The Speaker and mayoral hopeful announced yesterday at a newsstand near City Hall that the Council will propose a bill to amend a little-known city regulation that limits the price of items sold at newsstands. Ms. Quinn’s new bill will raise the limit from $5 to $10.

Currently, newsstands may only sell snacks, beverages and other products priced less than $5, though cigarettes, high-priced newspapers and magazines, prepaid MetroCards and calling cards are exceptions to the rule.

“This legislation will allow New York City's iconic newsstands to sell more products, thereby expanding consumers' access to more of the products they want and need,” Ms. Quinn said.

This regulation applies only to newsstands regulated by the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs, not food carts or trucks, newsstands and convenience stands in subway stations or street vendors who sell cheap knock-off sunglasses and handbags.

Supporters of the new legislation, which will be officially introduced at a City Council meeting on May 22, said the higher limit could help keep newsstands in business.

“This will help newsstands stay in business by giving them items they can sell and make some money on,” Robert Bookman, counsel to the NYC Newsstand Operators Association told Crain’s New York. "It's to allow these other items which you can't sell for $5 anymore, a decent umbrella that will work for more than one rain, or a tourist guide.

Mr. Bookman also told Crain’s that there are currently 300 newsstands in the city, which is down from the 1,500 that populated the city decades ago.

Of all the fun new items newsstands might be able to sell soon, including camera batteries and headphones, Ms. Quinn remarked that higher quality umbrellas might be the biggest draw.

“The $4 umbrella of 2002 isn’t the same as the $4 umbrella of 2012-13,” she said. “The $4 umbrella in 2013, you’re lucky if it’s going to get you to the corner.”

(Getty)

A group of scientists at the University of Colorado School of Medicine recently released the first comprehensive study of the microbiological makeup of the New York City subway system. Their finding? The air underground contains pretty much the same amount of human skin microbes (and other stuff) as the air outside.

The study is based on samples taken from various subway stations, including the Union Square and Bowling Green stations, at three different points in 2007 and 2008. According to a summary of the experiment, the similarity between outdoor and underground air particle makeup “indicates good air mixing, a testimony to the efficiency of the train pumping system.”

Approximately fice percent of RNA sequences analyzed correspond to human skin bacterial sequences. Most of the particles were fungi and bacteria, and while there was complex diversity at lower taxonomic levels, the major groups were “remarkably simple”—of about 100 known bacterial phyla, only four were found.

The report “identified few associations” in the bacterial diversity between subway stations and at different testing times—basically, there’s relatively no correlation between particle makeup at different stations or at different times of year, so you’re breathing pretty much the same air everywhere.

It might be kind of gross, but at least we know we’re taking in the same particles on crowded subway platforms as we are outside, right? Plus, we can all breathe easy because the study didn’t find any organisms that could be harmful to the public.

While this study doesn’t reveal anything shocking about the air we’re breathing underground, it does provide a clear account of “pre-event conditions”—in the case of a bioterrorist attack, these findings could help us determine air quality impacts, and can help monitor the changes due to recent subway flooding after Superstorm Sandy.

Preparing for Diner en Blanc.

It is a quiet evening in Place des Vosges, Paris, when, all at once from every direction, crowds of men and women, hundreds of them, descend upon the square. The people, dressed elegantly in all white—the men in clean, crisp trousers and jackets and the women in summer dresses or light pantsuits—quickly set small tables and chairs in perfect straight lines and lay out elaborate picnics, along with excellent bottles of French wine, of course.

They take their seats and wave white napkins in the air, and begin to enjoy their lavish picnics, conversation and merriment. As day fades to dusk, the group lights sparklers and dances to live music. Then, when the clock strikes midnight, they pack up their things and leave the park as if they had never come.

