In a year when eco-friendly development triumphed, a look back at the top green building stories of the year. [CoStar via TRD] 

With long-term bond sales down 9 percent from last year, 2008 proved the worst year for the municipal bond market since 1999. [Bloomberg via TRD] 

After it proved too large to transport over the Manhattan Bridge, Chelsea’s Cheyenne Diner may finally make its long-delayed move to Red Hook on top of a barge. [Lost City] 

MTA will charge bus riders extra for using coins if the agency doesn’t receive a much-needed bailout from Albany. [YourNabe via Queens Crap] 

Streetsblog presents Part 4 of the 2008 Streetsie Awards, featuring the honors for “Worst City Agency” and “Most Memorable MTA Moment.” [Streetsblog] 

Harlem’s 2008 year in review. [Uptown Flavor] 

The illegal detour sign at the center of South Williamsburg’s battle between Orthodox Jews and bike-lane proponents is back! [INSIJS]

As The Wall Street Journal reported last night, SoundScan’s year-end figures show a 20 percent drop in sales of CDs—still the industry’s most profitable medium—from 449.2 million to 360.6 million units. Sales of U.S. albums, including digital downloads, were down 14 percent. Most of the declines came in the year’s last three months—this in the face of big releases by Kanye West, Nickelback, and, of course, Guns N Roses. It seems Chinese Democracy was no match for an American democracy in economic freefall. The music industry has now shrunk in seven of the last eight years, and with analysts predicting that CD sales will drop at a rate of 8 percent a year over the next five years, no end appears in sight.    

So while we’re a sucker for physical media (especially if it’s 12 inches wide and made out of vinyl), we can’t help but feel arguments calling for the industry to move to digital downloading as its primary distribution mechanism have some weight behind them. As Mike McGuire, a VP at industry research firm Gartner, said recently on cdrinfo.com (via MBV), "By propping up the CD business, rather than fully investing in online distribution alternatives, the major labels and the larger music industry have neither succeeded in stamping out piracy nor done much to recreate the business models of the old ‘record business.’” It’s time, he says, for labels to focus on “digital first.” In a couple years, we may have no choice.

Connecticut Bank accused of funneling accounts into Madoff’s pockets without its customers' knowledge. [NY Times]

Citigroup execs to go without 2008 bonuses. [NY Times]

Early data shows customer traffic during the holiday seasons plummeted 16 percent, while total retail sales dropped 2.3 percent. [NY Times]

S & P/Case-Shiller home-price index fell 18 percent in October from last year, dropping prices to March 2004 levels. [WSJ]

Fist-time unemployment claims fell by 94,000 over Christmas week, while continuing claims rose by 140,000. [WSJ]

Madoff hands over personal asset list to the SEC. [WSJ]

As mortgage rates tumble, more homeowners rush to refinance and save big. [NY Post]

West Paterson, N.J., now known as Woodland Park. [NY Post]

While their show at the Music Hall of Williamsburg isn’t until January 30, we have a feeling this thing will sell out soon. It’s the only show the Apes have scheduled at the moment. [Tickets on sale now]

With roles opposite Jack Black in Be Kind Rewind and as Chuck Berry in Cadillac Records, Mos Def’s recent film career has overshadowed his musical prowess—a talent which, according to some fans and critics, has been in decline ever since 1999’s Black on Both Sides. Still, our man Dante Smith is not about to pass the mic anytime soon. He’s got a new single, “Life in Marvelous Times,” and a new record, The Ecstatic, due out “soon” on Downtown Records. Until then, you can catch him at the Highline Ballroom on Friday, January 9. [Tickets on sale now]

In other hip-hop news, Afrika Bambaataa is coming to Le Poisson Rouge this Saturday with Low B and Million Dollar Mano. Bam—who many believe first coined the term “hip-hop”—is one of the genre’s godfathers. But he's also credited with jump-starting everything from Miami bass to Latin freestyle to house music. His most famous track, 1982’s “Planet Rock,” marked the first time a synthesizer landed on a hip-hop track, and single-handedly gave birth to electro-funk. Head to the West Village to pay your respects to a Bronx-born legend. [Tickets on sale now]

THEATER

The idea behind the Bridge Project—a classic repertory theater company created by a British director (Sam Mendes), an American actor (Kevin Spacey), and the executive director of the Brooklyn Academy of Music (Joseph Melillo)—is to create a truly international theater, a place where British and American actors can settle in for intensive, long-term collaborations. The Project pairs three Brits—Simon Russell Beale, Sinéad Cusack, and Rebecca Hall—with three Americans—Richard Easton, Josh Hamilton, and Ethan Hawke. The cross-cultural experiment kicks off tomorrow night with the opening of Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard at BAM’s Harvey Theater. The same cast takes on The Winter’s Tale beginning February 10, also at BAM, before heading to Singapore on March 8. [Tickets on sale now]

Many states are making it tougher to become a mortgage broker by instituting hurdles such as background checks and ethics training courses. [NY Times]

