The borrowed display features photographs that record fleeting moments in London street life from the 1860s to the present—ordinary scenes of people in the midst of daily city life that follow the development of technology, culture and finance in a growing modern metropolis. It is accompanied by a new exhibit similarly designed to showcase the evolution of street life in New York City. Both shows will run through Dec. 2.

“The exhibit has perfect timing, opening as the world’s eyes fall on London this month,” said Alex Werner, the Museum of London’s head of history collections, who traveled to New York for the opening of the exhibition.

London Street Photography, which has been on display at the Museum of London since 2010, is the museum’s most visited temporary exhibit ever, drawing more than 125,000 viewers in the last two years. The exhibition contains more than 138 images taken by more than 50 photographers, with photographs arranged chronologically from 1860 to 2010.

“The exhibit follows a changing society, following culture and economic conditions as they evolve over time,” said Sean Corcoran, curator of prints and photography for MCNY.

The London exhibition also features a short film screening called Behind the Lens, in which four photographers with images on display reflect on their work. In the documentary-style video reel, artists Wolfgang Suschitzky, Paul Trevor, Matt Stuart and Polly Braden talk about their experiences photographing scenes of everyday London life.

City Scenes: New York Street Photography, the exhibit designed by MCNY to complement its London counterpart, is a smaller display of about 40 photographs taken between 1888 and 2002. The showcase includes several iconic New York images and boasts snapshots by renowned photographers such as Paul Strand, Diane Arbus, Jacob Riis and others.

The New York display serves as both a comparison and a juxtaposition to the London exhibit, drawing parallels between the two major metropolises, which, Corcoran said, are very similar in many ways despite their differences.

“[MCNY] is interested in urban life in New York, and what better way to explore that than to show life in a city, especially a city that is very culturally similar to New York but also different,” said Corcoran, who curated the companion exhibition.

He noted that similarities can be found in the progression of the technology and use of film in London and in New York. In London, famous photographers such as John Galt used imagery to provide social commentary, documenting the life of London’s lower class. American Riis chronicled the living conditions of New York’s poor, seeking to catalyze change by raising awareness through his work.

One difference between the two cities, Werner noted, is that New York essentially replaced London as the world’s vanguard urban center in the mid-20th century. In images captured in post-World War II London, photographers documented a city rebuilding its culture with a new and pervasive influx of American influence.

“London was the largest urban center in the world in the beginning of the 1940s. Then, after the war, New York sort of took over as the largest city,” Werner said.

By Rebecca Harris

Columbus Circle, a popular access point at the southwest corner of Central Park, regularly swarms with aggressive bike rental merchants, hounding passersby like handbag salesmen peddling their wares on Canal Street. Desperate to make sales as it is, some of these people fear their livelihoods will be threatened when Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s new Citi Bike program takes effect.

The bike share is being billed a commuting alternative for New York City natives, designed for short-term bike use only—a mode of transportation from point A to point B, with individual rides over 30 or 45 minutes, depending on the package purchased, incurring overtime charges. It follows a model that has been used with success by cities across the United States and around the world.

“It’s just like you would use the subway—it’s a public transportation system,” said Michael Murphy, communications director for Transportation Alternatives, an organization that advocates non-motorized means of traveling within the city.

In theory, Citi Bike would not be used for leisurely, lengthy rides through Central Park. Still, with rates comparable to those of local rental stores and the availability of a 24-hour pass, some out-of-town riders said they would be tempted to opt for the hassle-free city option.

“If they were safe, convenient and affordable, I would very likely use [Citi Bikes] instead,” said one woman, a Charlotte, N.C., native who was biking with her family last week in Central Park. “Especially if you could just stick your credit card in and go and avoid having people harassing you like they do here, it would be much less of a hassle.”

She noted that Charlotte had recently launched a pilot test of their own bike share—the program officially opened on Wednesday—and praised the system, which follows a similar model to its New York counterpart.

