Lady Gaga In Central Park

After landing on the Good Morning America stage via an overhead zipline, Gaga played a piano inside a hollowed-out unicorn.

UPDATE: Sorry, folks. Video yanked.

Morning View - Central Park

Photo by JMG reader Inga Sarda-Sorensen.

Morning View - Central Park Fall

Photo by JMG reader Inga.

No Smoking For NYC's Parks & Beaches

Today NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg will announce a complete ban on smoking in city parks and on city beaches.

After months of considering the issue, Mayor Bloomberg will today announce that the city will institute a smoking ban in parks and on beaches, sources said. The new ban requires City Council approval, which seems assured since the mayor will be joined at the announcement by Council Speaker Christine Quinn. In the past, Bloomberg expressed concerns about the logistics of such a ban, mostly because of the size of the enforcement area. But Health Commissioner Tom Farley has been pushing for the ban for months. "[Bloomberg] was undecided, and now he's made the decision to go ahead," said a source.

Bloomberg banned smoking in bars early in his first term.

(Sort Of) Free Wifi For NYC Parks

New York City's parks are getting free wifi. Sort of.

Cable giants Time Warner and Cablevision have agreed to spend $10 million to provide WiFi service in 32 parks as part of a deal in which the city agreed to give a 10-year renewal of the companies' lucrative cable-television franchises. Under that deal, which city officials announced Tuesday after two years of stalled cable talks, anyone can have free WiFi in the parks for up to three 10-minute sessions a month - a total of 30 minutes per person. After that, the cable companies will charge you 99 cents a day to surf the Internet.

A buck a day doesn't seem bad, but park advocates are fuming, saying this is just another Bloomberg ploy to hand over public spaces to corporations.

"There should be totally free wireless in the parks," said City Councilwoman Gale Brewer (D-Manhattan). As head of the Council's Technology in Government Committee, Brewer has made the fight for free WiFi one of her signature issues. "This sounds like a joke," she said when told of the deal. "I don't understand how this works logistically. How will they track people's use and charge everyone?" "It's pure bait-and-switch," said Dana Spiegel, head of NYCwireless, a nonprofit group that has helped set up free WiFi at Bryant, Madison Square and a half-dozen other public parks.

(Tipped by JMG reader Reid)

CENTRAL Park: Lunch Delivery To Your Blanket Via iPhone GPS

Seven NYC restaurants have signed onto a delivery service that will find you anywhere in Central Park via an iPhone GPS app.

A new iPhone application for food delivery to the Manhattan oasis debuted Saturday, with Sheep Meadow sunbathers free to order a slice and Great Lawn Frisbee tossers liberated to call for chow mein. The app comes with a GPS add-on, allowing the runners carrying the meals to locate hungry customers anywhere in the 843-acre park. "The GPS thing is a little freaky - that people can track you down like that," said Annie Yano, 28, of the upper West Side. "But I like it. It's great they're using it for Central Park. It's so convenient." The CityMint app is free for download, and offers meals from seven restaurants near the park. The cost of delivery is free, too. Customers can pay with credit cards or cash, with food available from noon-7 p.m. on weekends through Labor Day.

The service is called CityMint. The company plans to add many more restaurants to its Central Park delivery list.

Rabid Raccoon Attack In Central Park

A woman was bitten by a presumably rabid raccoon in Central Park and today she tells New York Magazine her story.

I live on the Upper East Side. I was doing a little shopping on the Upper West Side and when I was done, decided to walk back through the park. But it was so gorgeous out, I stopped to enjoy it and read my book. So I'm sitting on a bench right on the 72nd Street Transverse, near the Mall and Bethesda Fountain. I was sitting there maybe 30 minutes ... and suddenly I felt something around my feet, and a sharp pang in my left ankle. I think I felt the presence of something first, because I remember thinking maybe it was a leaf or something, but then I felt the bite. My first thought was: Someone's dog. I looked down at my ankle and it was dripping blood.

