Penn Station's 'head knockers' are coming down

6'8" people, rejoice! [FORWARD TO A FRIEND]( [VIEW IN BROWSER]( [DONATE]( [WNYC Politics Brief] Penn Station's 'head knockers' are coming down Plus: New York City wants control of its own red-light cameras. The MTA is suing a homeless man for smashing OMNY readers. And if you're lost in Central Park, there are 1,863 location markers you can use to figure out where you are. By James Ramsay --------------------------------------------------------------- 🚆 --------------------------------------------------------------- [the walkway in Penn Station with low-hanging beams] Stephen Nessen/Gothamist Tall and/or claustrophobic commuters, rejoice! In Penn Station's Long Island Rail Road concourse between 7th and 8th Avenues, the low-hanging beams, which each weigh 10 tons and are set 6 feet 8 inches above the floor, are coming down this week, more than 100 years after their installation. The "head knockers," as they're less-than-affectionately known, are currently being cut up into smaller pieces and carried out of the station while crews work on replacing the concourse with a new area that'll have 18-foot-high ceilings. "These are the main culprits in making Penn feel so dungeon-like, among other culprits," MTA Chair Janno Lieber said this week. "And so unappealing for human beings." The transit agency said it's been able to "reclaim" space and increase the ceiling height by removing "abandoned water and gas lines" and other underutilized space under street level. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2022 or early 2023. Stores in the concourse have been closed since construction began. The MTA and Vornado, which owns the retail space, have not said what stores will be there when the corridor reopens, but it’s likely the K-Mart will not be coming back. — [Reporting by Stephen Nessen]( --------------------------------------------------------------- 🚆 --------------------------------------------------------------- Jump in red-light violations in NYC renews push for local control of state traffic laws [a 15 mph speed limit sign outside a school] Jen Chung/Gothamist New York City saw more than half a million red-light violations in 2021 and there were 273 traffic-related deaths, the most since 2013, according to the Department of Transportation. And so far in 2022, the city has recorded 42 traffic-related deaths, marking a 58% increase from the same period last year. In response, the advocacy group Transportation Alternatives and local lawmakers, including Mayor Eric Adams, are renewing calls for Albany to give New York City "home rule," which would allow City Hall to set speed limits, oversee school zone speed cameras, and increase coverage of red-light cameras and cameras for bus lane violations. As of now, New York City only has 150 red-light cameras, leaving 99% of the city's intersections unmonitored. "In 2019, t-bone crashes causing injuries fell as much as 58% at red-light camera locations, compared to a three-year period before New York City installed cameras," said Transportation Alternatives, who argues that automated enforcement cameras are effective in reducing crashes. — [Reporting by Jen Chung]( --------------------------------------------------------------- 🚆 --------------------------------------------------------------- Here's What Else Is Happening The city's effort to move homeless people from the trains into shelters is off to a very slow start. During the first week of Mayor Eric Adams' new initiative to send cops and outreach workers to get homeless people off the trains, only 22 individuals agreed to go to shelters, while many who were approached simply moved to other parts of the train station. Though the relocation effort is already underway, the city said plans to add more supportive housing units won't be finished until the end of the year. ([Gothamist]( Metro-North and the Long Island Rail Road are seeing major bumps in ridership. The MTA's two commuter rail lines, which have both been seeing ridership numbers closer to their pre-pandemic averages on weekends, recorded jumps in weekday commutes last Monday, with the LIRR's figures nearly tripling from the previous Monday. "I’m going to miss the extra legroom I was having on the train last year, but I’m sure glad to see the city making a comeback," said one construction worker who commutes from Long Island. ([New York Post]( The MTA is suing a homeless man for $44,000 for breaking OMNY readers. The transit agency alleges that the 42-year-old man smashed a total of 11 OMNY readers at the Borough Hall and Court St. stations last May and June. He was arrested later in 2021 but pleaded not guilty, and listed a homeless shelter as his address. The MTA did not comment on why it was still trying to sue him for $44,179 that he likely doesn't have. ([NY Daily News]( It turns out, most New Jerseyans don't want to pump their own gas. After a bipartisan group of lawmakers in Trenton introduced a bill that would kill the state's 73-year-old ban on self-service at gas stations, a new Rutgers-Eagleton poll found that only 22% of New Jersey residents want to pump their own gas — even though it would save them money. ([NBC New York]( --------------------------------------------------------------- 🚆 --------------------------------------------------------------- And Finally: There are more than 1,800 lampposts in Central Park that double as navigational markers [a location marker in Central Park] Courtesy of the Central Park Conservancy Central Park is a vast, 843-acre oasis that New Yorkers can escape to for a hit of nature. It's also — by design — an easy place to get lost in. But since at least the 1960s, when the park's streetlights were replaced, all 1,863 lampposts have had markers on them indicating where on Manhattan's grid you're located. "On each lamppost, you'll see a marker that will have numbers that indicate the closest street [and] which side of the park the lamp is closest to," said Mary Caraccioli of the Central Park Conservancy. "For example, a number of 6 7 0 1 means you're near 67th street on the West Side." So, the next time you're spun around in Central Park with a dead phone, seek out the nearest lamppost to get oriented! — [Reporting by Jen Carlson]( --------------------------------------------------------------- 🚆 --------------------------------------------------------------- Support WNYC + Gothamist Make a donation to support local, independent journalism. Your contributions are our largest source of funding and pays for essential election coverage and more. 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