By Drew Grant 4/08 1:53pm

New York prison reviews

rikers

The Penal Code: Ratings for Rikers Island, Central Booking Downgraded on Yelp

Hey, if fictional restaurants from Bret Easton Ellis novels can get rated on Yelp, why not some of Manhattan’s penitentiaries? That was the question when The New York Post picked up the story two years ago, Rikers Island averaged four and a half stars, which is half a star higher than Balthazar. Central Booking, according to the Post, only managed to earn itself two.

But that was apparently during the salad days of New York’s penal system: Today, Rikers has slipped an entire star to three and a half, while the Tombs lost half a star. (Maybe it’s time for the prisons to change their chefs.)
Below, some of our favorite reviews of the correctional facilities in New York. At least we know they aren’t paying for fake reviews. Read More

By Staff 11/07/06 6:30pm

Events for November 8, 2006

Tomorrow is… the City Department of Environmental Protection’s Employee Recognition Day at DC 37 headquarters! Okay, not as exciting as election day but here we go..

The board of directors of the City’s Economic Development Corporation meet at 110 William Street.

Gary Ackerman hosts a town hall meeting for small business owners at the public Read More

By Ralph Gardner Jr. 3/07/05 12:00am

Amid Gates Hoopla, D.O.T. Sign Takes A Walk

Christo’s The Gates may have survived its visit to New York without significant loss or vandalism-although there were several incidents involving visitors trying to take home a piece of it. Alas, the same can’t be said for a sign warning motorists of Gates-related park closings, which mysteriously went missing from its station at the northeast Read More

By Ralph Gardner Jr. 8/05/02 12:00am

Crime Blotter

Enraged Double-Parkers Take On Ticket-Writing D.O.T. Agents

Let’s face it: One of the most perilous uniformed jobs in New York isn’t that of a cop or even a correction officer on Rikers Island, but rather that of a traffic agent for the city’s Department of Transportation. At least that’s what two recent incidents on the Read More

By Ralph Gardner Jr. 6/17/02 12:00am

Rikers Reunion: My Big-House Visit Stirs Up Memories

I recently attended my 20th reunion. Not my high-school or college reunion-my Rikers Island reunion. It wasn’t a conventional affair with a hospitality tent, skits and chapel service, and I was the only attendee. But it was moving nonetheless. I did a couple of years on Rikers in the late 70′s and early 80′s-not in Read More

By Nicholas von Hoffman 1/18/99 12:00am

Constitution Isn’t Worth Parchment It’s Written On

Any C-Span viewer of recent Potomac cavortings has the evidence of his or

her eyes to know how rankly foul our school systems, public and private,

must be. Seldom has there been a more discouraging parade of illiterate,

unlearned, ill-prepared, poorly spoken ignoramuses than the men and women

members of the Congress depositing their soot Read More