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The Empire Zone

  • Empire Zone Has Moved … to City Room

    Attention: Please update your feed reader. The Empire Zone's political coverage moved in June to City Room. Please update your RSS feeds, blogrolls and habits. Here is the URL for the new feed: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/rss2.xml [...]
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    Posted: June 17, 2007, 11:02pm EDT
    by The Empire Zone

  • Bill Clinton on Congestion Pricing

    Number of comments: 3
    Is there anyone at this point who hasn't weighed in on Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's plan to impose weekday traffic fees in Manhattan? Former President Bill Clinton mentioned Mr. Bloomberg's congestion pricing proposal today during the annual luncheon of the National Partnership for Women and Families in Washington. Mr. Clinton did [...]
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    Posted: June 15, 2007, 8:13pm EDT
    by Carolyn Ryan

  • Easy Riders (and With a Brand, Too)

    First there was the official New York City memorabilia. Then there was the official New York City condom. Now there's the official New York City bike helmet. This morning, the city transportation commissioner, Janette Sadik-Khan, and the parks and recreation commissioner, Adrian Benepe, unveiled an official city bike helmet created by [...]
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    Posted: June 15, 2007, 4:49pm EDT
    by Sewell Chan

  • Traffic Fees and the ‘Plains of Hesitation’

    Number of comments: 1
    Add yet another strange wrinkle to the imbroglio over Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's congestion pricing plan. In a letter sent yesterday, the chairman of the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit urged Albany's "Big Three" to "carefully consider the expectation" that the $500 million in federal funds promised by the [...]
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    Posted: June 15, 2007, 3:26pm EDT
    by Michael M. Grynbaum

  • A New Library for Long Island City

    Long Island City, on the waterfront at the western edge of Queens, is widely seen as the next frontier in the city's plan to remake the waterfront, with new housing developments within walking distance of the area's many transit stations. The area is still home to some of the city's [...]
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    Posted: June 15, 2007, 1:47pm EDT
    by Sewell Chan

  • Weekend in New Hampshire? Don’t Go There.

    Number of comments: 3
    Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg will be in New Hampshire tomorrow -- but not for the reasons you might think. "People will read into the fact that I'm going to be in New Hampshire tomorrow," the mayor said this morning on his weekly radio call-in program on WABC-AM, knowing that such a' [...]
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    Posted: June 15, 2007, 1:04pm EDT
    by Ray Rivera

  • Energy Hearing Garners Less Oomph

    Number of comments: 1
    There are fewer fireworks today at Round 2 of the State Assembly's look at the city's sustainability proposal. Round 1, you may recall, could have been called Congestion Pricing and Its Discontents. That session drew Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and an overflow crowd to an Assembly hearing in Midtown last [...]
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    Posted: June 15, 2007, 12:09pm EDT
    by Nicholas Confessore

  • Bruno: ‘Very Respectfully, That Is Nuts’

    Number of comments: 1
    Bruno, Spitzer clash on campaign finance. [...]
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    Posted: June 14, 2007, 8:49pm EDT
    by Danny Hakim

  • ‘Be Nice to Your Interns’

    Number of comments: 1
    Paul Francis, the state budget director, thinks Manhattan's financial giants should move their "back-office" operations upstate. At an appearance today at the College of Saint Rose in Albany, Mr. Francis said the state "has a wonderful opportunity to leverage relationships it has with large firms in New York City, and [...]
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    Posted: June 14, 2007, 7:46pm EDT
    by Michael M. Grynbaum

  • Horse Play

    Senior aides to Gov. Eliot Spitzer briefed senior legislative aides yesterday evening on their idea of breaking the state horseracing franchise in two, allowing the New York Racing Association to continue running the racing operations while giving control of future gambling operations to one of several bidders. "It's an approach that [...]
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    Posted: June 14, 2007, 7:29pm EDT
    by Nicholas Confessore

