We Are All Bond Up Together

The Daily News’ Adam Lisberg shows what raising bonds for what could be the most expensive subway stop of all time means for this year’s city budget:

So next year’s budget includes $83.3 million to pay for the 7 train extension, even though it’s highly unlikely all of it will be spent.

At the same time, the budget closes four FDNY companies to save $5.6 million. It closes a center for the homeless to save $2.4 million. It closes four swimming pools and shuts the rest down two weeks early to save $1.4 million.

It also lays off 834 city workers.

The city can’t afford to pay their salaries anymore, but it can still afford to set aside money in reserve to impress the bond markets. It’s cold comfort to those workers, but the bankers will be happy.

Giant Experiment Has No Appreciable Benefits Beyond Creating Awesome Spot From Which To Take Pictures For Family Christmas Cards

The city finds that traffic around Times Square doesn’t really move any faster or easier now that a five-block-long stretch of Broadway has been turned into a pedestrian mall:

The city is keeping its data under tight lock and key. But two officials briefed on the data characterized the results as disappointing, and one said that traffic flow did not meet the department’s goals. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the data had not been made public.

Those goals were outlined in February, when the program was announced. The city hoped that its changes would allow drivers to travel down Seventh Avenue, from 59th to 23rd Street, up to 17 percent faster than before. A comparable northbound trip up Avenue of the Americas was expected to take up to 37 percent less time. The idea, according to Mr. Bloomberg, was that eliminating the congestion where Broadway crosses the two avenues would smooth the way for cars, allowing them to spend less time at stoplights.

. . .

The stakes are high for the city’s transportation commissioner, Janette Sadik-Khan, who has gained worldwide attention for the plan. Ms. Sadik-Khan has taken an aggressive approach toward remaking the New York streetscape to roll back the car-centric policies stemming from the Robert Moses era and create a metropolis more friendly to pedestrians and bicycles. Her actions have earned her accolades and anger in equal measure.

Traffic data will not be the only factor in Mr. Bloomberg’s assessment of whether to continue the program, which barred vehicular traffic from Broadway between 47th and 42nd Streets, and from 35th Street to 33rd Street, creating pedestrian plazas through the heart of Times and Herald Squares. Besides the extension of green lights to expedite traffic flow, other small modifications to lanes and the street grid were made and furniture was set up to accommodate tired and hungry tourists.

Grand schemes seldom seem to provide the results politicians promise — especially flashy schemes rolled out six months before an election. So when in doubt, back down:

“Does it solve all of the problems in the city?” he added. “No.”

In other words, what do you think we’re going to do with all that new lawn furniture?

Location Scout: Times Square Pedestrian Mall.

Good News/Bad News

The good news is that the city’s 14 sewage plants are finally meeting Clean Water Act standards. The bad news is that it’s really, really expensive to upgrade sewage treatment plants. And that’s part of the reason it’s so expensive to live here:

New DEP Commissioner Cas Holloway said the performance will further improve once ongoing projects like the $5 billion upgrade of Brooklyn’s Newtown Creek plant are completed.

$5 billion! Is that a typo? Jeez . . .

Location Scout: Newtown Creek.

Will The Wonders That Fill The Internet Ever Cease?

No, never:

A bizarre video hit the Web on Wednesday of a man rolling around the floor of an uptown 6 train playing with a chicken.

Urban Umbrellas, Comely Canopies, Sightly Scaffolding

I prefer the name “temporal portico,” but “urban umbrella” will suffice until we come up with something better for the rainbow-colored scaffolding alternative:

In a bid to beautify city sidewalks, Mayor Bloomberg yesterday rolled out a replacement for the hideous steel and plywood sheds that have been leaking rain water or blocking sunshine for pedestrians outside construction sites since the early 1950s.

“These structures reflect the face of a city that is constantly changing, yet the sheds themselves haven’t evolved at all in the past five decades,” the mayor said. “It’s time to bring them into the 21st century.”

The shed’s replacement, dubbed the urban umbrella, was picked from among 164 designs submitted from 28 countries. The winner, Young-Hwan Choi, is a 28-year-old student at the University of Pennsylvania.