Though Brooklyn may seem like a happy hipster haven populated by vintage clothing stores and indie music venues, the borough remains New York’s bloodiest.
According to an annual NYPD report released yesterday on the state of murder in New York City, 36 percent of the 419 homicides in the city in 2012 took place in Read More
Sure, you’ve seen a hundred shots of Katie Holmes celebrating at The New York Observer‘s 25th Anniversary Party by now. If you didn’t know what Rex Reed looked like, now you do. And those pictures of Spike Lee, Mayor Bloomberg and Chuck Close? Sure, we could see how some could be Read More
It’s been a week since Hurricane Sandy hit, demolishing houses in Staten Island and the waterfront communities of Brooklyn and Queens. Tensions have been running high of late, with residents frustrated by the pace it’s taking to restore power to their neighborhoods—the basic necessity of life on which all other rebuilding efforts rest.
So it should come as some relief to hear that Mayor Bloomberg and the city are looking to life beyond shelters for residents whose homes are beyond easy repair (or any repair at all). Today Mr. Bloomberg announced that he has appointed Brad Gair as the director of Housing Recovery Operations. Read More
Who doesn’t want a giant ferris wheel in the middle of Staten Island?
We’re assuming this is the exact inquiry Mayor Michael Bloomberg demanded of his administration after talking with an investment group interested in erecting this enormous asset. Read More
If Gracie Mansion were our friend, we’d lightly slap her face and tell her to snap out of it. “Put down that compact mirror, girl,” we’d chide. “You don’t need botox or permanent eyeliner tattoos. You look great as is. Don’t go changing yourself for some man.” She’d then probably start crying and wailing, “Why, oh, why doesn’t he love me?” at which point we’d start feeling awkward and might hand her a box of Kleenex to shut her up.
Because the thing is, we don’t know why Mayor Michael Bloomberg doesn’t love you, Gracie. We don’t know why he refuses to live inside your beauteous walls (well, maybe we do), but the thing is, changing how you look won’t help. It won’t bring your man home. You’re wasting your time, squandering your money, and becoming a cliché. And yet, we know you won’t listen to us. We know you’ll do it anyways; we know you’ll have your kitchen remodeled.
And whatdoyouknow? We were right. Read More
Commissioners’ posts, much like visits to the park, have a flexible but finite timespan. And the end of a mayor’s term looming in the not-too-distant future is as good a reason to leave a nice spot as a rumble of thunder in the distance.
Adrian Benepe, lover of carousels and longtime parks commissioner is bowing out, reports The New York Times. Read More
This week’s New Yorker cover pokes fun at Mayor Bloomberg’s proposed ban on super-sized sodas and other sugary drinks—and the surrounding media frenzy—with a pulpy cover showing two lovers caught in the act of Big Gulp-ing.
“When I heard about Bloomberg’s plan, on the national news, to make large sodas illegal, my mind immediately went to ‘Are people going to jail for this?’” the artist, Owen Smith, told the magazine’s Cover Stories blog. Read More
A note to our colleagues: Now may be a good time to stop sleeping in the office. Mayor Michael Bloomberg had The Observer on his mind yesterday at the Friends of the Hudson River Park’s sping gala, reminding partygoers that FOHRP board chair Douglas Durst ranked fifth on The Commercial Observer’s Real Estate Power 100, Read More
The majority of New Yorkers would actually like to live in smoke-free buildings, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll, they just don’t like Mayor Bloomberg telling them what to do.
Although 59 percent of New Yorkers told pollsters that they wanted to live in a building where no one was allowed to smoke, another 53 percent thought that city hall shouldn’t pressure co-ops, condos or apartment buildings to ban smoking. Read More
Here’s one unexpected (but tough to pity) victim of the MF Global meltdown: Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
When the brokerage filed for bankruptcy, Bloomberg LP lost 600 terminal subscribers, or about $1 million in monthly revenue, The New York Times reports, causing the company to miss target sales by 12 percent and possibly taking a toll on bonuses. Read More
