Good morning, and welcome to New York Minute, a new roundup of the New York City news you need to know about today. Send stories you think should be included to tips@curbed.com.
What’s up with the anti-car road signs in Brooklyn?
About a week ago, electronic road signs on Vanderbilt Avenue in Brooklyn started to have their messages changed, with construction instructions getting replaced by a very different alerts: BAN CARS. CARS ARE DEATH MACHINES. HONKING WON’T HELP.
The hacked signs have gotten plenty of attention, but no one seems to know who is actually behind them. The New York Daily News investigated, but did not name a culprit (who could be charged with felony criminal mischief, apparently); they did, however, speak to the company that operates those signs, whose president said “We lock those signs up every night, but sometimes people break in.” The road signs are apparently very easy to hack, hence the pranksters continuing to break in and retool the messaging.
According to the NYPD’s latest stats, there have been 171 traffic fatalities in 2019.
No library for 5 Pointz towers?
A Queens community board approved a change in plans to the contested towers rising at the site of what was once 5 Pointz, but new public space it was hoping for within the towers may not become a reality.
According to the City, CB2 did not run its idea for a library—which it believes could be a replacement for the soon-to-shutter branch within the Citigroup tower—by either the Queens Public Library system, or developer Jerry Wolkoff, who is behind the rental towers. And while the former has expressed interest in a new branch, the latter said that “it doesn’t make sense” from a financial standpoint.
And in other news…
- Getting in or out of LaGuardia Airport is going to really, really suck this weekend.
- A corner lot in the East Village, known as the home of B Bar and Grill, could give rise to a much larger development.
- An apartment in Riverdale is listed for a whopping $4.675 million, making it the Bronx’s priciest pad for sale.
- Supreme, the brand beloved by hypebeasts, will make a permanent move to the former Germania Bank Building at 190 Bowery, better known as the graffiti-covered landmark previously owned by photographer Jay Maisel.
- The City Council may submit a proposal to keep any new jail construction off of Rikers Island, and to codify its planned 2026 closure date.
- And finally, the Museum of Modern Art doesn’t reopen for another week and a half, but the reviews are already rolling in: New York’s Justin Davidson says it’s “a work of confident and self-effacing elegance,” while Michael Kimmelman at the New York Times says “[i]t’s smart, surgical, sprawling and slightly soulless.” More from us TK.
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