Photos: New York City

Photos from a recent visit.

The harbor.

"I'm want to be on (a) TV." 

Commerce.

Sorry to interrupt, but.

Hey don't forget about us.

The sun sets on everyone at the exact same time. 

How to wow everyone at the reunion.

Down Under Bridge Overpasses ©.

Memorial.

Midtown  / Village.

Transit Hub / WTC.

O W T / W T C

BK.

(Northern) Battery Park City.

Photos: New York City

Photos from some recent visits.

New York: National September 11 Memorial

Some of you may know that I ended up in DC as a consequence of having moved to New York only to have it not work out as planned. I relocated from Richmond to 133rd St on September 4, 2001. While working a temp job I had previously set up, I participated in the final interview for a great education non-profit the evening of September 10, 2001. The interview went well. I'll never know, but I like to think that in a parallel universe, I would have gotten the job and started a new life in the Apple.

That didn't happen. The education non-profit closed for a few days (their offices were in the financial district) and later decided not to fill any new positions, including the one I interviewed for. My lowly temp job for another non-profit soon ended as well. It's all fun and games until you can't get off of the island or have any visitors to the island and don't have a job on the island and can't get your new driver's license/ID after they took your old one and now they aren't handing out new ones and the National Guard is patrolling Madison Ave 24/7. Weird days.

I didn't end up going back to ground zero for a few years, well after I had already moved a few times and ended up in the District. I did visit the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial shortly after it opened and had wanted to see New York's memorial since it opened last year. I got the chance recently. The Museum is still under construction, but the memorial itself is complete.

Here are a few photos from the National September 11 Memorial in New York City.

 

National September 11 Memorial, New York from The 42 Bus on Vimeo.

New York: The High Line

The High Line is a public park in New York constructed in the track bed of a former elevated rail line. It is narrow, but long; 19 blocks travelling in a north-south direction west of 10th Ave (W 30th St to Gansevoort St). Although it sits above street level, the park is a adjacent to and even travels through neighborhood buildings, interacting with the surrounding built environment all along the way. The northern end of the park is set be extended westward over more abandoned rail lines.

Apartment windows are almost within reach of park visitors and many condos/apts were actively touting the proximity to the park in advertising. Others provide direct access to the park for their residents. There are dozens of stores, restaurants and galleries along the route of the park which touches Chelsea, the Meatpacking District and the southern tip of Hell's Kitchen.

Whitehurst Freeway, anyone? 11th Street Bridge? No need to tear them down, just copy this model.

Here are a few photos from the High Line. It was quite a treat!

City Room Repost: Defending a Child

You see a parent physically disciplining a child on a crowded subway. You and other passengers stare, but no one says a word. The child is crying and the parent appears to get even angrier. They hit the child again. And again. You speak up.... What next?

This was the scenario written about in a recent City Room post (New York Times). I posed the question to some friends. The replies were diverse, insightful, enlightening and made for more questions than answers. Personally, I have thought about this issue so much since reading this article and discussing it with colleagues and friends. I continue to debate what the correct course of action would be. I'm sure this has happened on DC, Virginia and Maryland buses, trains, at stores, on sidewalks, and in other public places. What would I do if I came upon this? What would you do? And why?

Could This Work in DC? Car Free Streets

Here is a nice look at a pedestrian plaza on what used to be a taxi, bus and car filled Broadway in New York City. The NYC Council closed parts of the busy thoroughfare and turned the streets over to pedestrians, loungers, musicians and tourists. This is the area in and around Times Square. The jury is still out on whether it was a good move or not, but it can not be denied that the newly created spaces are being used by, well, all types of people. Traffic seems to be no worse for the wear.

Imagine a car-less 18th Street NW in Adams Morgan, or Connecticut Ave NW on both sides of Dupont Circle, or Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House. Well, Bill Clinton gave us the last one. But could DC do more to emulate New York by giving parts of our street grid to pedestrians? Yes, Council could. Will they? Probably not, but just for ha-has, where would those places be?

Red Line Accident Resonated, Even Outside of DC

As a Washingtonian, daily Metro rider and proponent of public transit, I was shocked and very distressed watching the reports of Metro's Red Line collision last week. At the time I was in New York about to leave the hotel for dinner. The local NYC news station broke from programming to report the incident, even before it aired on CNN and other cable news channels.