  • Reporting the Rx Sellers’ Generosity

    When Minnesota became the first state to require drug makers to disclose gifts and payments made to the health care industry, the results were alarming. Doctors and other medical workers had received nearly $60 million in gifts from pharmaceutical companies over an eight-year period. Patient advocates and other groups that [...]
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    Posted: June 14, 2007, 1:51pm EDT
    by Michael M. Grynbaum

  • Democrats on Traffic Fees: Thumbs Down

    Number of comments: 3
    The Assembly Democrats' steering committee - a group of about 30 members picked by Speaker Sheldon Silver to help guide consensus on important policy for the Democratic majority - met today to talk about congestion pricing for New York City. The consensus? Thumbs down. According to someone who was present, most [...]
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    Posted: June 13, 2007, 5:52pm EDT
    by Nicholas Confessore

  • Sheep on the Run: An Update

    Animals - including this morning's runaway sheep - appear to be running amok today. The Police Department's deputy commissioner for public information has put out the following news release: THE FOLLOWING THREE UNRELATED ANIMAL INCIDENTS WERE REPORTED: ON WEDNESDAY 6/13/07 AT APPROX. 1108 HRS WITHIN THE CONFINES OF THE 40 PCT., POLICE RESPONDED [...]
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    Posted: June 13, 2007, 2:28pm EDT
    by Sewell Chan

  • Found Poetry: Sheep on the Run

    Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2007 12:47:49 -0400 To City Editor From: Al Baker, police bureau chief Subject: on the sheep Sheep was on the loose and is now caught. The sheep was reported on the loose at 11:08 a.m. today. Apparently someone called in a "sheep in traffic." In confines of the 40th Precinct, in the Bronx. The [...]
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    Posted: June 13, 2007, 1:14pm EDT
    by The Empire Zone

  • All About Rent: Cheers, Jeers and Song

    Number of comments: 15
    Tenants came expecting a fight. After last year, when the city allowed landlords to raise rents by up to 7.25 percent in a meeting marred by outbursts and disruption, today's public meeting for the city's Rent Guidelines Board might have ended badly. "Last year, I blasted Double M," said one [...]
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    Posted: June 12, 2007, 3:47pm EDT
    by Ethan Wilensky-Lanford

  • Silver Has Answers (and Questions)

    Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is, once again, emerging as Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s biggest obstacle in Albany. Last Friday, the Assembly held a hearing on the mayor’s congestion pricing plan. The speaker, appearing today at a news conference with the state comptroller, Thomas P. DiNapoli, was asked if he had [...]
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    Posted: June 11, 2007, 2:00pm EDT
    by Danny Hakim

  • New Comptroller Wants Out of Sudan

    Comptroller DiNapoli announces strategy to divest from Sudan. [...]
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    Posted: June 11, 2007, 1:43pm EDT
    by Danny Hakim

  • Breaking Bread, Trading Horses

    Gov. Eliot Spitzer would have preferred more progress by now, with two weeks left in the legislative session. “In an ideal world, I’d like to have a repeat of January and February,” the governor said in an interview. Then, his staff negotiated agreements in isolation on intractable issues, including overhauling the [...]
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    Posted: June 11, 2007, 9:00am EDT
    by Danny Hakim

  • Corn: Vegetable, Fruit or Grain?

    Lawmakers waded into the treacherous terrain of botany last week. This year, Senator Michael F. Nozzolio, an upstate Republican, introduced legislation that would make sweet corn the state vegetable. (The bill originated as a class project by students at the Dana L. West High School in Port Byron, N.Y.) But when the [...]
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    Posted: June 11, 2007, 8:57am EDT
    by Nicholas Confessore

  • Alert the Courtroom Sketch Artist Lobby

    One of the late entries among the issues being discussed in the closing weeks of the legislative session is a proposal to allow video cameras in courtrooms. The issue is of increasing interest to newspapers as well as television networks because of the increasing sophistication of newspaper Web sites. “I believe [...]
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    Posted: June 11, 2007, 8:55am EDT
    by Danny Hakim

