That’s the famous quote by the immortal Vincent Scully about Penn Station, where demolition started fifty-one years ago today. But stay tuned—some interesting things are starting to happen, and they’re not the things you’ve been reading about. More photos here … Continue reading
Big Finance: Most people don’t realize that Big Finance is the engine driving the global movement that has the Mayors of New York, London, and Paris promoting shiny Starchitecture indistinguishable from the shiny Starchitecture in Dubai, Mumbai, and Shanghai (always in … Continue reading
See it in the New York Times
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Looking out my office windows I see Louis Sullivan’s only building in New York City. There are two more views from my office here. And after the jump, more views of the Bayard Building.
IF you don’t know this line from the Rodgers and Hart song Manhattan—you should (and here it is in a medley sung by Ella Fitzgerald that combines two Rodgers and Hart songs, Manhattan and I’ll Take Manhattan. I’m calling Mott … Continue reading
THIS CITY-SIZED electric delivery truck is no longer made. Built by NaviStar (once known as International Harvester) with a grant from the Obama administration, it seems like exactly what our cities need to save energy and reduce pollution and congestion. … Continue reading
A few days ago I wrote, Why? Because the pedestrians and cyclists are not killing the drivers: drivers going fast enough to kill any pedestrian they hit are causing one-hundred percent of the fatalities. If the drivers slowed down to … Continue reading
EIGHTY PERCENT of the residents of Manhattan don’t own a car. Most of the more than 45 million tourists who visited Manhattan last year didn’t bring a car with them. But even after all the positive changes on Manhattan streets … Continue reading
A NEW YORK CITY MTA Bus almost ran me over this morning as I WALKED my bike in a crosswalk with a green light. Before he almost ran me over the driver honked at me, loudly, to tell me to … Continue reading
THIS IS WORTH REPOSTING because it was through this post that I met my friend Robert LaValva, who founded and runs the New Amsterdam Market. I made the following comment at Design Observer in response to a post on the … Continue reading
How cars conquered the American city (and how we can win it back) Two quotes from the article by Henry Grabar: John Massengale and I are standing in the middle of 1st Avenue at East 4th Street, in New York’s … Continue reading
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WE FREQUENTLY READ that New York is incomparably better today than 40 years ago. Yes and no. Crime is down, but buildings are up—to the degree that too much of a good thing is bad. Fifty-seventh Street will soon have … Continue reading
On March 14, 2014, John Massengale and Victor Dover spoke at the Regional Plan Association to a roundtable group interested in the topic of Vision Zero in New York City.
These two photos of Lexington Avenue at 89th Street show that one-hundred years ago the sidewalks of Lexington Avenue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan were two to three times as wide they are now. The photo on the … Continue reading