The night unfolded, and I found myself checking the news reports at the dinner table, trying to keep up with the tragic events miles away in DC. The local NY media, including print and television did a surprisingly thorough job of reporting on the incident, even featuring Fenty, some crash victims, and allowing the story to be told enough that I had a good idea of what was happening even though I was several metropolitan areas away. It probably wasn't the topic of first concern for New Yorkers, but it was right up there near the top of the 11:00 hour news.

Now over a week out, I can see that some nerves are still frayed, within Metro and those of customers as well. Until there is a definitive answer about the equipment problems, especially those within the trackbed itself, some may never feel completely comfortable riding the train. We can get over operator error, which does not appear to be a major cause for this incident. The driver of this train was likely failed by equipment, mechanics and design. But if the design is faulty, how do you reconcile that? That's a system wide problem. I'm not speculating that there is a system-wide failure, there is no evidence of that. But if there is a system-wide potential for failure, that's a problem for me.

Riding Metro is safe. I will continue to ride. The statistics show that travelling in a car is more dangerous than riding Metro or other subways. But the perception that a hidden fault could have caused this accident is troubling. Do I think this should be made into a political issue? No. Should Virginia, Maryland, the District governments agree to create a permanent funding stream for Metro? Yes. That has been true for years, well before this terrible collision took place. Peace to all the families and friends involved. Keep riding the trains and buses to work and play. And to Metro: Please, as best you can, find out what contributed to this collision and work as hard as you have ever worked to correct it.

Officials Seek Clues in Train Crash : New York Times

D.C. Metro Red Line Crash : Washington Post

DC Metro Crash: Who Will Die Next Because We Throw Money at Billionaries and Scrimp on the Public Good? : Alternet

MTA Raises Fares, Metro Will Not

Yikes. The MTA, which manages the New York City subway and bus systems, recently decided to raise fares and cut services across the board. The base subway and bus fare will rise from $2.00 to $2.50, a 25% increase. An equivalent increase for Metro would have the $1.35 base fare jump to $1.69. A rush hour trip from King Street to Metro Center now costs $2.85. It would increase to $3.56. However, it does appear that Metro will not raise fares this year.

The cuts in New York are striking. Two subway lines will be completely eliminated, the W and Z lines. The W line traveled from Astoria, Queens to South Ferry in Manhattan. The Z traveled form Jamaica, Queens to Broad Street in Manhattan. MTA is covering the eliminated subway routes with modified routes from other lines. In addition more than 30 bus routes are being eliminated including overnight, weekend and weekday services. Some routes are loosing portions of the route, or are losing overnight service. Millions of dollars will be "saved," or not spent in other words.

Metro has announced some potential service cuts, mostly on suburban bus routes. They've eliminated or frozen jobs in the central office and are attempting to use Federal stimulus money to close other budget gaps, on capital costs mostly (PDF). While will not see a fare hike this year on rail, Metro is considering converting some bus routes from local to express, and charging the higher express fare. I wouldn't be surprised if Metro raised fares across the board next year, if there is a similar budget gap. Count your stars we aren't in for MTA like cuts and fare increases this time around.

LEGO the Best DC Spots

I really loved this LEGO inspired post/project from the New York Times' Christoph Niemann. Even the most abstract LEGO sculpture can mean represent an actaul place, or feeling of a place. I don't have any LEGOs, (yet) but if you want to play around and build your favorite LEGO DC spot, activity or landmark, email me and I will post your photo. Don't forget to tell me what favorite place your LEGO is supposed to represent!

DC: The (next) City That Never Sleeps?

A recent war of adverts broke out last week over who can claim the moniker "The City that Never Sleeps." I'd always associated that phrase with New York, NY. Having lived there, I know first hand that its a 24 hour city. It's not the largest in the world, its not a political capital, and its probably been passed in financial significance by several cities. However, it can still stake the claim as capital of the cultural world and certainly of the United States. If there is a archetypal 24 hour city, it is New York City.

London is now trying to co-opt that image. As it prepares to become the next host of the Summer Olympics, the city is trying to appear as cosmopolitan and relevant as possible. New York Times City Room blog recently featured a post about an advertisement billing London as "the city that never sleeps." Really London? Come on now. They desperately want to top Beijing as host city of the Olympics. Part of that is the city's image. Remember the flap over the 2012 Olympic logo? That was all over perception and branding. Topping Beijing will be tough, but Beijing did what China does best, go big.

