it may seem laughable to us but perception is reality. since the pandemic, i have heard a number of people from outside the city say that they stopped taking the trains into town. if they can't drive, they aren't interested in coming here anymore. the congestion tax is another nail in the coffin for our small businesses. — josh on In the News: Long Islanders can’t handle the subway

I only know what the manager told me! — Tribeca Citizen on Hashi Japanese market has opened on Greenwich

The map shown is the village of Hempstead—the Town of Hempstead is much larger and includes several more LIRR stations. — Alison on In the News: Long Islanders can’t handle the subway

It's very sad to see the post office vandalized by graffiti again, after volunteers worked to clean it all off a few years ago. What a disgrace. Also, the tree areas on the Church side of the post office are missing trees. Is there a way to request that the city re-plant trees there? — Marcus on Nosy Neighbor: What happened to the American flag on the post office?

Yeah, but traffic during rush hour on LIE, SS, Belt Parkway, etc is hardly driving, more like moving at a snail's pace. — ItsAGThing on In the News: Long Islanders can’t handle the subway

Tribeca Social next door is also closed. I believe I saw an eviction notice a week or two back. — B.Thompson on Aahar on Murray has closed its restaurant

Well seems like all the rich celebrity folks going to the Met Gala would not take the bus or subway - they came in massive SUVs. Why no call out for them? Why do they get a pass? How is it that we demonize any non-rich driver (teacher, fire fighter whatever) - yet OK for Zendaya , JLO, Chris Hemsworth to be using huge SUVs everywhere? The Met is not in the CP zone but still it is an issue of vehicle use. — MST on In the News: Long Islanders can’t handle the subway

What the MTA Omits about future Capital Construction projects, even if Congestion Pricing starts June 30th, there is no way the MTA will be able to advertise, award and issue a Notice to Proceed tor contractors representing $15 billion worth of projects within the following six months. There are also billions in other ongoing capital projects whose work will be carried over into the next $51 billion or more 2025 - 2029 Five Year Capital Plan. There may not be enough resources to integrate the implementation of $15 billion or more carryover Congestion Price funded projects from the $51 billion 2020 - 2024 Five Year Capital Plan, billions more in ongoing non-Congestion Price funded projects with those in the first and second year of the upcoming $51 billion plus 2025 - 2029 Five Year Capital Plan. The MTA lacks sufficient Procurement, Project Managers, Engineers, Legal, and Force Account employees, along with Track Outage Availability to proceed with all these projects in the same time frame. Billions of capital improvement projects will be delayed. Costs will increase due to inflation and other factors as time goes by. The upcoming $51 billion plus 2025 - 2029 Five Year Capital Plan is due to be released and adopted within seven months. This should include a master integrated resource loaded schedule for how the billions in carryover capital projects will proceed with billions more in the new five year capital program. — Larry Penner - Retired Federal Transit Administration Official on In the News: Long Islanders can’t handle the subway

Glad to see 24 Murray coming along, but I wish they hadn't painted it! The brick looked great. — Steven on Seen & Heard: Colony moves to new space on Varick

Maybe we need a risk comparison of driving vs. subway. Considering the ongoing everyday pandemic known as "driving", I'll take my chances with the subway. Driving pandemic stats: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_vehicle_fatality_rate_in_U.S._by_year Over 40,000 deaths in 2022, for example. "In 2010, there were an estimated 5,419,000 crashes, 30,296 deadly, killing 32,999, and injuring 2,239,000.[4] About 2,000 children under 16 die every year in traffic collisions.[5] There were 3,613,732 motor vehicle fatalities reported in the United States from 1899 to 2013." So driving is "safe"? — Marcus on In the News: Long Islanders can’t handle the subway

Looking forward to checking it out. We used to shop at Sunrise but recently had very bad experience with rude and unhelpful staff there, so we will never shop there again. Glad to have another option. There are also a couple Japanese specialty markets in the East Village which we frequent. There's a large one on St. Mark's Place (can't recall the name), thought it might be a pop-up. Found good things at very good prices. — Marcus on Hashi Japanese market has opened on Greenwich

