Next time your car gets towed, make sure to give the driver enough cash to pay the extra toll.

"The Real World: Brooklyn" cast, from left to right, Devyn (holding dog Brooklyn), Sarah, Chet, Ryan, Baya, Katelyn, Scott and J.D. (RJ Mickelson/amNY)

By Julie Gordon

After months of outrage among Brooklyn bars, speculation and talk, "The Real World: Brooklyn" is finally premiering (Wednesday at 10 p.m. on MTV).

amNewYork recently talked to the eight castmembers and took a tour of the giant Red Hook loft the roommates shared (and got completely lost in the relatively isolated neighborhood where it stands).

Click here to read interviews with the crew and see their photos, plus take a virtual tour of the incredible space the Real Worlders called home.

Click here to read about which roommates are staying in New York — and who is living together in Stuyvesant Town!

Click here to read a Q&A with the executive producer about why MTV chose Brooklyn.

By Jason Fink

Even as New Yorkers are facing the possibility of a smaller police force and reduced fire services, the mayor’s office is boasting some of the highest salaries of any city agency, with nearly one in five of its staffers pulling in at least $100,000 a year.

At $71,626, Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s office pays one of the highest average salary of any major department, according to a government watchdog, the Empire Center for New York State Policy, which yesterday posted online a database of city workers’ pay.

“What would be surprising is if in one year — when the situation gets dire, as it’s supposed to — their salaries are still that high,” said Lorenzo Deras, 43, of midtown.
Currently, the city spends $24 billion — including health care and pension costs — on personnel, nearly half its $60 billion budget.

The billionaire Bloomberg, who makes $1 a year, has already asked all city departments to cut 7.5 percent from their budgets and may seek another 7 percent. He has proposed drastically reducing the next two police classes, closing health clinics and scaling back the hours of some fire companies.

However, some wonder if slashing salaries — including the six figure ones — should also be considered.

“You can’t reduce the budget meaningfully without reducing payroll,” said Councilman David Yassky (D-Brooklyn). “The entire city budget has gotten too big for the economy that we now have.”

A spokesman for the mayor, Marc LaVorgna, said the salaries in his office are deserved. “The mayor’s office, unlike other city agencies, is mostly managers who are responsible for overseeing all facets of city government,” he said.

Bloomberg has frozen manager pay increases for this year and vowed to cut his office’s nearly 600-member staff by 10 percent in the next 18 months.

Continue reading "Mayor's office paying big bucks to staffers" »

(Newsday/Audrey C. Tiernan)

The No. 2 subway line is the same crowded ride this year as it was last year, according to a survey released yesterday.
Riders gave the line a C this year, the same grade it earned last year.
They judged the line in 21 areas and credited the No. 2 for lack of graffiti, availability of MetroCard machines and easy-to-use turnstiles.
They gave the No. 2 the lowest grade for crowding during rush hour, which was also riders' top concern for improvement.
(Marlene Naanes)

The MTA and the transit workers union reached an impasse during contract negotiations and will enter into arbitration, MTA and union officials said yesterday.
The two sides have been working for months toward an agreement for a contract that would begin on Jan. 16, officials said. Neither would say how successful negotiations have been or what issues are left unresolved, but the MTA said in a statement the impasse stemmed from “complications associated with today’s current economic climate.”
During contract negotiations in 2005, the union called an illegal strike, which crippled the transit system for three days.
(Marlene Naanes)

Did you forget about Palestine, Mr. Mayor?
How presumptuous of the mayor to express his unconditional and unequivocal support for Israel’s aggressions in Gaza and actions against the Palestinian people in his official capacity as the mayor of the city of New York and on behalf of all of its citizens. While the spokesman for the mayor has said “the mayor represents people who sympathize with both sides,” the mayor’s actions speak much louder and show that he only represents the pro-Israeli lobby. If he truly represented all his constituents, he would have also visited Gaza and would have condemned Israel’s aggression in Gaza as well.
— Fardad Firooznia, Sparta, N.J.

Israel is suffering, too
I am surprised how you report about the military action Israel is conducting in Gaza. You show Gazans as an innocent population offended by cruel Israelis. You have never shown that Israel was forced to protect its civilians. You don’t mention that Israel started military action as self-defense. You as mass media must present real situations and not discriminate by your prejudice against Israel.
— Alex Litvak, Brooklyn

Accidental shooting should be prosecuted
Re “Hunter pleads not guilty to accidental shooting,” Jan. 5: I’ll be expecting charges for Vice President Cheney any day now.
— LaTanya Hagler, Brooklyn

A prankster dressed as Darth Vader joined a procession of Lutheran clergy in Iceland, and his costume almost fit in.

Hekima Hapa, left, and Ngozi Odita dress a model for a fashion show that the boutique owners hosted in November at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple in Fort Greene. (Jefferson Siegel)

A huge thanks to Harriet's Alter Ego for re-energizing the Park Slope/Prospect Heights stretch of Flatbush Avenue with its offbeat fashions. But alas, it has become the latest victim of the "very sick" (President-elect Barack Obama's words) economy. Snap up the boutique's trends for as little as $20 or $30 before it closes its doors on Jan. 10.

-- Emily Ngo

Jefferson Siegel sends along this image of a Popeyes Chicken shop on Delancey Street near Essex Street. Notice the sign. Jefferson asks: What would Mao say?

By Marlene Naanes and Emily Ngo

Michelangelo Franqui learned about the dangers of binge drinking last year when he woke up with his shins aching.

“My friends had to drag me up the stairs because I was passed out,” said Franqui, a 22-year-old from Corona, Queens, who has since sworn off heavy drinking.

