Matthew Schuerman

New York, NY —

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 ...

New York, NY —

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 ...

New York, NY —

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 ...

New York, NY —

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 ...

New York, NY —

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 ...

New York, NY —

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 ...

New York, NY —

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 ...

New York, NY —

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 ...

New York, NY —

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 ...

New York, NY —

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 ...

New York, NY —

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: ...

New York, NY —

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 ...

New York, NY —

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 ...

New York, NY —

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 ...

New York, NY —

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 ...

New York, NY —

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 ...

New York, NY —

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 ...

New York, NY —

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 ...

New York, NY —

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 ...

New York, NY —

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, ...