Stopped by last week. Prices are competitive vs. Sunrise on Broome and this appears to be a more pleasant shopping experience (brighter, cleaner, more organized). I'm not sure about the Japanese claim, though. Many of the Japanese signs in the store are somewhat unnatural expressions to the native eye. Even in your last picture with Hokkaido pudding, the last kanji character is not actually Japanese, but a word meaning the same thing in simplified Mandarin. — H on Hashi Japanese market has opened on Greenwich

thanks Charlie for your unwavering commitment to cycling and your even more unwavering commitment to the little town of TriBeCa — Madeline Lanciani on Seen & Heard: Japanese market opens today

R, The event meant no bus access in some places, difficult bus access in some places and slow bus transit all around. Lack of bus transit was especially an issue on a cold rainy day. Streets cannot be closed - people are entitled to and deserve essential mass transit. — Lisa on Seen & Heard: Japanese market opens today

Congestion pricing is a step in that direction. — DSSA on Seen & Heard: Japanese market opens today

Hooray for Chambers Wines! And congrats on your new location. One of the pleasures of living down in Tribeca is having the best wine shop in the USA right around the corner. Here's to another 23 years! — Will Meyerhofer on Old Kid on a New Block: Chambers Street Wines

Best was the empty streets, it was so spirit lifting. If only we can have it once a month, like fasting, a kind of urban life cleansing, bringing a sense of hope one rarely has, almost never. — R. on Seen & Heard: Japanese market opens today

Thank you! — N on Seen & Heard: Japanese market opens today

@N: You can write to Ken Podziba , president of Bike NY, which conceived the 5 boro bike tour in the 1970s and has run it ever since. If not for missing 2020 on account of Covid (if memory serves), today's might have been their fiftieth run. I'm going to take a bit of credit for the lovely change you witnessed and wrote about. After the 2015 tour I began a fusillade of complaints to Ken about the grotesquely amplified sound before and during the start of the race. As I pointed out to him and in Tribeca Citizen, the music and announcements had gotten so loud that bike mechanics assisting riders near the start area couldn't communicate with the people they were trying to help. It took a lot of hammering, much of it by other readers of this publication, but Ken and BikeNY finally got the message. I like to think that my ostensible stature in the cycling community lent some gravitas to the point we were all trying to make. — Komanoff on Seen & Heard: Japanese market opens today

How can I pass along kudos to the organizers of the 5 boro bike tour (or the government agency that made them change their protocols)? This morning's set-up seemed much better than in the past with no music and announcements bleeding over as far as Hudson Street and especially the new requirement that all riders dismount as they passed through Bogardus Triangle, which made it easy to cross at Reade and Hudson because all were obeying the traffic light. Last year, even though there was a BikeNY monitor there, I had to just assert myself and create an obstruction to cross the street because the bikes were an almost constant flow and the monitor assiduously ignored my attempts to get her attention from across the street. This morning a monitor was also doing a great job at West and Warren. — N on Seen & Heard: Japanese market opens today

When I took the shot it just looked like the sun striking some very low clouds that were engulfing the top of the tower -- — John W on Specters and portals at the World Trade Center

Been here 25yrs… Never thought I would want to leave this city. Quality of life is a disgrace right now. The will of the people doesn’t matter anymore and common sense is dead. — Mike on Another illegal cannabis store coming to Chambers?

Max Cleaners does excellent alterations. — Manhattanmommie on Seen & Heard: Japanese market opens today

All those siting rules only apply to LEGAL cannabis stores. The illegal ones are not regulated by the nature of being illegal! — Tribeca Citizen on Another illegal cannabis store coming to Chambers?

It’s less than 500 feet from PS 234, and Washington square park. And directly across from 16 handle and the new candy store. Which by the way there is already an illegal weed shop directly across the street. Nothing will happen if we don’t protest — Sandra on Another illegal cannabis store coming to Chambers?