Here's a 2009 year end review from Google Wave and the folks at Jib Jib.
Now let's have some fun and Celebrate the Countdown To New Year with Jim Carrey.
It's the end of the year 2009 and the 6th Annual Curbed Awards are being handed out.
As is our yearly tradition, it's time to make up a bunch of awards and hand them out to the most deserving and important people, places and things in the real estate, architecture and neighborhood universes of New York City! Yep, it's time for the Sixth Annual Curbed Awards!
Anyway, a big pat on the back to Roosevelt Island for being awarded 2 spots in the 2009 Curbed Top 10 Craziest Renderings of the Year.
This was the year Skynet took over the Roosevelt Island tram replacement project, and the world was better for it. This rendering may actually come true, and we're not just saying that because there's a cyborg holding a gun to our head.
What is Dragonfly? It is a vertical urban farm for Southpoint Park.
Gizmodo had more on the Dragonfly urban vertical farm for Southpoint Park, Roosevelt Island.
Also, let's not forgot the aforementioned 2007 Art & Urbanity Curbed Winner, the spectacular Roosevelt Island Tower of Death.
DHCR Commissioner/RIOC Chairperson VanAmerongen Resigns To Take Position With Affordable Housing Law Firm - What Does This Mean For Roosevelt Island?
... Ms. VanAmerongen is jumping to the private sector ship, joining a firm that has an active affordable housing group and one that does significant work with Ms. VanAmerongen's agency, the Division of Housing and Community Renewal, including deals this year. Of course this public sector-to-private sector shift is not all that uncommon—City Council Land Use Chairwoman Melinda Katz, for instance, is headed to the law firm Greenberg Traurig, which represents developers before the Council. A spokeswoman for the DHCR said Ms. VanAmerongen recused herself from decisions with the potential for conflict of interest.
There are currently and will continue to be affordable housing issues for Roosevelt Island particularly in regard to the ongoing privatization efforts at the Mitchell Lama Rivercross, Island House and Westview buildings. Be interesting to see what role, if any, Ms. VanAmerongen and Nixon Peabody have in the future for Roosevelt Island Affordable Housing.
UPDATE 1/6/10 - More here.
State Senator Jose Serrano is inviting Roosevelt Island residents to an Emergency Preparedness Workshop on January 5.
Senator Serrano, the American Redcross in Greater New York, and the NYC Office of Emergency Management will offer this free presentation, designed to prepare individuals and families for emergencies. Attendees will learn how to create a family disaster plan, build and maintain a supply kit, and keep loved ones safe and informed during times of disaster.
More infomation is available at the NYC Office Of Emergency Management (OEM).
"... We heard several complaints afterward about the performance of FDNY afterwards. I spoke with Lt. Philips at Engine 260, our nearest firehouse. The discussion was in the spirit of comparing notes and lessons learned. Overall, there's a little bit of improvement everywhere: FDNY, RIOC, Public Safety, managing agents, and residents themselves. RIRA will be compiling an informative list for an upcoming Town Hall meeting. ..."
You and I had a meeting to discuss some Lessons Learned and you arranged for a later meeting with local FDNY Battalion Chief to continue the cooperative discussion. Since our meeting with FDNY, I've seen the trucks (Engine 260, Ladder 116) on several weekends doing training.
I appreciate your help convening the meeting with FDNY: it was very productive, informative, and cooperative.
I hope you and your family are enjoying the holidays!
You're welcome Frank. I wish you and your family a Happy New Year and look forward to working productively together in 2010.
More on the November 30 fire at Roosevelt Island's Island House.
Received the following message from Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney's office.
Roosevelt Island, NY, December 23, 2009 – U.S. Representative Carolyn B. Maloney this evening joined Executive Director Charles DeFino and staff at the Roosevelt Island Youth Center to help distribute "Toys for Tots" at the Center. Every year, Congresswoman Maloney helps the United States Marine Corps (USMC) distribute thousands of Toys for Tots to children at youth centers and in public housing developments in New York's 14th Congressional District. This year, the USMC named the Congresswoman's late husband Clifton Maloney an Honorary Vice Chairman of the Toys for Tots program in New York City.
"2009 USMC Toys for Tots Honorary Vice Chair and Navy veteran Clif Maloney lived life to its fullest. I know that his wife, the Honorable Carolyn Maloney, and their two beautiful daughters will continue to serve their community and the underprivileged children of New York," said Major Chuck Kilbride of the USMC. "We at Toys for Tots are privileged to donate these new toys to the kids of Roosevelt Island as a symbol of hope on behalf of all the members of the Marine Corps. God bless America."
The USMC's "Toys for Tots" programs collects new, unwrapped toys during October, November and December, and distributes those toys as Christmas gifts to needy children in communities throughout the United States. Every year, Maloney and her staff help the USMC distribute toys to underprivileged children throughout New York's 14th Congressional District, which includes Roosevelt Island and most of Manhattan's East Side and western Queens.
More information on Roosevelt Island Toys For Tots from RIOC and the Marine Toys For Tots Foundation.
... Director Frederick Renz has selected caroles, noels and motets dating from the 15th and 16th centuries, that emanate from sacred and secular rituals across Europe. Celebrate the twelve days of Christmas in the candle-lit, holly & ivy festooned Cathedral!
Even Rockefeller Center has nothing over this Brooklyn neighborhood during the winter holidays.
Dyker Heights, which is world-famous for its magnificent Christmas light displays, certainly isnt cutting down on electricity this season because of a dwindling economy.
You can go yourself or take a tour with A Slice of Brooklyn though the tours are sold out this weekend but available for Monday and Tuesday.
There's always Chinese Food on Christmas.
On Roosevelt Island this Holiday weekend, the Farmers Market is open on Saturday as usual as is Gallery RIVAA, the Roosevelt Island Visual Arts Association.
Another suggestion - RIOC has produced a great self guided tour map (PDF File) of Roosevelt Island for any visitor or resident looking to stroll the Island and learn something more about it.
Wow, I'm looking out my window now - Can it be? I think I see Santa flying over Roosevelt Island and the Queensboro Bridge.
You can track Santa's route at the Official NORAD Santa Tracker.
Hope you've been good this year.
Live version of Springsteen's Santa Claus Is Coming To Town here.
The most recent Roosevelt Island 24 hour Public Safety Report is posted daily on the blog's inside right sidebar, just below See Click Fix Roosevelt Island. Listed is a daily log recapping local incidents the Roosevelt Island Public Safety Department responded to the previous day.
RIOC is also posting the Daily and November Monthly Roosevelt Island Public Safety Incident reports on their web site. A breakdown of Roosevelt Island Public Safety incidents by location and category (the Blotter) for the months of November 2009 is available as well.
Investigation/Possible Burglary-At an apt. No forced entry. reported who relieved a fellow diplomat reported that the apt was open and all furniture missing. PSD, UA and NYPD responded. NYPD filed a report and advised reporter to contact other diplomat who had resided in apt.
Domestic Dispute- Between Mother and Son over Christmas gifts. PSD, NYPD responded and filed a report.
Found Property- a ring. It was secured in PSD.
Aided- A Coler Hospital patient fell from his wheelchair in the street. EMS responded and lifted him up. He refused transport and went to Coler Hospital.
Reckless Endangerment- Beer bottles thrown from a building. Reported by UA. PSD conducted a search of possible subject and responded to an apt. Resident there stated he was alone and did not throw anything and he refused to allow PSD to enter apt.
Investigation- An Island resident came to PSD to make a complaint. But when asked to provide information of the complaint by 2 PSD officers she refused and became irate. PSD checked the floor she resides in and all was in order. Tenant left PSD.
Investigation - Resident reported to PSD of a unknown condition. PSD made search of area with negative results.
Domestic Dispute - PSD with NYPD responded to an apartment for dispute. NYPD filed Domestic Incident report. No injuries or property damage.
Alarm - PSD responded to an alarm. PSD along with employee checked inside and appeared in order. Alarm was turned off.
Tram Temporary Outage - Tram employee called PSD to report that the tram was out of service. Condition was corrected and tram resumed service.
Possible Aided - Home Attendant notified PSD that her client was not answering his door. Super opened door and tenant was not home.
Investigation - PSD received complaint of bike chained to a pole. Chain was cut and bike was brought to PSD. Owner picked up bike.
Aided - PSD along with super checked apartment for tenant. Apartment was checked and aided was not home.
EDP - PSD responded with NYPD for possible suicide called in by aided's doctor. Aided was not home, but entered PSD later stating she was ok.
Aided - PSD was notified by aided that he was not feeling well. EMS responded and transported aided to hospital.
Dispute - PSD responded to group home for dispute between two teenagers. Both parties were spoken to by PSD and the teenagers went to their rooms without further incident. No injuries reported.
EDP/Aided - PSD observed female walking in the middle of the street. Female was incoherent and brought to PSD. NYPD and EMS responded. Aided was transported to hospital for evaluation.
Dispute- Report of two male youths fighting in an apt. PSD responded youth stated that they were play fighting. No injuries. Reporter to notify the group home headquarters.
Aided/EDP- female walking in the middle of the street and interfering with traffic. PSD Officer approached male who was incoherent and irrational. EMS transported her to the hospital.
Aided- a Coler Hospital patient in a wheelchair was screaming that it was too cold outside. PSD responded and notified EMS. EMS transported aided to the hospital.
Domestic Dispute- Between husband and wife a day ago. NYPD responded and filed a report. PSD was not notified at time of incident. Wife did not want husband in apt. Matter was referred to UA Management.
Aided/DOA- Home attendant called various times to reach the client in his apt. But there was no answer. UA and PSD responded and resident was unresponsive. EMS responded and declared he was deceased. Medical examiner removed the deceased. NYPD secured the apt.
Smoke Condition- Tenant reports smell of smoke in apt. PSD responded and detected odor of cigarette coming from the bath room vent. Matter referred to UA Management.
Aided- A male Coler Hospital patient felling ill. EMS responded and transported him to the hospital.
Trespass/Open Container- Three subjects arrested by PSD.
Disorderly Conduct/Refusal to move- PSD responded for a disorderly group. All left but one subject who after several requests refused to leave. He was taken into custody and arrested.
Aided- An ill person was taken to the hospital.
Car stop/Disorderly Conduct- Motorist committed a moving violation and was stopped by PSD. Motorist refused to comply several times with PSD and PSD Sergeant to provide his documentation. Motorist became disorderly with PSD Officers and started screaming. He was sprayed with Pepper spray. EMS and NYPD responded. Motorist refused transport to the hospital. He was issued three summonses.
