By Jason Fink

The City Council voted today to put the lower back into the Lower East Side, approving zoning changes that would limit building heights on most blocks to eight stories.

“Today we take the first step in preserving the low-scale nature of our historic community,” said Councilwoman Rosie Mendez (D-Manhattan), who represents most of the area.

The rezoned area — 111 blocks bounded roughly by 13th Street to the north, Grand and Delancy streets to the south, the Bowery to the west and Avenue D to the east — has seen a surge in development in recent years.

Advocates for the plan argued that high-rise construction, exemplified by the 20-story Hotel on Rivington, threatened the character of the neighborhood.

“Up until the economic downturn we were facing a plethora of out of place, out of context high-rises,” said Councilman Alan Gerson (D-Manhattan), who represents part of the area.

Continue reading "Building height limits approved for Lower East Side, East Village" »

By V.L. Hendrickson
Special to amNewYork

Once known to gourmets only as the home of Fairway’s biggest store, an area known as West Harlem Piers is emerging as a culinary hotspot. “We now have a restaurant row,” a long-time West Harlem resident and activist, Savonna Bailey-McClain, says. “We have choices.” The restaurants inhabit the once-empty warehouses on 12th Avenue from 125th Street to 133rd Street, near the new West Harlem Waterfront Park and the Cotton Club. Water taxi service, retail stores, and another restaurant (for which a bidding war is currently taking place) are all planned for the area. The cuisine at these restaurants ranges from Latin-inspired seafood to barbecue to authentic Italian, offering it up with live music, spacious dining rooms, and valet parking.

Photo: RJ Mickelson

Continue reading "A restaurant row emerges in Harlem" »

By Emily Ranager

Nov. 20, Beaujolais Nouveau: The third Thursday in November traditionally marks the release of Beaujolais Nouveau, a fruity red wine made from Gamay grapes and produced in France. Join other wine lovers and uncork a bottle at Jules Bistro, where there will be complementary appetizers, dinner specials from the Beaujolais region and live jazz from 8:30 to 11 pm. All attendees will be entered to win two round-trip business class tickets to Paris. 65 St. Marks Place, 212-420-0998.

Continue reading "Calling all foodies: This week’s dining events" »

Now, no matter where you live, you have no excuse not to party on the Upper West Side. From now until January 1, the uptown outpost of Villlage Pourhouse (932 Amsterdam Avenue between 108th and 109th streets) will match up to $25 in cab fare with a bar tab. If you are downtown and crave a change of scenery, just hop in a cab, and be sure to ask the driver for a receipt. Once you arrive, the bartender will start your tab with a credit for the same amount as your fare.

First this broadcast reporter answers his cell phone during a live interview, then he proceeds to destroy a record-breaking tower of blocks.

Here in tough-times New York, all of us have to cut back where we can.

So when I landed the other night at JFK, I didn’t head straight for the taxi line. I was alone. I was traveling light, just an over-the-shoulder carry-on. Did I really need a $45 taxi ride — plus toll and tip — when I could jump on the $5 MTA AirTrain to Howard Beach, then grab the A train home?

It was my first time on the AirTrain, and I have to say: What it lacked in charm, it made up in efficiency. Clean, shiny and hushed, a perfect emblem for easy-money, pre-9/11 financing in New York.

The subway was another story.

Continue reading "Henican: Too many signs of a scarier New York" »

Jimmy Breslin is an iconic New York journalist. The Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist has covered everything from sports to civil rights. Breslin, now 78, worked for several newspapers, including Newsday and the New York Daily News.

amNewYork discussed the current economic crisis and how its effect on New York might compare to the tough times the city endured in the 1970s.

Is the city heading in the same direction it went in the ’70s?

You didn’t have the [expletive] kids from Washington Heights getting killed in a war with Iraq. That’s the first thing.

You’ve got unemployment. … You just had three big auto companies going broke. Banks folding. Who ever heard of a bank bouncing? Checks did, but the banks never did. It was nothing like this. You could go get a loan in the ’70s. You can’t get a loan today. You can’t do anything.

Everybody’s going broke. … That’s why this is worse than anything we’ve had.