Well, can DC ever go big? Will we ever be a 24 hour city? We only have one reputable 24 hour restaurant, the Diner in Adams Morgan. Where are the other 24 hour spots? Where should there be? My vote is for Metro to stay open 24 hours from Thursday night until Sunday night. And maybe a place like Ben's Chili Bowl or Tryst. They could pull it off, on the weekends anyway. Then maybe we could steal the moniker, too.

Nationals Tickets, Park a Bargain Compared to Others

Many sports fans in metro DC, myself included, have chided the Washington Nationals this year over ticket prices at the new Nationals Park. A team with a short history in DC and not much to offer on the field, opened a new publicly financed stadium in the center of a major construction zone with promises of only half smokes and free T-shirt nights. The jury is still out on whether or not the investment by the city is worth the payoff. Years will pass before we can make that call. WTOP recently offered a mostly rosy view.

Baseball purists and plain old general fans are balking at the idea that the sport is a luxury activity spiraling out of financial reach for families and the common spectator. The Presidential seats behind home plate are currently $325 per game and center field sections, where most teams put their cheap "bleacher seats" are $47-$67. The ownership group paid roughly $450 million for the team and (are supposed to be) renting the stadium for $3.5 million a year. The player payroll is currently $54,000,000 for the 2008 season.

To cover their expenses and, I'm assuming, secure a profit, the Nationals price tickets accordingly. As do most teams. However, we've got it made compared to the fans in the New York market. They currently have three new stadiums on line. CitiField (Mets) is scheduled to open in 2009. New Yankee Stadium also opens in 2009. New Giants/Jets Stadium opens in 2010. Each was privately financed, to the combined tune of $3,700,000,000. Yes, nearly 4 billion dollars. The $700 million dollar Nationals Park seems like a bargain compared to $1.3 billion New Yankee Stadium. Those with the best seats in Nationals Park won't pay even close to the $2,500 per game best seats at New Yankee Stadium. Cash strapped Mets season ticket holders apparently can't trade down on their ticket plans, leaving them with two choices; pay up for the more expensive seats, or get locked out of season tickets all together next year.

NY Giants fans are arguably getting the worst of it. Season ticket holders now have to buy a PSL (personal seat license) in order to secure the right to purchase season tickets. The fee to acquire the right to buy season tickets is anywhere from $1,000 to $20,000. Then you have to actually purchase the tickets.

Not to compare apples to oranges, (and I know Dan Snyder, owner of the Washington football team, would enact a PSL scheme if he could) but the Washington market luckily isn't close to New York in this stadium nonsense. The Nationals just released their 2009 ticket plan pricing and they've actually lowered prices on some seats. Granted, several sections were substantially over-priced (like the center field red seats), but the team is trying to yield to local market conditions. The Giants won a Superbowl last season and they have a storied history and storied family ownership. The Yankees, for better or worse are the Yankees. They had Babe Ruth and Mantle, plus 26 championships. The Mets get a free pass just because they are in the same market as the Yankees. And the Jets, well, they had Joe Namath.

What do the Nationals have to offer? Well, they are working on it. Not much to show at this moment in time, but effort goes a long way, and I'm not just talking about on the field. So, Nats fans, take solace, if in anything this year, the fact that once again, we have it better than New Yorkers. Generally always the case, but this was a particularly easy case to prove.

No Congestion Fees for New York, or DC

New York's state government killed the proposal for congestion fees in Manhattan yesterday; meaning the long-shot that we could experiment with them in DC has disappeared, too. I guess last week's report really was an April Fool's joke. Too bad. I was hoping to seriously entertain the idea here. Maybe in another 50 years...

Congestion Pricing May Get Approval...

...in New York that is. A few months ago, I wondered in a post, if a FREE buses and subway system could fly here in DC. The theory stood that if motorists were charged a steep, but rigid and enforced congestion fee for driving in the downtown core of Washington, the revenues could subsidize public transportation. An NYC-centric proposal was put together by Nurture New York's Nature, but remains just a neat idea with no political teeth. That exact plan is still not close to reality.

However, the New York City Council recently approved a plan, charging an $8.00 congestion fee for all cars entereing Manhattan below 60th Street. That means you'd be charged for driving into roughly the lower third of Manhattan, including most of the trendy neighborhoods (Lower East Side, Financial District, Times Square, the Village, etc), plenty of tourist attractions, museums galore, theaters and music venues, 5th Ave shopping and hotel, hotels, hotels. Most visitors already pay to enter Manhattan through the Holland, Lincoln and Brooklyn Battery tunnels. Never have drivers been charged to just drive beyond a numbered street on the city grid before. The city must get state approval before implementing the plan and there's still an issue of securing a large chunk of federal dollars in order to get the project off the the ground. So, its not a done deal, but a step has been made to move forward.