When I got bit, it startled me, obviously, so I jumped — which caused two ladies walking by to turn and look. (I still wish I would have gotten their numbers or e-mails or something to thank them for their kindness. They were the ones that made me call 911; I was ready to slap a Band-Aid on it and be on my merry way.) One of them turned as they walked past and said, "Oh, it was a raccoon." She paused for a second and then said, "It didn't bite you, did it?" I stood up and showed them my ankle. Then I turned back to the bench, and sure enough there was the raccoon — sitting behind the bench near a bush.

She was treated with four rounds of rabies shots and is OK. But ZOMG I think she was sitting right where Dr. Jeff and I took a heat-stroke break on Monday. And then we walked home through the Ramble because our Seattle friend Jerry had never seen it. We barely escaped with our lives!

Hot Chip To Play Central Park

Devo-esque gay favorites Hot Chip will play Central Park's Summerstage on August 4th. I was a little late getting to the Hot Chip party, but 2008's Ready For The Floor did it for me. You're my number one guy!

Central Park Has Rabid Raccoons

New York City's health department has issued an alert about rabid raccoons in Central Park. Over 100 infected raccoons have been trapped or found dead in the park so far this year.

"It's like Central Park in the '70s when you had to be fearful of people - now you have to be fearful of raccoons," said Manhattan teacher Meg McDonnell, 33, who often spots the furry masked critters in the park. "I've always been taught if I see a raccoon in the daytime, they are sick. There are big, fat huge families up there." Despite the striking rise in the number of diseased raccoons, no humans or pets have been attacked since February, when the city launched a two-month program to trap, tag and vaccinate the Central Park raccoons. Animals that appeared ill were euthanized and tested for rabies. Some were found already dead.

Televised reports have asked dog owners to keep their pets leashed at all times in the park. Earlier this year a dog and two humans were bitten by rabid raccoons, but none were infected. No human has been diagnosed with rabies in New York City since 1953. Raccoons are most active at night, so something something Ramble gay boys careful something.

SLIDESHOW: NYC Pride Rally

NYC Pride held its annual Rally at Central Park's SummerStage yesterday where co-hosts Bruce Villanch and Vickie Shaw entertained the crowd in between performances by the Gay Men's Chorus, MeShell Ndegeocello, Ari Gold, Billie Myers, the cast of Hair, and Martha Wash. Also featured was Lt. Dan Choi, who delivered a rousing MLK-esque speech, leading the crowd in chants of "I am somebody!" Father Tony, Dr. Jeff and I ran around backstage dishing and cutting up with the performers. A fantastic afternoon. Lots of cuteness within, plus Billie Myers teaching Dr. Jeff about the proper application of lip-liner.

Tavern On The Weenie

Central Park's famed Tavern On The Green, which recently closed in bankruptcy despite being the second-highest grossing restaurant in the country, is going to have a new life. As a snack bar and souvenir stand.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg envisions an unexpected, humble but most likely temporary destiny for the closed, bankrupt, once-glittering Tavern on the Green restaurant: a snack bar, visitor center and retail store. The mayor’s announcement came after six months of negotiations collapsed on Thursday between the restaurateur who was expected to become Tavern’s operator and the union that represents its 400 former employees. In a statement, the mayor said that the city would solicit proposals “from anyone that wants to reopen it as a restaurant,” adding that “during that period, which will last several months, we’ll use the venue as a visitor center and snack bar, similar to the successful Central Park Dairy, and also a retail shop.”

Earlier this year the restaurant's opulent fixtures and artwork were sold at auction.

Ten Things Not To Do In NYC

Travel site Concierge lists their ten most over-hyped tourist experiences in NYC.

1. Hansom cab ride through Central Park.
2. Dining at Tavern On The Green.
3. Eating anywhere in Times Square.
4. Comedy shows in Times Square.
5. Shopping at Century 21.
6. Nightclubbing in the Meatpacking District.
7. A pedi-cab ride through mid-town.
8. Eating from a hot dog cart.
9. Visiting the Empire State Building.
10. Cupcakes at Magnolia Bakery.

Since I first read the above-linked story last night, the site updated their list to note that, hello, Tavern On The Green is closed. Otherwise, I agree with most of the list. Except for Century 21. And hot dog carts.