Continue reading "Breslin Q&A: 'Everybody's going broke'" »

With the economy in free fall, amNewYork examines how the budget crisis might impact the city's quality of life. This is the first of a three-day series

By Rolando Pujol

Could this be 1974 all over again?

That’s not quite as crazy as it sounds. A number of troubling indicators has some New Yorkers worried about a 1970s rerun, and most of the problems disturbingly predate the recent Wall Street meltdown.

Crime has flared up in certain neighborhoods, shelters report a record number of newly homeless families and complaints about graffiti have soared. The big wild card, of course, is the impact of the growing fiscal crisis.

In 1974, the city was similarly beginning to realize the extent of its problems, said Julia Vitullo-Martin, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute who has been sounding the alarm.

“It gradually dawned on New Yorkers that they were faced with a severe fiscal crisis, and that solutions were not all apparent,” Martin recalled.
Back then, municipal bankruptcy was barely averted, 600,000 jobs evaporated, city services collapsed and many fled.

The Bloomberg administration insists history will not repeat itself. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has embraced the challenge, so much so that he successfully overturned term limits in a bid to stay on.

Continue reading "amNY series: 1970s rerun? Fiscal crisis reviving urban fears" »

Secretary of state: The case for Hillary Clinton
Hillary Clinton for secretary of state would be an inspired choice. Because of her years as first lady, very few Americans have more firsthand contacts with world leaders than Clinton. She is an extraordinary woman with an intellect and energy that she directs full throttle at everything she does. She received 18 million votes in the primaries. Obama and she split the popular vote. Millions of her supporters held their noses and voted for Obama only because they did not want another Republican in the White House. Hillary campaigned very hard for Obama and demonstrated that she is a team player. She’s ranked 68 out of 100 in terms of seniority in the Senate, where seniority means everything. It is now the right time for her to leave the Senate.
— Reba Shimansky, Manhattan

Giuliani’s run for office: Rudy never sees the light
Re “Don’t count out a Rudy run,” Nov. 17: Rudy Guiliani is contemplating another run for the White House and maybe governor of N.Y. What he should do is move to Alaska, along with Peter King of Long Island. They should settle down in an area where the sun doesn’t shine for three to four months, because these two will never see the light, no matter how hard they try.
— Michael Perez, Manhattan

Let the oil companies bail out the auto industry
If Detroit’s Big Three automakers go under, their epitaph will read: “Rust in Peace.” Let the oil companies bail them out, because after all, they are their best customers.
Herb Stark, Massapequa

By Jason Fink

The high-end call girl at the center of the scandal that brought down Gov. Eliot Spitzer will talk about her life in the business during a TV interview to be aired Friday.

Ashley Dupre’s tryst with Spitzer in a Washington hotel room in February was described in a federal affidavit as part of the case against her escort service, Emperor’s Club VIP.

Dupre sat down with Diane Sawyer of 20/20 in an interview that will air at 10 p.m.
In a press release, ABC said Dupre “speaks candidly about what life as a high-end escort is like, how an upper middle-class, girl next door got into the profession and the psychological journey she continues to experience.”

It does not say whether Dupre will discuss her most famous client, whose promising political career went down in flames this year when it was revealed he had been a customer of the pricey prostitution ring.

The public attention and criminal investigation of the escort service eventually forced Spitzer to resign March 12. On Thursday, federal prosecutors said they would not charge him criminally.

Four people pleaded guilty to running the prostitution operation.

By Jason Fink

MTA officials were in Washington today lobbying for bailout help for transit systems as speculation grew that the agency’s severe budget deficit next year would force the elimination of subway lines, among other nightmarish scenarios.

“The MTA is facing an enormous deficit that will not be closed with any easy
solutions,” Gov. David Paterson said in a statement.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority representatives met with Washington officials asking to be included in any future stimulus packages, said agency spokesman, Jeremy Soffin. They also joined their counterparts from 11 others transit agencies in asking the Treasury Department to guarantee $2 billion in lease deals previously backed by the failed insurance giant AIG.

Like other transit agencies, the MTA entered into deals in which it sold rail cars and other equipment to banks and then leased them back at a discount.

Soffin would not say how much money the agency has on the line as a result of the AIG-backed deals. He would only say that “our exposure is less than the others.”