What do you think? Are congestion fares, well, fair? Would they result in less cars on the road and more people on trains? Or will this be an exercise in messy futility? And... could it work in DC?

Free Subways and Buses: Could it Work in DC?

Many thanks to AM New York for breaching this topic recently.

Imagine living in a region where almost all public transportation was free. The advancement opportunities in the areas of environment, work/live possibilities, personal scheduling freedom, and urban planning would be staggering. In a report that was recently delivered to the mayor of New York City, the non-profit organization Nurture New York’s Nature outlines a plan that does just that; make transit available for no charge. The plan uses a mix of congestion fees, taxi surcharges and parking fees to make subway and bus fares available at no cost. According to the calculations of the writers, the congestion and other new revenue would more than make up for the elimination of public transit fares.

The plan, detailed in the Free Transit Report essentially trades the revenue reaped through fares for revenue produced by cordon or congestion fees, higher taxi fares through surcharge and higher parking rates in the cordoned off area. The report suggests a $16 flat fee for entering Manhattan island anywhere below 60th Street, the CBD, or Central Business District. That's one block above the southern boundary of Central Park; near Columbus Circle. The $16 dollar rate would be for all cars. Commercial vehicles would be liable for more, $32 per visit.

Once inside the cordon zone (as in cordoned off) a paid vehicle could roam freely and leave without further charge. However, curbside parking rates would also be substantially higher under the plan. Curbside parking in the CBD would jump to $8.00 per hour, with rates outside of the CBD, from 60th St to 96th St, increasing at a lower rate (to ward off those who'd just park at 61st St and then hop on a bus). Taxi fares would increase substantially. The rates would be increased up by 25% and that increase would be taxed, creating the new revenue stream. Taxis would not pay the $16 cordon fee. The pay-offs of the proposed system are similar to that of the HOT Lane plans we've discussed for the DC region. Payers of the fee would realize reduced traffic and travel times, and the fees would provide a boon to local governments and transit agencies. Its a fascinating report and you can read the details here (its a pretty large PDF).

The question: Could it work here? The NY plan applies to New York City only. Transit for other, regional systems would still require a fare (PATH, NJ Transit, Metro North, LIRR, etc). We'd almost have to REQUIRE regional cooperation of the states of Maryland and Virginia include the governments of the local counties. Since WMATA is a regional transit organization, not a city-owned entity, fare elimination would likely have to happen across the board. All rail lines and all but some express bus routes would need to be free, for equities sake. We have a decent record of regional cooperation, but the bean counting and having to decide who pays what to enter from where would present a substantial challenge. Imagine determining the new fare structure for congestion pricing! Talk about politics.

Congress has also been cold to any ideas even closely related to commuter fees or taxes and the residents of the surrounding counties would not be likely to support any such ideas. What would we do? Charge $5-10 per bridge crossing from Virginia? What about Maryland? Perhaps we'd only charge to enter the downtown area and Georgetown. The congestion zone would stretch from the Capitol Building west 40 blocks to the Key Bridge. And north to K Street. Resources for the Future played with some numbers and possibilities last year with interesting results.

Enforcement would be a mess. Toll plazas on Florida Avenue? EZ Pass on he 14th Street Bridge? And I'm not sure our downtown is congested enough to warrant such drastic measures. Truth is that our subway system, for all its faults, does its job for the most part. Additionally, there's no guarantee that it could handle the extra stress of many more extra passengers. The Nurture New York report also fails to mention a key aspect, one we'd have to deal with year round: tourists. Tourists would undoubtedly balk at (or just be plain confused by) congestion fees. Most wouldn't stand for such a fee in order to see or national memorials and other government buildings, all owned by the people. The “Washington as America's City” argument would win out. There's really no price to be put on access to our most revered national locales.

In an ideal world, the Nurture New York plan could work; it may even actually work in New York City. Not so sure it would pass the test in DC though. Its too complicated to be applied fairly and we'd always have the omnipotent hand of Congress to say "no way" to any idea which comes close to a commuter tax. And some of the overarching philosophical ideals related to a free, open and accessible government wold prevent any such restrictions on getting into the city. But the idea of free mass transit is enticing and the repercussions of such a system deserve at least some initial thought. New York is known for making waves in cultural and economic realms and if they can pull of something even CLOSE to what the Free Transit Report calls for, consider that day a good day.