Urbanite

Eat like a king in Dutchess County

Monday August 31, 2009 6:34 PM By Karen Tina Harrison

Central Park picnics are nice. But for a real country dining getaway, city dwellers can’t beat Dutchess County.

This bucolic patch just three counties north of the Bronx exists in a time warp. It’s filled with historic mansions, Roosevelt family estates, old farms and horse stables.

Thanks to Dutchess’ agricultural heritage and proximity to NYC, a vibrant foodie scene has emerged. Area eateries and farmers markets are terrific, and farms have reinvented themselves as wineries, organic producers and boutique cheese makers.
Best of all, it’s an easy weekend getaway.

Hyde Park
Dutchess boasts the nation’s best chefs’ school: the stately, Hudson River-perched Culinary Institute of America (CIA). Gourmet options include tours, one-time Saturday classes and divine dining at five affordable, student-staffed eateries (ciachef.edu).
CIA’s American Bounty, which serves local ingredients such as Hudson Valley foie gras, is memorable.

Rhinebeck
This sweet Colonial-vintage village is a gustatory hot spot with a Sunday farmers market and excellent eats.

Gigi Trattoria
gigitrattoria.com
Gigi flaunts a flirty, fun atmosphere and Laura Pensiero’s perfectly prepared Italian dishes.

Arielle
ariellerhinebeck.com
For lunch, commandeer a sidewalk table and Mediterranean platter.

Burrito Truck
Hipsters head north a bit on Route 9G for the cheap, cheerful Burrito Truck.

Upstate Films
upstatefilms.org
This legendary repertory cinema screens its share of food-centric movies.

The Rhinecliff
therhinecliff.com
Music types dig the hotel’s Sunday Jazz Brunch

Dutchess County Wine Trail
dutchesswinetrail.com
Sip sensational dessert wines and Champagne-style sparklers in the antiques-filled barn/tasting room at Clinton Vineyards, owned by West Siders Ben and Phyllis Feder (clintonvineyards.com).

A few minutes down scenic Route 57, the Millbrook Vineyards & Winery offers tastings of its acclaimed pinot noir, cabernet franc and fruity white Tocai Friuliano. Millbrook’s Harvest Party is Oct. 10 (millbrookwine.com).

Near Poughkeepsie

Sprout Creek Farm
Sproutcreekfarm.org
If you’re a sucker for great cheese or adorable animals, this farm, near Poughkeepsie, is a done deal. At this nonprofit labor of love, a devoted crew raises sheep, cows and goats and hand-makes fabulous fromage from their milk. Visits include a cheese tasting and a peek at cute critters.

Big W’s Roadside Bar-B-Q
bigwsbbq.com
“Big W,” Warren Norstein, used to cook at Bouley and Chanterelle. Now he runs this stupendous BYOB  barbecue joint, where three or four can chow down for $25 on wood-smoked ribs with sides. On the eastern side of Dutchess, it’s an ideal stop on your way home.

Tags: Dutchess County

City targets block the box drivers in tix blitz

Sunday August 30, 2009 6:47 PM By Jason Fink

  
Bernardo Reyes didn’t mean to break the law.

The 48-year-old unemployed Queens resident was driving west on 34th Street recently when the car in front of him stopped short near the intersection of Lexington Avenue, causing him to stop in the crosswalk just as the light changed.

Two traffic cops were immediately on either side of him: One scanned his registration through the windshield, pulled him over and handed him a $115 summons.

“It’s a shakedown,” an angry Reyes later said. In less than two minutes, he had become the latest driver cited for “blocking the box.”

It’s an offense the city is now enforcing at more than 10 times the rate it did less than two years ago, before state legislation changed blocking the crosswalk from a moving violation to a parking infraction and empowered the city’s 2,800 traffic agents to dole out tickets.

The new regulation has caught bewildered drivers off guard and provided a financial boost for the city. Supporters say the ticket blitz has improved traffic flow, while skeptics wonder whether the ramped up enforcement has done any more than fill government coffers.

“I’ve heard too many stories from law abiding drivers about tickets they received after being in situations they have no control over,” said City Councilman Peter Vallone (D-Astoria).

Between July 1, 2008 and June 30 of this year, 120,879 summonses were given out, according to the NYPD, which began enforcing the new regulations last September.

Those tickets raked in more than $11 million for the city.

During the calendar year 2007, before the law was changed, 11,490 tickets were given out, according to the state Department of Motor Vehicles, with revenue from the $90 tickets split between the city and the state.

On a typical day, about 60 agents are assigned to intersections throughout the city with the task of catching people blocking the box, though none are give quotas, said James Huntley, president of the agent’s union, CWA Local 1182.

Some New Yorkers applaud the increased enforcement as a means to cut down congestion in the city.

“When you block the box you shut communities down,” said Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer.

A spokesman for Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who pushed for the new rules, predicted the number of tickets would fall as more people comply with the law.

"Anyone who’s been stuck at a green light understands the purpose of the change,” said the spokesman, Andrew Brent.

During a recent evening rush hour, traffic agents on 34th Street were citing drivers at a clip of about one every two or three minutes. Karin Lindner, of Westchester, was among those busted. She said she entered the intersection with a green light, only to get caught as two cars ahead of her made turns.

“It just creates a revenue stream for the city,” she said.

DJ AM's body released from morgue, will be flown to CA

Sunday August 30, 2009 5:17 PM By Marlene Naanes

The city medical examiner’s office released the body of DJ AM yesterday to a local funeral home to be prepared for burial, officials said.

While funeral plans were unclear yesterday, the remains of the celebrity disc jockey, who’s real name is Adam Goldstein, may soon be flown to California to be buried, according to TMZ.

It will likely take weeks for toxicology tests to determine exactly what killed Goldstein, 36, who was found dead in his SoHo apartment on Friday with a partially filled bag of crack, a crack pipe and prescription drugs laying around, authorities and published reports said. An autopsy performed Saturday was inconclusive.

A chilling interview about Goldstein’s upcoming MTV series on drug abuse was posted on MTV.com over the weekend, showing the DJ talking about how crack was his drug of choice. Goldstein said he started “freaking out” during an episode when he bought a crack pipe at a bodega to show how easy it is.

“I realized after I was holding it, my palms are sweating, and I said, ‘Wait a minute, this is not smart for me to be holding this,’” he said in the MTV News video. “There’s no better way for me to remember how low my bottom was than to see someone else at their bottom and offer them a chance out of it.”

Goldstein, who gained notoriety for his DJ skills and for relationships with celebrities like Mandy Moore and Nicole Richie, had struggled with addictions to crack and other drugs but said he had been  been sober for 11 years.

Goldstein was found in his bed, wearing only sweatpants, just before 5:30 p.m. Friday after a friend called 911 when the DJ didn’t answer his apartment door, police have said.

Travis Barker, who, with Goldstein, survived a plane crash that killed four others less than a year ago, spoke out Saturday night about his friend’s death. Goldstein reportedly was suffering from post-traumatic stress from the crash and was reeling from a recent break up.

“I'll never forget everything we've been thru and every time i play the drums i'll think of you,” he wrote on Twitter. “U were an amazing friend/DJ/human being…Rest In Peace my brother.”

 

Tags: DJ AM, body, dead, California

Looking for work? This week's events

Sunday August 30, 2009 5:05 PM By Lucy Blatter

Tuesday, Sept. 1: Career Fair

Location: Madison Square Garden, 4 Pennsylvania Plaza btwn 31st and 33rd sts.

Time: 2-6 p.m.

To register: Free, employmentguide.com

Tuesday, Sept. 1: One-Day Free Small Business Basic Training Session

Location: online course

Time: 9 a.m.

To register: Free, learning@dshandco.com, 914-595-4215

Tuesday, Sept. 1: High Speed Networking

Location: Galway Hooker Pub, 7 E 36th st. on fifth ave.

Time: 6:30-8:30 p.m.

To register: $20 members, $30 nonmembers, $35 at the door for all, adminnfp@networkingforprofessionals.com,

212-227-6556

Thursday, Sept. 3: Developing New Targets for Your Job Search

Location: CUNY Graduate Center, 365 fifth Ave. btwn 34th and 35th sts. 

Time: 6:30-8:30 p.m.

To register: $50,  contact Vincent Conte Ph.D at vconte613@cs.com or at 516-425-5456

Wednesday, Sept. 9: MBA Gate

Location: Library for the Performing Arts Amsterdam Entrance,

111 Amsterdam Ave. (64th St. and Amsterdam)

Time: 6-10 p.m.

To register: Register at ManhattanReview.com

Quirky work: 'Nitpicking' is her day job

Sunday August 30, 2009 4:56 PM By Marlene Naanes

Everyone knows Dalya Harel as a nitpicker, and, so far, that title has put six of her nine children through college.

Harel, 48, actually has been combing nits, a.k.a. lice eggs, from people’s heads at her home for 25 years. Her technique involves combing conditioner-laden hair—to keep the bugs and eggs in place — with an ultra-fine lice comb imported from Germany.

The Borough Park woman got into the lice business when her two eldest daughters’ school had continuous bouts with lice.

She started going into the schools, checking children’s heads and having the children who were infested sent to her home.

Ups and downs
Fortunately, this unusual career has given the mother-of-nine the ability to work from home.
“It’s an ideal job for a mother because I can be here, and if I can’t handle it I just say no,” she said.

But being a professional nitpicker is not without its drawbacks. Harel has gotten lice twice.
And a parent once gave her grief for cutting a child’s long hair so she could get the comb through more easily — even though she was given permission. After that, she never cut hair again.

Qualifications
To be a nitpicker, you must have good eyes and hands. You also need   to have a lot of patience to comb each head until it’s clean — which on average takes 30 to 40 minutes — and to gently deal with clients.

Career arc
Nitpicking is still an unusual business, but it’s become popular amongst Orthodox Jewish women in Brooklyn.

It began with a couple of women who, in accordance with kosher laws, were adept at picking small bugs out of grain and vegetables.

Now, there are several lice picking businesses, including Harel’s Lice Busters and Licenders.

The payout
Harel charges between $100 and $200 a head, depending on the case.

She charges more formore difficult cases, such as lice that originates from Israel or Europe, because those are tougher strains.

One client said the price is right, especially when other lice-ridding products didn’t work.
“I probably spent more money on products and dyeing my hair than on her $200,” said Emmanuelle D., 14, who got lice during a recent camping trip in France.
Harel won’t say how much she earns in a year, only offering that it is putting her kids through college, and “It’s enough to support my whole family nicely.”

Tags: Lice, getting rid of lice

Henican: Bloomberg should leggo his ego

Thursday August 27, 2009 8:05 PM By Ellis Henican

He’s the candidate of the Ego Party now.

Mike Bloomberg took a moment to cast his gaze upon the field of dreamers running to replace him at City Hall. And what exactly caught the mayor’s eye?

A whole lot of nothin’.

“I’m not running against anybody,” he declared.

Not anybody?

“I’m running on a record, and I’m trying to lay out the things I will do if given another opportunity.”

Opponents? Ha!

This one-man race, of course, came as something of a surprise to city Comptroller Bill Thompson, who thought he was running for mayor, too. In fact, Thompson’s been out making speeches, debating issues, raising money, snagging endorsements and doing all the other grunt work that running for political office normally entails.

“Mike Bloomberg’s claim that the Thompson campaign doesn’t exist is similar to his attitude towards 95 percent of New York City — they don’t exist to him,” huffed Thompson spokeswoman Anne Fenton.

Bloomberg’s self-centered assertion may carry a bit more weight in the case of Queens Councilman Tony Avella, who like Thompson is on the ballot for the Democratic primary Sept. 15, where the polls now put him 30 points back. And the mayor’s me-all-me analysis is technically accurate as it applies to U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, who was running but isn’t any more.

But it takes a rare bravado not just to dismiss one’s opponents but to suggest they aren’t even there.

For now, that’s the Bloomberg strategy. Sit out the Democratic primary. Run as an independent. Take a pass on Wednesday’s debate. Insist you didn’t even watch.
“I’m not going to face either of them in the [primary] election,” he said of Thompson and Avella.

“I’m going to answer the questions and say why I should deserve the opportunity to serve this public for four more years.”

As for his non-opponents?

“They’ve got to make the case that they’re not just political animals, that they are people who can do things and bring skills to the job and the right temperament.”

Whoever they may be.

E-mail ellis@henican.com
Follow him at twitter.com/Henican.

Rain likely at Jackson Brooklyn birthday bash

Thursday August 27, 2009 6:35 PM By Marlene Naanes

Michael Jackson fans may want to bring a poncho to the Brooklyn bash Spike Lee is throwing for the King of Pop’s birthday this Saturday.

There is an 80 percent chance of showers—with possible thunderstorms—during the Prospect Park fete, the National Weather Service predicted on Thursday.

However, park officials say the party will go on rain or shine, unless
severe weather erupts.

The free bash honors what would have been the singer’s 51st birthday, and will feature DJ Spinna playing MJ tunes to a video-screen montage at the Nethermead Meadow. Officials estimate at least 10,000 people will show up, depending on the weather.

“It’s going to just be how we do it, Brooklyn style—I’ll leave it at that,” Lee told The Root, a news Web site, earlier this month. “It’s going to be a joyous, festive, celebratory party.”

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz will declare Aug. 29 “Michael Jackson Day” at the event, which will run from noon to 5 p.m., culminating in singing “Happy Birthday” to the performer, who died on June 25.

Revelers will be allowed to arrive  beginning at 10 a.m. Park officials suggest people enter at the park’s Willink entrance off Flatbush Avenue at Empire and Ocean boulevards.

The closest train stop is the Q Prospect Park station.

Giveaway tables also will be at the party, though it is unclear if food or beverages will be sold and what other possible performers or events are on the agenda.

Spike Lee’s company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, did not offer any other details.

Food and beverages will be available nearby at the park’s Audubon Center and from vendors on Flatbush Avenue.

Open containers of alcohol are not allowed, which is a standard restriction at such events.

The NYPD did not elaborate on crowd-control efforts, but park officials said backpacks are subject to search.

 

Tags: jackson, brooklyn, birthday

MTA unveils quiet, cleaner bus on crosstown route

Thursday August 27, 2009 5:26 PM By Heather Haddon

 It's smooth, sleek and simply “revolutionary,” according to transit officials.

hhaddon@am-ny.com

Tags: MTA, bus

Poll: Voters annoyed by Bloomberg ad blitz

Wednesday August 26, 2009 7:06 PM By Jason Fink

A sad cost of living increase: Beer prices to rise

Wednesday August 26, 2009 6:23 PM By Heather Haddon

Drowning one’s sorrows with a cold one is about to get pricier.

Anheuser-Busch plans to charge more for its beers by the fall, according to a company spokesman. The maker of dozens of beers, including Budweiser, Michelob and Rolling Rock, will raise prices across the U.S. for the majority of its brands. The spokesman did not say by how much.

MillerCoors also plans to increase prices later this year, according to one published report.

Locally, Brooklyn Breweries will probably look at increasing prices next year, said its spokesman Ben Hudson. Hudson added that company didn’t raise prices this year.

In July, the price of alcoholic beverages in the New York metropolitan area increased by nearly 3 percent from July 2008, according to the Consumer Price Index. Nationally, beer increased by the most, followed by wine.

A six-pack of Budweiser currently costs $6.99 on one Lower East Side supermarket. Anheuser-Busch sales have fallen slightly this year, though the company reported a 13 percent increase profits in the second-quarter through cost cutting.

hhaddon@am-ny.com

Tags: beer, prices

For foodies: This week's dining briefs

Wednesday August 26, 2009 5:45 PM By Lizbette Ocasio-Russe

Sirloin/wine deal at Primehouse New York: Primehouse New York is offering a $21 special deal available for lunch and dinner from Sept. 8-30.The deal features a 28-day-aged 7-ounce double-cut sirloin with duck-fat hash browns. For a total of $40, guests can add a half-bottle of wine. 381 Park Ave. S., at 27th St.

Kevin Zraly launches fall ’09 wine course: If you adore wine and want to know everything about it, enroll in the Windows on the World Wine School, with famed wine expert Kevin Zraly. Classes will take place Monday evenings from 7-9 p.m. at the New York Marriott Marquis Hotel — 1535 Broadway, between 45th and 46th streets — from Oct. 5-Nov. 23. The course is $995 per person and includes all wine tastings, Zraly’s wine book and a diploma. Advance registration is required. To register call 845-255-1456  or visit kevinzraly.com.

Brooklyn Cheese Experiment: Compete with amateur chefs, making your favorite cheesy dishes at the Brooklyn Cheese Experiment, Sun., Sept. 13, from 1-5 p.m. Local home brewers will also be in on the festivities, putting their brews up against each other. A judging panel and the audience will pick their favorite dishes and award winners with cash and prizes. There’ll be an after-party too. Tickets in advance are $20 and include a beer from Sixpoint Brewery. Same-day tickets are $25. The Bell House, 149 Seventh St., Brooklyn

A Celebration of Summer Wine: Tonight, sample a variety of white, rosé, sparkling and red wines in Bacchus’ wine cellar while enjoying the musical stylings of The West Village Jazz Trio. Tickets are $39 per person and include a Riedel crystal stem glass for tasting and to take home. Attendees will also receive a 15 percent discount on store purchases during the event. It will run from 7-9 p.m. 2056 Broadway, btwn 70th and 71st sts., 866-811-4111

FiDi restaurant offers free grappa and apps: Ancora in the Financial District is offering complimentary appetizers and homemade grappa with dinner through the fall. Appetizers include a meat and cheese platter and spicy fried zucchini chips.  Homemade grappas are flavored with apricot or grapes, sambuca and annisette. 11 Stone St., 212-480-3880          (Lizbette Ocasio-russe)
 

Tags: Kevin Zraly, Windows on the World wine course, Ancora, Brooklyn Chese Experiment, Primehouse New York

Ordering from (way) off the menu

Wednesday August 26, 2009 5:24 PM By Ya-Roo Yang

Craig Hopson, chef at Le Cirque, reluctantly admits that Pasta Primavera, a concoction supposedly invented at the restaurant, is available upon request.

Diners at Trattoria Cinque can order a classic homestyle Lasagna. Chef Marco Canora talks about the excellent cheese that goes in the Cacio e Pepe at Insieme restaurant.  But neither of these dishes are on the menu.

Many savvy diners are catching on that the menu is only part of what a restaurant can offer, and you don’t have to be a BFF of the chef or restaurant owner to get something different.

For those wishing to get in on the secret, here is a guide to some of NYC’s off-the-menu items.

Always available
These dishes are available pretty much all the time, even though they are nowhere to be found on the menu.  All one needs to do is ask. What you pay may depend on how the ingredient’s availability. 

Aldea
31 W. 17th St.
212-675-7223
Chef George Mendes will make a Bacalahau a bras ($19), a rustic scrambled egg dish with salted cod and crispy potatoes folded over olives and coriander, if asked.

Aretsky’s Patroon
160 E. 46th St.,
212-883-7373
Items like Lobster Club Sandwich ($32), Kobe Hot Dog (price depending on availability), Deviled Eggs ($17) and Scrambled Eggs (Price depending on added ingredients) can be had upon request.

Braeburn Restaurant
117 Perry St.,
212-255-0696
Chef Brian Bistrong cooks a steak dish with fries ($28) on request.

Fatty Crab UWS
2170 Broadway
212-496-2722 
Three items are available on request at the Upper West Side location: Crispy Fried Pig Face w/ pickled sambal, sunny side egg, Chinese celery and cured lemon ($16);  "Ode to Fatty Cue" - Heritage's pork ribs, smoked palm sugar, herbs, chili and ginger ($16) and Curried New Zealand Mussels w/ Vietnamese mint and brisket floss ($16).     

Insieme Restaurant
777 7th Ave.,
212-582-7932
The restaurant’s access to great cheese makes it an easy feat to satisfy requests for simple pasta dishes like Cacio e Pepe (pasta with cheese and peppers, price available on request)

The Red Cat
227 Tenth Ave.
212-242-1122
Bacon tempura ($11), while not on the menu, is a cult classic among regulars of this Chelsea restaurant.

Spina Restaurant
175 Avenue B,
212-253-2250‎
Those who crave Pasta Carbonara ($14) can always request it at this East Village restaurant. 

Table 8
25 Cooper Sq.,
212-475-3400 
Chef Govind Armstrong offers a salt-roasted Porterhouse (price depends on the weight) for two by request and served tableside.

Trattoria Cinque
363 Greenwich St.,  
212-965-0555
A classic signature lasagna ($18) is available by request at this new TriBeCa eatery.

Vai Restaurant
255 West 77th St.,
212-362-4500,
Diners in the know ask for the Mascarpone Risotto with Shaved Prosciutto ($18).
 
Only Seasonally
Sometimes knowing what ingredients are in season can help you get that dish that no one else has. Many chefs get their creative juices flowing when inspired by beautiful seasonal ingredients.

Andre (inside Opia Restaurant)
130 East 57th St.,
212-688-3939 
During the summer season, vegetarians can request a Vegetable Melange of marinated black prince tomatoes, local sugar snap peas, summer squash and sweet pea risotto  (price depends on season). Diners are encouraged to check for other off-the-menu items.

Jo's
264 Elizabeth St.,
212-966-9640 
Chef Ian Topper-Kapitan offers guests a seasonal off-the-menu grilled watermelon snack ($13) which skewers watermelon cubes with Serrano ham and truffle oil.

Anything Goes
At these restaurants, the chefs are happy to create any dish that suits the diner’s fancy within reason. However, diners are advised to give the restaurant kitchen ample warning when asking for items off-the-menu. Those with expensive tastes may want to remember that the price of dinner in this case depends on what and how many courses the palate fancies.

Allegretti Restaurant
46 W. 22nd St.,
212-206-0555
As long as it’s Provence related and the ingredients are available, Chef Alain Allegretti can accommodate any dining desires.

Aureole
135 W. 42nd St.,
212-319-1660
Chef Christopher Lee recently created an entirely vegan menu for actor Toby Maguire.

Gramercy Tavern
42 E. 20th St.,
212-477-0777
“We do this sort of thing on a daily basis based our guest's requests,” said Michael Anthony, chef at Gramercy Tavern.  

Yerba Buena
23 Ave. A, NYC
(212) 529-2919
“I love cooking on the spot,” says Julian Medina, chef at Yerba Buena. Pretty much any Latin based dishes can be had as long as the ingredients are available. Examples are huitlacoche enchiladas with tomatillo salsa and Mexican ricotta and huitlacoche corn cakes with chorizo and corn. 


If you bring it, we’ll cook it
Sometimes diners will bring ingredients and ask the chefs to cook them.
Kerry Hefernan, chef at South Gate once received a request for a classic Coquille St. Jacque, a French creamy scallop dish.

He told the customer that if he brings him the freshest scallops, he would make it. The customer ended up bringing scallops caught off the coast of Long Island.

The story is not that uncommon. “Customers bring in game and meat all the time and ask us to cook it,” said Christopher Lee of Aureole. Those wishing to try this may want to check with their favorite restaurant, it may be against food safety codes in some instances to cook meats not purchased by the restaurant.

Decidedly On the Menu
Just as many restaurants offer Off-the-Menu items, many other restaurants will only offer what is ON the menu. On a recent trip to Babbo in the West Village, a diner was overheard telling his server that his pasta was undercooked. Hearing that, a woman nearby  asked if her pasta could be cooked to more tenderness. The answer from the server was an unequivocal “no”. The kitchen has a guideline to how things are cooked, and they do not waver from the guideline. Judging from that exchange, it would be apparent that diners looking for off-the-menu items may have to look somewhere other than Babbo. 

 

Tags: off-the-menu foods

Obama's youth base lags in health care fight, but momentum building

Tuesday August 25, 2009 8:56 PM By Emily Ngo

They turned out en masse to propel President Barack Obama to victory last year, but young voters now have turned lethargic on his latest challenge — health care reform.

“It definitely can be said that young people aren’t excited about health care; it’s not as glamorous as the campaign,” said Mika Rothman, 21, an NYU senior and Obama supporter. “It’s not necessarily something that affects us on a day-to-day basis.”