Verbal Dispute- Between a RIOC Bus driver and a passenger over the fare. Passenger reached over to the coin slot and removed a coin then left. PSD responded and filed a report. No injuries and NYPD refused.
Harassment- Between two females. Subject threw water at the victim and fled. PSD responded and conducted a search with negative results. No injuries. NYPD refused.
Criminal Mischief- A hole in the wall of a hallway of a building. UA was notified and made temporary repairs. Permanent repairs to be done on Monday 12/14/09. NYPD refused. PSD responded and conducted a search with negative results.
Smoke Condition- A tenant accidently burnt food in the apt. PSD and UA responded. the windows were opened in the hallway to air out the smoke. No injuries and no property damage. EMS refused.
Aided- Male had a mild allergic reaction. EMS responded and he refused transport. he stated that he was fine.
Aided- Elderly female fell from a two foot latter and sustained injury to her ribs and a laceration to her right leg. EMS responded and transported her to the hospital.
Aided/EDP- A female teen stated to her adult sister that she wanted to kill herself with pills. NYPD, EMS and PSD responded. Female was taken to the hospital for evaluation.
Harassment- Between two female tenants. PSD and NYPD responded. NYPD filed a report.
Aided- An ill female with chest pains and difficulty breathing was taken to the hospital by EMS.
Investigation- RIOC parking sign removed by Grestedes Super Market employee. PSD responded and retrieved the sign and issued summonses to vehicles illegally parked at the loading dock. Employee warned and admonished on removing the sign.
Forcibly Touching/ Harassment-Adult female resident reported an adult male known to her was intoxicated and touched her inappropriately. No injuries. NYPD refused.
Aided- Gold Water Hospital Patient in a wheelchair fell. PSD and EMS responded and lifted him up onto the wheelchair. He refused transport to the hospital. No injuries.
Aided- An elderly female resident felt ill. EMS transported her to the hospital. Later her daughter came into PSD and was notified.
Aided- Youth fell in the street and sustained a small laceration to the left knee. She was escorted to the father at the Motorgate Garage. Father refused EMS and to provide any on information.
Possible Aided- a Social worker requested that PSD check on a resident. PSD responded and he was not home. The Visiting Nurse of New York manager located him at the hospital.
Possible Aided- Food left front of apt. UA Super requested PSD respond to check on the tenent for concern that the per son may need medical assistance. Tenant not home and UA locked and secured the apt door.
Vehicle accident- Between 2 vehicles. One was parked the other struck it while parking the vehicle. No injuries. Minor damage to the parked vehicle. NYPD filed a report. The insurance company was notified.
Water leak- At two apt in the East Wood. No damages. UA notified and willconduct repairs later this morning. 12/16/09.
Unsecured Door- At the Child School. Search conducted with negative results. No one inside and the school was in order. Later NYPD responded with PSD and the alarm had ceased.
Police Investigation- PSD assisted Police on an investigation regarding a matter off Island.
Minor Vehicle Accident- Between 2 vehicles minor damages. No injuries reported. EMS and NYPD refused.
DOA/Investigation- PSD responded to a report of unresponsive adult female. EMS and NYPD responded. EMS transported the female to the hospital. At the hospital female was declared deceased. NYPD detective conducting an investigation.
Noise Complaint- PSD responded and heard noise. Tenant did not open the door. Matter referred to RY Management.
Smoke Condition- Tenant accidently burnt food in an apt. No injuries and no damages. EMS refused. Hallway windows opened to air out the smoke.
Harassment - Tenant reported to PSD that another tenant was harassing her. PSD responded and conducted search with negative results. Complainant refused NYPD report.
Lost Property - RIOC bus driver turned over property to PSD that was left on the bus. Property was turned over to owner.
Property Damage - PSD officer parked PSD vehicle and when he returned notice damage to vehicle. Photos were taken.
Aided - Tenant was not feeling well and transported to hospital.
Aided- Male has stomach pains, called EMS, being transported to hospital.
Water Leak- PSD, building manager and service responded to apartment for water leak, leak was coming from master bedroom toilet, service turned water off, service secured door.
Harassment- Between 2 neighbors. No injuries. NYPD refused.
Investigation- A person subletting for another allegedly took jewelry NYPD responded and classified job as grand larceny.
Harassment- Youth congregating in the hallway PSD responded and youths were gone.
Aided- a woman in labor was taken to the hospital by EMS.
Minor Fire- A letter in the electric Gristedes sign caught on fire. Employees extinguished the minor fire. FDNY responded. The cause was electrical and occurred due to the snow. No injuries.
Verbal Dispute- Over the purchase of a jacket. Jacket returned. No injuries. NYPD refused.
Harassment- Between 2 residents. PSD and NYPD responded. NYPD referred complainant to court to obtain an order of protection.
Alarm- At the Post office. PSD and Postal Police responded. Interior and exterior in order. Faulty fire alarm. General Manager to reset the alarm.
Larceny- A Digital camera removed from a vehicle. NYPD refused.
Vehicle Accident- A motorist struck a metal railing in the Motorgate Garage. No injuries. Damage to the vehicle and to the metal railing. NYPD and PSD responded. EMS refused.
Urinating in Public- Two subjects issued summonses by PSD.
Domestic Dispute- Between a female and her boyfriend. No injuries. PSD responded. NYPD filed a report. Male escorted out of apt.
Unsecured Premises- At the Chapel Recreation Center. PSD responded and conducted a search with negative results. All in order. the door was locked and secured.
Barking Dog- Two complaints of a dog barking excessively in an apt. PSD responded and confirmed complaint. No answer. Dept of Environmental Protection notified via complaint.
Lost property- A job Identification card on Main Street.
Aggravated Harassment- Between two tenants. PSD responded. 911 notified for NYPD.
Aided/Disabled Wheelchair- A Coler Hospital patient's motorized wheelchair break locked up. this caused Coler Hospital Police notified. PSD responded and pushed wheelchair to a bus stop. Minutes later the wheelchair was operational. Coler Hospital patient went to Coler Hospital.
Unsecured Door- a mail room door of a building. PSD checked and interior in order. Postal Inspection Dispatch notified.
The cash-strapped agency that runs New York City subways and buses is considering a proposal to end the more than 60-year-old practice of giving free rides for schoolchildren, a move that could cost half a million students nearly $1,000 per year in transportation fees.
... The proposal has been seen by some as a negotiating tactic, and some observers argued that the authority was within its rights to stop financing a program whose costs were once shared by the city and the state; in recent years, those government subsidies have flat-lined or disappeared.
..."If revenues come back in January, more so than we are predicting… if the upturn in the market is significant enough, the first thing I will do with added revenue is target them back to the MTA in order to relieve the young people from losing their MetroCards," Paterson said during an appearance in the Bronx Tuesday.
Roosevelt Island 360 does an analysis of what doing away with the free student Metro Card might mean for Roosevelt Island families.
A reader forwards us this online petition asking MTA Chairman Jay Walder to restore free student Metro Cards and seeking signatures.
Hard working parents and students should not be punished for the MTA�s poor planning and mismanagement of its budget. The proposal to cut the free and reduced fare Student MetroCard program as a means of balancing the MTA budget is unacceptable and should be taken off the table immediately.
The free-fare student program accounts for less than 2% of the total MTA budget, and the State has not pulled its weight to fund this program as promised. However, eliminating such an important program to close a relatively small gap would be extremely shortsighted and detrimental to New York City�s future. While other jurisdictions rely on a yellow school bus to get their children to school, in New York City the yellow MetroCard is our school bus, which 400,000 students rely on every day to travel to school and participate in after-school activities. Cutting the Student MetroCard program is not the answer to the MTA�s budget shortfall, and we will not stand for its proposed elimination.
The MTA must act responsibly and consider a wide range of budget solutions before placing this financial burden on parents and students. We urge you to withdraw the MTA proposal to cut the free and reduced fare Student MetroCard program.
So far, there are 5562 signatures.
In a few months (March 2010) the tram will be out of service while undergoing a modernization program and both cabins will be replaced. No longer will the cabins operate in sync with each other but will make their way back and forth to Roosevelt Island independent of one another. Here are the latest pictures of what the new Poma designed Roosevelt Island Tram Cabins will look like.
as well as some earlier drawings.
Also, the Roosevelt Island Tram Station.
There have been several postponements of earlier planned starting dates for the modernization project. If it does start as planned this time, hopefully, the Tram will be back in operation by September 2010.
To the blogger about the mechanics outside the Tram, they were on the tower superstructure. The only time they ride the tram on the outside is when going to or coming from a particular tower for maintenance or inspection.
Please remember that we have decided to not proceed with the station improvements until after the tram is back in operation and we then can make sensible decisions about available budget and plan for upgrades. The existing concept renderings of station improvements, while very attractive, are on the shelf until further notice.
As I was walking past Capobianco Field heading towards the Farmers Market on a cold, blustery, pre-snowstorm Roosevelt Island Saturday afternoon, I was pleasantly surprised to hear the familiar cracking sound of a ball hitting a baseball bat.
As I turned towards this unexpected sound I saw two bundled up kids, one hitting ground balls to the other at shortstop.
Who knows, maybe future Derek Jeter's are playing right here on Roosevelt Island?
A couple of hours later came the snow. Below are scenes from a December 2009 Roosevelt Island snowstorm.
Hey, it's the weekend before Christmas and guess who is stopping by Roosevelt Island this weekend. That's right, Santa Claus himself will be making an appearance at the Riverwalk Bar & Grill (425 Main Street) Saturday afternoon from 2 -6 PM to have pictures taken with local kids. Stop by and say Hi to Santa! Hope you have all been good this year.
For classical music lovers there will be an All Bach Holiday Celebration Tonight (8 PM) at the Good Shepherd Community Center (543 Main Street) presented by the Rosemarie & Robin Russell Family Concert Series. The program will include Concerto in D minor for Oboe and Violin and Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D Major.
