New York City MTA helps commuters lie to bosses

by Mike Barish on

There are lots of valid excuses for being late to work. Your power was out so your alarm clock failed to go off. Your kid was sick and you had to take him to the doctor. You passed out at the brothel and didn’t have money for a cab. The problem with all of those excuses is that you have no way to prove to your boss that you’re telling the truth. But validating your tardiness just got simpler if you take the subway in New York City.

According to the New York Post, the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is going to start emailing commuters notes to provide to their bosses to verify subway delays that may have caused late arrivals. The New York City Transit division has long provided notes to commuters but required individuals to call a customer service number and then wait upwards of two weeks to receive a letter in the mail. These notes detail what lines the commuter claimed to have been using and any reported delays during the specified times.

In an effort to modernize, the MTA will soon allow commuters who were inconvenienced by subway delays to submit an online form and then receive an expedited email response. They hope to have the online system up and running by mid-2009. Currently, 34,000 people per year contact the MTA for notes to prove that they didn’t simply oversleep due to the heavy drinking that they rely on to help them cope with their mind-numbingly droll lives.

As a NYC resident who relies on the oft-delayed subway system, I’m looking forward to the ease of use of this new online system. Granted, my habitual tardiness can only been blamed on pathological use of the snooze button and a penchant for long morning showers that involve a good cathartic cry. But all my boss needs to know is that the F train got held up because of sick passenger. Everyone’s just more comfortable with that story.

Southwest moves in on New York City

by Grant Martin on

Southwest Airlines (WN) just announced that they’re moving in on New York City‘s LaGuardia through the purchase of bankrupt ATA‘s slots. The purchased slots would be enough for seven round trip flights out of New York City per day. Says spokesperson Paula Berg:

“Through a stock purchase acquisition, Southwest would get several assets of the reorganized ATA Airlines, including the rights to 14 LaGuardia
slots, and various other assets including training materials and
trademarks, etc. No aircraft, facilities, or employees are included.“

Bankruptcy courts and the legal hodgepodge still have to approve reorganization of the defunct ATA and the subsequent purchase of slots by WN, but at this point, the airline is pretty confident that they’re headed for the Big Apple.

So what does this mean for the New York traveler? As the best-hedged and one of the few profitable airlines in operation today, Southwest has the advantage of undercutting the competition’s fares, effectively forcing other airlines to compete and drop their prices out of the city. So even if you aren’t a big fan of WN, you should be happy that they’re driving down the price of tickets across the bar.

It should take a few months for details to develop on when WN will move in (they’re being tight lipped about any schedule.) We’ll let you know when the plan comes together.

How to save NYC’s Tin Pan Alley: Five ideas for the buildings where musicians thrived.

by Jamie Rhein on

The news that Tin Pan Alley’s half-dozen row houses [photo by edenpictures]may be torn down to make room for high rise apartments caught my attention for several reasons:

  • One–because a group of people are working to save the buildings by having them acheive historical landmark status.
  • Two–because 19th century buildings have more character than high rise apartments,
  • Three– because they have significance to Americana which means they have significance to tourists
  • Four–because Singapore almost destroyed all of its charm several years back by tearing down many colonial shop houses in favor of high rises until the Singapore government caught on that the shop houses offered charm. Tourists love charm. Charm can mean money. Several areas were earmarked for development where the shop houses were refurbished to create popular tourist destinations like Boat Quay and Clarke Quay–not to mention the streets in back of Orchard Road, one of the biggest commercial streets in Singapore.

My five suggestions for Tin Pan Alley’s salvation involve pepping up each building’s musical connection status by turning part of each building into a place that reflects Tin Pan Alley’s’ important history and contribution to American life.