  • Help for Victims of Violence

    Gov. Eliot Spitzer signed a bill last week that prevents landlords from penalizing victims of domestic violence if they break their leases. In a message explaining his approval, Mr. Spitzer wrote: The sponsors of the bill note that many domestic violence victims would be safer if they could move to a [...]
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    Posted: June 11, 2007, 8:49am EDT
    by Danny Hakim

  • Your Turn: Traffic Questions for Readers

    It seems to be congestion pricing day. Our expert on the subject had to return to his life, but thanks to all who posed questions. Here is a chance for readers to answer some: How do you think the plan will affect traffic in your neighborhood? Do you think it will [...]
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    Posted: June 08, 2007, 3:59pm EDT
    by The New York Times

  • Taking Questions: A Traffic Expert on Congestion Pricing

    This afternoon, we arranged for Michael Horodniceanu, one of the foremost experts on traffic in New York City, to take questions from readers on the subject of congestion pricing. Dr. Horodniceanu was the city’s traffic commissioner from 1986 to 1990. He is currently chairman and chief executive of Urbitran, an [...]
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    Posted: June 08, 2007, 12:48pm EDT
    by Sewell Chan

  • The Selling of Congestion Pricing

    There was a time, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg told an audience today at the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, when he, too, was skeptical of congestion pricing. But no more. He thinks it’s a good idea. And today he came to Midtown Manhattan to persuade members [...]
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    Posted: June 08, 2007, 12:06pm EDT
    by Nicholas Confessore

  • Frieden Interview: ‘The Politics of Opposition’

    The city’s health commissioner, Dr. Thomas Frieden, gave a frank interview to Christopher Murray of The Gay City News on a wide range of his agency’s policies that have drawn opposition from some groups that represent gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people. Dr. Frieden said “we should have done our homework [...]
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    Posted: June 08, 2007, 12:04pm EDT
    by The New York Times

  • ‘Outside the Blast Zone’

    The other day, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg told people who worry about terrorist threats to “get a life” — and got some positive feedback. Now comes the news that Pennsylvania officials hope to capitalize on fears of chaos should another terrorist attack hit New York’s financial district. Call it Wall [...]
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    Posted: June 08, 2007, 9:59am EDT
    by Patrick McGeehan

  • PlaNYC Bill Introduced in State Senate

    Just in, courtesy of Aaron Naparstek, the guru of Streetsblog: the 154-page bill [pdf] introducing Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s comprehensive PlaNYC program to make New York City environmentally sustainable. Expect policy analysts, lobbyists and legislative aides to be poring over this legislation with a magnifying glass over the next few [...]
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    Posted: June 07, 2007, 5:29pm EDT
    by Sewell Chan

  • Podcast: Fershtay? It’s Yiddish

    Enclosure: [download]
    Podcast: Only in New York (mp3) Following is the draft script of the weekly “Only in New York” audio podcast. Listen at left or download it to a portable player. Pete Hamill’s favorite walking tour of Lower Manhattan nowadays is to a spot he calls the Place of Three Shrines. The first [...]
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    Posted: June 07, 2007, 1:03pm EDT
    by Sam Roberts

  • Congestion Pricing Racing Forward?

    Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s congestion pricing proposal got a huge boost this morning. At 9:30 a.m., the mayor joined Gov. Eliot Spitzer and Mary E. Peters, secretary of the federal Department of Transportation, for an announcement on congestion pricing at the governor’s Midtown office. Both Mr. Spitzer and Ms. Peters cast [...]
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    Posted: June 07, 2007, 10:02am EDT
    by Sewell Chan

  • This Judge Is No Longer Rated

    Gerald P. Garson, the disgraced former State Supreme Court judge, has been sentenced to 3 to 10 years in prison for bribery and official misconduct, as Michael Brick reported yesterday. His lawyers, who are planning an appeal, might want to consult a reference work called “New York Judge Reviews and Court [...]
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    Posted: June 07, 2007, 8:16am EDT
    by Sewell Chan