The Pogues and Kirsty McColl will not be coming to Roosevelt Island this year, well never, but here is their Fairytale Of New York. Not a cheerful Christmas song but certainly beautiful and poignant - one of my favorites.
Good news for Roosevelt Island subway service this weekend. According to the MTA, there are no scheduled F Train subway service disruptions for Roosevelt Island.
Change escalator direciton and do something about weekend outage.
Trevre received this third attempt by the MTA to answer his question about Roosevelt Island F train subway service.
We again regret any difficulty you experienced.
Despite our efforts to maintain regularly scheduled subway service, disruptions sometimes occur for a variety of reasons, including sick customers, police activity, mechanical malfunction and system repair work. We generally schedule system repair work for late nights and weekends, when ridership is lighter, so that fewer customers will be inconvenienced.
During general orders related to system repairs, orange notices advising customers of subway service changes should be posted in affected stations and regular public address announcements should be made to customers. In addition, station agents should note service changes on the passenger information boards located in their booths. In response to your complaint, we have referred your e-mail to supervision in our Department of Subways for their review and further corrective action. Please be assured, supervision in our Department of Subways will take steps to ensure that their operating personnel follow these procedural requirements.
For the future, please note that subway service change information is available through our website at www.mta.info and our Travel Information Center at (718) 330-1234, which is open from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m., seven days a week. You may also call Customer Services at (718) 330-3322, regarding any other transit-related matter.
egress the station. Nevertheless, a copy of your complaint has been referred to supervision in our Division of Stations for their review. Please be assured that they will continue to closely monitor all station operations and escalators, including those at the Roosevelt Island station, to ensure that they are well maintained and operated with the highest emphasis placed on customer safety.
If you have any further transit-related concerns, please contact Customer Services at (718) 330-3322, from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., daily, or write to Customer Services at 2 Broadway, Room A11.146, New York, NY 10004.
We take the concerns of our customers very seriously and thank you for having taken the time to contact us.
I have noticed that one of the Roosevelt Island Lower Level escalators to the Manhattan platform is now running in the down direction. Is this the result of Trevre's messages or maybe recent meeting between residents and MTA?
The investigation revealed that the young lady who passed away was a 21 year-old African-American Female who resided in the Astoria Houses in Queens. She was approximately 5'4" and approximately 150 lbs. Her parents found a Suicide Note and were notified of her death by the NYPD Detectives.
There is nothing further to report on the Suicide at this time. Our prayers go out to the young lady's family.
RIOC Proposed Fiscal Year 2010 -11 Budget For Roosevelt Island - What Happens If Southtown Riverwalk Buildings 7 -9 Don't Get Built Or On Time?
Above is RIOC's proposed fiscal year 2010-11 budget for Roosevelt Island. It is also posted on RIOC's web site.
Projected Cash Flow has been extended out to year 2025 (15 years) as opposed to 5 years in past budgets.
Salaries Budgeted for 2011 included a 3% COLA increase for non-union employees but is highly unlikely to be paid due to the State's financial condition.
Budget Risks (page 8) addresses the financial effect on Projected Cash Flow if Southtown 7,8 & 9 does not go forward.
For further information on RIOC's Proposed Budget, take a look at the webcast of RIOC's December 3 Audit Committee meeting in which RIOC CFO Steve Chironis briefed the Directors on subject. RIOC webcasts generally remain available on their site for only a month after taking place.
Let me know if you see anything interesting in budget.
The Proposed Budget FY 2011 was modified to reflect an increase in actual percentage rent from Manhattan Park, which is greater than the estimates made in the original Proposed Budget FY 2011. Manhattan Park provided the actual percentage rent information subsequent to the distribution of the original Proposed Budget FY 2011.
The modified budget is here.
Please be advised that the deadline to submit Public Purpose Applications is Thursday, December 31st at 5PM. Applications can be mailed or dropped off at 591 Main Street with ALL supporting documents. If you have any additional questions, please contact me by phone or email.
More info on Roosevelt Island Public Purpose Funds available here.
Red Tail Hawk Spotted On Roosevelt Island Window Sill By A Berdy - Looking For Dinner?
File this under the category of you never know what you might find looking out of your Roosevelt Island Window.
This is for the Birds!!!!!He sat there 30 minutes and refused to turn around........BIRD BRAIN.
What was the Roosevelt Island Red Hawk doing on the 19th Floor Window Sill?
In 2007 a Red Tail Hawk thought to be the progeny of Central Park West's Pale Male was spotted at Capobianco Field. At the time NY Magazine suggested this was an example of generational downward mobility.
Roosevelt Island: The winged progeny of Central Park West celebuhawk Pale Male may be roosting here. Talk about generational downward mobility.
Please be advised that at 1:28PM, the Public Safety Department was notified of a possible intoxicated person down in the AVAC yard. Upon arrival, our responding officers found an unconscious female lying face down near a dumpster. The female had no pulse and appeared to be deceased. 9-1-1 was immediately called and FDNY Paramedics and EMT's were on scene expeditiously. NYPD was also on scene and initiated an investigation, which is still on-going. The identification of the female is unknown at this time. NYPD Detectives immediately opened a Case and I am not at liberty to disclose anything further. I will give you an update when I can.
UPDATE - 12/18 - Mr. Guerra provides some additional information.
Are you looking for that special Christmas/Chanukah/Kwanza/Holiday gift with a unique Roosevelt Island flair? If so, our own Ally, the chef at the Riverwalk Bar & Grill may have the answer for you.
A Roosevelt Island Ginger Bread Tram. Imagine, just like RIOC will be dismantling the parts of the real Roosevelt Island Tram next March to be replaced by a new Tram, you can dismantle your very own Ginger Bread Tram and then have the yummy pleasure of eating it. I can remember many wonderful past Christmas Holidays waiting to dig into the Ginger Bread house made by my cousin. It was delicious! Looking forward to doing same with Roosevelt Island Ginger Bread Tram.
I am told that Ally can also make Ginger Bread replicas of other Roosevelt Island landmarks or any other building structure you wish.
Here's how they make a Ginger Bread House from Walt Disney World's pastry chef.
There are also Holiday Gifts available at the Roosevelt Island Historical Society's kiosk at the Tram Plaza.
SATURDAY AND SUNDAY 12 NOON TO 5 P.M.
Another option is the Main Street WIRE 2010 Calendar which includes some great Roosevelt Island pictures.
I recently parked at the garage and there is no sign posted that they do not accept credit cards. Not even on the entrance. I have never gone to a parking garage that did not accept credit cards. The only place to get cash out is Gristedes. I would like to see the garage accept credit cards...maybe you can help!
The Motorgate Garage is owned by a partnership between RIOC (61%) and Roosevelt Island Associates (39%), the owners of Manhattan Park. There are 1989 parking spaces. In 2005 RIOC, through the real estate firm of Jones Lang Lasalle issued a Request For Proposals for Motorgate but nothing ever came of it.
Parking Rates For the Motorgate Garage are listed at the RIOC web site.
I asked RIOC President Steve Shane to comment and will advise as soon as I hear back.
Also, in addition to the Motorgate Garage entering the modern era with the acceptance of debit or credit cards, how about the Roosevelt Island Farmers Market accepting electonic payments as well?
MTA's Subway Line General Manager's Email Response System - How Is It Working For Roosevelt Island F Train So Far?
The MTA provides email addresses for subway line managers including one for the F Train Line General Manager serving Roosevelt Island.
I live on Roosevelt Island and am concerned not enough is being done about transportation outages during the weekend on the F train. For the past few weekends the F-train has been down either in one direction or the other.
Please provide alternative transportation to get off the island (like a water taxi, more frequent bus service, or different hours for service interruptions). While this isn't a huge issue now, I am sure in March when the tram goes down for repairs it will become a huge issue, so I would like to know the plan in advance.
Also all four escalators on the lower part of the station always run up. Why not run two down and two up, at least in the morning when everyone is leaving anyways.
If you would like travel directions, the fastest and best way to get them is to visit the Trip Planner (http://travel.mtanyct.info), our online itinerary planning system. Trip Planner also provides service alerts and advisories to help you plan before you head out.
You may also contact New York City Transit Travel Information at 718-330-1234; 7 days a week, 6AM to 10PM. Non-English speaking customers should call 718-330-4847; customers with disabilities call 718-596-8585; and TTY customers call 718-596-8273. Please note that we are unable to provide specific travel directions via our email system.
I would like to extend my utmost appreciation for your correspondence. Your valued comments assist me along with my staff to implement the best service possible to meet your standards. My staff and I are always at your service.
Our goal is to achieve excellence by providing an environment that is reliable, comfortable, and convenient, with you always being our focal point. Your comments and concerns will be addressed with expediency. Thank you in advance for your continue patronage of MTA-NYCT.
I shouldn't have to click 3 buttons on your website to send you an email, I don't want an automated customer response, and I will understand your appreciation for my correspondence when my correspondence are addressed.
This is what they sent me, they didn't even answer my question.
We sincerely regret if you had an unfavorable experience.
Unfortunately, station escalators may sometimes be inoperable because of mechanical malfunction or vandalism. When an escalator is reported to be inoperative, the Department of Subways is notified and station supervision attempts to restart the escalator. If unsuccessful, the Department of Subways is again notified and maintainers are dispatched as soon as possible to make necessary repairs. Instances of escalator vandalism are also reported to the New York City Police Department's Transit Bureau. Be assured that supervision will continue their efforts to closely monitor all station escalators to ensure that they are maintained in a satisfactory condition and repaired in a timely manner.
If you have further station-related concerns, including reports of escalator and elevator outages, you may contact Customer Services at (718) 330-3322, from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., Daily, or write to Customer Services at 2 Broadway, RM A11.146, New York, NY 10004.


