New York | The New York Observer

A Discussion on a Sustainable Planet, City and Campus

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 01:19:23 -0400

It has now been almost a half century since the idea of a global and interconnected biosphere was popularized by environmental pioneers such as Rachel Carson and Barry Commoner. It's been about four decades since astronauts broadcast the first images of our small, fragile bright blue planet from outer space. Until then, the idea of an interdependent planet was an abstraction. Those photos made the idea of our connectivity quite real.

Today, the...

Promoting Energy Efficiency: Comparing New York State to California

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 10:32:27 -0400

One of the simplest things we can do to improve our productivity and economic well being is to increase the efficiency of our use of energy. We are so wasteful that there is an enormous amount of low hanging fruit. As New York state begins to get serious about this, we should look west to California, for a place that really knows how to make the most out of a kilowatt.

Since 1981,...

James J. Cramer: New York's False Prophet?

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 10:33:58 -0400

Expect June 30, 2009, to be a big day for the national housing market, assuming that people still listen to James J. Cramer and his manic economic musings. In his column for New York, Mr. Cramer lists not one, but 10 (10!) reasons why the sales market worm will finally turn, citing, among other favorable developments, the slow down in building development, the stabilization of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the bottoming out...

Stat of The Day: NY vs. NJ Household Incomes

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:25:22 -0400

New Jersey's 2007 median housebold income of $67,035 bested New York's by $13,521 in 2007, according to Census estimates released earlier this week, roughly the same difference as in 2006.

Northern Jersey likely lifted the state's median, much as downstate New York (read: Manhattan, Long Island and Westchester) lifts the rest of the Empire State. Somerset County in central Northern Jersey, for instance, had a median household income nearly three times that of the...

Eliot Spitzer: Bringing the Passion Back to Albany

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 15:15:59 -0400

Eliot Spitzer's 2006 campaign message: "Bring some passion back to...

N.Y. Poll: Giuliani and McCain Tied; Giuliani's Support More Committed

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 06:26:54 -0500

Quinnipiac released a poll this morning that shows Rudy Giuliani's support in New York may not be as anemic as the Marist and Siena polls from the last few days have shown.

In this survey, Giulaini and John McCain both have 30 percent of the support of New York Republicans. Perhaps more importantly, Giulaini supporters appear more committed to the former mayor than McCain's supporters--71 percent of Giulaini say that are "not too...

Is Snowbird Flight Costing New York New Yorkers?

Mon, 31 Dec 2007 15:15:09 -0500

The Census estimates out last week showed double-digit percentage growth in the South and the West since 2000. But in the Northeast--and in the Midwest--population growth was paltry.

The population of the Northeastern United States increased only 2 percent from April 1, 2000 through July 1, 2007. In the Midwest, the increase was 3.1 percent. (In the U.S. entirely, it was 7.2 percent.)

Part of the reason for the sluggish growth in the Northeast,...

Spitzer's Medicaid Inspector

Fri, 06 Apr 2007 06:13:51 -0400

Eliot Spitzer just nominated James G. Sheehan to serve as New York State Medicaid Inspector General. Medicaid is the state's most expensive program, and Spitzer's effort to reduce the cost of the program led to a bruising budget fight with health care groups who engaged in a highly nasty exchange of negative ads against him. From the governor's statement on Sheehan: "As a career prosecutor specializing in complex health care enforcement and recovery matters, Mr. Sheehan...

Events for April 4, 2007

Tue, 03 Apr 2007 14:00:00 -0400

10:30 a.m. Council members and Safe Horizon will launch a domestic violence public awareness campaign at the Red Room in City Hall. 10:30 a.m. The Quinnipiac University Polling Institute will release results of a poll of New York State voters asking their opinions about Governor Eliot Spitzer and other statewide officials. 11 a.m. The Bronx Zoo will host a blood drive with the New York Blood Center in the Bronx Zoo parking lot on Southern Boulevard...

The (Big) Round-Up: Monday

Mon, 02 Apr 2007 04:00:02 -0400

Ellis Island ferry building to reopen after half-century. [NY Post] Spitzer plans overhaul of State Liquor Authority. [NY Post] Yankees-themed fitness clubs to open in 2008. [NY Post] City suffers from 'acute' shortage of playing fields. [NY Times] Zoning changes to protect scale in West Harlem. [NY Times] New Yorkers facing greater scrutiny for mortgages. [NY Times] Tishman Speyer plays nice in Stuy Town, Cooper Village. [NY Times] Home choices because of shopping. [NY Times] Corcoran, Elliman not participating in REBNY listings....

