By Matt Chaban 11/05/12 9:08am

Skyscraper Living

The boom is back, but the street is not. (Getty)

Even Though West 57th Street Has Reopened, One57′s Powerless Neighbors Wait to Move Back

It’s true of communities across the city, so why not West 57th Street? From the Rockaways to Staten Island, people have returned to their homes and businesses but found them without power, and the same seems to be going for the one-block stretch of the city that was shut down after the crane boom of One57 snapped back.

Yesterday, the city secured the crane boom to the side of the building, a day ahead of scheduled, and reopened the street. But that does not mean life is yet back to normal. According to a number of people on the street, they remain without electricity or heat—even though Con Ed claims otherwise. “They said we couldn’t expect anything before noon,” Daniel Van Doren, whose family owns 130 West 57th Street, told The Observer in a phone interview from his MetroNorth train headed to the city.

“Just like the rest of this debacle, Con Ed is not giving much detail,” Mr. Van Doren added. Read More

By Ian Lamb 10/31/12 7:27pm

Frankenstorm

No lights, no glow. (Ian Lamb)

Manhattan As Ghost Town

With these pics from last night, there’s not much to say (and it seems like there will be pretty much the same story tonight). We just went to the East River Ferry dock in Greenpoint to check out the skyline. As you know, usually there’s a halo of light over the city, but now it just stops around 34th Street.

The rest is a void. Read More

By Michael Gonda 7/13/10 8:19pm

Editorial

Cooler Heads Prevail

Consolidated Edison gets plenty of heat when the power goes out. So it should get credit when the city remains cool even as the mercury hits triple digits.

Last week’s heat wave produced no widespread outages even though the city nearly set a record for power consumption on July 5, when the temperature reached Read More

By Steve Cohen 4/14/08 10:56am

New York City Reaches For the Sun; But For Now, We're Not Even Close

Last week Mayor Bloomberg announced that the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) would request proposals from private developers to enter into a 20-year deal with the city to buy, install, own and maintain solar panels on city-owned buildings in New York’s five boroughs.

The goal is to deliver two megawatts (MW) of solar power Read More

By Josh Benson 8/10/07 4:02pm

Maybe Bloomberg Should Try Getting Angry

Yesterday, New York's political class lined up to condemn the politically insulated MTA-whose members are in effect appointed by the governor-for the third rain-caused system-wide disruption of the nation's most heavily used subway system in the past seven months.

They were right to do so.

It's not clear how much the MTA can do Read More