Now that its developers have defaulted on their $105.3 million loan, Costas Kondylis’ Sixth Avenue tower will remain little more than a pit for the foreseeable future. [Curbed]

All the NYC landmarks that vanished in 2008. [VNY via Curbed]

Curbed honors the developers of the year. [Curbed]

Federal Reserve to buy back as much as $500 billion in mortgage-backed securities in early January. [Miami Herald via TRD]

How will increased homeowner taxes, signed into law on Monday, affect the real estate market? [TRD]

The 2009 Brooklyn Deathwatch. [Gowanus Lounge]

New census data shows big increases in the Bronx’s foreign-born population. [WBB]

We can't help but hope that a BRITNEY or SASHA FIERCE fund might emerge with millions of dollars in hand to save our own flagging economy. Yet somehow that seems unlikely...

The $400 property tax rebates are in the mail… finally. [NY Times]

When the city suspended Park Slope’s alternate-side parking regulations it had no affect on the area’s traffic and parking patterns. [NY Times]

What $150,000 gets you. [NY Times]

A look inside one of Manhattan’s hottest apartments: an $8.7 million triplex at Lux 74. [NYDN]

Block behind the Apollo Theater renamed James Brown Way. [NYDN]

City Council introduces legislation that would place warning signs next to playground mats, which can reach dangerously high temperatures in the summer. [NYDN]

MTA chair Dale Hemmerdinger and his board will be traveling to Albany on Jan. 13 along with the Empire State Transportation Alliance to make their case for a transit bailout. [NYDN]

Paterson’s budget would cut nearly $1 billion in aid to NYC. [NYDN]

Despite plunging occupancy rates, 21 new hotels will open in NYC next year. [NY Post]

Moody’s lowers rating on mortgage securities tied to Tishman Speyer’s Stuy-Town. [NY Post]

While home prices haven’t fallen as far in New York as other cities, that may only mean NYC has further to fall before the housing market hits bottom. [WSJ]

How major developments in six cities fared under the global financial crisis. [WSJ]

The push to give bankruptcy judges the power to rewrite, or “cram-down,” mortgages in the borrower’s favor gains favor in Congress. [WSJ]

Casino magnate flips a three-bedroom, 38th-floor apartment at 15 CPW for $27 million—twice the original cost. [TRD]

In the first installment of the Fifth Annual Curbed Awards, West 19th Street between 10th and 11th avenues wins “Block of the Year.” [Curbed]

"Chalk up another victim for the crashing real estate market: the easy divorce." [NY Times]

The Khim’s mini-market empire expands to Driggs Avenue and North 11th in Williamsburg. [Gowanus Lounge]

Willets Point property owners meet with attorneys from the Institute of Justice to form a new group, Willets Point United Against Eminent Domain. [Queens Crap]

Whatever happened to 708 First Avenue? [EVG]

Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy proposes ordinances to promote green development in the city. [GlobeSt]

Kim’s extensive video collection headed to Sicily?! [VNY via BoweryBoogie]

Current and one-time residents of Ocean Hill-Brownsville—a once heavily Italian area of Brooklyn—band together to save a treasured Catholic church from demolition. [NY Times]

Beginning motions in Madoff's trial to start tomorrow. [NY Times]

In a sign of desperate economic times, five bank robberies were committed in four boroughs yesterday. [NY Times]

Analysts predict a slew of bankruptcies next year as the retail industry reels from the worst holiday selling season in four decades. [NYDN]

Realty Check: A rundown of the major Manhattan developments most in danger of falling victim to the recession. [NY Post]

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver may back a .33 percent payroll tax to help close MTA’s budget gap. [NY Post]

Eviction proceedings initiated against 96-year-old Editta Sherman—the last remaining tenant living above Carnegie Hall. [NY Post]

Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy may have cost creditors $75 billion. [NY Post]

Though projects like the WTC towers and the No. 7 train extension kept construction spending strong this year, analysts predict the industry will see a 19 percent drop next year. [Crain’s]

A record 47 million tourists visited NYC this year, spending $30 billion. [City Room]

In its first round of Streetsie Awards, Streets Blog hands out the honors for “The Year’s Best Livable Streets Project” and “The Year’s Top Bicycle Project.” [Streets Blog via City Room]

56 Leonard in limbo as developer Izak Senbahar waits on construction financing. [Curbed]

Fort Greene inching up on Park Slope as Brooklyn’s most popular nabe for renters. [Curbed]

Real estate lawyers swamped with clients seeking to break out of signed contracts. [NY Mag via TRD]

Top Democratic fundraisers Carl Spielvogel and Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel sell their 720 Park Avenue apartment for $36.63 million—almost twice what they paid in 2006. [TRD]

Manhattan’s commercial vacancy rate hits a two-year high. [Crain’s]

East Village renters strike back at their do-nothing property managers. [EVG via BoweryBoogie]

P & G Bar to stay open until February as it waits for its new location to open six blocks away at Columbus Avenue and 78th Street. [VNY]