The fact that the 18-29 voting bloc is more likely to be in good health could be keeping it away from this issue, experts said.

“There’s a dichotomy,” said Steve Behar, a City Council candidate who volunteered for Obama’s presidential campaign. “I’m encountering that dichotomy every day. I speak with seniors and they’re so concerned about health care but young grassroots leaders are more concerned with other issues.”

In the face of aggressive and effective opposition at town halls and on airwaves, Obama is struggling to sell his ambitious overhaul. The president’s key to success, many said, could be an untapped grassroots force. The White House’s Organizing for America network reportedly has a list of 13 million e-mail addresses.

During the election, volunteers worked phones, knocked on doors and crossed state lines to sell Obama. These tactics could work again for health care reform, many said.

“I don’t think it’s that people aren’t interested, it’s that they’re unsure of what they can actually do to get legislation passed,” said Leah Martin, 21, a recent Columbia University graduate who suggested reform proponents tour colleges to educate on health care.

Some in New York are stepping up efforts to boost Obama’s initiative. Three weeks in the making, Organizing for America and grassroots groups have planned a health insurance reform rally Saturday at 2 p.m. in Times Square. Across the U.S., about 2,000 similar rallies and bus tours are set to begin today and will continue through Labor Day. But the administration and supporters could be too late with this push.

“They have to hit this with all the power they had during the election,” said Gigi Khadivian, a 27-year-old Obama supporter from Brooklyn. “The Republicans are fighting. This is their rallying point and they’re doing a really good job. I think it’s obvious that the administration and Obama’s supporters were caught off guard by this.”

Tim Foley, a coordinator for grassroots NYC for Change, also behind the Times Square event, said educating voters on the convoluted bill, still being hashed out by Congress, is the priority. His group has been hosting house parties and phones since the winter. “Confusion, intimidation. I think that’s a larger aspect of why some people do not get involved.”
 
“Some folks may have thought because there’s a Democratic Congress and because we elected President Obama that he would just take care of it, but many other people believe it would take movement,” said Foley, who blogs on health care on Obama’s Change.org Web site. “That level of empowerment will make all the difference in the world.”

The crucial younger demographic must also be on board, some said.

“They will be affected eventually,” said Lamont Carolina, 25, of Brooklyn, a former Obama field organizer with a heavy hand in Saturday’s rally. “At one point or another in our lives we will all be affected by this issue.”

Jason Fink contributed to this story.

Tags: New York City, President Barack Obama, Times Square, health care

Police target Chinatown buses in towing spree

Tuesday August 25, 2009 7:22 PM By Marlene Naanes

The NYPD went on a towing spree after residents and officials made countless complaints about Chinatown bus companies using city bus stops and restricted parking areas as their personal depot.
The police towed 11 buses in the Chinatown area and doled out 63 summonses on Aug. 14, 20 and 21, authorities said. The stepped-up enforcement occurred immediately after an amNewYork cover story highlighting how the bus companies illegally clog up the city streets.
“The ultimate answer is we need to create a Lower Manhattan bus management plan,” said Councilman Alan Gerson, who represents the area and raised the problem of the often bus-packed South Street with city transportation officials two days before the crackdown.
The amNewYork story exposed a Chinatown bus company that owed the city $136,000 in parking fines, making it the city’s third largest scofflaw. Three buses from that company, New Century Travel, were towed in the recent enforcement spree, including one that owes $1,715.
It is unclear which companies own the other eight buses, and not all 63 summonses were given to the 11 buses towed, officials said.
New Century will have to pay about $485 to retrieve each bus, said company employee Bill Li. He said he did not know whether the company also would have to pay overdue parking fines to get the buses back.
“It’s way overdue...This cannot be a one-time thing,” Susan Stetzer, district manager for Manhattan’s Community Board 3, said of the towing effort.
Transportation officials vowed enforcement would continue.
“We will continue to work with the NYPD and the local community to address this issue on an ongoing basis,” a spokesman said in a statement.
 

Tags: chinatown bus, tow

Report: Michael Jackson's sister knew he was killed

Tuesday August 25, 2009 6:56 PM By Marlene Naanes

La Toya Jackson said yesterday that the coroner’s ruling confirmed what she believed: that her brother was killed.

The Los Angeles County coroner ruled the death a homicide and records showed that Michael Jackson died from a lethal dose of the anesthetic propofol, administered by his physician, Dr. Conrad Murray.

“I am thankful to the investigators for uncovering the truth to the world, and I look forward to the day that justice will be served to all the parties involved in my brother’s homicide,” she told ABC News yesterday.

Meanwhile, Murray’s attorney, Ed Chernoff, criticized a search warrant that detailed the slew of medications Jackson received in the hours before the fatal dose of propofol.

Chernoff said much of the warrant was true but also consisted of “police theory,” according to a statement posted to his law firm’s Web site.

“Most egregiously, the timeline reported by law enforcement was not obtained through interviews with Dr. Murray, as was implied by the affidavit,” the statement said.

The warrant listed the times Murray is alleged to have given Jackson several sedatives and propofol. The document also said Murray left Jackson’s room shortly after the singer fell asleep at 10:40 a.m. on June 25, something Chernoff said Murray never told investigators.

As the investigation into the singer’s death continues, the tributes continue to rack up. The Apollo Theater will posthumously induct Jackson into its Legends Hall of Fame during a gala next year.

The singer began his career on the famed theater’s stage in 1967, when the Jackson 5 won an amateur night. Jackson will also receive a plaque on the theater’s  planned walk of fame.

A tribute wall where fans have scrawled messages to the singer will also be placed in the theater’s archives, according to a statement from the Apollo.

 

Tags: michael jackson, killed

Where to shop for authentic ethnic eats

Tuesday August 25, 2009 6:17 PM By Nancy J. Brandwein

When trying to duplicate the wonderful ethnic dishes available in restaurants across the city, one can easily feel intimidated by all the strange ingredients that are required.

Madhur Jaffrey tells you to procure kalunji for an Indian pickled eggplant dish. Marcella Hazan requires you to find dried Porcini mushrooms for Risotto coi funghi secchi, and Penelope Casas says your Alicante paella won’t be palatable without Spanish butifarra sausage.

Fortunately, Manhattan is as full of ethnic grocery stores as it is eateries, sometimes offering a delectable combo of the two.

Kalustyans
123 Lexington Ave., 212-683-8458, kalustyans.com
While located in Curry Hill, this aromatic wonderland began as a small Armenian spice shop and has evolved to become one of the country’s most comprehensive retailers/wholesalers of international specialty foods, counting NYC’s top chefs among its clientele. Buy spices in small packets — so they’ll stay fresh — such as 4 oz. of black onion seed (kalunji!) for $6.99. A veritable wall-o-dal features every possible legume, from chana dal to French flageolet. The upstairs café serves excellent Middle Eastern goodies, such as the basterma & labney sandwich (Armenian air-dried beef and yoghurty cream cheese).

Bangkok Center Grocery
104 Mosco St.,  212-732-8916 
This small, uninspiring-looking shop’s main virtue is owner Nong Premjit who is full of tips on what to do with that $1.50 bundle of lemon grass, $2.75 piece of galangal or how to soak your rice stick noodles (1 hour in cold water for Pad Thai).

Buon Italia
75 Ninth Ave. (in Chelsea Market), 212-633-9090, buonitalia.com
With groceries layered in piles on the floor, Buon Italia looks like a warehouse, albeit a very upscale one. Their philosophy: few labels, but only the best, which means only one brand of dried artisanal pasta, Setaro, or San Marzano canned tomatoes, La Valle. Still, everything you need to follow in Marcella Hazan's footsteps here. Unusual find: a 5 kilo container of Nutella for $69.95.

Despaña
408 Broome St., 212-219-5050, despananyc.com
This pristine, well-appointed shop has only been open for 3-1/2 years but has garnered a devoted following due to copious samples of Spanish meats, cheeses and oils, and its pintxos — bite size Basque specialties such as a croquette of Serrano ham and béchamel  ($3.50). Pick up a jar of savory, Mojo Verde, a green pepper sauce ($7.95) that’s great spread on a sandwich with Majorero cheese.

Katagiri
224 E. 59th St., 212-838-5453, katagiri.com
Sure, you can pick up your nori wrappers, bento boxes and ten pound bags of sticky rice at any M2M chain, but this 100-year old Japanese grocery store has personality, not to mention fresher-looking rice balls, tempura “lollipops” (2 for $1.10), a tiered display of inscrutable desserts and a huge freezer full of every possible gyoza or shumai, not to mention thin slices of Berkshire pork belly ($11.80/lb), the money cut for noodle soups.

Myers of Keswick
634 Hudson Street 212-691-4194, myersofkeswick.com
Catering to homesick British ex-pats, this sweet 37-year-old shop is filled to the brim with exorbitantly priced packaged goods such as a box of Wheetabix ($8.95), Hob Nobs, Marmite, Ribena and Fairy Liquid. However, the fresh-made-daily meat and veg pies were pronounced “quite good” by my British husband and, at $3.95 for steak & kidney and $3.50 for pork and Wensleydale cheese, “not too dear.”

Kam Man Food Products
200 Canal St., 212-571-0330
Do your one-stop shopping on the cheap at this Chinese supermarket, the first on the East Coast. Upstairs are sacks of dried fish and fungus as well as burnished roast duck bits, noodles, snacks and aisles of sauces, such as black rice vinegar, crucial for dumpling dipping (Kam Man’s own potstickers fill a freezer case). Bowls and kitchen implements are downstairs, but it’s smelly; get your Chinese crockery at Pearl River instead.


Find Lebanese brain food in Brooklyn

Charlie Sahadi, owner of 100-year-old Mideastern specialty store, Sahadi’s Specialty & Fine Foods, remembers being served za’atar pitas before school because the unique Mideastern spice mixture was believed to “wake up your brain.” Sahadi’s sells one pound bags of Lebanese za’atar for $4.25, which will last “forever” if you freeze it. Za’atar combines dried thyme, oregano, marjoram, sesame and salt plus the brain-waking ingredient, sumac, which gives it its characteristic slightly sour tang.

Wake up your sluggish summer brains by preparing simple za’atar pitas as follows:

Preheat oven to 350. Using a serrated knife, cut around the edges of two pitas, so you get four rounds. Mix several teaspoons of za’atar with several tablespoons of olive oil until you get something spreadable. Use a spoon to spread the mixture on the rough (inside) pita rounds and put in the oven for ten minutes.

Sahadi’s Specialty & Fine Foods 187 Atlantic Ave., 718-624-4550, sahadis.com
 


 

Tags: Sahadi, Kalustyan, ethnic stores

Latest injury stings weary Mets fans

Tuesday August 25, 2009 6:12 PM By Jason Fink

An already unbearable season for Mets has sunk to a new low.

After an epidemic of injuries that has sidelined all their offensive stars, off-the-field distractions and shoddy play by their back-ups, the team announced Tuesday what is likely the final nail in the coffin: Ace pitcher Johan Santana will have elbow surgery and miss the rest of the season.

“I’ve been watching baseball for 20 years and I've never seen anything like this,” said Anthony DeRosa, founder of the fan Web site Hotfootblog.

Santana, 30, whose $137.5 million, six-year contract is one of the richest in the game, had been among the few bright spots left on a team that is 16 games out of first place and whose roster has been shredded by injuries.

The news about Santana, who has been pitching with discomfort since early July, had some fans looking to place blame.

“Is there a problem with the trainers on the team that they don't have these guys in game shape?” said Joe Pietaro, editor in chief of New York Sportsscene magazine.

General manager Omar Minaya told reporters yesterday that Santana’s elbow problems did not seem serious until now.

“Up until his last start, it was something that he was able to pitch with,” Minaya said during a news conference.

Matt Pignataro, founder of the blog SevenTrainToShea, said it’s better to lose Santana now and get him back healthy next spring.

“This season is basically lost,” he said. “I don't know what it is - maybe there’s a jinx on Citi Field.”

Senate to consider MTA chief appointment shortly

Tuesday August 25, 2009 5:47 PM By Heather Haddon

The state Senate will discuss Gov. David Paterson’s nominee for the new MTA chief on its first day back in session, said Austin Shafran, spokesman for Democratic Senate President Malcolm Smith.

Last month, Paterson nominated Walder, a former MTA executive and manager of London's transit system, as the agency's CEO and chair, a new merged position.
Prior to the confirmation, the Senate will hold joint public hearings on Walder in Long Island and Harlem, Shafran said.

Senate sources believe Walder is a shoe-in for the job because of his extensive work experience.

Transit advocates have gunned for a quick confirmation of Walder, arguing that important decisions have floundered without a permanent director.

“(MTA riders) simply cannot afford to have the installation of new leadership stalled,” transit advocates wrote to the Senate.

hhaddon@am-ny.com

Tags: nyc, mta, jay walder

Patsy's Pizzeria celebrates 76th anniversary with bargain prices

Tuesday August 25, 2009 2:17 PM By Lucy Blatter

On Wednesday, East Harlem landmark Patsy's Pizzeria, will celebrate its 76th anniversary with Great Depression prices. From 11 a.m.- 4 p.m., a pizza wil be 60 cents, a 12 oz. steak will be 90 cents and a can of soda wil be 10 cents.

Patsy¹s Pizzeria is located at 2287-91 First Ave., btwn East 117th and 118th sts.

 

Rachel and Hayden's romantic NYC weekend

Tuesday August 25, 2009 2:03 PM By Julie Gordon

After Rachel Bilson was spotted without her engagement ring a few weeks ago, gossip flew about whether Bilson’s engagement to actor Hayden Christensen was on the rocks. Well, it sure didn’t seem that way this past weekend.

The couple spent a cozy couple of days at the W Union Square, and looked “very much in love,” a spy at the hotel told us.

“They kept it low-key,” said the source, adding that Bilson, 28, and Christensen, also 28, spent most of their brief getaway inside the hotel.

Tags: Celebrities, Hayden Christensen, Rachel Bilson

Coroner: Michael Jackson's death homicide, drug-induced

Monday August 24, 2009 7:07 PM By Marlene Naanes

Michael Jackson’s death was a homicide, the Los Angeles County coroner has ruled.

A lethal dose of an illegal anesthetic administered by his doctor killed the King of Pop on the morning of June 25, according to a report and documents released yesterday.

The coroner’s determination increased the likelihood that  Dr. Conrad Murray, would be brought up on criminal charges, according to the Associated Press.

It is unclear when authorities will determine if charges will be leveled against the doctor.

Murray delivered a cocktail of drugs to the singer throughout the morning of his death, topping off the mix with the lethal, 25-milligram dose of propofol, according to a search warrant released yesterday.

Murray told investigators that he had been treating Jackson for insomnia with nightly intravenous doses of the anesthetic, which is approved for surgery but not home use, according to the warrant.

He had become worried that the singer was becoming dependent on the drug and started weaning him off, at first withholding the drug and administering several others on the day Jackson died, according to the warrant.

However, the singer complained he could not fall asleep and demanded propofol. At 10:40 a.m., the doctor administered a dose and left the room to use the bathroom.

“Upon his return, Murray noticed that Jackson was no longer breathing,” according to the warrant, which was used to raid the doctor’s Houston office.

Reaction was swift yesterday to the release of the findings. Jackson’s family said it placed its “full confidence” in the investigators.
 
"The family looks forward to the day that justice can be served," said Ken Sunshine, Jackson family rep.

While the document and the coroner’s ruling clears up how Michael Jackson died, it is unclear how the propofol was obtained.

Authorities did not find any evidence that Murray bought or obtained the drug under his medical license, but police found bottles of the drug and others prescribed by Murray, Dr. Arnold Klein and Dr. Allan Metzger, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The anesthetic was also found in Murray’s medical bag. Murray has been the target of the Los Angeles Police Department manslaughter investigation.





 

Tags: Michael Jackson, death, homicide, drug

MTA looks for a cut from mobile phone applications

Monday August 24, 2009 7:06 PM By Heather Haddon

The MTA wants in on the iPhone application action.

The agency is cracking down on computer programmers who use the agency's travel data for mobile phone applications. The programs, such as StationStops and theNextTrain, allow users to download train schedules to view while they’re underground.

Chris Schoenfeld, for example, said he was told to stop selling his Metro North application after he balked at the MTA’s demands for a $5,000 licensing fee plus royalties earlier this month. Apple hasn’t responded yet to the MTA’s request to remove the program, which has sold 3,000 copies, Schoenfeld said.

“It just infuriates me. They've tried to crush a small business,” said Schoenfeld, 42, a former Yahoo engineer.

MTA officials contend the agency deserves a cut if developers rake in money from the apps, which cost about $3 each. The agency provides the data for free to developers of applications that don’t cost anything, said MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan.

The MTA offers schedules on phones with Internet access through its Trip Planner page on mta.info, and optimized its entire Web site last year for mobile devices. The MTA now receives 1.5 million hits a month from handheld devices , Donovan said.

“The site has a lot of the same benefits as these other applications,” he said.

In a news release last year, the MTA stated that it would make scheduling data available to programmers to develop new “customer-focused services in the future.” Software writers had a rude awakening when they realized it would not be free.

“This is fact-based information, just like what's in a phone book,” said Jehiah Czebotar, 28, of Manhattan, who is fighting to keep selling a LIRR application.

Nearly 40 transit agencies in the U.S.- including the systems in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and Boston - have released the information for developers to freely use through a Google transit feed. Many of the agencies argue that it drives ridership and relieves them of the burden of creating on-line applications.

A City Council bill under consideration would require all local agencies to make their data available in a format useable to programmers, and the mayor's office is sponsoring a competition for developers to make the best application for city data.

“Why isn't that train data available? The public needs this,” said Samuel Wong, a technology aide for City Councilwoman Gale Brewer (D-Manhattan).

Transit info on the go:
CityTransit, iTrans: Both provide service advisories, walking directions and schedules for the subways
Exit Strategy NYC: Guides users to the subway car that lines up with the closest exit in their station

hhaddon@am-ny.com

Tags: nyc, mta, subways

Paterson digs in, again charges racism in coverage

Monday August 24, 2009 6:47 PM By Jason Fink

Even as the news gets worse for Gov. David Paterson, he has continued to dig in his heels over comments he made suggesting racial bias is at play in the negative media coverage he has received.

In an interview that surfaced Monday — just days after a radio appearance in which the governor asserted that criticism of him shows America is “not in the post-racial period” — Paterson blasted the media for “trying to control the politics.”

‘There are some folks in the media who think that it’s alright to racially stereotype,” he told the Web site Borrero Report. “Part of what I feel is that one very successful minority is permissible, but when you see too many success stories then some people get nervous.”
 

A Siena poll released Monday showed the governor with his lowest approval ratings since taking office last year. Just 19 percent of voters surveyed gave him positive marks, with 78 percent having a negative view.

It is unclear whether Paterson’s lashing out at the media is a political strategy or simply frustration.
 

“Team Paterson is making a big mistake,” said Joe Mercurio, a Democratic consultant. “He’s lucky the (Siena) poll was taken before his interview on the race charge.”
 

A spokeswoman for Paterson declined to comment.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg defended Paterson, saying his unpopularity can be attributed to the economy.
 

“You get, sometimes, very frustrated when you’re trying to get your message out and the press isn’t focused on that,” Bloomberg said.
 

Meanwhile, in an unusual move, the White House has again disavowed Paterson’s remarks on Friday linking his own troubles to critics of President Barack Obama’s health care plan and suggested both were motivated by racism.

“There’s an old political adage,” said Helen Desfosses, a professor public policy at SUNY Albany. “‘When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.’”
 

Love hummus? Go to Union Square on Sunday!

Monday August 24, 2009 5:29 PM By Lucy Blatter

On Sunday, Aug. 30, Union Square Park will be transformed into an outdoor Mediterranean Café thanks to Sabra Hummus.

Colombe Jacobson of “The Next Food Network Star” will be on hand cooking up fun recipes, and "Hummus Sundaes" will be passed out.

Sabra’s newest flavors — red pepper and artichoke flavors will be available.
 

London food scene keeps maturing

Monday August 24, 2009 5:23 PM By Tina Benitez

Sausage rolls, copious amounts of mash and peas and fish and chips have clouded most American perceptions of British cuisine for years.

Still culinary staples for Brits, London has moved beyond its “unfussy” eats (of course, if you want mash, there’s plenty to go around) and become one of the premier dining destinations in the world with 49 Michelin-star restaurants and food representing almost every culture (the Indian food is particularly outstanding).

“Ten years ago, we didn’t have the best reputation for food,” said Jacqueline French, senior spokesperson for VisitLondon tourism, “but the food culture has become more popular in London with more restaurants pushing themselves with more locally-grown and organic food.”

In anticipation of London’s first-ever Restaurant Week this October, here are three spots to visit for affordable dishes anytime of year.
   
Daddy Donkey Kick-Ass Mexican Grill
100-101 Leather Lane Market
Cheap leather handbags and belts, clothes, produce and more fill the market-soaked street of Leather Lane. In the midst of it all sits the Daddy Donkey Mexican Grill. First opened in 2005, the hut, which often has one of the longest lunchtime queues in existence, offers up traditional-style Mexican eats and outdoor seating. Owner Joel Henderson, who studied in Mexico, offers up a simple menu of tacos, burritos or bowls full of chicken, tomatillo beef, carnitas (slow-cooked pork), steak, vegetarian or picadillo, a ground scotch beef with herbs and spices. First-time visitor? Bite into the Daddy D burrito stuffed with six fillings of your choice. Hours of operation: Mon -Wed, 11am-2.30pm; Thur-Fri., 11am-3pm.

Moro
34 - 36 Exmouth Market
Just a10-minute walk from Leather Lane, Moro’s cuisine is one part Spanish, the other part North African. All ingredients on the menu, which changes each week, are imported or locally grown at London’s Manor Garden. There, patrons can find unique herbs, spices and vegetables like purslane, Sherry by the glass and Moro’s charcoal-grilled chicken, lamb or varied fish most days. Moro is open Mon. through Fri. 12:30-2:30 for lunch and 7:00-10:30 for dinner; tapas are also served daily.

Beatroot
92 Berwick St.
Vegetarians won’t feel left out in London. Take the train to Piccadilly Circus and pick up a salad or hot meal like mushroom and lentil dhepherd’s pie with the mash of the day at Beatroot in SoHo. Organic and eco-friendly, all food is prepared fresh daily and is served by the carton—small, medium or large—starting at a modest 3,90 Euro. Open Mon. – Sat. 9am-9pm.

Restaurant Week: October 8-13
Fixed-priced dishes for as little as 10 Euro, grand openings and a mini film fest are all part of the first, official London Restaurant Week this October. More than 400 participating restaurants throughout the city will offer up meals at a discount during the weeklong event. As part of the week’s festivities, a traditional Sunday Big Roast on Oct. 11 in Leadenhall Market (Whittington Ave.) will showcase various restaurant dishes. The one-day event, Eat Film, produced in conjunction with British Film Institute, will allow guests to enjoy six films at select theaters, followed by a meal based on the movie. An Italian feast following Goodfellas or a meaty, Spanish dish after the Javier Bardem-Penelope Cruz flick Jamon, Jamon. The week will be sprinkled by restaurant awards for chefs, food and restaurants that have made a contribution to the city’s culinary culture. “We hope this will encourage people try out restaurants they haven’t been to before or were out of their price range,” said Jacqueline French.

For more information, visit, http://www.visitlondon.com/londonrestaurantfestival.


 

Wanna get away? New travel deals

Monday August 24, 2009 3:30 PM By Lucy Blatter

Three for Free: From Sept. 8 to Dec. 18, 18 Hyatt resorts are offering the Three for Free package, which includes a free night, a one-category room upgrade and breakfast for two daily. Participating resorts include the Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay Golf Resort, Spa and Marina; Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort and Spa; and Hyatt Regency Scottsdale Resort and Spa at Gainey Ranch. Stay lengths vary by property.
To book visit hyatt3forfree.com.

Orlando resort vacation: Enjoy the magic of Disney this fall with the $339 package at the Mystic Dunes Resort & Golf Club. The deal includes four days and three nights in a one-bedroom villa and two Multi-Day Park Tickets to your choice of Walt Disney World Orlando theme parks or Universal Orlando Resort theme parks.
Book by visiting allaccessvacations.com or by calling 866-758-6693.

