Links

2014

How Riders Won the Fight for Better Buses in New York City (CitiLab)
After years of ringing the alarms, it looks as if engaged riders have convinced this massive transit agency to dedicate serious resources to a failing system. Now they’ll be waiting, and fighting, to see the results.

Mayor's BQX streetcar left out of city budget - omission of Brooklyn-Queens project pushes it back a year amid questions about feasibility (Crain's)
A 16-mile streetcar service proposed for the Brooklyn-Queens waterfront is unfunded in the Economic Development Corp.'s proposed budget, suggesting that preliminary planning might not begin for at least a year—should the city ever move forward with the project.

Anthology Film Archives – 2018 Village Awardee (Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation)
There is simply nothing like Anthology Film Archives (AFA) in NYC or anywhere else in the world in terms of its sole focus on the art and culture of avant-garde film. It was founded in 1970 when Lithuanian émigré and artist Jonas Mekas and four other film devotees envisioned a permanent home for independent films. The organization’s original home was at The Public Theater. Three moves later, in 1988, it arrived at its present Second Avenue location. This building was a municipal courthouse and jail designed by architect Alfred Hopkins, built 1917-19 in the Renaissance Revival style. As Manhattan’s 3rd District courthouse, it was known as the Essex Market Courthouse.

Author Talk:"When Brooklyn Was Queer" with Hugh Ryan (BPL)
In this illuminating talk, journalist and curator Hugh Ryan will discuss the ways in which, for more than a century, the waterfront spaces in Brooklyn supported Brooklyn's queer community - providing work, entertainment, and anonymity.  From Coney Island to Red Hook - the Navy Yard to Brooklyn Heights, these areas offered a sense of freedom and belonging not found anywhere else in the borough.

Paul Gardner’s Collection (Spitalfields Life)
You will recall that I have written about Paul Gardner, the fourth generation paper bag seller, quite a few times in these pages. Gardners’ Market Sundriesmen is the longest established family business in Spitalfields, trading in the same building for one hundred and forty years, and acquiring a unique assembly of heirlooms.
... Paul told me that if he were a paper bag, he would be a brown paper bag because they are his bestsellers – multi-purpose bags, and the ones he has made most money out of over the years. So it is entirely appropriate that when Spitalfields Life Contributing Artist Lucinda Rogers drew her portrait of Paul in his shop a few years back, she drew it on brown paper. Now it hangs in pride of place high up on the wall behind the counter.