Who Killed The Redbird?

Are we to assume that the Clean Air Act doomed the redbird? That seems to be what the Sun is saying:

The New York City Transit Authority has agreed to pay $165,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by the federal government alleging that it failed to repair air-conditioning systems on its subway cars in a timely manner.

The lawsuit, brought under the Clean Air Act, claimed that the city often did not fix leaking units within the required 30 days after discovering they were losing refrigerant. The lawsuit sought to minimize the release of ozone-destroying chlorofluorocarbons that are found in the refrigerant.

The city also allegedly did not keep accurate logs detailing how much refrigerant it added to leaky air-conditioning units while conducting repairs, according to the lawsuit, which federal prosecutors in Manhattan filed in 2004.

The settlement was announced yesterday and the city admitted no wrongdoing, according to a copy of its terms.

The allegations did not extend to all cooling units on all subway cars in the city, but only to a class of subway cars that have since been removed from service. Known as “redbirds,” those subway cars were phased out beginning in 1998 and were no longer in use by the end of 2003, according to information on the MTA’s Web site.

See also: Redbird.

Please Explain: Why Is That Manhole Cover Flying At My Head?

New York Magazine explains once and for all what happens when manhole covers explode:

The copper electrical wiring running beneath the streets is hung on the manhole walls and sheathed in insulation, which can crack and warp owing to age (many are 60 years old), chemical corrosion (a major culprit is road salt, which is carried down with rain), or hungry rats.

Cables carry an average of 13,000 volts. With demand up, the cables have to carry more power and begin to heat up. This heat, coupled with the electricity leaking through the cracks in the wiring, starts to burn the insulation.

Carbon monoxide, an extremely flammable gas, is released from the smoldering insulation and collects in the empty chamber; the cover is pushed up like a lid on a pot of boiling water.

An electrical spark can ignite the gas. This is surprisingly common: In one 24-hour period in July, the Fire Department reported 25 manhole explosions in Astoria. Not all result in the covers being shot into the air: That depends on how much gas and electricity is involved. But some covers have been flung over 50 feet.

Hate The Church, Love Its Buildings

It was high-tension back-and-forth drama for St. Brigid’s Church last week, with details straight out of a movie script:

It was an anxious week for East Villagers who have been fighting to save the turn-of-the-century old P.S. 64 and 158-year-old St. Brigid’s Church from demolition. Some neighbors and activists have been involved in both struggles, and probably could have used a scorecard to keep up with the flurry of emergency press conferences outside the two historic Avenue B buildings — located just a block apart — plus a candlelight vigil and court hearing.

Last Friday, State Supreme Court Judge Barbara Kapnick enjoined further demolition of St. Brigid’s Church until Aug. 24, pending a Board of Standards and Appeals hearing on the validity of the demolition permit.

Last Thursday — just two days after demolition workers started hacking historic terracotta off the old P.S. 64 building on E. Ninth St. — a demolition crew a block to the south pounded an ugly hole through the back wall of St. Brigid’s Church, starting the destruction of the historic East Village famine church. The workers shoved antique wooden pews and delicate wainscoting from inside the church through the hole and into a rear yard. Then — as stunned and angry neighbors and former St. Brigid’s parishioners pleaded with him to stop — one of the workers, smiling, spun his bulldozer over the pile, crushing it all to bits.

. . .

Next morning at 7 a.m., to the anguish of about 20 neighbors, activists and former parishioners who showed up hoping to head off further destruction, the workers — this time wielding long crowbars — knocked out the seven, 25-foot-tall, painted, stained-glass windows on the church’s north side. Again, the neighbors and former parishioners begged them to stop.

“When I saw those crowbars destroying those stained-glass windows this morning, I thought about the Taliban destroying those Buddhas in Afghanistan,” said Matt Metzgar, a former East Village squatter who had been among the protesters shouting for the workers not to break the windows.

“We were all yelling ‘Stop!’ We were screaming,” said Beth Sopkow. “We were all calling 311 and E.P.A, saying that there were hazardous conditions and dust.”

Patti Kelly, who has a stained-glass studio on Avenue C and also had sadly watched as the venerable windows depicting Jesus’ life were smashed, estimated they were worth $100,000 apiece.

“That was heartbreaking, because I know exactly what it takes to do those windows. It took them a year to do them,” she said.

Perhaps you assumed that godless New Yorkers were uninterested in churches. That would be untrue:

At a candlelight vigil outside St. Brigid’s the night before, East Villagers accused the archdiocese of planning to cash in by developing the prime property on the eastern edge of Tompkins Square Park.

A large silver crucifix ring on his finger, poet Barry Allen shouted, “Our Lord Jesus went into the temple and threw out the money changers — goddammit!”

“I love the building and the color, that beautiful yellow, right at the park,” said Susi Schropp. Though she never attended the church, she said, “It’s beyond just being a parishioner — it’s about the community being besieged.”

. . .

Jerome O’Connor, who used to own St. Dymphna’s bar on St. Mark’s Pl., originally had the idea to investigate the demolition permit to check if it was valid — which is the only thing currently standing in the way of the building being razed.

“You don’t tear down a 158-year-old church for anything,” O’Connor said. “I’d like to see all the Catholic churches leveled, because of what they do. But not this one.”

By This Math, If Your Power Was Out For Ten Days You Should Only Be Paying $9 A Month For Electricity

Con Ed announced that they would be issuing a $3 credit to residents affected by the blackout:

Con Ed is giving long-suffering Queens customers who were blacked out for more than a week a bonus for their pain and suffering — $3.

That’s what most residential customers will receive as part of a Con Ed request the state Public Service Commission granted yesterday.

The credit — for billing and meter charges — will be reflected in their upcoming bill.

You Say “Tomato,” I Say “The N And W Lines Suck Eggs”

Tuesday, The New York Times noted that “The No. 6 Is Rated No. 1 In Straphangers’ Report”. Today, the Queens Chronicle reports the real story — “N, W Subway Lines Ranked Worst In City”:

In its annual report on the subway system released Monday, the Straphangers Campaign slapped three Queens subway lines with the dubious distinction of being among the five worst rated. Only one Queens line rated among the five best.

The report, which assessed each line for frequency of service, delays, breakdowns, seat availability, cleanliness and announcement clarity, ranked the N and W lines as worst with a $0.75 “MetroCard” rating, followed by the M with a $0.85 rating and the D, G, R, V with a $0.95 rating. Only the No. 7 line scored among the five best, with a $1.15 rating.

. . .

Kiro, a 31 year old waiter from Kew Gardens, called the E train “cool but smelly,” adding that “the trains aren’t very clean.”

Kenyatta Johnson, 25, of Kew Gardens, had some complaints of his own about the E and F trains that were not covered in the Straphangers report. “I’ve been in a bunch of trains in the past few days that had no air conditioning,” he said. “And I waited almost 45 minutes for a train the other night.”

Johnson also said that the Union Turnpike station was particularly dirty with “rats as big as cats.” He added: “They jump up on the platform and just look at you.”