Las Vegas for less: Choose from a number of Las Vegas hotels, with rates starting at $356 for three nights and round-trip airfare. Hotels include Sahara Las Vegas, Binion’s Gambling Hall & Hotel and Four Queens Hotel. Prices are based on double occupancy and vary by dates of travel, availability and departure city. Travel now through Sept. 10.
Book by Sept. 7 at expedia.com or by calling 800-551-2409

Cancun hotel and airfare deals: It’s not too late to catch the last rays of the summer. Stay four nights in one of many Cancun hotels available starting at $470, including round-trip airfare. Hotels include Oasis Cancun All Inclusive, Grand Oasis Viva Beach All Inclusive and Blue Bay Club Cancun All Inclusive. Book by Aug. 31 and travel through Sept. 7. Changes and cancellations can be made with no fees. Prices are based on double occupancy, vary by dates of travel, availability and departure city.
To book visit expedia.com or call 800-551-2409.

Royal Caribbean Cruise discounts: Book your five-day Royal Caribbean cruise today for prices starting at $279 per person. Departure dates include Sept. 5 and 19; Oct. 3, 17 and 31; and Nov. 14. The ship features indoor and outdoor pools, a casino, hot tubs, and much more.
To book visit cruise.com or call 800-300-4804.
 

Wine and design: MADLAB gives new shop a creative facelift

Sunday August 23, 2009 7:22 PM By By Danielle Sonnenberg

Carlo Orrico, the owner of the new West Village wine shop Le Vigne, wanted a high-concept design for his store, but he also wanted it on a low budget.

His goal was met skeptically by the design team at MADLAB, which helps decorate stores with far-out furnishings. Orrico’s budget was around $25,000, while MADLAB is used to six-figure accounts.

Making it work was a lesson in frugality and the end result was a retail work of art intended to generate curiosity in the month-old store and draw customers.

“Everything was done on a shoestring budget. We proposed a solution to him which meant a fixed price to produce an entire store,” said Petia Morozov, a partner at MADLAB.

Morozov enlisted the help of SPURSE, an international art collective, to execute the wine store design.

The low-budget part of the project came from using materials scavenged from Goodwill and The Salvation Army; the artistry came from assembling the pieces in a provocative way.

The 107-year-old storefront at 35 Greenwich Ave. hadn’t been renovated in decades. Hardwood floors were hidden under layers of carpet, a tin ceiling was waiting to be uncovered, and brick walls needed exposing. Those were typical charms that needed polishing, but MADLAB also installed new fixtures of art to complement Orrico’s passion for his wine.

“When you’re drinking wine, you’re not just drinking alcohol. Each of these wines want to tell you a story,” said Orrico, 26.

To tell that story, different sections of wines come with maps pointing out the regions they come from. The centerpiece at the shop is a 25-foot-long reimagining of Italy with wines positioned at different points on the map.

Other corners of the store have wine displays popping out from white furniture leaning at precarious angles, all lending to a whimsical feel to the store.

The end result for Orrico, who was told by MADLAB to “trust us,” is a store with a unique aesthetic that didn’t break his budget and intrigued customers.

“What surprised me was the overwhelming positive reaction [from customers] to something so different and offbeat, and this new way of presenting wine,” he said.
 

Tags: small business, Le Vigne, MADLAB, retail, store design

Bouncer killed outside of East Village lounge

Sunday August 23, 2009 7:08 PM By Marlene Naanes

A bouncer known as the “neighborhood good guy” was shot and killed as he tried to break up a fight outside a trendy East Village lounge yesterday, police and a witness said.

The shooting occurred outside Forbidden City on Avenue A between 13th and 14th streets about 4:25 a.m., the witness said. The bouncer, Eric Pagan, 42,  was off-duty and had stopped by to visit co-workers when the fight broke out, the witness said. Two bystanders were wounded in the shooting.

The witness, lounge manager Ron Ancheta, said the altercation began when a white van almost hit the two bystanders, and a shouting match erupted. Pagan went to help, and that’s when the driver of the van got out and started shooting, he said

“Everyone was saying no, no don’t get involved, but that’s just who he is,” Ancheta said. “It’s his neighborhood. He’s pulling people away, and unfortunately he’s the one who gets shot.”

Police would not comment on the investigation.  Newsday reported the gunman retaliated after Pagan threw him out of the nightspot.

The gunman fled and remains at large.

“It was so quick, so shocking,” said Ancheta, who had known Pagan for about six years.

Pagan was pronounced dead at Bellevue Hospital. The two bystanders were shot, one in the stomach and the other in the hand, according to Newsday.

They also were taken to Bellevue where they were in stable condition yesterday evening.

Pagan, whose teenage daughter and son lost their mother to illness eight years ago, was well known in the neighborhood, not only as Forbidden City’s bouncer, but also as a man everyone could rely on to stay safe, said Ancheta.

He often walked women home and could intimidate people without doing much more than displaying his large stature.

Pagan was known for his friendliness.

“He goes into every bar on the block and says hi,” Ancheta said.
 

Return of service to 181st Street Station uncertain for Monday

Sunday August 23, 2009 7:10 PM By Heather Haddon

Repairs to the ceiling in the 181st Street subway station continued throughout the weekend, but it was unclear early Sunday evening whether service on the No. 1 would resume by Monday's rush hour.

Workers finished removing 35 feet of debris from the tracks and erected a wooden platform used to reach the three-story high landmark ceiling, which partially collapsed last week and knocked out service to the 181st Street, 191st Street and Dyckman Street No. 1 stations in Washington Heights. The platform will allow transit to repair the ceiling when normal service returns, officials said.

The agency had previously said it anticipated service at all the stations to resume by this past weekend.

Last week, thousands of straphangers rode shuttle buses to bypass the closed stations during the repairs.

The MTA shut four additional stations during the weekend to inspect the ceiling at the 168th Street stop, which has a similar facade.

Transit officials did not return calls for comment Sunday.

hhaddon@am-ny.com

This week's job fairs and events

Sunday August 23, 2009 5:16 PM By Lucy Blatter

Thursday, August 27: How to Turn Job Interviews into Offers
Location: CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth ave. btwn. 34th and 35th sts.
Time: 6:30-8:30 p.m.
To register: $50, contact Vincent Conte, Ph.D at vconte613@cs.com or 516-425-5456

Thursday, August 27: Business Loan Informational
Location: 884 Flatbush Ave., at Church Ave.
Time: 10-11 a.m.
To register: Free, contact 718-282-2500
 
Thursday, August 27: The Job Fair of New York
Location:The Affinia Manhattan, 371 Seventh Ave., btwn 30th and 31st sts.
Time: 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
To register: Free, contact 815-308-5426 or go to catalystcareergroup.com

 

Testing your job-finding IQ

Sunday August 23, 2009 5:15 PM By Lucy Blatter

Career development expert Linda K. Rolie provided the following advice:  “A while after layoffs, there will be more hiring. So go right in there after a mass layoff and meet with people.”

In her book “Getting Back to Work” (McGraw-Hill), Rolie provides job-seekers with an IQ test. We consulted her for answers to IQ test questions.
Test your IQ below:

When applying for a job, it is most effective to start with the HR department.
False. The HR department is there mostly to process the decision made by a hiring manager, said Rolie. “What I encourage people to do is go as high as possible in the organization and find out who the manager is who’s making the right decision. The hiring manager, CEO or Vice President can file it down. But it’s unlikely an HR person is aware of all the openings that may become available.” She recommends a meet and greet and informational interview with person you’d be working with. It’s really about building the relationship with the manager.

Most job openings are filled by executive search firms and recruiters.
False.  “People’s expectations are often misaligned on what recruiting companies can do,” Rolie said. Employers are often reluctant to use them because fees are so high (they can be upwards of $30,000).

When trying to find the right recruiter, she suggested doing specific Google searches, “type in  ‘Find a recuiter manufacturing,’ or ‘Find a recruiter pharmaceutical.’”

Sites such as Monster.com and Hotjobs.com are a good resource for job openings and placement.
Maybe. “What I repeatedly hear is 1 out of 100 clients might get some results,” she said. “Those are great sites for getting career advice,” she said.

Rolie recommended using Web sites more targeted to a specific industry.

Holiday season is a slow time for hiring.
False. From Thanksgiving to just after New Year’s there’s often more money, new positions and less competition from others.

Most job openings are found in the “Help Wanted” section of the newspaper.
False. Studies have shown that only about 17 percent maximum are found there, Rolie said, and that’s likely because newspaper postings are expensive. “The best avenue for job postings is the company’s Web site,” she said. But four out of five jobs are found through the ‘hidden job market’,’” ie. going through the back door, before the job’s posted, networking and doing informational interviews.

Employers usually read resumes thoroughly when selecting job candidates.
False. Statistics show that employers tend to read resumes within two to six seconds. “Write resumes as if a computer’s reading it, scanning it for the write words, and content that matches their needs,” Rolie said.  Typos and spelling errors are sure to weed you out.

The state employment division/administration services will find a job for me.
False. “From some stats that I read, less than 10 percent of employers use the state employment for posting jobs,” Rolie said. Also, she added, they’re usually not the higher-paying jobs. “So spend 10 percent of your time or less using that database,” she said.

A private employment agency will get a job for me.
Maybe. Rememebr that you’ll have to pay them (part of the paycheck). You can go through the backdoor instead.

INFORMATIONAL INTERVIEWS:

Linda K. Rolie is a strong believer in the power of informational interviews. “People say that if you do it around 20 times you’ll get a job,” she said. She also recommended limiting the talks to 10 or 20 minutes, and asking if there’s anyone else they’d recommend talking to. Also, having a resume handy can’t hurt.

Here are some questions she suggests asking at an informational interview:

Please walk me through a typical day.

What do you find to be the best and worst things about your career?

What are the skills most important to succeeding in your career?

What do you know now that you wish you’d known when you entered the firked?

What advice would you give to someone entering the field?

What kind of salary can I expect when entering this field?

 

No pass for Plax in gun case

Thursday August 20, 2009 6:51 PM By Jason Fink

There was no “celebrity justice” for Plaxico Burress.

Nine months after accidentally shooting himself at a Manhattan nightclub, the former Giants football star faces two years in prison after pleading guilty to a gun charge Thursday.

Critics have bemoaned the seemingly soft treatment of celebrities in legal trouble, from Russell Crowe avoiding jail time on an assault charge and Lindsay Lohan serving just one day for multiple DUI run-ins to the infamous O.J. Simpson case, in which the football Hall of Famer was acquitted of doublemurder. But Burress’ sentence was as long as most expected.

“The Manhattan district attorney’s office certainly did not treat Plaxico Burress as the hometown hero,” said Jeremy Saland, a former prosecutor. “He wasn’t treated more severely than any other denizen of the city under the same set of circumstances.”

Burress, 32, was in the Latin Quarter nightclub in November when a gun in his waistband went off and shot him in the thigh. He did not have a permit for the gun in New York, and the one he had from Florida had expired.

He pleaded guilty to attempted criminal possession of a weapon and will be sentenced Sept. 22. He will likely go to Rikers Island before being assigned to prison and serve at least 20 months.

Roy Marshall, 45, of Manhattan, said it was gratifying to see a celebrity treated the same way as anyone else.

“Just because you have money doesn’t mean you’re above the law,” he said.

Burress, who was released by the Giants in April, was also suspended by the NFL on Thursday for the duration of his sentence.

His attorney, Benjamin Brafman, slammed the sentence, saying his client’s celebrity — and the publicity generated by the case, which included a condemnation from Mayor Michael
Bloomberg — actually worked against him.

“I believe that the sentence is far too severe for the actions in question,” Brafman said in an e-mail.

Burress would have faced a minimum of 3½ years if convicted of the original charges.

Others echoed Brafman’s statements.

“It’s excessive,” said Kimberly Summers, a defense attorney in Manhattan. “It’s an election year, and I think they’re paying attention to a lot of things right now.”

A spokeswoman for Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, who is not seeking re-election, declined to comment.

Some New York City homeowners can't wait out recession to sell

Thursday August 20, 2009 5:45 PM By By Jessica Troiano

It’s not a good time to sell your home in the city, but some people must move even if it means accepting a lower offer than they might get if they waited out the slumping market. Here are a few sellers motivated by changing life circumstances that wait for no recession:

Upper West Side, 2-BR
316 W. 83rd St.
Asking price: $745,000
Purchase price: $425,000 (in 2003)
The Hapgood family has grown too big for its home. They were looking to sell a few years ago, but when a deal fell through they went with $50,000 in renovations instead. They put in hardwood floors and a patio in the backyard. “We have two children and they are sharing a bedroom right now,” said Siobhan Hapgood. They almost sold at the height of the market, but instead poured money into the home and now are looking to bale at a low point. “We know we’re going to sell down, but we’re also going to buy down,” Hapgood said.

Gramercy Park, 1-BR
200 E. 24th St.
Asking price: $489,000
Purchase price: $195,000 (in 2002)
Seven years ago, Gregory Hruska found a 600-square-foot apartment, which was fine for one person, but it started to feel cramped when his partner moved in two years ago. The couple decided to move to a bigger place. Then the economy tanked. “At first, we thought we should wait a while,” said Hruska. “But then we decided we can’t put our lives on hold indefinitely. And we said, ‘Let’s just do it.’” The couple wants to move to the burbs and expects a deal in neighborhoods they were once priced out of. “The houses in South Orange [N.J.] were out of my price range,” Hruska said. “Now they’ve fallen at an even faster rate than New York.”

Inwood, 1-BR
579 W. 215th St.
Asking price: $325,000
Purchase price: $190,000 (in 1994)
Fred Valle owns an apartment that he bought for his daughter but now rents out. He said the taxes and tenant hassles motivated him to sell. “Everyone has told me I’ve made a bad choice in selling it now because of the market,” Valle said. “But I just don’t want to deal with tenants.” It’s been on the market for a year, and the asking price has dropped twice. “I’m not lowering it any more,” he said.

Tags: Real Estate, recession's affect on NYC, New York City, home sales

The secrets of Grand Central Terminal

Thursday August 20, 2009 1:23 PM By Rolando Pujol

Grand Central Terminal is Gotham’s Beaux Arts jewel, a monument to transportation that avoided demolition in the 1970s (unlike poor Penn Station a decade earlier) and ennobles the lives of the 700,000 people who use it daily. It’s so vast, with nearly a century of history under its tracks, that it holds many secrets, as Metro-North Railroad spokesman Dan Brucker said. Here’s a selection:

1. The dark patch
Look up at the ceiling: In the northwest corner, you’ll see a little square black patch. Now imagine extending that color across the entire constellation that’s painted on the ceiling. That’s what was there before Grand Central Terminal was dramatically restored in the 1990s. That little black patch was left as a reminder of the bad old days. And what exactly does that black patch consist of? Decades of dirt? Try again. It was the result of decades of smoking in the terminal. That’s old nicotine and tobacco residue that was preserved, and it’s a testament to how dramatic this restoration was.   
                                                      
2. The rocket hole
Toward the center of the ceiling, above the constellation Pisces, you’ll notice a little hole. You’d never see it if you didn’t know to look for it. But the hole is a curious legacy of the space race. In 1957, the Russians put Sputnik into orbit and the U.S. was keen on selling the public on the importance of staying ahead. In a curious bit of showmanship, a Redstone rocket was brought in for display at Grand Central Terminal that same year. But some genius didn’t think to measure whether it would fit in the concourse. Well, surprise, it could not, and it was rammed in, leaving a hole in the ceiling that’s still there.

3. The clock
The clock atop the information booth in Grand Central Terminal is not only a beautiful work of art, it may be worth more than $10 million, according to auction house estimates. That’s because of the four opal faces on the clock.
 

4. Wrong departure times
Every single time shown on the departure boards is wrong. If that train to, say Croton-Harmon, is set to leave at 11:20, it’s flat-out lying to you. It’s leaving at 11:21. All trains leave a minute later than indicated on the departure boards. The reason is the safety and comfort of commuters who are making a mad dash to catch the trains.  

5. The new twin staircase
The grand marble staircase on the eastern side of the terminal was built in the 1990s to resemble the one that dates to 1913. Original plans did in fact call for the construction of eastern stairs. But there is one crucial difference between both stairs. The new set is an inch smaller than its original twin across the concourse, and the reason was to make it clear to future generations that the staircases were not built at the same time.
 

6. The whispering gallery
Just outside of the Oyster Bar restaurant is a vault covered in Guastavino tile. If you stand in one corner of the vault and say something, your voice is telegraphed perfectly to someone standing clear across the other side, dozens of feet away.  
 

7. The acorns
All around Grand Central, you see what appears to be a “squashed pineapple,” as Brucker put it. They are actually acorns, a Vanderbilt family symbol.
 

8. The backward universe
The universe as depicted on the ceiling is beautiful, but it’s also backward, a fact discovered by a commuter almost as soon as Grand Central opened.  The problem caused no small amount of consternation to the Vanderbilt family, but then they came up with a brilliant idea. They’d claim the error was indeed intentional, and say it was meant to depict God’s view of the universe from somewhere up above.                                              
 

9. Recycling bins
For years, one of the best secrets of Grand Central — and, really, it was an open secret — was that you could wander onto the platforms, plunge your arms into the recycling bins, and walk away with free copies of all the day’s newspapers. One newspaper in particular, The New York Times, was not happy about this at all, and so, in 2001, had the recycling bins redesigned so that commuters could not get their grubby mitts on the free newsprint, which they were doing to the tune of about a ton every morning.
 

10. Wonders below
Grand Central is full of secret spots that the public may well never see: Well below the main concourse is a room with ancient machinery that was targeted by German saboteurs during World World II. In this room, there’s even a red button that could halt train traffic above. The area is so deep that it cuts into bedrock.  Farther north, under the Waldorf-Astoria, you can find a platform, an elevator and an old rail car that Brucker said were used by Franklin D. Roosevelt, who tried to keep his paralysis from the public.   
 

Tags: Grand Central Terminal, MTA, history, architecture, Metro-North

Ceiling collapse hinders service on buses, other subway lines

Wednesday August 19, 2009 6:28 PM By Heather Haddon

The ceiling collapse at the 181st Street subway station has caused havoc for commuters far and wide.

The MTA had to hustle up additional shuttle buses to accommodate the thousands of riders needing to bypass three No. 1 stations closed since Sunday, when large portions of the ceiling fell onto the subway track bed. But to staff the fleet, NYC Transit removed some drivers from their normal runs in the Bronx and Manhattan.

Nearly 20 scheduled bus trips never ran Wednesday and Tuesday, causing longer waits and crowded buses, said officials from the bus drivers’ union.

“It’s an emergency,” said Frank Austin, a union representative.

NYC Transit spokesman Charles Seaton said seven bus lines each had one less run yesterday, but normal service resumed by 10 a.m.

Meanwhile, riders on the nearby A line are feeling a bit more cramped with the influx of No. 1 passengers.

“Riders in our area are now flooding the A train,” said Marie-Danielle Samuel, a Washington Heights straphanger. “They need do something.”

The A train is typically less congested than many other Manhattan lines, Seaton said. Transit cannot add trains on the A because it shares service with other subway lines, he said.

The MTA hopes to resume No. 1 service Monday and is working around the clock to stabilize the ceiling in the landmarked 181st Street station. Workers were still erecting scaffolding yesterday to reach the tiles, elected officials said.

hhaddon@am-ny.com

Tags: mta, washington heights, 181st street

For foodies: This week's dining briefs

Wednesday August 19, 2009 5:58 PM By Lucy Blatter

Kids Cooking Class: Spend quality time with your kids in the kitchen. “Top Chef Chicago” contestant and 24 Prince chef Nikki Cascone offers an interactive cooking class for kids and parents on Aug. 26 from 3–5 p.m. The cost is $45 per child and parent and includes class, handouts and a full meal. Children should be ages eight and up. To register contact Emily Halverson at Emily@24prince.com or 212-226-8624. 24 Prince, 24 Prince street between Mott and Elizabeth sts

Fairway Firefighter's Food Face-Off: Watch New York's bravest sizzle up the end of summer at the Fairway Firefighter's Food Face-Off. Teams of NYC's firefighters will compete in a grilling "throwdown" Tuesday, Aug. 25 at noon in the parking lot of Fairway's corporate headquarters. Firefighters will cook ribs, burgers and a dish using a secret ingredient that will be revealed at the contest. The winner and runner-up will be determined by a panel of judges. The event will benefit the FDNY foundation. Parking Lot of Fairway Market 2284 12th Ave. at 126th Street
 
Central Park Campfire Cook-Off: Backpacker Magazine, NYC Parks and Recreation, and Victorinox Swiss Army will host the annual Adventures NYC event in Central Park on Saturday, Aug. 29 starting at 2 p.m.. The first ever Campfire Cooking Challenge will go down between three of the country's top chefs; a one-hour cook-off using only bare minimums.Chefs will have access to a variety of produce and dry goods easily carried in a rucksack and the opportunity to bring three non-perishable items. Dead Road btwn. the Bandshell at 72nd Street and Sheep Meadow
in Central Park.

Open up to Australian wines: Take to Williamsburg for music, movies and Australian wine. Profits go to the Open Space Alliance for North Brooklyn, a non-profit that works to restore, preserve and develop parks in the Greenpoint/Williamsburg communities.

-Sunday, Aug. 23: Enjoy the bands Girl Talk, Max Tundra and Wiz Khalfia, hosted by the Jelly Music Festival at the Williamsburg Waterfront. Wine Australia will be serving the Nepenthe Tryst Red and Innocent Bystander Pino,t among others. East River State Park, 90 Kent Ave. at N9th, Brooklyn, all day event begins at 2 p.m.

-Wednesday, Aug. 26: Watch “Fame” at the Ball Fields at McCarren Park while sipping wines such as the Cooralook Pinot Noi and the De Bortoli Emeri Pink Moscato, provided by Wine Australia. Bedford Avenue at N. 12th Street

-Sunday, Aug. 30: The Jelly Music Festival will be hosting Grizzly Bear and Beach House while Wine Australia serves Yalumba Bush Vine Grenache, De Bortoli Emeri Sparkling Sauvignon Blanc and Robert Oatley Rose among others. The all-day event begins at 2 p.m.  East River State Park, 90 Kent Ave. at N9th, Brooklyn

 

Retail chains show strength with growth in the city

Tuesday August 18, 2009 8:39 PM By By Garett Sloane

There are more Starbucks in the city than there were a year ago — despite a handful of highly publicized closings last year — while other chain retailers, Circuit City among them, have been wiped off the map.

Center for an Urban Future released its second annual report yesterday on the state of chain stores in the city. Despite the recession — or perhaps because of it — a number of national retailers expanded, the report found.

“There’s been such a discussion of whether there are too many chain stores or too many mom-and-pops being forced out, and I think it’s a mixed picture,” said Jonathan Bowles, executive director of the think-tank. This year the report breaks down the number of chains by ZIP code.

“There are more neighborhoods under-retailed in the city than are saturated with retail chains,” Bowles said.

A surprise for Bowles was that of 167 retailers surveyed last year 53 expanded, 52 stayed level and 62 have fewer stores. The findings show that some big brands got bullish during the downturn.

Starbucks lopped off about a dozen stores in the city last year, but still managed to grow from 235 locations to 258.

Lower rents are enticing the healthier companies to expand, said Judah Sutton, president of JUD Leasing Corp.

He just negotiated a lease for Lot Less Closeouts, which took over the former Strand Bookstore location at 95 Fulton St.

“A lot of national retailers already in New York that are doing well or holding their own are aggressively looking to expand,” Sutton said.

“If they find the right location at the right price, they’re willing to pull the trigger.”

 

Tags: Retail, chain stores, growth of chain stores, mom and pop threat, New York City, Dunkin' Donuts, Starbucks, recession's affect on NYC, Center for an Urban Future

Ceiling collapse repairs continue through the weekend, disrupting No. 1 service

Tuesday August 18, 2009 7:19 PM By Heather Haddon

Service disruption on the No. 1 line will continue through the weekend as contractors hurry to secure a historic ceiling that collapsed in the 181st Street station Sunday.

