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amNewYork's Patrick Cashin shared this most surreal scene he ran across at the West Fourth Street subway station Wednesday night.
It's the music duo we'll simply call Cookie Monster and Pink Gorilla, hoping to rustle up a few bucks for their efforts.
Passersby were both intrigued and mortified. We can see why.
We weren't there long enough, alas, to find out if they performed Cookie Monster's classic " 'C' Is For Cookie"
Tenants of Manhattan’s Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village won a major victory Thursday when a court ruled that the owner needs to restore rent control as long as it is receiving certain tax breaks.
The state Appellate Division ruling also applies to owners of other buildings that have de-regulated apartments while receiving the same tax breaks. It’s unclear how many properties throughout the city could be affected.
The court found that Tishman Speyer Properties, which bought Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village in 2006 for $5.4 billion, had improperly de-regulated apartments while receiving some $24 million in tax breaks. The tenants had brought suit against Tishman Speyer in 2007 and a lower court had dismissed the case.
Continue reading "Owner of Stuy Town ordered to re-regulate apartments" »
An artist rendering from the city's Department of City Planning shows high-rise hotels in Coney Island's amusement zone.
Thirty-seven years after city officials fought to keep apartment towers out of Coney Island’s amusement district, the Bloomberg administration wants to allow four high-rise hotels in that very space. In the eyes of one historian, the plan breaks a decades-old promise made to the waterfront neighborhood.
Charles Denson points to a 1972 Planning Commission amendment that restricted zoning south of Surf Avenue to “recreational, amusement and related uses.” The resolution was prompted by fear that apartments would wipe out Coney Island’s trademark thrill rides, according to a July 1972 article in The New York Times.
“If this resolution hadn’t gone through, there would be nothing,” said Denson, director of the nonprofit Coney Island History Project. “Everybody would have sold.”
Continue reading "Historian: City would break promise with Coney Island hotels" »
Nick Lynch, 21 of BedStuy, Brooklyn, peruses the record selection at Other Music at 15 E. 4th St. (RJ Mickelson/amNY)
They’re big, heavy and cumbersome. The sound crackles and pops. They’re relics of a bygone era.
So what is it about the vinyl record – admittedly a truly iconic item - that caused sales to nearly double in 2008?
“It’s really for the true collector, the one that understands music, quality of music, wants to know about the artist that’s playing, wants to read linear notes,” said Rachel Friedman, president of J&R; Music World.
According to Nielsen SoundScan, LP sales were up 89 percent in 2008, jumping to 1.88 million LP’s sold. When you take into account the 14 percent overall drop in CDs, LPs and digital sales combined, it’s a mystifying trend.
Continue reading "Back in the Groove: Vinyl Records are making a comeback" »
The bookish world of ancient Hebrew scholarship has collided with the modern scourge of cyber harassment.
A Manhattan man was arrested Thursday for leading an Internet attack against a Dead Sea Scrolls expert whose theories he rejected.
Raphael Haim Golb, 49 is accused of impersonating Lawrence Schiffman, the chairman of NYU’s Hebrew and Judaic Studies Department, by using Schiffman’s name online and emailing university administrators “confessions” of plagiarism, according to the Manhattan district attorney’s office. He made similar claims on blogs, the DA’s office said.
Continue reading "Rift over ancient texts leads to cyber crimes, says DA" »
(Photo by Marie Claire Andrea)
The armies of workers hired to walk the dogs, care for the kids, clean the apartments and sculpt the physiques of affluent New Yorkers are among those most hurting in the economic downturn.
The workers are finding their hours slashed or worse as their employers lose their jobs or simply cut back to survive the worst economic slump in decades.
And history shows it will likely only get worse for people who depend on the livelihoods of others to make a living.
“Domestic workers have a higher unemployment rate at times of a difficult economy than other workers do,” said Premilla Nadasen, associate professor of history at Queens College, who is writing a book about domestic-worker labor organizing in the post-war years. “Their economic fate is dependant on the fate of other workers.”
Because the domestic or personal service industries include people who are undocumented, paid off the books or self-employed, they often are not included in employment statistics, and some people have not necessarily lost their jobs but have found themselves underemployed or underpaid, said Janet Gornick, a professor at the CUNY Graduate Center. One way to understand the scope of problem today is to look at the Great Depression.
The unemployment rate of African Americans, who composed a large part of the domestic workers at the time, was 50 percent compared to 25 percent overall, Nadasen said.
Continue reading "Nannies, dog walkers among the hardest hit by economy" »
Straphangers jittery about a possible 23 percent fare hike got little comforting news this week.
While Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver indicated he has the votes to support new revenue streams for the MTA, the state Senate is sharply divided on the bill.
The Senate's 30 Republicans uniformly oppose a .33 percent payroll tax that would contribute $1.5 billion to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's deficit.
Democrats have a two-member majority in the Senate and generally support the payroll tax. But yesterday, three outer borough senators lashed out against tolls on the bill’s proposal for East and Harlem river bridges, and demanded an independent audit of the MTA's books.
