In New York, a building’s forgotten weather beacon

mutual-building

As covered here in the past, New York’s infrastructure is full of history, and the area around my company’s current office also holds a lot of surprises, such as the tallest hotel in North America. But the history of another building within view of our office, seen here when I stayed overnight at that tallest hotel during a winter storm, has a history of its own. Continue reading

High speed fiber in New York still a pipe dream for many

fiber-optic-cable

With the infrastructure of New York being as old as it is, it’s probably no surprise that much of it is aging. Indeed, I’ve mentioned here the challenges the city has faced in other areas of that category, but I was a bit surprised, although I’m not sure I should’ve been, to learn that when it comes to wiring the city with modern fiber optics for high-speed internet and the like, challenges persist as well. Continue reading

New book promises to teach NYC etiquette

you-dont-know-jack-subway

New York is a place like no other, and as such there’s different rules by which one should abide.  I for one get really cranky when I get stuck behind slow walkers playing with their cellphones on the sidewalk, or a group of people four across keeping me from getting around them. Actually, I’d just prefer if I could sweep the sidewalks of people altogether sometimes, but that’s not practical.  Instead, I pray people read books like the NYC Basic Tips and Etiquette. Continue reading

New York City, before and after

freedom-tower

New York as a city has certainly evolved, even has it retains much of the charm over the years that’s made it a place people have yearned to arrive at and thrive. A Huffington Post article, however, shows some of the inevitable change that happens when smaller businesses get replaced with larger ones, as the city ever changes, in a piece highlighting photos taken by James and Karla Murray for a new book, “STORE FRONT.” Continue reading

New York City ain’t getting any younger

you-dont-know-jack-subway

New York City’s charm is in part forged by its history, and some of the older elements that march on with time.  However, there’s a flip side to aging infrastructure, and that is that things are still in place long after their intended life, and have an increasing proclivity to breakdown or otherwise have problems. Continue reading

Safety culture lacking at Metro-North, report finds

grand-central-shutdown

After December’s derailment, the FRA promised a thorough investigation into Metro North to determine what problems existed at the agency and what should be done to fix it. In the intervening months, things haven’t particularly improved, as my previous posts have noted. The report came out, and it’s pretty damning. Continue reading

If the Winter Olympics came to New York

new-york-times-olympics

One of former Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s failed attempts was to bring the Summer Olympics to New York in 2012. Other projects from that failed effort ultimately went ahead, but in the end the Olympics went elsewhere.  Of course, with the Winter Olympics taking place this year in Sochi, Russia, a enterprising New York Times team of reporters and illustrators wondered: What if organizers attempted to construct venues appropriate for the Winter Olympics in The big Apple?  Continue reading

The day that Metro-North died

grand-central-shutdown

Commuting has been an experience from the get-go.  I very much love my train rides overall; they’re generally quiet, uneventful, relaxing (who wants to drive in that traffic?) and I use the time for myself: To read, solve a few logic puzzles, or, best of all, nap.  Of course, when things go wrong, it’s usually pretty bad, and last night was a doozy. Continue reading