Last fall, the MTA announced its intention to “reinvent subway retail locations with arts or cultural spaces.”

That effort has turned into a reality on the Upper West Side: the agency transformed a vacant commercial space by the B and C train platform inside the West 81st Street station into the Sound Booth, a “busking station” for artists, as first reported by I Love The Upper West Side.

The MTA enlisted the help of Art on the Ave, an area nonprofit that turns empty storefronts into art galleries, to complete the project. 

“The opportunity came up to make inventive use of empty units within the subway,” Barbara Anderson, the founder of Art on the Ave, says to Time Out New York. “Everything we do is defined by the unit and its context and surroundings so it seemed appropriate for a subway station. We want to provide these musicians with a welcoming safe place to share their talent. At the Sound Booth they get a beautiful little place to play rather than a brick wall.”

The process is a relatively simple one: starting next Monday, interested musicians will be able to schedule rehearsal time on the Art on the Ave and Columbus BID websites.

“We will book musicians but if someone comes by who wants to play or join, we are all about improv too,” explains Anderson.

A representative from the involved organizations will be present during each session to make sure things run smoothly.

“We just ask musicians to be aware of the fact that we are in a public space and that we play to wide range of people from different places and cultures,” says Anderson.

Special events like open mic night, Broadway tunes, battle of the bands and more will also be on the docket. 

When asked about the possibility of replicating the very New York-like project across other local subway stations or, perhaps, outside of the town, Anderson is hopeful.

“This is a trial for us,” she says. “Perhaps, if other areas in the city like it, we can try it elsewhere.”

* This article was originally published here

The good news: the triple cantilever portion of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway in Brooklyn Heights is finally being renovated. The not-as-great news: construction on the dilapidated portion of the road will not start until 2029. 

Last week, the Department of Transportation released a new plan to tackle the issues that the 1.5-mile stretch of the BQE between Atlantic Avenue and Sands Street has been dealing with for year. This is the fourth proposal that the city has released and considered.

Gothamist reports that DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez said that “he’s still not sure if the city will move forward with the latest pitch or choose another one the department presented in the past.”

This latest proposal seeks to fix the problematic section of the expressway through a revamped “stacked” design, which is actually not very different from how the area is currently set up. 

“The new layout […] would tuck the Staten Island-bound lanes directly below the Queens-bound ones, where the existing Staten Island-bound lanes jut out slightly,” reports the Brooklyn Paper. “In the new proposal, a skeletal wall would fence in the Staten-Island bound lanes, blocking them from view from street level.”

It’s important to note that, even if this particular design gets the green light, it would take the federal government five years to approve it and construction to begin. According to officials, the endeavor will also cost around $5 billion.

There are still many unknowns: will the eventual construction completely disrupt traffic? What layout will officials choose? What are the sorts of factors to keep in mind? Is the expressway still in danger of failing in the next few years?

Overall, local tensions are running high following last-minute changes to the proposed congestion pricing program in NYC. Although years in the making, the initiative was shockingly put on pause before implementation by Governor Kathy Hochul a few weeks ago, to the consternation of many city officials.

Hopefully, folks in power will be able to get it together for this particular project, which has been years in the making and seems to be of utmost importance when it comes to the safety of New York drivers.

* This article was originally published here

New Yorkers are always bothered, but there is something about summer in the city that drives us all insane.

Whether it be the heat, which feels more intense when reflecting off the pavement, or the putrid smells emanating from, well, every corner, the season leads to madness.

How to solve the problem? The first step is to identify the issues—which is why we’ve asked New Yorkers to tell us all about their summer pet peeves. 

In terms of solutions, we are all ears: feel free to share tips to ease our summer anxiety… and perhaps wear some deodorant on the subway moving forward?

All the smells!

Urine! (Hot) garbage! Diesel! Armpits!

Respondents had loads of complaints when it came to the city’s aroma, which undoubtedly gets more intense in the hot climate. 

“You can tell if it’s 90 and dry or 90 and humid by whether you smell dog or human pee more,” someone commented, and we couldn’t agree more. 

Tourists

Summer is travel season, which means that the amount of tourists visiting NYC significantly increases during the warmer months … causing pedestrian traffic jams that just add on to our daily frustrations. 

We’ll spare you the exact comments, but New Yorkers seem to have a specific message for visitors: stop looking around and just move.

The heat

Yes, it’s summer. Yes, it’s supposed to be hot. No, we can’t stand it.

Mostly, New Yorkers seem to be baffled by the temperatures underground and we can’t disagree with them: we get people on the moon but can’t figure out how to properly ventilate the subway system, one of the most trafficked in the world.

“The heat on [the] 14th Street train station and 96th Street station during the summer,” someone specifically called out.

“The air standing still in the subway,” someone else remarked very much on point.

New York City officials, consider this our plea to find a solution!

Proximity to other humans

We’re all living vertically on top of each other, so you would think that being close to another human body is something that New Yorkers are not only used to but accept. Not in the summer.

“[My pet peeve] is when people squeeze next to you on public transportation and rest their arms or legs skin-to-skin [on] yours,” someone wrote. “Gross. We are not friends, lovers or family members. Keep your skin to yourself.”

Although we’re partial to the veracity of the claim, we do believe this specific reader to be a bit… extra? Here’s a suggestion: stand up and remove yourself from an uncomfortable situation, perhaps giving the source of your anger a dirty look (we are in New York, after all).

* This article was originally published here