One of Our Token Booths Is Missing

The budget-strapped MTA has been cutting back on token booth attendants for years. I know that. But I always assumed the booths themselves would remain as a kind of show of faith that in a distant flusher future, they would come back to life. But at some point in the dead of night, the MTA recently ripped out the booth at the northern entrance of my stop on the F line, Carroll Street. Put up some new tile work, too, which only shows us how dirty the other tiles actually are.

Your MTA at Work

I was at the Court Square stop on the G line. People who take the G train regularly know how this works. A Brooklyn-bound train pulls into the station and a single half-door per car slides open to let people in. All the doors don't open until the train is ready to leave the station.

I had finished my business in Queens and, having disembarked the 7 train, was ready to make the transfer. The train came in, the half-doors opened. I looked for my narrow passage into the second car. I found it, but it was blocked. Just inside the door, rooted like oak trees, were two obese female MTA employees, facing each other. Now, I am not trying to gross you out here; I'm just telling you what they were doing. One, her hands firmly on the chin of the other, was assisting her colleague in popping a zit. Seriously.

I will give you a moment to retch before you return to this story.

Ready? OK. Now, I was standing there. And I am a tall man. Easy to see. But they moved not. Nor did they acknowledge my presence or the fact that they were absolutely blocking the only point of entrance into the car. They just continued talking and performing their minor surgical operation.

I had had a long day. I was tired. I wanted to sit down. "Excuse me," I said, and—I'll admit!—with some garden variety New Yorker brusqueness, more or less sidled inside the car.

The MTA ladies were indignant. I was simply the rudest human being they had ever met. "I'm sorry, can we please exit," said one with a great deal of tartness. She had shown no signs of planning to exit. "The word is 'Excuse me'!" And they left in a huff.

Actually, "Excuse me" is two words. Actually, I said "Excuse me." Actually you are MTA employees and you were blocking the damn door to the subway car, so maybe you should say "Excuse me."

Sweet Jesus.

Some Stuff That's Interesting

Whole Foods announced it's not coming to Gowanus. Nobody is surprised. [Curbed]

The New York Police Department still uses typewriters. Some people are surprise. (Not me. I'm pleased. And not only because the story caused the Post to run a picture of "Barney Miller.") [NY Post]

Someone wants to put the screws of Joe Jr.'s former landlord. Hey, I'm all for putting the screws to landlords, whatever the reason. [Eater]

New screw-up named to lead MTA. [City Room]

The Museum of the City of New York is opening a speakeasy, which is about the coolest thing the Museum of the City of New York has ever done. [City Room]

Tony Avella tells off CB7 in no uncertain terms. [Queens Crap]

Some Stuff That's Interesting

The new Blarney Stone sign just isn't as good. [EV Grieve]

Ephemeral New York notices the narrowest house in Greenwich Village, once home to Edna St. Vincent Millay, who was also narrow.

Bloomberg screwed NYC over the Yankee Stadium deal and everyone pissed about it. [City Room]

Surprise! Con Ed is corrupt! [Gothamist] And, of course, the MTA sucks. [Queens Crap] Welcome to Bloomberg's New York!

Old, falling-down Smith Street building spruced up, but looks worse anyway. [Gowanus Lounge]

A righteous slam of the eternally horrid "Metronome" building on Union Square. Worst. Building. In. New. York. [Restless]

Nice pictures of the Subway Inn. [Greenwich Village Daily Photo]

New F Train Lovers Will Have to Wait

F line habitués longing to ride the shiny new R160s that have been haunting the subway line for the past month or so are going to have to wait a bit longer.

I saw another one of the silver beauties snaking through the Carroll Street station today. I asked an MTA worker when the new cars were going to go into service, and he said, "Not for another four months." He explained that the trains have to be tested again and again, backward and forward, on every straightaway and curve of the entire F track before people are allowed to board them. Whaddaya know? The MTA really does care about our safety.

A New "F" Is Coming

I'm so used to the "F" train being the neglected stepchild of the MTA, I was stunned the other day when a sleek, silver number slid into the Bergen Street station. "Must be lost," I thought.

But, no. It was a shiny new "F" train, one of those nifty jobs that you get on Lexington Avenue line in Manhattan with the digital readouts; the backlit maps of the subway line; folding, Paris-Metro-like seats; and the soothing, mechanized female voice clearly announced each coming stop. It was not in service. A sign in each window said "Test Train." But surely this means these new trains are in our future! The East Village, Lower East Side, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens and Park Slope are moving up in the world.

Some Stuff That's Interesting

There was a submarine in the East River. Does this have something to do with the financial crisis?

Red Hook's going to get a mall. A big one.

Renovation of the save St. Brigid's Church begins.

And, of course, the MTA sucks.

Some Stuff That's Interesting

The economy changes everything: Maybe the Hotel Pennsylvania won't be demolished.

A foul-mouth idget blogger defamed Dominic De Marco of Di Fara's and Grub Street defamed the blogger in return.

Rich folks can't afford for Bloomberg to lose his job.

Porkchop Express reports extensively on the changed look of the Red Hook Ballfield vendors.

Cool pictures of Staten Island's Ship Graveyard.

And, as usual, the MTA sucks.

Some Stuff That's Interesting

A like a girl who likes old menus.

Grimaldi's learned it had to pay its taxes and stayed open. Thank God.

Some nice old records will go to Syracuse University.

Some good ways to stick it to Cemusa.

And, of course, the MTA sucks.

News on Two Lying City Agencies

The MTA and the Department of Building are not known for being particularly receptive or sympathetic to the needs of the people of this city, unless your name is Robert Scarano or something. Now, it's slowly becoming clear that they're not only unresponsive to public outcry, but actually hostile toward it.

Queens Crap reports today that an e-mail he sent to DOB commissioner Patricia Lancaster—who, it was revealed last week, is fond of cutting under-the-table deals with scofflaw developers—provoked a response from a New York City Police detective. Now, admittedly, QC's missive was a big unhinged; exclamation points and capital letters. But, still, it shows where Lancaster's priorities are. Consider complaint? No. Call cops? Yes.

Meanwhile, The Daily News reports what we all knew long ago: the MTA is wasteful, corrupt and self-rewarding. The agency has several presidents instead of one, and each gets thousands of dollars in housing allowances "even though they're in easy commuting distance from their jobs." The director of the MTA and the seven presidents of the agencies within its purview get more than $1.8 million in salary and deferred compensation. There are many redundant jobs, and the MTA plans to actually add more positions in the future. All at a time when the agency is forcing yet another fare hike on the public.

The News also found a total 112 MTA lawyers with a $12 million payroll. Guess they need all those sharks to fend off the public's constant attacks on the agency's sovereignty.

It's a blistering report. Now, let's see if anything happens. Bloomberg? Spitzer?