ST. LOUIS, MO and CHICAGO – July 5, 2017 – Verve Industrial Protection, is pleased to announce the appointment of Bill Easton as Chief Technical Officer. Mr. Easton will help Verve continue to establish its leadership position as the leading platform for ICS cybersecurity.
Mr. Easton joins Verve Industrial Protection from RES software, a leading provider of end point protection services where he was a leader of BigFix integration. Mr. Easton is one of the leading innovators in how to integrate different types of end-point protection to simplify the security process for end users.
"We are excited to welcome Bill to our team. Verve Security Center is the only ICS-focused cyber security solution that provides an integrated platform to simplify end-point and network protection. Bill's deep expertise in integrating these capabilities will help us extend our differentiation in this arena," said John Livingston, CEO of Verve Industrial Protection.
Mr. Easton will help continue to expand the capabilities of the Verve Security Center. Verve Security Center (VSC) is a vendor agnostic security suite that consolidates antivirus, application whitelisting, change & configuration management, security information & event management (SIEM), patch management, vulnerability assessments, intrusion detection, backup management, compliance, workflow and document management into a unified solution. VSC brings together threat intelligence into a single console so users can quickly and simply understand their security posture and compliance status.
"I am thrilled to join the Verve team. The complexity of cyber security, especially in the ICS environment, requires that providers find a way to simplify solutions. The Verve platform is one-of-a-kind. The ability to bring together the full view of threats into an orchestrated platform is key to ensuring protection. I am excited to help continue to expand Verve's leadership ," said Mr. Easton.
About Verve Industrial Protection: Verve, formerly known as RKNeal Engineering, has been in the industrial controls engineering business for approximately 25 years. The company's flagship software product is the Verve Security Center, an orchestration platform for ICS cyber security. The company also offers industrial controls engineering and managed asset protection services to industrial clients.


