Andy Byford on Friday, March 9, 2018, when he was the NYC Transit president. Two years ago he suggested transit expansion could be achieved by running trains through Penn Station rather than treating it as a terminus. ( Photo: MTA) Where Have You Gone, Andy Byford? Penn Station Turns Its Lonely Eyes to You It is coming on two years since Andy Byford, the much-loved “Train Daddy” of New York City Transit, touted the “golden opportunity”... News 11 May 2025 | 05:48
Some state and local officials were coming up with plans on how to spend the money that the MTA could save now that the federal government is taking over the rebuilding of Penn Station. But the Trump administration is now saying they don’t plan to foot the entire bill. ( Photo: MTA) Not So Fast: Trump Admin Says It’s Not Footing Entire Cost to Renovate Penn Station When the Trump administration seized control of plans to renovate Penn Station, Gov. Hochul said New Yorkers had won a major... News 28 Apr 2025 | 12:20
The federal government wants to take over the long-stalled Penn Station redevelopment plan, taking over from the MTA. ( Photo: Keith J. Kelly) Feds Take Over Penn Station Renovation Plan The Trump administration took over planning for the renovation and possible expansion of Penn Station, shoving the MTA aside... News 20 Apr 2025 | 07:30
Young Tom Klingenstein (shown above, with his grandfather Joseph Klingenstein in 1962) was taken to the majestic original Penn Station in 1963 by Grandpa Joe just before the rail hub faced the wrecker’s ball. Now 71, Tom is working with a group on a plan for a new Penn Station. And he says Donald Trump could help. ( Photo: Courtesy Tom Klingenstein) A New Classical Penn Station? This Backer’s Plan Inspired by Grand Original Joseph Klingenstein must have known the architectural masterpiece was doomed when he took his grandson to see it. Visiting... Home 13 Apr 2025 | 02:39
Sandra Lindsay, an intensive care nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, was one of the first in the nation to raise her hand to take the BioNTech/Pfizer mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, delivered by Michelle Chester, DNP. ( Photo: Northwell Health) Communicating the Pandemic (Part 2) How you perform in a crisis is all about what you prepared before the crisis Preparing for the next pandemic includes many... Voices 23 Mar 2025 | 10:12
A photo taken at approximately 8 p.m. on Saturday, March 28, 2020, looking down a deserted 42nd Street just over a week after COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic. ( Photo: Vladislav Grubman/Wikimedia Commons) Communicating the Pandemic (Part 1) I still remember the chill I felt watching Dr. Demetre Daskalakis in that video. “It’s already here,” he was saying, like... Voices 23 Mar 2025 | 06:32
St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church on Seventh Avenue and West 30th Street would be spared now that Gov. Hochul no longer wants to demolish the city block where it sits to accommodate an expanded Penn Station. ( Photo: Keith J. Kelly) Hochul’s Retreat on Penn Station Expansion Will Spare Entire Block from Demolition Gov. Kathy Hochul pulled the rug out from under Amtrak’s hope to double the capacity of Penn Station by tearing down the... News 22 Mar 2025 | 05:38
Grand Penn Alliance’s chief architect, Alexandros Washburn, who led the creation of the Moynihan Train Hall, outlines the plan for a new Penn Station that would move Madison Square Garden across Seventh Avenue and in its place create a green park leading to the nation’s busiest rail hub. ( Image: Michael Oreskes) New $7.5B Penn Plan–This One Pushed by Trump Allies The time has come to make Penn Station great again. That not particularly subtle message to Donald J. Trump—who routinely... News 15 Mar 2025 | 09:35
President Trump stirred controversy this week when he posted “CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!” on Truth Social, as well as the official White House X account and Instagram, using a mock Time magazine depicting him wearing a golden crown. ( Photo: White House X) What Does It Mean? It is unlikely that James Madison, when he was writing the Federalist Papers for publication in New York in 1788, contemplated... Voices 21 Feb 2025 | 01:00
Penn Station has made small improvements, such as redoing its Seventh Avenue. entrance, while it mulls the superhaul to modernize the entire station. Amtrak, the owner of the station, is starting a new public comment period for the many proposals that have been kicking around for years. ( Photo: Ralph Spielman) Amtrak Starts New Public Comment Era on Penn Station with Potential Trump Wild Card The furious debate over how to increase service into—and possibly through—Penn Station will enter a new and far more public... News 03 Feb 2025 | 01:29
Renee Keitt defeated Darlene Waters by four votes in a race for president of the Elliott-Chelsea Houses that the Adams administration hopes to tear down and rebuild. Keitt opposes the plan. Protest Looms after Tenant Leader Who Opposes City’s $1.9B Plan for Chelsea NYCHA Houses Appears to Oust Incumbent An opponent of the city’s plan to tear down a large, low-income housing development in Chelsea and rebuild it as a mix of... News 06 Jan 2025 | 03:17
Original letter written by Virginia O’Hanlon from her home at 115 W. 95th St. to the New York Sun in 1897.The letter was verified by the PBS show, Antiques Roadshow. ( Photo: Public domain/Wikimedia Commons) Virginia O’Hanlon’s Name Still Resonates at the Address Where She Wrote Her Famous Letter In all the long history of New York journalism, from John Peter Zenger to Jimmy Breslin, no words are more memorable, and... News 23 Dec 2024 | 01:35
Here’s what Penn Station was going to look like viewed from from Eighth Ave. and 33rd St. entrance under the MTA’s original redevelopment plan for the rail hub. That plan now appears to be in the process of getting scaled back dramatically. ( Photo: MTA) MTA Appears to be Retreating on Big Penn Plans, Despite Hochul’s Recent Statements The MTA has dramatically scaled back its plans for rebuilding Penn Station even as Governor Kathy Hochul was saying publicly... News 26 Nov 2024 | 01:57
Governor Hochul is hoping to work with President Tump on plans to redevelop Penn Station in one as “magnificent” as Moynihan Train Hall. But ReThinkNY is pushing for a more open planning process. ( Photo: Keith J. Kelly) Hochul Tries to Make Nice with Trump over Penn Sta. As Critic Pushes for More Input on Plan Governor Kathy Hochul said she wants a new Penn Station for commuters that is “as magnificent” as Amtrak’s Moynihan station,... Voices 21 Nov 2024 | 01:39
Glass Towers, such as the one across the street from Madison Square Garden on W. 31st St. could still ring Penn Station and MSG in the future, state officials says. This one has an indoor pickleball court on the ground floor. ( Photo: Keith J. Kelly) NYS Still Says Office Towers Could Rise Around the Penn Rail Hub in Future The state’s plan to build supertall office towers around Penn Station is still alive despite the office market crash, and... News 18 Nov 2024 | 12:01
Opposition Growing Against NYPD’s Criminalization Push for Bike-Traffic Infractions