Ilya Marritz

Times Square February 26, 2009, (Getty)

Mayor Bloomberg announced today that the city will close two sections of Broadway to vehicle traffic starting this spring. Already, the plan has supporters and opponents. Truck driver Telly Davis was delivering props to a theater on 45th street today. He says losing five blocks of Broadway will make his job tougher.

'Why do I want to sit in traffic longer than I have to just to get down the street. I mean it's already crowded down here people have stopped looking at the light, enough's enough!'

But tourist Iris Cohen likes the planned pedestrian zones. She says they've already been a big success in her native Israel.

'We have many of them and people prefer to go on boardwalk or this closed street and kids they can go with parents, I think it's great.'

New York, NY —

Doctors, teachers and city employees plan to protest outside the health department in lower Manhattan this hour. They're demanding the Bloomberg administration keep its free dental program for public school students, slated to end by June 30 due to budget cuts.

Barry Liebowitz, president of the ...

New York, NY —

WNYC’s Cindy Rodriguez reports on federal stimulus money to boost New York City’s food stamp program.

New York, NY —

What the bankruptcy of a jewelry chain says about the retail climate.

New York, NY —

The MTA is changing its calculation for how frequently some weekend subway lines will run. But the agency says even though the move will save money, it's not really a service cut. WNYC's Ilya Marritz has more.

The cash-strapped transit agency says it can save $4.4 ...

New York, NY —

The MTA is changing its calculation for how frequently some weekend subway lines will run, but the agency says even though the move will save money, it's not really a service cut. WNYC's Ilya Marritz has more.

REPORTER: The cash-strapped transit agency says it can save ...

New York, NY —

Members of the board of the MTA are en route to Albany this morning to meet with lawmakers. MTA Chairman Dale Hemmerdinger is stepping up his efforts to get new revenue streams approved by the legislature.

HEMMERDINGER: They have to pass the Ravitch plan or something ...

New York, NY —

New York, NY —

New Jersey will get over a billion dollars of federal stimulus money to improve its highways and railways. That's according to Senator Frank Lautenberg, who wants to give priority to repairing decrepit infrastructure.

LAUTENBERG: We have so many deficient bridges and facilities that that's gotta be ...

New York, NY —

New York, NY —

As time runs out to avoid drastic service cuts to subways and buses, a leading lawmaker is telling WNYC he's confident the state will rescue the MTA in time. WNYC's Ilya Marritz has more.

REPORTER: Last year, Westchester Assemblyman Richard Brodsky was one of the most ...

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The flagging fortunes of of a hedge fund capital.

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Fashion week in the recession.

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How the states learned to love lotteries.

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New Jersey entertainment destinations are in trouble.

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Christine Quinn’s plan to help small businesses by reducing paperwork.

New York, NY —

A new study of traffic has found there's rampant speeding at some of the most dangerous intersections in the city.

Transportation Alternatives measured the speed of passing cars at thirteen stretches of road, like Hylan Boulevard in Staten Island.

They found some vehicles moving as fast as ...

New York, NY —

The speed limit on city streets is 30 miles an hour. But you wouldn’t know it watching the cars zoom down Webster Avenue in the Bronx or East Houston Street in Manhattan. A study out today finds 39 percent of drivers regularly speed on certain ...

New York, NY —

Galapagos art space’s new payment plan for art lovers.

Last week we reported that environmentalists and consumer advocates are at odds over a clean-energy provision in the House stimulus bill. Basically, it would make billions of dollars of grants available only to those states which "decouple" their utilities.

Decoupling guarantees utilities a certain level of revenue, regardless of how much product they sell. Environmentalists like decoupling because it removes the incentive to sell more gas or electric (and pollute more). Or, as the Wall Street Journal puts it in today's paper, "Less Demand, Same Great Revenue" - which is exactly what consumer advocates don't like. Why should ratepayers pay (a little bit) more for fewer kilowatts?