Madison Square Garden sounds like it has become a red-headed stepchild

Yes you're iconic, yes you bring in huge money, yes it seems you have always been Penn Station's hat but you uh, might wanna pack your bags and find a new place to call home some regional planners and politicians are now saying. Despite the The Madison Square Garden Co. spending a billion dollars on the renovation of MSG the Regional Plan Association and Municipal Art Society are saying MSG should only get a ten year renewal lease and then find a new home.

NJ Transit, Amtrak and Long Island Rail Road wrote in a letter to the planning commission in part:

"Despite significant subsequent investments by the station’s rail carriers to better accommodate these passengers," the letter continued, "travelers have for decades been confined to functionally inadequate accommodations in the makeshift underground station, and have been hampered by severely limited street-level access at a handful of poorly marked and architecturally flawed entrances that are in some cases all but hidden from the street."

MSG said, and we quoteth:

"Adding an arbitrary expiration for reasons unrelated to the special permit process or requirements would not only set a dangerous and questionable precedent, but would also hinder our ability to make MSG and New York City the long-term home of even more world-class events, and would harm a business that has served as a significant economic driver for the city for generations."

We liked this quote from Drew Galloway, assistant vice president of policy and development at Amtrak:

"It’s like the Oklahoma Land Rush at 5 p.m. at 34th Street and 7th Avenue."

Suggestions on changes or improvements at olde Madison Square Garden?

Do you like explosions? Johnny sure does

Check out this video of the sandhogs blasting under Grand Central Terminal tunneling to connect the Long Island Railroad and their guest conductor programs to Grand Central. Make sure to stick round for the slo-motion blast of the video:

Dear New Yorkers, who the hell is driving your MTA trains anymore?

A few weeks ago a story broke that an MTA train operator with between 200-400 passengers on a LIRR (Long Island Railroad) double decker train from Port Jefferson L.I. to Hunter Point in Queens let a passenger take control of said train and the passenger was commandeering it at speeds up to 80 mph. Ronald Cabrera was the MTA operator identified as having let a friend drive the train. MTA officials say Carbera was questioned and relieved of his duties pending the outcome of an investigation.

Today we come to find out in comparison Cabrera showed excellent judgement since another MTA operator was allowing her EIGHT YEAR OLD child to run a subway train, a Lexington Avenue Express train on Sunday. Jules Cattie was a passenger who thought he overheard an operator passing along tips to a new driver until he actually saw, and snapped camera phone images of an eight year old driving the train.

"The kid was standing there with a female conductor behind him. A little, little kid standing there" Cattie said.

Simply amazing. Know what this latest event SOUNDS like to us? A mom who didn't have child care lined up on a Sunday and decided to bring the kid to work. Cheaper to bring the kid to work than do the right thing and leave him or her with the babysitter, a relative or a child care facility. It's not enough parents more and more often bring their kids into the workplace for a myriad of unacceptable reasons, snow day at school, kid too sick to be in day care, babysitter fell through etc. Look, you made the CHOICE to have the kid and now you want to put people's very lives in danger in letting your precious little choice run an MTA train because YOU are inconvenienced? Nice priorities.

According to the Current.com article:
Investigators confirmed on Tuesday that an unauthorized person was in the operator's cab as the subway traveled through Manhattan on Sunday

Throw the book at 'em.