John Henderson, a lifetime New Yorker and an employee at Central Park Bike Rentals, said that although he believes the program will be good for the city, he is afraid that it could “tremendously and negatively impact” how he makes his living.

“It’s going to take the food out of our mouths, really,” he said. “This is how we make our livelihood, how we make our trade. It’s going to be very difficult for us.”

Other vendors said they cannot know what the bike share has in store for their business until it happens, but hope that if the program truly caters to locals and not to tourists, it will not chip away too much at their customer base.

Andrew McKenzie, an employee at Bike & Roll, the only establishment at Columbus Circle at which available bikes rest in a visible bay rather than an off-site location, expressed confidence that Bike & Roll will not suffer extensively from the competition Citi Bike might pose.

“We’re already established, people know about us. We do have locals come here and we have locations all over the city,” he said. “We really offer the same services that the Citi Bike share will. We have good visibility, people can see all of our bikes here, they can pay with a credit card. It’s convenient and we’re well-known.”

Still, McKenzie’s optimism will be put to the test once Citi Bike is up and running. Many customers renting bikes to ride in Central Park, including visitors whose home cities have successful bike share programs underway, said emphatically that they would choose to rent bikes from the city if given the option.

Helen Marmilic, another tourist who ventured to Central Park last week to bike, said she and her husband would choose a city bike option over a local rental establishment because of a presumed upgrade in quality.

“I would be more likely to use the city bikes because I assume they would be better quality,” she said. “We’re avid bike riders, and let’s just say these [local rental] bikes leave a lot to be desired.”

The couple, who hails from Melbourne, Australia, also has experience with a bike share of their own. Melbourne launched its program in 2010, and Marmilic said her family has frequently made use of the option at home.

One bike renter expressed skepticism that Citi Bike would be implemented at all in the near future, citing repeated delays that have stalled the program this summer. The program had an initial launch scheduled for July; it was later pushed back to August. Now, the city will not give an exact start date. The Department of Transportation said last week that a launch plan was underway, but did not provide further details as to the cause or extent of the delay.

“The delay has sparked such questioning and interest because of overwhelming demand for this program,” Murphy said. “I hope they meet that demand as quickly as they can, but I would rather they do it right than do it fast.”

When the program does launch, there will be no bike stations located on the Upper West Side. The most uptown docking bay is located just on the southeast edge of Central Park, and the tentative map on the Citi Bike website shows two locations at Columbus Circle. The DOT received numerous suggestions for locations in the neighborhood further uptown but did not answer questions about how the decision was made to keep bike sharing out of the Upper West Side for now.

Murphy said he believes the complete absence of stations further uptown is a result of lower demand for a bike share in those neighborhoods. He added that he hopes the docking bays will eventually expand to all parts of the city.

“They can’t just drop them out of the sky all at once. The rollout is starting in locations where there is more demonstrated demand, around the Central Business District,” he said. “We hope to eventually have a five-borough bike share program, but obviously that will have to happen in stages.”

UWS residents line up Wednesday night to voice their concerns to Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer.

More than 100 residents turned out for an Upper West Side town hall meeting July 19, where Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer fielded questions from concerned residents of the West 90s and 100s. The community pressed Stringer, City Council Member Gale Brewer and a panel of officials representing city agencies on such issues as the controversial Jewish Home Lifecare center, hydrofracking and an explosion of rats in the neighborhood.

The line of people waiting to step up to the microphone to say their piece stretched to the back of the room for the entire two-hour meeting. Armed with literature and, sometimes, unconcealed anger, community members and local activists pressed their elected officials for answers and action.

The most discussed issue of the night was the proposed construction of the Jewish Home Lifecare (JHL) center on West 97th Street. JHL, an organization that provides health care and support services for the elderly, seeks to build a new 20-story high-rise nursing home next to P.S. 163, an elementary school. Although the New York City Planning Commission has approved the application, Community Board 7 and local activists have continued to fight against the project.

