Aaron Donovan

A lone Hummer driver with a conscience? At first glance, it seems so. But this is actually becoming something of a trend: Everyone who is pitching an alternative fuel these days is using a Hummer to make his or her point. And the reason is obvious. Everyone knows that Hummers are the most gas guzzing private vehicles on the road, and are much despised by people who are concerned about the environment or America's addiction to foreign oil.

Tragic New Red Hook ‘Trend’ (NY Post) U.S. Gas Prices Hit All-Time High (AP via NYT)  MTA to Upgrade Its Website (NY Post) Critics Say Turnstiles Could Be Deadly in a Fire (AP via Daily News)  NYC Yellow Cabs Getting Larger (NYT) ‘Vacant’ Lots Disappearing in the South Bronx (NYT)   Girl, 15, Killed by Sleeping Hummer Driver; No Charges Filed … Continued

I recently took this boat, a water taxi, from Red Hook to South Street Seaport. Landing at the Seaport after having just been in Red Hook about five minutes earlier gives one an odd supernatural sense of having been teleported.

Van Hits Bike Shop Across Street From TransAlt (Razor Apple & Curbed) Burnt, Abandoned Taxi Spotted on East 40th Street (Curbed) Man Hit by SUV and Bus Dies; SUV Driver Flees (NY Post)  Officer Survives FDR Hit-and-Run After Homeless Man Assists (Daily News) Bomb Squad Called After Trucks Collide in the Bronx (AP via Daily News)   Harlem Speeder/Killer Will … Continued

This is an artist's rendering of what West 125th Street would look like after Columbia University's expansion is completed more than a decade from now.  (It is included in an overview of the plans that appears in the print edition of Columbia magazine, which, um, hasn't updated its web presence in a while.)  Regardless of whether you're in favor of or against the expansion, it is clear that Columbia is trying hard to persuade skeptics and opponents that the expansion will be a good thing for this part of Harlem.

Anybody else catch the Discovery Channel's 2-hour special on global warming on Sunday night?  It recapped the many problems we can expect to see from global warming: potential death for millions of people, millions more forced to move as coastal cities are permanently flooded, extinction for many species of plants and animals, more frequent severe weather events like forest fires, hurricanes and tornadoes, and positive feedback loops that reinforce the warming. It all would sort of a change life as we've come to know it - for the worse. Complete transformation of the planet: Every other issue sort of pales in comparison, and it makes one wonder, how can we be concerned about anything else?

From Crain's Insider:

The other night in the Financial District, the buildings of Trinity Place were lit-up all noir-like, and light illuminated the steam temporarily wafting skyward from an orange stack. The lighting set up a visual image of a comic book, larger-than-life metropolis that will appear in Spiderman III.  I enjoyed watching a take or two of traffic on the streets as the star flew through the air on some kind of hoist, and generally I am a fan of Hollywood filming here because besides creating jobs, it usually improves the city's image, and encourages tourism, and reminds viewers around the world of the excitement that daily life here can include: New York remains the ultimate movie setting because it is the place where anything can happen. But the New York's huge film industry has been leaning on a not-so-secret crutch that has now been eliminiated. (Hat tip to The Oil Drum.) An essay by Francis X. Clines in the Times brings to light some news:

Photo: Paul Desmarais/Stamford Advocate

The 70th anniversary of the opening of the Triborough Bridge was celebrated this morning with a vintage car parade. As NY1 notes: