Thursday’s Headlines: Hanging Out on the Stoop Edition

She stoops to conquer: A woman hangs out on the larger of the new 34th Avenue Open Street stoops. Photo: Gersh Kuntzman
She stoops to conquer: A woman hangs out on the larger of the new 34th Avenue Open Street stoops. Photo: Gersh Kuntzman

Move over, brownstone and cement steps: There’s a new kind of stoop in town!

Those stoops aren’t attached to homes or apartment houses; instead, they’re colorfully adorned, stand-alone, metal-based street furniture designed by the Rockwell Group.

The Department of Transportation has installed two Rockwell-designed stoops (a full-sized one and a “mini”) between between 73rd and 74th streets on the 34th Avenue Open Street in Jackson Heights, Queens — that being the open street’s future plaza block. Sporting space for planters and fanciful designs, the Rockwell stoops already are proving popular with the neighbors, as shown in the photos below and above.

Loungers on 34th Avenue demonstrate the new kind of "hanging out on the stoop." Photo: Gersh Kuntzman
Loungers on 34th Avenue demonstrate the new kind of stoop sitting. Photo: Gersh Kuntzman

But we’d be remiss if, in celebrating these new-fangled stoops, we didn’t pay homage to the old kind. So here’s a paean to the old-fashioned brownstone stoops of Bedford-Stuyvesant: Little Jackie’s “The Stoop.”

In other news:

  • The DOT touted 100 current safety projects, especially around schools, implicitly responding to Streetsblog’s deep-dive investigation on the dangerous streets around our educational facilities.  (Streetsblog, NYDN, amNY)
  • The MTA finally issued new maps and schedules on the long-delayed Bronx bus network redesign. (amNY)
  • Dolan and Lieber are squaring off on the Penn Station reboot: Thus, we can expect more pay-outs to MSG. (Politico)
  • Cops arrested the MTA bus driver who ran over a pedestrian on the Rock last month. (NYDN, Patch)
  • Motorist-on-motorist violence shook Canarsie. (NYDN)
  • Open Restaurant opponents are taking their protest to the streets again. (Village Sun)
  • Where do you find criminals? Around cars, of course. (BKEagle)
  • Stars — they’re just like us:

  • “Beastie Boys Square”? Make some noise! (Gothamist)

  • Finally, we kid you not: A DOT employee is hounding her Bronx neighbor because he fixes and stores bikes outside their building in a “parking” space. (Riverdale Press)

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

Street Hockey: The New Stickball?

By Aaron Naparstek |
More evidence that hockey — and livable streets — aren’t just "a white thing." From the New York Times’ Metropolitan Diary (along with a photo sent in by the author)… Dear Diary: Several Saturdays ago we had our Bedford-Stuyvesant block party. Cars were cleared by 7:30 a.m., yet by noon there was barely a soul on the […]

Fifth Avenue, 1909: So Long Promenade, Hello Motorway

By Ben Fried |
Image: New York Times. This image of Fifth Avenue unearthed by the Times’ Jennifer 8. Lee (nice headline!) is a fascinating relic from the dawn of the motoring age. The new geometry pictured here nicked 15 feet of sidewalk from pedestrians to make room for two traffic lanes. In one fell swoop, the balance of […]