This magical event marks the opening scene of Diner en Blanc: The World’s Largest Dinner Party, a recent documentary film by director and producer Jennifer Ash Rudick, an Upper East Side author and journalist. Ms. Rudick’s film showcases an event that is simultaneously perfectly public—it is out of doors, after all—and very exclusive—“Diner en Blanc,” the elegant, impromptu picnic that has graced Paris’ most beautiful outdoor spaces annually for nearly 25 years, and has now expanded into 22 cities around the world, including New York.

The film, which offers the first behind-the-scenes look into the making of the unusual yet surprisingly simple celebration, premiered at the Palm Beach International Film Festival in Florida last month to a warm reception, and will hit the Hamptons International Film Festival this summer. Diner en Blanc, perhaps Paris’ best-kept and most refined secret, is a sort of flash mob for the sophisticated set.

What began in 1988 as a simple outdoor gathering among about 200 friends and friends of friends, who dined al fresco while wearing white, has grown into a worldwide phenomenon. Last year more than 36,000 people attended, including 19,000 in Paris and 3,000 in New York. Despite its growth, the ethic of the dinner has remained constant year after year: The event is not commercial or political in any way—it is merely an elegant gathering of friends and neighbors who commune for the sole purpose of enjoying one another’s company. The celebration is something of an enigma—prior to on-camera interviews for Ms. Rudick’s film, the event’s creator, Frenchman François Pasquier, had never spoken to the press. Mr. Pasquier and a small group of friends secretly organize the dinner in Paris each year, and those who are invited to attend are not informed of the Diner’s exact location until just before it begins.

Diner en Blanc attendees in New York.

“It really piqued my interest that the organizer had never spoken to the press,” says Ms. Rudick, who writes primarily about interior design. “[I thought] it was really cinematic. The thought occurred to me that it could be a really beautiful short documentary.”

Searching for the Diner’s Inventor

Ms. Rudick traveled to Paris to seek out Mr. Pasquier, though he was not an easy man to locate. “His friends were very, very protective of him, since the dinner is equitable and everybody’s the same,” she says. “There’s not really a leader.”

Ms. Rudick finally met with a friend of Mr. Pasquier’s, who reasoned that, since the 25th anniversary of the original Diner en Blanc in Paris was approaching, it should be documented for the sake of posterity. With a modest budget, a small team and a limited ability to communicate in French, Ms. Rudick returned to Paris eight times to conduct interviews, attend secret meetings and document the preparations for the 2012 Diner in Paris. “I had never done this before, so every time I would get to a new step, I’d have to learn,” Ms. Rudick says modestly. “It was literally putting one foot in front of the other.”

Diner En Blanc, which runs 40 minutes and is the product of hundreds of hours of footage, follows Mr. Pasquier and other organizers and attendees as they traverse the streets of Paris, scouting out the next location for the event, choosing the perfect bottle of wine, shopping for cheese and baguettes and having white clothing made just for the festivities.

Though the celebration has become increasingly popular in cities around the world—tens of thousands of people requested invitations for 3,000 coveted spots at the Lincoln Center dinner last year—Mr. Pasquier is quite modest with regard to the must-attend phenomenon he has set in motion. “I never had a particular idea in mind. I wanted to prove nothing, and I have proven nothing,” Mr. Pasquier says in the film. “Except perhaps that there are things that are not commercialized and still work very well, if everyone participates.”

The strict rules of the Diner are a key part of the event’s continued success. All participants must wear white. They must bring a beautiful picnic and a table of a specified size. They must arrive on time. Men must sit on one side of the table, women on the other. Guests must attend on the specified date, no matter the weather. Those who fail to abide by the rules are barred from future dinners. “The dinner is a magic moment, only if everybody plays the game,” Eric Leprince-Ringuet, co-founder of the Diner en Blanc, notes in the film.

Despite cultural differences in the cities around the world where the Diner now takes place, participants all tend to abide by the rules. The celebration does have a slightly different character in each city, however—participants tend to take on local interpretations of food and wine, as well as the dress code. However, the traditions and the air of civility mostly remain the same. Having attended the Diner en Blanc in Paris and last year at Lincoln Center in New York,

All-white table settings.

