Fare Hike Up Fair Mountain — New York's MTA to start charging $3 per ride if they cannot meet $800 million deficit. "This whopping increase would likely be coupled with very serious service cuts. In plain English, it could be lots more out of your pocket for the joy of more crowding, longer waits and less reliable service." Time to invest in those bike lines the city has been talking about.
Because Mike Bloomberg-as-mayor hasn't been in the news enough today, promising a decrease in New Yorkers' standard of living and increase media meetings, now there is that salacious Seth Mnookin piece about Bloomberg News that us media types have been salivating for all day.
Sure, things are going to change now that Barack Obama is in charge, but did you know that it's already become much chiller to work for Mike Bloomberg than it's ever been before?
CONTINUED »
So all those meetings Mayor 4 Life Bloomberg was planning to help the city's flailing media industry? Mike's going to pay for them with the jobs of city workers… since he is cutting approximately 3,000 of them today.
“We do take these measures with a heavy heart,” the mayor said, adding, “We’re committed to keeping New Yorkers working, but we also have to keep the city’s finances in order.”
The mayor also promised that we weren't all going to get taxed back into the 70s, and there wouldn't be "deep cuts" in police, fire, and education spending. Um, except the police headcount is going to be cut by 1,000, and police classes are getting canceled.
But at least now we can figure out what to do with our booming blog industry!
After the jump, the list of what is getting axed.
CONTINUED »
Lord almighty, Bloomberg got the terms laws changed so he can run for mayor a third time. The City Council vote passed 29-22, which overruled to separate public votes in the 90's to establish term limits for the mayor.
Bloomberg says: The city needs stability in times of crisis, and also he has money experience. Also, Ed Koch did it so why can't I?
Others say: The city is for sale! And you're disgusting!
What do we say?
CONTINUED »
So…what are we looking at here, people? Is it a lounge? Bar? Trustafarians living room set up in the Meatpacking district?
Nope! It's the newest NYC hotspot, Meet. Jared Paul Stern's only source of income says, "Think of Meet as Soho House meets Julian Schnabel's private living room. Ornate wallpaper, interesting art and unique nooks abound."
We say: If we wanted to hang out with our friends in a gigantic, purple room in SoHo we would have gone home with that Eurotrash that were giving us bumps all night at The Box.
In case you're still interested, more pics after the jump:
CONTINUED »
The greatest thing about seeing Barack Obama and John McCain roast each other at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Dinner, an annual fundraiser in honor of the first Roman Catholic to run for president, isn't the speeches themselves, though they are decent (even McCain's!). The best part is watching how quickly partisanship goes out the window in front of Manhattan's wealthiest plutocrats/donors. Politics is so screwy and sad.
Click through for the roasts.
The banking crisis may have put an end to the Wall Streeter-fueled craze of bottle service (thank god!), but there's not a financial disaster yet invented that can keep depressed i-bankers from paying women much less educated than themselves to see their breasts and vaginae. It's the American way! CONTINUED »
In New York, if the criminals aren't kicking your ass and taking your wallet, the businessmen are, and they're doing it while staying well within their legal rights. That's why New Yorkers looking for real estate have learned to eat shit and like it.
Not even very rich and powerful Manhattan-based companies are above getting jacked. Take, for instance, Viacom, which is said to be renewing its lease at 1515 Broadway when it expires in 2010, even though they won't even be broadcasting TRL, which is what made the space so preferable to begin with. Says Greg Hughes, CFO for New York City's largest commercial landlord SL Green, Viacom will probably continue to rent most or all of the 1.5 million square feet they do at the horrendous Times Square location for the new price of $85 per square foot, up from the $50 per square foot it's currently paying.
Too lazy to do the math? We gotcha covered: Starting in 2010, Viacom will be spending about $128 million per year to rent space in one of the ugliest buildings on one of the ugliest streets in the world.
We are no longer shocked at how crappy MTV has become.
Have you heard? Rich bankers in New York, the poncy swindlers who keep us out of Manhattan after sundown (they've discovered the LES!), are becoming a tad less rich. Boo hoo. And with the money goes the ridiculous luxuries it buys. No more willowy blonds who don't mind not kissing during sex, no more bespoke wingtips and, according to various nightlife connoisseurs, no more fucking bottle service. Huzzah!
In deference to those kind, decent human beings who know nothing of the favorite pastime of New York's most detestable pricks, bottle service is a practice in which scantily clad club waitresses bring overpriced bottles of vodka to tables of wealthy, hooting clowns who like rap music but hate black people. Good times! But God knows they couldn't last; clubs around New York are kiboshing the service as our nation falls into financial ruin and i-bankers run around with less disposable income:
CONTINUED »
New York: where things happen! And not just sometimes, but every week! In “Here Is New York,” Intern Anastasia tells you about one of those things. Apologies to E.B. White.
This week: The Chinatown Garbage Tour.
She's a brave, brave girl - and most likely caught an infectious disease.
CONTINUED »
Primehouse, a new steak place on 27th and Park, opened last night.
The crowd was rich, boring and on a diet. Discarded miniature buns from the miniature filet minion burgers were everywhere.
You would think this neighborhood would at least be hip to the latest dieting trends. Atkins is so over.
A district court judge ruled that Bloomberg’s effort to make fast food restaurants prominently display their food’s nutritional information overreached the city’s power.
The judge objected that the city’s original regulation was limited only to restaurants whose calorie content was already available in brochures or pamphlets.
There’s still a chance the city could come back with a regulation demanding all restaurants, even ones without calorie information printed, display their nutritional information.
Until then, French fries for everyone!
"Incredibly, CNN's Lou Dobbs didn't mention the transformer explosion at all during his 6pm newscast," observes TVNewswer.
But you know who did mention it? The Daily Mail (UK)! Good thing they totally kept things in perspective, though, as evidenced by their modest and completely understated headline, "Explosion Tears Through New York In Replay Of September 11 Panic."
"An underground steam pipe explosion tore through a Manhattan street near Grand Central Terminal last night, swallowing a tow truck and killing one person as hundreds of others ran for cover amid a towering geyser of steam and flying rubble in scenes reminiscent of the panic after the September 11 terrorist attack," writes the Daily Mail in a crazy, reactionary run-on sentence of a lede.
For those of you lucky suburbanites who weren't in New York yesterday, things sure started to get a little crazy around 5:57pm!
See, a steam-pipe 24 inches in diameter burst just outside of Grand Central, causing a boom, a weird, loud rumbling sound, and millions of pounds of pressurized steam, debris (and possibly asbestos!) to fling out of the ground, yielding awkward—yet completely mesmerizing—local news footage ("It's, like, a—a giant crater!" reported ABC's baffled on-air newsperson).
And that was just the beginning.
Editorial Director