Avery Brandon, who lives near 97th Street and whose kindergarten-aged daughter will attend P.S. 163 for the next several years, spoke out vehemently against the new building.

“A huge construction project like this can have untold effects on the health of our children,” Brandon said. “With the noise levels and the mental stress that this construction will cause, how will our children be able to learn?”

Brandon and other residents also cited increased congestion, dust and debris and decreased access to the block for emergency responders as potential negative consequences of the project.

On the issue of fracking, the focus of the conversation centered around the contentious Spectra pipeline, a proposed gas line intended to expand the delivery of natural gas to areas in New York and New Jersey. The project, which was approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in May, is slated to run along the coast of New Jersey and cross the Hudson River into Manhattan, bringing gas from the Marcellus Shale acquired through the process of hydraulic fracturing to New York City homes on the Upper West Side.

Residents at the meeting voiced the concerns of many critics of the controversial method, citing in particular what they said are particularly high levels of radon and other radioactive material in Marcellus gas. They emphasized the dangers of using radon-infused gas in New York City kitchens, which tend to be small and often poorly ventilated, as well as the potential effects exposure could have on children in the neighborhood.

Attendees also complained of a growing rat infestation on Upper West Side streets, a problem Brewer assured would be tackled next month in a block-by-block effort conducted by the Department of Health, and the New York Police Department’s ever-contentious stop-and-frisk policy, which NYPD representatives declined to discuss in detail last night.

Editta Sherman.

Photography exhibit showcases her photos of the famous

Editta Sherman, dubbed the Duchess of Carnegie Hall, lived and worked in the Carnegie Hall Artist Studios for more than 60 years, until residents of the unique artists’ community were evicted in 2010 to make way for expanded rehearsal space. Sherman, a photographer and sometimes model best known for her portraiture, met and photographed dozens of famous actors, models, politicians and other celebrities throughout her career.

In celebration of her 100th birthday this month, a collection of Sherman’s photographs and personal memorabilia are on display at 25 CPW Gallery on the Upper West Side. The exhibit, called Editta 100, is free and open to the public through July 29.

What inspired you to move to Carnegie Hall in the first place?
When I moved to Carnegie Hall, it was May 1949. During the war, my husband was getting ill, I had five children and we had a farm. I was looking for a place to live because it was getting to be too much work for me with the five children and all the cows and pigs, so we moved to New York. I was looking for a place to do my photography and I saw this ad in the paper, the New York Times actually, and it said, “Live and work in Carnegie Hall.” So we moved into Carnegie Hall and it was beautiful. It had a beautiful skylight from one end of the room to the other and it was just right for me to use for my photography.

How was it raising such a large family in an artist’s studio?
They were short on studios for classes, so when I moved in with my five children, I would put mattresses on the floor at night for them and we tried to get adjusted to Carnegie Hall. The manager of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts used to rent my studio for two or three hours a day, so in the morning I would have to get the kids out of there, go to the playground, things like that. One morning I was running late and he saw me getting them all together and he said to me “I couldn’t believe what you do with your children, what a wonderful little mother you are.” I was just so pleased.

How did you get your photography career started in New York?
During the war, soldiers were coming to New York and they opened up this little casino where they would have sandwiches and coffee and they would have a star, whichever star was famous at the time. So my husband thought they could send some of these stars over to Carnegie Hall to have photos taken, make prints to sell and give to charity. Sure enough, he spoke to the manager of the casino about me photographing some of the stars and he said, “Oh, what a wonderful idea, Mr. Sherman.” Next thing you know, I was busy photographing. So that’s how I happened to have all these portraits of different stars, like William Buckley and Angela Lansbury. I did some very famous people; one was Paul Newman, who was crazy about my photography.