The Arizona Technology Council, in conjunction with the Arizona Department of Commerce, has announced that nominations are open for the 2010 Governor's Celebration of Innovation Awards (GCOI). The awards gala will take place on November 18, 2010 in the heart of downtown Phoenix at the Phoenix Convention Center, 100 North Third Street, in the South Building Ballroom. The venue was chosen for its central location, accessibility to the Metro Light Rail, and commitment to green initiatives.
The annual event honors Arizona's technology leaders and innovators and attracts more than 1,000 attendees for a night of networking, food, and entertainment. The "Arizona in Motion" themed festivities will look ahead to the state's possibilities in the technology industry.
Businesses, academia, and non-profit organizations working in Arizona's technology sector who are utilizing innovative technology solutions to address critical challenges are all encouraged to apply for these independently judged awards. Nominations will be accepted until 5:00 p.m. on Friday, July 16, 2010.
Complete details on the award categories and eligibility requirements can be found at http://bit.ly/GCOI2010.


text:
Q: Singleton class issues in Java public class Singleton {
  private static class SingletonHolder {
        private static final Singleton INSTANCE = new Singleton();
  }

  private Singleton() {
  }

  public static Singleton getInstance() {
    return SingletonHolder.INSTANCE;
  }

  public static void main(String args[]) {
    Singleton s = new Singleton();
    Singleton s2 = new Singleton();
  }
  }

Based on the "Effective Java", a singleton class is something like above.
Suppose we have a main inside this class. We can initiate the singleton class as many times as we want, like
Singleton s1=new Singleton();
Singleton s2=new Singleton();
Singleton s3=singleton.getInstance();
Singleton s4=singleton.getInstance();

A singleton class should be a class that can be only be initiated once, but the compiler will not throw a error if we declare multiple instances above, why?

A: A singleton class should be a class that can only be instantiated once by other classes. This is normally achieved with a private constructor. However, a private constructor cannot prevent instantiation from within the class.
You should read this question, though: What is an efficient way to implement a singleton pattern in Java?
If you follow Joshua Bloch's idea and use an enum to implement your singleton, then you won't be able to break the singleton contract even from within the class.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Overwiew
GREATGNSS / Project
Currently, GNSS reference networks are costly infrastructures that need specialized equipment and high costs for installation and maintenance. For this reason, most of the public and private GNSS networks are not very dense in the European territory and much less Worldwide.
At the same time, a large number of new applications, highly demanding in terms of positioning accuracy, would need to receive real-time differential corrections from reference stations that are 15 km or less far away. In this context, the density of the GNSS networks could become a key factor for the development of innovative services, ranging from mass market (e.g. for high precision positioning/navigation on new generation smartphones where raw GNSS measurements are available) to more specialized application domains (e.g. for GNSS-based real-time structural and geophysical monitoring). Moreover, some new safe sensitive applications such as autonomous driving and drones' navigation will need reliable networks of reference stations that shall be redundant and resilient not only to local spoofing and jamming attacks, but also in general to cyber-attacks and emergency situations (e.g. earthquakes or natural disasters).
It appears that in the very few last years some chipset manufactures started delivering multi-constellation multi-frequency GNSS chipsets, which are very cost effective (less than 100 Euro per piece) but with performance allowing millimetric to centimetric level accuracy respectively in static and RTK (therefore like the state-of-the art professional GNSS receivers).
The concomitance of the need for higher density GNSS networks and of the availability of new multi-constellation multi-frequency GNSS chipsets has created the opportunity for the GREAT project (next generation Gnss REference stATion). The purpose of the GREAT project is the development, test and demonstration of the next generation of low-cost GNSS reference stations, which guarantee performance comparable to the ones of current geodetic grade receivers but with costs (in terms of equipment, setup and maintenance) up to one order of magnitude lower than the present standards.
The final goal of the project aims at the realization of infrastructures that bring the advantages of differential GNSS processing (both real-time and post-processing), in terms of precision and accuracy ranging from sub-meter (DGNSS technique) up to millimetre level (static differential processing), to the widest community of end-users as possible.
[immagini (da cercare): localizzazione di precisione, guida autonoma, droni, rilievi in cantiere, agricoltura di precisione]
The purpose of the GREAT project is the development of a new generation of low-cost GNSS reference stations, which guarantee performance comparable to the ones of current geodetic grade stations but with costs (in terms of equipment, setup and maintenance) several times lower than the present standards. The core of the new station are the innovative low-cost multi-frequency GNSS chipsets that have been entering the market in the very last few years, which are able to generate raw measurements with characteristics like the one of the traditional geodetic-grade chipsets.
Such new chipsets will be exploited in the design and realization of brand new GNSS receivers, specifically tailored to implement all functionalities expected from a permanent GNSS station (e.g. possibility to generate multi-frequency, multi-constellation raw measurements in real-time, to broadcast such data to the users through standard protocols like RTCM, to guarantee authentication of the measures, etc.).
With respect to the current state of the art, the new devices will be characterized by a dramatic reduction in power supply requirements, thus allowing their setup even in remote areas where the electricity grid is not available.
Moreover, the GREAT reference stations will implement the following set of peculiar and innovative differentiators:
They will be fully autonomous and infrastructure-less solutions (no need for wired power or wired communication);
They will implement OS-NMA anti-spoofing features;
They will generate blockchain-based secure and traceable data flow;
They will exploit IMU hybridization for the detection of abnormal movements, monitoring of vibration and to further improve the anti-spoofing capabilities.
The device to be developed will be completed by a suite of software tools enabling the remote control of the instrument and a real-time check of the quality, integrity and authenticity of the measures.
The outcome of the project is intended to be a system which can be exploited in different kinds of markets:
In areas where CORS networks are already available (e.g. owned and maintained by International, National or Regional authorities) the new stations can be used to create denser local scale networks (to limit the maximum distance between stations to 20-30 Km) with relatively low budget.
In areas where no CORS networks are already available (e.g. in developing countries or in regions where the number of potential users does not make it convenient to install costly and difficult to setup instrumentation), the GREAT reference stations can be used to implement primary level networks.
The workplan is organized in five work-packages, covering the entire development process.
WP1. Management and coordination
The main objectives of the work-package are to provide project coordination, reporting, ensuring quality and unique point of contact for GSA; to collect all project information and develop and detail the time-schedule highlighting the potential risk (task failure, delay) during the whole project; to ensure the best communication and coordination between each partner of GREAT consortium.
WP2. User requirements definition
The main objectives of the WP are to define the target applications and to identify the current technology gaps. Based on such findings, the consortium will identify the user requirements that will be used in the subsequent design and development phases.
WP3. Design and development
The work-package is devoted to the design and development of the GREAT prototype, including all hardware and software subsystems and testing tools. Assembly and integration of the modules in a fully functional system will be part of the work-package, too.
WP4. Test and validation
The goal of the work-package are the definition of test plan and test procedures, the execution of all factory and field tests, and the realization demonstration campaigns. All results will be documented and summarized in relevant deliverables.
WP5. Exploitation and dissemination
The work-package aims at developing the business plan to define a thorough evaluation of the economic viability of the GREAT project. It includes tasks required to coordinate the dissemination activities, their planning, operations, monitoring and reporting. Finally, the work-package promotes the involvement of stakeholders and potential end-users in the value chain during and beyond the project.
Web site developed by YetItMoves. Copyright 2021.
For further information about the project:
info@greatgnss.eu
This project has received funding from the European GNSS Agency with grant GSA/GRANT/04/2019/GREAT