Lobbying Expenditures in Albany

Mon, 19 Mar 2007 11:20:42 -0400

This chart is from the state's temporary lobbying commission latest report, showing how much it cost 5,117 registered lobbyists last year to represent the interests of their 3,277 clients to state lawmakers. (Easily identifiable rend in lobbyist spending over the years: up!) Elsewhere in the report are the details 41 settlements the commission has reached with lobbyists who ran afoul of lobbying irregularities including $75,000 from Madison Square Garden for providing "public officials with complimentary...

Events for March 17-19, 2007

Fri, 16 Mar 2007 14:57:31 -0400

Saturday 7 a.m. Congressman Joseph Crowley will host a political breakfast before the St. Patrick's Day Parade at TGIFriday's, 47 East 42nd Street. 9 a.m. Bill Perkins will host a forum on the New York State health budget to disseminate the facts about the Governor's Executive Budget for Health Care at the Amalgamated Bank, 564 West 125th Street. 9:30 a.m. Mayor Michael Bloomberg will speak at the funeral service for Auxiliary Police Officer Nicholas Pekearo...

The Afternoon Wrap: Friday

Fri, 16 Mar 2007 14:00:00 -0400

There's a new king in town, but he lives in Minnesota: "Deuce Seven... came to the East Coast for the first time on January 10, arriving with a backpack of spray cans he'd stolen from a Minnesota Home Depot, some painted boards, and an open invitation to sleep on a Brooklyn couch. The lanky 21-year-old spent three and a half weeks... painting New York. Then he went home." [Voice] This weather sucks. But, always look...

Manton's St. Patrick's Day Message to Quinn

Tue, 13 Mar 2007 09:05:49 -0400

Here is recent footage of Christine Quinn last week discussing the late Queens Democratic County Leader Tom Manton and how she wanted to march with him in New York's St. Patrick's Day Parade, but didn't. "On last St. Patrick's Day I had really hoped that Tom, my father and I would get to march together and it didn't work out. And I was so afraid that I was going to disappoint Tom. And I...

"Rudy Giuliani is Pretty Damned Gay Friendly"

Fri, 09 Mar 2007 05:00:00 -0500

Talk about unsolicited praise. Referring to the notion that the 2008 Democrats are more supportive of gay rights than the Republicans, influential consultant and gay rights activist Ethan Geto offered me the following caveat: "They are going to be so much more supportive than the Republican candidates, unless we have an anomaly -- and it's Rudy Giuliani. Because I must say, Rudy Giuliani is pretty damned gay friendly. I was a lobbyist during his administration...

Events for March 9, 2007

Thu, 08 Mar 2007 13:00:00 -0500

8 a.m. Governor Eliot Spitzer will host the New York City Council Breakfast at the governor's office, 633 Third Avenue. 8:30 a.m. The New York Institute of Technology hosts its annual academic conference, "New York City: Global Village" at the NYIT's New Technology Building, 16 West 61st Street. 9 a.m. The New School hosts a panel discussion on challenges to conventional economic wisdom at 55 West 13th Street near Sixth Avenue. 10 a.m. The city's Public Safety...

Spitzer's Response to Rangel

Thu, 08 Mar 2007 12:25:36 -0500

After Rep. Charlie Rangel reportedly called Eliot Spitzer's budget "disastrous," a spokeswoman for Spitzer emailed this response:

"The Governor's budget is good for the people of New York and New York City who will benefit from an historic investments in education and a move to patient centered health care. No amount of distortive rhetoric or advertising will cause the Governor to back down from the core reforms and necessary reality check embodied in this...

‘In New York, Real Estate Is a Blood Sport’

Sun, 04 Mar 2007 19:00:00 -0500

Location: What sort of reaction have you gotten from New York brokers about the $10 fee for placing a rental ad, which you instituted more than six months ago now? Newmark: Not too much, which is good. They asked for it. They thought it would clean up the site, eliminate all of the repostings. Since we started, the volume dropped precipitously. It is back up a little, but it eliminated a lot of the...

The Spitzer Primary

Tue, 27 Feb 2007 06:32:31 -0500

The Spitzer for President chatter, which I touched on here, gets a bit of new life at the tail end of this article in the Sun about why the governor is undecided about moving up New York's presidential primaries.

Mr. Spitzer could be waiting for other large states to make their move before he proceeds. By keeping his options open, he also preserves a bargaining chip that could come in handy in his dealings with...