You lived above Carnegie Hall for most of your life. How did you feel when you and the other artists were evicted?
I lived there for 60 years; we just moved out two years ago. All my years there I never thought about moving out; it was a place that I found very convenient. But then we had to move—they were going to redo the building; it’s so old and the studios needed renovation. They didn’t have enough room for new, young people coming in to study. Some tenants moved out and some were paid to move out.
I decided with a friend of mine who was in the building to try and save Carnegie Hall. She was very good at getting signatures on the street for a petition, the thing went on for many months. We’re feeling very badly about it, because we had that beautiful skylight where I did my beautiful portraits, and it’s not the same now. But now with new talent moving in, in another year or so the building will be completed. I’m kind of sad about that, but this is the way it is and we have to go along with that. But every time I see the building, of course, I get a little sad about it.

Kodak Coloramas — massive, panoramic photographs depicting idealized scenes of American life — were once championed as “the world’s largest photographs.” A single Colorama ad, measuring 18 feet high and 60 feet wide, dominated the east interior wall of the terminal’s main concourse.

Beginning July 28, visitors will be able to view scaled-down prints of the iconic images on display at the New York Transit Museum, located in the Gallery Annex of Grand Central Terminal. The Kodak Colorama exhibit includes 36 prints, which, at about two feet high and six feet wide each, are a mere fraction the size of the original images.

The advertisements ran continuously from 1950 to 1990, with Kodak boasting 565 different photographs over a 40-year period. Every three weeks, like clockwork, the company would undertake the expensive and laborious process of replacing the ad with a new image.

“The Colorama images were highly stylized ideas of American life that became part of the Grand Central experience for millions of visitors over a 40-year span,” said Gabrielle Shubert, director of the Transit Museum.

The campaign ended in 1990, when the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission declared Grand Central Terminal a landmark.

Many of the images, which portray idealized snapshots of 20th century American culture, are reminiscent of Norman Rockwell paintings; and not without reason. Rockwell — famous for his paintings and illustrations of everyday American life — served as an artistic director on some of the photo shoots for the Colorama campaign, according to Rob Del Bagno, manager of exhibits for the Transit Museum.

Although the ad campaign ran for four decades, the exhibit features only photographs from the 1960s.

“The curator felt that that decade was the heyday of Kodak — and the heyday of advertising,” Del Bagno said.

He added that the exhibit, which will run until November 1, marks one of many upcoming events and activities meant to honor the centennial of of Grand Central Terminal. The iconic New York transportation hub, which opened to railway traffic in 1913, will celebrate its 100th anniversary in February.

“As we prepare for our Centennial, the return of these images serves as a reminder of how Grand Central has been at the center of life and culture in New York and the Northeast for all these decades,” Shubert said.

UWS residents line up Wed. night to voice their concerns to Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer. (Photo Courtesy of @scottmstringer)

At a packed town hall meeting on the Upper West Side last night, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer fielded questions from concerned residents of the West 90s and 100s. The community came out in full force, pressing Stringer, City Council Member Gale Brewer and a panel of officials representing various city agencies to address their complaints and fears about various neighborhood issues.

Between 100 and 150 residents attended the forum, and the line of people waiting to step up to the microphone to say their piece stretched to the back of the room for the entire two-hour meeting. Armed with literature and, sometimes, un-concealed anger, community members and self-identified local activists pressed their elected officials for answers and action.

Stringer, a contender in the Democratic primary for the 2013 mayoral race, addressed concerns ranging from construction to hydrofracking to rat infestation.

The most-discussed issue of the night was the proposed construction of a Jewish Home Lifecare center on West 97th Street. JHL, an organization that provides health care and support services for the elderly, seeks to build a new, 20-story high-rise nursing home next door to P.S. 163, an elementary school. Although the New York City Planning Commission approved the application, Community Board 7 and local activists have continued to fight against the project.

Avery Brandon, who lives near the 97th Street site and whose kindergarten-aged daughter will be attending P.S. 163 for the next several years, spoke out vehemently against the new building at the meeting.