“How many properties do they have? What is the compensation to their executives?” asked Senators Ruben Diaz (D-Bronx). “Stop lying to the people.”
Diaz threatened to sue the MTA until the audit is conducted, even though it would likely take months. The MTA board will vote on the fare hikes and service cuts on March 25.
Are Republicans working to make Obama fail?
Re “Wanted: GOP’s new face,” March 5: The Republican conservatives’ identity crisis stems from the fact that their ideas didn’t work. Their radical ranks hope the current administration will fail just as badly. The trillion-dollar questions: Is America’s failure their strategy? Will they work against President Obama to create economic failure? Are this nation and its people merely pawns in their political skirmish? This is not a team sport — this is the future of our nation! If the GOP wants a viable leader, it will be one who puts country before party.
— John J. Fitzgerald, Manhattan
Bush responsible for economic meltdown
Re David Baker’s letter, “Americans having another kind of ‘buyer’s remorse,” March 5: I was unaware that George W. Bush had ever been a community organizer. Regardless, it is certainly true that the economic policies of his administration are completely responsible for the implosion of our economy.
—William Smith, Manhattan
Gov’t shouldn’t lecture us on spending habits
There is something weird about being lectured by government officials on spending and budgets. These government rulers are the ones who cannot balance a budget, spend money wildly all around the globe and are responsible for our present woes. These same politicians are apparently not aware of the growing unrest in our country but they had better be.
— Frank St. George, East Rockaway
By the way this table tennis player is dancing, you’d think he won the match. Turns out he’s just happy he wasn’t shut out.
Napa Valley Takes Over New York March 9th –12th — The “Taste Napa Valley: New York” series will consist of wine tastings (Monday 7–9:30 p.m. at Metropolitan Pavilion, featuring more than 50 wineries, $50 ), a wine and cheese pairing class ( Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday 6:30–8:30 p.m. at Artisanal Premium Cheese, $85), and a special bowling and wine benefit (Tuesday 7–9:30 p.m. at Lucky Strike Bowling, $100). For more information and a complete listing of events visit NapaVintners.com.
By Rebecca Wolfson
Special to amNewYork
The financial industry is battered, but that doesn’t mean New York’s landscape of bank branches is withering.
TD Bank in particular has an aggressive growth strategy. The Canadian bank that took over Commerce in 2007 has plans for five to nine new city branches this year, said spokeswoman Rebecca Acevedo.
Faith Hope Consolo, the head of retail leasing at Prudential Douglas Elliman, said that banks have not become the retail sore spot that many were predicting.
Continue reading "Banks still branch out in New York City" »
By Emily Ngo
They have a common opponent settled into the White House.
They have a common goal of winning back a Congressional majority.
But rather than battling to regain ground lost to President Barack Obama and the Democrats, the fractured Republican Party is fighting … itself.
“They’re beyond divisions,” said Scott Levenson, president of the Advance Group, a Democratic consulting firm. “They have crevices the size of the Grand Canyon in the Republican Party that begin and end with the fact that they do not stand for anything.”
And with the 2010 midterm elections looming, experts agree that they need to get their act together soon.
“One part of the Republican Party says we should go back to our basics, government is bad. Another part thinks no, we’ve really got to rethink the message,” said James Morone, a political science professor at Brown University. “And all Republicans have to decide where they stand on the continuum.”
Many conservatives are doing just that, but not without infighting. The very public barbs exchanged between veteran talk show host Rush Limbaugh and newly minted Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele has highlighted just one disparity in visions for the party.
Continue reading "GOP circus: The search for the new face of the Republican Party" »
New York City Transit could have potentially saved more than $6 million in unnecessary construction expenses if it had properly followed its own protocol to undergo cost-reduction analysis, the MTA inspector general has found.
“In our current economic climate, such cost-saving measures take on an even heightened significance,” said Barry Kluger, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority inspector general.
By NYC Transit mandate, projects valued at more than $10 million must have an outside consultant conduct a study to determine ways to save money, such as altering the design or substituting parts. In the past five years the pre-work analysis has saved the agency $78 million.
Ed Skyler
Call it the Bloomberg administration’s latest crime fighting effort.
Deputy Mayor Edward Skyler, whose day job has him tangling with budgets and wrestling with bureaucracies, found himself tussling with a would-be mugger Tuesday night in midtown.
Skyler, 35, who helps manage the NYPD, was on his way to a restaurant at 48th Street and Sixth Avenue just after 8 p.m. when he came across a teenager who had snatched a woman’s Blackberry Curve.
“I screamed for help,” Victoria Kress, 41, of West Orange, N.J., recalled Wednesday.
Kress, a talent agent, said she was sending e-mails as she walked to the Port Authority bus terminal following a work function when a teenager came “from out of nowhere” and grabbed the Blackberry.
Skyler, who had just gotten out of his car, took off to try to corral the thief.
Continue reading "Deputy mayor tussles with street mugger" »
(Andrew Hinderacker)
By Stefanie Arck
Special to amNewYork
Sunset Park offers some of the best panoramic views of Manhattan, so it’s only fitting that the neighborhood was named after its greatest asset — that western view.
