Photo Credit: AKRF and W Architecture and Landscape Architecture.

The city will announce on Thursday that plans to make Hudson Street between Canal and West Houston Streets in Hudson Square into a grand boulevard with wider sidewalks, parking-protected bike lanes and small outdoor “living rooms” with seating surrounded by greenery are moving forward with design and construction teams on board. AMNew York reports that Prima Paving Corporation, Sam Schwartz Engineering, D.P.C. and Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects have been chosen as design-build consultants for the project according to the city’s Economic Development Corporation and Department of Transportation. The design-build concept means that contracting both the design and construction components to the firms, which will act as a team, can streamline the process.

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Listing photos by VHT, courtesy of The Corcoran Group

The four-story, five-family townhouse at 135 West 78th street could compete with any of its neighbors for the title of the prettiest house on an elegant brownstone-lined Upper West Side block. Inside, the 20-foot-wide home is currently configured as five units including an owner’s duplex, a top-floor two-bedroom market-rate flat, and three one-bedroom rent-stabilized units. In addition to living in a large, characterful duplex with a glass-walled garden view and receiving income from the variety of rental apartments, the new owner has the future option of conversion to a 4,500-square-foot single-family home when units become vacant.

Get a peek at some of those 18 rooms

Image: Michael Kowalczyk via Flickr

As local politicians scramble to change decades of waste and bad habits, businesses are often in a better position to have an impact on the planet, and some are eager to oblige. Whole Foods just announced they’d be ending the use of plastic straws in their juice bars and cafes and packaging rotisserie chickens in bags instead of plastic cartons, the New York Post reports. And grocery megachain Wegmans says they’ll be bagging single-use plastic bags by the end of this year, ahead of a statewide ban. Recently Mayor Bill De Blasio weighed in with NYC’s own Green New Deal; the mayor announced in April that the city has passed an executive order intended to mobilize resources to combat climate change. In addition to addressing the more obvious plastic, the plan includes the phasing-out of processed meat purchased by government-run facilities like hospitals and schools–but not street vendors, restaurants or stores.

Hot dogs are safe, for now

Living in a classic pre-war co-op in the West Village–one built by Bing & Bing nonetheless–is something of a dream for NYC history and real estate buffs. But if you’re not in the million-dollar price bracket, this charming $675,000 studio at 2 Horatio Street is the perfect place to start. At 450-square-feet, the home has been recently renovated to include a separate sleeping alcove and large closet, as well as a modern kitchen and bathroom. And let’s not forget about those quintessential views of lovely West 13th Street and Greenwich Avenue.

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This classic six co-op in the venerable 60 Gramercy Park North goes beyond just prewar charm. Designer decor by Starrett Ringbom is eye-popping, eclectic and fun, while providing a contrast for the home’s lovely architectural details. The high floor home, asking $5.295 million, comes with park views and a coveted key to Manhattan’s only private park.

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Via Flickr

The annual competition celebrating New York City street vendors will end this fall after 15 years. The last Vendy Awards ever will be held on Governors Island on September 21, providing one last chance to enjoy one of the city’s greatest food events. The competition, organized by the Street Vendor Project at the Urban Justice Center, launched with just four vendors in 2005. It has since grown to feature vendors from across the city, serving nearly two thousand hungry foodies annually, and becoming a career launch pad for vendors.

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Via Flickr cc

If you’re hitting the road this Memorial Day Weekend, best not to leave the city between 4:45 and 6:45pm on Thursday, as AAA predicts that car traffic in NYC will be twice as heavy during this time. If you’re depending on the LIRR or Metro-North, the MTA will be adding extra trains, and there will be free Q70 bus service to/from LaGuardia until Friday evening. As an extra treat, most weekend subway disruptions will extend into Monday, but the good news is that there are no additional changes on the 1, 7, A, C, G, F, M, and W lines.

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Via City Council Speaker Corey Johnson

City Council Speaker Corey Johnson’s comprehensive “complete streets” bill arrives just three months after he proposed a five-year plan to make New Yorkers who take mass transit, walk and bike a priority over motor vehicle drivers. Johnson plans to introduce legislation next week that would require city officials to build 150 miles of dedicated bus lanes and 250 miles of protected bike lanes within a five year period, Streetsblog reports. Johnson said, “I want to completely revolutionize how we share our street space, and that’s what this bill does. This is a roadmap to breaking the car culture in a thoughtful, comprehensive way.”

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Photo © 6sqft

This morning, hundreds of local residents, news outlets, and local school children packed into Riverside Park at 120th Street to see a herd of 24 goats released into the park. The spectacle kicked off the Riverside Park Conservancy’s GOaTHAM, an initiative to use “retired” goats from a local farm to help clear out a surge of invasive species from a hard-to-access area of the park. From today until August 30th, the team of goats will be noshing on poison ivy, bittersweet, wineberry, and more.

Watch the hungry goats in action