“A huge construction project like this can have untold effects on the health of our children,” Brandon said. “With the noise levels, and the mental stress that this construction will cause, how will our children be able to learn?”

Brandon and various other residents also cited increased congestion, dust and debris and decreased access to the block for emergency responders as potential negative consequences of the project.

Later, on the issue of fracking, the focus of the conversation centered around the contentious Spectra Pipeline, a proposed natural gas pipeline intended to expand the delivery of natural gas to areas in New York and New Jersey. The project, which was approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in May, is slated to run along the coast of New Jersey and cross the Hudson River into Manhattan, bringing gas from the Marcellus Shale — acquired through the process of hydraulic fracturing — to New York City homes on the West Side.

Residents at the meeting last night voiced opposition shared by many critics of the controversial method, citing in particular what they said are particularly high levels of radon and other radioactive material in Marcellus gas. They emphasized the dangers of using radon-infused gas in New York City kitchens, which tend to be small and often not well-ventilated, as well as the potential effects exposure to fracked gas could have on children in the neighborhood.

Attendees also complained of a growing rat infestation on Upper West Side streets — a problem which Council Member Brewer assured would be tackled next month in a block-by-block effort conducted by the Department of Health — and the New York Police Department’s ever-contentious Stop and Frisk policy, which NYPD representatives declined to discuss in detail last night.

Men’s Swimming
Fan favorite Michael Phelps returns for what may be his last Olympic cycle to compete in five events. Phelps collected eight medals in the 2004 games in Athens and another eight in Beijing, winning more individual medals than any other athlete at both games. He holds the records for most gold medals won at a single Games (eight) and highest total gold medals won by a single athlete (14). At 16 individual medals overall, Phelps is just three away from breaking Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina’s record for the most individual Olympic medals of any athlete in history.

Women’s Swimming
Missy Franklin, 17, qualified for her first Olympics this year. Though she’s new to the Games, Franklin has entered the swimming world with a splash; at the 2012 Olympic trials, she broke Team USA veteran Natalie Coughlin’s American record in the 100-meter backstroke. She took her first five international medals home in the 2011 World Championships, competing alongside Coughlin, and broke two world records in 2011.

Men’s Track & Field
Jamaica’s Usain Bolt, five-time world champion and three-time Olympic gold medalist, is considered easily the fastest man in the world. He currently holds the international records for both the 100-meter and 200-meter races. Before Bolt, the U.S.’s own Tyson Gay held the 100-meter sprint title. Gay, with three world golds under his belt, has one of the most decorated records in running history but has yet to medal at an Olympic Games. He’ll be looking to change that this summer when he faces Bolt.

Women’s Track & Field
Carmelita Jeter, a sprinter who specializes in the 100-meter dash, is the second-fastest woman to ever compete in the event, topping Marion Jones’ best time and nearing the all-time world record held by Florence Griffith-Joyner since 1987. Jeter currently holds three of the 10 best times in history run by a female athlete in the 100-meter race. At the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials, Jeter finished first in the event and will head to London this summer to go for the gold.

Men’s Wrestling
Jordan Burroughs, a freestyle wrestler from New Jersey, boasts a competition record that speaks for itself: the up-and-comer has won every tournament he has entered in the last three years. Claiming the top spot in the 2011 World Championships, the 2011 Pan American games and the 2011 NCAA Championship, Burroughs became the fourth wrestler in history to win both the world and NCAA titles in a single year.

Women’s Beach Volleyball
Many in the sports world have deemed dynamic duo Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor the greatest beach volleyball team of all time. The pair competed together in the 2004 and 2008 summer Olympics, taking home the gold both times. May-Treanor is also the most successful current women’s beach volleyball player in the world, holding 110 individual championship wins in national and international competitions.

Women’s Tennis
Superstar sisters Serena and Venus Williams will compete alongside each other after a strong year in competition. Both women have held the title of No. 1 female tennis player in the world several times in the last 10 years and have continued to dominate international tournaments, including this month’s Wimbledon.