Ms. Rudick was struck by the similarities between the events. In New York, she says, diners made friends with one another and shared their wine, cheese and desserts. “People really dressed up, they respected the rules,” Ms. Rudick says of the event in New York. “I would say it was incredibly social, just like the one in Paris. I was surprised everybody in New York came at the same time.”

Diner in New York

The New York version of Diner en Blanc in New York features briefly in Ms. Rudick’s film. Filmmaker Albert Maysles, who created documentary films including Gimme Shelter (1970) and Grey Gardens (1975) with his brother David Maysles, and later many projects of his own, shot footage for Diner en Blanc at Lincoln Center. Mr. Maysles was struck by the Diner’s power to bring people together.

“It’s a way of breaking divisions and finding love for thy neighbor,” Mr. Maysles said. “The more you know your neighbor, the more the possibilities of love, the more the possibilities of developing your community beyond just a diverse group of people who have no connection with one another. It’s funny how an event can be more than an event.”

Paola Mathé, a New York lifestyle blogger who is originally from Haiti, attended the Diner en Blanc in New York last year. “The event was just everything I imagined,” Ms. Mathé says. “Everyone I encountered was there for the fun. Some people had elaborate centerpieces on their tables, and the outfits were just amazing. It felt like I was in a dream. And it doesn’t hurt that I went with my boyfriend. It was like a magical date.”

Ms. Rudick’s documentary premiered at the Palm Beach International Film Festival on April 9 with a warm reception from about 100 audience members. Iris Apfel, New York fashion legend and the subject of Mr. Maysles’ upcoming film Iris Apfel: New York’s Rare Bird of Fashion—which Ms. Rudick is producing—was in attendance. “I thought it was charming and I thought that Paris was beautiful,” Ms. Apfel says. “I think that the whole idea of the film is very inspiring, and it would be nice if the world could run that way. I think promoting friendship and good will is certainly a wonderful thing.”

Ms. Rudick plans to take Diner en Blanc: The World’s Largest Dinner Party on the film festival circuit. The film will come to New York for the Hamptons International Film Festival and DOC NYC in the fall of 2013. “I just hope that bonds of friendship and that kindness just transcends logistics and all else comes through,” Ms. Rudick says. “That’s kind of the takeaway. But just to sit there for 40 minutes and watch Paris would have been enough for me.”

npring@observer.com

via Getty

Rihanna brought down the house at her concert at the Barclays Center on Sunday night, taking the entire neighborhood with her, according to Prospect Heights residents.

But the loud, booming bass rumblings that disrupted the neighborhood on Sunday night were nothing new for people who live in the direct vicinity of the Barclays Center. These complaints come less than a week after Barclays Center developer Forest City Ratner Companies was ordered to pay the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) a $3,200 fine for violations after a Swedish House Mafia concert in early March.

The Barclays Center has faced many noise complaints and several potential fines since it opened in September. Residents have complained of noise pollution after major concerts including Jay-Z in September, the Sensation dance concert events in October and the Swedish House Mafia concert. Until last week, the complaints were dismissed on technicalities.

According to city records, inspectors recorded a reading of 55 decibels (dB) for low noise frequency inside a nearby apartment the during the Swedish House Mafia show on Saturday, March 2. The 55 dB rate is about twice as loud as the 45 dB limit, as stipulated by the New York City Noise Code, section 24-231:

“No person shall make or cause or permit to be made any music origination form or in connection with the operation of any commercial establishment or enterprise when the level of sound attributable to such music, as measured inside any receiving property dwelling unit: … is in excess of 45 dB in any one-third octave band having a center frequency between 63 hertz and 500 hertz.”

According to the NYC DEP, noise complaints are the number one quality of life issue for New Yorkers. The agency updated the Noise Code in 2007 to “…balance the important reputation of New York as a vibrant, world-class city that never sleeps, with the needs of those who live in, work in, and visit the city.”