  • Open Discussions, With Lots of Talk

    State leaders hold public meeting. [...]
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    Posted: June 06, 2007, 5:18pm EDT
    by Danny Hakim

  • Matching All Those Billions

    Want to win elected office? First, become a billionaire. “It makes it a lot easier,” Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg quipped yesterday in front of a room full of reporters, City Council members and good government analysts. Critics say it would make it even easier now with the mayor and the Council on [...]
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    Posted: June 06, 2007, 3:31pm EDT
    by Ray Rivera

  • Buzz Over Mayor’s ‘Get a Life’ Remark

    On Monday, the day before a fourth man in a suspected plot to bomb jet fuel tankers at Kennedy International Airport turned himself in to the authorities, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg waded once again into the emotional discussions of how ordinary residents can conduct themselves in a post-9/11 world. WCBS-TV quoted [...]
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    Posted: June 06, 2007, 9:46am EDT
    by Sewell Chan

  • A Republican Bastion No More?

    Republican hopes to regain a foothold on the Upper East Side were dashed last night. For years, moderate Republicans held a number of elected positions on the Upper East Side, once home to Mayor John V. Lindsay. But Democrats now enjoy a 3-to-1-registration advantage over Republican voters in the 65th [...]
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    Posted: June 06, 2007, 9:33am EDT
    by Jonathan P. Hicks

  • Ships Passing in the Morning

    On Wednesday morning, some Staten Island ferry riders are in for a brush with grayness. The aircraft carrier Intrepid is scheduled to cross the paths of the ferries as it is towed from Bayonne, N.J., where it received a fresh coat of 5,600 gallons of Navy gray paint, [...] [...]
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    Posted: June 05, 2007, 6:45pm EDT
    by Patrick McGeehan

  • Starrett City Tenants Go to Albany

    Starrett City protest in Albany. [...]
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    Posted: June 05, 2007, 4:56pm EDT
    by Danny Hakim

  • I Now Pronounce You, Economic Benefit

    Of all the arguments brought to bear in support of legalizing same-sex marriage, this one appears to be rather original: New York City, according to a new analysis by the city comptroller, could reap $142 million in economic benefits over three years, primarily from a surge in spending by residents [...]
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    Posted: June 05, 2007, 2:47pm EDT
    by Sewell Chan

  • A $112-a-Month MetroCard?

    Well, maybe not that much. But not all is well in the land of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. A “dramatic deterioration of its financial situation over the next three years” could require sharply higher fares, according to a fiscal analysis released by the city’s Independent Budget Office. A full copy of [...]
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    Posted: June 05, 2007, 2:03pm EDT
    by Sewell Chan

  • An Election Day, for Some

    There is a special election today on the East Side of Manhattan in the 65th Assembly District. Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. For details, voters can call the New York City Board of Elections toll free at 1 (866) VOTENYC (868-3692). Jonathan Hicks of The Times wrote [...]
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    Posted: June 05, 2007, 6:53am EDT
    by The New York Times

  • My Legislative Wish List. And Yours?

    Bruno writes letter to Spitzer. [...]
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    Posted: June 04, 2007, 5:19pm EDT
    by Danny Hakim

  • Bruno’s Business Dealings

    Joseph L. Bruno, the State Senate majority leader, was cheerfully dismissive today, as always, of recent news reports that the federal investigation into his business dealings has widened to include his purchase of two thoroughbreds from a real estate developer and Republican campaign donor. (The story was first reported by The [...]
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    Posted: June 04, 2007, 1:30pm EDT
    by Nicholas Confessore

  • All Power Plants Not Equal?

    Gov. Eliot Spitzer and lawmakers have been negotiating for several weeks to revive a law that speeds approval of power plants by overriding local ordinances. This week, the issue will be the subject of one of three rare public conference committees held by the Democrat-led Assembly and the Republican-controlled Senate. Finding [...]
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    Posted: June 04, 2007, 1:42am EDT
    by Danny Hakim

  • Hey Buddy, Need Tickets?