Populated in the early 1900s by Irish, Italian and German immigrants, and more recently by Latino and Asian families, it’s one of the most diverse neighborhoods in Brooklyn. Now, as sky-high rents are forcing many people to move out of neighborhoods closer to the city, new construction is cropping up, and more long-time residents are moving out as an influx of young professionals and artists move in.
The boundaries of Sunset Park are much contested, but no matter how you define it, this vast area is bordered by an eclectic group of neighborhoods, including Park Slope, Borough Park and Bay Ridge. It’s also home to Brooklyn’s Chinatown, The Green-Wood Cemetery and some of the most authentic and affordable Chinese and Mexican food around.
In September, this populous area will get a long-awaited, brand-new high school, and a waterfront recreation area on the East River is projected to be completed within the next two years.
Continue reading "Sunset Park: A sunny outlook for B'klyn nabe" »
Americans having another kind of ‘buyer’s remorse’
Re “Buyer’s remorse,” March 2: I picked up a copy of your paper yesterday, expecting to read a front page story about how millions of voters now regret voting for the “community organizer” who is responsible for the loss of half of everybody’s net worth.
— David Baker, Kew Gardens
Big gov’t means little for the middle class
Will the increased size of the federal government mean we’re going back to longer lines at the post office and motor vehicle offices? Let’s see how this works, the rich get poorer, the middle class continues to get screwed and those who don’t work and improve themselves get more for hanging around and doing nothing. What a great country this is for some!
— Bernie McGrath, Holbrook
Street closures would take away from NYC experience
First cars were banned from Central Park, then an upper West Side Highway exit was closed and now the planned Times Square closure. There is a character to the City — in particular Times Square, with all its organized chaos — which makes New York, well, New York. Visitors don’t come here to walk a mall, they want to see and feel the city. If Times Square is closed to traffic, I’m afraid future traffic reports would be something like this: “There is a two-person collision at 42nd and 7th, handbag dropped. A kid jumped the curb, causing a soda spill, the EPA is on the scene.”
— Stanley Gnoza, Staten Island
Lombardi's is a Little Italy legend. Credit: Dan Peterson
By Emily Mathis
Special to amNewYork
Ask five New Yorkers for their favorite pizza spots, and you’ll likely hear a handful of different, very passionate answers. Whether landmarks with coal-ovens or barely year-old stands — pizza loyalties are vast, varied and run very deep. Here is a list of some of the city’s pizza places with cult followings. We know New Yorkers are passionate about their pizza. If you think we missed someplace great, list it in the comments section below. Tell us why you love it!
THE NEWBIES:
Artichoke Basille’s Pizza & Brewery
328 E. 14th St., btwn First and Second aves., 212-228-2004
As one employee commented, getting a slice at Artichoke on a Friday night is like getting into an exclusive nightclub. The street is lined with at least 30 to 40 people, elbow to elbow. “Guys and girls are meeting each other because they are so close. Everyone is drinking beer, having a good time,” says Tommy, the manager. This standing-room only East Village pizzeria doesn’t mess around, serving $4 gargantuan slices that 20-year-old student Sulina Gabale described as, “like butter.” Tommy chalks it up to among many things – multi-generations of restaurateurs and the highest quality ingredients. They serve draft beer, pies ($20-$28), slices ($4) and stuffed artichokes ($6). Margherita, Sicilian, Spinach & Artichoke (highly recommended), or Crab.
2 Bros Pizza
32 St. Mark’s Pl., btwn Second and Third aves., 212-777-0600
599 Sixth Ave., btwn 17th and 18th sts., 212+206-8656
“Just write out cheap 22 times,” was 23-year-old Darko Latic of Queens advice on how to describe this St. Mark’s pizzeria where he was enjoying a quick lunch Monday afternoon. “It’s not bad pizza. Where else can you get 2 slices and a drink for $2.75?” Minimalism reigns supreme here — the menu is limited to thin crust plain slices and there’s a sparse seating area.
The Oak Room in its current state. (Sari Goodfriend)
By Emily Mathis
Special to amNewYork
The Plaza’s Oak Room to re-launch: The Plaza Hotel’s Oak Room will re-launch on March 18th, with prices more appropriate for today's economy, and what is being described as a more welcoming environment. While the exact menu and prices won’t be decided until next week, one thing’s for sure: Eric Hara, formerly of David Burke Townhouse and Fishtail, is new the executive chef. The Oak Bar will remain open for lunch, dinner and brunch throughout the transition.
The Plaza Hotel, 10 Central Park South
This weather forecast sure isn’t that accurate, though it may be just as helpful as the usual daily predictions.
For the fifth year in a row, Edy's Ice Cream will give away 1,500 summer-time ice cream socials.
Each winning neighborhood in Edy's Slow Churned Neighborhood Salute will receive Edy's Slow Churned® Light ice cream and all the fixings for up to 100 guests.
Enter for a chance to win by submitting a 350-word essay or uploading a video submission at Slowchurned.com. The call for entries starts Wednesday and ends on Friday, May 29, 2009.