Suggestion one: Turn one building into a music museum. The museum would have:

  • displays of instruments, photographs, and belongings of Irving Berlin, Scott Joplin, Fats Waller, George M. Cohan and others who got their start here
  • exhibits of publications, advertisements and sheet music
  • Interactive exhibits where people could try their hand at playing tunes, and composing
  • A small theater where a montage of movie scene clips that feature the music of these composers play and another film that shows the history of American music, similar to what is played at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland
  • Listening kiosks where people could listen to the tunes of the musicians who got their start at Tin Pan Alley. Also similar to what is at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
  • an auditorium for talks and concerts
  • a gift shop that sells CDs, movies, and music related items

Suggestion two: Part of one building could house a restaurant with food named for the musical greats such as the Scott Joplin Burger, the Fats Waller Fries, and the George M. Cohan Cobb Salad.

Suggestion three: Next door to the museum and the restaurant could be a music academy where people of all ages can go for music instruction on a weekly basis –or for a week or weekend of intensive instruction. Song writing workshops could be offered as well. Always wanted to play the banjo? Here’s where.

Suggestion four: Part of another building could be turned into a B&B or hostel where people could stay for their musical journey

Suggestion five: One building could be earmarked as affordable housing for musicians. They would pay for rent but, they could reduce their rent by putting in hours at either the restaurant, the museum or the music academy as part of their payment. This could help keep NYC’s musical talent in Manhattan. You try living in an apartment in Manhattan on a musician’s salary.

Suggestion six: Any ideas? Here’s your chance to change history too. Who knows? Maybe someone will listen to us.

By the way, the top few floors of each building could still be used for housing for any New York City resident so that the people who now live in these buildings who are trying to preserve them have the ability to live where they love. Some of these folks might end up on the governing board of whatever foundation needs to be set up in order to help run the place.

And, here’s another reason to save the buildings. It seems to me, it would be a great American success story.

Didn’t the people who would be honored by such a place achieve the American Dream? What better way to show that the American Dream can happen than by having this small piece of Manhattan real estate showcase where dreams came true.

For more Tin Pan Alley information, check out Tin Pan Alley Project. It includes song lists to take you down memory lane.

Plastic bag fees in New York City? What about Seattle?

by Jamie Rhein on

Mayor Bloomberg’s office has urged, urged, urged people in New York City to use cloth grocery bags for a long time now. They’ve cajoled. They’ve pleaded. His office has set up plastic bag recycling receptacles at various supermarkets around the city in an effort to make the city folk more environmentally conscience.

But people just love, love, love those plastic bags. They just can’t stop using them. Now, there’s another plan in the pipeline. You can use those handy sacks of thin plastic, but it might cost you. If the plan goes in the direction Bloomberg would like, people who want their groceries sacked in plastic will pay 6-cents per bag at check-out.

This very European move– the New York Times article cites many European countries as having similar measures, would generate income for the city. The $16 million would come in handy each year when it comes to doling out the budget.

Some say that 6-cents won’t make much difference in people’s sack habits and the fee should be much higher. How much higher? When people in Ireland had to fork over 33-cents for a plastic bag starting in 2003, plastic sack use dropped by 94-percent.

Bloomberg thinks 6-cents is a good place to start. Seattle is considering similar measures and Los Angeles and Dallas have also studied ways to get people to stop using plastic like there’s no tomorrow.

Perhaps if eco-friendly shopping bags became more of a status symbol, and using plastic became so low brow that people who used them would be so embarrassed they’d feel compelled to duck their heads as to not be noticed, people’s habits would change.

At any rate, if you’re visiting New York City and duck into a deli for a snack, consider forgoing the bag. Bloomberg will thank you.

National Geographic takes you behind the scenes of One Bryant Park

by Scott Carmichael on

Here at Gadling we have a thing for Skyscrapers from around the world. We’ve posted about mega tall structures in Dubai, Mexico City and even shown how bamboo helps make tall buildings in Hong Kong.

It’s time to bring things closer to home, thanks to National Geographic. This Thursday (November 6th) at 9PM ET/PT, you’ll be able to watch the world premiere of their newest show; Man-Made: Ultimate Skyscraper.

Of course, this is not your average skyscraper. National Geographic is giving you a behind the scenes look at One Bryant Park, which is set to become the second tallest building in New York City, and one of the world’s most energy efficient skyscrapers.

This 1200ft skyscraper is due to open later this year, at a total cost of over $1 Billion. Once completed, it will become the new home for Bank of America.