A surprising development in the city's fight against billboard barges — The company floating the LED billboards in the waters around Manhattan has thrown in the towel after new state regulations pushed them back 1,500 feet from the shoreline. The advertising company promoting the billboard boats has now settled with the city and agreed to be subject to a $100,000 fine if they operate within New York waters. The barge will be relocated to Florida, where the company set up a similar barge along the Miami shoreline in 2016. The agreement with the city ends both the company's six-month fight with the city and the challenge they raised to the state law. As of October 11th, the company's website has been replaced with a generic image saying the site is down for maintenance. According to a presentation acquired by Digiday in January 2019, the company was touting their Hudson River and East River coverage to advertisers at the rate of $55,000 for a 30 second looping at on the banner boats, and they referenced the city's plan to continue developing the shoreline and the city's ferry system as reasons to advertise on LED billboard barges. 86 years ago on October 10, 1933 — A United Air Lines Boeing 247 from Newark, NJ exploded in what is believed to have been the first sabotage bombing of a commercial aircraft 56 years ago on October 14, 1963 — A New York Airways helicopter crashes just after takeoff from Idlewild (JFK) Airport, killing all six people aboard Double-check your speed if you're on the West Side Highway after October 12th — The city is dropping speeds from 35 to 30 mph on the West Side south of 59th Street beginning Saturday. The move comes as part of Vision Zero, a set of plans adopted by cities worldwide and introduced to New York by Mayor de Blasio in 2014. Vision Zero aims to eliminate pedestrian injuries and fatalities from vehicles, and the reduction in speed on the West Side Highway is meant to reduce the severity of vehicle impacts in areas south of 59th where the highway becomes street-level and pedestrians and cyclists frequently have to cross highway traffic at intersections, including busy areas like the Intrepid museum, Chelsea Piers, and Battery Park City. While drivers may rarely even have the opportunity to top 30 mph in rush hour traffic, the DOT will catch any drivers speeding using new speed cameras along the highway. If the area south of 59th Street sounds familiar, it's because it's the same area targeted by the upcoming congestion pricing plan, where a system of cameras will collect tolls on cars entering the area south of 61st Street. While vehicles staying on the FDR or West Side Highway will be exempt from congestion pricing, vehicles would also be monitored by cameras used for collecting tolls on vehicles exiting the West Side Highway once it reaches street level and begins exiting into the central business district south of 61st. The speed limits on all small streets within the city were dropped to 25 mph in November 2014. If you can't enjoy a low-speed drive on the West Side Highway and don't want to pay a congestion toll, consider a ride along the new 14th Street busway, which was finally able to open on October 3rd, and has been going swimmingly ever since. The street has been cleared of cars, leaving the buses to freely glide from stop to stop along 14th Street from Third Avenue to Ninth Avenue. Even though the implementation was delayed by three months by community groups, the first week of the busway seems to have had no noticeable impact on the surrounding streets. Bus riders on social media showed quiet, peaceful, and efficient rides during multiple times of day, with just a sparse few delivery trucks parked along the curb. It remains to be seen if the city's experiment with a busway can indeed increase the average speeds of buses on 14th Street while also not slowing dow