NYC Transit hustled up buses from across the city to provide shuttle service between 168th Street and Dyckman Street, after three stations were left without service. Straphangers can also ride the M3 bus route for free along the congested Washington Heights route.

“It’s as painless as it can be under the circumstances,” said Andrew Albert, a MTA board member.

Local officials said they had been complaining about water leaks and crumbling tiles at the 181st Street station for three years.

MTA officials said yesterday that they was aware of the shaky ceiling and in April had come up with a master plan to fix it. Funding for repair of a significant portion of the ceiling façade was approved last week and work was scheduled to begin next year. With the collapse, the ceiling will now be secured and the approved work will go on next year as planned.

Inspectors will also assess the conditions of a similarly-designed ceiling at the 168th Street station on the 1 train.

All subway tunnels and elevated structures are inspected on a yearly basis, transit officials said.

hhaddon@am-ny.com

Study: 2nd ave subway work causes shops to fold

Tuesday August 18, 2009 6:32 PM By Heather Haddon

The Second Avenue Subway project has neighboring mom-and-pop stores on the brink of extinction, according to a survey released yesterday by the city public advocate’s office.

More than half of the 59 businesses surveyed in the last month said they anticipate closing before the subway opens. Nearly half reported laying off employees, and 90 percent reported tanking business.

“Construction on this scale is more than disruptive, it is devastating,” said Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum.

Researchers talked to more than half of all independent businesses in the construction zones between 69th and 74th streets, and between 91st and 97th streets.

The first 1.7-mile stretch of the subway has suffered from several delays and is not expected to finish until 2016 at the earliest.

The MTA said it constantly meets with business owners to provide updates on the project and has promoting shopping along Second Avenue through a poster campaign.

hhaddon@am-ny.com

Saving at Starbucks

Tuesday August 18, 2009 6:01 PM By Lucy Blatter

You don’t have to give up your coffee habit just because times are tough.
Store manager Damien Zamudio gave us his tips for saving at Starbucks.

1)Buy a tumbler. Tumblers are for sale at Starbucks (most are less than $10), but bring any tumbler, and you’ll receive 10 cents off your drink.

2)Tea lover? Bring your own bags. Starbucks doesn’t charge for hot water, so if you bring your own tea bag, it’s free. You can also buy a single tea bag for 45 cents. Combined with tip #1 and you've got a 35-cent beverage.

3) Breakfast for $3.95. Any tall hot coffee can be paired with a breakfast sandwich for $3.95. (You can even make it your lunch!)

4)Ask for your iced drink in a larger cup. If you don’t want ice to dilute your drink, as for a tall drink in a grande cup and a grande drink in a venti cup. This way, you won’t sacrifice your drink for ice.

5)Grab a treat receipt. Through Sept. 28, if you get a drink before 2 p.m., the cashier should give you a yellow receipt good for a $2 iced grande drink after 2 p.m. If you don’t get one, ask for it specifically.

6) Register your Starbucks gift card. If you get a gift card, register the number online (at Starbucks.com). You’ll get a variety of benefits, including free refills on iced and hot coffees and iced teas, plus two hours free wi-fi daily.

7)Get refills. Coffee refills (both brewed and iced, and iced tea as well) are 50 cents+tax.


 

College meals grow up

Tuesday August 18, 2009 5:44 PM By Emily Ngo

They were your go-to meals in college. You know, those dinners you threw together when you were too busy, too lazy or — gulp — too hungover to make an effort.

It’s not a bad thing to keep comfort food in your life. Fresh ingredients and a little planning can upgrade college plates to satisfy post-college palates. Plus, all of the dishes below can be made without an oven, so they’re great for these hot summer days.

Mini pizzas
Top whole-grain bagel or English muffin halves with tomato sauce, basil leaves, fresh sliced mozzarella and cracked pepper. Then, pop them in a toaster oven.

Mac and cheese
You can still make it from the blue box, but this time around, stir in some flaked white tuna, frozen peas and chopped red onion before it’s served.

Ramen noodles
Prepare as you did mid-study session and add cooked shrimp, a raw egg (think egg-drop soup) and fresh shredded lettuce while it’s still hot.

Spaghetti and bottled sauce
Switch to a skinnier pasta — capellini works — and add a dash of olive oil to the water while it’s boiling. Create your own sauce using canned crushed tomatoes, chopped red onions and green peppers, sliced olives, a bay leaf and loads of black pepper. In fact, canned tomato sauce is a great (and cheap!) base. Simply add spices and a bit of fresh cheese and no one will know it’s not homemade.

Grilled cheese
Use thick slices of whole-wheat bread or challah and ditch Kraft singles for a fresh white cheddar or smoked gouda. Add sliced tomatoes before you toss that baby in the pan. You can also add ham, turkey, Canadian bacon or avocado, portobellos, really… anything.

 

Tags: college meals

Pols: MTA was warned about crumbling 181st Street station before ceiling collapse

Monday August 17, 2009 8:04 PM By Heather Haddon

Transit officials failed to heed to three years of complaints over water leaks and crumbling tiles at the 181 Street No. 1 subway station, where a ceiling collapse covered 35 feet of track with debris and service has been knocked out for up to a week.

“We’re not surprised. We’ve been hearing complaints about this from residents for years,” said Manny Velazquez, chair of Community Board 12 in Washington Heights.

According to Velazquez, the MTA had acknowledged the community board’s concerns but did not take action. The agency did not respond directly to the board’s allegations Monday.

The MTA said they are still investigating the cause of the Sunday evening collapse of the station’s landmarked brick ceiling and archway, but local officials believe water seepage contributed to the problem.

Water is a chronic complaint at many of the deep stations on the No. 1 line, and residents sometimes use umbrellas to keep dry, Velazquez said.

A train inside the three-story deep station was not damaged and no one was injured in the collapse. NYC Transit called in a contractor yesterday to remove loose tiles and make temporary repairs. In the meantime, straphangers will be forced to take shuttle buses or walk three long blocks to the A train.

“It’s a hardship,” said Melvin Cunningham, 43, a longtime local resident. “Those stations are not very well kept and they are not well lit.”

It takes 20 shuttle buses to carry one full train of passengers, and elected officials predict frustrating waits and crowding in the congested neighborhood.

On an average weekday, a total of 26,500 straphangers use the 181st Street, 191st Street and Dyckman Street stations, where No. 1 service will be suspended during the work. Thousands of riders will have to board shuttle buses at Dyckman Street and at 168th Street to bypass the closed stations.

The 181st Street station received a $7 million partial rehab in 1999, including new elevators and tile cleaning, said Assemb. Adriano Espaillat (D-Manhattan), but no major work is scheduled for the station over the next five years.

The MTA has struggled to keep up with station repairs after years of neglect and limited funding. More than 80 percent of the system’s 468 stations have a “significant backlog” of needed repairs, according to MTA documents.

Transit typically replaces tile during full station rehabs but rarely remakes the tunnels or station ceilings, said MTA board member Andrew Albert.

“This certainly calls for inspecting all of the tunnels to ensure their integrity,” Albert said.

The 181st Station is listed with the National Register of Historic Places and its ceiling is decorated with terra cotta medallions that once held chandeliers.

hhaddon@am-ny.com

No easy riding at Carroll Street subway station

Monday August 17, 2009 7:32 PM By Heather Haddon

Expect confusion at the Carroll Street station next month.

For safety reasons, the MTA is closing the 2nd Place entrance to the F and G station to accommodate a controversial building being built near the entrance. The agency is installing new turnstiles at the nearby 2nd Street entrance, but that stairway is far narrower and officials fear it will become overwhelmed with straphangers.

“There are going to be many, many more people using an already crowded station,” said Paul Nelson, chief of staff or Assemblywoman Joan Millman (D-Brooklyn).

More than 10,000 straphangers use the station.

Meanwhile, the agency is removing the station agent at the other entrance at President Street as part of a system-wide reduction.

“It makes absolutely no sense and I think it’s kind of criminal,” said local resident Diane Buxbaum, 70.

Additionally, officials expect the Carroll Street station to be flooded with thousands of additional passengers when part of the nearby Smith-9th Street station closes for a year of repairs in 2011.

A full-time clerk will be on duty 24 hours a day at the 2nd Street entrance, a NYC Transit spokesman said. The entrance will close on Sept. 15 and remain that way for a year. The station agent booth will close the week after.

 hhaddon@am-ny.com

Study: Most U.S. currency tainted with coke

Monday August 17, 2009 6:26 PM By Marlene Naanes

The U.S. dollar is higher than ever.
Traces of cocaine taint up to 90 percent of paper money in the United States, a new study shows. Scientists tested currency from 30 cities in five countries, finding the greenback is number one in coke contamination.
The findings suggest cocaine abuse is still widespread and may still be on the rise, according to researchers.
"To my surprise, we're finding more and more cocaine in banknotes," said Yuegang Zuo. "I'm not sure why we've seen this apparent increase, but it could be related to the economic downturn, with stressed people turning to cocaine."
The amount of tainted U.S. bills is up 20 percent since the last study two years ago. Researchers did not test bills from New York but found Washington D.C. had the dirtiest bills — 95 percent — and Salt Lake City money was cleanest.
Cocaine adheres to the green dye on the dollar when someone uses it to snort the drug. Dollars can also be contaminated when they come into contact with someone’s coke-laced hands.
The drug then transfers onto clean bills in bank’s currency-counting machines or in people’s wallets or pockets. Zuo, who presented the University of Massachusetts study at the American Chemical Society in Washington, D.C., said his findings do not necessarily mean someone can get high off their dollar.
"For the most part, you can't get high by sniffing a regular banknote, unless it was used directly in drug uptake or during a drug exchange," Zuo said. "It also won't affect your health and is unlikely interfere with blood and urine tests used for drug detection."
mnaanes@am-ny.com

Morgy's long tenure coming to an end; DA's race ramps up

Monday August 17, 2009 6:16 PM By Marlene Naanes

Ninety-year-old District Attorney Robert Morgenthau has overseen some of the biggest criminal cases of our time. As Manhattan’s iconic district attorney, Morgenthau was the basis for the first prosecutor on “Law & Order.”

So when Leslie Crocker Snyder, Cy Vance Jr or Richard Aborn take the reigns from the retiring DA in January, they will have impossibly large shoes to fill.

All of the candidates note Morgenthau’s three decades of service, including Snyder, who ran a contentious race against him in 2005.  She, Vance and Aborn, all say that they are also ready to move ahead and build on the foundation Morgenthau has laid.

But many observers will tell you that some of his lesser-known accomplishments most stand out and underscore the remarkable length of his tenure.

Before Morgenthau took the helm,  women prosecutors were largely not allowed to try “tawdry” felony cases, said Linda Fairstein, former prosecutor and author.

“Women in a very short time held every important title in the office and did every important kind of work,” Fairstein said. “As a women who experienced the kind of prejudice endemic to the system in the ’60s and ’70s, he was remarkable in his very quiet way.”

He oversaw the office through New York’s crime-plagued era, instituting more efficient prosecution techniques and specialized units to combat crime. He also installed a Community Affairs Unit, which helped better link the community to the district attorney’s office.

The unit, and its work with the Upper West Side residents, aided in getting a violent gang, the Young Talented Children, off the streets, said Marjorie Cohen, executive director of Westside Crime Prevention Program.

“Before that, there really hadn’t been a connection with the district attorney’s office, but when you had that connection, you have a full circle,” Cohen said.

The conviction rate rose from 73 percent in 1974 to 90 percent in recent years, with Morgenthau overseeing the prosecutions of big cases that included those against Tyco executive Dennis Kozlowski and preppy killer Robert Chambers.

He hired lawyers like Supreme Court Justice nominee Sonia Sotomayor and state attorney general Andrew Cuomo.

Even former detractors like the Detectives Endowment Association sing Morgenthau’s praises.

The union disagreed with Morgenthau’s support of the exoneration of the five men convicted in the Central Park Jogger case after DNA evidence linked another man to the scene.

“That aside, Mr. Morgenthau should be considered one of the heroes of our time,” said association president Michael Palladino.
---------

The candidates vying for Morgenthau's job:

Richard Aborn

Track record: Aborn, 56, has worked for 30 years as a prosecutor, defense attorney and civil litigator. He has run a national gun control organization. He currently is managing partner at Constantine Cannon law firm.

Personal life: He is married with a daughter.

Notable endorsement: Working Families Party

Career highlights: He prosecuted violent felonies, including homicides, under Robert Morgenthau. He has expanded the use of DNA in criminal cases. He also helped revitalize the LAPD and advised other departments. Aborn also investigated the Amadou Diallo shooting.

Candidate platforms: Aborn’s priority is crime prevention. With nonviolent crime, he wants to use technology to identify treatment and crime-prevention methods for people with drug or mental health issues. He also wants to help nonoffenders, including victims of domestic violence and their children to prevent such crimes from affecting them again. He also wants to establish a mental health court and a hate crimes bureau.

Surprising fact: He was the principle strategist behind the Brady Bill.

In his words: “I know what it’s like to try a case, and I know what it’s like to defend somebody whose been accused of crime, and I know what its like to be involved in very large litigations, but I’ve done a lot more than that. I also am now the managing partner of a large law firm, a job much akin in many ways to what the district attorney does.”
 

Leslie Crocker Snyder

Track record: Snyder, 67, has worked for 35 years as a prosecutor, a defense attorney and a judge.

Personal life: She is married with two grown sons.

Career highlights: As a prosecutor under former District Attorney Frank Hogan and his successor, Robert Morgenthau, she founded the Manhattan Sex Crimes Bureau and was the first woman to try homicides. She served her longest post, 20 years, as judge in the Criminal Court of New York City, the New York State Supreme Court and the Court of Claims. She currently is a partner at Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman.

Notable endorsement: New York City Detectives Endowment Association

Candidate platforms: She wants the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office to form a partnership in the communities it serves, including working with public schools to mentor students, with a goal of helping to prevent and quickly investigating crimes. She also plans on establishing a second-look bureau that would reexamine convictions and reduce the number of wrongful ones.

Surprising fact: Snyder spent six months in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, helping the district attorney’s office there.

In her words: “I’m the only person who’s actually been hands-on in the criminal justice system here in New York for 35 years…My resume is unique because I have had this diversity of experience in every aspect in the criminal justice system.”
 

Cy Vance

Track record: Vance, 55, has worked for more than 25 years as a prosecutor and a defense attorney as well as a civil litigator. He is Morgenthau’s choice for the job.

Personal life: He is married with a daughter and a son.

Notable endorsement: The New York Times

Career highlights: He worked as a prosecutor under Morgenthau, handling homicide, organized crime, political corruption and white-collar crime cases. He moved to Seattle where he co-founded a law firm, and was a defense and civil litigation attorney. He currently works as a principal at Morvillo, Abramowitz, Grand, Iason, Anello & Bohrer.

Candidate platforms: Vance wants to focus on domestic violence and economic fraud, gang and gun violence and sentencing law reform. He supports alternatives to incarceration for non-violent offenders and re-entry programs for ex-offenders. He wants to create a community-based program where prosecutors would be assigned to a grouping of police precincts.

Surprising fact: He is an avid fly fisher.

In his words: “I believe I have the broadest experience to lead the District Attorney’s office going forward because of my work on both sides of the criminal justice system—and sentencing law and policy. I think it’s very important that the district attorney’s office not only be fair but be perceived as fair, and I think throughout my career as a lawyer that has been one of my most important goals.”
 

Designers and celebs join forces for Fashion's Night Out

Monday August 17, 2009 4:24 PM By Julie Gordon

Stores from A (ABC Carpet & Home, Adam Lippes) to Z (Zero + Maria Cornejo, Zara) are slated to participate in the citywide, public Fashion’s Night Out event on Sept. 10, part of the 700-strong list unveiled Monday.

To kick off Fashion Week (and boost the economy), shops in all five boroughs will host celebrity and designer appearances, performances, fashion shows and exhibits. Stars including Diddy, Hugh Jackman and Taylor Momsen are set to participate in the festivities.

Find a full schedule of events at FashionNightOut.com. 

The Catskills are still groovy

Monday August 17, 2009 2:28 PM By Jessie Pascoe

Long a haven for Gothamites, the Catskills continue to attract attention with their artisan lifestyle and pristine nature offerings.

While the Woodstock festival may be a thing of the past (40 years to be exact), the area retains its quirky, offbeat and whimsical nature.

And at only three hours away, the Catskills are an ideal escape from New York.
 
Where to eat

Cucina Woodstock
A Woodstock newcomer, Cucina Woodstock prides itself on blending classic Italian recipes with local and seasonal produce. The contemporary interior and innovative cocktail menu give the restaurant—housed in an old farmhouse—a modern twist. 109 Mill Hill Road, Woodstock, NY; 845-679-9800; cucinawoodstock.com

Sweet Sue’s
Located in the tiny mountain hamlet of Phoenica, Sweet Sue’s is a must for at least one morning meal. Smack-dab in the middle of town, Sweet Sue’s killer pancakes might land you in an intense food coma, but don’t worry: the umbrella-strewn patio is an ideal spot to lounge and linger. 49 Main Street, Phoenicia, NY 845-688-7852

Where to stay

Kate’s Lazy Meadow Motel
Owned by the B-52s Kate Pierson, Lazy Meadow is a kitsch collector’s dream with retro airstream trailers—brightly decorated with gnomes, fairies, and other trinkets—providing a visual vacation like no other. Nestled on the Esopus Creek, Lazy Meadow plans to start offering free yoga in their new giant tipi and a soon-to-launch line of Lazy Meadow products, so you roam with the Lazy Meadow vibe all around the world. 5191 Rt. 28, Mount Tremper, NY, 845-688-7200; lazymeadow.com; rooms start at $155/night.

The Roxbury Motel
Embrace your inner Austin Powers and book a room at the psychedelically
decadent Roxbury. Located right by the Delaware River, the Roxbury
features over-the-top themed suites, from genie bottles to space pod pads,
as well as "regular" lux studios and kitchenettes. Just don’t delay your
trip: spend three nights and receive a fourth free with their current summer
special. Rooms start at $90/night. 2258 County Highway 41, Roxbury,
NY, 607-326-7200; theroxburymotel.com

What to do
The Kaatskill Kaleidoscope
Some things in life you just have to see to believe and the Kaatskill
Kaleidoscope is one of them. Built by ’60s artist Isaac Abrams and his son,
the 60-foot tall kaleidoscope—the largest in the world— is as kitschy as
tourist attractions come, but embracing the whimsy is part of the fun. Open
daily from 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m., 5340 Route 28, Mount Tremper, NY, 877-688-5800 x 654

Town Tinker Tubing
Tubing thrives in Phoenicia, where numerous outfitters offer daily rentals and gear. A favorite is the Town Tinker, self-professed “masters of tubology.” They offer beginner, intermediate and advanced routes that take on average two and a half hours to complete. Plus, they have impressive group discounts of up to 25 percent. Tubing rates $12/day and up. 10 Bridge Street, Phoenicia, NY; Towntinker.com

Woodstock Film Festival
Ang Lee’s, “Taking Woodstock” (debuting in NYC Aug. 26) has given this year’s fest extra buzz, so expect more celebs and sold-out events at the 10-year old event that boasts 150-plus films, panels and lectures, from Sept. 30-Oct. 4. Tinker Street Cinema, 132 Tinker Street, Woodstock, NY, woodstockfilmfestival.com

Know before you go

To cut down on car rental prices, take the Metro-North to Poughkeepsie and rent from there. The daily rates are less expensive than in the city. Use Enterprise and they will pick you up from the train station. 724 Main Street, Poughkeepsie, New York, 845-485-2222; enterprise.com

Renting a cabin with a group of friends is an affordable alternative to hotel prices. A good site is Homeaway.com where cabins in Phoenica go for $750/week for six people.



 

Tags: Catskills, Woodstock, Taking Woodstock

Finding the "Suite" smell of success

Sunday August 16, 2009 6:05 PM By Jennifer Maurici

New ventures can grow from anywhere. The founding stories of startups include working out of cars, coffee shops, home offices or wherever entrepreneurs can find a stray Internet connection.

It’s an issue that business partners Joseph Raby and Cheni Yerushalmi contended with when staring an online gaming company.

They used a Starbucks as their conference room. When they rented office space, they discovered that it required as much attention as their business.

“We had some horrific experiences renting office space,” said Yerushalmi, 37.

They had to wait months for an Internet connection, paint the place and sand the floors, they said.

The hassle led them to a new business idea: shared office space. In 2001, they founded

Sunshine Suites, where the motto is “where startups grow up.”

The company rents out fully hooked-up workstations to small businesses that pool resources, share conference rooms and kitchens, and network with each other.

More than 500 companies with more than 1,000 employees — ranging from graphic designers and wedding planners to lawyers and accountants — set up shop at two downtown locations at 419 Lafayette St. in NoHo and 12 Debrosses St. in TriBeCa.

The offices provide all the hipness a business would expect from a downtown address. The TriBeCa space gives off a nightclub vibe with its black-tinted mirrored walls, an enclosed glass waterfall and a reception area adorned in gold lights.

One of the big draws for Robert Leocadi, president of Resolution Expediting, when joining the suites was the connection to other entrepreneurs.

He was feeling isolated working out of his Upper East Side apartment.

“My networking was limited to people I met in the industry or went to school with. Networking was a chore and task,” he said. “When I came here it was instant networking. My business increased by 25 percent.”
 

Renting Space:

"Shiners” can choose from several different packages, ranging from $99 to $375 a month per person.

There are no lengthy contracts and depending on the package, desk space; phone service; faxing, scanning, copying and printing services; mailbox/mailing address; and conference rooms equipped with wireless are available. 
 

Quirky work: Sleep trainers

Sunday August 16, 2009 5:48 PM By Lucy Blatter

By Marlene Naanes

Natalie Barnett’s office is a baby’s nursery, and some of her working hours are spent sleeping on the floor — and coaching an infant to follow suit.

As an infant sleep consultant, Barnett is charged with teaching babies to fall asleep on their own, and giving their parents techniques for sound sleep.

Much of the advice focuses on consistency, and sometimes babies are given toys  and sound machines to act as sleep aids.

Barnett spends about three nights a week in her clients’ homes, on the floor of their babies’ rooms, observing, coaching and, getting some z’s, too.

“It’s not for everybody,” said Barnett, a mother of two who’s expecting her third child. “I love it so much that I would do it for free. It literally changes people’s lives, and it’s just the most amazing feeling.”

Teamwork
Barnett, who has a Ph.D. in quantitative genetics and has done postgraduate work in pediatric sleep medicine, began working for Dream Team Baby last fall.
Dream Team Baby, one of several sleep consultant firms in the city, employs a team of experts on sleep, psychology and other fields, who teach wannabe consultants about sleep and child development from birth to two years, the age range of their tiny clients.

After finishing courses, new consultants observe others at work. Training can take two to six months.

Then they’re out on their own, coaching a baby bedside.

Who can do it
“There are certain personalities that make you a better sleep consultant,” said Conner Herman, a former consultant and Dream Team Baby’s CEO and co-founder.
“You have to be a compassionate person. You have to be someone who’s willing to help a person achieve a goal when they’re in doubt.”

Job details
Consultants make a little more than $400 a night, spending on average three nights a week on a nursery floor. A two-week consultation usually consists of one night with a consultant on the nursery floor — up to three nights with a particularly fussy baby — and about six check-ins by phone after that.

Dream Team Baby consultants are mothers — some are former clients — who like being able to work and be with their own children during the day.
Even though she’s up during the night, Barnett said she usually gets five to six hours of sleep on a mat on the nursery floor.

“It works out really well,” she said. “I can fit it around my schedule. I want to be with my kids.”

Results
Kimberly Jetnil and her husband called in Dream Team Baby after their 17-month-old son, Lucas, was keeping himself up throughout the night. They were skeptical, but after Barnett spent a night with them and checked in afterward, Lucas went to sleep as soon as his head hits the pillow. “It’s a major life change,” Jetnil said. “It’s amazing.”

Flashback: Summer of 1969 in NYC

Friday August 14, 2009 12:30 PM By Rolando Pujol

Men landed on the moon. The  Stonewall riots erupted. The Mets actually were winning. The Vietnam War raged. Hippies stopped traffic for miles en route to an  upstate concert.