Smoke-Filled Casinos

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 11:12:21 -0500

If the extra $1 billion surplus announced by the state Senate weren't a big enough hurdle to Eliot Spitzer's plan to reduce health care spending, how about this letter from the American Cancer Society and other groups who concerned over a loophole that'll allow smoking in the casinos built in the Catskills. "We believe the compact's failure to meaningfully address smoking is backsliding and a bad deal for the health of New Yorkers." The...

Nowhere Close

Fri, 23 Feb 2007 10:45:02 -0500

The Health Care Education Project, a group formed by 1199 SEIU and the Greater New York Hosptial Association, just put out a campaign-style point-by-point reponse to some of Eliot Spitzer's comments earlier today about health care. "We support Governor Spitzer's desire to reform New York's health care system, but we think he is going about it the wrong way. Sadly, the Governor's budget comes nowhere close to insuring 2.6 million New Yorkers." Full statement after the...

Cuomo Hires Horner

Thu, 22 Feb 2007 06:42:00 -0500

Andrew Cuomo has just announced that he has hired longtime good government activist Blair Horner as a special advisor in the Policy and Public Integrity Unit. Horner, a registered lobbyist with NYPIRG, will oversee "New York State's first-ever comprehensive Internet database tracking donors, lobbyists, special interests, state contracts, and elected officials, and the links between them." Full statement after the jump. -- Azi Paybarah ATTORNEY GENERAL ANDREW CUOMO APPOINTS BLAIR HORNER AS NEW SPECIAL ADVISER ON POLICY AND PUBLIC...

The Return of Tony Herbert

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 05:00:00 -0500

A reader passed on a notably early campaign announcement for 2008 state Senate candidate Tony Herbert, whose candidacy officially gets underway with a glitzy fund-raiser next month at Jay-Z's 40/40 Club. Herbert's candidacy marks not just one of the first local 2008 campaign kick-offs I know of, but -- after his recent, unsuccessful run against City Council member Tish James as a Republican -- it represents a return to his roots as a Democrat....

Editorials

Sun, 11 Feb 2007 19:00:00 -0500

Bush and Spitzer Bleed City Hospitals New York City has long played a major role as a center for producing the country’s top physicians and researchers. Our medical schools and teaching hospitals serve the entire nation by educating med students, training interns and residents, and preparing the specialists who have kept America at the forefront of health care. That may all be about to change, and not for the better, thanks to the combined effect...

Editorials

Sun, 11 Feb 2007 19:00:00 -0500

Editorials

Sun, 11 Feb 2007 19:00:00 -0500

Hurry! Ingenious Award Deadline Day

Wed, 07 Feb 2007 11:24:17 -0500

It's deadline day! That is, for commercial real estate's most desperately desired award, The Real Estate Board of New York's Most Ingenious Deal of the Year. All the printer jams and panicked trips to Staples will be over shortly. At 5 p.m., brokerages all around the city will all breathe one giant sigh, after polishing those strictly-ordered applications (there are 12 rules in all, which includes using only 8 1/2 x 11-inch margins with a...

Ruben Diaz Irony Alert

Wed, 07 Feb 2007 10:27:09 -0500

As an astute reader notes, state Senator Ruben Diaz Sr., who in 1994 moved to prevent the Gay Games from coming to New York on the grounds that they could lead to an increase in AIDS, seconded the comptroller nomination moments ago of Martha Stark. Stark is openly gay. -- Azi...

The Afternoon Wrap: Tuesday

Tue, 06 Feb 2007 11:16:37 -0500

A megastar is in the market for a manager for his (or her) four estates. The job requires flexibility and thick skin--plus there will be "VERY long hours," renovation, and apparently interior design. Sounds fun, no? [Gawker] Late last year, Bloomberg decided that New York would sustainably have 9 million complainers and money managers and Bikram yoga addicts by 2030. Architects and planners ask: What about the housing? The construction? The money? (The space for...

Making the Most of Ortiz

Tue, 06 Feb 2007 08:09:20 -0500

You got to wonder what's really behind the public campaigning for the state comptroller position, a job which is quietly being sewn up behind closed doors. But at a press conference on the City Hall steps a few moments ago, supporters of Assemblyman Felix Ortiz gave it their best shot, saying that electing him would bring "balance" and "representation" not just to the face of Albany, but to the places where the state...

draft-Bush Cuts, Spitzer Cuts

Mon, 05 Feb 2007 07:20:55 -0500

I've been wondering what, if any, New York's Senators said the president's health care cuts are different in substance and spirit than Eliot Spitzer's proposed Health care cuts. Schumer said he didn't agree with all of Spitzer's cuts, but declined to specify which ones. Hillary singled out the president's mulit-million-dollar cut to the Graduate Medical Education program as harmful to a program that keeps medical students heading to New York. But when I asked Hillary about...

