AMNY Subway Tracker

amNY.com likes our city's subway musicians. Stumbling across a good one can make an otherwise pretty crappy commute into at least a tolerable commute. The problem is, you might not see the same one twice. That's why we want to start keeping a log. [Find it at www.amny.com/subwaymusicians]

We've started a datasbase of a few we like and we want you to help us out. We're creating a file for each musician we like with some basic information, a photo and audio and video when possible. And don't worry, it's easy, just click and upload.

But here's what we need you to do first: Next time you see a great musician in the subway, snap a photo, shoot some cell phone video, find out their name, remember the station where you saw them and send it in so the rest of our readers can see them too. Let's get started and see how many we can collect.

Click [HERE] to check out the project and see how easy it is to add entries.

Thanks to Gothamist for reminding us of a perfect movie to see on July 4: the 1979 cult classic "The Warriors." Will our gang make it safely from the northern climes of the city to safety in Coney Island? It's one heck of a ride along the way, with many looks at the subway trains (You even see a "train to the plane") and stations as they were in the first years of the Koch administration. Gothamist notes the movie is now out on HD-DVD, so you'll be able to survey all that New York crime-and-grime up close.

-- Rolando Pujol

Check out the trailer on YouTube:

The 20th annual auditions for Music Under New York are scheduled for Tuesday at Grand Central. From 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., a panel of judges will select their favorite acts and award official subway musician status, allowing the performers to play with amplified music and hang a large banner up behind them. About 70 musicians and groups will perform, making Grand Central's Vanderbilt Hall sound a bit more like Carnegie Hall for the day. -- Justin Rocket Silverman

A bit of short notice on this, but Channel 13 airs a documentary on the history of London's Underground map at 2:30 a.m. Monday morning. Thanks to Gothamist for the tip. Here's their handy TV roundup for the week. Check out an earlier Tracker post on subway maps.

--Rolando Pujol

The MTA is hosting two new exhibits of photographs this summer that document life underground. "Meet Me at Grand Central," an exhibit by Boris Klapwald captures 1950s life in the world famous terminal. The light and shadow of Grand Cenral is put to good use in the photos of soldiers on leave, anxious travelers and children waiting in the famous station. The exhibit will be up for the summe. For information check the MTA's site.

The "Brooklyn in Color" exhibit uses eight giant lightboxes — more than five-feet by four-feet — to disply the photographs of Ranjit Bhatnagar, a Park Slope resident who documents life in the borough from Prospect Park to Coney Island. The lightboxes are located at four sites: Grand Central Terminal Dining Pavilion, the 42nd Street-Bryant Park station, Bowling Green and Atlantic Avenue.
Check our Ranjit's photos on Flickr.

-- Michael Clancy

Michael Harris, who's been a thorn in the TA's side both as a journalist and as an activist on disabled access issues, will be joining the TA as an intern. Here's hoping he will have a bigger voice for disabled access in the subway.

As the saying goes, if you can't beat 'em...

And, check out Harris in the Times.

-- Chuck Bennett

Subway Series parties are freestyle hip-hop events that take place aboard subway trains. Last Sunday¹s party was planned for the 7 train, but when the rappers gathered at the appointed time, they found the 7 was shut down for
track work. Not to be discouraged, they decided on a Brooklyn-bound Q, and the first party since a summer hiatus went off as smooth as can be. Read about the night and see a video of the action here. Learn more about the parties at host Kid Lucky's Web site.

--Justin Rocket Silverman

The New York Observer has a terrific piece on the many divides between Penn Station ("a rabbit warren" as it has been called) and Grand Central Terminal (an urban palace and oasis). That may be changing, with the planned arrival of the LIRR to Grand Central, and the seemingly dashed (but who knows) hopes for Moynihan Station. The story, however, inevitably explores the notion of divergent status. Gawker points out this gem of a quote:

“The entire point of living in Connecticut or Westchester is to limit your exposure to people who are from Long Island and New Jersey,” said one magazine editor who has been commuting from Westport, Conn., through Grand Central for over a decade. “That’s why we live there, it’s why we wear natural fabrics, and it’s why we don’t stucco our homes. Granted, there are a lot of people in Westport and Darien who grew up on the island and vowed to end all the ridicule by buying a first home here, but these are the people who wear Nicole Miller and practically strive out loud. As far as we’re concerned, Long Island might as well be Barbados—fine for a vacation, but year-round is so not going to happen.”