If these events weren’t  memorable enough, the city’s infrastructure was crumbling; racial and class divisions grew starker; sanitation and school strikes were fresh in the public
mind; and there was a sense that the safe, ordered city of yore had broken down. Even the mayoral campaign was surreal.

All this happened in a momentous stretch between Memorial Day and Labor Day in 1969, a summer whose echoes are with us to this day.

“I think the summer of ’69 was tense in New York. There’s no other way to get around that,
despite the good things like the Mets and the Apollo mission,” said Vincent J. Cannato, author of “The Ungovernable City.”

Indeed, just a few years later, the city would be crime-ridden, bankrupt and, many felt, beyond  redemption.  

“You had a tremendous sense of, ‘Where are we going?’” recalled Michael Sigall, 65, who taught political science at CUNY that year.

The feel-good moments

Given what awaited the city, it’s tempting to see the summer of 1969 as the last gasp of a happier New York. That’s hardly true — “Midnight Cowboy” in theaters is a reminder that the city’s decline was already well under way. But it’s hard not to mythologize those months given the moon, the Mets and the music of Woodstock.

Take Woodstock: It became a watershed for a generation, but that wasn’t immediately clear.
“It wasn’t as much about the mu-sic, it was about, ‘What are these crazy things the hippies are doing?’” said James Nevius, author of “Inside the Apple: A Streetwise History of New York City.” 

As Woodstock rocked, the Mets were starting to sizzle on the road to winning the World Series.

“Nobody thought the Mets had any kind of a chance during that season,” said Stanley Cohen, author of “A Magic Summer: The Amazin’ Story of the 1969 New York Mets.” “There seemed to be something brewing that nobody was ready to put their finger on.”

Underdogs defy the odds

Like the Mets, Mayor John Lindsay himself was an underdog. He was a Republican running for re-election on the Liberal Party line, shunned by his own party and by frustrated white, lower-middle-class voters who believed his brand of liberalism favored minorities.

“You’ve got lots of bad feelings built up, especially among those in the outer boroughs. ... On top of that you’ve got this mayoral elec-tion where all these feelings are coming out and a lot of it’s aimed at Lindsay,” Cannato said.

The candidates who represented that constituency were little-known Staten Islander John
Marchi, who ran as a Republican, and pencil-mustachioed Mario Procaccino of the Bronx, a Democrat.

But just as the Mets were unlikely World Series winners, so too was Lindsay in the election.

His opposition to the war, embrace of the women’s movement and outreach to youth were among the factors that helped, said Richard Aurelio, Lindsay’s campaign manager. Not to mention, the anti-Lindsay vote was split by candidates  who were in many respects very similar: Italian, outer-borough and conservative, Cannato said.

Vietnam stirs deep fears, anger

Ultimately that summer, the specter of Vietnam was inescapable.

“By 1969, my major concern was with the war in Vietnam and the draft,” said Jim
Janowitz, 63, of Manhattan.

Journalist Jimmy Breslin, who ran in 1969 for mayor with author Norman Mailer, noted the outsized presence of the war.

“You had a war that was destroying us. ... The war was the thing that was hurting
us,” Breslin said.

And even for those not on the draft list, it was a time when, indeed, it seemed that the city was teetering on the precipice of something frightening. The Mets and the moon could not hide this inescapable fear of a society “starting to crack,” as Nevius put it.

“The man on the street was confused and scared. What would happen to this country? And there was reason to be,” Sigall said.

Shayndi Raice and Marlene Naanes contributed.

***

Cheap Thrills

What things cost in the summer of '69

Evening tickets for Broadway’s “Hair”:  
Orchestra, $12;
Front Mezz, $11;
Rear Mezz, $9.

Subway fare:
20 cents

NYC Aquarium:
Adults, 95 cents;
children, 40
cents

Dinner:
Prime rib at Andrew Maclean’s restaurant in Manhattan,
$6.95

A good read:
”Portnoy’s Complaint,”
$6.95

New York Times:
10 cents

New York
magazine:
40 cents

Park Slope
Victorian
brownstone:
$30,000

West 94th Street
unrenovated
home:
$55,000

East Side floor-
through rental:
$400 a month

Manhattan
parking:

Day rate at lot:
$5; first two
hours, $3

Baked ham
sandwich at
Fifth Avenue
Woolworth’s:
40 cents
Sources: New
York Magazine,    
New York Times

***

Flashback: Summer of '69

May 26:
John Lennon and Yoko Ono hold bed-in for peace in   Montreal.

June 17:
“Oh! Calcutta!” featuring much nudity, debuts Off Broadway.

June 28:
Stonewall riots erupt in Greenwich Village, found- ing gay rights   movement.

July 18:
Chappaquiddick crash ends Ted Kennedy’s presidential hopes.

July 20:

Astronauts land and walk on moon.

Aug. 9:
Manson family kills actress Sharon Tate and six others in Calif.

Aug. 13:
Ticker-tape parade is held for Apollo 11  astronauts in NYC.

Aug. 15-18:
Woodstock rocks.

Sept. 2:
Chemical Bank deploys first ATM machine, in RockvilleCentre, L.I.

 

Tags: New York, history, John Lindsay, Mets, Woodstock, moon, hippes, space travel, crime, 1969

Largest city union backs Thompson for mayor

Thursday August 13, 2009 6:01 PM By Jason Fink

The city’s largest municipal employees union endorsed Comptroller Bill Thompson for mayor Thursday, a reversal from four years ago, when it backed Mayor Michael Bloomberg for re-election.

“He is not only an ally in our struggle to protect our members but a champion of millions of hard-working New Yorkers we serve,” said Lillian Roberts, head of the union, District Council 37, which represents about 125,000 city employees.

Though Thompson, who is seeking the Democratic nomination, would seem a natural fit for a labor union, Bloomberg sought the DC 37 endorsement, which he won four years ago when he ran against another Democrat, former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer.

But the union, which received 4 percent raises in its most recent contract, has turned against Bloomberg, slamming his administration in a public ad campaign for its use of outside contractors. The mayor also vetoed legislation – later overridden by the City Council – allowing members to live outside the city.

“It’s time that we make hard-working men and women a priority again,” Thompson said. “I look forward to having DC 37’s continued support over the coming months as we work to bring new leadership to City Hall.”

The Bloomberg campaign called on Thompson to release a questionnaire both men filled out for the union (Bloomberg released his) and issued a statement asking “what promises Mr. Thompson made them and how much his promises will cost taxpayers.”

Thompson said he would not release the questionnaire, which covers a range of topics, from mayoral control of the schools to the creation of a new pension tier for city workers.

Tags: mayoral election, Bill Thompson, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, DC 37, labor

Transit looking to speed service on the 4, 5 lines

Wednesday August 12, 2009 6:09 PM By Heather Haddon

The MTA hopes to make the commute on the Lexington Avenue line less of a crush.

The agency recently began a $5 million pilot program that will allow trains to safely run closer together on the No. 4 and No. 5 lines in Manhattan, NYC Transit officials said.

Workers are making signals more efficient between 59th and 86th streets on the southbound side and will then schedule an additional train along the line.

Straphangers on the No. 4 and 5 lines are some of the least likely to snag a seat, according to a recent Straphangers Campaign report. Nearly 20 million riders used the 86th Street station last year, the 11th busiest stop in the system.

The project is expected to wrap up later this year. If funding is available, the MTA will expand it to the No. 6 line and run it as far as 14th Street.

hhaddon@am-ny.com

Discount bus company racks up $136,000 in traffic fines

Wednesday August 12, 2009 6:13 PM By Marlene Naanes

They idle. They hog valuable parking space and MTA bus stops. Their passengers choke sidewalks. And one of them is the city’s third biggest parking-ticket scofflaw.

New Century Travel, one of several Chinatown bus companies that deliver cheap trips to riders and plenty of grief to neighbors, has racked up more than $136,000 in mostly unpaid parking fines, an amNewYork investigation found.

The New York City Department of Finance was unaware the company, which also operates under two other names, owed so much money, saying it can be difficult to link fines for multiple vehicles to a single source if registration information is off.

The department examined amNewYork’s research, and said it would take steps to get the company to pay up.

“We’re going to reach out to the company in any way we can while limiting the inconvenience that New Yorkers might face,” said Owen Stone, a finance department spokesman. “We’re going to look into it and work with the company to resolve it.”

The amount of overdue fines astounded and enraged many residents who have constantly battled the buses.

“You’d think that you’d get to a point that if you got that many tickets, you’re not going to get another one —you’re going to get arrested or towed,” said Chris Jordan, who lives near the New Century stop and has called 311 repeatedly about the buses. “They’re not giving anything back to our neighborhood. They’re just taking from it.”

A handful of companies operating in the congested streets in southeastern Chinatown owe on average $5,600 in fines, but New Century Travel, owes at least $136,387.35, according to finance department records.

The majority of its 1,245 tickets are overdue and some date to July 2007.
 
Some of New Century’s tickets are in court, and in about a month’s time, a small number of them disappeared, possibly having been paid, reduced or thrown out. The total amount owed, however, has increased during that time.

Earlier this year, the company tried to get a permit to park legally in front of its storefront on Allen Street but was denied.

New Century owners did not respond to requests for comment, but a manager who identified herself as Ms. Gu said that when the company gets tickets from drivers, it pays them.

“We tell drivers they should give us the tickets,” she said. “Sometimes occasionally there are one or two tickets overdue over time … We will solve the problem.”

Police have tried to combat illegal bus parking problems in the area with ticketing, giving out 1,046 summonses — mostly parking violations — between October 2008 and February 2009, compared to 189 during the same time period the previous year.

“It’s really unfortunate that it’s necessary for [the police] to spend so much time on these bus problems, particularly when it’s really not doing any good,” said Susan Stetzer, district manager for Community Board 3, which covers the area. “They’re using public streets as their locations to make money as a private business and on top of it, they’re not even paying fines. It’s loss of revenue for the city.”

The police have also sought to tow buses with overdue tickets, but have been told by towing marshals that the vehicles can’t be hauled because they are leased and there’s limited space to store them.

Residents and local officials feel New Century’s parking fines are emblematic of a problem they’ve long tried to solve.

“I wish the government could pick a place for all the buses to go over,” said Christine Wong, who works at Wedding Garden Center, a bridal salon where brides sometimes can’t reach their limos or the salon because of the congested streets and sidewalks. “They get ticketed every day. They have no place to park.”
----------------------------------------------

Top ten parking scofflaws in NYC:

Hertz Vehicles LLC                   $353,905.12
AA Truck Renting Corp.            $274,627.88
New Century                             $136,387.35
GSS Rentals                             $129,531.81
United Limousine Service Inc.   $125,684.90
TSS Realty                                $118,176.78
Bergen Rent A Car                    $97,117.42
PCC Produce                            $90,979.46
Alexander Khamish                   $84,382.07
Brock Trucking Company          $80,952.20

Source: Dept. of Finance
*The top two are working to resolve debts. New Century includes tickets that are not yet overdue.

mnaanes@am-ny.com

 

Tags: chinatown, bus, parking ticket, scofflaw

For foodies: This week's dining briefs

Wednesday August 12, 2009 5:42 PM By Lizbette Ocasio-Russe

Pomegranate turns 1: Pomegranate, Brooklyn’s gourmet kosher marketplace, will celebrate its first birthday with a variety of promotions, prizes and tastings. Shoppers automatically will be entered to win a $500 gourmet shopping spree at the store from Aug. 16 to 19. Anyone who shares a birthday with Pomegranate will receive a $100 Pomegranate gift certificate. The grand prize — two round-trip tickets to Israel and a Weber grill — will be given out Aug. 19.  1507 Coney Island Ave., btwn. aves. K and L, 718-951-7112.

Village Pourhouse brunch: On weekends through Aug. 30, enjoy brunch at both branches of the Village Pourhouse, complete with barbecue, bottomless beer and more. Held from 2 to 5 p.m., the brunch features all-you-can-drink Bud, Bud Light and Sagatiba Lemonade Pitchers and Brunch Punch specials. It’s $25 for an entree and all-you-can-drink special at Village Pourhouse Downtown and $20 uptown. 64 Third Ave., at 11th st. ; 928 Amsterdam Ave., btwn 108th and 109th sts.

NYC restaurants use iPhone app: More than 100 of New York City’s top restaurants —including Daniel, Cafe des Artistes, the Four Seasons and Artisanal — have jumped onboard with iPhone application LocalEats to reach customers and inform them of special offers, including complimentary food and discounts. For a full list of participating restaurants, visit wherethelocalseat.com.    
 

A restaurant for every relationship scenario

Wednesday August 12, 2009 5:35 PM By Lucy Blatter

While  there’s certainly no shortage of restaurants here in the city, sometimes it’s hard to find the right place for your relationship needs.

That’s where  TasteSpace.com comes in. A restaurant search engine with a twist, TasteSpace allows users to search for fun criteria such as “Celebrity hangout” or “Scantily-Clad Waitresses.”

We asked founder Ajay Rajani to give his recommendations for date places, at every relationship stage.

First date
“You’d be looking for somewhere not too loud, but not too romantic. You don’t want heavy food, and sometimes it’s good to have a novelty item to talk about,” he said.
His suggestions: Tapas lounge Mercat on Bond Street, and Murray’s Hill’s Asia De Cuba and Gotham Bar & Grill in the West Village for their prix fixes.

Summer fling
Rajani recommended the Meatpacking District’s Pop Burger for its “fun feel.”
“One of my personal favorites is [Nolita’s] Eight Mile Creek,” he said, “because it has a garden, and kind of weird Australian food.”

The kiss-off
“If it’s a serious breakup, you should do it privately,” Rajani said.

Post-breakup girls’ nights out
Crema Restaurante in the Flatiron District was Rajani’s choice because it provides “a new, fun take on Mexican food.”
“They have the same strong drinks of most Mexican places and you can get dressed up with your girlfriends,” he said.

Post-breakup boys’ nights out
“Go to a sports bar with really good food, like [the Upper East Side’s] Baker Street Pub,” he said.

“In midtown, there’s P.J. Clarke’s.” He also recommended all-you-can-eat Brazilian steakhouses, churrascarias.

Proposal
If you don’t have a personal spot with sentimental value, Rajani said you can’t go wrong with a fancy, classic place such as the Upper East Side’s Daniel.
“Something with a romantic atmosphere and great wine list; a fireplace is inherently romantic,” he added.
 

Theater district picks

Wednesday August 12, 2009 5:31 PM By Lizbette Ocasio-Russe

Broadway shows and top cuisine are two of New York’s proudest accomplishments. So why not combine the two?

Here are some eateries in or around the theater district that make the cut.

Toloache Bistro Mexicano
251 W. 50th St., 
212-581-1818
The classy yet laid-back atmosphere and friendly service make this Mexican spot stand out. The menu offers several varieties of guacamole, ceviche, small plates, tacos and more. There’s a three-course prix-fixe lunch available for $24. A weekend brunch menu includes salads, quesadillas and soups. Prices range from $9 to $27.

Becco
355 W. 46th St.,
212-397-7597
If Italian is more your style, try the Lidia Bastianich-owned Becco, best known for its prix-fixe lunch ($17.95) and dinner ($22.95), which include unlimited servings of three daily pastas. There are two wine lists: The Becco Wine List, where all selections are $25, and the Becco Reserve Wine List, with pricier choices.

Clubhouse Cafe
155 W. 46th St.,
212-354-3838
This is the closest you’ll get to a kosher bar. The eatery, from the owners of upscale steakhouse Le Marais, offers tasty dishes such as duck empanadas ($9) lamb sliders ($15) and spicy beef chili ($16.50), in a dark (sometimes loud) atmosphere. Try the sangria and special daily cocktails.

Scarlatto
250 W. 47th St., btwn Broadway and Eighth aves., 212-730-4535
The elegant white furnishings of Scarlatto complement its brick walls, creating a classic feel. The Italian restaurant offers a Pre-Theater menu available from 4 p.m everyday. For $29.95, guests can choose from a selection of appetizers, entrees and desserts. A prix-fixe lunch ($14.95) includes an appetizer and entree. Meat and fish dishes, such as the Dentice Alle Erbe (pan seared red snapper marinated in herbs and garlic sautéed mixed vegetables) and the Scaloppine al Limone (Veal Scaloppine in lemon, cappers sauce, garlic sautéed spinach), range from $11-$24.

Osteria al Doge
142 W. 44th St.,
212-944-3643
Under the light of rustic chandeliers, this Venetian restaurant feels elegant. One of the many pizzas, such as pizza al prosciutto, with arugula and prosciutto, is sure to catch your eye. Pizzas and pastas range from $15 to $22; and fish and meat from $19 to $32.

Blue Fin
W Hotel Times Square, 1567 Broadway, at 47th St.,
212-918-1400
This hotel spot is known for its fresh raw bar and sushi. The lunch and dinner raw bar menu features oysters, clams, shrimp and shellfish tiers. Appetizers are $9-$15 and entrees $24-$38.
 

Tags: theater district, dining, Becco, Lidia Bastianich, Blue Fin, Clubhouse, Toloache, Osteria al Oge

Cameron Douglas' gal pal busted for allegedly sneaking him heroin

Tuesday August 11, 2009 8:13 PM By Pete Catapano

Actor Michael Douglas’ son, already facing charges for allegedly dealing meth, got into
more hot water after his girlfriend was arrested for sneaking him heroin.
 
A guard watching Cameron Douglas, 30, overheard a phone conversation in which he asked someone to bring him items, in particular an electric tooth brush, to the Manhattan apartment where he’s under house arrest, the U.S. Attorney’s office said. The guard got suspicious because Douglas already had a toothbrush and seemed “very concerned about when the toothbrush would be delivered,” officials said.
 
When guards opened the battery compartment of the toothbrush that gal pal Kelly Sott  delivered on Monday, they found 19 bags of heroin. Sott was arrested
later at her Manhattan residence, where agents found
heroin, marijuana and suspected crystal meth.

Douglas was arrested last month after an undercover cop allegedly found a
half-pound of meth on the actor at the Hotel Gansevoort in Chelsea.

According to the criminal complaint against Douglas was shipped cash under a
fake name to at a California hotel in 2006. A few days later., Douglas sent
a pound of methamphetamine to the cooperator at a Manhattan hotel.

Douglas has appeared in three films: “Mr. Nice Guy,” “It Runs in the Family'
and “National Lampoon's Adam & Eve."
   
 
 

Tags: Cameron Douglas, Michael Douglas

Bus shelters now displaying arrival times

Tuesday August 11, 2009 6:25 PM By Jason Fink

 
It’s a common question on the streets of New York, sometimes peppered with some choice adjectives: Where’s the bus?

Starting today, riders on 34th Street got a large part of the answer, as the MTA installed digital displays at eight shelters along the M34 and M16 routes showing estimated arrival times for the next four buses.

“It already exists in London, Chicago and other cities and it’s what we need here,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said during a news conference in front of one of the shelters, on Park Avenue.

The displays, similar to those on the L subway line, were done free of charge by the contractor that built the shelters and, if the pilot program is successful, the MTA will purchase them throughout the city over the next few years, officials said.

Similar programs have been tried more than once and never worked, NYC Transit President Howard Roberts acknowledged.

“The difference here is . . . this has basically worked since they turned it on,” said Roberts.

The displays, which also give the time and temperature, are not perfect. A few times yesterday, a bus was listed as “due” several minutes before it showed up. Officials said that GPS devices in the buses communicate with the shelters and through an algorithm it is determined how far away they are.

Tags: buses, MTA, transportation

After years of improvements, riders still think transit needs work

Tuesday August 11, 2009 6:14 PM By Heather Haddon

City straphangers aren’t easy to please.

Public perception of the buses and subways has barely budged in the last decade despite billions of dollars in system investments, according to MTA polling data obtained by amNewYork.

Riders who were surveyed rated subway service at 6.4 out of 10 last year, up by only a tenth of point from 1998.

“Give me a break man. It’s a rip-off,” Shawn Kelloway, 31, a rider for seven years from Brooklyn, told amNewYork

The MTA hires pollsters to survey riders annually, using the figures internally to assess customer perception. Last year’s survey cost $140,000.

Of the 1,300 riders surveyed, the MTA made the biggest strides in ratings for station environment, subway speed and safety over 1998 numbers. But the agency barely improved in 40 percent of the indicators, including marks for crowding, buses and cost of the fare.

Rider ratings for station cleanliness and smell plunged during the decade.

“I see some new trains, which is good. But I don’t see service going up with the fares,” said Rafi Aanwer, 41, an E train rider.

Ridership, which hit historic highs earlier this year, has fueled crowding. Straphangers had a 43 percent chance of snagging a seat on the subways during rush hour, according to a recent Straphangers Campaign report. 

A MTA spokesman said that improved management and infrastructure investment has helped keep the ratings stable as ridership climbed.

About three-fourths of those surveyed said they were satisfied overall with subway service. That’s a big improvement from 1989, when less than half of straphangers approved of the broken-down system.

Riders ratings
Straphangers surveyed in 1998 and 2008 gave the MTA the following marks, with 10 being the highest:

Overall rating of subway service: 6.3    , 6.4

Overall rating of station environment: 5.7, 6.1

Overall bus satisfaction: 6.2, 6.2

Station smell: 5.6, 4.8

Subway speed: 6.7, 7.4

hhaddon@am-ny.com

Tags: subways, MTA

Forget wine: Pair cheese with beer

Tuesday August 11, 2009 5:53 PM By Lucy Blatter

Wine and cheese might just be the greatest pairing of all time (though some might argue strongly in favor of chocolate and peanut butter).

But there’s an oft-forgotten duo that’s worth pairing: Beer and cheese.

In preparation for the Vermont Cheesemakers Festival (taking place August 23 in Shelburne, VT), organizers have put together a list of cheeses and beers that complement each other.

Cheese: Chèvre with herbs or pepper
A soft goat’s milk chevre is ideal for serving as an appetizer (with crackers) or sprinkled on top of a salad.

Beer recommendations: Pilsner-style beer, Wheat beer, Pale ale

Cheese: Two-year cheddar
An aged semi-firm cheddar goes well with holiday foods or by itself.

Beer recommendations: India Pale Ale, Steam beer, Christmas Ale

Cheese: Traditional cheddar wheel
A traditional country-store cheddar, made from pasteurized cow's milk, is rich and full-flavored.

Beer recommendations: Porter, Double ale, Fruit beer

Cheese: Blue cheese
This rich and tangy cheese is an acquired taste, but if you like it, it’s great crumbled on a salad and served in small doses.

Beer recommendations: Triple ale, Imperial stout, Barley wine

Top Five: David Burke's cookbook picks

Tuesday August 11, 2009 5:46 PM By Lucy Blatter

We asked Chef David Burke, the man behind David Burke Townhouse, David Burke at Bloomingdales and Fishtail by David Burke, to name his top-five cookbooks.

Burke, who is known for adding a creative spin to American food, doesn’t often consult cookbooks. But he recommended these five for any cook, or aspiring cook, looking for inspiration.  “They’re interesting, beautiful and good to add to your collection,” he said. 
 
Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, with Recipes
by Jennifer McLagan, $32.50*
In this book, McLagan explores the history of fat, its many uses and provides recipes, too. (In the past, fat was used to  preserve and flavor dishes.) Burke lauded the author for focusing on duck fat, bacon fat, ghee and other varieties of fats. “The flavors of those fats are delicious, and we grow up in a time where people use mostly just butter and oil,” he said.

The Big Fat Duck Cookbook
by Heston Blumenthal and Dominic Davies, $250*
This book caters to your inner scientist, delving into molecular gastronomy. Burke described author Blumenthal “as one of the best chefs in the world, at the top of his league, and renowned for his work in molecular gastronomy and food science.” And, he added, “whether you’re an amateur or a professional chef it’s interesting to read  about it.”

Art Culinaire: The International Magazine in Good Taste
$59/one-year subscription
These quarterly hardbound magazines have been must-haves for most chefs for 20 years, Burke said. Each issue features dishes from chefs from around the world and focuses on different ingredient and cuisines. “It’s a great gift too for someone who’s interested in food,” Burke said. “I must have 80 of them.”