How Many Vacant Homes on the Sales Market? A Lot, Say Feds

Mon, 05 Feb 2007 05:39:52 -0500

Speculators and new construction have driven the national homeowner vacancy rate to its highest level ever, according to the Census Bureau. The rate that measures how many vacant homes are on the sales market hit 2.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2006, up from 2.0 percent a year earlier. Last year marked the first time the rate went above 2.0 percent. The Wall Street Journal on Monday reported that the spike was due...

Homeland Security Does Not Approve

Fri, 02 Feb 2007 11:33:46 -0500

Here's a statement from the state's Homeland Security Office on that Maureen O'Connell flier I posted earlier: "It is completely inappropriate for a political candidate to use a falsified state seal in the context of a political campaign. Politicizing state security issues is inappropriate and trivializes the law enforcement efforts of New York's office of Homeland Security. We direct the campaign and candidate to the following passage from New York's penal law that identifies such...

The Afternoon Wrap: Monday

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 11:59:59 -0500

This weekend's Times expose on evil rental agents [above] is a reminder that Manhattan real estate is "akin to the X-Files," and that brokers may or may not be "soulless beasts who [don't] deserve any consideration." [Property Grunt] South Harlem has changed "for good," but not necessarily for better. Unless you like your "old-school beauty salons" next to your "designer boutiques, and locally produced T-shirts." [New York] There's "a gut rehab" on the way for New...

Rivera Goes National

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 08:53:27 -0500

Dennis Rivera is taking over a new super-union for national health care workers, leaving the New York-based 1199 SEIU. His replacement is George Gresham, currently the secretary-treasurer . The major bump up for Rivera comes right when Eliot Spitzer is about to (what's Hillary's phrase for this kind of thing?) drop the hammer on health care spending in New York, and, presumably, look for more federal aid to offset some of the costs. That's...

Under 40 and In Real Estate Imagine the Possibilities

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 07:24:36 -0500

Crain's annual "Forty Under Forty" list hit stands on Monday, and the run-down on New York's younger power players includes four real estate pros. That seems a surprisingly small number, given the role real estate plays in the city's economy and in its popular imagination. Making the list are: Andrew Mathias, 33, chief investment officer for commercial landlord SL Green. Ryan Slack, 35, CEO of Web real-estate search engine PropertyShark.com. Sara Mirski, 38, managing director of development at...

Dadey on Pay to Play

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 12:39:02 -0500

When I spoke with Bill de Blasio the other day about the mayor's plan to end "play to play" and tweak campaign finance laws, I quoted him saying this:

"I'd like to remind people, and Dick Dadey will confirm this, the toughest campaign finance law in the country was passed by the New York City Council. It was not started by a mayor. It was not started by an independent commission. It was created by...

REBNY Battens the Hatches for Annual Gala

Mon, 15 Jan 2007 09:14:22 -0500

It's got a whiff of that Bastille-on-July 13, 1789 feeling. The Real Estate Board of New York sent out a letter (after the jump, below) to those attending its 111th annual banquet, this Thursday at the New York Hilton. The letter, which came with an admission ticket, implores guests to keep out the uninvited riff-raff: You must have this ticket in order to enter the Grand Ballroom... Please help us solve the security problem that...

Cuomo and Medicaid Fraud

Mon, 08 Jan 2007 08:00:00 -0500

One thing not mentioned at Andrew Cuomo's swearing-in ceremony yesterday was the issue of Medicaid fraud, which I seem to remember being a pretty big deal around the beginning of the attorney general race. Cuomo's spokeswoman, Wendy Katz, said confirmed that Cuomo is planning to do something fairly dramatic about it by creating a position of deputy attorney general for Medicaid fraud. Although the attorney general's office already has a solicitor general Medicaid Fraud Control...

Spitzer Time

Mon, 01 Jan 2007 07:58:01 -0500

So, the outdoor inauguration is about to begin and most of New York's political dignitaries have filed into a large circular stage area behind the capitol, where they're waiting for Eliot Spitzer. It's standing-room only up front and things have an appropriately chaotic feel. Meanwhile, there are a number of other indications today that the new governor is off to a fast start. His name has already replaced George Pataki's on the "under-contuction" signs outside...