The piece also explores one of those Penn Station inponderables you never see at Grand Central. The mad, en-masse dash for seats:

"As far as the rush-hour situation, here’s a true story, “ said Anne Gregory, a petite blonde who teaches physical education on the Upper East Side. “I once saw a guy who was practically body-checking his fellow riders when the track number was announced, only to be stopped when he heard a young voice yell, ‘Dad!’ In the insanity of trying to get to the escalator, he let go of his daughter’s hand and started tearing ass. She couldn’t have been older than 9.”

-- Rolando Pujol

Photo: AP

Don't lose your head: Weekend tourism tip -- head to Sleepy Hollow to check out this new Headless Horseman statue along Route 9. If you take Metro-North's Hudson line, just watch out for the gap at the Tarrytown train station.

Vent Your Inspiration: You may be a poet and not know it -- when it comes to your subway commute. Check out this contest, and put the Poetry in Motion series to shame. [NY1]

An 'Easier' commute: It won't change how wretched that commute is, but highway signs will soon tell you how much longer your slog to certain destinations will be, thanks to live E-ZPass data. [Daily News]

Boost for Fossella: Bus drivers' union backs GOP U.S. Rep. Vito Fossella, who promises to keep the pressure on for public transportation improvements on Staten Island. [Staten Island Advance]

Heat for Port Authority: More on the case transgender activists are making against the Port Authority for arrests at the bus terminal. [New York Blade]

-- Rolando Pujol

Photo: Jefferson Siegel

What to do with all those MetroCards littering subway stations and causing fires and floods (and soon, no doubt, plagues) along with copies of amNewYork? Why, do the MTA a favor: pick them up, take them home and turn them into a Halloween costume with a lovely subway motif. The A train has already been claimed, but you can still be the first cool kid on your block to have a Second Avenue "T" line costume. From Matt Windman's story: "It's funny, makes people smile and gets them to think about an everyday thing like a Metrocard as art in a whole new way," said Andy Padre, who used about 1,000 discarded cards which he and friends collected from the subway.

Check out this photo gallery and video.

-- Rolando Pujol

Reporter Justin Rocket Silverman sent us this listing from Nonsense NYC. He'll try to check it out tonight for a piece later this week. If you go, tell us about it:

All aboard the night train. The hip hop subway series starts off at
the back of the 7 train on 42nd street and 8th Avenue at Time Square
and ends up in queens last stop Flushing Ave. All vocalists and
percussionists are invited to take part in the hottest hip hop jam
session. Human beatboxers, MCs, b-boys, singers, spoken word artists,
dancers and more make up the hottest hip hop subway party. No drums
or kazoos or small portable amps.

Last car on the 7 Train, 42nd Street Subway station at Times Square
8th Avenue and 42nd Street, Manhattan
6p; $free
beatboxerent@gmail.com
http://www.beatboxerent.net

Here's a post we wrote on this phenomenon earlier this year.

-- Rolando Pujol

Napster coming to The Tube? Photo: iStock

Eyes on you: The MTA plans to expand its station-camera program to 32 more stations, with money set aside to wire nearly 30 percent of the 468 stops with the close-circuit video systems, our Chuck Bennett reports. [amNY]

We're all connected: Good news for F train riders looking to jump on the N and R while still in Brooklyn. [amNY]

Digital delay: Those much-anticipated electronic train-arrival boards are stalled in software hell, and the MTA may be looking for another company to provide the service -- $45.2 million later. [NB: This is not the system on the L line, which is faring better.] [The New York Post]

Napster for The Tube: If your travel plans will take you to London soon, you might want to look into a project that allows straphangers there to swap songs while underground. [Undersound via BoingBoing]

-- Rolando Pujol

Superblog Boing Boing links to the amazing photo Gothamist ran Thursday of water streaming down the Penn Station subway stop during a massive downpour.

It's a beautiful shot from gothamistllc, as you can see, but Boing Boing points out that "here's a great reason that the (on-again/off-again, oft-bandied) NYC ban on subway photography sucks."

Let's hope the recent terror scare doesn't resuscitate efforts to ban subway photography, but for now, it's worth repeating that it remains legal. If someone gives you a hard time, be sure to complain, as one of our freelance photographers effectively did earlier this month, and let us know at the Tracker. And here's previous Tracker coverage on subway photography.

