Photo Wednesday 08/31/11: Summer Frames

As we head into Labor Day weekend I'm already nostalgic for Summer and the scenes that are slowly going to transition. Like this one:

Photo Wednesday 07/27/11: Paper Subway Crane

I noticed this as I was decending down into the subway one day a few weeks back, a paper crane. was someone trying to tell us something?



Speaking of the subways and what not, I just learned that only two years into his six year contract MTA Board head Jay Walder is leaving for a gig outta town. He will stay on until October of this year, then he's Hong Kong bound.

The articles below all reported the story when I missed it last week (when I was probably in the middle of the eighth shower that day)

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/21/jay-walder-m-t-a-chief-resigns-suddenly/

http://gothamist.com/2011/07/22/outgoing_mta_ceo_jay_walder_to_make.php

http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2011/07/21/mta-chief-jay-walder-resigning/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/henry-j-stern/mta-chief-walder-leaves_b_907389.html

You'll see in the articles above the range of opinion on the story as views differ on what this says about Walder and more importantly the effect it will have on mass transit riders in the city.

Some are trying to make him out to be the railyard equivalent of LeBron James (<--Btw this clip is very amusing if you havent seen it) for taking his talents elsewhere, but as the Gothamist article points out he was make $500k in London then left that job to come here and work for $350k and Hong Kong is offering almost a million annually.

Plus the transit works union, (and I am prounion) has a big sway over the agency thanks to the necessity of the MTA for city life and their contract is coming up at the end of the year while the MTA still struggles to pay off the debt incurred by huge borrowing over the last ten years, (thanks Pataki).

If you dont know Walder is credited with an attempt to modernize the MTA specifically city buses and subways. Things I havent liked under his watch, the cut off of bus service in the boroughs, and shortening of schedules but most of that was the result of budget cuts and a lack of public fighting to keep necessary services. As well as the constant problem with the MTA, that they are not politically accountable to anyone because they are a half private half goverment agency.

Things I have liked under Walder's watch, continued modernizing of the trains (I'm not a fan of robo trains though) and the update and addition of schedule clocks, (mentioned in a previous post) which every major city's subways (London, Tokyo, etc) have. I also like the realtime bus tracking and priorety bus lanes in the city. This and more was the promise and expectations that surrounded Walder's arrival as MTA head.

But yeah, Walder's a native New Yorker, and we know a few things with certainty; when the road's about to get bumpy and what a good deal looks like. I can't fault him for his choice but I'm not very optimistic that Cuomo will find anyone nearly as able to run this city's MTA and complete the turnaround Walder attempted to start.



Looks like NYer's will have to fold up our hopes and dreams into another, this bird has flown.

Photo Wednesday 03/23/11 :"The End is Far Away" Edition

"The End is Far Away", originally uploaded by b'klynborn.

Jeez I had this photo taken and post written this morning and the day got away from me.

I've mentioned many reasons for having "photowednesdays" on this blog. some reasons are current events love of Brooklyn and keeping my idle hands from being the devils playthings. I've probably also mentioned it's not always easy to find a new pic of something Brooklyn-centric or born that's interesting. I never want photo Wednesdays to turn into a catalogue of cliched pics of the bridge or the arch.

all this to say i wasnt clear or looking forward to this photo wednesday. its winter i work almost nonstop and so whatever uniqueness goes on i feel i miss lately. sometimes i cant imagine what there is to see that hasnt been seen already in Brooklyn, and then there's images like this I found today.

I'm a morning facebook checker and I found a professional friends announcement that his mom had passed. a few weeks back I and thousands like me lost a great friend and I couldn't help notice the last few weeks on facebook how many personal condolence messages there have been.

then on a bit of a tangent there's slot of conversations I've found myself in lately with people expressing the end of days coming in 2012 (which I'm not a believer in) and the frequency of these conversations, not the actual topic, but that so many people are subscribing.... leaves me a little speechless.
all that to say this morning I felt as grey as the day.

and then there's image and it's message waiting to be seen.

happy Wednesday y'all

Board in Brooklyn, new on Franklin : Photo Wednesday 03/09/11

So, Board over the Bridge on the Subway, originally uploaded by b'klynborn.

there've been a lot of good images pass my eyes lately so this week it's three photos for Wednesday. 2 showing the interest boarding is enjoying in Brooklyn these days...

the photo below has nothing to do with boards (except maybe the boards on te windows) but it does speak to new goings on Franklin Av. I've been too busy to research beyond staring at construction workers and for all I know the "ilovefranklinave" blog probably covered this already. Anybody know what it is?

alls I knows is if it services and enhanced the hood, I'm with it.

Hail of a storm in Brooklyn

yeh.... the insta-hailstorm was a few days ago and lasted for all of 15 minutes but life's been busy for this Brooklyn born boy so finally here's some video showing what happens when the subway is your only refuge from the angry balls of ice hailed down Brooklyn last week.

Check for the guy with the umbrella, to
see the velocity of the hailstones:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eM_KeA5fx5w&feature=youtube_gdata_player

unfortunately I'm posting this from my iphone so I'm not able to make it viewable but the link should lead you there.
Finally had time to get the video up, enjoy:

Photo Wednesday 02/17/10 : Elevated Edition

(This Photo Wednesday originally appeared last two weeks ago and was bumped because of this)



This image comes from the 4th Avenue subway station offices at night,(served by the F and (for now) G lines. The 4th Avenue subway station is one of those points in the MTA system that gives a sense of how interconnected a railway the subway is. Above street level is a wide set of four tracks and two platforms, then two stairs below you have the underground R,W (and sometimes N & D lines).

The next Manhattan bound station, Smith–9th Streets has the best view in the subway system and is the highest altitude station but this picture shows a rare view too. Those upper windows with decades of graffiti are yet to be buffed but somehow illuminated and the are part of former offices of the old IND transit company. I've been using that station since the 70's and I've never seen those windows lit up. I'm wondering if it has to do with the renovations of these stations that is going on for the next few years.

Two sites I love and have never given enough credit to: www.forgotten-ny.com and www.nycsubway.org provide more details about this station situated at the bottom of Park Slope, such as the fact that  it's a viaduct, level in it's construction, although it looks like a bridge, because the west end is elevated and the east goes straight into the hill of Park Slope which rises around it.

The subway makes for an appropriate "Photo Wednesday" since I've been seeing a whole lot of subway lately.