The best (and worst) of 2007

THE WORST...

…update to NYC cabs
Those flowery decals adorning Gotham taxis look almost as tacky as the garish new logo, especially after a few months of wear and tear. But our biggest beef is with the backseat monitors recently installed in the city’s fleet. Watching TV as you jostle around midtown is a recipe for nausea. And now that they’re broadcasting TONY On Demand segments, we run the risk of having to watch ourselves on the tube. As if car sickness weren’t enough.

…scapegoating of culinary lifesavers
Last year, Nueva York author Carolina Gonzalez introduced us to the savory pupusas and crunchy flautas available at Red Hook’s ball fields. But if vendors can’t meet the stricter heath standards imposed by the city, they may be banned next summer. Heck, we’d trust them over the West Village’s rat-infested KFC/Taco Bell franchise any day.

…treatment of a prince of the city
It’s no secret that fickle Yankees owner George Steinbrenner has long resented Joe Torre’s popularity with fans and players. This year, after 12 straight playoff appearances and four World Series rings, Steinbrenner forced his longtime manager’s hand by offering Torre a pay cut and a one-year contract—an insult to the man many still consider the finest skipper in the game. Torre opted for warmer climes—and gave a big “fuck you” to New York baseball—by accepting a post with the L.A. Dodgers. You’re out!

Report card: New York’s cultural landscape was busting at the seams with new construction this year. (We’re loving the New Museum.) So it’s only fitting that 2007 saw the legacies of the city’s most famous urban planners reexamined: Robert Moses got his due with a multipart display at the Museum of the City of New York, Columbia University and the Queens Museum of Art (which also refurbished “Panorama of the City of New York,” Moses’s scale model of Manhattan for the 1964–65 World’s Fair). Meanwhile his archnemesis, Jane Jacobs, was the subject of an exhibit and lecture series at the Municipal Art Society. Next year sees even more growth, with the American Finance Museum, the Sports Museum of America, the Brooklyn Children’s Museum and the Museum of Arts & Design all set to open new digs. With that many ribbon-cuttings, we predict a run on oversize scissors.

FINAL GRADE: B+