-- Rolando Pujol

The MTA will soon be testing a redesigned armrest for the flashy new M7 trains that serve Metro-North and the Long Island Rail Road. Why is this a big deal? Because the armrests -- bigger and more rubbery than the old ones -- have this bad habit of slipping right into the pant pocket of the poor person who's sitting down. When you stand up, it's snag and sometimes rip! The New York Times reports that the new armrests could be on all the M7s by next year, and Connecticut commuters who are still relying on older generation trains will benefit from the design growing pains endured by the New Yorkers.

The Times article details other common complaints about the M7 -- unforgivingly straight seats that are narrower than those on the old M3s. I'll add my frustration with the luggage racks at either end of the cars, which are so small you cannot even fit a modest suitcase, as you can, with room to spare, in the rest of the car and on the old M3s.

But enough kvetching. These are great new cars ... super AC, non-stinky bathrooms, digital destination displays, clear automated announcements, big picture windows. And the MTA says they are super reliable to boot in all kinds of weather.

-- Rolando Pujol

At various subway stations throughout the system riders can pick up the MTA’s Rules of Conduct. The brochure lists the do’s and don’ts of the subway and can come in very handy.

Our photographer Jefferson Siegel was shooting at the 23rd - Ely station when a Transit dispatcher announced over the loudspeaker that photography isn’t allowed. Luckily, Siegel whipped out the Rules, told her that photography is, and quickly put an end to an argument.

There is no ban on the photography in the subway.

Section 1050.9
Photography, filming or video recording in any facility or conveyance is permitted except that ancillary equipment such as lights, reflectors or tripods may not be used. Members of the press holding valid identification issued by the New York City Police Department are hereby authorized to use necessary ancillary equipment. All photographic activity must be conducted in accordance with the provision of these Rules.

The proposed “Photoban” from 2004 never happened.

But, its not just in the subway that photogs are being harassed. The New York Civil Liberties Union just announced a lawsuit against the NYPD for “unlawfully detaining photographers and threatening them with arrest if they will not destroy their images or show them to police officers.”

Photo via Gothamist

-- Chuck Bennett amNY.com

Rep. Carolyn Maloney, the NYC Breastfeeding Promotion Leadership Comittee and the Brooklyn Alliance for Breastfeeding Empowerment will hold a subway ride in honor of World Breastfeeding Week this Friday @ 12:15 p.m. @ the A train station on 168th St. and Broadway.

The ride, a Maloney aide says, is to protest women getting ticketed by cops for breastfeeding on the subway. The aide, however, was unsure how often women are actually ticketed for breastfeeding.

And will there be any breastfeeding on this ride?

“It’s possible,” the aide says. “Their kids may be very well hungry on the long ride.”

Last year, the “lactivists” had a protest again Barbara Walters because she wasn’t all for public breastfeeding.

-- Chuck Bennett amNY.com

It’s not just in New York digging for subways turns up artifacts and slows down construction. Heck, this find in Athens, Greece puts the little wall found in the Battery to shame.

-- Chuck Bennett amNY.com

In two weeks, breakdancing icons Rock Steady Crew will be holding their 29th anniversary party with a celebrity basketball tournament, concerts, and old-school “crew battle” dance competitions. throughout the weekend of July 27 to July 30.

Back in 2003, Mayor Bloomberg declared July 26, Rock Steady Crew Day. And back in 1980 the Bronx-bred crew performed at Ronald Reagan’s inauguration.

So in a little old school spirit, check out these great subway performances courtesy of You Tube. Without a doubt the subway is the past backdrop from their performances. Speaking of which, anyone ever check out their artistic heirs cartwheeling through the A train?

Photo courtesy of Rock Steady Crew

-- Chuck Bennett

In two weeks, breakdancing icons Rock Steady Crew will be holding their 29th anniversary party with a celebrity basketball tournament, concerts, and old-school “crew battle” dance competitions. throughout the weekend of July 27 to July 30.

Back in 2003, Mayor Bloomberg declared July 26, Rock Steady Crew Day. And back in 1980 the Bronx-bred crew performed at Ronald Reagan’s inauguration.

So in a little old school spirit, check out these great subway performances courtesy of You Tube. Without a doubt the subway is the past backdrop from their performances. Speaking of which, anyone ever check out their artistic heirs cartwheeling through the A train?

Photo courtesy of Rock Steady Crew

-- Chuck Bennett

The assistant managing editor for photography of  The New York Times made a curious comment in a Q&A published online recently that has set off a kerfuffle among some photographers.

