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Archives: Posts From May 2008

Grimaldi's Pizzeria: Brooklyn Vs. Scottsdale
By Sandy Ikeda | Fri, 30 May 2008 at 5:21 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: Call me naïve, but I thought Grimaldi's Pizzeria near Fulton Ferry Landing in Brooklyn was unique, or nearly so. I did hear a while back that the family had opened another shop in Scottsdale, Ariz. I was unaware that, according to their website, there ...

Mesa, Az.: Where Population Has Boomed Without a Property Tax
By Sandy Ikeda | Thu, 29 May 2008 at 5:39 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: I'm visiting my hometown of Mesa, Arizona. When I was born here in 1957, Mesa's population was around 35,000. Today it's approaching 450,000, making it the 41st largest city in America — larger than Atlanta, Oakland, Honolulu, Pittsburgh, or St. Louis ...

Continuing Sagas: Hudson Yards, Atlantic Lots, and Nouvel's Tower
By Sandy Ikeda | Sun, 25 May 2008 at 3:03 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: Seems like every time I turn around, something interesting is happening at Hudson Yards. A couple of months ago, the MTA, which owns the 26-acre rail yards, chose Tishman Speyer as the principal developer. Then a couple of weeks ago, it was all gloom and ...

The Price of Decongesting Airports
By Sandy Ikeda | Mon, 19 May 2008 at 10:08 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: Cities situate themselves at transport hubs. For millennia this has meant rivers and harbors. Later, it was the railroad. More recently it's been the intersections of major highways … and municipal airports. (Joel Garreau has written eloquently about ...

To Get To Carnegie Hall, Practice, Practice — But Where?
By Sandy Ikeda | Fri, 16 May 2008 at 10:10 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: The Orchestra of St. Luke's has announced that in 2010 it will open a state-of-the-art rehearsal, recording, and administrative facility for New York's musical community. To be called The DiMenna Center for Classical Music, it will be housed in half of a ...

What’s new at NYU? Part II
By Sandy Ikeda | Mon, 12 May 2008 | Permalink
Excerpt: Two protesters stood outside Hemmerdinger Hall, where the fifth open house for "Plan NYU 2031" took place recently, handing out literature from the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. Their objections to the Plan center on (and here I'm ...

New York as the Unfinished City
By Sandy Ikeda | Thu, 8 May 2008 | Permalink
Excerpt: A friend, who is an artist and an economist from France, on a recent visit said she loves New York so much because no matter how many times she's been here she always finds it new and interesting. Well, couldn't you say that about any great city? ...

What’s New at NYU?
By Sandy Ikeda | Fri, 2 May 2008 | Permalink
Excerpt: Last Wednesday I attended New York University's fifth open house presenting the University's latest vision for the next 25 years (or so), called "NYU Plans 2031." The event drew a thick crowd of local residents to Hemmerdinger Hall on the east end of ...