By Kim Velsey 4/01 11:42am

the high cost of banking

One of the character-stripping branches. (DNAinfo)

Could There Be Hope for the Bank-Glutted UWS?

In recent years, the Upper West Side has been besieged by bank branches, with countless TD Banks and Citibanks, Chase Banks and Banks of America gobbling up once-vibrant street corners, the dull gleam of their ATM screens casting an eerie glow on the empty sidewalks late at night.

There has been hand-wringing, there have been outcries, there is even a zoning ordinance that prohibits banks from having storefronts wider than 25 feet. And unlike the cancerous spread of Duane Reades across every corner of our fair city, which for all their colonial tendencies offer a certain languorous refuge for the stressed city dweller, no one can quite understand what is driving the bank branches’ spread. Aren’t we always told that people are doing more and more banking online? Other than withdrawing cash from the ATM, how often do most of us really visit the bank? Read More

By Kim Velsey 1/07 5:54pm

THERE GOES THE NEIGHBORHOOD

Big Nick's (NY Mag).

Will Big Nicks Become Another Casualty of UWS Hyper-Gentrification?

Big Nick’s might not  be to everyone’s liking, but it has certainly made an effort to suit everyone’s tastes. In a city of increasingly “curated” dining experiences and foraged vegetable tasting menus, Big Nick’s offers not only hamburgers, pizza and assorted Italian favorites, a vast assortment of sandwiches, chicken barbecued, fried and broiled oreganate, but also Greek standbys, salad platters, a full breakfast menu and a surf-and-turf shack selection of seafood.

So it will come as sad news to many an Upper West Sider that Big Nick’s, which has been open for 24 hours a day for the last 50 years at 2175 Broadway Avenue may soon be no more, reports The West Side Rag. The reason is not a lack of fans—although the Upper West Side’s DNA has changed considerably since the greasy spoon opened—but, you guessed it, a rent hike. Read More

By Dan Duray 7/18/11 6:05pm

Museums

Invitees attend a press conference to op

Roof Repair, Research Libraries Lead UWS Renovation Tab

City Councilwoman Gale Brewer announced today that she’s managed to secure nearly $16 million in the city budget for construction and renovation projects in her district in the UWS, which encompasses several major cultural institutions.

One of the bigger efforts included in the package is a $3 million bid to repair the roof at the Read More