In response to a query posed by a student photographer on handling overzealous security guards, she advised that it's best to shoot from public places, and then added: "You are prohibited from shooting bridges and tunnels, less so the subway."

Now, in offering these tips, she was probably erring on the side of caution, since it's much easier to get out of a scrape with an officious security guard who misunderstands your motives if you carry a Times press card. And indeed, reports still emerge from time to time of photographers being hassled when legally taking pictures on the subway. But her advice has raised eyebrows.

Firstly, regarding the legality of subway photography, no less an authority than The New York Times itself wrote on May 23, 2005:  "A proposed ban on taking photographs in the subway, meant to thwart potential terrorists, has been rejected as too broad to be enforceable, the police said yesterday."

Now, it's true that around the city's tunnels, there are a barrage of signs prohibiting photography.  And a little Nexis research supports the idea that laws do prohibit photography of MTA bridges, too, but who is really going to stop that student photographer (or those countless tourists) from snapping away? (Well, this did happen shortly after 9/11 and may remain an issue today.)

To be sure, it seems the key questions are vantage point of the photo, and whether "sensitive" areas were being photographed. Still, the editor's comments, however well intentioned, seem to cry for amplification.

Here's reaction over at the Chezlark blog, who says the advice was "entirely incorrect or badly misleading".  And there's more commentary at The Online Photographer.

-- Rolando Pujol

Have you been hassled taking pictures in the subways or around bridges? Let us know in the comments section.  And the Chezlark blog pointed us to this interesting subway photography blog, Express Train.

Photo: Woman boards A train, by Newsday's Julia Gaines

A rare sight in midtown, or anywhere really in the subway system: A corridor without ads. Spotted near the 34th Street and Seventh Avenue exit last week.

And at the same station, a sign signals the TA's effort to beat back the surge in graffiti. 

Just one stop uptown, ads for Jews for Jesus are causing a stir.

-- Rolando Pujol

Lost in the epic Kobayashi-Chestnut battle is the performance of Eric "Badlands" Booker, the No. 7 train conductor who wolfed down 24 1/2 hot dogs Tuesday at Nathan's Famous. Sure, that's fewer than half of Kobayashi's 53 3/4, but Badlands is no competitive-eating slouch. For instance, he's tops when it comes to downing burritos and matzoh balls.  And just last month, he came in No. 2 at a ham-biscuit eating contest in Lynchburg, Va. Downing 42, he was bested by Sonya "Black Widow" Thomas, who also shared the stage with Badlands yesterday at Nathan's.

Badlands by the numbers: 

Height: 6’ 4”

Weight: 420 pounds

Hot dogs eaten: 24 1/2

Hometown: Copiague, on Long Island

Web site:  www.badlandsbooker.com

Badlands preps himself for the eating contest Tuesday. (AP Photo)

-- Rolando Pujol

If you were anywhere near a TV set in New York in the late 1970s and early 1980s, then you remember (and perhaps recoil at the sound of) this jingle: Take the train to the plane!

That train was the JFK Express, the repurposed A train which ran from 1978 to 1990 and was a dud almost from the start. The big but hardly only fault: It didn't provide a one-seat ride to the airport. (You had to endure an arduous transfer to a free Port Authority bus at Howard Beach.) It did offer several perks, such as a comfortable ride, police on the train, and even on-board ticketing. But  by May 1989,  daily ridership was down to just 3,700 (each express used four cars), while an average A train could accommodate 2,000 passengers, Jim Dwyer pointed out that year.

So all these years later, here's a look at the commercials that tried and failed to sell New York on the merits of the JFK Express, but left NYC with --  love it or hate it -- a classic campaign. The first spot introducing the service is from 1978; the second is from 1980, and has a commuter taking a stab at singing the jingle. They surfaced on YouTube, from a poster called tvnewsman.

-- Rolando Pujol

Image from Wikipedia

Train strikes man: Police say a possibly suicidal man walked into the path of a No. 2 train Sunday in Manhattan. He lost much of his left leg. [amNY]

Sure beats game traffic: Work has begun on a $150 million commuter rail extension that will one day zip football fans to the Meadowlands. [AP via amNY] 

Two cultures, one problem: After the arrests of more than a dozen men for alleged lewd behavior in the subways, a Georgetown professor examines how very differently women in New York and Athens, Greece, handle and experience public misbehavior like groping and flashing. One significant difference: Women in Athens do not report feeling helpless, and tend to take immediate action against the violator.  [The New York Times]