Alinea
by Grant Achatz, $50*
This “coffee table book” is the work of renowned chef Grant Achatz, who Burke praised for introducing groundbreaking techniques in the molecular gastronomy movement. An added bonus: Purchase includes access to a companion site with video demonstrations, interviews and more.

Egg
by Patrick Mikanowski, Lyndsay Mikanowski and Grant Symon, $45*
You’ll learn everything you need to know about eggs from this book. “It’s a good read; It’s a fun book, and the recipes are good,” said Burke. “I just love eggs,” Burke said. “And this book teaches the versatility of eggs.” The book explores different types of eggs (with diagrams, too), and provides both simple and complicated recipes for the experienced and novice chef alike. 

*All  books are available for a lower price on Amazon.com.

Tags: David Burke, cookbooks

What's in season: Peaches

Tuesday August 11, 2009 4:46 PM By Ben Muessig

Feeling peachy? Then head to the green grocer and stock up on locally grown peaches.

These sweet treats aren't just a southern standard — they're also a New York favorite, available in several varieties at farmers markets around the city.

"White peaches are very sweet, whereas yellow peaches have a more peachy flavor," said Lisa Ossiboff of Phillips Farms, in Milford, New Jersey.

Both varieties are a delicious snack, but they're also perfect for cobblers, pies and preserves. You could even slice them up and throw them into a homemade sangria.

Fresh peaches are a good source of vitamins A and C, as well as potassium and fiber.

These fruits are highly perishable, so look for peaches without blemishes that are relatively firm, but offer a bit of give when squeezed.

Yellow peaches cost about $2.75 per pound, and white peaches retail for about $3 per pound.
 

Violence from the left

Monday August 10, 2009 9:10 PM By Emily Ngo

Left-wing domestic terrorism, including murders by anarchist groups, peaked in the 1970s but had waned by the ’80s. Some infamous attacks:
* The Weather Underground bombed the U.S. Capitol — the group called it “a monument to U.S. domination over the planet” — in 1971 to protest the Laos invasion.
* The Symbionese Liberation Army kidnapped media heiress Patty Hearst in 1974, demanding a food distribution program and indoctrinating her.
* The Armed Forces of National Liberation, or FALN, were Puerto Rico separatists found ultimately responsible for 120 explosions. They bombed the Fraunces Tavern in Manhattan in 1975, killing four.

Recently, left-wing radicalism has been much less violent. Some examples:
* In 2004, radio host Randi Rhodes joked about a “Godfather”-like assassination of former President George W. Bush, sauggesting someone shoot him.
* Gatas Parlament, a Norwegian rap group critical of Bush, in 2004, set up Web site killhim.nu, or “kill him now.”
* Gunshots were fired at the Bush-Cheney campaign headquarters in Knoxville, Tenn., in 2004. No one was inside at the time.    

Scorn in America: Right-wingers riled up, raging

Monday August 10, 2009 8:59 PM By Emily Ngo

Pundits have labeled President Barack Obama a racist. So-called birthers insist he was born in Kenya. An alleged killer contended that Obama “was created by Jews.”

Things have gotten ugly since the election of the nation’s first black president. From hateful talk to hate-fueled violence, right-wing extremism is spiking, experts said.

“There’s a certain portion of our country that’s not digesting these changes very well,” said Heidi Beirich, of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate crimes. She pointed to recent attacks as the deadliest evidence of the trend.

At the fringes
White supremacist James von Brunn, 89, faces trial in the fatal June shooting of a Holocaust museum guard in Washington, D.C. He had linked Obama to a Jewish conspiracy. Days earlier, anti-abortion activist Scott Roeder, 51, allegedly opened fire on Dr. George Tiller in Kansas. In April, Richard Poplawski, 22, who feared “the Obama gun ban that’s on the way,” was charged with killing three Pittsburgh police officers.

Closer to home, Nancy Genovese, 53, of Long Island, was armed with two guns when she was arrested last month for scouting out a National Guard base. She was a fan of Fox News host Glenn Beck, who has accused Obama of “deep-seated hatred for white people.”

Todd Gitlin, author of “The Bulldozer and the Big Tent,” said many of these people “are disposed to think that the government policies they dislike — a tolerance for abortion, in particular — are not civil disagreements but criminal conspiracies they must act with criminal actions to stop.”

For certain, radicalism reflects the party in power, experts said. Republican administrations typically prompt left-wing violence while Democratic ones face right-wing attacks. The left-wing anti-Vietnam War and anti-government violence that erupted in the 1960s and ’70s, mostly had tapered off by the ’80s, experts said. The Clinton administration and the ’90s instead were marred by far-right radicalism such as the Waco, Texas, massacre and the Oklahoma City bombing.

Since 1975, there have been 75 known right-wing domestic terrorist plots, Beirich said, adding that 926 hate groups existed nationwide last year compared with 602 in 2000. As president, Obama has faced 400 percent more threats than the 3,000 or so George W. Bush received each year, according to Ronald Kessler’s book “In the President’s Secret Service.”

On the air
Beck and other conservative media personalities — or “cheerleaders who wear ties and suits” — are feeding the fury, said Gitlin, a Columbia University professor.

Bill O’Reilly, who had dubbed Tiller a “baby killer,” was scrutinized after the doctor’s slaying. Other conservative talking heads accused of acerbic accusations include Michael Savage, Brit Hume, Rush Limbaugh and “birther” Lou Dobbs, of CNN.

“There are degrees of culpability here,” said David Neiwert, author of “The Eliminationists.” Violent extremists “are several steps beyond Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly. But when they hear them validating their beliefs, this has a sort of triggering effect.”

To combat such allegations, Beck recently condemned fringe extremists, saying: “If anyone thinks that it would be a good idea to turn violent, think again. It would destroy the republic.”

Plenty of vicious rhetoric also can be found on the left, Neiwert said. But while far-left hate talk mostly comes from anonymous bloggers and minor figures, the conservative talking heads are reaching audiences of millions, he said.

Such ugliness ultimately threatens to marginalize mainstream Republicans and thwarts the rebuilding of the GOP, Neiwert said. “It’s unfortunate because genuine conservatives are an important part of our body of politics.”

(Photo: Investigators probe the Holocaust museum shooting in June. Getty)

Improved service, new bus lines billed in MTA plan

Monday August 10, 2009 6:25 PM By Heather Haddon

The MTA unveiled a $25.5 billion capital plan Monday that would transform the No. 7 line and fund the first stretch of the Second Avenue Subway.

But the plan is banking on “significant” increases in federal funds and $10 billion that the MTA will have to wrestle from state lawmakers.

“That’s challenging, but it’s essential,” said Gene Russianoff, of the Straphangers Campaign.

Nearly half of the funding would go to NYC Transit projects, including:
•    About 2,800 new buses, some to service six new rapid bus lines

•    More than 500 subway cars to replace old ones and increase service on the No. 7 and Broadway lines

•  Provide new digital trains and additional service on the No. 7 line

•    An easier, updated payment system to replace MetroCards

•     Station overhauls at 14 stops in Brooklyn and the Bronx

•     Public address systems for the stations that lack them

Transit advocates wanted to see dollars set aside for the second phase of the Second Avenue Subway, but otherwise supported the four-year plan.

“Overall, I would give it an A minus,” said Jeffrey Zupan, of the Regional Plan Association.

The agency is inviting the public to comment on the 235-page plan through MTA.info before it goes to the MTA board in September.

The MTA is urging state lawmakers to approve the document and its funding by January, but negotiations could drag on well into 2010. 

hhaddon@am-ny.com
 

Plane wreckage found, search for bodies goes on

Monday August 10, 2009 5:56 PM By Jason Fink

Divers Monday located the wreckage of the plane involved in Saturday’s fatal crash with a sightseeing helicopter over the Hudson River, as families of the victims pushed for answers.

After suspending the search for several hours because of poor visibility and currents, investigators also continued to look for the remains of two of the nine victims. The other seven have been found.
 

Meanwhile, in Italy – where the five tourists who died in the helicopter lived – prosecutors said they would open a manslaughter investigation. But with no jurisdiction, it was unclear what could come of it.
 

The Italian ambassador, Giovanni Castellaneta, met with Mayor Michael Bloomberg and urged the National Transportation Safety Board to conduct its investigation quickly. The devastated widow of Michele Norelli, 51, who died along with the couple’s 16-year-old son Filippo, pleaded with Castellaneta to find out what caused the crash.

“She asked me, ‘please, ambassador, try to know the truth of what happened in this tragedy,” Castellaneta said Monday at City Hall.
 

Witnesses have said the plane approached the helicopter, which had just taken off from the West 30th Street helipad for a 12-minute tour, from behind and clipped it with a wing as it ascended.

The tourists were part of a group of 10, and one of the couples was celebrating its 25th anniversary; the other five members of the party had taken copter ride the day before, said Castellaneta.

The victims in the plane were the pilot, his brother and 16-year-old nephew.
 

Elected officials also continued to call on the Federal Aviation Administration to tighten rules for low-flying aircraft, which are not required to communicate with air traffic controllers below 1,100 feet. The plane involved in the crash was also not required to file a flight plan.
 

Bloomberg did not endorse changing the rules, reiterating that he would defer to the FAA.
He noted that the tours, which he said take hundreds of passengers up each day, provide an economic boost for the city.

“These are things tourists like and we need tourists very much,” he said. “The jobs of an awful lot of New Yorkers depend on tourism.”

Tags: Hudson River, plane crash, helicopter

Union contract could cause MTA new financial woes

Monday August 10, 2009 5:59 PM By Heather Haddon

The MTA is poised to deliver handsome raises to transit workers, and straphangers might pay the price if the deal blows a hole in transit’s budget.

Union arbitrators are expected to settle Wednesday on annual raises of at least 3 percent across three years for subway and bus workers as part of a new contract, sources said.

But the MTA’s new budget only includes reserves for a 1.5 percent raise this year and about 2 percent in 2010, officials said last month. 

“This is a delicately balanced budget,” interim MTA chief Helena Williams said. “To the extent that any award comes in with numbers greater than that is a financial risk.”

The MTA will raise fares by 7.5 percent in 2011 and 2013, but officials said additional fare hikes or service cuts wouldn’t come to pass — unless certain doomsday scenarios occurred, including a larger-than-expected contract settlement.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg Monday called the contract “worrisome.”

“The straphangers of today are going to pay for this increase,” Bloomberg said. “I don’t know how the MTA is going to make up the difference here.”

City Hall itself came under fire recently when the city provided annual raises of at least 4 percent for municipal employees and corrections officers.

Spokesmen for the MTA and Transportation Workers Union Local 100 declined comment.

The contract covering about 36,000 workers expired in January. It will include some union givebacks, which are still being negotiated, sources said.

The payout is similar to what MTA Bus Company workers won in June.

Jason Fink contributed to this report.

hhaddon@am-ny.com
 

Tags: mta, nyc transit, TWU

'The Office' hometown tours in Scranton

Monday August 10, 2009 5:39 PM By Lucy Blatter

Now is your chance to discover Scranton, Pa., and see the places featured on “The Office.”
 Four-hour Office Fan Tours will take place Saturday afternoons through the end of the month. After the  summer, tours will continue on the second Saturday of each month. Go to theofficeconvention.com.

Fall getaways abound

Monday August 10, 2009 5:35 PM By Lizbette Ocasio-Russe

Summer may soon be over, but that doesn’t mean vacation time will end. Fall is a great (and often cheaper) time to take a break from the daily routine.

If you plan to travel to the Caribbean, remember that hurricane season can last through November, so check weather forecasts in advance.

Here are some recommended fall getaway deals:

The Bahamas
800-Atlantis,
atlantis.com
Spend some time in paradise, with Atlantis Paradise Island resort’s Last Days of Summer savings package, starting at $299 per adult for a four-day, three-night stay (children younger than 11 stay free). The package is available Aug. 24-Dec. 16.
Guests have access to beaches, waterslides, river rides and pools. Atlantis is also home to the world’s largest open-air marine habitat. Book by Aug. 31.

Puerto Rico
866-624-7926, facebook.com/wyndhamriomar
Are you a Facebook aficionado in need of a vacation? Puerto Rico’s Wyndham Rio Mar resort is offering an exclusive $119 per-night rate for Facebook fans through the end of September. The resort has two world-class golf courses, a spa, a fitness center, an international tennis center, two beachfront pools and a water sports and diving center. To apply for the special, guests must be fans of Rio Mar on Facebook prior to booking (go to facebook.com/wyndhamriomar).  Book by Aug. 31.

Hawaii
800-262-8450,
kbhmaui.com
Ka’anapali Beach Hotel on Maui has special fall rates starting at $143 per night, valid Aug. 21-Dec. 22. Guests have access to complimentary daily classes and nightly hula shows. Classes include hula-dancing, lei and ti leaf skirt making, lau leaf printing and lauhala weaving. Guests are also invited to the hotel’s Ohana Welcome Breakfast on their first day.

British Virgin Islands
800-223-1108,
biras.com
Spend fall in the sun at Biras Creek Resort on Virgin Gorda. With a stay of five nights you will receive two nights free plus a $100 beverage credit. The offer is applicable for the Ocean Suites, each with a balcony and ocean view. The $700 nightly rate includes meals, activities and accommodations for two. Activities include using Boston whaler dinghies, windsurfing and snorkeling equipment. Offer is valid through Dec. 17 (including Thanksgiving). The resort is closed Aug. 25-Oct. 19 due to hurricane season.
 

Teen charged for torching golf carts in Queens

Monday August 10, 2009 5:00 PM By Pete Catapano

A 17-year-old teen who allegedly lit golf carts on fire at a Flushing golf course was charged with arson and criminal mischief, the Queens district attorney said.

According to District Attorney Richard A. Brown, Christopher Casella, of 58th Avenue in Fresh Meadows, poured flammable liquid onto golf carts at the Kissena Park Golf Course on June 25, leading to a fire that destroyed 38 golf carts and damaged the clubhouse pro shop.

“The fire could easily have caused serious injuries to responding firefighters or any people who may have been on or around the golf course. This was no teenage prank. It is a serious crime that will be dealt with accordingly,” Brown said.

A surveillance videotape allegedly shows Casella and two accomplices climbing over a fenced-in parking area of the golf course and pouring liquid on the  golf carts. The fired caused damage totaling more than $407,000.

Casella faces 15 years in prison if convicted.

Tags: Queens, fire

Coping with post-layoff emotions

Sunday August 9, 2009 6:05 PM By Lucy Blatter

There’s no doubt about it: A layoff is difficult on the psyche, whether it’s happened to you or someone close to you.

Dr. Joe Siegler, a psychiatrist and author of “Fire Your Therapist,” provided tips on how to keep yourself — and others — emotionally healthy after a job loss.

Try to see your job loss as normal
First you must realize that it’s not a reflection on you. “Try not to let it get you depressed or down on yourself,” Siegler said. “It’s normal to have multiple careers and job losses in your life.

“The reality is that companies need to downsize.” If you loved your job, you need to grieve, said Siegler. But then you need to move on.

If your spouse or significant other is the one who’s been laid off, make an effort not to judge them. Siegler said he often sees spouses being supportive at first, but as time goes on the judgment starts.

But he stressed that positive energy helps others find jobs. Sometimes couples coaching can help, too.

See the opportunity
“It’s a very creative opportunity,” Siegler said about being laid off. Think about what you’ve always wanted to do, and give it a shot.

Do some ‘white-space thinking’
Siegler recommends leaving the house for a bit and allowing your mind to blank out; in other words, take part in “white-space thinking.”

“It doesn’t have to be all day every day, just a quality hour or so. Clear your mind of worries,” he said.

Once you’ve done that, keep a journal. “Then do a pros and cons list to every possible job,” he said.

Try coaching
Siegler believes career coaching is the best way to go for someone looking to change careers.

He founded Chicago-based coaching company Full Life Coaching Centers 10 years ago, with the goal of helping those in transition.

“Sometimes you need a coach, sometimes you don’t,” he said. “But if you know you’re not getting it done, you need one.

“Most people thrive because coaches pull you and help you focus on your big goal. We all have areas and times in our lives where we need a little help,” he said.

When it comes to choosing a good coach, Siegler said, “You have to be really careful. It’s a new field, and a lot of people claim to be coaches. The biggest thing is the person’s credentials. See if they have a Web site and check their credentials there.

“I look at coaching as the next evolution, past therapy,” Siegler said. “It’s in line with cognitive behavioral therapy.”

For that reason, he recommends coaches with a therapy background. “Layoffs can bring out the same issues that therapists deal with — attachment issues, depression issues, burnout, substance abuse and more,” he said.

Tags: Joe Siegler, post-layoff emotion

Supermodel scares Swedes

Sunday August 9, 2009 4:00 PM By Julie Gordon

Creepy models are the new black. Thousands of Swedes are scared of a supermodel selling personal care products in an Apoliva commercial. 

Check out amNY on WNBC on Sunday

Saturday August 8, 2009 11:13 AM By Rolando Pujol

Be sure to check out fashion and food reports from amNewYork
on Channel 4.

At 1:30 a.m. Sunday, Channel 4 will present New York Style, a New York
Nonstop report on fashion.  And Sunday at noon, Channel 4 delivers New
York Nonstop's top foodie picks.

The reports will feature stories by amNY's Rolando Pujol, who with Julie
Gordon and Matt Windman appear on New York Nonstop, NBC's city news and
lifestyle channel, which can be seen on Channel 161 on Time Warner,
Channel 109 on Cablevision, and 4.2 on over-the-air digital.
 

Henican: Sonia stance hurts GOP with Hispanics

Thursday August 6, 2009 7:13 PM By Ellis Henican

¡Adios, Latinos!       

Republican senators have just driven another huge wedge between their party and the fastest-growing voting bloc in America, resoundingly dissing the first Hispanic nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Leave for another day the debate, if you can call it a debate, about whether Sonia Sotomayor is a highly impressive jurist or an over-politicized emoter ready to undermine the Constitution she’s sworn allegiance to. I’m talking politics now, not personal temperament or American jurisprudence.

You can take this much to the voting booth: This grown-up child of the Puerto Rican Bronx embodies the dream of every Hispanic family in America — that talent and hard work can carry anyone’s child to the Ivy League and the highest heights of her chosen field, toppling historic barriers for her people along the way.

¡Sigua adelante, Sonia!

Is there a Mexican-American, Dominican-American, Caribbean-American, Central American, South American or Puerto Rican family on this side of the border who can’t connect with that?

Of course, every U.S. senator has an absolute right to vote for or against any Supreme Court nominee. And every Hispanic voter for the next generation or two has an absolute right to remember who voted how.

It didn’t have to be this way. Republicans, urged by John McCain and George W. Bush, were making real inroads among Spanish-speaking immigrants. And why not? In large measure, these were hardworking, family-oriented, Roman Catholic, upwardly mobile folks — ripe pickings, you’d think, for the Republican message of low taxes, strong defense and social conservatism.

But that was before the immigration debate got ugly. It was before Republican congressmen wrecked Bush’s reform plan. It was before conservative talk radio became a giant megaphone for cries of “Build a high wall with barbed wire” and “Send the illegals home.”

And it was before three-quarters of the Republican members of the U.S. Senate looked at a soft-spoken Harvard Law graduate who had more judicial experience than any Supreme Court nominee in the past 100 years — and voted “no” on the walking embodiment of a deeply embedded dream.

“¡Adios, Latinos!” those senators might as well have said out loud.

“¡Ahora seran Democratas!”
 

Top candidates fail to get matching funds

Thursday August 6, 2009 6:42 PM By Jason Fink

The two Democrats vying for mayor and the front-runner for public advocate didn’t raise enough money to qualify for public matching funds, the city Campaign Finance Board announced Thursday.

Neither City Comptroller Bill Thompson nor Councilman Tony Avella (D-Bayside) raised the $250,000 towards matching funds that is required to receive the six-to-one match.

The next filing deadline is Aug. 14. The current cycle included donations made through July 11.

The winner of the Democratic primary will face Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a self-financed billionaire who has already spent $36 million and has opted out of public financing.

Mark Green, the former public advocate seeking the Democratic nomination to run for his old post, failed to reach the $125,000 threshold for that office.

His finance director, Alyson Grant, said the campaign expects to qualify in the next round.

“We’ve been working very diligently,” she said.

The thresholds don’t represent the total amount raised – Thompson has raised nearly $4 million. Candidates can only count the first $175 of each contribution from a New York City resident towards their matching total.

Thompson submitted just over $251,000 in matching claims but an audit disqualified some of those contributions.

“It’s not incurable,” said Eric Friedman, a spokesman for the campaign board. “The paperwork isn’t there but it could be.”

Aella’s chief of staff, Mariah Craven said it was “troubling” that neither Democratic mayoral candidate qualified.

“The public financing program exists to level the playing field and the Campaign Finance Board needs to look into the reasons why it’s not doing that effectively.”

Thompson’s campaign declined to comment.

Tags: mayoral election, campaign finance

Williamsburg bike lane continues to cause concerns

Thursday August 6, 2009 6:24 PM By Heather Haddon

Williamsburg is still on the warpath over some harmless-looking bike lanes.

In the latest chapter, the city’s decision to reroute traffic from busy Kent Avenue has fanned worries that an onslaught of trucks will be plowing down residential streets.

“When you have trucks rumbling and tumbling down the street, it makes it not so desirable,” said Burak Kasapoglu, project manager of a condo being built on North 11th, where traffic will be rerouted.

The city is redesigning a set of bike lanes on Kent and removing precious parking along the neighborhood’s waterfront. Bike paths will be moved to the west side of Kent, parking spots will be placed next to them and the thoroughfare will be converted into a one-way street running north.

That’s forcing the city to reroute the traffic off Kent onto the increasingly residential streets on the north side of the hipster enclave. Trucks will have to turn through a series of streets and cross Bedford Avenue, the neighborhood’s main drag, to get to the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.

“It’s creating a booby-trap,” said Meredith Chesney, 45, a resident and local business owner.
Kent Avenue is now “heavily utilized” by trucks and up to 785 vehicles ply along the road per hour, according to city planning documents.

The city Department of Transportation will add truck route signs and encourage local drivers to stay on the main truck thoroughfares, spokesman Montgomery Dean said.

“DOT worked extensively with the local community on the details of this project,” Dean said.
About 150 residents and business owners signed a petition against the “reckless” plan. But changes to the bike lanes — which attract hundreds of cyclists a day — will begin this summer, Dean said.

The bike lanes will eventually morph into a greenway stretching along the Brooklyn waterfront, and proponents think residents will embrace the design once the landscaping is complete.

hhaddon@am-ny.com

Bill Clinton's success overshadowing Hillary's?

Wednesday August 5, 2009 8:10 PM By Emily Ngo

Having accomplished his secret mission to North Korea, former President Bill Clinton was welcomed home with journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling in tow.

Behind the scenes, however, it was his wife, Hillary, who had toiled with the details. The secretary of state had been mocked as a “funny lady” and “schoolgirl” by North Korean leaders — the same ones who insisted Bill be the one to visit.

“She has definitely been overshadowed,” said Karen  O’Connor, of the Women & Politics Institute at American University. “It puts her in the position of looking like she’s depending on her husband, which I don’t believe she is.

“In actuality, as secretary of state, she can’t do much, because the U.S. doesn’t have a diplomatic relationship with North Korea,” O’Connor said.

Hillary Clinton’s position could create a conflict of interest if the former president officially reclaims the diplomatic stage, but he’s a natural choice for an envoy, said Donald T. Phillips, author of “The Clinton Charisma.”

“If you go out of the country, Clinton is like a rock star,” Phillips said. “Part of it is not only his basic charisma, but a lot of it is how frequently he traveled around the world.”

The couple’s influence is undeniable, experts said.

“We’re sort of lucky. Everybody said when he first got elected that we’re getting two for the price of one,” said political analyst Keli Goff, author of “Party Crashing.” “Now we sort of have that in reverse.”

Tags: politics, Bill Clinton, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, North Korea

Riders worry as stations losing workers also lack PA systems

Wednesday August 5, 2009 6:57 PM By Heather Haddon

Nine subway stations losing stations agents at the end of the summer don’t have public address systems, fueling fears riders will be less safe and uninformed.

