Soon we'll be saying, "At least it's not a Starbucks AND a bank"

Are there that many Starbucks/bank combos around town? (This one only shares an entrance -- the businesses are separate. But the thought of them together...) I've never paid much attention. Saw this one om Sixth Avenue in the 50s. Actually, it was handy. I could use the ATM to get enough money to buy a cup of coffee. [Booing myself]

They're filming the episode in which the rent on Bert and Ernie's one-bedroom basement apartment goes from $900 to $2,950

Bicycle thieves suck

Along First Avenue.

"In a changing world, The Villager is still here"

That's John W. Sutter, publisher of The Villager, the weekly community newspaper now celebrating its 75th anniversary. These days, The Villager is the one paper I can honestly say that I look forward to reading. I'll walk around Wednesday night to check out The Villager boxes to see if the paper has been delivered. (I did this years back on Tuesday nights to get the Voice, which I no longer read on a regular basis.) I admire the paper's devotion to community issues...and appreciation of the community spirit that, despite everything from NYU to chain stores, can still be found in the neighborhood.

I started my journalism career at a similar chain of community newspapers that were locally owned. I covered all sorts of meetings (school boards, city council, zoning, etc.). This was almost 20 years ago. The plot lines seem to be the same, from a Midwestern city to here. We had the greedy developers hoping to build six luxury homes on a small parcel of land that would have ruined the fabric of a quaint neighborhood. There were chain drug stores taking over old mom-and-pop storefronts. Locally owned eateries closing to make way for some hideous chain restaurants.

Anyway, there are several essays on the paper's history right here. Here's to 75 more years.

What people at other sites I really like are writing about...

Cheap crap in the old Tower space (Flaming Pablum)

The Obama fund-raiser at Mona's (East Village Podcast)

Jeremiah continues his tour of Yorkville (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Last of the Kiev (Lost City)

A heroin OD in Tompkins Square Park (Neither More or Less)

A Post headline that will actually scare you: "1 IN 3 GIVE HALF PAY TO LANDLORDS"

From the Post today:

More than half a million New Yorkers are handing over at least half their paychecks each week for rent, a congressman said yesterday.

In just nine years, the number of renters paying half or more of their income to their landlords has surged nearly 15 percent - with The Bronx and Staten Island the hardest hit, according to Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Brooklyn/Queens).

Weiner said the dramatic increase means that 1 in 3 New York renters is now in that unenviable category.

"You should spend no more than a third of your income on rent," Weiner said.

"That is [now] seen more and more not like a rule of thumb, but a pipe dream."

Weiner called for more federal funding for programs geared to affordable housing.

In The Bronx, nearly 117,000 residents, or 32.8 percent of renters, spend half their income on rent. That's up from 29 percent in 1999.

In the other boroughs, the percentage of residents forking over half or more of their pay is:

* Brooklyn: 29.9 percent, up from 25.5 percent nine years ago.

* Queens: 28 percent, up from 22 percent.

* Staten Island: 27.3 percent, up from 19.4

* Manhattan: 22.5 percent, up from 22.3 percent.


Meanwhile, more good news for renters in the city, as reported by David Seifman in the Post:

Operating costs for landlords of the city's million rent-stabilized apartment buildings jumped 7.8 percent last year, a harbinger that rent hikes this year will be larger than last.

The figures were reported yesterday by the Rent Guidelines Board, which meets Monday to begin the process of setting this year's rent hikes for leases signed on or after Oct. 1.

The final increases will be established in June after the usual round of public hearings.

Last year, when landlord costs jumped 5.1 percent, the board voted rent hikes of 3 percent for one-year lease renewals and 5.75 percent for two-year renewals.

Update: Gothamist has more information on the hikes here.

The ransacking of Pelham One Two Three

There's no point in bitching about unnecessary Hollywood remakes. Still! I'm getting increasingly annoyed after reading various reports on the latest version of The Taking of Pelham One Two Three being filmed around town. With the hyperactive Tony Scott directing, I can only imagine how schlocky and over-the-top this will be. (The Hunger aside, just look at some of the stuff he has done.) The remake also stars Denzzzel Washington, John Ravolta (playing the bad guy, uh-oh) and James Gandullfini as the mayor. (Mayor McCheese, I presume.)

Here's one of the many videos I found on the new shoot:



Anyway, please tell me you've seen the original. (I'm actually surprised by how many people tell me they haven't seen it.)

Here's what you need to know:


Oh, and let's not forget the 1998 made-for TV version with Edward James Olmos, Vincent D'Onofrio and Donnie Wahlberg. Well, maybe we should forget it.

There won't be anyone left to enjoy those safe, clean streets if we can't afford to live here

The new Citizens Committee for New York City Neighborhood Quality of Life Survey Report is now out. You can download the whole thing here.

Here are some excerpts, including the statement from Peter H. Kostmayer, president of Citizens Committee for New York City:

Every year, Citizens Committee for New York City conducts a citywide survey to find out what New Yorkers think about their neighborhoods. We want to know what they think is important, what they like about their own neighborhoods and what they don’t. We also want to know what they think should be done about it, and what they themselves are willing to do to help

This year we surveyed almost 3,000 New Yorkers, online and on the street. We held survey events in more than 45 neighborhoods, focusing on neighborhoods we serve, some of the city’s poorest and most stressed, found that these New Yorkers think first about safe neighborhoods, but with the exception The Bronx, they seem fairly satisfied that their neighborhoods are safe.

