Matthew Schuerman

Senior Editor, WNYC

Matthew Schuerman appears in the following:

Crane Collapse Stands Apart from Past Accidents

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

The death toll from Saturday's crane collapse is now at seven, making it the worst such accident in the city's recent history.

The circumstances behind the collapse buck the trend of most fatal construction accidents.

WNYC's Matthew Schuerman has more.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration says that ...

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East Side Development Closer to Approval

Thursday, March 13, 2008

A City Council committee has approved a $4 billion residential and commercial development on the East River. The project, proposed by developer Sheldon Solow, is on a former Con Ed property.

Dan Garodnick, a Democrat from the East Side, said that five of the project's ...

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Questions Over Harlem Building Collapse

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Two months ago, city officials tried to alert the owner of a Harlem building of structural problems. That building collapsed last week, snarling Metro-North traffic for hours.

But how the warning was delivered has raised questions about the way the Buildings Department contacts property owners in ...

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Retailers hit by downtown construction get boost

Friday, March 07, 2008

Downtown retailers who have been complaining for months about the noise and detours that construction has caused got some good news today.

The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation announced that it would give out $5 million in grants to ground-floor businesses that have lost sales because of ...

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Creative Brooklynites Gather at Forum

Thursday, March 06, 2008

The artists, architects and others like them who live in Brooklyn now account for $500 millio in income per year.

Two organizations held a forum yesterday at the borough's central library on how to keep the so-called creative sector growing.

WNYC's Matthew Schuerman was there.

OUTRO: The forum ...

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Engineer Charged With Perjury

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

REPORTER: An engineer charged with perjury has pleaded not guilty for allegedly lying to city investigators studying a building collapse that killed 2 firefighters in 2006.

Jose Vargas was arraigned in State Supreme Court in the Bronx yesterday.

He said there were steel beams in the building ...

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Sander Gives First State of MTA Address

Monday, March 03, 2008

Even though the Second Avenue Subway has not been fully funded, much less built, the head the MTA is dreaming about the next steps his agency will take.

REPORTER: Lee Sander said at the first-ever State of the MTA address that today's mega-projects would lay the ...

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Spitzer Backs Away From Land Sale

Friday, February 29, 2008

REPORTER: Mayor Bloomberg and Council Speaker Christine Quinn had criticized the sale because it would preclude any significant expansion of the Javits.

Pat Foye, Spitzer's top economic development aide, told a state senate panel that he's forming a task force to find another spot for a ...

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Congestion Pricing Opponents Present New Plan

Friday, February 29, 2008

REPORTER: Thirty state and city lawmakers who oppose congestion pricing have introduced their own plan. They say it would raise almost as much money for the transit system as Mayor Bloomberg's original plan.

Instead of an $8 fee to drive into central Manhattan, the alternative would ...

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MTA Needs $30 Billion To Maintain and Expand Services

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

The capital plan for the MTA is out early.

It asks for $30 billion over the next five years, a record amount that officials say is needed both to keep up the current level of service and expand it.

WNYC's Matthew Schuerman says its passage in Albany ...

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Congestion Pricing Supporters Sponsor Print Ads

Monday, February 25, 2008

Supporters of congestion pricing will spend half-a-million dollars on television and print advertisements over the next four weeks. The ads emphasize that charging cars and trucks a fee to drive into central Manhattan will pump an estimated $500 million a year into the transit system.

REPORTER: ...

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New Card Tested on PATH and NJ Transit

Friday, February 22, 2008

REPORTER: The Port Authority, which owns the PATH, says it had enlisted MasterCard Worldwide to test a "contactless card" that riders would tap against the fare box to pay their way.

The card would work at PATH stations and on 2 connecting New Jersey Transit bus ...

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Plan Would Tear Down Parking Lot, Put Up Park

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Elected officials stood along the edge of the East River this morning to call for a new park where an abandoned parking lot now stands.

REPORTER: The park would be located between 37th and 41st streets and cost 80 to 100 million dollars to build. But ...

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New York's Off-Track Betting To Shut Down

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Governor Eliot Spitzer sounded confident this morning that he would work out a deal with the legislature and Mayor Michael Bloomberg to head off the closure of the city's Off-Track Betting Corporation.

SPITZER: I sympathize with the mayor that he’s frustrated that the racing industry has ...

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Former Mayor of Bogota Stumps for Congestion Pricing in NYC

Monday, February 18, 2008

The former mayor of Bogota, Columbia, is in the City today to stump for congestion pricing. Enrique Penalosa is known for instituting a number of transportation innovations in the late 1990s, including a bus rapid transit system, which some consider key to winning the congestion ...

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Con Ed Faulted in Blast Report

Thursday, February 14, 2008

State regulators have wrapped up the most extensive report so far on last July's fatal steam pipe explosion in midtown.

It says that Con Edison tried to repair the section of pipe responsible for the blast at least 2 different times over the previous 2 years.

The ...

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Developer's Donation Raises Eyebrows

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

The Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn was approved more than a year ago and is already under construction, but its developer just gave an unusually large political donation to New York state democrats.

WNYC's Matthew Schuerman reports.

Forest City Ratner gave more than $58,000 to the Democratic ...

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New Plan for Former Deutsche Bank

Friday, February 08, 2008

REPORTER: Instead of removing contaminants and dismantling the structure at almost the same time, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation will start with the asbestos abatement.

Then, after returning for more approvals, it will demolish the structure.

Catherine McVay Hughes, vice chairwoman of Community Board 1, says the ...

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Huge Crackdown on the Gambino Organization

Thursday, February 07, 2008

Law enforcement officials cracked down on the Gambino crime family this morning like they never have before unsealing indictments that charge 62 people with murder, attempted murder, racketeering and illegal gambling.

REPORTER: Prosecutors say that the Gambino organization extorted hundreds of thousands of dollars from the ...

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New Domino Plan Criticized

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

REPORTER: The extra floors could add 60 or 70 luxury apartments to the landmarked building that would help pay for the expensive renovation.

It would also pay for hundreds of affordable apartments elsewhere in the New Domino project.

After a hearing at the Landmarks Preservation Commission yesterday, ...

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