-- Rolando Pujol

WTC Work Halts: Just when things seemed to get rolling, work stops at the trade center site as a strike looms of  heavy equipment operators. Among the projects halted is the much-vaunted Santiago Calatrava transportation hub. [AP via amNY]

Tunnel TiVo Buster: A closer look at moving ads in subway tunnels -- in testing in NYC Transit and now a fact of life on PATH -- which are rapidly spreading around the world. [Reuters via Epoch Times]

Think Small: Is the Smart car the answer to finding parking anywhere, anytime in Gotham? Take it away, Dan Barry. [The New York Times]

Subway Smackdown: Shanghai vs. New York: Guess whose system  is cleaner (and guess whose will "actually get us where we wanted to go." [Shanghaiist]

-- Rolando Pujol

The subways have come a long way from May 12, 1989, the day the war on graffiti was declared won. But in truth, transit workers have long been spending nights quietly erasing a day's worth of damage. And their work is getting harder with the recent resurgence in graffiti. Since that milestone 17 years ago, most of the train vandalism that I've run across has been in the form of acid etching and scratchitti. But car 2069 on the No. 7 line at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday told a different story, one that had the faint air of the kind of subway experience of a generation ago -- the New York of  "Death Wish" and "The Warriors".  Virtually every door inside this car was tagged. The photos speak for themselves. Click on thumbnails:

-- Rolando Pujol

There was the oddest duet this morning on the 51st St. E/V platform. An old white guy with an accordion and a Chinese guy with a traditional erhu performing Amazing Grace. That performance was definitely worth 50 cents.

-- Chuck Bennett

Perhaps inspired by the adventures of The Warriors, about a dozen Sony PSP gamers took over a D train last week for informal tournaments.

Download TPN-UndergroundRev21.pdf

Surrounded by sometimes annoyed commuters the guys and gals competed in Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City deathmatches, rounds of Monster Hunter and Hot Shots Golf.

The PSP Nation, an independent, informal group of gamers, has regular meetups where PSP addicts meet and compete.  Founder Hector Martinez just posted an account of the action here.

“There was an air of annoyance beginning to fill the train, but the group appeared oblivious to it all,” Martinez wrote.

This was their first subway meet-up and its unclear if more will come.

“Playing on a moving train with no back support is tricky, especially when you’re using both hands,” Martinez admits. 

-- Chuck Bennett

It began as so many cool New York City cultural phenoma do ... via word of mouth. Rappers, musicians and other creative types started meeting up in a designated subway car at a certain day and hour ... and throwing a party. The Subway Series, as the gatherings are known, have been occuring every second Sunday since February. They offer participants an opportunity to share their passion for their craft, network a little, perform and even sell a CD or two.  And the best part is, anyone is welcome.

Just this past Sunday, in-the-know participants got together, this time on a downtown Lexington Line train, hopped on the Staten Island Ferry, and then returned to Manhattan. 

Organizer Kid Lucky told the crowd Sunday that the series will take a summer breather, but will be back in the fall. Try and check it out when it does: You'll hear a combination of sounds, with an emphasis on freestyle hip-hop. Beatboxers, emcees, singers and even dancers participate.

The gatherings have been slowly getting on the media's radar. Take a look at this recent Columbia Spectator article. Explore Kid Lucky's Web site and see video and more on the series. Here's a cool Flickr photo stream of Sunday's event.

-- Rolando Pujol

It's not online yet, but the Spring 2006 issue of Columbia, the university's alumni magazine, has an interesting profile of John Tauranac,  a 1963 graduate of the School of General Studies who subway wonks know as the father of the 1979 subway map. That map was geographically accurate and assigned specific colors to the subway lines, which with some tweaks here and there is largely the one you see today. 

So why are the logos for the 4, 5, 6 trains, which run through some of the nation's richest neighborhoods, green? And why were the 1, 2, 3 and 9 trains, which run through some of the nation's more liberal precincts, assigned the color red? Here's Tauranac's fun take: "I always thought there was a certain cynical reality to the colors. I liked the green line going on the Upper East Side where the money is. I liked the idea of having the red line run up the Upper West Side, because that's where the liberals are, who used to be called the Compsymps" -- or Communist sympathizers.

Tauranac improved on the 1972 map designed by Massimo Vignelli. It's an awesome, very 1970s work of art, but the rap on it has always been that it's a little too stylized to be practical. "There were people who simply looked at it as an aesthetic object," Tauranac told  Columbia of the 1972 map. "That's not what a map is."

Tauranac still gives any new map the OK. He is, after all, the man "who argued over the right shade of orange for the B, D and F lines 30 years ago."

Here's a quick bio of Vignelli. Check out his 1972 map. Here's Wikipedia on Tauranac. And take a tour of Tauranac's many Gotham books on Amazon.

-- Rolando Pujol

Think of it is as the MTA’s American Idol.  The 19th Annual Music Under New York Audition is tomorrow at Grand Central Station’s Vanderbilt Hall from 9 a.m to 4 p.m. The place is gonna be packed with opera singers, violinists, folkies, rockers, doo-wop duos, Chinese zithers, and, no doubt, an accordian or two.

Sad for the musicians who don’t make the cut.

-- Chuck Bennett

Gothamist has some funny subway defacement pics. Apparently, tricksters are changing the Do Not Block door signs to read “Do Not Smell Bad” or “Do Not Be Uncouth.”

Yesterday at the Penn Station stop on the C/E line somebody defaced the paper service advisory signs with “What about the surplus?”  At least that vandal is reading the newspapers.

-- Chuck Bennett

Marc Ecko, the former graffiti artist and fashion designer, doesn’t think subway scratchiti is art.

“That is illegal vandalism, there is a distinction,” he said.

Today a Manhattan judge ruled in his favor that  the city can’t ban the sale and possession of spray paint and broad-tipped markers to anyone between the ages of 18 through 21. Etching acid is still off-limits.

-- Chuck Bennett

When will the police learn there is NO photo ban on the subways?

After much public outcry and serious questions about the legality, the MTA dropped the PROPOSED photo ban from its agenda. Its perfectly legal for members of the media and the general public to snap away on the trains and in the stations.

But yesterday, two uninformed cops threatened to kick our amNY photographer and myself, out of the subway for taking pictures. The officer wrongly insisted that it was illegal and right or wrong its impossible to win an argument with a cop. Or is this an unwritten rule that cops follow? Any else have a similar experience?

-- Chuck Bennett

It's no news that subway riders love their I-Tunes. These days, most straphangers seem to be plugged in to their IPods (or music-playing equivalents) and tuned out to what's going on around them on the subway.

I have no problem with this. In fact, I read novels as a way to create an alternative universe when riding the subway to and from work.

But the other day, I experienced a side effect of the IPod craze. At my stop on a No. 2 train, a woman with her back to me was blocking my way to the exit. In my best subway voice -- polite and not too loud -- I said, "Excuse me." No reaction. I repeated myself. Again, nothing.  I spoke a little louder and still got no reaction. By this point, I'm getting worried that I'm going to miss my stop.

So, I resort to a light shoulder tap. Immediately, the woman swings around and I see the telltale white earphones in her ears.  Her look of irritation lasted just a second until she realized I wanted to slip by her.  Which I did, barely getting to the platform before the doors closed.

Is anybody else noticing a general tuning out of the subway-riding population?

-- Vera Haller

To be fair, the two guys who livened up my subway ride the other day weren't begging. They were leaping, tumbling, and rolling down the aisle of the train. In a performance that was part Beat Streat and part Gymkata, two young men got the attention of everyone in the car between Spring Street and West 4th. The exuberance and energy made it stand out from the typical subway show, and probably explains why they got so many dollar bills when they passed the hat afterwards.

It made me wonder, though, what sort of expectations they're setting up for the future. People who risk getting busted to earn money on the trains face a pretty jaded audience, and each new trick makes previous schemes obsolete. Will the guys I saw today make it tougher for kids selling candy bars, mariachi trios, and doo-wop singers? After backflips and gravity-defying tricks become mundane, what can come next?

--Daniel McDermon

Scene: Train filled with Upper West Siders heading downtown for a Friday night out.

Enter: A group of Columbia University students wearing "Stop AIDS in its Tracks" T-shirts.

After one of the students makes a loud announcement about "protection," they all start handing out pamphlets and individually-wrapped condoms.

Most passengers gladly accept the offering. One group of giggling twentysomethings declined.

--Vera Haller

I live in Hell’s Kitchen. He lives in Williamsburg. It’s hardly a long-distance relationship – except when the MTA shuts down L train service like it did last weekend.

And like it plans to do on a lot more weekends over the next couple months.

A few months ago, the L was voted the ‘love train’ in a newspaper survey – best place to hook up with a straphanging hottie.

But just