The Barclays Center has not yet returned The Observer’s request for comment.

The Atlantic Yards Watch, a community-based blog that reports on the neighborhood impacts of the Barclays Center and construction from the Atlantic Yards project, cited several texts and phone calls made to 311 on Sunday night reporting excessive noise during Rihanna’s concert. Prospect Heights residents were outraged that the noise pollution continues, despite the fines. The Atlantic Yards Watch provided the following transcripts from the calls:

“Rihanna is as loud as SHM or Sensations!!”

“Are you f****** kidding me, why can’t the police do something?”

“YIKES!! Why are they starting so late?”

“It woke us up!”

“Guess they haven’t done anything to minimize the noise!”

“[Past] midnight and they’re still going, when will it end?”

“Why are these noisy types of concerts allowed on Sunday nights?

Peter Krashes, who runs the Atlantic Yards Watch Blog and serves as a member of the Dean Street Block Association and secretary of the Prospect Heights Heights Neighborhood Development Council, said noise complaints have come from east, west and north of the Barclays Center, as far as a block away from the arena.

“The solution is probably structural,” Mr. Krashes told The Observer, citing the original plans for the arena, which were not anticipated to produce noise problems. The original design by architect Frank Gehry was replaced in 2009 by the design from Ellerbe Becket and SHoP Architects.

“For the short term [The Barclays Center] can put stipulations on the contracts of performers to limit noise levels, which it clearly hasn’t done,” Mr. Krashes added.

Mr. Krashes further noted that the DEP will continue to measure the noise level from the Barclays Center, and that the arena is conducting its own inspections.

“We’d like to know to what end they’re working,” Mr. Krashes said of the Barclays Center inspections. “If this was a bar or a restaurant, they could be shut down because it’s illegal.”

The Atlantic Yards Report noted last week that the fine may not be enough to solve the problem.

“For a neighborhood bar, a $3,200 fine for a noise violation can cause pocketbook pain. For an arena earning millions from concert tickets and concessions, it may be the cost of doing business, especially if they can fend off some fines with procedural arguments,” blogger Norman Oder wrote.

Rihanna will perform her second Barclays Center show tonight, around the same time the Atlantic Yards Quality of Life Committee will convene at a local YMCA to discusses quality of life issues with representatives from Forest City Ratner, the Barclays Center and Empire State Development, which is overseeing the Atlantic Yards project.

Several residential buildings will be constructed next to the Barclays Center as part of the Atlantic Yards project in the coming years.

“I think a lot of people are assuming they’re going to solve this problem by the time they build the residential buildings adjacent to the arena,” Mr. Krashes said. “But are we to wait two years for them to fix this?"

Though the Department of Transportation promised the bikes in the upcoming Citi Bike program are “sturdy, heavy bikes,” they’re not meant for overweight riders, according to a fact in Citi Bike’s user agreement, pointed out by The New York Post yesterday.

The bikes, which can accommodate riders up to 6 feet 8 inches tall, and have titanium locks that DOT policy director Jon Orcutt said are "pretty much bombproof,” apparently won’t support anyone over 260 pounds.

The weight limit rule can be found in Section 5 of the terms of service, titled “prohibited acts.” It states, “You must not exceed the weight limit for the Citi Bicycle (260 pounds).” All riders are required to agree to a contract before hopping on a bike, which includes the Section 5 provision.

But overweight bikers need not ride in fear—no one is going to be waiting for you with a scale.

“I think people will be self-selecting, practical and safe,” Mr. Orcutt told The Post.

The DOT also stated that the limit is part of a legal provision that had to be included because of a deal with the manufacturer. The weight restriction also applies in other cities with bike share programs, including Boston and London.

“These technical specs are established by the equipment manufacturer and are the same as other bike share cities around the world and standard on commercially available bikes and components,” DOT spokesperson Seth Solomonow told Gothamist. “We expect people will use the bikes safely.”

