>The demolition of the Theater at MSG would free up substantial room for the train hub below, which is crowded with structural columns that disrupt the passage of commuters, said Elizabeth Goldstein, the president of the Municipal Art Society, a nonprofit preservation group that was briefed on the plans. The group supported a similar overhaul of the train station in 2014.

>But it would not solve all of the station’s problems, Ms. Goldstein said. The plan doesn’t add train capacity, nor does it address congestion issues on the Seventh Avenue side of the station, where pedestrians exit the subway, she said. Historically, most passengers have entered the station from the east, not the west, though redevelopment of Manhattan’s Far West Side may alter that.

Everyone talks about whether the arena should move but why not just get rid of two Penn Plaza? The office building takes up about a quarter of the block above the station. It's easier to put a value on the cost of buying an office building than the cost of buying the only large arena in Manhattan.

When Vornado wanted the land the governor and mayor supported spending somewhere between $7 billion and $10 billion to eminent domain entire blocks to work around both the MSG arena and 2 Penn Plaza.

If this proposal that can create some light and space on the 8th avenue side by tearing down the theater is not enough and light/space is also ended on the 7th avenue side then just tear down the single building that is on top of the 7th avenue side.

Here's some stories form the last month:

https://www.truescoopnews.com/newsdetail/phone-leads-to-death-68yearold-man-dies-after-his-phone-exploded-while-talking-to-a-friend

https://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/hamilton-county/green-township/watch-iphone-explodes-while-family-sleeps-we-were-extremely-lucky-to-avoid-a-house-fire

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/cellphone-explodes-in-his-pants-youth-falls-from-1st-floor-in-ahmedabad/articleshow/98193000.cms?from=mdr

The same dangerous battery tech is still dangerous when attached to smart phones.

Then it doesn't really make sense.

If lithium Ion batteries are dangerous then they're dangerous. They're still dangerous even when they're in things basically everyone uses.

Edit:

For example here's some stories from the last month of phones that exploded:

https://www.truescoopnews.com/newsdetail/phone-leads-to-death-68yearold-man-dies-after-his-phone-exploded-while-talking-to-a-friend

https://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/hamilton-county/green-township/watch-iphone-explodes-while-family-sleeps-we-were-extremely-lucky-to-avoid-a-house-fire

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/cellphone-explodes-in-his-pants-youth-falls-from-1st-floor-in-ahmedabad/articleshow/98193000.cms?from=mdr

The same dangerous battery tech is still dangerous when attached to smart phones.

I mean banning lithium ion batteries is pretty crazy. Imagine not being able to have a laptop or modern cell phone in your building.

>The only one I'll foncede it's that NY subway system is 24/7. Nobody prevents them to close it from 1am to 5am like the Parisian one during construction though you know...

Subway being 24/7 shouldn't matter for building new tracks. Would only matter if they were trying to add tracks directly next to in use ones but that's not what we're talking about with the 2nd Ave subway.

>I was under the impression the consultant should be the one providing the information to the contractor and the state(owner) pretty much just says we want X done.

Correct. I am a design consultant.

We meet with clients, architects, or owner reps and ask them what their needs are with regards to our trade and then we make specs and drawings that go out to bid to contractors. Depending on the job and contract we may help review the bids and point out which bids are missing scope where.

>At this point in my understanding all the contractors make impossibly low bids to get the job and then once the have the job delay slow and stall work to milk the project because the state compared to them generally have unlimited funds

A contractor winning a job with too low of a bid (whether intentionally or unintentionally) and then trying to create as many change orders as possible even in places that the documents are clear is always a concern, but public sector jobs are usually worse because often legally they have to go with the low bid.

In the private sector you can say to the end client, the architect, or owner's rep that contractor X has a slightly lower bid than contractor Y but based on past jobs contractor Y is more reliable (and their bid is actually capturing all their needed scope). Then the client can choose to spend slightly more upfront to pick the contractor that their consultant advised them too.

But on a public job letting agency officials pick a higher bid could also end up being a recipe for enabling corruption.

You talking about change orders from a contractor or from a design consultant?

The design consultation are the ones making the specs(In my experience not actually on the MTA job I did) and drawing sets that are supposed to give the contractor all the information they need to bid on the project. If that information is incomplete then the consultants really need to raise the alarm before they issue documents for bid or there's no point in bringing in outside consultants.

I say that about the specs because when I have worked on an MTA job instead of us writing the specs as we usually do they gave us a huge master spec that the MTA uses for all jobs and we just included word for word the relevant sections. I never felt more useless on a job. They essentially paid us to tell them what parts of their own specs to use which is something they could have easily done themselves.

I assume it's cheaper to build it above instead of below.

Neighboring 77 Hudson also has a large above ground garage but it still manages to have retail space that adds to the neighborhood (a small grocer, cafe shop, and a bar). Which is why I said many of the buildings in the surrounding area aren't great but they still manage to do more to help create a neighborhood. While a neighborhood full of 99 Hudson's would be a bleak place.

It's nothing like the Empire State Building which despite being very tall still integrates well into it's surroundings. Over half of 99 Hudson's footprint is dedicated to cars.

When that much space is spent on being a parking garage instead of filling the ground level with retail you end up with streets that are much more lifeless than 34th and 33rd st. in Manhattan

Walking by much of 99 Hudson feels like you might as well be walking by an industrial warehouse since large stretches/entire sides of it are just unwelcoming walls with no windows.

Many of the buildings in the surrounding area aren't great but they still manage to do more to help create a neighborhood. While a neighborhood full of 99 Hudson's would be a bleak place.

How big are the dogs/how much space do they need? Depending on budget you can get a small backyard in Hoboken or JC. Private backyard costing more than one shared with the building.

Also how are they with other dogs? Since most people don't have yards there are some dog parks scattered around Jersey City, Hoboken, and NYC itself.

As a car owner I am entitled to parking heavily subsidized by tax payers directly in front of my home and if that's not provided I am being oppressed by the evil leftist nazis.

North south study/yellow line

East west study/red line