1) Traffic planners turn to the Netherlands to help bring order to the crazy traffic schemes of MePa Plaza, using traditional Dutch woonerfs to put motorists and walkers on the same level. Once installed, planner Sam Schwartz explains, "a pedestrian could never be in the wrong in Gansevoort Plaza." [Street Level/Gregory Beyer]
2) A couple find out that some deals really are too good to be true, as a West Harlem rehab dream becomes a 2 year nightmare of delays. Thankfully, they found an out clause in their contract and shifted their sights to Riverside Drive, buying a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment, with a maid's room in Morningside Heights for $860,000. [Joyce Cohen/The Hunt]
3) Trying to buy your first home in New York City is a daunting task, especially if you don't get any help from the p's. But through extreme penny pinching, a few select New Yorkers prove it really is possible. For example, Amy Wegenaar was desperate to buy an apartment that was large enough for her lunchbox collection, her Spiderman collection and her collection of Jack Skellington dolls in coffins from "The Nightmare Before Christmas." Right. She scrimped and saved and ran up a bit of credit card debt to secure a choice one bedroom in Ditmas Park that's big enough for all her goodies. [Every Penny Counts/Christine Haughney]
4) Some Upper East Side residents are up in arms over plans to add a bike lane in Ruppert Park on East 91st Street. The block was closed to traffic 30 years ago to create a play street for students attending a nearby school that is now closed. CB 8 Chariman David Liston explains, "We love bike paths and think they're a good thing, but there's no worse place to put one." [Upper East Side Report/Jennifer Bleyer]
5) New York City's infrastructure and abandoned buildings are more than things that explode and get redeveloped into luxury apartments. They are also things to explore and have yourself photographed naked next to. [Children of Darkness/Ben Gibberd]