The Citi Bike program, operated by NYC Bike Share, is set to begin later this month, with thousands of bikes at hundreds of locations all over Manhattan and Brooklyn. Riders have the options of renting a bike for 24 hours for $9.95, buying a seven-day Access Pass for $25 or signing up for an annual membership for $95.

Brooklyn resident Dina Sasson was shocked when a stranger refused to return her five year-old Shih Tzu unless she paid up.

According to the Daily News, Disco ran away from Ms. Sasson’s mother’s front yard in Midwood, Brooklyn. A neighbor found the dog, but in his rush to get to work on time, he handed Disco off to two women who promised to help find his owner.

The pair, one described as a white woman in her forties and the other an African-American woman in her twenties, called the number on Disco’s collar and demanded $100 in exchange for him. Ms. Sasson agreed to pay the ransom, and was reunited with her dog.

"I was frantic," Ms. Sasson told the Daily News. “I gave them the money and then walked away. I just wanted my dog back.”

The American Kennel Club, (AKC) which has been tracking dog theft since 2007, reported 444 crimes nationally in 2012, compared to 255 cases in 2010.

“They either steal dogs to keep for themselves, sell on the black market, give as gifts to others or hold as ransom until the owners pay them money,” a spokeswoman for the American Kennel Club told the Daily News.

The AKC recommends never letting your dog off its leash, and never tying it up outside in cities. The organization notes that owners of pure bred dogs should keep an especially sharp eye out, as thieves often go after them intending to sell them for a high price.

The Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals encourages owners to register and microchip their pets so they can be safely returned to their owners.

According to a study released today by climate change research organization Climate Central, Hurricane Sandy flushed 11 billion gallons of raw and partially treated sewage from sewage treatment plants into bodies of water—and in some cases city streets—in the Northeast after the storm. Climate Central’s report notes that 11 billion gallons is the amount that could cover the entire are of Central Park (1.4 square miles) if it was filled 41 feet high.

Gross.

Most of the overflow—roughly 94 percent—was the result of damage to the area’s sewage treatment plants. Most plants were ill equipped to handle the sludge flowing in from the storm surge, as many are built in relatively low-lying areas so gravity can easily pump wastewater in and out. In some place the surges just flooded treatment plants, and in others floods coupled with power outages caused facilities to shut down entirely. Damage to treatment plants will cost New York nearly $2 billion to repair.

“Sandy showed the extreme vulnerability of the region’s sewage treatment plants to rising seas and intense coastal storms,” said Alyson Kenward, lead author of the report, said in a press release.

According to the report, of the eight states most affected by the storm, New York and New Jersey were dumped on the hardest. Climate Central reports that 93 percent of the volume of the overflows took place in both states, and 18 of the 20 largest spills happened in those states, in addition to four major spills of more than one billion gallons each.

New Yorkers need not worry about any lingering health effects from the contaminated water, though—Ms. Kenward told the Daily News that risks are lessening as the sewage moves out to sea. However, the long-term environmental impacts of the giant spills remain to be seen.

Truman Capote’s typed manuscript of his classic 1958 New York novella Breakfast at Tiffany’s, which tells the story of a young New York socialite in the 1940s, was sold in an auction to a Russian billionaire for $306,000.

The manuscript comes complete with the iconic author’s original handwritten annotations. The most striking note in the manuscript’s 84 pages is the protagonist’s name—from “Connie Gustafson” to the now legendary "American geisha" Holly Golightly.

Amherst, N.H. based auctioneer RR Auction originally offered the manuscript for $250,000. It was in good company—the manuscript was auctioned off alongside a 1954 Marilyn Monroe film and items signed by Humphrey Bogart and Judy Garland, among other members of the 20^th century Hollywood elite.

According to the Independent, the seller of the manuscript, who remains anonymous, has ties to a “very famous” autograph collector in New York. Bobby Livingston, vice president at RR Auctions, told the Associated Press that the manuscript is “obviously quite a treasure, quite a find for us.”

