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No more Governors Ball at Vannie

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If you’re looking for music in Van Cortlandt Park this June, you might be a little disappointed. That is, unless you’re someone who lives near Vannie, because the recent denial ensuring Founders Entertainment won’t hold its Governors Ball music festival at the park is probably the best news you’ve heard this year.

The city’s parks department denied an appeal from organizer Tom Russell to move his three-day event from Randalls Island to Vannie’s Parade Grounds.

The news was shared by Broadway Community Alliance leaders Rob and Laura Spalter, who fought against what they said would be more than two weeks of disruption at the park and for its neighbors.

The festival has been home to a number of musical acts over the years, including Kanye West and The Killers.

 

Metro-North getting very punctual

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has something to celebrate when it comes to its Metro-North line: Trains are on-time at rates so high, they haven’t been seen in six years.

Metro-North trains were punctual more than 94 percent of the time last year, according to the MTA. Overall cancellations were cut in half, short delays were down more than 40 percent, and trains running with fewer cars than they should dropped more than 60 percent.

Officials credit a number of factors contributing to that rate, including Metro-North’s “Way Ahead Plan,” which last year installed 50,000 new cross ties, 28 new switches and more than eight miles of new continuously welded rail.

The MTA also surfaced more than 110 miles of track, and replaced five railroad grade crossings.

It installed positive train control — a safety system designed to keep trains operating at safe speeds at all times — on more than 40 percent of its tracks, including through the area near Spuyten Duyvil where a 2013 derailment claimed four lives.

Founders Entertainment, Governors Ball, Tom Russell, Broadway Community Alliance, Rob Spalter, Laura Spalter, Kanye West, The Killers, Michael Hinman, MTA, Metropolitan Transportation Authority,

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