One thing that we found different about this year’s survey, is that there seems to be a growing interest in life in the streets and on the sidewalks. Safe streets, dangerous intersections, street noise, safe conditions for walking and bicycling all drew more concern this year.

We think this is a good sign. In a city of neighborhoods (there are more than 400 in New York City) where neighbors live cheek-to-jowl, and where open space and parkland is in short supply, there’s a lot going on in the streets and on the sidewalks. Making the streets and the sidewalks of New York safer, cleaner and quieter took a hit when the Mayor’s courageous congestion pricing plan was defeated, but that only means that we at Citizens Committee for New York City need to do more to help neighborhood organizations throughout the five boroughs do more to take back the streets.

And we will.

This is all fine, Peter. But there won't be anyone left to enjoy those safe, clean streets if we can't afford to live here.

Anyway, here's what the survey found in Manhattan (you can check out the report for all the boroughs):

Seventy percent of Manhattan residents rate the overall quality of neighborhood life
between good and excellent.

Residents rate the following five characteristics as the most important in determining the overall quality of a neighborhood:

• Close to public transportation
• Safe from crime
• Safe conditions for walking or bicycling
• Clean streets, sidewalks and open spaces
• Clean air

The characteristics with which Manhattan residents feel most satisfied are:

• Close to public transportation
• Close to parks and playgrounds
• Close to shops and restaurants
• A diverse mix of people
• Neighbors I can get along with

The characteristics with which residents feel least satisfied are:

• Youth programs
• A quiet neighborhood
• Decent housing at a reasonable cost
• Clean streets, sidewalks and open spaces
• Public officials who are responsive to neighborhood needs

The characteristics that Manhattan residents report as most important, but find the least satisfactory are:

• Decent housing at a reasonable cost
• Clean streets, sidewalks and open spaces
• A quiet neighborhood
• Public officials who are responsive to neighborhood needs
• Safe conditions for walking and bicycling

In the list of top neighborhood problems overall put together by the Post, "lack of affordable housing" was No. 4 (right before potholes!) and "too much growth, overbuilding" was No. 8 (right before illegally parked cars).

Priorities, people!

And this little piggy wants to turn three landmark homes into one

Oops. Outside my neighborhood again. But. Jeez.

As the Times reports:

When Andrew Carnegie decided to build himself a mansion in 1898, he headed to the northernmost reaches of the city at the time, situating his 64-room Georgian-style country home on a relatively undeveloped tract of land at 91st Street and Fifth Avenue. There was even enough space for what was then one of the city’s largest private gardens.
Combining and Expanding A century later, when Dr. Mitchell Blutt, a modern-day tycoon made rich on Wall Street, wanted a mansion of his own, he found Mr. Carnegie’s neighborhood, now known as Carnegie Hill, not surprisingly plumb out of space.
To solve the problem, Dr. Blutt bought the two town houses directly east of his current home on East 90th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues, in order to combine the three Romanesque Revival, four-story town houses into one 17,000-square-foot dwelling. His plans have prompted protest from neighbors, who see an intrusion of a suburban-style “McMansion,” and from preservationists, who fear that they would destroy the character of the landmark-protected buildings.

[Image -- Andrea Mohin/The New York Times]

EV Grieve Etc.: New group to fight gentrification in Chinatown

From The Village Voice:

The ongoing war between the forces of gentrification and the middle and working classes of the "old New York" has hit Chinatown too.
A new organization, calling itself the Coalition to Protect Chinatown and the Lower East Side, has taken aim at what it says are three threats to the neighborhood: a lack of affordable housing, a rezoning plan that could push upscale high-rise development from the Lower East Side to Chinatown, and a potential Business Improvement District that they say would tax small businesses out of existence.

[Image of Chinatown from 1909 via old-picture.com]

A penthouse for all seasons

Materialicious has this post today about a swanky penthouse in the East Village:

Pulltab Design was retained to design a series of renovations to a loft space along with a new penthouse and garden area atop an existing roof, accessed through the fifth floor loft.
Designed as a space for both reading and entertaining, the East Village Penthouse is part of a larger private residence located on the top floor of an early 1900’s Manhattan walkup.
In creating the indoor/outdoor space, a palette of materials (teak, bronze, zinc and Cor-ten steel) was selected allowing the design to season, through cycles of weathering.
For durability, the solid teak windows, doors and columns were assembled using traditional joinery details, inspired by the techniques of wooden boat building.

Designed as a living environment for all seasons, the penthouse allows for a reprieve from the busy nature of the city, while still connecting the owner to the wonderful and varied cityscape of the East Village.

I'm trying to figure out exactly what street this is...Any guesses?

More photos here.

Oh! So this place was featured in the May 2007 issue of Metropolis. Need to be a subscriber to access the piece.

[Photographs by Elizabeth Felicella]

EV Grieve: Figure of the day

The total cost of tuition (including room and board) at NYU starting this fall: $50,182

Increase over last year: 5.9 percent

Increase in the past decade: 65 percent

[Washington Square News via Gothamist. Image via Althouse.]

P.S.
From The Villager, April 2-8, 2008, "E. Village food fight pits N.Y.U. vs. grocery":
Another neighbor, David Mallius, said, “Talking about market rate, in this neighborhood market rate is determined by NYU.” He noted how high-rise dorms change the character of a neighborhood and how hordes of students provide the market for bars that are overwhelming the neighborhood.