Subject: Manhattan

• Study: Seniors Hit By Cars 40 Times More Often Than Kids

  We all pay attention when children get run over, but Transportation Alternatives asks us to also consider the grim chances old people take on the streets: their new report finds that "the fatality rate of senior pedestrians is 40 times greater than that of child pedestrians in Manhattan." They also tell us that the elderly represent 12 percent of New York's population but comprise 39 percent of our pedestrian deaths. TA, whose study focuses on Manhattan's senior-heavy District 2, thinks the Depa

  March 12, 2009

• Give Blood, Get Beer in "Pint for a Pint" Program

  NYC Guys informs us that the deal still stands: if you donate a pint of blood during March, you are eligible for a free pint of beer from one of twelve Manhattan and Brooklyn bars participating in the "Pint for a Pint" program. The New York Blood Center withdrew its support from the program (or, as Kelso's brewmaster Kelly Taylor put it, "went all PC on us") a few weeks ago, but the bars are alleged to be all in, so long as you offer proof of donation and the coupon available at the website. We

  March 16, 2009

• Weekend Special -- Street Food

  All hail the lonely cotton-candy vendor, his wares umbrella'ed above him in pastel, particolored splendor. A harbinger of spring, he waits for the first children to arrive in the park across the street in Richmond Hill, Queens (click to enlarge). At 113th Street and Park Avenue in Manhattan, where the Metro North railway takes wing and becomes elevated, a pair of hand-painted signs for a meat-oriented supremarket that seems to no longer exist (though one of the same name still do

  March 21, 2009

• BALLS OF FURY

  Ping-pong is no joke at this tournament

  April 1, 2009

• Banh Mi in Williamsburg

  I stopped by 172 Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg yesterday to see how Banh Mi's construction is going (the space used to be a Polish butcher shop). Looks nice from the outside, but the paper over the windows is so throughly taped up, I couldn't see inside. No one seemed to be working, so maybe they're waiting for permits or some other bureaucratic nonsense. Even now, Williamsburg has the newly opened banh mi shop Nha Toi, as well as Bep, the pop-up, Mondays-only restaurant that sets up shop insi

  April 2, 2009

• Meet the Maker--Manhattan Meadery's Nathaniel Martin

  Today we debut Meet the Maker, a recurring feature in which we meet a local food or drink producer, farmer or monger of some sort. Because everyone loves a monger. This week, we meet Nathaniel Martin, co-founder of Manhattan Meadery. Nathaniel (pictured left with a tank of his mead) and his brother, Thatcher, came up for the idea for their artisanal mead in their bric-à-brac-filled backyard. Their first product, Brooklyn Buzz, is available at such wine shops as Astor Wine and Spirits, Chels

  April 6, 2009

• Chinese Arms Shipper to Iran Indicted -- But Maybe Untouchable

  Evidently New York banks aren't just good for imploding the world economy and then sucking up taxpayer money in order to rebuild. They're also a good way to send and receive illegal payments. Chinese citizen Li Fang Wei, the manager of Chinese company LIMMT, has just been indicted by the Manhattan DA's office for using Manhattan banks to execute dozens of transactions even though he and his company were long ago bounced by US authorities.

  April 7, 2009

• Posts of the Week

  Hello and welcome to Friday afternoon--here are some of our favorite posts from the week. Go out and get yourself some gelato and pig's feet this weekend. We brought you to foodie events all over the city over the holiday weekend. We suggested that you BYOB a bottle of Gutedel to Zaytoons. We brought you to the cocktail lab at the French Culinary Institute, where Nils Noren and Dave Arnold are concocting amazing things like the Long Island bubble iced tea and pork rind cracker jacks. We dr

  May 29, 2009

• Nursery University

  April 22, 2009

• WALK ON

  See Manhattan slowly, for once

  April 22, 2009

• Will Williamsburg Fall Into The Abyss?

  Williamburg became a hot nabe largely because most struggling artists couldn't afford to live in Manhattan anymore, so all the boho types in funny vests and thrift store glasses moved over the bridge to create a relaxed community of creativity and free verse. But now Manhattan rents are falling faster than Donatella Versace's rack, which means all those bedraggled artists might be able to come back here and live like human beings again! I'm guessing this will spell an end to Billyburg's special

  April 29, 2009

• Upper White Trash: Workfare Without Work

  (Editor's note: This dispatch is from a middle-aged, college-educated Manhattan resident who has given the hell up and gone on welfare. Previously at Runnin' Scared, he described the process of signing up for the dole, and the gourmet cuisine he bought with his food stamps.) When we last left our intrepid but financially bereft hero (me), I was assigned to a Back to Work program. To re-cap, when you apply for welfare, you must now meet several obligations: You must attend a work training progr

  April 29, 2009

• 69 Reade Street Collapses

  No one seems to know why yet, but a five-story building at 69 Reade Street in Manhattan fell down this morning. Police believe no one was inside, but are scouting with dogs nonetheless. FDNY says there are no victims on the scene. The available city records don't tell much, except that the building was privately owned, not believed to be a multiple-dwelling unit, and allegedly vacant, though no work orders are out on it. A number of businesses have been listed at the address in recent years b

  April 30, 2009

• 'Abandon Ship Showcase'

  May 6, 2009

• Manhattan Rents Down By As Much As 20%, Still Ridiculously High

  Oh boy, another bunch of Manhattan Rents Fall! headlines. "Down by as much as 20 percent!" says the AP. "Lowest level since at least 2007!" says the Post. "Plummet!" says Newsday. The McGuffin is TREGNY's Manhattan Rental Market Report (pdf) which shows, basically, that you can get a studio in Harlem for $1,277 -- oops! Too late! That was the cheapest, and it's gone! Even the Post's credulous commenters are skeptical ("Only $2605? pfffft, hold on while I breakout my check book"). As regular

  May 27, 2009

• Counterfeit Check Ring Busted; Defrauded "Hundreds," Paid Off Bank Tellers

  Eighteen men were busted for running a sweeping identity theft ring out of a Bronx apartment, the Manhattan District Attorney's office announced yesterday. Over the course of two years, the men stole millions of dollars from just about every bank in the city, but focused most of their efforts on JP Morgan Chase, Wachovia, and HSBC. They forged counterfeit checks in the names of hundreds of people, hired "soldiers" to enter the banks to deposit the checks, and recruited bank tellers to process th

  May 28, 2009

• Cab-Sharing Plan Approved

  That cab-sharing thing went through, and now the last respite some of us had from the forced intimacy of Manhattan has been screwed up -- either by a coming paucity of non-"sharing" cabs, as drivers rush to fill their seats, or by our guilt over taking a solo when the cheaper four-wheel-subway version is available. By TLC agreement, some cabs will be tagged for sharing; these will display the first rider's destination, and be equipped to calculate double fares -- 50 percent of the real fare for

  May 28, 2009

• NYCLU Sues Homeland Security Over Spying on Citizens

  The New York Civil Liberties Union is suing the Department of Homeland Security to find anything it can about the NYPD's plans to build a massive surveillance system in Lower Manhattan. The system will allow the NYPD, and possibly the federal government, to create a computerized database on the movement and whereabouts of millions of everyday New Yorkers who travel south of Canal Street. Modeled after London's so-called Ring of Steel surveillance network, the Lower Manhattan Security Initiat

  June 9, 2009

• Manhattan D.A. Endorsements: McCall for Vance, Koch for Snyder

  In endorsements for the Manhattan D.A.'s race, as we noted before, it's been all about Richard Aborn. But the other candidates are starting to grab some big names, too. Cyrus Vance Jr. has just added former state comptroller and gubernatorial candidate Carl McCall to his roster, which includes David Dinkins and Betsy Gotbaum. "The people of Manhattan expect and deserve a DA that will handle criminal justice issues with fairness and integrity," says McCall, stressing Vance's courtroom experience

  June 11, 2009

• Our Ten Best--Hamburgers

  Think of it as a mini meatloaf on a bun. Like the name says, hamburgers originated in the port city of Hamburg, Germany, where ground meat has been a popular viand at least since the late Middle Ages. According to one cockamamie story, Genghis Khan invented it when his invading hordes put meat under their saddles to tenderize it. The Russians got it from him, and then the Germans got it from them. Then German sailors took it to New York, where, supposedly in the 19th Century, there were stands a

  June 12, 2009

• Hell's Kitchen Neighbors March in Memoriam at Deadly 9th Ave Stretch

  Not all this weekend's parades were as cheerful as the Puerto Rican Day festivities. Because the stretch of Ninth Avenue between 45th and 36th Streets has seen a lot of pedestrians run down by cars -- the most recent being art restorer Susanne M. Schnitzer, killed in a hit and run on April 9 -- the Hell's Kitchen Neighborhood Association, CHECKPEDS (Clinton/Hell's Kitchen Coalition for Pedestrian Safety), and Transportation Alternatives sponsored a memorial march in the manner of a New Orleans

  June 15, 2009

• Candlelight Tour of Revolutionary War New York

  June 24, 2009

• Oh, All Right: Richard Aborn at Pride

  Manhattan D.A. Candidate Richard Aborn's people must have noticed that we had a photo of Cy Vance at the Pride Parade, so they sent us this. We don't want to lose our hard-won reputation for objectivity, so here he is (the tall drink o' water in the middle) with some of his supporters from Glad & Lesbian Independent Democrats. Leslie Crocker Snyder, we're still waiting for your Pride pix. We know you have the Stonewall Democrats' endorsement, but ours is an increasingly visual age. Update: V

  June 29, 2009

• Somebody Got Murdered: Police Looking for Suspect in Gang Stabbing

  View Larger Map DATE: Monday, July 15, 2009, 9:31 a.m. LOCATION: Lobby of 330 East 26 Street, Manhattan. The police have made two arrests in the fatal stabbing of an 20-year-old male and the wounding of a second man, 30 last month. But they are still looking for a third man in connection with the deadly fight. Robert Rosado, 33, and Marcus Rosado, 37, of the same South Street address have been arrested in the murder of Christopher Guerrero, 20, of Avenue B in Manhattan. The wounded man was n

  July 1, 2009

• Manhattan Rents Fall For Rich; Rest of Us Remain Screwed

  The Times says, "Sharp Price Drops in Manhattan Apartments." Regular Runnin' Scared readers know what that means: the Times' real target audience, rich people, are paying less now for their townmansions and gargantuaplexes -- which doesn't mean that you will. In fact, for you it will probably make things worse. The Observer starkly lays it out like a death toll: Prudential Douglas Elliman and Miller Samuel: Average sales price: $1,312,920 -21.4 percent from 2Q 2008 Median sales price: $83

  July 2, 2009

• Pierre Luxury Reno Has $55 Tea, "Reimagined Bathrooms," Lousy Market

  Rooms at the Pierre Hotel, an icon of old New York (at least as far as Mad Men is concerned), were long closed for renovations. But some of them opened last month, and Taj Hotels, which took it over and gave it a $100 million renovation, announces the new Taj Pierre will be at full strength by September. And it has just opened a new lobby bar, Two E, which it hails as "Manhattan's newest social destination," with "cocktails meticulously crafted from the freshest ingredients," a $55 tea service,

  July 14, 2009

• Top 10 Most Dangerous Foods to Eat While Driving; Say Hola to Pecsi

  Is organic food always better for you than "conventional"? Sure, fresh organic produce may be more nutritious than fruits and veggies grown using pesticides. But organic milk doesn't necessarily come from cows raised in lush pasture. Large dairies keep the animals in lots and truck in their feed. [NY Daily News] The Times' venerable food critic has always been a binger. But, apparently, Frank Bruni also learned how to purge early on. Was his strange throw-up-on-demand behavior just a case of sp

  July 17, 2009

• Times Notices Closing Stores, Disapproves; Banks, Starbucks to Pick Up Slack

  The New York Times notices a great number of shuttered shopfronts in Manhattan and, after consulting with experts, decides it's because "New Yorkers have drastically cut back" on the things they buy from the stores, such as "expensive shampoo at 24-hour drugstores, cheese plates at sleek wine bars and clothes at minimalist boutiques." It is observably true that Manhattan commercial real estate vacancies are up to a staggering 12 percent, and other boroughs are coming up fast. But store sales

  July 21, 2009

• Orrin Evans

  July 28, 2009

• Somebody Got Murdered: Chelsea Man Stabbed, Elderly Dad Questioned

  View Larger Map DATE: Monday, Aug. 3, 2009 at approximately 10:58 p.m. LOCATION: 426 West 27 Street, Manhattan. The police say a man, 50, was stabbed once in the chest Monday inside 426 West 27th St. He was declared dead 40 minutes later at St. Vincent's Hospital. The New York Post reports that cops are questioning the victim's wife and his father-in-law in connection with the murder. The Post says news video shows the father-in-law, wearing a blood-stained shirt, being walked into a precin

  August 4, 2009

• In Chinatown Markets Now: Rambutan

  ​ Brightly colored rambutans are now being featured in sidewalk produce stands in Manhattan, Sunset Park, and Flushing Chinatowns for about $5 per pound. Looking like the hairy intestinal polyps of space creatures, rambutans are bright pink fruits that can run in size from an olive to a small apricot. The hirsute appearance is alarming, but, luckily, the thick hairs don't weigh much, though they do interfere with getting at the flesh inside. That flesh is a pellucid pearl color, and taste

  August 7, 2009

• When You Want To Impress Someone

  Why is it that when you're desperate to impress someone, you can't seem to get arrested all of a sudden? Years ago, my then-editor here wanted to go for a night on the town with some friends, led by me, the bejewled gatekeeper of New York nightlife. This was at the height of splashy downtown clubs, all of which generally treated me like royalty, sweeping me in, lavishing me with cocktails (I drank then), and taking my picture every time I looked up from the glass.

  August 20, 2009

• Better Photo of Serial Subway Robber

  ​Police has supplied a better picture of the suspect in 14 robberies on various subway trains in uptown Manhattan and The Bronx, the latest of which occurred on the F at 169th Street and Hillside Avenue on August 14. The suspect, Rasheen Williams, is 39 years old and at large. His alleged MO is to brandish a knife and demand valuables. If you have information as to this man or these incidents, NYPD asks you to contact 1-800-577-TIPS(8477), www.nypdcrimestoppers.com, or text 274637 (CRIME

  August 24, 2009

• Clip Job: Holy Moses! The Freeway that Wasn't

  ​Clip Job: an excerpt every day from the Voice archivesJanuary 28, 1965, Vol. X, No. 15Last Exit to ManhattanBy David GurinTen smooth lanes of elevated concrete and steel are proposed to entomb old Broome Street for its final sacrifice as the connecting link between the Holland Tunnel and the Williamsburg and Manhattan Bridges. Designed in Los Angeles to the latest open-country autobahn standards, the Lower Manhattan Expressway would create a Chinese Wall above Chinatown, wipe out little Italy

  September 1, 2009

• Somebody Got Murdered: Stabbing in East Harlem

  View Larger Map DATE: Friday, Sept. 4, 2009 at approximately 9:49 p.m. LOCATION: Corner of East 103 Street and Lexington Avenue, Manhattan. The police are saying a man was stabbed at the above address Friday night. The victim, 36, was stabbed twice in the back by a suspect in his 40's who fled the scene. The police have yet to release the identity of the victim. If you know anything about this case or the victim, drop us a line at grayman@villagevoice.com

  September 8, 2009

• Jack Jones

  September 8, 2009

• Tomorrow: Our 10 Best Thai Restaurants

  ​ ​One test of a great northern Thai restaurant is perfect pork larb, laced with herbs and doused with a pungent dressing. Tomorrow, Fork in the Road puts its figurative ass on the line, Southeast Asian style, laying out our favorite 10 Thai restaurants. The rankings may surprise you, but at least you'll learn where to get the city's best larb. Will it be in Queens? Manhattan? Or Brooklyn? Tune in tomorrow morning bright and early to find out. Meanwhile, here are some of the other

  September 10, 2009

• Back to School for Bus Hoods

  In a different kind of back to school special, a pair of brothers who served as top officials of the union representing city school bus drivers pleaded guilty today to extortion charges in Manhattan federal court. Nick and Paul Maddalone became, respectively, the fourth and fifth high-ranking executives of Local 1181 of the American Transit Workers Union to admit their roles in a long-running scheme to extort payoffs from bus operators in exchange for not enforcing union contract rules.

  September 10, 2009

• Primary Culler: Snyder and Vance Spar in Manhattan D.A. Race; Might Aborn Be the Odd Man In?

  ​The Manhattan D.A. primary race is a big deal; for the first time since 1975, Robert Morgenthau is not in it, and the three contenders are sprinting hard for the finish line: Richard Aborn brought back former NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton and a chainsaw attack victim for his "closing argument"; Cy Vance will spend Monday running around Manhattan with Morgenthau, who has endorsed him, and Harlem's Rev. Jacques Andre DeGraff; Leslie Crocker Snyder celebrates her endorsement by the Nati

  September 14, 2009

• D.A. Candidates Grabbed Big Bucks in Last Days of Campaign

  In the past week, the Manhattan D.A. candidates really worked the pockets of big contributors, Board of Elections 24-hour reports reveal. Leslie Crocker Snyder reports $139,950 in donations since last Tuesday, much of it from lawyers like Bernie Goetz defender Barry Slotnick and Lawrence S. Goldman. She also got a $10,000 check from the Patrolmen's Benevolent Asociation. Cy Vance reports a 7-day tally of $111,689; his donors include Jane Holzer (yes, Baby Jane) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. buddy W

  September 15, 2009

• Under the Toque: Patricia Yeo Leaves New York; Bill Telepan Makes School Lunches

  ​Bill Telepan of his eponymous restaurant is the only Manhattan chef volunteering with the New York public school system, creating recipes for his daughter's school. [Edible Manhattan via Eater] Joe Ng of Chinatown Brasserie is moving downstairs, along with the restaurant, to make room for a new lounge upstairs, run by chef Josh Capon and Robert Collins of Lure. The new project is expected to open in December. [The Feedbag] MADCrush, the Museum of Arts and Design's five-week pop-up wine

  September 17, 2009

• Do You Live in a Building the Mobster Housing Guys "Inspected"?

  ​Earlier today Tom Robbins wrote about how the mob has infiltrated the city's Department of Buildings. The city arrested 29 people, including six former building inspectors and contractors who did business with the D.O.B. A father-and-son duo, Frank Francomano and Carmine Francomano, Jr., were building inspectors who allegedly took bribes for granting building permits, expediting inspections, and avoiding building violations; they were also involved in narcotics trafficking, trafficking i

  October 1, 2009

• The Top 10 Records Sold Last Week at Bleecker Bob's in the West Village

  In 2009, the traditional practice of exchanging physical copies of records for money is a trade that might best be called quixotic. But New Yorkers are stubborn people, and the record store is not dead. Below, the top ten records that sold in the last week at a store near you. Brian Dube​When you walk inside Bleecker Bob's, there's a dusty, brown, fraying rug visible off to your right. It looks ratty, but it's the same carpet that once covered the stage of the Night Owl, a former West Vil

  October 2, 2009

• Manhattan real estate may be stabilizing, but Sotomayor's not selling

  ​Local real estate experts say Manhattan prices may have hit bottom, but Greenwich Village resident Sonia Sotomayor is holding on to her condo anyway. Sotomayor, who you may have heard recently took a new job out of town, told C-Span in an interview for an upcoming documentary that prices are too low right now for her to think about selling her place on Bedford Street. The disclosure forms she filled out for her Senate confirmation hearings showed that she owes $380k on her mortgage. Sa

  October 3, 2009

• Crain's Says Manhattan Rents Have Plummeted -- to $2,950

  Once again we are told that Manhattan rents are in collapse, this time by Crain's which quotes reports showing a whopping 58.9 percent fewer apartment leases signed in Manhattan in Q3 2009 than in Q3 2008. That might not be so big a deal as it sounds, though, as many landlords are warehousing their buildings, and a good number of them probably writing off the loss as they wait for sunnier days. (September vacancy rates at 1.8 percent, up a mere 0.4 percent from this time last year.) The median M

  October 8, 2009

• The other kind of New York wildlife

  ​Following up the Times' recent Manhattan Skunk invasion story, the News has a shortlist of New York's wild animals, including deer, coyotes, bats, turkeys, and a celebrity beaver, and where to go see them. Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe, who was interviewed for the piece, lists places in all five boroughs where you can catch a glimpse of wildlife in the wild, including Jose, the Bronx River beaver (named after Congressman Serrano, who got over $14 million from the federal government t

  October 11, 2009

• Candlelight Ghost Tour

  October 27, 2009

• Fake UPS Push-In Robbery Suspect Arrested

  ​Police believe they have the guy who was going around pretending to be a UPS man, tying up the people who let him in, and stealing their stuff. In most of the seven Manhattan cases to which he is tied, between October 8th and November 3rd, the perp merely broke or pushed in, but twice he announced himself as a representative of Big Brown before overpowering the occupants, tying them up, and taking jewelry, electronics, and other valuables. The suspect is identified as William Rodriguez,

  November 5, 2009

• Would You Eat At a Restaurant/Piano Bar Run by the Glasslands Team?

  Photo of the Glasslands "Painting Room" via jasoneppink's photostream​As in, would you eat a "Braised Pork Belly & Kimchi Pressed Sandwich" served to you by the same hands that painstakingly hung filthy streamers from a dust-covered rafter down on Kent Street? Eater reports the brand new existence of the Manhattan Inn, a new establishment run by the Glasslands crew up on Manhattan Ave, a block north of McCarren Park. The bar/restaurant sports a kind of currently ubiquitous modern-rustic de

  November 6, 2009

• Private paperwork found in Yankee parade confetti

  ​The half ton of recycled confetti provided to buildings lining the Canyon of Heroes in downtown Manhattan for the Yankees' victory parade yesterday turned out not to be enough for some people to show their enthusiasm. Medical records, financial statements, pay stubs, law firm invoices and court records were found in the fifty tons of paper trash left behind. Office workers from buildings lining the route got a little too enthusiastic and started throwing paperwork out of their windows. T

  November 7, 2009