Laura Ratliff

Modern subway signals were supposed to be the magic fix for New York’s beleaguered transit system. But according to a new report from an independent engineering consultant obtained by Gothamist, that magic wand is running on serious delay—like, years-long delay. The MTA’s big-budget signal modernization program, which aims to replace 1930s-era technology with sleek communications-based train control (CBTC), is now officially a cautionary tale in capital planning. Of the four current upgrades in progress, every single one is behind schedule. The F line in southern Brooklyn? Running three years late. The A/C/E upgrade beneath Eighth Avenue? Delayed until at least late 2027—more than two years off the mark. And eastern Queens riders hoping for smoother F train service? Don’t hold your breath until at least March 2028. The G train’s saga might be the most painful of all: After months of summer shutdowns, the line won’t be fully upgraded until July 2029—two years later than promised. So what’s the holdup? At a public MTA meeting this week, officials pointed fingers in every direction: obsolete 4G transponders, contractor mistakes, not enough engineers trained to handle either the new CBTC or the old legacy systems being replaced. “It’s like having a cell phone from the year 2000,” said Jamie Torres-Springer, the MTA’s construction chief, of the outdated tech still in use. Even completed projects have run off track. A recently finished signal upgrade in Queens was delivered four ye

Get ready to connect the dots—or at least the neighborhoods. The MTA has officially taken its first concrete step toward building the Interborough Express (IBX), a 14-mile light-rail line linking Brooklyn and Queens, with a nearly $166 million design contract awarded to the engineering joint venture Jacobs/HDR. The two-year deal will kickstart preliminary designs for the IBX, a project decades in the dreaming and now finally inching toward reality. Once complete, the train line will zip from Bay Ridge to Jackson Heights in under 40 minutes, connecting transit-starved communities to 17 subway lines, 50 bus routes and the LIRR, all without forcing riders through Manhattan. “More than 5 million people live in Brooklyn and Queens,” said MTA Chair Janno Lieber in earlier statements. “We need an easier way to move between the two boroughs.” And for the roughly 900,000 residents along the route—over half of whom don’t own cars—it’s about time. The IBX will repurpose an existing freight corridor (the Bay Ridge Branch and Fremont Secondary), so the heavy lifting isn’t laying new tracks—it’s redesigning what’s already there. The MTA plans to keep freight running while carving out space for a sleek, all-electric light-rail system with 19 stations, from Roosevelt Avenue to the Brooklyn Army Terminal. Jacobs/HDR scored the contract over five other proposals, earning top marks for its “innovative approach” and deep understanding of corridor constraints, according to MTA board documents. Th

It’s official: Staten Island is getting another Trader Joe’s—and not a moment too soon. The beloved grocery chain known for its quirky product names, friendly staffers and shockingly low prices is expanding on the Rock with a new outpost set to open at 6400 Amboy Rd. by the end of 2025. The upcoming South Shore location marks Staten Island’s second Trader Joe’s (the first opened in New Springville back in 2011) and loyal fans are already gearing up for another opening day frenzy. If history repeats itself, expect lines around the block and an early morning race to the Mandarin Orange Chicken. While the exact grand opening date hasn’t been released, Trader Joe’s confirmed via its website that crews are “working hard” to open doors before the year’s end. Once up and running, the store will offer the brand’s full lineup of crowd-pleasers—from Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate and Everything But the Bagel seasoning to frozen chocolate croissants and snack aisle oddities you didn’t know you needed. One thing this location won’t have? Booze. Like the original Staten Island store, the Amboy Road spot won’t stock alcohol, so vino lovers will still need to make a separate run. Still, for Staten Islanders who’ve long schlepped to Richmond Avenue—or, gasp, off-island—for their Trader Joe’s fix, this news is a welcome win. Especially with grocery prices being what they are, a place where cauliflower gnocchi and Thai green curry cost less than your morning latte is worth celebrating. The State

