Congestion Pricing, Coming Soon to a Midtown Near You!
• The mayor will use Earth Day to unveil a barrage of housing, transit, and environmental proposals. In the spotlight today: a charge for drivers to enter midtown, a cabbies’ dream and car commuters’ nightmare. [NYT]
• Governor Spitzer is requesting FEMA aid, including disaster unemployment relief, for twelve counties hit hard by the weekend’s nor’easter. New York City is in line for some federal funds as well. [WSTM]
• Albany, meantime, is proposing the so-called Paw and Claw Tax (on pet food, natch), with the money going toward shelters. The tax would apply to “dogs, cats, gerbils, hamsters, rabbits and birds.” Your ferret is now a bargain. [NYS]
• Tom Cruise, whom the Post now dubs “the diminutive Scientologist,” hit Chelsea (an easy joke there) to raise funds for his questionable sauna-and-vitamins program for 9/11 emergency workers. Reporters were banned. [NYP]
• And it took two fumbling attempts for the NYPD scuba team to tow the departed Sludgie the Whale from Gowanus to his final resting place in Jersey City. Deadpanned one detective by way of equivocation, “This was my first whale.” [WNBC]
in other news
Everything’s Up to Date in Jersey City
On the off chance you missed today’s USA Today, we thought we’d point you to some big news on the front page of America’s paper: The model of America’s urban future, apparently, is Jersey City. The onetime industrial burg across the Hudson is “clean, green and growing,” USA Today says. It’s gaining residents, jobs, and office space, and it’s got plans for a “mix of loft-style residential condos and rental units, restaurants, clubs, galleries, theaters and artists’ spaces” in the so-called Powerhouse Arts District.
So Jersey City’s up-and-coming and a good place for artists. Who knew?
Model of Urban Future: Jersey City? [USA Today]
If You Lived Here, You’d Be Cool By Now [NYM]
cultural capital
Indie Rockers Too Cool for Manhattan, Head to Jersey
In other Stephen Colbert–related news, we’ll mention that the Decemberists — the “hyperliterate prog-rock” band he recently battled for green-screen dominance — yesterday released their U.S. touring schedule for spring. As New York has already deemed the group about as brilliant as possible, we were a bit miffed to discover that no New York City venue made the list. But then we saw where the tour kicks off: Jersey City. Of course it does. —Lori Fradkin
Exclusive: Decemberists Announce Spring U.S. Tour [Pitchfork]
If You Lived Here, You’d Be Cool By Now [NYM]
