I can't say I'll miss the screaming groups of kids on the sidewalk pre/post party or the party buses full of equally loud, drunken bridal parties that seemed to be their main clientele for the past few years. — N on Ninja has closed after 15 years

I am so sad to hear that this place is closing. I had my 65th birthday there with 17 of my best girlfriends. And since then I have a brought about 12 different people there especially my friends from out of state. They all loved it. This place was the shit! I’m going to miss the food, atmosphere and especially the ninjas who played their part to the T. — Marguerite on Ninja has closed after 15 years

Prices are reasonable there. We should all go and support. — RZA on In the News: Two Modell’s on Broadway trying to stay alive

True, congestion will probably never completely disappear in a densely populated (and as you said, no "occupancy limit") island. But it can certainly be limited. There should be general traffic "calming" approach. It's also not just about the total # of vehicles, but the behavior. For example, if vehicles don't "block the box", and drivers don't fall into states of ecstatic worship of their electronic deities, then traffic can flow better. (Also: If vehicles don't run red lights, more non-motorized persons can live to see another day.) Bonus: Less road rage and horn honking. Extra bonus: Less emergency vehicles stuck in traffic. I truly dread the idea of drone congestion and at that point think I will be buying a slingshot like David against Goliath or Dorothy against the Wizard or... — Marcus on Community Board 1 agendas for March

Intriguing...and sadly this is the first I've heard of the place, too late! — Marcus on Ninja has closed after 15 years

On a similar note, any new updates on re-opening of New Amsterdam library? I see some events posted for month of May. Should I be getting my hopes up? https://www.nypl.org/locations/new-amsterdam — TribecaMom on Nosy Neighbor: When will the Rockefeller playground open?

Every diet imaginable is available in restaurants like these - except low sodium, which is one of the only diets critical to life and health. I don’t know why, but I implore the owners to add some low sodium sauces and options to their menu. — A. on Healthy fast casual coming to 111 Murray soon

But again, reducing congestion is not ending congestion. There will still be congestion. London still has congestion and continues to deal with it and will continue to deal with it and then continue to deal with it until everyone decides to work from home and Amazon and WF finally start delivering everything by drone. Oh shit, now there's drone congestion! They're blocking out the sunlight! What about the children??!!!! — Jim Smithers on Community Board 1 agendas for March

I agree with most of this. I work at a Chicago/Evanston WF . We hadve competition of a trader joes, and a jewel (across the street from each other) 3 block radius. We lost customers for a very short time then gained them back. Plus more even after Amazon integration. To respond to a few other comments. Have lost no cashier's other than ones who actually wanted to move on and I get a very consistent 40hr work week. Not all WF operations/conditions are as they seem. Some of my customers put more of a spin on things than need to be. — Adonnis on Exactly what is going on at Whole Foods??

Parking permit idea sounds good. More radical would be to get rid of a lot of street parking, which would also allow widening many of the city's too-narrow sidewalks. There is pressure to get rid of free street parking, but of course, like anything in this town, it's in endless paralysis-by-analysis: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/20/nyregion/nyc-street-parking.html Why don't we try some of these programs for a while, and see? Do matters improve in the city or not? Like the test-run of the 14th Street busway/transitway. — Marcus on Community Board 1 agendas for March

Evidence from other cities is that congestion pricing, if properly implemented, can reduce congestion. As for our tolls, maybe they are reducing congestion. Maybe the problem would be much worse without those tolls. I don't know if such A/B studies have been done: When tolls were raised in NYC, did congestion reduce? (Of course, if tolls were raised at one entry point, and not at others, or reduced at others, that might just move the traffic around rather than reducing it). — Marcus on Community Board 1 agendas for March

Agreed; it's all about getting the details right. Too many exemptions, for example, would simply make congestion pricing ineffective, so such exemptions would have be to very carefully apportioned. That is obviously a "heated" issue. — Marcus on Community Board 1 agendas for March

This is untrue. They recently rebranded the 365 line, but the suppliers didn't "shut down" and they aren't scrambling to do anything. — Kristin on Exactly what is going on at Whole Foods??

First, yes people are in a panic. The Greatest Generation lived bravely and with dignity through the difficulties of the immigrant experience, the Great Depression, and WW2..and then the Korean War. Forget Covid19, a forcast of a few inches of snow sends our cupcake neighborhood in a buying panic: it's a disgrace. Second, WF incredibly has zero retail competition. Unless you go up to an inconvenient Spring Street Trader Joes there is nothing in FIDI, Tribeca or Soho on the west side other than the less than stellar Gristedes in BPC. Third, see Second...zero competition has made them the 800 pound Gorilla in the room, and they flaunt it. After 8am on most mornings they have a handful of registers open, and its not unusual to find 15 to 20 people on line. Go to Trader Joe's at 8am opening and they have more registers open than customers, plus uncluttered aisles. Nothing will change until a TJ, Aldi, or Wegman moves into lower Manhattan. — John on Exactly what is going on at Whole Foods??

If you want to get rid of congestion, get rid of free public on-street parking. Enforce fines against file parking during daylight hours to shift businesses to nighttime deliveries. Go to a residential permit system; maybe people will register their cars properly in NYC instead of at their country homes. — James on Community Board 1 agendas for March

Theory aside, I think Jeff is right to be cynical about the practicality of implementation in NYC/NYS. Bad political compromises and poor administration doom many public projects here. Look at the cost per mile to build a subway here versus anywhere else in the world. Placard parking abuse is a joke. No oversight of government, neutered ethics laws, only 3 people make all the decisions in Albany, etc. etc. are all big problems in our fair city and state. — James on Community Board 1 agendas for March

Congestion pricing doesn't end congestion. Tolls haven't stopped extreme congestion at the tunnels and bridges. Ridiculously high parking rates haven't stopped congestion. It doesn't fix the congestion on the subways, NJ Transit & Metro-North trains, or the sidewalks in SoHo during summer. It's too many businesses, tourists, and residents on too small an island. Disney World has an occupancy limit. What's the occupancy limit for NYC? — Jim Smithers on Community Board 1 agendas for March

You are certainly entitled to your own opinion, you're not entitled to your own facts. Congestion pricing has indeed reduced traffic in central London. — Makes You Go "Hmm-m-m" on Community Board 1 agendas for March

Congestion pricing can work very well. See the example of London (and lessons learned about what didn't work well): "The charge reduced traffic by 15% and congestion – that is, the extra time a trip would take because of traffic – by 30%. This effect has continued to today. Traffic volumes in the charging zone are now nearly a quarter lower than a decade ago, allowing central London road space to be given over to cyclists and pedestrians." http://theconversation.com/london-congestion-charge-what-worked-what-didnt-what-next-92478 — Marcus on Community Board 1 agendas for March

Yep. Hiking cigarette taxes hasn't diminished smoking. Sugar-content taxes didn't diminish sales of sugary soft drinks. Congestion pricing didn't diminish driving in London & Stockholm. What else ya got? — Komanoff on Community Board 1 agendas for March

As an Employee of Amazon, this is Everyday & over in the Beauty & Health care area folks done bought out all the items. Technically people are freaking out over the Corona virus ???? & shopping online, this really doesn't matter, cause what if an employee has it & it's still coming into your home. Items really has been low at all the stores. — JaBonn M Bond on Exactly what is going on at Whole Foods??

All supermarkets seem to be affected. Is this justified precaution or excessive panic about the virus? I suppose we will only know in retrospect. Gothamist mentions (and shows photos of) the Whole Foods shelves on Bowery, similarly depleted: https://gothamist.com/news/park-slope-food-coop-coronavirus-wegmans — Marcus on Exactly what is going on at Whole Foods??

Shame on everyone under 50 who's buying up food they don't need and preventing elderly people who are the most susceptible to dying from coronavirus from getting food themselves. Hoarders. Sheep. Lemmings. Herd. — Sheeple Herder on Exactly what is going on at Whole Foods??

Congestion Pricing is nothing more than a cash grab that will likely do little to alleviate any true traffic congestion. It's being sold as a silver bullet to many who would love to see a reduction in traffic (Canal a prime example) but the reality that it will do little to change behaviors and wind up increasing costs in an already exorbitantly priced city. And if you really are interested in where the money is going, it's not going to update the subways, signals, etc.. it's going to try to help patch a hole in the MTA pension fund... because local and state level politicians are too cowardly to actually deal with the reality themselves. So this is how they "slide it by"... saying it's something that it's really not. — Jeff on Community Board 1 agendas for March

Robert & Marcus: glad to see you engaged on fixing Canal St. You'll be interested to know that congestion pricing is projected to yield a 1/4 drop in vehicle volumes crossing into Manhattan via the three East River bridges from Brooklyn. (The decrease will grow further, to an estimated 1/3, as congestion revenues expedite modernizing the subway's signaling system to, replacing additional car trips.) As you know, there are still political and administrative hurdles to starting up congestion pricing. Your support will help. — Komanoff on Community Board 1 agendas for March