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Which member studied traditional संगीत in high school?
Who was the first to call their प्रशंसकों baby?
What is the name दिया to Zelo's fans?
Who was the last member to शामिल होइए B.AP?
In "Ta-Dah! It's B.A.P" he is a robot that was created द्वारा Bang Yong Guk to help take over the world.He has a tendency to "shut down" randomly. who is he?
Who was the first one who wanted to make a संगीत video for unbreakable?
Which member wore a red जैकेट with a W in BANG&ZELO's Never Give Up MV?
Who was a पूर्व ulzzang?
who BAP called चॉकलेट in Ta-dah it's BAP??
Who कहा that Zelo is actually a Robot?
Who was the first to get caught द्वारा the 'death man' in Killing camp (ep3)?
What song did Daehyun sing in The तारा, स्टार interview?
zelo awkward when he is with या around....?!!
On Ta-dah! Whose rabbit that read प्लेबाय Magazine?
Before शामिल होइए BAP, what is himchan doing?
''She always कहा Young Jae Pabo''. She's प्रशंसकों from?
Which member, in an interview, कहा he was envious of Bang Yong Guk's "deep, cave voice"?
Who is the प्रशंसकों of Park Jae Bum?
On an interview, who didn't raise his hand when the MC कहा 'the good looking member'?
Besides Zelo, who else cried while पढ़ना a letter at the BAP संगीत कार्यक्रम in Korea?
On their One Shot MV making in Seoul Jongup oppa कहा "its hot here in the ________"


text:
Q: What is the GPU driver i am currently running? I have installed latest nVidia graphic driver via this PPA "xorg-edgers/ppa". Now in Nvidia X server setting showing the driver version is 346.35. But in Ubuntu's Additional Drivers there is no such driver rather it marks the Nouveau driver.
I ran lspci -vnn | grep -i VGA -A 12.
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: NVIDIA Corporation GF104 [GeForce GTX 460] [10de:0e22] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd Device [1458:34fc]
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 53
Memory at fc000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=32M]
Memory at d8000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=128M]
Memory at d4000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=64M]
I/O ports at b800 [size=128]
[virtual] Expansion ROM at fe780000 [disabled] [size=512K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: nvidia

01:00.1 Audio device [0403]: NVIDIA Corporation GF104 High Definition Audio     Controller [10de:0beb] (rev a1)
Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd Device [1458:34fc]

Which version of graphic driver I am using currently ? If I am not using nVidia's driver then how can I use nVidia's driver.

A: If you go to nVidia's site, they have the linux drivers here. When you download the driver there will be a readme with instructions. Also, this askubuntu question that is similar to yours has a pretty detailed answer.


The VTCT Level 2 Certificate in Retail Knowledge is a vocationally related qualification that focuses on the development of the requisite knowledge and understanding to prepare you for a career in the retail industry.
You also have the option to develop an understanding of the retail sale of skin care products, beauty products, perfumery products, nail care products and cosmetics. Options also include fashion trends and forecasting and personal shopping and styling.
Mandatory - from this group you'll need to cover a minimum of 4 components and earn a minimum of 10 credits.


