General Motors pleads for $18 billion, saying it may crumble in weeks if federal assistance isn’t provided. [NY Times]

Whatever excitement originally greeted El-Ad’s plan to turn the Plaza into the most sought-after condo in the city has been drowned out in a sea of lawsuits and tenant complaints. [Vanity Fair]

Madonna and A-Rod looking “discreetly” for a place together on the UES. [NY Post via Curbed]

Is the architecture sprouting up around the High Line birthing imitators already? [Curbed]

The M.T.A. has been trying to crack down on bus-riders who refuse to pay, but with mixed results. [City Room]

Seeking rents as low as $10 per square foot, Manhattan businesses jump to the outer boroughs. [TRD]

LES landlord grabs tenants by splitting 3,300 square feet of retail space into two seperate leases. [Crain’s via TRD]

Forest City Ratner helped rescue the controversial advocacy group ACORN this summer with a $1.5 million loan. [AYR]

A look into Bushwick’s foreclosure “crisis.” [BushwickBK]

Wooden(!) phone booths sighted in the oldest pharmacy in Borough Park. [Lost City via City Room]

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