Men’s Basketball
The Miami Heat’s LeBron James has been the center of attention in the world of men’s basketball since he became the No. 1 NBA draft pick in 2003 at age 18. In 2008, the guard/forward helped lead Team USA to victory, securing the team gold in the Beijing summer Games. The American basketball legend will aim for a repeat show this year in London.

Women’s Soccer
31-year-old Abby Wambach led the U.S. women’s soccer team to a gold medal victory in Athens 2004, but missed the opportunity to compete in Beijing four years later due to a leg injury. Having come back strong in 2011 to compete in her third FIFA Women’s World Cup, scoring 13 goals to become the U.S.’s lead scorer in the tournament, Wambach will get another shot in London this summer.

Read More About the Summer Olympics!

• An Olympic Love Story
• Greg Louganis Q&A 
• Olympic Sprinters Trained in Central Park

Karen Becker & Anya Auerback in a scene from Birders: The Central Park Effect.

HBO launched a documentary on Monday that explores a unique facet of New York City personality: the bird-watching community of Central Park. Birders: The Central Park Effect, directed by New York nature lover Jeffrey Kimball, chronicles four seasons in the lives of both the birders and the wild birds they admire year-round in the oasis of nature surrounded by an urban metropolis. Kimball recently talked with Our Town to discuss the film and his passion for birds.

If you missed the debut, you can catch one of the upcoming screenings on HBO this month: July 19 (5 p.m.), 21 (10 a.m., 5:20 p.m.), 24 (11:30 a.m., midnight) and 29 (2 p.m.).

What is Birders about?
The film is about Central Park as a wildlife refuge both for wildlife and for people who have found a refuge in the natural setting of Central Park. It’s about looking at nature in an urban environment in a different way; nature surrounds us wherever we are. Ultimately, it’s about the people: tough-as-nails New Yorkers who want to have a connection with nature.

Can you explain the “Central Park Effect”?
It’s a not-very-well-known ornithological term: whenever you have a relatively pristine piece of nature—a relatively sizeable piece of green—in the middle of a vast sea of concrete and buildings and bridges, it’s going to be a magnet for all of the birds in the area. You end up with a lot more birds per acre in Central Park than you would in some other places, like New Jersey, where there are more trees and water all around. That makes Central Park a great spot for birding. I meant the title to have a double meaning, referring to both the park’s effect on birds and on people.

What made you decide to make a documentary about birds and birders? Are birds a particular interest of yours?
I actually am a birder, but I’m not like a lot of the people in the film, who have been birders all their lives. I grew up in the suburbs of California with a creek in my backyard; I went camping, on hikes. When I moved to New York City in my twenties, I found myself visiting natural parks, photographing wildlife, and I started noticing the birds and identifying them. I had heard Central Park was good for birds, but I didn’t quite believe it until I gave it a shot. It was Central Park that took me from being a very casual lover of nature and a very, very casual birder to a more serious birder.

You talked to some very diverse people who all share a common love of birds. Do any of them have careers that relate to birding?
Most birders do not have any kind of professional life in birds, even though they would love it. One woman is a painter, though; a professional artist who specializes in birds. Other than that, very few people’s careers relate to birding. Some of those people in the park I’ve known for close to 10 years, but I don’t even know what a lot of them do outside the park. It’s not really what’s discussed in the park; what gets discussed is birds. Also, a lot of birders don’t have a lot of money; once you’ve bought a pair of binoculars for $100, you’re pretty much good to go. You can get on the A train and go to Central Park and look at birds.

In the film, one of the birders noted the irony that Central Park is man-made—a “toy environment.” Is there a social commentary here about how we define nature?
It’s true that it is a kind of fake nature. It’s completely man-made, human-made; the water can be turned off with a spigot, the lakes aren’t very deep. But then again, is it really a fake nature? Because when a bird lands there and takes shelter in a tree there, finds water to drink and worms to eat, isn’t that real to them? We’re in this 21st-century idea of what nature is—We have manipulated almost every corner of the Earth, but in the park, the trees are still real, the bugs are real, the birds are real. Urban habitats turn out to be perfectly valid habitats for nature.