“That scares the crap out of me,” said Sharon Barbour, 21, a frequent traveler from the Spring Street No. 6 station, which lacks a PA and is losing an agent.

NYC Transit is eliminating 200 station agent positions by Sept. 20, about 40 percent of the jobs, to cut millions from its strained budget. The agency intends to eventually eliminate all of the roving red-vested clerks through attrition.

Station agents roam platforms to assist straphangers with directions or emergency help. Token booth clerks also interact with the public, but they typically provide information at the booth or through a PA. More than 120 subways stations lack public address systems, according to the most recent data obtained by amNewYork.

“Without that worker, people are really defenseless,” said Emily May of New Yorkers for Safe Transit, an advocacy group protesting the cuts. “Who are they supposed to reach out to if they are assaulted or harassed?”

The MTA has promised to keep at least one clerk on duty 24 hours a day in all 468 stations. Passengers needing to contact the clerk on duty can use an intercom at any unmanned booth, a NYC Transit spokesman said.

Additionally, transit is installing PA systems in the stations that lack them, but that work won’t be finished until 2012, the spokesman said.

With the personnel cuts, the MTA will shutter 105 full-time booths, including those in busy stations like Times Square and City Hall, according to a list compiled by the union.

“I would love to see someone behind that booth,” said Ruth Hoppe, a Spring Street station rider. “I do everything with the machine, but it’s important for safety reasons.”

Stations without PA systems loosing red-vested agents:
B, C: 110th
B, D: 170th, 174th
F, G: Carroll Street
F: Flushing Ave.
No. 6: Spring Street, Cypress Ave., Longwood Ave., East 143rd

Cuts to customer information:
186: Station agent positions cut this year
105: Booths closing
65: Booths closing in Manhattan

126: Subway stations without a PA
9: Stations that are also losing a station agent
A: Subway line with the most stations lacking a PA
Source: TWU 100, NYC Transit

hhaddon@am-ny.com

Restaurateur Q & A: Gorian Papa of Aqualis Grill

Wednesday August 12, 2009 11:13 AM By Lucy Blatter

First-time restaurateur Gorian Papa opened Aqualis Grill in Fort Greene at the beginning of July. The restaurant specializes in seafood, prepared by chef John Tsakinis, formerly of Kellari Taverna. We spoke to Papa about his new restaurant.

What was your vision for Aqualis?
The idea was that we would go to the Fulton fish market and get the freshest catches and best fish and bring it to Brooklyn. It’s a Meditteranean-inspired menu, largely Greek.

What are your signature dishes?
The octopus, grilled sardines and grilled calamari are top sellers for appetizers. One of the main dishes is a Mediterranean sea bass, prepared with a lemon and saffron vinaigrette. It’s grilled whole and served whole.

Will the menu change a lot based on the season?
The sea bass will always be there, cause it’s the best seller and it’s always around. Sometimes the red snapper is hard to get. But for the next two months it’ll be on the menu.

When September comes around, we’ll refresh our selection.

We also make two homemade sodas, rosewater lemonade and watermelon soda.

Describe the atmosphere.
It’s casual dining — the back has two exposed brick walls. We’d like to keep the atmosphere casual and focus on friendly service.

What are the prices like?
Most appetizers are about $7-$10. Main courses are $15-21.

What do you think of the Fort Greene neighborhood so far?
The neighborhood is great and the people are great. It has a great vibe and energy.

When the space became available, we immediately made a move for it. We’re the only ones here whose main focus is seafood.

The feedback has been great. We have gotten a lot of assurances that we’ll be here to stay.

Aqualis Grill, 773 Fulton St., btwn South Portland Ave. and South Oxford St., Brooklyn, 718-797-3494. Open Tues.-Thurs, 4-11 p.m.; Friday 4 p.m.-12 a.m., Saturday and Sunday, 12 p.m.-12 a.m.





 

Tags: Gorian Papa, Aqualis Grill, Fort Greene

amNewYork's picks for outdoor dining

Wednesday August 5, 2009 3:04 PM By Lucy Blatter

New Yorkers may not have the luxury of patios and outdoor dining at home, but at least we have plenty of restaurants where we can enjoy a meal al fresco.

Here are amNewYork staffers’ top picks for outdoor dining.

Hudson Hotel’s Sky Terrace
356 W. 58th St., 212-554-6000
If money’s tight this summer (and whose isn’t?), skip the vacation and stop by the Hudson Hotel’s 15th-floor Sky Terrace to experience your very own urban tropical oasis, complete with lounge chairs, hassocks, pergolas, and even a hammock built-for-two. Open only during spring and summer months, the terrace offers sweeping views of the city, along with plenty of shady spots. Sit back, relax and enjoy being served expert cocktails (many available in pitcher sizes) and light fare such as tuna tartare, sliders, pizza and burgers. Note: Food is only served from noon to 8 p.m., but the bar is open until 11 p.m.

SushiSamba 7
87 7th Ave S
212-691-7885
This Asian-Latin fusion spot has surpassed the “Sex and the City” hype, serving great food — try the sea bass skewers! — and unique cocktails. But the best part of the restaurant’s West Village location is the roof terrace, which offers great views. Added bonus: Latin and jazz bands often play when the weather’s nice.

Lamb & Jaffy
1073 Manhattan Ave., near Eagle St.,718-389-3638
Greenpoint’s Lamb and Jaffy has a got a lot going for it. The elegant, new American bistro is BYOB. It serves creative, affordable dishes to 30-something hipsters with an emphasis on seafood and fresh produce. Then, there’s the garden — a cozy, romantic nook complete with lush trees, landscaping and a precocious cat.

Bona Fides
60 Second Ave., btwn. Third and Fourth sts., 212-777-2840
This little-known (and physically little) Italian gem draws a loyal clientele. The menu is filled with classic dishes, like Cappelini Primavera and Filet Mignon, at very affordable prices. Cold antipasto plates are available for 2, 3 and 4 people, and cost between $12.95 and $19.95. But the big draw here during the warm-weather months is an outdoor patio, with potted plants and low lighting that add to the charm.

Papacitos
999 Manhattan Ave., Greenpoint, Brooklyn, 718-349 7292
You can eat at your own table-for-two or share a picnic table with strangers on this Mexican restaurant’s brightly colored patio. The lunch and dinner menus include Mexican standards such as burritos, tacos and quesadillas. For brunch, it serves up more creative dishes, including chocolate and pasilla chili French toast.

Tartine
253 W. 11th St., at W. Fourth St., 212-229-2611
West Fourth Street, between Charles and W. 11th streets, in the West Village is a see-and-be-seen block. Translation: Most restaurants there (Extra Virgin, Sant Ambroeus) require dropping lots of moolah for an outdoor dining experience. Not Tartine. This teensy French restaurant offers the same outdoor seating as the aforementioned places, but without the heavy price tags. First of all, it's BYOB, so that cuts the check. And the menu of delicious fare (sauteed chicken, fresh veggies, French onion soup) is reasonable. The only downside? Tartine gets crowded quickly. Head over around 5 p.m. to make sure you get a table without waiting in line.



 

NY Times culture editor to replace Frank Bruni as food critic

Wednesday August 5, 2009 1:28 PM By Lucy Blatter

The Times has named former dining-section editor and current culture editor Sam Sifton as its new restaurant critic, replacing Frank Bruni.

Sifton has written food essays for the New York Times Magazine, and served as the New York Press' restaurant critic in the '90s.

Sifton will start in October.

For foodies: Upcoming dining and food events

Wednesday August 5, 2009 12:08 PM By Lucy Blatter

88-cent Satay in NYC: Celebrate 8coupons.com's second birthday with 8-cent, 88-cent and $8 deals all over the city. The celebration begins Saturday Aug. 8 with 88-cent ice cream at Cold Stone — if you're lucky enough to be the 888th customer you'll get 8-cent Cold Stone for a year. Other deals include 88-cent Pan-asian Satay dishes at Kuta, 88-cent 360 premium vodka cocktails at the Time Out Lounge and 88-cent margarita at Senor Swanky's. The deals will run Aug. 8-15. Visit 8coupons.com/birthday for more details.

Nova Scotia Lobster Festival: Here is a way to enjoy Lobster without breaking the bank. Take advantage of the Patina Restaurant Group's Nova Scotia Nova Scotia Lobster Festival where you can indulge in $7.50 lobster rolls at Cucina and Co., and a lobster bake with a two-pounder, corn on the cob, boiled potatoes, andouille sausage and butter for $29 at Rock Center Cafe. Other participating restaurants include Nick and Stef's and Naples 45. The festival runs through Sept. 6, for more information call 212-332-7620.

Taste of the Village: Stimulate your taste buds at the seventh annual "Taste of the Village" in Washington Square Park featuring the best restaurants of Greenwich Village. Participating restaurants include Blue Hill, Elettaria, Centro Vinoteca, Gusto Ristorante and many more. Swing by on Sept. 16 from 6-8 p.m. and indulge under the park arch. Tickets are $40 per person and can be purchased by calling 212-777-2173 or by visiting VillageAlliance.org.

Cooking with Apples at the International Culinary Center: Learn how to incorporate  apples into your meals with a crash courses offered by the International Culinary Center Saturday Aug. 15 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. The three-hour class ends with a sit-down meal, and teaches students how to match spices and ingredients with apples in creative. The class is $195 per person. For more information, go to internationalculinarycenter.com/rec.

The WLIW21 Autumn Gourmet Classic: Public television station WLIW21 is teaming up with television chefs Lidia Matticchio Bastianich, Jacques Pépin and John Barricelli for an evening of food, wine and culinary theater on Sept. 9 from 6-9 p.m. Food tastings will include DiPaloSelects.com of Little Italy, the French Culinary Institute, New York City restaurants Industria Argentina and Paladar and many more. Wine tastings will include wines from Italy, Spain, France, Argentina and Chile. There will also be a meet and greet and photo opportunity with Bastianich. Ticket proceeds benefit New York metro area PBS station WLIW21 and are $250/single ticket and $450 for a pair. Ticket includes a cookbook by Bastianich or Pépin. For more information and to purchase tickets visit wliw.org.



 

iPhone app gets you deals on local restaurants

Wednesday August 5, 2009 12:04 PM By Lucy Blatter

Over 100 of New York City's top restaurants have jumped on board with iPhone application LocalEats to reach customers and inform them of special offers, including percentage off the bill to complimentary food with purchases. 

Artisanal, Daniel, Cafe Des Artistes and The Four Seasons have all signed on. For a full list of restaurants visit WhereTheLocalsEat.com/New-York-Restaurants.

East comes West, as China sees future in New York City

Tuesday August 4, 2009 7:46 PM By Shayndi Raice

China’s rise in New York City is just beginning.

The world’s third-largest economy continues to grow, even during the global recession, and the Big Apple has been wooing Chinese firms to fill some of the economic void here.

In the last 12 to 18 months, several major Chinese firms have come to the city. In March, Vantone Industrial, a Chinese real estate development company, signed a lease to become the first tenant at One World Trade Center, which is under construction. It will be home to the China Center, a business and cultural facility to help Chinese companies looking to make inroads into America and the city.

“More and more companies are coming here,” said Ya Xue, executive director of the China Center New York. “They want to have more international standards and work on an international level. New York is a key stop.”

China Merchants Bank, China Banking Forum, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, and China Construction Bank opened their first U.S. branches here.

John Du, a partner with the Chinese law firm Jun He, which represents China Merchants Bank, said that Chinese banks need an American presence to help encourage trade between the countries.

“The purpose is … to help the New York companies trading with China, as well as the Chinese companies trading with the U.S.,” he said.

Kathryn Wylde, president and CEO of Partnership for New York City, helped launch the China Center five years ago. She said every type of Chinese business will make inroads into New York: renewable energy, new technology, media, manufacturing and fashion.

“The success and growth of New York’s industry really depends on developing strong business relationships with China and Chinese companies,” Wylde said.
 

Tags: China, Chinese business in NYC, NYC future, China WTC tenant, the China Center, China Merchants Bank, China, Chinese business in NYC, NYC future, China WTC tenant, the China Center, China Merchants Bank, China Banking Forum, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank

Experts: Problem drinking not always easy to detect

Tuesday August 4, 2009 7:04 PM By Heather Haddon

While Diane Schuler appeared to have lacked the tale-tell signs of addiction, diagnosing someone with a substance abuse problem isn’t always so clear-cut, psychologists said.
 
Schuler may have been what professionals call an “episodic drinker.” These people can abstain for months, only to go on dangerous benders when certain situations arise, such as social occasions or highly emotional events.
 
“We usually think of fall-down drunks,” said Pete Kanaris, the public education coordinator for the New York State Psychological Association. “But there are people who will go a substantial amount of time without drinking, then drink to inebriation.”

Episodic drinkers are less likely to seek out treatment because they function well on a daily basis, he said. Loved ones often don't notice problems until something triggers the person to lose control, which could have been the case with Schuler.

“It’s a quick way to escape something negative,” said Kristene Doyle, director of clinical services at the Albert Ellis Institute, an Upper East Side addiction treatment clinic. “I don’t know what was going on in this woman’s life, but something was going on.”

The few witnesses who saw Schuler before she drove away from the upstate campground at about 9:30 a.m. -- four hours before the deadly July 26 crash – told officials that she appeared to be fine.
 
Toxicology tests showed that her alcohol impairment level was 0.19, twice the legal limit, and that she had smoked marijuana shortly before the accident, which would have further impaired her abilities.

In that condition, Schuler would have lost her focus, judgment and reflexes, said Janie Loveless, communications manager for Mothers Against Drunk Driving. “You don’t realize you are taking risks.”

Bloomberg says use of funds was legit

Tuesday August 4, 2009 6:37 PM By Jason Fink

Mayor Michael Bloomberg denied Tuesday that his administration did anything improper when it steered more than $1 million to two Orthodox Jewish non-profits in the name of a city councilman who says he never requested the money.

“It didn’t circumvent any rules,” Bloomberg said. “I think our recollection of who asked for what is very different.”

The mayor was responding to a report that from 2002 to 2006, his office funneled $1.5 million in discretionary funds to the non-profit groups Agudath Israel of America Community Services and Ohel Children’s Home and Family Services and attached the name of Councilman Simcha Felder (D-Brooklyn) to the requests.

The money could only legally be allocated at the request of a council member. In the report, published Tuesday, Felder said he never asked for it. Bloomberg officials insisted that Felder was misremembering.

Agudah Israel’s executive vice president, David Zweibel, said his group has received such funds going back to the early 1990s and always dealt with the mayor’s office directly.

“I was never aware of any efforts we would make through city council members for mayoral funds,” Zweibel said. “It was done through the mayor.”

Felder’s spokesman said he was unavailable but confirmed Felder’s assertion that he never requested the money.

The mayor’s fund doled out nearly $20 million over the years to organizations suggested by council members. Last year, it was discontinued in the wake of the slush fund scandal in the city council.

Both charities singled out Tuesday have continued to benefit from government largess.

In the current budget, the city council allocated $338,500 to Ohel Children’s Home and Family Services and $364,452 to Agudath Israel of America Community Services.

In both cases, Felder was one of the council members who allocated most of the money.

Last year, Agudath Israel got $430,000 in federal money earmarked by Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Brooklyn/Queens), according to Taxpayers for Common Sense.

Tags: Mayor Michael Bloomberg, City Council, Simcha Felder

Police: Taconic crash victim drunk, high during fatal accident

Tuesday August 4, 2009 6:52 PM By Pete Catapano

She wasn't sick.

She was drunk and high on pot.

The West Babylon mom who killed eight people including herself in a head-on
collision while driving the wrong way on the Taconic Parkway had 2 ½ times the legal limit for alcohol in her body, smoked pot within an hour of the crash and had bottle of Absolut vodka in her red Ford minivan, officials said yesterday.

Diane Schuler, 36, downed 10 drinks and had a blood-alcohol level of
0.19 during the horrific July 26 accident that killed her 2-year-old daughter,
three young nieces and three men and in the SUV she slammed into, said
Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore.

“With that level of alcohol ... she would have had difficulty
with perception, with her judgment with her memory,” said Betsy Spratt, chief toxicologist for the Westchester County Medical Examiner. “You start to get what we call tunnel vision.”

While officials said they couldn’t determine what kind of alcohol she drank,
a broken 1.75 litre bottle of Absolute vodka was found at the crash scene.
And tests showed that she had smoked pot between 15 minutes and an hour before the crash.

Six grams of alcohol were found in Schuler’s stomach and a “high level” — 113 nanograms per milliliter — of tetrahydrocannabinol, the main psychoactive substance in marijuana, was in her system, the autopsy revealed.

Schuler drove 1.7 miles the wrong way on the Taconic in Westchester before crashing into the Chevy Trailblazer, killing three men from Yonkers
inside: Guy Bastardi, 49, his 79-year-old father, Michael, and their friend
Daniel Longo, 74, police said.

The lingering question has been whether Schuler was ill, suicidal or
under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Schuler called her brother -- the
father of the three nieces who died -- 30 minutes before the 1:30 crash,
saying she was disoriented and feeling ill.

Heading home from a campground in upstate Sullivan County, witnesses said Schuler was straddling two lanes, tailgating, flashing her headlights and beeping the
horn.
 
Schuler's husband, Daniel Schuler, told investigators that everything seemed
fine when he and his wife left the campground at about 9:30 a.m. He went on
a fishing trip, while his wife headed home with the children. Schuler’s brother’s kids -- Emma Hance, 8; Alyson, 7; and Kate, 5; were killed, along with her daughter, Erin. The sole survivor, her 5-year-old son Bryan, remains hospitalized.

Michael Bastardi Jr., told the N.Y. Post that he was "in disbelief" at the autopsy results. "How could you jump in a car with five kids and drink? We want to get to the truth."
Schuler’s family had no immediate comment yesterday and police said they are attempting to get more information from them. It is unlikely, however, that criminal charges will be filed, officials said.

(With AP)
 

Now the sommelier is mechanical

Tuesday August 4, 2009 5:12 PM By Lucy Blatter

Not that long ago, shopping for wine meant trusting the advice of the merchant, or going by Robert Parker’s review.

But usually, you could forget the luxury of a taste test, unless you were attending a special event or were out at a North Fork winery.

Enter the Enomatic machine. The high-tech, Italian wine-dispensing devices are popping up around the city.

They are  doling out tastes at Columbus Circle Wines & Spirits, Union Square Wines and Bacchus.

There’s even a wine bar in the Time Warner Center, Clo, where wine is dispensed solely from Enomatic machines.

The sleek machines hold numerous wine bottles, with digital numbers displayed above each bottle.

At the wine shops, the numbers represent the number of “credits” needed for each tasting; at Clo, they represent the per-glass price (You pay for all your glasses at the end of the night, when you turn in a card with your balance.)

To use the machines, you simply insert a card at the top, press a button and wine pours down from a spigot into your glass.

Unlike bars, the wine stores can not sell the tastings, because of state liquor laws. Instead, customers receive a debit-like tasting card for free with any purchase.

With each subsequent purchase, more tasting credits are added to the card.

Each taste is one ounce, the legal limit.

At Union Square Wines, each card comes stocked with 500 free credits, and an additional five credits are added to the card for each dollar spent at the store. Tastes cost between 12 and 25 credits, though some higher-end bottles yield higher numbers.

At Bacchus, you also receive 500 free credits with your card, and then accrue one point for every $1 spent.

The machines first emerged in the city at Union Square Wines, and raised concerns that minors could take advantage of them.

A state Liquor Authority looked into them, and ruled them secure.

“The safety and monitoring attributes offered by a human dispenser are matched, and even exceeded by those of the Enomatic equipment,” according to the findings.
Plus, the machines have represented an uptick for the stores. Employees say they find more people trying new wines and buying them as well.

Tags: Enomatic machines, wine bars

Beyond bologna: Behind the deli counter

Tuesday August 4, 2009 3:45 PM By Lizbette Ocasio-Russe

Picnic season is upon us. If you can’t tell bologna from salami and tend to pack your picnics Oscar Mayer style, here is a guide that will open your hungry eyes to a variety of exquisite Italian style meats.

Chef Cesare Casella, a native of Tuscany, oversees the kitchen at Salumeria Rosi.
“It’s like going into a candy store,” Casella said. “There are many different types of candy. …   it's about what you're in the mood for."

The Soppressata is a large, coarsely ground, dry-cured sausage made with lean pork meat, pork fat, and an array of spices. It has a salty and slightly spicy taste sure to make your mouth water.

The Bresaola is air-dried, salted beef rich in taste with a delicious gamey flavor. It is commonly sliced thin, topped with a little olive oil, lemon juice and freshly ground black pepper.

Il Parmacotto is cooked ham with a satisfyingly soft flavor and mildly spicy aroma. It is Italy’s top-selling salume, low in both fat and salt, it’s an essential part of the Italian diet and a healthy addition to your basket.

Prosciutto di Parma comes from the hind thigh of the hog and is one type of meat you don’t want to save it for last. In order to enjoy it at its best, it should be thinly sliced and consumed immediately. It is salt-cured and air-dried with a 18-36 month aging process that creates a range of flavors and textures that are dangerously delicious.

Guanciale is cured pork jowl. It has a rich, slightly spicy, pork flavor and used to make several pastas such as alla carbonara and all’amatriciana.

The meats are often served with fruit, bread and cheese, Casella said.

He suggested figs, cantaloupe and nectarines, as well as tuscan and focaccia breads. Mozzarellas and parmesan cheeses pair nicely too.

Fruit mustards also make for delicious additions to the meats; they’re available at Salumeria Rosi and other specialty stores. 
 

Here are some cold combinations to try at your next picnic:

Il Parmacotto, arugula and fresh tomato on homemeade focaccia bread.

Prosciutto di Parma Mozarella di Bufala and extra virgin olive oil on homemade ricotta bread.


 

Tags: Salumeria Rosi, picnics, deli meat

What's in season: heirloom tomatoes

Tuesday August 4, 2009 3:33 PM By Ben Muessig

Heirloom tomatoes don't look like regular tomatoes and they don't taste regular tomatoes. In fact, they taste better.

Unlike the mass-market varieties of tomatoes you'll find in most supermarkets, these shockingly flavorful fruits haven't been bred with uniformity, transport or shelf-life in mind.

Instead, the farmers harvesting each distinctively colored, oddly shaped, heirloom tomato focus only on flavor.

"They have a lot of flavor," said Alex Maxwell, of Maxwell's Farm in Warren County, New Jersey. "They are more interesting visually — and they have a juicier taste."

Two particularly tasty varieties of heirlooms are great white tomatoes, which offer a juicy, sweet taste, and Japanese black tomatoes, which boast a strong, rich flavor.

You can use these tomatoes — which are loaded with vitamins and antioxidants — in any recipe that calls for tomatoes, from soups and salads to salsas and sauces.

The only problem with heirloom tomatoes is that they aren't around for long. Stock up on fresh heirlooms at specialty groceries and farmers markets around the city for about $4 per pound.

 

Try Julia Child's favorite martini

Tuesday August 4, 2009 3:26 PM By Lucy Blatter

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that Nora Ephron’s “Julie and Julia” is coming to theaters this weekend. The film pays homage to Julia Child, the chef credited with bringing the art of French cooking into millions of U.S. homes.

Child enjoyed the French tradition of aperitifs before dinner — her favorite being the "Upside-Down Martini " or "Reverse Martini", made with Noilly Prat French vermouth.

The libation is being served at NYC spots Aspen Social Club and Donnybrook in her honor for the month. 

But you can make it at home.


Upside-Down Martini


5 parts Noilly Prat

1 part gin

 
Put ice a wine glass.  Fill with Noilly Prat and top with gin. Garnish with a twist of lemon.

Recipe by Julia Child

 

MTA's transit wish list

Monday August 3, 2009 7:58 PM By Heather Haddon

It may be short on cash, but the MTA is long on dreams.

With a hopeful eye on a brighter financial future, the agency is harboring several ideas for improved service.

The 1, C, E and F lines in Manhattan

If former MTA chief Elliot “Lee” Sander had gotten his way, transit would have expanded service on 11 subway lines, including four in Manhattan.

