Day: April 1, 2020💾

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Nelson Rockefeller’s Legacy in New York State – CityLab

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Nelson Rockefeller’s Legacy in New York State – CityLab

Like the ruins of Rome and Athens, Albany’s Empire State Plaza may attract tourists of the distant future looking for the most dramatic relics of long-faded power.

Drawn up on a napkin by Governor Nelson Rockefeller and faithfully executed by architect Wallace Harrison*, the megaproject—which includes a vast public plaza, four identical office towers, one extra tall tower, a legislative office building, a justice building, a State museum, and a performing arts center known as “The Egg”—is as close as to Brasilia as you’ll find in the United States.

Built over an unglamorous but active neighborhood and not exactly embraced by Albany’s mayor, the $2 billion Empire State Plaza already represented outdated modernist planning ideas by the time it opened in 1976, three years after Rockefeller had left office.

April 1, 1970 – AMC introduces the Gremlin – This Day in Automotive History

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April 1, 1970 – AMC introduces the Gremlin – This Day in Automotive History

After Ford and General Motors announced they were both on the verge of launching new subcompact cars for 1971, the suits at AMC had to speed up development of their competitor. Though faced with time limitations and financial windfalls, they came up with an answer. AMC engineers took the existing AMC Hornet and shortened its wheelbase from 108 to 96 inches (2,743 to 2,438 mm) and cut its overall length from 179 to 161 inches (4,547 to 4,089 mm), then added an almost vertical hatchback. Their efforts gave birth to the AMC Gremlin, introduced to the general public on this day in 1970.

Fifty years ago today, the AMC Gremlin was announced to the world. Both Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush drove Gremlins.

History of NEW YORK STATE ELECTRIC AND GAS CORPORATION – FundingUniverse

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History of NEW YORK STATE ELECTRIC AND GAS CORPORATION – FundingUniverse

New York State Electric and Gas Corporation (NYSEG) serves central, eastern, and western New York State, an area which, though mostly rural, includes the cities of Binghamton, Elmira, Corning, and Ithaca. Its territory includes one-third of the state's land area and a tenth of its population. With more than 775,000 electric customers and almost 220,000 gas customers, NYSEG serves a diversified population of industry, agriculture, recreational facilities, and colleges and universities.

NYSEG traces its history back to October 28, 1852, when six Ithaca businessmen pledged a total of $75,000 and incorporated as the Ithaca Gas Light Company. The fledgling company soon laid mains and built a coal gas plant. In 1853 Ithaca's streets saw their first lamps.

In the thirty years following the founding of Ithaca Gas Light, the use of methane gas grew steadily. Street lighting was extended beyond affluent business districts, while homeowners and businesses obtained lights for evening hours.

Coyotes, rats, others, adapt amid human isolation trends in urban areas — Furbearer Conservation

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Coyotes, rats, others, adapt amid human isolation trends in urban areas — Furbearer Conservation

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic currently sweeping through North America, stay-at-home mandates in all major cities are leaving city streets far more empty than normal; and its got many urban-adapted wildlife species making more brazen moves in mankind’s absence.

Its clear the change in societal patterning is having a ripple effect surpassing just the focal point of a virus spread.

While much of the American populous is practicing social distancing, other creatures are taking full advantage of the dampened human presence in urban settings.