In the News: Inside the Tribeca Home of a “QVC Star”

••• “QVC star” Lori Goldstein talked to Isaac Mizrahi about her apartment. I don’t think it’s an advertorial for 30 Park Place, but it sure reads that way. —Elle Decor

••• And Sight Unseen visited “the Curio-Filled Tribeca Loft of Table of Contents Founder Joe Magliaro”; TOC was a shop in Portland, Oregon, and the post is definitely semi-advertorial. P.S. I want glossy black herringbone floors!

••• “Exactly how hot and disgusting are the [subway] platforms lately? The Regional Plan Association aimed to answer that question this week by heading to the 10 busiest subway stations […] to see how the temperatures underground compared to those outside. […] The hottest spot to wait for a train was the 4/5/6 platform at the Union Square stop; at 1 p.m. yesterday, it registered at a whopping 104 degrees, compared to 86 degrees outside. A few other stations, including the 1 platform at 59th Street-Columbus Circle, and the 4/5/6 at Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall, also cracked 100 degrees. Many more registered temperatures in the high 90s.” —Curbed

••• An article about how the word “organic” isn’t all that meaningful, especially in regard to restaurants, takes Bareburger to task for not being 100% organic. But the chain is still trying harder than a lot of other ones, so if you really care about “organic” you’re probably better off there that at its competition. And if your health is important to you, you should stay away from fast food in general. —New York Times

••• “De Maria is dead. The chic Kenmare Street cafe closed down last week after little more than two years in business.” —Bowery Boogie



  1. Isn’t the excessive heat of the subway platforms caused by the excessive air conditioning of the cars?

    • Yes. See RPA’s ideas to combat this:

      Based on the experience of London and other cities, and
      leveraging investments made to restore the system, several
      strategies could significantly cool stations throughout the
      subway system. Many of these overlap with strategies to
      make the subways more energy efficient, simultaneously
      reducing power needs and costs:

      Leverage benefits of regenerative braking to reduce heat:

      Regenerative braking has the potential to reduce the
      amount of heat generated by braking trains as well as the
      amount of energy required to operate the subway, which
      can also improve the environment and health in communi-
      ties outside of New York City.

      Lower the weight of subway cars:

      According to the MTA
      Blue Ribbon Commission on Sustainability, weight reduc-
      tions of 2,000lbs per Division B car can be realized by pursuing “all reasonable light weighting technology”. Such
      a reduction will also decrease train power draws by 2.5%.This light weighting can be applied to all new built roll-
      ing stock as well as the 4,800 car overhaul eligible fleet. As
      noted earlier, open gangway trainsets would also be lighter
      and should be pursued as the fleet is replaced.

      Rethink how to more efficiently cool subway cars:

      car air conditioning has introduced an excessive amount of
      heat into the system. Straphangers can feel the temperature
      elevate when a train is idling at a station during a summer
      day. Moving from a sweltering station to a freezing cold car
      is unhealthy. Other methods to cool cars instead of conven-
      tional air conditioning should be explored. Improvements
      in ventilation over the tracks could also help divert some
      of this heat, but this intervention is infeasible in many of
      the older stations. It may also be healthier to reduce the
      amount of air conditioning in cars to generate less external
      heat and reduce the differential in temperature between
      trains and platforms.

      Fully leverage benefits CBTC including features such as
      “Coasting” which limits braking:

      The implementation of
      CBTC would reduce the amount of energy used and the
      heat generated by trains by allowing for more efficient train
      movements and less unnecessary braking. CBTC enables
      each train to know where all the trains in the system are
      located which allows them to determine how to maintain
      their distance using their current forward inertia and only
      apply the brakes when absolutely necessary . This is a far
      cry from the stop and go approach that is typical of most
      manually operated trains, where the train operator must
      respond to signals and has no real-time knowledge of the
      precise distance between his/her train and the leading one.

      Improve ventilation plants and pursue other methods to
      cool/temper station environments:

      Opportunities may also
      exist for the improvement of tunnel ventilation to reduce
      heat levels. According to the 2015 — 2019 MTA Capital Plan,
      only 60% of ventilation facilities are currently in a state of
      good repair. Station ventilation and cooling projects may also be considered as part of public transit bonuses for real
      estate development. The MTA Blue Ribbon Commission on
      Sustainability has also recommended investigating poten-
      tial uses for pumped groundwater. These uses may include
      station cooling as well as heating of nearby buildings.

      Design future subway lines to generate less heat and be
      more energy efficient:

      Future subway lines can be engineered to allow for more energy efficient and less heat
      generating performance. For instance, they could include
      “humped tracks” between stations (used on the Lexington
      Avenue line between Union Square and GCT), harnessing
      the power of gravity to assist with acceleration and braking. Turns can also be designed to reduce the need for
      unnecessary braking between stations and to maximize the
      benefits of coasting.