Real Estate Overheard: Brokers Know You Know Manhattan Is an Island

Fri, 29 Dec 2006 06:26:23 -0500

The Real Estate launches a new feature today called Real Estate Overheard. It's about those tidbits of real estate wit and wisdom you overhear in subways, on buses, at dinner parties, aboard airplanes, etc. If you do overhear anything about New York City real estate that you'd like to share with the world, please email us with all the details - where, when, what, who, etc. Please let us know if you'd like the...

The Party and Hevesi

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 12:45:00 -0500

After giving his speech to state party leaders at the Sheraton today, Eliot Spitzer was asked by reporters about Alan Hevesi, who was noticeably absent from today's event. Spitzer, still the attorney general, reminded reporters that he recused himself from his office's investigation of Hevesi, and that there were other investigations still underway. Therefore, he said, he wants to "wait and see" what happens. It wasn't just reporters who found the Hevesi-avoidance to be odd. One...

Brodsky Badgers Gargano--One Last Time

Wed, 13 Dec 2006 09:50:23 -0500

One of Assemblyman Richard Brodsky's favorite targets for cross-examination (maybe the favorite), is Charles Gargano, whom he is hauling before an Assembly hearing on Monday afternoon, less than two weeks before the Empire State Development Corporation chairman is supposed to step down.
Gargano in Brodsky's sights again. The topic: the sale of the New York State office condominium at 633 Third Avenue, which Brodsky calls in a press release "at best puzzling and at...

After Denny

Wed, 13 Dec 2006 09:03:42 -0500

Speaking of DL21C, I also caught up last night with Dave Pollak, who Eliot Spitzer picked to be the new State Democratic Party co-chair along with upstate county leader June O'Neill. Pollak describes the heirarchical structure of the DL21C group he founded as "flat" -- that is, more reliant on technology and grass roots support than on a heavy-handed leader. Sounding very much in tune with Spitzer's campaign theme of using technology to improve access...

REBNY Wants 421-a Tweak

Wed, 06 Dec 2006 10:07:51 -0500

Crain's reports that the Real Estate Board of New York wants developers to still get tax breaks for new market-rate residential buildings in the so-called 421-a exclusion zone, so long as they build a fifth as many affordable apartments within a half-mile of the project or in the same community board district. The bill Speaker Christine Quinn introduced on Wednesday would require such buildings to have the affordable housing on-site. All told, though, REBNY's objection...

Parties

Mon, 04 Dec 2006 09:59:03 -0500

Okay -- get your business cards ready. Here's a list of some of the political holiday parties taking place around town. I've noted the who and the when, but to keep the party crashers at bay, I'm withholding the time and location. Because honestly, there's only so much booze an open bar can serve to you all. Monday, December 4th, Induction of Lori Sattler as a N.Y.C. Civil Court Judge. Monday, December 4th, West...

Chuck Pinch Hits for Mike on Dem Convention

Thu, 30 Nov 2006 08:58:30 -0500

While Mayor Bloomberg downplays the importance of the 2008 Democratic National Convention, Sen. Chuck Schumer tells the Daily News editorial board he is "going to make a push" to get it for New York. - Matthew...

How Many Gays Has New York City?

Mon, 27 Nov 2006 10:47:45 -0500

Transom pal Ben Smith looks at numbers out of The Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation, which crunches data from the 2005 American Community Survey. The Williams reports claims 8.8 million gays in the U.S.--that's 4.1% of all 18-to 45 year olds. In New York State, they estimate there are 592,337 gays--and 568,903 in what they call the New York City-Northern New Jersey-Long Island metropolitan area. (As if!) These numbers are contrasted with the 2000 census, which...

Pataki and the Court

Tue, 21 Nov 2006 09:40:28 -0500

Just after handing him a dramatic win, the state Court of Appeals has dealt a setback to George Pataki, dulling what could have been a key selling point for someone looking to position himself as a tough-on-crime conservative in 2008. From the AP:

"New York's highest court ruled Tuesday that the state _ acting under an order from Gov. George Pataki _ wrongly confined convicted sex offenders in psychiatric facilities after their prison sentences...

All About the Money

Mon, 20 Nov 2006 05:00:00 -0500

As those inconvenient details about pre-Sept 11 Rudy Giuliani begin recirculating, it's worth noting how the mayor's supporters intent to get around all of that. Here's what Marc Rotterman, a southern political operative who is supportive of Giuliani's presidential efforts, told me about why he's earning support from Republicans across the country. "You got to put him in the top tier going into the game," said Rotterman. "I think it's very serious." "I think after the recent...