Continue reading "MTA seeking bailout money from feds" »

By Lucy Cohen Blatter
lucy.blatter@am-ny.com

While cranberry sauce and stuffing are sure-fire hits on Thanksgiving, there are other simple side dishes that can turn a traditional meal into a sensational one. In the revised tenth anniversary edition of Mark Bittman’s “How to Cook Everything,” the New York Times columnist provides a list of “28 Crowd Pleasing Thanksgiving Side Dishes You May Not Have Considered.” Here, two unusual sides that are as easy as they are delicious.

CARROT SALAD WITH CUMIN

1 ½ pounds carrots, grated
Juice of 2 oranges
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon ground cumin, or more to taste
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Use the julienne disk of a food processor to cut the carrots into the fine shreds or cut into 1/8-inch slices.
2. Whisk together the juices, olive oil, and cumin; sprinkle with salt and pepper and pour the dressing over the carrots. Toss, taste and adjust the seasoning, and serve.

ALTERNATIVES

Beet salad with cumin: Cook the beets, peel, and slice. Substitute 1 clove garlic, minced, with the orange juice.

Whole baby carrot salad with cumin: Substitute 1 ½ pounds whole baby carrots for the grated carrots. Skip step 1. Trim the green tops and halve the carrots if they are on the big side (longer than 4 inches); steam or boil the carrots until barely tender (you want a bit of crunch here), then shock and pat dry. Proceed with the recipe.

Continue reading "Unusual turkey side dishes" »

Seven sites were designated as city landmarks Tuesday — including a "superblock" of three 30-story residential towers designed by famed architect I.M. Pei.

The so-called Silver Towers in Greenwich Village were completed in 1967 and are clustered around a sculpture modeled on a piece by Pablo Picasso. Two of the buildings are used for NYU faculty housing, and the third is a co-op apartment building.

“It’s widely known as one of the finest modern residential complexes in the city,” said Robert B. Tierney, chairman of the Landmarks Preservation Commission. “The configuration, style and park-like setting of the towers create an undeniable tension between the buildings themselves and the space they occupy.”

Other buildings that are now protected as landmarks are:

By Ben Muessig
Special to amNewYork

If you're craving fresh fall greens, you'd better act fast — the first frost marks the end of the season for most leafy veggies.
Cabbage is a hearty fall veggie, but it can't survive in freezing weather for long.
"Once it gets below 25 degrees, the fall greens get a little unhappy," said Nate King, one of the owners of Rexcroft Farms, which sells fruits, vegetables and meats at the greenmarkets around the city.
"We check the weather and if it's going to get cold, we take as much as we can out of the ground," he said.
Once it's out of the ground, this multi-purpose vegetable is perfect on the plate.
Try serving a side of cole slaw, a simple cabbage soup, a fiery Asian-style kimchi or an Irish-inspired meal corn beef and cabbage.
No matter how you serve it, cabbage is packed with fiber, vitamin C, potassium and manganese, and it's loaded with vitamins A, B6, calcium and iron.
Fresh heads of cabbage cost about $3.

Continue reading "What's in season: Cabbage" »

By Emily Ranager
Special to amNewYork

The city’s premier purveyors of fine food will offer various Thanksgiving packages.

FreshDirect will deliver complete Thanksgiving dinners to your door. Feasts for four-to-six ($149.99), eight-to-12 ($199.99) or 14-to -18 ($299.99) include a whole turkey, choice of four to five side dishes like maple-roasted yams with marshmallows and green beans with caramelized apples, choice of various types of stuffing, cranberry sauce, dinner rolls, gravy and choice of desserts. Order by Nov. 23 for delivery on Nov. 25 or 26. www.freshdirect.com

Continue reading "How to have the world's easiest Thanksgiving" »

By Lucy Cohen Blatter
lucy.blatter@am-ny.com

As delicious as it is, the Thanksgiving meal can be a pain to make. Luckily, the team at Everyday with Rachael Ray magazine has laid out strategies for conquering a previously impossible task: Putting together a Thanksgiving dinner in 60 minutes flat.

Spiced pumpkin mousse trifle. Courtesy of Everyday with Rachael Ray.

Continue reading "Thanksgiving dinner in a flash" »

These construction workers should have thought twice before trying to roll this gigantic spool of cable up the stairs.