Matthew Schuerman

Today was supposed to be the day that laid-off MTA station agents turn in their uniforms, but WNYC’s Matthew Schuerman has confirmed that a judge issued an injunction last night blocking the move. He joins us live from the courthouse where a hearing is set to take place.

New York, NY —

Hundreds of laid-off MTA station agents who were expecting to turn in their uniforms are reporting to work instead. Late last night, a state supreme court judge issued a temporary restraining order preventing the closure of station booths. This morning, another judge continued the order ...

New York, NY —

The MTA is announcing even more cuts. Another 1,000 positions will be eliminated. Spokesman Aaron Donovan said layoffs are likely, though the exact number isn't known. New York City Transit is cutting 116 cleaning jobs -- meaning that subway cars that once were cleaned at ...

New York, NY —

A former Prospect Heights property owner says he still owns air rights over a small parcel where the Atlantic Yards arena is being built.

Peter Williams filed a lawsuit Tuesday. He says the state took his property by eminent domain but forgot about air rights he ...

New York, NY —

The demise of Saint Vincent's hospital means that at least one part of its real estate portfolio will be saved: the fabled O'Toole building -- a white scalloped 1960s-era low-rise on Seventh Avenue.

The hospital won special dispensation last year to demolish O'Toole, even though ...

New York, NY —

The MTA, Port Authority, and other government agencies are getting involved in a labor dispute at a private company, Xerox, that runs an E-Z Pass call center.

Xerox has been resisting efforts by 300 workers in Staten Island to form a union, but the agencies have ...

New York, NY —

New York City Transit will try out mobile video cameras in a move that may eventually lead to ticketing more drivers who illegally use bus-only lanes. Over the next 10 months the agency will test the cameras by mounting them on the front of two ...

New York, NY —

Transit officials say they will conduct "an immediate audit" of subway emergency gate keys, to try to keep them from being copied and sold. This comes after the Daily News reported that gate keys have been copied and are widely available.

Thomas Prendergast, president ...

New York, NY —

An MTA track worker was killed this morning in Far Rockaway, Queens after coming into contact with the electrified third rail along the A line.

James Knell, 45, was a track supervisor for the past nine years and a New York City transit employee for 13. ...

New York, NY —

The MTA has trimmed $2 billion from its five-year capital spending plan. A state board rejected an earlier version of the plan last year, saying it didn't explain where all the money would come from. WNYC's Mattthew Schuerman has more.

REPORTER: The proposed capital plan ...

New York, NY —

In early July 2005, three bombs exploded on London trains and buses killing 52 people. Almost immediately, politicians and newspaper editorial boards began attacking New York’s transit authority for being unprepared for a similar terrorist attack. Six weeks later, the MTA announced a $215 million ...

Daniel Goldstein, founder of Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn (Photo by Matthew Schuerman)

After seven years of fighting the Atlantic Yards Project in Brooklyn, the last remaining holdout is leaving. Daniel Goldstein, founder of the group Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, which filed several lawsuits to halt the project, has reached an agreement with developer Forest City Ratner. Goldstein will get $3 million and says he’ll leave May 7. 'It was never my goal to get that kind of settlement,' Goldstein says. 'It was never my goal to settle.'

The Atlantic Yards project withstood numerous court challenges by Goldstein and his supporters, including a decision last year by the state Court of Appeals, ruling that the use of eminent domain was justified. Also, while neither the full City Council nor state legislature voted on the plan, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and three governors (George Pataki, Eliot Spitzer, and David Paterson) all supported it.

In this interview with WNYC’s Matthew Schuerman, Goldstein discusses why he did settle, what the deal means to him, what he’s learned from his long battle, and whether it was worth it.

[MP3]http://audio.wnyc.org/news/news20100422_goldstein_full.mp3[/MP3]

Matthew Schuerman: After six, maybe seven years of fighting this project, why today did you agree to leave?

Daniel Goldstein: On March 1 the state of New York took ownership of my home, and personally all that was left to fight over was how long I would have to live in my home, how long it would be before the state evicted me from what has been my home for almost exactly seven years now. And there weren’t a lot of good choices for me personally, and a decision I made today after about five hours of being in court with the other side and with the judge was that it was time for me to settle with New York State to leave my home. And what they wanted was for me to do it quickly, and that’s basically what was settled today. I would leave on May 7, and they would pay me to do that, and pay me the compensation for my apartment that I once owned but they now own.

MS: So can you tell me how much are you making on this deal?

New York, NY —

After seven years of fighting the Atlantic Yards Project in Brooklyn, the last remaining holdout is leaving.

Daniel Goldstein was a website designer when he moved into a converted warehouse in Prospect Heights. That was just months before one of the largest developers in the city, ...

(Photo by threecee)

Freddy's Bar, the prohibition-era watering hole in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, is closing April 30. In addition to serving as a local drinking spot, Freddy's is also a performance space and lies in the footprint of the Atlantic Yards ...

New York, NY —

NYU is inviting its neighbors and the general public to hear about its expansion plan at an open house this evening. The university wants to add six million square feet, or 40 percent more floor space, over the next 20 years.

NYU's first steps will focus ...

New York University has been carefully testing the waters over the past several years, trying to gauge just how much expansion its Greenwich Village neighbors will tolerate — and where. It will roll out its proposal at an open house, 5:30-8 p.m. Wednesday, at the Kimmel Center, 60 Washington Square ...

New York, NY —

Six months after giving a Long Island town an ultimatum, hockey team owner Charles Wang is no closer to building his massive housing complex called the Lighthouse at Long Island.

The project was supposed to bring city living to the middle of suburbia with 2,300 apartments ...

New York, NY —

About 67,000 straphangers had a better way to get to their subway this morning. Transit officials opened a new station entrance at 96th street and Broadway for the 1, 2 and 3 lines.

The old entrances at 96th Street forced riders to go down two floors ...

New York, NY —

One man is still charged with murder, but the charges against two others have been dropped in connection with last weekend's subway stabbings. Police charged all three last night, but a law enforcement source says Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance is declining to prosecute two ...

New York, NY —

Officials say they'll stop paying contractors on state construction projects, for at least a week, starting tomorrow. This follows yesterday’s announcement by Gov. David Paterson that the state will delay $2.1 billion in education aid because the state doesn’t have the money.

The temporary state budget ...