Sander was gunning for more frequent trains along the No. 1, C, E and F lines. He also proposed extending the C to a full 10-cars, ending the mad dash for straphangers on the platform ends.

Sadner’s plans also included a second AirTrain service to LaGuardia Airport and converting an old Brooklyn rail line into a subway running in an arc from the Bronx to Brooklyn. The failure of congestion pricing put much of the $29.5 billion plan on hold.

The F/V lines in Brooklyn

The MTA’s $250 million overhaul of a decrepit bridge carrying the F and G lines in Brooklyn has opened new opportunities for service. Transit will study reviving the long-defunct F express line after construction ends in 2012, officials said.

“It’s something we’ve been promising to the community,” said Andrew Inglesby, transit’s Assistant Director of Government and Community Relations.
 
Riders of the F train have long complained about slow service. The line is scheduled to arrive every four minutes during rush hour, but it ranks second poorest for service reliability, according to a Straphanger’s Campaign report released this month.

“(Express service) is a great idea,” said Junay Adams, 20, an F train rider from Brooklyn. “It would be nice to go straight to my destination.”

Transit has not determined what stops would be bypassed, but they could include popular ones in Boerum Hill and Carroll Gardens.

Additionally, transit will consider running V service into Brooklyn when the bridge repairs wrap up, officials said. The line, which now ends at the 2nd Avenue station, could provide local service in Brooklyn along the F line.

The R line in Brooklyn

For nearly two decades, Sunset Park and Bay Ridge riders traveling between 36 and 95 streets on the R line have had to slog home late night on shuttle buses. Transit was studying full-time R service to Bay Ridge prior to the agency’s financial decline, according to a letter written by transit chief Howard Roberts.
 
“That's a great idea, long overdue,” said Ester Orehek, 65, an R train rider. “It would be easier on commuters.”

The skipped stations serve more than 57,000 riders on weekdays, according to transit statistics. The MTA currently has no immediate plans to increase service on the R or other lines because of its budget crunch, transit spokesman Charles Seaton said.

Other options

Additionally, the MTA extended the G train five stops to Church Avenue in Brooklyn this month and will continue the service until 2012, when work on a bridge carrying the train will end. If finances allow, transit will make the switch permanent, Seaton said.

Transit has made no decisions on whether to offer No. 4 express service in the Bronx, which it tried in a pilot program last month.

Anastasia Economides contributed to this story.

 

Tags: MTA, Elliot Sander

Motel 6 gets modish makeover

Monday August 3, 2009 6:42 PM By Lucy Blatter

Budget hotel chain Motel 6 is undergoing a major face-lift.

The Accor-owned chain hired a London firm to do the renovations, and the look they’ve achieved is modern, fresh and funky.

“We were going for a no-frills, uncomplicated look that would also be convenient for our guests,” said Motel 6 spokeswoman Laura Rojo. Guests have more room underneath their beds for luggage, and a table for two where they can sit, work or eat.

So far 50 properties have been renovated. Within the next five years, the company hopes to remodel all of its U.S. locations. Here are the ones that have been renovated so far:

MOBILE, AL
ANAHEIM, CA
SAN DIEGO, CA
SANTA BARBARA, CA
CHICAGO, IL
BATON ROUGE, LA
BALTIMORE, MD
ANN ARBOR, MI
LA VEGAS, NV
AUSTIN, TX
CORPUS CHRISTI, TX
DALLAS, TX
FORT WORTH, TX
GALVESTON, TX
HOUSTON, TX
LAREDO, TX
SAN ANTONIO, TX
SAN MARCOS, TX
SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, TX
RICHMOND, VA
MILWAUKEE, WI
JACKSON, WY
 

A new Web site for the adventurous

Monday August 3, 2009 6:35 PM By Lizbette Ocasio-Russe

Love to travel? Discovery Channel’s Discovery Adventures has just launched a trip-booking site dedicated to exotic explorations. There are 18 vacation destinations to choose from, including Costa Rica, Peru, India, Zambia and Egypt. discoveryadventures.com.

Bloomberg pledges free buses, MTA shakeup if reelected

Monday August 3, 2009 6:42 PM By Heather Haddon

In his campaign’s first major policy announcement, Mayor Michael Bloomberg Monday unveiled a 33-point MTA plan that includes making crosstown bus rides free in Manhattan.
 
“The MTA needs to do more to plan for our future, much more,” said Bloomberg at a press conference. “You realize just how far our mass transit system has fallen behind.”

If reelected to a third term in November, the mayor pledged to begin implementing his “Moving NYC” plan by July 2010. Highlights include:
- F express service and V local trains running into Brooklyn.
- Digital bus arrival notices in real time on half the city’s routes by 2013.
- More frequent evening bus service using smaller vehicles.
- New trolley service in Brooklyn and Queens.

The mayor also promised to streamline the MTA, much as he did with the city schools.
“We do have the bull pulpit and four votes (on the MTA board) and we plan to use those,” he said.

A MTA spokesman said the agency welcomed the opportunity to work with Bloomberg in making it “more efficient and transparent.”

Gene Russianoff, of the Straphangers Campaign, said: “There’s a mixture of hope and skepticism. It’s a standard to hold (a mayor) against.”

Last week, Bloomberg's lead over Democratic challenger Bill Thompson narrowed to 10 percentage points in a Quinnipiac poll. Thompson said the transit plan was ridden with “empty promises and stolen ideas.”

Transit experts generally supported the plan, but noted that some of the ideas had kicked around for years, come from independent planners or would be impossible to implement quickly.

Bloomberg pledged to execute one of the proposals -- rapid bus service along First and Second avenues in Manhattan -- when he first ran for mayor in 2001.

Then, there’s the matter of paying for it.

“It is not all going to happen because it all takes money we don’t have,” said Andrew Albert, a non-voting MTA board member.

A Bloomberg campaign advisor said the proposal would result in minimal costs and save the MTA $247 million by shedding unnecessary real estate and consolidating the railroads and bus operations.
As for waiving fares on crosstown buses, Bloomberg said that would be a ‘trivial” expense because most riders now transfer from subways or other buses.
 
Experts from the Regional Planning Association, which conceived of the crosstown bus plan, said the plan would need to be carefully monitored to prevent it from expanding too broadly.


hhaddon@am-ny.com

Tags: bloomberg, MTA

Sick of tents? Try a yurt instead

Monday August 3, 2009 6:32 PM By Lizbette Ocasio-Russe

Tired of roughing it in tents, but love the great outdoors?

Don’t sweat it; there is a fuss-free way to get in touch with nature — and this one originates from ancient Central Asian nomads.

Yurts are much stronger and more weather-resistant than tents. What’s more, camping doesn’t have to be limited to a summertime activity when you’re doing it in a yurt. Because of their durable fabric covers and wood frames, yurts can   withstand the snow.Heating systems keep them warm and toasty.

Yurts come in a various sizes and have many amenities, including kitchens, heating and insulation systems, and bathrooms.

Here are some places in New York state where you can rent yurts.

Falls Brook Yurts
Minerva, 518-761-6187, fallsbrookyurts.com
Falls Brook offers a backcountry experience with outdoor activities such as hiking and rafting.
Yurts come complete with a sky dome for stargazing, and include kitchens, propane heating, covered decks, barbecue grills and private outhouses.

There are two yurts available that sleep up to eight guests, and a third will be added next spring.

The cost is $95 a night for two people. Each additional guest is $15 and children 11 and younger stay free. Falls Brook Yurts is open year-round (except hunting season, October-December). The yurts are less than four hours from the city.

Harmony Hill Lodging and Retreat Center
East Meredith, 877-278-6609, harmonyhillretreat.com
Harmony Hill, located in the heart of the Catskills, has “treehouse yurts” (on raised decks) available until the end of October.

The yurts accommodate up to four people; have decks, kitchens and baths; and are furnished, insulated and heated. Each has a skylight, picnic table, grill and fire ring. The nightly rate is $135 for up to two people on weekends and $105 on  weekdays. An extra adult or child is an additional $10. The center is a 2 1/2-hour drive from the city.

Adirondack Vacation Rentals
Adirondack State Park, 518-327-3470, adkguideboat.com
Nestled in Adirondack State Park, Adirondack Vacation Rentals offers a yurt overlooking the Upper St. Regis Lake. It’s cozy, with rugs on the wooden floors, double doors that open to a deck with a charcoal grill, high-domed skylights and a custom kitchen. There are separate bathhouses and Wi-Fi access, too.

Weekly rates are $1,850 for two during high season (July and August), $1,500 for two at other times, and $150 for each additional person. The park is about a six-hour drive from the city.
 

Tags: yurts, Catskills

Wanna get away? This week's travel deals

Monday August 3, 2009 6:11 PM By Lucy Blatter

Cayman Islands deals: Cayman Airways is offering special fares from now until Friday, with prices as low as $129 each way. Valid for travel through Dec. 9. 1-800-4CAYMAN or caymanairways.com

Boston for less: Through Sept. 30, stay at Cambridge’s Royal Sonesta Hotel Boston for $109/night on weekends. Book by 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday. travel-ticker.com

Summer in Vermont:  Ever stayed in a castle? Here is your chance. Stay at the Castle Hill Resort & Spa for $99 per night from Sunday-Thursday, and $50 more on weekends. Stay in either The Castle mansion or in a Condo Hotel Suite. Offer is valid through Sept. 30. Extras includes use of the Aveda Concept spa and fitness area, a $25 credit toward a 50-minute Elemental Nature Massage and one $25 credit toward a four-course dinner for two at the Castle Hill Restaurant. Due to limited inventory, this deal may expire at any time.  travel-ticker.com

Cancun for less: Take a break from home and enjoy the weather in Cancun. The upscale Royal Solaris Cancun is  $59 per person per night through Oct. 22. The price includes all meals, drinks, taxes/gratuities and more. An ocean-view room is $9 more and an ocean-view room with hot tub is $19 more. Extras include airport transfers,  a $50 credit for use on laundry services and phone calls (for stays of 4+ nights),  a $50 spa credit (for stays of more-than-four nights) and two children under 12 stay, eat and play at no extra charge. Book by 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday.  travel-ticker.com
 

Former Giants star Plaxico Burress could face jail

Monday August 3, 2009 5:47 PM By Jason Fink

Former Giants star Plaxico Burress may score his next touchdown in a prison yard, following his indictment Monday on weapons charges connected to his self-inflicted gunshot wound at a Manhattan nightclub last year.

Burress, 31, who caught the winning pass in the Giants 2008 Super Bowl victory, faces 3½ years behind bars if convicted on the two counts of criminal possession of a weapon and one count of reckless endangerment.

The wide receiver, who hopes to play in the NFL this year, accidently shot himself in the thigh with a gun that was tucked into the waistband of his jeans on Nov. 29 at the Latin Quarter nightclub.

Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce, who drove Burress to the hospital that night before taking the gun — .40-caliber Glock — back to his house in New Jersey, was not charged.

Burress did not have a license to carry the gun in New York.

“A grand jury applied the law to the facts of this case,” said Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau.

An attorney for Burress, who reportedly rejected a plea deal that would have landed him in the clink for two years, said publicity from the case – and the high-profile condemnation from the likes of Mayor Michael Bloomberg – likely swayed jurors.

“It was perhaps too much to hope for the grand jury to conduct a sympathetic review of the unique facts of this sad case,” lawyer Benjamin Brafman said, according to published reports.

A trial is expected to start next spring, and Brafman made clear that Burress, who is not on any team roster, is prepared to play this year.

The AP contributed to this report 

Tags: Plaxico Burress, Giants, crime

Tortilla shop catches on in Queens

Sunday August 2, 2009 8:01 PM By By Anastasia Economides

Shauna Page, once a financial consultant, never thought she would exchange her corporate attire for a red apron.

But there she was, piling up homemade corn tortillas hot off the belt, at her shop, Tortilleria Nixtamal, in Corona.

“There is a science and art in making tortillas, but it’s OK if they’re not perfect because they’re homemade. It’s a nice aesthetic,” Page said.

She and her boyfriend and business partner, Fernando Ruiz, opened the Tortilleria earlier this year.

The Tortilleria serves typical Mexican fare (tamales, carnitas, fish tacos), but the tortillas are far from typical — for New York City, at least.

Dry corn kernels called nixtamal are ordered and shipped from Illinois. The corn is softened with a lime solution for two hours. Then, the nixtamal is cooled for eight hours and crushed into a paste known as masa. A tortilla maker from Mexico turns the masa into tortillas. Apparently it’s the only shop in the city that makes tortillas in this fashion.

The city is trying to foster small businesses such as Tortilleria Nixtamal as part of its economic recovery plan, dubbed the Five Borough Economic Opportunity Plan. Page and Ruiz have been working with NYC Business Solutions, which provides consultation and connections to lenders.

Even with the city’s help, however, the Tortilleria was in a precarious state. Just a few weeks ago they were denied a loan. They needed money to keep paying the bills and employees.
“We need something to break even, we need support for the next three months,” Page said at the time.

NYC Small Business Solutions told them to come back in a few months to prove they had a viable business before they could get a cash infusion. It was the typical small business catch-22: Why would they need the loan in a few months if they started making money? They needed the money now.

Instead of a symbol of the city’s resilience, the Tortilleria could have been a cautionary tale warning entrepreneurs against taking risks in this economy.

Fortune has changed rather abruptly at the tortilla shop. Yesterday, the pressure of paying bills was replaced by the pressure of lines out the door. It seems the publicity from recent media coverage has done wonders for business. Instead of worrying how they would pay their workers, they were looking to hire more.

Ruiz, answering the phone, didn’t even have time to talk.

“We’re getting destroyed right now,” he said, in a good way.

Tags: Tortilleria Nixtamal, tortillas, Corona, Queens, small business, NYC Business Solutions

Some Mets fans struggling to unload tickets

Sunday August 2, 2009 7:29 PM By Jason Fink

When Brandon Ross, a diehard Mets fan from Manhattan, bought season tickets at his team’s gleaming new stadium this year, he thought the price was high but figured he’d have an easier time selling some of the seats.
After all, the Mets were a preseason favorite to compete for the division title and they would be playing in a beautiful new park, Citi Field, instead of at gloomy Shea Stadium, where he also had season tickets.
But now, with a slumping economy and the team, wracked by injuries, mired near the basement of the National League East, Ross, 32, said he can barely give away his tickets.
“I see this entire season as a lost cause,” said Ross, who paid $24,300 for four tickets in left field. “Basically, no one responds to my ads, and when people do they’re trying to bargain me down.”


Ross’ seats have a face value of about $75 each, but he said he rarely, if ever, gets that.
And he’s not alone. Web sites such as Craigslist and StubHub are full of offers to sell tickets below face value, some for as little as $2.
“I’ve been trying to get $5 or $10 below cost, and people have no interest at all,” said Greg Bienstock, of Brooklyn, who has two seats for about $30 each. “People are offering me less than half of face for them.”


Another season ticket holder, Jesse Goldman, 22, whose family had seats at Shea for decades, said he will not renew next year.
“The loss at which I’ve had to sell my tickets has gotten larger as the season has progressed,” said Goldman, of his $150 seats. “They have outpriced the market, and I have to settle for selling my tickets for significantly under cost.”
Last Thursday, a lawyer was hawking a stack of seats for upcoming Mets games by hustling on the No. 7 train. He sold two $25 tickets originally valued at $75.
The Mets are averaging just more than 39,000 tickets sold per game close to capacity for the 42,000-seat stadium.


But many of those are season tickets or packages sold over the winter.
“Ticket sales have been and continue to be strong,” the Mets said in a statement. “Citi Field is filled to 94 percent of capacity through our first 45 home games. Last year through the first 45 home games, Shea Stadium was filled to 88 percent of capacity.”
It should be noted, though, that Shea Stadium had a capacity of roughly 57,000 seats, while Citi Field has about 42,000.


The Mets are currently 91⁄2 games behind the first-place Phillies in the NL East and 71⁄2 games behind the Giants and Rockies for the National League wild card.
Experts say if the team’s slide continues their attendance  could drop.
“People are going to come to a point where they say, ‘Do I really want to go to a ballgame where things are so aggressively
priced?’ ” said Wayne McDonnell, a professor of sports management at NYU.

 

Study: Police lax on preventing drivers from parking in bus lanes

Sunday August 2, 2009 6:26 PM By Heather Haddon

Poor policing lets drivers score free parking in city bus lanes, according to a study released yesterday by the Manhattan borough president.

Researchers observing six busy midtown intersections found motorists blocked buses for up to 15 minutes in more than 350 different instances. Not one vehicle was ticketed during the 40 hours of spot checks.

“What’s the point of having these regulations if they are never enforced,” asked Borough President Scott Stringer.

At the worst intersection, East 42nd Street and Madison Avenue, motorists blocked a bus about every 90 seconds.

Taxi, livery cabs and limousines were the most frequent culprits, followed by private cars and delivery trucks.

Tickets for blocking bus lanes are $115.

The NYPD issued nearly 1,800 summonses in the first six months of this year to drivers blocking the bus lanes, and the agency continues to ticket motorists “as resources are available,” a police spokesman said.

In February, the city installed video cameras to ticket drivers blocking the bus lanes on 34th Street, which shuttles 31,000 passengers a day on 30 routes.

City officials have lobbied Albany to allow them to expand the program, but state officials haven’t given it the green light.

City buses carry 2.4 million commuters during weekdays, according to the most recent MTA statistics.

hhaddon@am-ny.com

Tags: buses, MTA, new york city

Out of work? This week's job fairs and events

Sunday August 2, 2009 3:55 PM By Lucy Blatter

Monday, August 3: High Speed Networking NYC
Location: Galway Hooker Pub, 7 E. 36th St.
Time: 6:30-8:30 p.m.
To register: Networking for Professionals members, $20 in advance, $35 at the door; non-members, $30 in advance,  $35 at the door. adminnfp@networkingforprofessionals.com
212-227-6556

Tuesday, Aug. 4 Speed Your Career Forward With Smart Networking
Location: 1177 Sixth Ave., btwn 45th and 46th Sts.
Time: 8-9 a.m.
To register: Free for members of New York Society of Security Analysts, $25 non-members, contact 646-871-3405
 
Tuesday: Surviving Debt and Rebuilding Your Credit
Location: 884 Flatbush Ave., 2nd Flr.
Time: 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
To register: Free, call 718-282-2500

Tuesday, August 4: Career Circus
Location: 353 W. 14 St., btwn Eighth and Ninth aves.
Time: 12:30-6 p.m.
To register:  Individual Rate-$145 / Group Rate (two or more)-$100 per person, go to mediabistro.com/careercircus/

Tuesday, August 4: Free Money For Your Business (Learn what Free Money is, where it can be found and how to apply for it)
Location: 884 Flatbush Ave., 2nd Floor
Time: 3-5:30 p.m.
To register: Free, call 718-282-2500

Wednesday, August 5: Red, White, Blue and Green (session on Eco-friendly textiles and responsible manufacturing practices)
Location: Fashion Institute of Technology, 27th St. and Seventh Ave.
Time: 6-8:30 p.m.
To register: $25, acteva.com
 

Avoid these pitfalls during your job search

Sunday August 2, 2009 3:33 PM By Lucy Blatter

By Lucy Cohen Blatter

When changing careers, it’s vital to know what not to do.

Carl Wellenstein, author of “12 Steps to a New Career,” pointed to five common mistakes:

Lack of clarity
It’s important to be consistent and clear with what you want, both in your resume and with yourself. This way you’re not sending mixed messages.

Too many resumes
Don’t change your resume for every job, Wellenstein said. The more resumes you write, the higher the likelihood a recruiter could get two different resumes from you. Instead, he suggested adjusting your cover letter for each job.

Aggressive networking
Don’t expect that everyone you meet will find you a job. Wellenstein said people are often too aggressive, and it’s counterproductive.

“Work on building relationships,” he said. “And, don’t just ask for a job up front.”

Depending on others
Don’t just send out hundreds of resumes and hope for the phone to ring — you have to be productive and make connections.
“If you’re sending out resumes without any connection to the person or company hiring, it’ll enter a black hole.”

Negative thinking
Don’t think, “There are no jobs out there, I’ll just wait until the jobs come back.”
“People who are motivated will get the jobs,” Wellenstein said. “If you have a negative attitude about your search, or your last employer, you’ll send the wrong messages out.”    

 

Tags: job search, Carl Wellenstein, finding a job

Hidden perks of the recession

Sunday August 2, 2009 3:24 PM By Lucy Blatter

By Lucy Cohen Blatter

It’s not all doom and gloom during this recession. Many of the unemployed, and the precariously employed, are actually finding opportunities.

We spoke with Allison Hemming, top gun at The Hired Guns, a talent agency specializing in the creative class, about what she’s observed so far, and asked her for recommendations on harnessing the difficult economic environment to our benefit.

Hemming suggested living by these words: “You should never waste a good recession.”

FOR THE UNEMPLOYED

Free time means more time to work
Writers, bloggers and members of the creative class are finding a lot more time to actually hunker down. You should do the same.

Freelance opportunities
Because companies have laid off many full-time employees and are slow to hire replacements, there are openings for freelance work.

“There’s no doubt that the mothership is shrinking, but there are opportunities for smaller satellites orbiting the mothership,” Hemming said. “The recession is creating jobs that can be outsourced, not off-shored.”

And new technologies make freelancing easier than ever. “You have this great ability to tap into organizations through technology. You can be plugged in from a remote location,” she said.

“You also have tools that raise your visibility as an expert. Blogs set people up to be experts, and twitter raises visibility,” Hemming said. She pointed to one site, called Help a Reporter Out, as a valuable resource for writers.

New individualism movement
People are realizing that they can no longer rely on a company, and must, instead, rely on themselves. So they’re becoming more opportunistic and proactive. “They’re taking stock of their skill bank and trying to build those skills,” she said.

Careers are no longer linear
People know they will have many jobs, and work for many companies within their lifetimes. So they are more open to change and finding their voices.

Communities being built
“There’s been a lot of co-working,” Hemming said. “Individuals are coming together in new and exciting ways.” She specifically mentioned Paragraph, where people get together and just write, and a company called The Hub that’s coming to the New York area soon, which is geared toward social entrepreneur.

Growing careers
Hemming predicts growth in the project management sector. “People will need to maintain a larger group of workers outside the office, and there will be more of a back and forth between organization and vendors. So you’ll see more people talking about project management. We’re starting to see that growth already,” she said.

FOR THE PRECARIOUSLY EMPLOYED

Becoming more marketable
Having to do the work of more than one person can be a pain, but think of all the added skills you’re gaining. You’ll be much more marketable and hirable in the future, and likely leapfrog levels,” she said.

Ideas are heard
It’s easier to get your ideas to the forefront when people are looking for new ways to improve processes. If you’re someone with ideas on how your organization can improve, or the company can be more successful, put it in a document and give it to your boss, Hemming said. You’ll get credit for your ideas and some might be implemented.

Future raises, promotions
Talk to your boss before the recession ends. “Say ‘I’m holding down the fort, and I realize there are no raises now, but I want to talk about how we’re going to change things when we get out of the recession.’ If you don’t, sometimes people forget who’s doing the work, and hire from outside. You want to be the first in mind for a promotion when the recession is over.”

Something you can ask for that’s free is job title improvement.

 

Tags: recession, perks of the recession, Hired Guns, job search

Sales: Aug. 3 to 9

Sunday August 2, 2009 2:41 PM By Julie Gordon

Mara Hoffman
Aug. 6 to 7, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Aug. 8, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. 120 W. 28th St., btwn Sixth and Seventh aves., 212-505-3020
Grab pieces at up to 90 percent off in this “Everything Must Go” sale. Dresses and tops are now $20 to $80, reduced from $175 to $500. Swimwear that originally started at $160 now starts at $20.

The $29.99 sale
Aug. 3 to 7, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Aug. 8 to 9, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. 260 Fifth Ave., btwn 28th and 29th sts., 212-725-4725
Men's and women's T-shirts, knits, skirts, sweaters, hoodies, shoes, jackets, pants and denim are all $29.99 or less. Brands include Miss Sixty, Energie and Staerk.