Leigh Kamping-Carder

Even at the height of the Thursday morning rush, Roosevelt Islanders have time to stop and talk about transportation. That's because they're likely watching two or three or four F trains go by, packed to the doors with Manhattan-bound commuters.

As newcomers flock to Roosevelt Island, transportation on and off the 147-acre landmass is becoming increasingly challenging. The temporary suspension for upgrades of the island's iconic tram next spring will only exacerbate the situation.

"We're at capacity," said Jonathan Kalkin, who's on the board of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC), which manages the island. "Sometimes you do have to wait--especially in the morning--for another train, depending on how gutsy you are, how much New York is in you to push through.  read more »

In 2000, Roosevelt Island had less than 10,000 residents. Since then, 1,331 new apartments have gone up or are under construction. Another 1,160 are expected within the next five years.

These new structures will pile thousands of fresh faces--and Fresh Direct trucks, as one resident put it--onto the sleepy spit of East River land once officially called Welfare Island, possibly changing it forever.

In 2006, tenants moved in to the Octagon, Becker and Becker's 500-unit luxury restoration of the insane asylum on the Island's north end. The real colossus, however, is the nine-building Riverwalk development, a joint project of Hudson Companies and the Related Companies.  read more »

Thomas Degeest's Wafels & Dinges truck might just be the perfect metaphor for Belgium. Painted in the country's colors -- red, yellow and black -- the truck sells Belgian waffles at several Manhattan locations. It looks patriotic. It flies a Belgian flag out its back window.

But then there's that name.

"Every time we get Belgians [ordering] we get, 'Whoa, what a crazy name,' because it's really Flemish slang that we've got on the truck," Mr. Degeest said.

"Wafel" is spelled the Flemish way. "Dinges" (pronounced ding-us) is Flemish slang for "stuff." And the "liege cinnamon royal" waffle is served how King Albert II likes to eat them: "on a silver plate while serenaded by Flemish virgins.  read more »

She never thought she'd get married. In her own Park Slope living room. On a Friday night. Or that her mother, many miles away, would lecture her about her choice of groom: one of "them," an American. She never thought she'd have to keep so many secrets--from her family, from potential employers, from the U.S. government.

But in February, a 26-year-old woman--whose name The Observer agreed not to print--joined the ranks of illegal immigrants in New York City. She tried to look for new work, but as soon as employers saw her foreign résumé, the questions started. Last spring, marrying her American boyfriend seemed like the only way to secure legal status in the United States.  read more »

When Peter Eide moved to Clinton Hill, he had a "fantastical" idea.

The sculptor had spent 12 years moving around the borough after arriving from Philadelphia: Greenpoint, Williamsburg, back to Clinton Hill. But Mr. Eide, now 37, never strayed far from the G train, the only subway line in the city that doesn't travel through Manhattan. And he never stopped thinking of that idea he had: to connect his neighborhood G train stop, Fulton Street, to the Atlantic Avenue/Pacific Street transit hub, effectively linking the line to almost a dozen other routes.

The fantastical part? A 660-foot tunnel buried under Fort Greene.  read more »

Ridership on Amtrak's Northeast corridor increased over 3.2 percent annually in June, from 878,671 passengers to 907,316, according to new figures from the national rail service.

A look at the most recent numbers for fiscal year 2008, which covers October through June, reveals an even sharper increase in ridership compared to the same nine months in 2007. From October through June, over 5.6 million passengers traveled the Northeast corridor, from Washington to Boston, versus 5 million during the same period last year, representing an 11 percent increase (and coming despite increased fares). Travel on Acela, the Northeast-only express service, increased by 8 percent, from 2.  read more »

At a hearing this morning, the City Council discussed seven legislative reforms regarding construction site safety, including three bills that would further regulate crane operations.

If passed, the legislation would force crane operators to undergo a 30-hour certified training course and to attend refreshers every three years. (Currently certification is not compulsory for crews that “jump” cranes.) It would also require a licensed individual to monitor concrete operations, which Robert LiMandri, the acting commissioner of the Department of Buildings, called a "high risk endeavor" responsible for 59 percent of material falling from building sites.

"We can't have a city where people feel unsafe to walk down the sidewalk because there's a crane working on that block," said City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.  read more »