Aw, FML . . .

A great coincidence:

Subway signs recently updated to reflect the June 28 removal of the V and W lines are as bold in color as the previous signs, but some are much bolder in message, like the ones at 14th Street and Sixth Avenue, which spell “FML” with subway symbols.

Did not last long:

New York City Transit will change a set of subway signs that inadvertently resembled a vaguely profane Internet meme.

Labels for the F, M and L subway lines, which intersect at 14th Street and Sixth Avenue, will be re-arranged so that they appear on two different lines, transit officials said on Monday afternoon.

NYC & Company Secures Whimsical European Tourist Market

When you lie down with hordes of European tourists, you wake up with locks on your bridges:

A pop cultural phenomenon that has turned an Italian bridge into a locksmith’s paradise has jumped across the Atlantic and is threatening to cover the Brooklyn Bridge in lovers’ padlocks.

The tradition of securing a symbol of amore to a bridge — and tossing the keys into the river below — dates back to a 1992 book by sugary Italian novelist Federico Moccia, but the tradition didn’t take off until the movie version of “Tre Metri Sopra il Cielo” came out in 2004.

That’s when Roman authorities suddenly had to deal with thousands of lovers clipping all manner of Master, Kryptonite and Medco locks to the Ponte Milvio — and throwing the keys into the muddy Tiber. Well, guess what, Brooklynites: the tradition is here.

Location Scout: Brooklyn Bridge.

At Least It’s Good For Something

The Times interviews the beleaguered people who live along the Cross-Bronx Expressway:

For the tens of thousands of commuters who pass through the tangled crossing each day, the drive is a grinding torture. But for many of those who live alongside the Cross Bronx, the slow-moving river of traffic provides not only a steady soundtrack, but also entertainment, consolation and even wisdom.

. . .

Mr. Ramirez, a retired police officer, smokes a cigar every afternoon as he walks his dog, Peanut, on a patch of grass overlooking the highway intersections.

“You think you’re the only person on the planet, but you come here and see all the people,” he said, gesturing with his cigar stub to a line of cars. “It clears my mind. I don’t feel alone when I come here.”

“If I’m having trouble with my wife,” he added, “I come here and watch the traffic. I thought I had problems, but look at these poor people. They sit in this traffic every day. These people have it so bad compared to me.”

Here’s an idea for the busybodies at the Department of Transportation — why not throw a bone to the truckers for once and make the Cross-Bronx Expressway trucks only during busy times? Because reducing congestion isn’t just for Manhattan, right?

Fresh Off Its Victorious Effort To Stop The Closing Of Guantanamo Bay, REBNY Now Aims To Save The Flagging Municipal Bond Market

The problem is that it’s a lot easier to get the Obama Administration to twist in the wind than it is to get a thousand-ton tunnel boring machine to poke a couple more holes in the bedrock:

Fresh off a victorious effort to persuade the federal government to move the Khalid Shaikh Mohammed trial from New York City, the Real Estate Board of New York, the powerful lobbying arm of the industry, has turned its attention to the missing link in the No. 7 line. This week it started a Web site (BuildTheStation.com), a petition drive and a lobbying campaign to press the Obama administration to come up with hundreds of millions of dollars to pay for the station.

“We think it should have two stops,” said Steven Spinola, president of the Real Estate Board. “There is substantial growth already taking place near 10th and 41st. For them to quietly let the station evaporate, without anyone telling anybody, is a mistake.”

(Innocent question: Since when did REBNY get the government to switch the KSM trial location?)

Studies Prove It Once And For All: Lawn Furniture Saves Lives

And once you go to the trouble to install all that raised sidewalk, it’s annoying to have to get rid of it:

Broadway will remain permanently closed through Times Square after an eight-month tryout that infuriated cabbies but delighted tourists.

Mayor Bloomberg is set to announce the decision Thursday morning after weighing the complaints of area businesses against City Hall’s statistics.

One person familiar with the conclusions said traffic speeds increased slightly on Seventh Ave., but less than the 17% improvement DOT engineers predicted.

. . .

“If lives are being saved, it’s really hard to argue with,” said Transportation Alternatives spokesman Wiley Norvell.

Location Scout: Times Square Pedestrian Mall.