Arun Venugopal

To compare the just-opened Broadway musical 'Promises, Promises' to its source material, the 1960 Billy Wilder film 'The Apartment,' is admittedly a bit unfair, a little apple-and-orangey.

More to the point, 'The Apartment' is one of the all-time great New York City movies, a film that beautifully captured an era's conflicting currents: rapid corporate growth and careerism, sexual liberation and sexual exploitation. That it can be classified a romantic comedy seems startling, given the suicide attempt it depicts and the constant melancholy that pervades the film. That's not only a testament to Wilder's craftsmanship and the acting of Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine, but to the era itself, when audiences were sophisticated enough to juggle humor and deep pathos.

Film crews shooting in New York will now have to pay $300 for City Hall permits. These permits had been free since the city established a film office, something the city has proudly advertised. But officials with the Mayor's Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting say with unprecedented budget cuts, ...

This 30-something male accessorizes with a sheet of Bounce Outdoor Fresh.

'Nothing clingy about me, LOL'

But it's kind of sad, because the guy can never actually look at it himself, seeing as it's on the back of his neck. Nor can he apprehend the look on people's faces, when they stand behind him in the elevator, staring at his nape.

I was leaving a mayoral event uptown -- announcing the reopening of the Harlem School of the Arts -- when I caught sight of this sign for an old gas station. The lettering was unremarkable, but I loved how the vines had embedded themselves, something you don't often see in the big city.

I'd just taken my first shot, poking my camera through the chain link fence, when a voice stopped me.

'What are you doing?' the man asked. He was black, probably in his 60s, and he didn't look happy. Turns out he owned the gas station.

Marijuana lovers sang and preached the gospel of grass in Union Square on their high holy day of April 20. They did everything but light up (too many fuzz on the prowl, man). Snacking, however, was strongly encouraged.

...doesn't mean it feels like a foot. Or possesses the sensual, full-bodied bouquet of a foot.

New York, NY —

With the city's unionized doormen threatening to strike at midnight tomorrow if no contract deal is reached, some top elected officials are coming to their defense in negotiations with building owners. Comptroller John Liu says working-class wages have been stagnant in recent years and the ...

Beautiful day in the city, with tourists lining up in front of the flowers in City Hall Park.

A minute later, this little guy went in deep, deep, deep...

...and came out with a little gift for his mommy, who seemed none too pleased.

I've been to the Intrepid, on the West Side. It's huge, as aircraft carriers tend to be, and when you're standing up on that sprawling deck, it feels pretty neat. Only thing is, I was there for work. Would I have gone there otherwise? I'm not sure. The Intrepid has never been one of the tourist destinations my wife and I visit with our out-of-town family and friends. We're much more likely to go to Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, the Irish Hunger Memorial, the Empire State Building, or a Broadway show. If we're entertaining people who've been to New York a few times, we'll go to the High Line or the Cloisters.

The city's Department of Environmental Protection is preparing itself for a public drubbing, come May. That's when hearings will be held by the Water Board in all five boroughs, over a proposed water rate hike of 12.9%. The rate is set to go up as of July, and one imagines that there aren't that many citizen-defenders of the increase lining up.

In anticipation of the criticism, the DEP is trying to build up goodwill for the multi-billion dollar projects it's undertaking. Yesterday a bunch of reporters and photographers were given a tour of the Croton Water Filtration plant, which is under construction in the Bronx and which has added $177 to the average household's annual water bill.

Bottom line of the press junket: Here are your rate hike dollars at work.

photos by Arun Venugopal

The Croton plant is in the Bronx, a few steps from the end of the No. 4 subway line. Right now, the nine-acre project zone is chaotic: Cement trucks drive in and out, along with front loaders, and there are about two dozen cranes looming over the site. In time, however, the $2.8 billion project will be invisible, as the filtration plant will be concealed beneath a driving range. The DEP says the plant's green roof--essentially the grassy lawns for all those golf balls--will be the largest in the city.

Water has been flowing through the area from upstate for years. In 1890, the New Croton Aqueduct was constructed, and that's been in use since then, having replaced the original Croton Aqueduct, which was completed in 1842. But the DEP says new, elaborate filtration systems are required to bring the city in line with federal EPA standards. The new plant will also have an ultra-violet irradiation system, to destroy giardia parasites and other evil things.

Remember the days when you zipped around town by way of the water? Neither do we. But if you've read books, you'd know that's how it once was, and Roland Lewis of the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance says it can be once again.