In the rolling credits at the end of the film, you listed all of the species of birds that appear in the film, even before your own name. Why?
I wanted to give the audience the impression of how many species of birds were really in that film; there are 117 species in the film. HBO bought it as a finished film and requested one change: that the names of the birds go first in the end credits, instead of after the names of the humans. I was thrilled, I had thought I was getting away with something by putting them in at all.
The Central Park Conservancy, the people who take care of Central Park—they do a good job of keeping parts of the park hospitable to birds. They actively encourage it as a habitat for wildlife.

The film is split into parts based on the seasons, starting and ending with spring. Do I sense symbolism there?
I think there is some symbolism there, but it wasn’t necessarily my intention. I tried to start with strength and end with strength, and in the birding world, spring is the best season. It’s when all the birds come back, when the birds have their most colorful plumage, when they sing; it’s the most glorious season of the year to go birding.

The campaigns claim many thousands of people have moved their money out of larger institutions. Despite tales of customer losses, many of the big banks maintain that they have not been significantly affected by such movement. Still, some have bolstered community service and local outreach efforts over the last year.

Representatives at HSBC, which currently has 74 branches throughout Manhattan, said that they did not feel that the company has suffered from move your money campaigns.

“I would say that we haven’t been noticeably impacted,” said HSBC spokesperson Neil Brazil. “We have built extremely strong connections in the community.”

He added that the bank’s strategies for community outreach have “not really changed” with the economic downturn.

Heather Nesle, vice president of corporate sustainability at HSBC, said the company has expanded and bolstered its local philanthropy programs over the last few years. For instance, this year in New York City, HSBC launched Nontraditional Employment for Women, a workforce development effort that helps prepare low-income women for work in fields such as construction, transportation and facilities maintenance.

“As a company, we appreciate the fact that we’re doing something that benefits the community. I think that can only have a positive effect on our reputation and image and on our customers,” Nesle said.

And New York City Bank of America employees contributed more than 34,000 local volunteer hours in 2011, according T.J. Crawford, media relations coordinator.

“Keep in mind that many of the thousands we employ in New York City don’t just work here, they live here too, and they want to see the city and its communities thrive,” Crawford said.

Local Rob Tucker took this photo of emergency vehicles arriving on the scene.

Two people were hospitalized Tuesday morning after a car plummeted down the elevator shaft of an Upper East Side parking garage.

A parking attendant at the East 76th Street and 1st Avenue garage reportedly drove the vehicle into the car elevator on the building’s fifth floor, but the elevator was not there, CBS reported. He and the car plunged down five stories before hitting the ground.

At around 9:45 a.m., the fire department arrived on the scene at 355 East 76th Street, which houses a Hertz Rent-a-Car business, according to NY1. Firefighters rescued the driver, who was trapped inside the vehicle, as well as an individual who was in the elevator on the ground floor at the time of the accident.

Neighbors reported that there were at least 10 emergency vehicles on the scene, in addition to a helicopter hovering over the building. Fire and police officials closed off the sidewalk to passersby on both sides of the street.

The rescued driver and another victim were transported to New York Presbyterian-Cornell Hospital to be treated for what are believed to be non-life-threatening injuries.

NYC Department of Buildings records show that the garage faced a code violation in May 2009 for non-compliance related to maintaining elevator service equipment. The complaint was later resolved.

The fallen vehicle landed upside down on the ground level. (Photo Courtesy of @FDNY)

The car extracted from the elevator was completely crushed. (Photo Courtesy of @FDNY)

FDNY officials carefully removed the car from the elevator. (Photo Courtesy of @FDNY)

Firefighters extracted an occupant from the fallen car. (Photo Courtesy of @FDNY)