text:
Jane Zhang
How a food delivery service by 2 S'pore millennials won older hawkers' trust despite initial scepticism
Stories of Us: Elroy Lim and Tai Zhang Kai set up Hawker Heroes in April to help older hawkers who were struggling amidst Circuit Breaker. They share more about the intention behind the initiative and the relationships they have formed.
Jane Zhang | August 23, 2020, 12:05 PM
It's a Wednesday morning at 10am. Normally, I would be dragging myself into the office or rolling out of bed to start work, but today I am sipping an iced lemon tea at bustling Amoy Street Food Centre.
Surrounded by older aunties and uncles enjoying their breakfast, I am sitting across from 33-year-old Elroy Lim and 30-year-old Tai Zhang Kai. They are the founders of Hawker Heroes, a food delivery service with a purpose.
Food delivery has become all the rage recently, with many new delivery platforms sprouting up to meet demand from those spending more time at home due to Covid-19.
But Hawker Heroes is quite different from many other platforms.
Set up in April this year, with the purpose of helping older hawkers who were struggling during the Circuit Breaker, Hawker Heroes employs a different model than many other food delivery companies.
They focused first on bringing in older hawkers who were hardest-hit by the pandemic, rather than going for the more popular ones who could potentially bring in the most business.
They also make things easier for hawkers who may not be so digitally-adept, as hawkers need only to provide Hawker Heroes with their menu, prices, and photos, and the company handles the rest.
Hawker Heroes doesn't charge hawkers a fee to use its platform, nor do they take a commission. Instead, they cover expenses through charging a 10 per cent handling fee, which is paid by the customer. This means that food items do not need to be marked up, so the prices listed on their website are the same as those at the hawker stalls.
Neither Lim nor Tai are paying themselves, and the company has not yet even broken even.
Instead, the goal of the company is to give back to the people whom Lim and Tai see as the "heroes" of Singapore: hawkers — hence the name Hawker Heroes.
"I think they have been heroes to Singapore for the longest time", Lim says, pointing out that Singapore is the only place in the world where meals cost S$3 to S$4, apart from less-developed countries.
"So I guess, to us, they've always been heroes in our eyes."
How Hawker Heroes began
The idea for Hawker Heroes came about when Lim was at a hawker centre during the Circuit Breaker period. Looking around, he noticed that while the younger hawkers seemed to be doing well, preparing many takeaway orders, the older hawkers had almost no business.
Lim saw that there was a gap to be filled, to support older hawkers who aren't so tech-savvy, and whose affordable fare and low profit margins made them unable to afford the commission charged by most delivery platforms.
And so he called up Tai, a like-minded friend from reservist training, in the beginning of April, and the two of them created Hawker Heroes.
Lim and Tai spent hours upon hours setting up the company and the website. Within two weeks, they were able to launch their initiative.
"We knew that time was critical. A lot of the vendors were bleeding money every day, so we couldn't afford to, you know, take a one-month, two-month evaluation, slowly build up the website, or even outsource it to other people."
Not here to digitalise hawkers, but rather to help them
The duo make it clear that their objective is to help hawkers.
Lim explains, between sips of his ABC juice:
"I think, as much as we move into digitalisation, Hawker Heroes are here not to digitalise hawkers. But we're here to really be the aid to them as much as we can."
This means that Tai and Lim, who both hold full-time jobs outside of this initiative, are extremely hands-on in this very labour-intensive venture.
Tai manages the backend logistics at night after he finishes his day job at a start-up, while Lim, whose schedule as an operations manager is more flexible, handles the front-end roles.
Daily operations
Lim goes down to the hawker centres each day to collect and deliver the orders, together with other delivery drivers who are hired on an ad-hoc basis.
Hawker Heroes currently operates during lunch on weekdays, and orders for any given day close at 9pm the night before. At 9pm every night, Tai collates the orders that have accumulated throughout the day and enters them into a spreadsheet, and manually updates the website to show which hawker stalls are available to take orders for the next day.
Lim then extracts the relevant information from the spreadsheets and sends it to each of the hawkers on WhatsApp, which simplifies the process for older hawkers, as they don't need to learn how to use another system or application.
Dealing with spillages, packing
Lim also works directly with the hawkers to address issues that arise, such as food or drinks spilling during the delivery process.
Lim laughs while recalling a particularly unfortunate event: "There was once gula melaka coffee spilled in my car. My goodness!"
He consulted different hawkers to find out their best practices for packing, and pulls out his phone to show me a step-by-step video he recorded for the hawkers, in both English and Mandarin.
They haven't had any issues with spillage since, Lim smiles.
Flat delivery fee enables people to buy from more stalls
By now, it's around 10:30am, and it's time to go collect the orders.
Currently, Hawker Heroes operates at four hawker centres in the CBD area — Tanjong Pagar Food Centre, Amoy Street Food Centre, Maxwell Food Centre, and Hong Lim Food Centre.
The Amoy Street Food Centre "HQ". Photo by Jane Zhang.
Here at Amoy Street Food Centre, hawkers have adopted the practice of bringing the orders over to a set of tables in the same general area every day — a kind of "HQ" area.
While waiting for the orders to be ready, we head over to Hong Lim Food Centre to collect the orders from there.
At Hong Lim Food Centre, there isn't a "HQ" set-up, so Lim goes around to each stall to pick up orders individually.
Unlike other delivery platforms, which typically charge a separate delivery fee for each order from a different stall, Lim and Tai decided to implement a flat S$8 delivery fee for any combination of orders from any one hawker centre, as long as the order is under S$100.
This arrangement helps to enable people to make larger orders, involving many different stalls. This can be especially helpful to the smaller stalls:
"For example, you might want to eat chicken rice today, but your family might want to order from some other stalls. So usually, end up they would just choose one stall to order from. But having this, they have the flexibility to order from multiple stalls.
And maybe even support the dessert, which not a lot of people usually order for takeaway. Because if you calculate your delivery fee, another S$4, S$5 for one single desert, people might not be keen to do that. But by lumping it as a single delivery fee, it will encourage people to try out different stalls."
Lim tells me about a muffin stall auntie at Amoy Street Food Centre who was hesitant to join Hawker Heroes at the beginning. She said that no one would want to order muffins for delivery.
But after Lim explained to her that customers who buy from different stalls may wish to order a muffin as well, she agreed to join. To date, Lim and Tai tell me, Hawker Heroes has sold more than 200 of her muffins.
On average, they say, an order through Hawker Heroes supports between two to three different stalls.
And while S$8 may be considered by some to be an above-average delivery fee, it is necessary, the duo tell me, because all fees go to the drivers, to ensure that they are compensated fairly.
This is especially necessary since the S$8 covers cross-island delivery (with the exception of Sentosa and Jurong Island), so the delivery fee needs to be enough to compensate the delivery drivers for the distance.
And Lim and Tai have found that their customers are willing to pay the amount because they understand the purpose of the initiative:
"For those that are with us, they know what we do. And as a company, we are very open with our customers, with our vendors. So I guess that helps to build the trust that we're not here to be profiting, to be millionaires, from this."
Developing a personal relationship with the hawkers
As we stop by different stalls at Hong Lim Food Centre to pick up the orders, Lim chats with the hawker aunties and uncles, and is clearly a familiar face to them all.
Lim stops by a Hainanese curry rice stall to buy some pork meatballs for us to snack on. The aunties greet him warmly, and share tips on how to eat them for the most flavourful experience.
Photo courtesy of Hawker Heroes.
When Lim tries to pay, the aunties shoo him away, before finally agreeing to accept S$2. Lim explains that he avoids eating hawker food when he is on shift, because he knows that the hawkers will insist that he doesn't pay for his food.
However, Lim's rapport with the different hawkers did not come easy.
When Hawker Heroes first began, some of the hawkers were sceptical. They didn't understand why the platform wouldn't charge them anything, when other delivery services were taking a significant cut.
However, because business was so bad during Circuit Breaker, Lim says, many stalls decided to take a chance with Hawker Heroes. With daily visits, they became familiar faces over time and began to gain the hawkers' trust.
Between Lim and Tai's initial efforts and the subsequent word-of-mouth referrals, there are now 86 stalls registered with Hawker Heroes.
An auntie who runs a bak kut teh stall, tells me in Mandarin that she figured it was worth trying out since it didn't cost her anything.
She joined in hopes that orders would increase.
"Even if it's just one or two packets, okay lor. As long as you're willing to deliver, we're willing to make."
Business is very bad currently, only half of what it used to be, she says, but they can't utilise any other delivery platforms, as they take too large of a cut.
"How can we do that? Later, I get back the money and only get around S$3 per bowl. If I sell bak kut teh for 10 plus dollars, who would eat it?"
Photo by Jane Zhang.
Organising order deliveries
After picking up orders from Hong Lim Food Centre, we head back to home base at Amoy Street Food Centre, where we meet up with the other driver for the day, Shaun.
Back at the "HQ", Lim and Shaun arrange the orders according to their destinations.
Organising the orders for delivery. Photo by Jane Zhang.
They are also assisted by James, a 26-year-old who helps out at his mother's vegetarian stall.
Because the stall is near the "HQ" area, James often helps to reserve a table in the morning, and checks in with the hawkers as they bring their food over to be packed into delivery bags.
James (left) and his mother (right). Photo by Jane Zhang.
James says that he decided to lend a hand to the initiative because he wants to play a part:
"Because it is returning to the society, so I decided to join in as well. Doesn't matter if it's my 'competitors' or what."
Challenge of dealing with wrong or missing orders
With the orders sorted according to delivery routes, it's time to deliver the food to the customers.
Heading out for delivery. Photo by Jane Zhang.
Our first delivery location is an office in Orchard.
On the way, Lim explains the importance of their relationship with their customers, and how he feels Hawker Heroes' delivery drivers play a role in that:
"We don't want just anyone to deliver, because they are the faces of Hawker Hero, as well as the Hawkers themselves."
So, in keeping with his hands-on nature, Lim created a training video for the delivery drivers, which contains step-by-step instructions on interacting with customers.
In the video, he shared three steps for providing good service: greeting the customer, asking how they are doing, and making sure that the service is with a smile.
"No-blame" policy for missing or wrong orders
Missing or wrong orders are a challenge that Tai and Lim are actively trying to tackle. They don't have the capacity to hire someone just to double check all of the orders, and have to rely on the hawkers to consolidate their orders and bring them to "HQ".
Inevitably, there will be occasional slip-ups.
En route to our second delivery location, Lim gets a call from one of the hawker uncles from Amoy Street Food Centre. He had forgotten to bring an item down to the "HQ", and one of our orders is missing a dish.
Lim and Tai explain that Hawker Heroes has a "no-blame" policy, in order to make sure that the hawkers and delivery drivers themselves aren't affected:
"Regardless of whatever happens — missing orders, spillage in orders, or late in delivery — Hawker Heroes takes the full responsibility. So hawkers still get paid. Delivery drivers still get paid. But we'll refund the delivery fee to the customers and we will bear it ourselves.
So we actually lost a lot of money in this aspect."
Lim gives the customer a call to pre-empt her about the missing item. We drop off the rest of the order and circle back into town to pick up the item, to complete the delivery.
Customers believe in their cause
Lim and Tai are very grateful for their customers, whom they say are extremely understanding about the intentions behind Hawker Heroes, and have been encouraging and thoughtful.
"Fortunately, the customers that are with us, they believe in and support what we do. They understand these things do happen, but of course, for us, we continue to try to solve all these problems.....We will be in implementing a new system to help with the missing orders."
Lim shares about one of their regular customers, who regularly tips the delivery drivers, and once even left an ang bao of S$20 as a tip.
And their customers truly seem to be in line with Hawker Heroes' mission as a company. One customer I chat with says that she first found out about Hawker Heroes on Facebook:
"I want to support the local hawkers. And because I can't go out, I cannot support them, so I'm quite pleased that it was actually posted on Facebook."
The customer even ordered extra portions for the staff at her condominium:
"Actually, I'm delivering it for the staff at the management office, because they've been working very hard and they're also at the frontlines, so they see people all the time.
So I thought, if I can do it, I'll just capitalise on the delivery charge and order more."
Next steps will depend on hawkers' needs
Looking back on the last four months of operations, Lim reflects on the impact that they have made:
"I came to realise that actually, us being here — besides bringing sales — is a form of encouragement to them. You know, they see young people around every day, in and out, helping them, communicating with them.
I think they feel encouraged. I guess that's the more social part of this."
To date, the company has helped more than 75 stalls with delivery orders.
"It's not a big number," Lim acknowledges. "But I think to us, it's meaningful that in four months, we're able to do that."
But their next steps will depend on the hawkers' needs, Lim and Tai say. They had originally started the initiative thinking that they would operate during Circuit Breaker.
If they decide to scale up, though, they do acknowledge that some processes will need a rethink:
"I think one option is that, if we do scale to a certain level, then we will need to hire someone to be there to check and bring the orders, and stuff like that. Because now, we're relying on mutual respect and help."
Unfortunately, the situation on the ground doesn't seem to be getting too much better, as Hawker Heroes shared on their Facebook page earlier this month.
Another question to consider will be how Lim and Tai intend to scale up Hawker Heroes' operations, while maintaining the personal relationships that they have built with both hawkers and customers.
"We're reviewing with each of the hawkers themselves, to ask whether they want us to continue. So I guess it's a demand-supply — if we're able to drive the supply of customers to them, if we see the demand, then I guess we will carry on.
So personally, for both of our commitments, we're willing to commit our time and effort as long as it takes. But as of now, we'll just review every month by month."
Stories of Us is a series about ordinary people in Singapore and the unique ways they're living their lives. Be it breaking away from conventions, pursuing an atypical passion, or the struggles they are facing, these stories remind us both of our individual uniqueness and our collective humanity.
Totally unrelated but follow and listen to our podcast here:
Top photo by Jane Zhang. Some quotes have been edited for clarity.
Retrenched thanks to Covid-19. What should you do next?
Step-by-step guide.


SpinHunter is a cool hunting game in which you want to persevere and become the ultimate hunter in the world. You must use your weapons, skill and hunting technique to eliminate a variety of different animals.
As you progress, you must purchase upgrades and new weapons to make you a stronger hunter. This allows you to take on the more dangerous animals with confidence. Let's see how your hunting skills size up in SpinHunter!
SpinHunter is developed by MinimunStudios.
SpinHunter is an addicting monster game. Check it out here in your browser, free of charge. SpinHunter has been played by 13,628 people and has been rated 9.5 / 10 with 168 votes. The game is made with HTML5 technology to run flawlessly in all modern browsers. If you enjoyed this game, make sure to take a look at our other monster games or to Mighty Knight 2 and Keep Out.
Press left mouse button to attack.


This type of 4-8 furniture vanity cabinet includes backsplash, double border marble countertop, and soft closing doors and drawers. Solid wood has the ability to overcome the warmth from the furniture. It's additionally avoid to cracking and warping. Bucolic Vintage Gray 48 furniture vanity cupboard is crafted and created out of wooden. The top features natural timber completing and detail by detail with metal that's oxidized.
sure fit quilted corduroy chair pet cover 292844 furniture covers at sportsman39s guide have been a key choice lately due to its existence that may improve the appearance of furniture and also add functional value. Either way you choose to assemble a brand new furniture or redesign an old furniture; cupboards sink may not be easily blown off. There are lots of styles and types out there from the market, which homeowners wouldn't be difficult to pick. They've such a limitless accessibility to get forms of closets with sink which completely change the appearance of furniture!
For the space savers, you can take a peek on monoblock only handle faucets. The minimalist faucets which have high water control are easy to use yet stylish. Vessel taps are made quite tall. These faucets are available for above counter sink. It is so eye catching because of the type. The final, there's wall mounted sink which is ideal for container or countertop sinks. The elevation can be corrected to a furniture.
This Sure Fit Quilted Corduroy Chair Pet Cover 292844 Furniture Covers At Sportsman39s Guide the gallery form Furniture Seat Covers. Hopefully you can find the best inspiration from our gallery here.


My wife and I decided to tour parts of Italy for our main summer holidays this year. One part of the of the voyage was a drive along the Amalfi coast then a stop at Herculaneum, the small Roman town that got covered with by the same volcanic pyroclastic flow as Pompeii back in 79 AD.
Being a house sign maker I was astounded by intact sign hanging on one of the unearthed Roman houses.
I have tried to determine what the wording means but so far can't work it out as my ancient Roman is pretty limited.
The lettering on the sign is V-grooved (same as our deep engraved house signs) but the sign looks like it was engraved on flat terracotta whilst it was still wet and pliable. I assume the plaque was fired after it was v-grooved with the letters. It has been like this for nearly 2000 years and just goes to show how long v-grooved lettering can last!
There where other signs in Herculaneum but they where hand painted shop frontage signs which I neglected to take pictures of. The site is very well preserved and I would recommend anyone who is staying around Amalfi, Sorrento. Positano areas to go and visit the site. It is quite different to Pompeii which I have visited some years ago. Pompeii was a main town with grand buildings whereas Herculaneum was a much smaller seaside town which had a small harbour.
As a sign maker I find it fascinating to see house signs from antiquity as it shows how our trade is basically the same - just the tools we use are more modern allowing us to create more accurate engravings on our house plaques but basically they serve same purpose - to help identify a house address or advertise a message on the property.