A tournament at the newly renovated Amsterdam Houses basketball courts.
August 22, 2016 Weather: Sunny, with a high of 79 degrees.
Notices:
Free movies in Central Park, a Revolutionary reenactment, and more events this week are on our calendar.
News:
A cab and another car collided early Sunday morning at 74th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, ramming into a bodega’s flower display but missing pedestrians. “The taxi appears to have jumped a curb near a bodega, leaving the store’s flower display in shambles.” A bicyclist was injured in another crash on Amsterdam on Tuesday.
Steve Guttenberg and his girlfriend live in a small one-bedroom on the UWS and love to entertain guests. Ok, Mahoney, I’ll be over tonight! “Mr. Guttenberg has been a serial renter in his building, a high-rise condominium near Lincoln Center, since 2005, living first in a studio on the 24th floor, then in a two-bedroom on the 35th floor, and then in the 22nd-floor one-bedroom that he and Ms. Smith now call home.”
Speaking of stars, Margo Martindale, who plays a spy in The Americans, is a longtime Upper West Sider. “I love walking down the promenade along the Museum of Natural History at night, looking at the blue lights of the planetarium. There’s this wonderful restaurant nearby, TLV, that I call my outdoor kitchen. I love their stuffed mushrooms and schnitzel, and it has a great owner, Noam [Langleib]. Actually, I love any place that has an outdoor cafe in the summertime, because I can take my dog, Skye.”
There’s evidence of New York’s glacial past in Riverside Park.
The old Willard Hotel on 76th is going luxe. “The 11-story structure at 252 West 76th Street has functioned as an apartment building for a while now, but is now getting the luxury rental treatment. That’s being undertaken by Stellar Management and Argent Ventures, who are working to restore many of the Beaux Arts architecture qualities of the original building.”
I saw a near accident with a cab and bike delivery person this morning next to the Museum of Folk Art, 65th where B’way and Columbus intersect. There was a group of people standing in the wide lane in front of the museum hailing a cab. I’m not sure it’s actually a bike lane, but on the opposite side of 65th going south the bike lane is clearly defined. Whatever the case there was a bike in that lane in front of the museum, the cab pulled into the lane, almost hit the bike, and the pedestrians on both sides of 65th waiting to cross the street started scrambling and ran directly into the bike lane and parking lane (as opposed to going up on the sidewalk). Does anyone know if the stretch in front of the museum is actually a bike lane? I really hate that stretch of sidewalk and I don’t think the tiny concrete barriers are going to stop a car to protect cyclists or pedestrians.
I don’t believe there’s a northbound bike lane there. The southbound bike lane on Columbus gets hairy at 65th to accommodate southbound cars turning for the transverse, and they rarely respect the bike lane between the turn lane and the straight lane. That corner is crying out for a left turn phase to halt the river of pedestrians which those cars try to weave through.
There is a very cool southbound bike lane by Lincoln Center demarcated by pylons which connects the Columbus Ave bike lane to the 9th ave bike lane. The (new) northbound bike lane starts at 72st. The only northbound bike lane below that on the west side is the 8th ave bike lane, cross at 58th st, navigate columbus circle (which has a useless painted bike lane on the east side) and head up CPW.
Bikes in NYC are enormously dangerous. I have personally seen accidents between motorists and bicycles. We have two legs for walking on sidewalks, and public transportation for traveling farther. The idea of encouraging bicycling in a congested city like NY is utterly insane. The idea should be relegated to the file of Bloomberg’s good intentions. Get rid of the bicycles in NYC now.
Wow…you’re like a living dinosaur. Some people just can’t deal with other people doing things differently and enjoying themselves while at it.
There’s absolutely no reason that bikes can’t be part of the city’s transportation infrastructure. Unless you’re an arrogant and selfish motorist or pedestrian who never learned how to share resources.
No they’re not enormously dangerous. Biking infrastructure is here to stay, get used to it.
There is no ‘biking infrastructure’ in this city.
This is just not backed up by the facts, Naro. Please do your research if you want to cast aspersions at your neighbors and prevent UWSers from enjoying biking around the neighborhood.
Collisions between motorists and pedestrians – do these indicate that pedestrians are dangerous?
I contend that cars are more dangerous in NYC, considering they maim and kill pedestrians at a far higher rate than bicycles.
Additionally, bikes don’t contribute to congestion. Private automobiles do.
Thanks for the link to the Margo Martindale article! Huge fan – she was great on the Good Wife.
Thank you for the detailed info RK. I haven’t noticed the new bike lane on 72nd but will definitely pay more attention when I’m crossing in the 60’s from now on. That area is crying out for an old fashioned crossing guard. 😉
Was the other car involved from New Jersey?
Has anyone else noticed that as of at least a few days ago, the “vanishing comment” bug that had first appeared back in June or so appears to have finally been fixed?
To be clear what I mean by the “vanishing comment” bug:
The behavior whereby when one submitted a comment, the page would simply refresh with no indication whatsoever that the comment had been received; previously (and, thankfully, once again presently), the page would refresh after submitting a comment to show the submitted comment, preceded by the notice, “Your comment is awaiting moderation“.
Was the software that powers the comments (WordPress, I believe) at this site recently updated?
We have recently upgraded the tech. Glad it appears to be working. WSR