Manhattan Digest

All you need to know about Manhattan culture and so much more...

Andrew Gutierrez

It’s Official: Citibike Has Launched!

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Photo: Dmitry Gudkov/#BikeNYC
Photo: Dmitry Gudkov/#BikeNYC

If you haven’t noticed, the city has been taken over by Citibike users.  Monday was the launch day for the Citibike program and this week is technically a preview week for annual membership holders. The Citibike blog has posted some stats on usage, popular stations, and trip details.

Trips since launch: 12907

Avg Duration (current day): 14.22 minutes
Miles traveled since launch: 32,265 miles

Most popular starting stations
8 Avenue and W 31 Street: 50
E 17 Street and Broadway: 48
Christopher & Greenwich St: 39

Most popular ending stations
E 17 Street and Broadway: 52
Pershing Square N: 41
Pershing Square S: 40

Annual Members: 19389 total Annual Members

As of 5 PM today Citibike has 19,389 annual members! That’s pretty fantastic yet slightly scary at the same time—fantastic because it’s great seeing a positive embrace to alternative transportation and scary because drivers and pedestrians are going to face a sea of blue bikes every day!

Check out the Citibike website for maps with bike station locations and availability.  There’s also an app which you can download onto your mobile device to check out available bikes and docking stations in your area or around the city. As stated in my last post, Citibike is currently only available in Manhattan below 59th Street and the downtown Brooklyn area (aka grown up Brooklyn).  There are plans for expansion to all of Manhattan and the boroughs in the future. If you’d like to sign up for a Citibike annual membership, use your Citibank debit or credit card for a $15 discount.

NBA’s Jason Collins Comes Out!

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jason-collins-profile-single-image-cut
Image by Kwaku Alston/For Sports Illustrated

Yesterday news broke with NBA player, Jason Collins, coming out as the first openly gay and active men’s professional athlete. Sports Illustrated’s website has an article/open letter from Collins detailing his reasons for coming out. While  being gay isn’t as controversial as it once was in the past, it still takes an amazing amount of courage for anyone to come out of the closet, especially for someone in the public eye.

Collin’s started his NBA career in 2001 with the New Jersey Nets after attending Standford. After spending 7 years with the Nets he went on to play for the Memphis Grizzlies, Minnesota Timberwolves, Atlanta Hawks, Boston Celtics, and finally the Wizards. This summer he’s slated to become a free agent with intent to pursue another contract.

Though Collins has received mostly positive and supportive reactions from athletes and non-athletes, there’s definitely been some shade thrown his way. According to the NYTimes, Mike Wallace, wide receiver for the Miami Dolphins sent out a Tweet saying: “All these beautiful women in the world and guys wanna mess with other guys.” The tweet was later deleted and Wallace apologized for the comment. Also, on ESPN, NBA analyst Chris Broussard called Jason Collins a sinner. Who the hell isn’t a sinner though? Here’s video of Broussard’s comment.

Collins wrote in his Sport Illustrated piece, “I didn’t set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport. But since I am, I’m happy to start the conversation.” Although he admits he would rather someone have come out before he did, he decided to do so since no other athlete has.

It’s great that Collins chose to come out and be the first to go through the motions so that other athletes and other people in general can see that coming out isn’t the death of a career, image, etc. The unfortunate part about Collins coming out is that it might not create as much change as an All Star, championship winning athlete coming out. Nonetheless, congrats and best of luck to him.

Citibike: The Bike Share of NYC

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Photo credit: Citibike
Photo credit: Citibike

If you live in the New York chances are you probably use the subway or bus fairly often, unless you can afford to take a cab everywhere or you just don’t leave your house.  Sometimes it can seem like half the time you spend traveling on the subway or bus system is spent waiting, and then when you finally get on it’s crowded and/or smells and the longer your commute is the more annoyed you get that you’re spending  $112/month  for this crap! The MTA surely knows how to provide excellent transportation service… especially on weekends, right?

The answer to this problem has been to keep your monthly coins and just get a bike and avoid the MTA altogether, but now there’s an alternative to that alternative— Citibike.  Citibike is New York’s bike share program similar to that of DC, Boston, Paris, Tel Aviv, Milan, and the list goes on.   For $95 +Tax you can use Citibike for a year, which is a damn good deal compared to the $1,344 per year people will be spending riding the subway/bus!!  The deal is you sign up and pay online and you will get a key mailed to you approximately 2-3 weeks before the official launch of Citibike in May.  When you receive the key you just log in at citibikenyc.com to activate and you’re ready to ride!  Of course there are other options if you’re not down to commit to a yearly membership. There’s a 24 hour access pass priced at $9.95+Tax or a 7 day pass which costs $24.05+Tax.  Financially, it seems like a better choice to get the yearly pass over the other options which seem to be geared to tourists and non-NYC dwellers.

