November 17, 2011 Weather: Showers, High of 48 Degrees.
News:
Earlier this year, there was quite a kerfuffle when the managers of Atria 86, a building at 333 West 86th Street, lopped off 16 beautiful decorative urns from the parapets of the 1927 building, after claiming they posed a security risk. The 1,000-1,500 pound urns could have fallen on people below, they said. But residents were shocked to see the five-foot-tall historic structures ripped down and hauled away. So they mobilized, as Leslie at DNAinfo reported at the time, and got local officials like Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal involved. Lo and behold, a solution was reached. The original urns have been recast in fiberglass — they look the same, but now weigh about 150-200 pounds, and are much less likely to wreak havoc on people walking below. (NY Times)
Woody Allen lives on the Upper East Side, but he is truly an Upper West Sider. He likes to take walks in Central Park, go out to movies and play jazz at the Carlyle. Sorry ladies, he’s taken! (Metro Focus)
City Council member Gale Brewer is pressing for zoning changes that could make it harder for chain stores to set up shop in the Upper West Side. The plan is expected to go before the Community Board in December. (NY Post, fourth item)
Gothamist has more on Elizabeth’s Neighborhood Table, the new restaurant on 93rd Street and Columbus with American comfort food and an actual picket fence out front that we wrote about last week. (Gothamist)
The city just hired two bedbug-sniffing beagles. Two? Aren’t there like a million bedbugs? (NY Observer)
The vast majority of people who took our poll yesterday, and a bunch of commenters on the post, think the city needs to crack down on delivery guys who break bike rules. (bottom of post)