FutureCities

Lover of cities, architecture, preservation, art, people. Jump at every chance to go to London, Paris, Barcelona, Berlin, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Marrakesh, Boston

[Samuel J. Howard @Jahaza]

Has no one at @mta @NYCMayor @NYCTSubway @MTAPD @NYPDnews ever heard of crowd crush deaths? You can't have *one staircase* to exit the entire one train at Penn Station it's unsafe.

The 1991 City College Stampede that killed nine people in a staircase was at a basketball game.

[FutureCities @FutureCities5]

Indigo! So romantic! A call to an earlier age.

[Above_96th @Above96th]

Spotted one of my favorites on the Appalachian trail near Cold Spring last weekend--an Indigo Bunting! It was happily singing right next to the path. 💙💙💙 #Bunting #CentralPark #birdcpp

[ᴄʜʀɪs 🐳 @chrisstIawrence]

ANOTHER HISTORIC FOUR SPECIES DAY HERE OFF OF NEW YORK CITY. TWO DAYS IN A ROW. WE HAVE NEVER BEEN MORE BACK. LFG 🗽

[Tony @Tparkslope]

Woooo Hooooo brand new baby Green herons in Prospect Park today.
Go Knicks.
@prospect_park @BirdBrklyn

[FutureCities @FutureCities5]

He looks like a very nice kitty.

[jill @jill50546998]

This is an adult North American bobcat, a mid-sized wildcat with distinctive white and black facial markings, prominent ear tufts, and a robust ruff of fur around its neck. Populations have been gradually recovering across the northeastern United States, including N.Y.

[FutureCities @FutureCities5]

Juliet is hunting!

[Julia Vitullo-Martin @JuliaManhattan]

My take: @MoMAPS1 Celebrates Its 50th Anniversary Promoting Emerging Art https://t.co/4FbzLypkCs

[Liam Quigley @_elkue]

An inventory of the damage and casualties in Midtown last night according to the NYPD, which estimates the crowd size at tens of thousands

[FutureCities @FutureCities5]

Majestic!

[DanaMNYC @dana_mnyc]

Great Blue Heron at the Central Park Pond on Friday. #birdcpp

[New Yorker @WestSideTom]

Brosnan was always gorgeous. Remember his breakaway role as an IRA terrorist in The Long Good Friday? That closing in the car with Helen Mirren? (1982)

[Great Cities @CitiesGreat]

Me too. Of Human Bondage introduced me to sex and the Impressionists, not to mention betrayal.

[Julia Vitullo-Martin @JuliaManhattan]

"Powerful new Marine One helis!" Trump's latest renovation plan: Helipad may be installed at White House to prevent powerful new Marine One helicopters from damaging South Lawn https://t.co/iCrllOOeJx via @WSJ

[Streetfilms (Now 1,145+ films!) @Streetfilms]

The tallest, biggest tree came down overnight on the @34_ave open street. RIP

Gone = lots of shade and beauty.

I was out taping this tree 2x this week of all things!

@NYC_DOT @StreetsblogNYC @CMShekarK

[FutureCities @FutureCities5]

The window tax is also one reason that classic, early New England houses had few windows.

[Creative Deduction @CreativeDeduct]

In 1696, the British government decided to tax sunlight. Under the Window Tax, households were charged according to the number of windows in their homes. To avoid paying, many people simply bricked up or boarded over their windows, choosing to live in darkness rather than hand money to the state for daylight.
The tax was presented as a fair way of taxing wealth, since larger houses tended to have more windows. In practice, it proved crude and damaging. Tax inspectors were given the power to enter homes and count the windows, which was widely resented as an invasion of privacy.
The consequences were severe. Poorer families, in particular, bricked up windows to reduce their liability, leaving homes darker, damper and poorly ventilated. This contributed to higher rates of disease, including tuberculosis and rickets. Architects began designing houses with fewer windows to minimise the tax, resulting in buildings that were less healthy and less pleasant to live in.
Far from being an efficient revenue raiser, the Window Tax distorted behaviour, harmed public health and became increasingly unpopular over time. Yet it remained in place for 155 years until it was finally abolished in 1851. The Window Tax required invasive enforcement and created more resentment, hardship and economic distortion than revenue. It is a classic example of the unintended consequences of taxation.

[FutureCities @FutureCities5]

Juliet is hunting!

[David Lei @davidlei]

Juliet the Central Park coyote sneaking around in the lush spring landscape.

#birdcpp #nature #wildlife

[FutureCities @FutureCities5]

If they were human beings they would rule the country.

[Tony @Tparkslope]

The ultimate power couple.
Red-tailed Hawks in Prospect Park this morning.
@prospect_park @BirdBrklyn

[Jill Adamski @JillAdamski]

🤔@NYCLASS claims to care about horses, have new homes lined up for 200+ NYC carriage horses, but not 1 peep about all these NYC horses in need of homes now because THEIR stables aren't on prime real estate!
@SpeakerMenin @NYCMayor @NYCCouncil @Lynn4NYC @CarlMichaelW @HarveyforNY

[Jill Adamski @JillAdamski]

In addition to @CentralParkNYC turning on their mission to preserve park history by taking a bizarre stance against the beloved carriage horses, & loving daily e-bike accidents, they also prefer Cherry Hill to flood in the rain rather than be properly paved; They lost their way!

[Vincent Stops @VincentStops]

Everybody at @TfL, the Government’s cycling body @activetraveleng and the wider activist cycling community now know that 2025 was the worst year on record for serious cyclist injury and the risk of serious injury has been trending upwards since 2015.

We know their fanaticism has led to the exclusion of blind people from their bus services and there is almost no evidence for the benefit of cycle tracks except they make you ‘feel safer’.

It’s time for a new approach to cycling!