With the 24 hour and 7 day passes riders get 30 minutes of time to ride to your destination, although if you ride longer you don’t get charged extra until you’re 30 minutes late returning a Citibike.  Yearly membership holders get 45 minutes of riding and don’t get charged extra until you’re 45 minutes late returning a Citibike.   You can use Citibike 24 hours a day all year long.  Late fees are also different between the passes, but all that is sufficiently explained at citibikenyc.com.

Installment of Citibike stations around the Clinton Hill section of Brooklyn began on April 6th and will continue to be installed between the Downtown Brooklyn area and pretty much all of Manhattan below 59th Street  until the official launch in May.  Stations all over the city will be installed in phases afterwards.  Check out the screen shot  from  nyc.gov/bikeshare below to see where  the Citibike stations will be.

Screen shot: nyc.gov/bikeshare
Screen shot: nyc.gov/bikeshare

The Tribeca Film Festival 2013 is Here!

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Photo Courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival
Photo Courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival

The Tribeca Film Festival is back to grace us with some awesome movie selections for everyone to check out from April 17th – 28th.  This is the 12th year the film festival will return to lower Manhattan and if you can snag some tickets to any films make sure you do so ASAP because screenings are selling out as we speak.  Some of the highly anticipated films this year are Julie Delpy’s  Before Midnight (The sequeal to her films Before Sunrise and Before Sunset), Adult World (starring Emma Roberts and directed by Scott Coffey), Flex is Kings (a doc focusing on Brooklyn’s “Flex” dance movement directed by Diedre Schoo and Michael Beach Nichols), and Big Bad Wolves (an Israeli serial killer flick where the killer may be the one killed directed by Navot Papushado and Aharon Keshales).  The festival opens on Wednesday, April 17th, with the screening of Mistaken for Strangers which focuses on an indie band, The National, from Brooklyn.

If your cash is tight, or if you’d rather just chill out at home and avoid the crowds the Tribeca Film Festival has options for you to still take advantage of this New York tradition. People across the country will be allowed to access  the Tribeca Online Festival and Tribeca Film’s on-demand offerings throughout the festival’s run this year.  The Tribeca Online Festival  will provide free streaming of  the following seven films:  Alias Ruby Blade: A Story of Love and Revolution, Lil Bug & Friendz ( For the cat lover in you!), Farah Goes Bang, and short films like  RPG OKC, Delicacy, The Exit Room, and A Short Film About Guns. These films will all be accessible  via  tribecaonlinefestival.com and audiences can vote for their favorites with the winners receiving $16K in prize money. So all is not lost if you prefer to chill in the house and you’re sick of Netflix!  You can easily check out the Tribeca Online Festival.

If you happen to be in the New York area, but are suffering from a lack of funds (aka ain’t nothing going on but the rent!)  and want to get out and enjoy the recently arrived spring weather, the Tribeca Film Festival will be screening the following films for FREE for your enjoyment:

Beetlejuice

Friday 4/19 8:00 PM Tribeca Drive-In (World Financial CenterPlaza) FREE

 

And The Band Played OnSaturday 4/27 3:30 PM SVA Theater 1 Silas FREE W/ TICKET

 

 Alberi (Short Film)

Saturday 4/20 5:00 PM MoMa PS1’s VW Dome FREE

 

The Birds

Thursday 4/18 8:00 PM Tribeca Drive-In (World Financial CenterPlaza) FREE

 

Stand Clear of the Closing Doors

Saturday 4/27 7:00 PM MoMA PS1 Rockaway FREE

 

Lil Bub & Friendz

Saturday 4/20 8:00 PM Tribeca Drive-In (World Financial CenterPlaza) FREE

 

Hey, even if you do have cash why not save it for drinks at the bar after watching any of these free screenings! To check out the synopses for any of the films, buy tickets, and find directions to theaters or box offices please hit up Tribecafilm.com/festival.

Photo Courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival
Photo Courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival