Outside a tire shop

This sign must be referring to the 7 train's selection as a National Millennium Trail in 2000 (about six months after John Rocker famously badmouthed the line).

Willets Point, a neighborhood devoted almost entirely to fixing cars, is home to what must be the worst streets in the whole city.

The $800 million corporate logo-clad home of the Mets stands, hilariously, just across the street from the bombed-out wasteland of Willets Point.

This project is part of Mayor Bloomberg's controversial, obstacle-laden plan to develop Willets Point into New York's "next great neighborhood".

Welcome to beautiful Willets Point, a sewerless, sidewalkless, 60-some-acre preserve of puddles and potholes that is home to more than 200 auto parts and body shops, as well as one lone resident.

Our friend gets a holiday makeover.

Part of the city DOT's Barrier Beautification Program (and located just outside the DOT's Harper Street asphalt plant)

The black sign offers a seemingly obvious warning that is often found posted around New York City's waterfront:

Pregnant women, women of childbearing age, and children under 15 years old should not eat fish or eels caught in these waters.

Others should limit their consumption of these fish and eels.

Some fish caught in New York City waters may be harmful to eat.

The Flushing Bay Promenade at the northern end of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park is lined with black granite panels depicting one animal and one plant for each letter of the alphabet. (It's a pretty safe bet that ol' Henry Stern had something to do with this.) The artist didn't shy away from extinct or mythological beasts, including both "Dinosaur" and "Unicorn" in the collection. As I approached the end of the alphabet, I tried in vain to come up with an "X" animal or plant. The official selections were cop-outs: "Oxen" and "Oxalis".

at the World's Fair Marina banquet hall

Perhaps these are the remnants of a dinner eaten in haste by the staff of the World's Fair Marina banquet hall, which, judging by the New Year's Eve paraphernalia strewn about, must have hosted a rather well-attended party last night. The marina was built as a boat basin for the 1939 World's Fair and was expanded to accommodate 800 vessels for the 1964 fair. It has since been scaled back, with a current capacity somewhere around 250.