The lucky winner who gets to take the original Holly Golightly home is billionaire Igor Sosin. Mr. Sosin plans to display his treasure in Moscow and Monaco.

(RRauction.com)

via Facebook

Ethan Cyr has a dream. That dream is to build a 13-foot T-Rex with Christopher Walken’s head on it. And thanks to the Internet, his dream is going to come true.

Yesterday, Humans of New York received an email from the most awesome child in the world and posted it on Facebook.

It read: “I am a sixteen year old from the lower east side of Manhattan. I am building a 13 foot T Rex with Christopher Walkens head and I was wondering if you would be willing to help me gain publicity for my project. I totally understand if this is just too weird and you don't wanna help.”

Ok, it is totally weird, but HONY did want to help. They linked to Cyr’s indiegogo page, where he asked for $750 to build the “Walken Rex,” which, by the looks of his material list, he plans to construct out of PVC piping, chicken wire and paper mache. In just over 24 hours Cyr has raised $2,285 from over 200 contributors.

via Facebook

“I was inspired to design and build this piece after watching the movie Queen of Versailles. I saw how rich those kids were, and their lack of creation with all that money. I decided if I could get that much money I would make something great. The Walken Rex was originally thought of by a friend of mine, we are not completely sure where he got the idea from, but it seemed like the perfect thing to build,” Cyr wrote on his indiegogo page.

The teen promised incentives to anyone who donates to his cause—those who give at least $5 will receive a Christopher Walken Rex cartoon. A donation of $75 gets you a cartoon of you with Walken, and for just $1,000 you get to choose the face of Cyr’s next statue. Oh, the possibilities! How about a Meryl Streep Triceratops? Or a Jack Nicholson Velociraptor?

We needed to find out more, so we did a quick Facebook search for this creative genius. We think we found Cyr, and we pray to God he’s real. In addition to his cover photo, which is a pretty badly photoshopped mock-up of the Walken Rex, Cyr has a few other weird drawings of Grim Reaper-like figures wearing colorful sweatshirts.

We’re just looking forward to seeing if Cyr actually brings this thing to life—on Facebook HONY promised to document the project if it gets funded.

So please, as Cyr wrote on indiegogo, “Tell people, tell anyone, tell everyone, tell Christopher Walken.”

The Midtown Tick Tock Diner. (ticktockdinerny.com)

In a move like something out of a bad mafia film, a New Jersey diner manager was arrested this week for hiring a hit man to bump off his uncle, authorities said.

Georgios Spyropoulos, the 45-year-old manager of the Tick Tock Diner in Clifton, N.J., had beef with his uncle, 57-year-old Alexandros Sgroudos, the owner of the famous franchise.

At a press conference this week New Jersey attorney general Jeffrey Chiesa said Mr. Spyropoulos promised the cop-posing-as-hit man $20,000 for the deed. He paid the cop $3,000 in advance and provided him with a photograph of his uncle, a map of his home in Clifton and his daily schedule. The nephew also instructed his hired associate to get the combination to his uncle's safe before he he rubbed him out and disposed of the body, and told him to take out his uncle's wife too, if she caused any problems, police said.

The Clifton Tick Tock Diner. (theticktockdiner.com)

Mr. Spyropoulos was arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder and unlawful possession of weapons. Upon investigation, police found two semi-automatic handguns, a shotgun and rifle in Mr. Spyropoulos’ home, and six cell phones and a few thousand dollars in cash in his Mercedes Benz.

"This is sort of out of a script right in New Jersey, where you're going to meet at the Tick Tock diner to rub out your uncle to advance yourself," Mr. Chiesa told the press. "I understand that reaction of it, but from a law enforcement perspective, we're focused on the safety of the person who is the target."

According to the Daily News, the would-be mobster also sexually harassed at least three female employees and threatened to have them killed. The women reported the incident in 2012, though no arrests or criminal charges were made.

Mr. Spyropoulos is being held in lieu of a $1 million bail at the Passaic County Jail.