"Let's imagine docks in every single one of ...

New York, NY —

A slew of legislative proposals would mark the biggest expansion of city recycling in over 20 years. WNYC's Arun Venugopal has more on the effort in the City Council.

REPORTER: If you're the kind of armchair environmentalist who wants to do their part but are too ...

A weary traveler outside Grand Central

New York, NY —

The MTA says it'll have to reduce its expenses by $378 million, above and beyond the nearly $400 million in service cuts and layoffs already announced. Once again, the agency attributes the problem to a shortfall in the payroll tax and state budget cuts.

MTA officials ...

This is the second post in my 'Just Out of Jail' series. The idea, as I mentioned earlier, is to understand what got someone into jail in the first place, what their experience was like inside, and how they're planning to re-enter society. Let me know if you like these profiles and how you think it should evolve.

I met Jonathan Stewart the same day I met Tia Evans, the ex-con who hopes to become the next John Grisham. Having just watched the startling and brutal French film 'Une Prophete' ('A Prophet'), about one man's journey through the penal system, I couldn't help but see the 22-year-old Jonathan in a similar, if less sensational way. He grew up in Red Hook and was imprisoned at the age of 16, for five years. He was released last May. Here he talks about his drug use, his side business of fashioning razor blades in jail, and his plan to become gainfully employed as a plumber.

Why did you go to prison?

At the time I was using drugs: PCP, marijuana, alcohol. Trying to block out the past of my life, which was kind of hard to go through. I wound up doing a couple of robberies and wound up getting caught. I did jail time -- I was facing five years, and five years of parole time. They found the weapon -- it was an Army switchblade.

You didn't want to make the choice of something as extreme as a gun?

Yeah. Where I was raised, people pass on guns when they're used for like shootouts or murders. I didn't want to get involved with my fingerprints being involved in a situation with handguns, so I used a knife instead, which I purchased. I went into a neighborhood called Jefferson Projects, which is on 115th street in East Harlem.

And how much money did you make?

Not much. Just enough to get high again. Basically it was a stupid idea. I just liked to shut the world out and think of no worries, and be in my own world.

So once you get the cash you went to the dealer. What did you get?

I got either some marijuana or some alcohol. Once in a while, I'd smoke PCP, but not that much.

It's more expensive also?

Yes, but it's more exotic. It's a different type of hallucinogen than marijuana.

What got you into drugs?

What got me into drugs... basically the abuse I went through as a child. I just didn't know how to bear knowing how all this happened to me and how to cope with it. So the only way I learned how to cope with it was to be intoxicated or high off something. So that was my only way of basically dealing with my situation.

What kind of abuse are we talking about? Were you hit a lot?

Physical abuse. Mental. Emotional. I was taken away from my mother at the age of three. So basically my whole life I've been in the foster care system. From group homes to foster homes to prison to now.

Did she get into jail as well?

No, she was a crack addict. She was an alcoholic. And just couldn't manage taking care of her kids. ACS felt she couldn't do that, couldn't manage it. I was snatched away when I was three. My sister was snatched away when she was one. My brother was 10 or 11.... Knowing that all my life, I've been trying to just have that comfort of being with my mother. I've never had the opportunity . So I've had a lot of rage in me, a lot of anger, a lot of hate. And the only way to block out a lot that happened in my life was to use a drug. It would work, but I'd have to keep doing it to make sure I'm under that high.

The other day, I attended a memorial service at Greenwood Cemetery, in Brooklyn. It's a gorgeous place, marked by rolling hills and ponds and architectural gems, including the 1911 chapel in which the service was held. Afterward, we roamed the grounds -- there are 478 acres of them -- and competed to see who could find the oldest gravestones. At some point, the question came up: How many dead people are buried here?

The answer, it turns out, is about '560,000 permanent residents,' as the Greenwood website puts it.

That's pretty impressive, but it begs the question: How many people have actually died within the five boroughs?

I reached out to the city's Department of Health, which has posted its birth and death records online. If you click on 1961, you'll see the breakdown all the way back to 1898. It took a while but according to my calculations... 8,360,144 people died in this city between 1898 and 2008. Coincidentally (or... not), that's almost exactly how many people currently live in the city.

Here's my math, if you're interested...

Apparently these signs in the DC Metro system have been around a while, and apparently they're considered successful enough to have kept in place (Note the conspicuously evasive 'which will remain nameless').

Wounding, no? I think the MTA needs to respond with its own campaign. Maybe something like 'Please, don't ...