Beginning on Monday, March 7, 2016, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office will no longer prosecute most violations or infractions, and the NYPD will no longer arrest individuals who commit these offenses – such as littering, public consumption of alcohol, or taking up two seats on the subway – unless there is a demonstrated public safety reason to do so. This initiative will enable the NYPD to devote its resources to investigating serious crimes... — Manhattanda

The NYPD has used cell-site simulators, commonly known as Stingrays, more than 1,000 times since 2008, according to documents turned over to the [NYCLU]. The documents represent the first time the department has acknowledged using the devices.

The NYPD also disclosed that it does not get a warrant before using a Stingray, which sweeps up massive amounts of data. Instead, the police obtain a “pen register order” from a court... [which] do not require the police to establish probable cause... — theintercept.com

Romance is in the air at Times Square. If you were to walk through there right now, you'll find the "Heart of Hearts", a ring of mirrored golden hearts in the middle of all the hustle and bustle. Designed by Collective-LOK, the installation was the 2016 winner of the Times Square Valentine Heart Design competition. — Bustler

[A former sanitation policy director for New York City, Ben] Miller is working with his partners at the planning firm Closed Loops, with funding from state grants, to bring pneumatic tubes to New York’s High Line.

Rather than rotting in landfills, carrot peels and apple cores from nearby restaurants could travel under the feet of unsuspecting tourists through pneumatic tubes hung below the elevated park. A small facility could turn them into compost right there in the neighborhood. — fusion.net

Moving from one subway car to another is no easy task.

There is the dart-and-hustle option, entailing a sprint between entrances before the doors close, and the perilous — and prohibited — passing between the doors at the end of the car.

But the Metropolitan Transportation Authority wants to examine another route: a new generation of subway trains with open pathways between cars. — the New York Times

New York City once set the standard for subsidized housing. The city started out building and maintaining tens of thousands of apartments for working families, sponsoring job training and social programs. It ran a budget surplus. [...] Now the Village is like a gated playground for runaway wealth. Subsidized apartments all across town are converting to market-rate rentals and condos faster than City Hall can build affordable units or preserve old ones. — nytimes.com

The Hills on Governors Island will welcome visitors this summer — nearly a year ahead of schedule, it was announced last week — and add 10 acres of green space to the city, largely in the form of four artificial hills. Made of recycled construction debris and clean fill, the hills rise as high as 70 feet above the island...An unseasonably warm fall contributed to faster-than-expected construction times. — NextCity

As an architectural historian, Ms. Clark, 30, has studied buildings throughout New York City in pursuit of her doctorate. [...]

Working for JDS, Ms. Clark felt she could have more than a theoretical effect on architectural history. “I think real estate in many ways is the story of New York, how the city grows and changes,” she said. [...]

As soon as JDS considers acquiring a property, Ms. Clark heads to the archives ... to start developing a case for or against the project. — nytimes.com

[Through a national competition by the Department of Housing and Urban Development,] The money would be used to help fortify a stretch of shoreline from Montgomery Street on the Lower East Side to the northern tip of Battery Park City. Specific measures have not yet been determined, but could include adding sea walls and temporary flood walls that could be deployed before a storm, and building grass berms that could double as recreational areas. — The New York Times

The more period commentary on these spaces you read...the more you see the hotel's owners are falling into the very trap the interiors were engineered to escape: banality, anywhere-ness, the flimsiness of changing fashion...Are the current going to rip out the mirror and replace it with barn wood and mason jars? Just wait. Stop the unpermitted demolition. Landmark this interior and, in doing so, remind people of its undated and undateable wonder. — ny.curbed.com

About 80 WeWork members and employees have moved into 45 apartment units in WeWork’s first "coliving" space at 110 Wall Street, which will eventually house about 600 people on 20 floors, WeWork confirmed.

Along with living accommodations, residents will have access to community events like fitness classes and potluck dinners, services like cleaning and laundry, and a digital social network—all of which can be coordinated through a mobile app. — fastcompany.com

[The International Construction Costs Report 2016] found that New York, London and Hong Kong ranked as the world’s most expensive cities to build in, with strong currencies and significant resource constraints resulting in higher prices.

Elsewhere, the gradual recovery in the Eurozone has meant that these markets have avoided this high construction inflation. While, in Asia, the Chinese economic slowdown and weakening demand in many cities means that overall growth in Asia is expected to ease — arcadis.com

Governor Cuomo unveiled the sixth signature proposal of his 2016 agenda: transform Penn Station and the historic James A. Farley Post Office into a world-class transportation hub. The project, known as the Empire Station Complex.... is anticipated to cost $3 billion – will be expedited by a public-private partnership in order to break ground this year and complete substantial construction within the next three years. — State of New York