It’s happening, folks. The $3 subway swipe is (almost) here. MTA officials announced this week that starting Jan. 4, 2026, the base fare for New York City subways and buses will rise from $2.90 to an even $3. That’s the latest in the MTA’s clockwork 4% fare increases, which roll out every two years like a grim little holiday. But that’s not the only change coming to your commute. As the MTA phases out MetroCards entirely—they’ll stop selling them in January and stop accepting them sometime later in 2026—it’s also scrapping the 30-day unlimited option that’s long been a lifesaver for daily riders. Instead, OMNY’s seven-day fare cap will take center stage: Once riders hit $36 in subway and bus fares in a week using the same phone or card, rides are free for the rest of that seven-day period. (The cap’s currently $34.) Express bus regulars, you’re getting your own OMNY version of the weekly unlimited pass, triggered after you spend $67 in a week. For car commuters, there’s more pain at the pump—er, toll. E-ZPass users will see increases across major crossings: 52 cents more for the RFK, Verrazzano and others; 24 cents more for the Henry Hudson Bridge; and 20 cents more for the Cross Bay and Marine Parkway bridges. Train riders won’t be spared either: Metro-North and LIRR fares are jumping 4.4% and round-trip tickets are being swapped for day passes that expire four hours after activation. And for those still clinging to the past, the OMNY card will now cost $2 instead of $1, bec

Get ready for a glow-up, 14th Street. The city just announced a $3 million public-private partnership to reimagine one of Manhattan’s most essential thoroughfares—and it’s not just about sprucing up the sidewalks. The plan is to turn 14th Street into a greener, safer, more people-centric corridor with upgraded pedestrian zones, enhanced landscaping and smarter transit design. Mayor Eric Adams, along with NYC DOT, NYCEDC, and two powerhouse BIDs—the Union Square Partnership and Meatpacking District Management Association—are backing a 24-month design study that could change the game for the 28,000 daily bus riders and countless locals, commuters and visitors who rely on the street. The city is putting up $2 million (including $500,000 from NYCEDC), with the BIDs adding another $1 million to the pot. This isn’t the city’s first makeover moment. The 14th Street Busway has already proved that transit-focused design can pay off, slashing bus travel times and boosting safety. Now, the city wants to build on that success with a holistic plan that includes new plazas, plantings, widened pedestrian paths and preserved bus priority. Call it Broadway Vision 2.0, with a downtown twist. “The 14th Street busway has already been transformational,” said DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez. “This study will help us unlock the full potential of the entire corridor.” The BIDs are equally bullish. “We’re excited to build on the momentum of our USQNext Vision Plan,” said Julie Stein, head of Union

New York City doesn’t need a PR team—but if it did, Tripadvisor just handed the Big Apple a glowing three-page resume. The global travel site unveiled its 2025 Travelers’ Choice Awards: Best of the Best Things To Do, and three iconic NYC landmarks made the cut as top-rated attractions in the U.S., based entirely on glowing visitor reviews. Clocking in as one of the most beloved attractions in the country? The Empire State Building. Yes, she’s still got it. Nearly a century after opening her doors, the Art Deco queen of Midtown continues to reign supreme with her dizzying views and cinematic glow. Tripadvisor users praised the smooth ticketing process, revamped observatory and overall “wow” factor, especially for first-time visitors. But she’s not alone. Central Park also scored a coveted spot, proving once again that New Yorkers don’t just tolerate green space—they live for it. Spanning 843 acres of ponds, meadows, secret gardens and selfie-studded bridges, the park ranked high for its sheer variety of things to do (picnics, boat rides, squirrel watching) and its status as a year-round escape from the city’s concrete hustle. And last but not least: the Brooklyn Bridge. Whether you're dodging e-bike tourists or catching sunrise over the East River, this 140-year-old span is as beloved by locals as it is by travelers. Reviewers raved about the epic skyline views, photo ops and the sheer romance of walking from borough to borough on foot. These three New York landmarks were in g

If New York City had source code, it might look something like this. A mind-bending new project from media artist Yufeng Zhao and data storyteller Matt Daniels has sifted through 18 years of Google Street View imagery to build a searchable map of every word visible on NYC’s streets. The result, hosted on The Pudding, is part sociolinguistic study, part urban scavenger hunt and fully addictive. Using optical character recognition (OCR) software, Zhao fed eight million Street View panoramas into a tool that transcribed everything from storefront signage to bumper stickers to graffiti tags. In total: 138 million snippets of text, neatly geotagged and searchable. Want to know where the word “jerk” appears? (Hint: It’s more about Jamaican cuisine than personality types.) How about “gold,” “halal” or “beware”? There are maps for each. Some findings are charmingly predictable, like the 111,290 sightings of “pizza” scattered across the five boroughs or the hot dog hegemony of Sabrett-branded carts. Others are almost poetic in their specificity. “Luxury” gets thrown around citywide but is especially concentrated in Hudson Yards. “Iglesia” maps neatly onto New York City’s Spanish-speaking enclaves. And “Siamese”? Not a feline reference, but an old-school term for a dual fire hose hookup. The most common phrases across the dataset form a sort of municipal mood board: “stop,” “no,” “do not,” “only” and “limit” dominate—a stern vocabulary of restriction that reflects the city’s built envi

Move over, midtown steakhouse martinis—downtown has officially entered its tableside era. Chateau Royale, a sumptuous new French restaurant from the team behind Libertine, opens today, July 29, inside a beautifully restored carriage house on Thompson Street in Greenwich Village. The brainchild of restaurateurs Cody Pruitt and Jacob Cohen, Chateau Royale is a cinematic, two-level throwback to the heyday of French dining in New York, channeling mid-century opulence upstairs and moody downtown cool below. Think escargots in brioche, Chartreuse-laced molten chocolate cake and duck à l’orange with a ménage-à-orange of blood orange, bergamot and calamansi, served under a skylight, no less. Photo: Evan Sung Upstairs, the white-linen dining room offers a full-on revival of forgotten French classics. Executive chef Brian Young (formerly chef de cuisine at Le Bernardin) brings serious pedigree and a few nostalgic flourishes to the menu, like Beggar’s Purses filled with ossetra caviar, or a Dover sole with mustard hollandaise in homage to beloved shuttered bistro La Grenouille. But the real table theater is liquid: All cocktails—including the signature Martini Au Chateau, made with house-blended dry vermouth and “toute les olives” brine—are poured from chilled crystal decanters via brass-and-mahogany bar cart. (Good luck going back to shaker tins after this.) Downstairs, the vibe gets looser. The bar room channels Parisian haunts like Harry’s New York Bar, offering reimagined cocktail

New Yorkers have a lot to say about the city’s growing poop problem—and they’re dialing 311 to prove it.  According to newly released complaint data obtained by Gothamist, New York City saw 1,622 dog-waste-related calls in the first half of 2025, up from 1,426 during the same period last year. And while the city’s half-century-old “pooper scooper law” makes it illegal not to clean up after your dog (with fines up to $250), enforcement is rare. Only eight tickets have been issued in the past two years. But it turns out many of the city’s most poop-plagued zip codes have something else in common: a serious lack of public dog-waste bag dispensers. In Washington Heights’ 10032 zip code—this year’s reigning champion of dog poop complaints—there isn’t a single free dispenser. Yet 160 complaints were logged there, a whopping 740% increase from 2024. Even worse? More than 130 of them came from just two blocks on Riverside Drive. Locals like Jacqueline Zelaya say the mess is more than an eyesore—it’s a health hazard. “Sometimes you see that somebody’s dog has a really big accident,” she told Gothamist. “I joke with my kids and call it elephant poop.” Flatbush’s 11226 zip code came in second, with 51 complaints and only two dispensers, while third-place 11691 in Far Rockaway reported 37 complaints and 12 dispensers. Citywide, 51 of NYC’s 145 zip codes don’t have any bag dispensers at all, despite the Parks Department having installed over 1,100 since 2017. Councilmember Julie Menin int

After four decades of weeds, wetlands and what-ifs, the long-dormant Flushing Airport site in College Point is finally getting its next chapter—and it’s looking residential. Mayor Eric Adams announced this week that the city will transform the former municipal airfield into a mixed-use community with 3,000 new homes, roughly 60 acres of public green space and a dash of economic revitalization. The $3.2 billion development will be led by Cirrus Workforce Housing and LCOR Incorporated and is slated to begin construction in 2028, pending environmental and land use review. Flushing Airport, New York City’s first airfield, closed in 1984 and has been slowly reclaimed by nature ever since. But under Adams’ “City of Yes” housing initiative, the city is reclaiming the land right back, with a plan that includes affordable, market-rate and “deeply affordable” housing, all built with union labor and funded in part by union pension dollars. “For too many decades, this valuable land has sat vacant,” Adams said. “Now we are excited to create around 3,000 new homes at the site of the former Flushing Airport.” The city’s Economic Development Corporation says the redevelopment will generate over 1,300 construction jobs and 530 permanent positions, while preserving the site’s natural wetlands. Think workforce housing meets eco-conscious design: mass timber construction, native landscaping and walking paths woven into the existing marshland. While the project still faces a lengthy planning runw

Hulkamania is body-slamming its way into midtown. This fall, a larger-than-life sports bar paying tribute to the late wrestling legend Hulk Hogan will open directly across from Madison Square Garden at 461 Eighth Ave. Dubbed Slam, the $7 million, 9,000-square-foot, three-story venue promises wings, wrestling and wall-to-wall memorabilia, plus a rooftop view fit for a heavyweight. The project was already underway before Hogan’s sudden death on July 25 at age 71 and now its opening has taken on new meaning. Billed as a “living tribute,” Slam is the vision of nightlife vet Rich Rosen, who struck a licensing deal with Hogan earlier this year to bring the concept to life just steps from where Hogan’s WWE stardom exploded in the 1980s. “Hulk wasn’t just a partner—he was a dear friend,” Rosen told Page Six. “He shaped the spirit of what Slam was meant to be, a place where fans from around the world could gather at the very corner where his legend began.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by Hulk Hogan’s Slam Sports Bar (@hulkhogansslamsportsbar) The bar is designed to be bold, brash and nostalgic, just like its muse. Expect looping reels of classic matches, Real American Beer (Hogan’s own brew) and ceiling architecture inspired by MSG itself. Rosen says the team is pressing forward with construction, intent on fulfilling Hogan’s vision. The wrestler, born Terry Bollea, made one of his final public appearances at the under-construction bar on April 30,

If you’ve ever dreamed of watching Weekend Update unfold live from a folding chair at 30 Rock, now’s your shot: the Saturday Night Live ticket lottery for the 2025–2026 season officially opens at 12 am ET on Aug. 1. It closes on Aug. 31 at 11:59 pm ET, and you only get one entry, so make it count. To enter, send a single email to [email protected] with your full name and a short note on why you want to be in the audience. Go ahead and gush (tastefully). Just know that applying early, late or more than once will get your submission disqualified. And if you’re under 16, sorry, this sketch comedy club’s off-limits. Winners (chosen at random) will receive free tickets for a random show date and time. You’ll only be contacted if you’re selected, so don’t spend all of September refreshing your inbox. If you’re not one of the chosen few, don’t despair—standby tickets are still on the table if you're willing to work for them. Here’s how that works: The standby reservation portal opens at 10 am ET on the Thursday before a live show. You can select the 8 pm dress rehearsal or the 11:30 pm live broadcast. Once you book, you’ll receive a reservation number (eventually—it might take hours). Show up in person at the NBC Studios marquee on W. 49th St between 6–7 pm on Friday and check in with a valid ID. You’ll then line up, by number and wait until 12:01 am Saturday, when actual standby cards are handed out. Standby hopefuls, take note: No tents, booze, sleeping bags or line-sitters al