By Daniel Geiger 1/17 1:00pm

power broker

Angela Pinsky. (Photo by Kiki Conway)

What Does Seth Pinsky’s Wife Know About Real Estate? A Lot, It Turns Out.

Perhaps the best way to describe Angela Pinsky’s advocacy for the real estate industry is by saying that when she joined the Real Estate Board of New York almost two years ago, she didn’t see her job as much different from the one she was leaving in the mayor’s office.

“I work on a lot of the same issues,” said Ms. Pinsky, who married Economic Development Corporation head Seth Pinsky last summer. “The thing about the real estate industry, it’s very civic minded. Many owners are family businesses and there’s this strong tradition in the industry of wanting projects and policies that are best not just for the industry’s own interests, but for the entire city. Read More

By Laura Kusisto 4/05/11 11:25pm

Secret Service

New York's Shadow Mayors: The BIDs That Ate New York

Eight floors above the neon scissor of Broadway and Seventh Avenue, the offices of the Times Square Alliance, one of the city’s largest business improvement districts, unfold like a suburban paper company.

The Observer contemplated the turquoise Berber carpeting, the spare glass cubicles and an empty rolling garbage bin parked by the door until we Read More

By Jason Horowitz 12/17/08 12:56am

Noblesse Supreme: Caroline Kennedy Stakes Her Claim

For several days, prominent members of the New York Democratic establishment complained publicly about Caroline Kennedy. Then, suddenly, it all stopped.

“I think people are about to get scared,” said one aide to a New York official.

The seminal, chilling event, in the end, was simply Ms. Read More

By Azi Paybarah 6/10/08 2:34pm

Jeffries on Bloomberg's 'Development Gone Wild'

I just came across this video of Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries speaking at a forum in Brooklyn recently (according to the YouTube user, it was on May 31).

Jeffries slams the mayor for promoting so much development in the city, and jokes that there should be a movie called “Development Gone Wild," which Jeffries says Read More

By Eliot Brown 4/23/08 8:58pm

Now, the Buildings Department Decides to Inspect High-Risk Construction Sites

The city will conduct an “intensive, in-depth assessment” of high-risk construction in the city, the Department of Buildings announced Wednesday, one day after commissioner ACTING BUILDINGS COMMISSIONER ROBERT LIMANDRI ANNOUNCES INTENSIVE, IN-DEPTH REVIEW OF HIGH-RISK CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITIES

City Launching Comprehensive Analysis of High-Risk Construction Activities;

Read More

By Azi Paybarah 1/08/08 7:38pm

Seabrook: N.H. Is 'Over,' Obama Will Win

I saw City Councilman Larry Seabrook running into City Hall just now, and asked him his predictions on tonight’s primary vote in New Hampshire.

“Predictions? That’s over man. That’s Obama!" said Seabrook, who hasn’t endorsed a presidential candidate yet.

A few minutes later Dan Doctoroff strolled in (without a tie!). His predictions?

“I Read More