. From unclaimed tax checks, rebates, overcharges from the electric company and other monies, the Office of Unclaimed Funds is set up online with an easy search function built in to assist you in determining if any of that cash if yours. And you should take a look, it's likely those shifty bastards at ConEd owe you money for overcharges.

But if you want to see if anyone else is eligible, by all means, search away. Newsweek for one, could certainly use all the money they've got coming to them, no?

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Films In Little Italy, Eradicates Graffiti

Though the long-running NBC series Law & Order was recently canceled, (maybe you heard?) NBC has committed to continuing with Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order: Los Angeles and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, providing employment for Ice-T,  Richard Belzer, the rest of cast and assorted guest stars. 

In April, L&O SVU were in Little Italy shooting scenes for an episode that aired on May 5th. NYC The Blog snapped some photos on set at the corner of Mott and Broome, where the whole crew were milling about, filming scenes or hanging around in between takes. See a full photo set on NYC The Blog's Facebook page.

Note the scene above in photo top right, with actors playing NYPD Explorers, a real-life program for teens who want to volunteer for community service with the NYPD for such services as graffiti cleanup. Whether the actors playing a real-life pretend NYPD unit gave it a fresh coat of paint, or the building owner arranged to have it cleaned, someone did a good job  removing that graffiti...you can see what the wall looks like today in the photo at left.

Below, watch video of Ice-T and the Belz in action, while the teenage police force act at(?) eradicating graffiti in the background.

Put Your City On

Vintage Mattingly overlooking 14th Street on the High Line

• Great photos of Tug Boats in the waters of New York City [Tugster]
  
• Can City Hall do for the High Bridge what the powerful and affluent helped do for the High Line? [The New York Times]
  
• The Empire Diner served its last meal after 34 years in business [Newyorkology]
  
• Sleep under the stars; go camping in city parks [The New York Times]
  
• Asthma In New York: Old News, New Battles [City Limits]
  
• CB2 'laughs' at MTA's plan for fan plant in Greenwich Village [DNAinfo]

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Roger The Power Pole: 'I Like Your Outfit'

Seen on the SW corner of Prince and Mulberry, "Roger the Power Poll" is talking to you. The full text below.

Famous People Ride The Subway Just Like You

Not only does Ann Coulter enjoy riding the subway, but Adam Duritz of the Counting Crows is known to commute around this metropolis in the same fashion.

Duritz, a resident of Greenwich Village, was seen riding the 6 train last weekend. First spotted at 59th Street where we boarded, Duritz departed the train at Bleecker.

Ann Coulter you'll recall was also spotted on the 6 train that weekend. That's the celebrity train for any out of town celeb watchers who might be reading!

Speaking off, we've already got Subway Douchery, N Train Gossip, and Asleep On The Subway, can a Celebrity's on the Subway blog be far behind?

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