And so Franqui wasn’t surprised at a city health department report released yesterday detailing just how dangerous binge drinking can be for New Yorkers — particularly when it comes to sex.

According to the report, heavy drinkers in the city tend to have more sex partners and are more likely to get sexually transmitted diseases. It’s a finding that common sense has long dictated: If you drink too much, you make poor decisions, including ones in bed.

“Everyone knows that moment when you wake up and regret what you’ve done,” Franqui said. “You just look at the person next to you in bed and regret it.”

According to the report, 15 percent of adult New Yorkers binge drink — defined as having five or more drinks in one sitting — at least once a month. In fact, a binge drinker is three times more likely than a nondrinker to have two to four sex partners in the past year, according to the health survey. Binge drinking men who have sex with other men are particularly at risk, doubling their likelihood of having five or more sex partners in the past year.

Continue reading "Report: alcohol fuels multiple sex partners, STDs" »

Mumbai's Bollywood is a fast-growing industry and New York City hopes to capitalize on some of that success. (Getty)

By Rebecca Wolfson
Special to amNewYork

New York is on a blitz for Bollywood bucks, but faces plenty of competition from neighboring cities also looking to woo the booming Indian film market.

In October, Katherine Oliver, the commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting, was in Mumbai to meet with Bollywood leaders, a trip that coincided with the opening of a city tourism bureau there.

“We thought it would be good to learn more about this growing market and bring their projects to our city,” Oliver said. Unfortunately for Oliver, Philadelphia’s film office is also on a mission to attract Indian films, as are a number of cities worldwide.

Continue reading "New York City sets sights on Bollywood" »

This guy has the courage to propose to his girlfriend on the court during a Houston Rockets game and then gets his heart broken in front of the crowd, mascot and basketball players.

Toppings at Daydream yogurt shop are one-of-a-kind concoctions. (Alison Joyce)

By Garett Sloane

Somewhere in Gwen Butler’s mind there is a cranberry doused in Grand Marnier. She thinks about passion-fruit caviar and how the juice-infused capsules would pop on the tongue.

Butler is obsessed with the next topping she might offer at her newly opened Daydream frozen yogurt parlor in the East Village.

“Sometimes you have to tell her when to stop,” says Gregori Pena, the chef at Daydream who is charged with executing Butler’s fantasies, which sometimes come to him via text message at 3:30 in the morning with missives like: “How about soaking the Craisins in a Grand Marnier syrup? To plump them.”

To stand out in the crowded fro-yo market, Butler developed the chef-driven yogurt concept that turns the simple craze into something more gourmet.

Continue reading "Daydream yogurt shop brings new flavors to city" »

By Jason Fink

Voters in Queens and Staten Island head back to the polls next month for special elections to fill three vacant city council seats.

An election will be held Feb. 24 for seats that were held by Joseph Addabbo (D-Howard Beach), Hiram Monserrate (D-East Elmhurst) and Michael McMahon (D-Staten Island).

Addabbo and Monserrate were elected to the state Senate while McMahon was elected to the House.

The Feb. 24 contest will be non-partisan. Regular primaries and general elections for four-year terms will be held in the fall.

The winners of next month’s election will serve until Dec. 31.

By Jason Fink

A “heartbroken” John Travolta and his wife, Kelly Preston, broke their silence today, two days after the sudden death of their teen-age son, Jett, expressing gratitude for an outpouring of support.

“Jett was the most wonderful son that two parents could ever ask for and lit up the lives of everyone he encountered,” the couple said in a statement. “We are heartbroken that our time with him was so brief. We will cherish the time we had with him for the rest of our lives.”

The Hollywood couple remained holed up in their townhouse at the Old Bahama Bay on Grand Bahama Island, where the 16-year-old was found dead Friday morning.

Officials have said that Jett apparently suffered a seizure, collapsed and hit his head on the bathtub.

Continue reading "John Travolta, wife, mourn son's death" »

Mayor Michael Bloomberg stands next to remains of rockets, fired from the Gaza Strip, displayed at the police station in Sderot. AP photo by Ariel Schalit

By Jason Fink

Mayor Michael Bloomberg made a surprise visit to Israel today, where he expressed unequivocal support for the nation’s military action in Gaza and had a close call with an incoming rocket.

Traveling with Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-Bayside), Bloomberg met with top Israeli officials as well as New Yorkers living in the town of Ashkelon. While touring a military building in Sderot, near the Gaza border, the mayor’s party was rushed to a shelter when a missile warning sounded. No one in the mayor’s party was hurt as rockets landed about a mile away.

Bloomberg was forceful in his defense of Israel, which yesterday moved ground forces into Gaza after days of air assaults, which the government says were a response to rocket attacks by Hamas.

“Governments have a responsibility to protect their citizens,” Bloomberg told CNN. “In New York City we would do nothing less than use all of our resources to keep you safe.

Arab and Muslim organizations condemned the remarks, accusing Bloomberg of ignoring the more than 500 killed in Gaza since the Israeli strikes began nine days ago.

Continue reading "Bloomberg, in Israel, shows support for Gaza strikes " »

Rick Warren shouldn’t give invocation at inauguration
Barack Obama’s civil rights blunder stands unchallenged by the rule of law. With no apology or change of heart by Obama, he invited Pastor Rick Warren, whose ministry preaches against equality before the law for gays and others under the guise of religiosity to give the invocation at Obama’s inauguration. Besides being yet another glaring argument for the principle that religion should be separated from government, Obama’s stance that he may legitimize and empower religious bigots by inviting the apostle of anti-gay bigotry is a giant step backward for civil rights and egalitarianism.
— Michael Meyers, executive director, New York Civil Rights Coalition, Manhattan