    Gov. Eliot Spitzer signed a law late last week that legalized ticket scalping. “Scalping laws did not make sense,” he said on Friday, adding, “This will be good for the venues, good for consumers and good for the artists.” Proponents of the legislation say it will bring the black market for tickets [...]
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    Posted: June 04, 2007, 1:40am EDT
    by Nicholas Confessore

  • A War of Words

    The Empire Zone continues its efforts to create a full historical record of the March 14 dust-up between Gov. Eliot Spitzer and the State Senate majority leader, Joseph L. Bruno, amid tense budget negotiations. As previously reported, words were exchanged and voices were raised in the governor’s office, according to [...]
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    Posted: June 04, 2007, 1:39am EDT
    by Danny Hakim

  • Bloomberg’s Slow-Moving Plan

    The Real Estate Board of New York will start running television commercials today in support of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s long-range environmental plan, which includes a proposal to charge fees to drive below 86th Street during peak hours. “This is obviously something the industry is concerned about, how the city works [...]
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    Posted: June 04, 2007, 1:37am EDT
    by Danny Hakim

  • Tribute to a Senate Role Model

    Warren M. Anderson, who served as Senate majority leader from 1973 to 1988, died last week at age 91. Former Gov. George E. Pataki called him “a tremendous gentleman.” Back when Mr. Pataki was a young Senate staffer — “it was the 1890s,” he said — Mr. Anderson was not above [...]
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    Posted: June 04, 2007, 1:34am EDT
    by Danny Hakim

  • Rangel on a Clinton Apology

    Apologize — if it makes you feel better. But it’s not necessary. That’s the gist of Representative Charles B. Rangel’s advice to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton for her vote in 2002 to authorize an invasion of Iraq. Mr. Rangel, who supports Senator Clinton’s bid for president, made the remarks in a [...]
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    Posted: June 01, 2007, 5:40pm EDT
    by The New York Times

  • You Can Have Your Cellphone Back Now

    Hundreds of cellphones confiscated at Middle School 54 yesterday morning were released to their owners today –- four days earlier than originally ordered. Elana Elster, the principal of M.S. 54, recanted her instructions that parents whose children’s cellphones were confiscated during a surprise sweep by the Police Department yesterday could pick [...]
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    Posted: June 01, 2007, 3:22pm EDT
    by Julie Bosman

  • Nannies and a Minimum Wage

    Should there be a minimum wage for nannies, housekeepers, cooks and baby sitters, well above the $7.15 statewide minimum? A coalition of immigrant and labor groups and their allies is pushing for a bill that would establish a minimum wage of $14 an hour for domestic workers in New York [...]
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    Posted: June 01, 2007, 2:51pm EDT
    by Sewell Chan

  • Censorship, Academic Freedom and Private Schools

    What prompted prominent historians across the country — including some at Columbia University and the University of Virginia — to come to the defense of Andrew S. Trees, a history teacher at the Horace Mann School? It’s not quite the Dreyfus Affair, but the case of Dr. Trees has become [...]
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    Posted: June 01, 2007, 1:09pm EDT
    by Sewell Chan

  • A Letter to Horace Mann

    As The Times reported this morning, a furor has erupted at the Horace Mann School over a history teacher’s satirical novel, his impending departure and, now, accusations that administrators barred the student newspaper from publishing a letter by prominent historians and scholars who had come to the teacher’s defense. Here [...]
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    Posted: June 01, 2007, 12:53pm EDT
    by The New York Times

  • The Mayor, Taxes and Zero-Sum Games

    Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg hinted further today that larger property tax cuts could be on the way for New York City residents, but he warned that the City Council would first have to give up some of its spending initiatives. “Can you have a bigger tax cut? It depends if [...]
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    Posted: June 01, 2007, 11:25am EDT
    by Ray Rivera

  • Cellphone Raid Roils Manhattan School

    The authorities confiscated hundreds of cellphones and other electronic devices yesterday in an unannounced sweep, with metal detectors, at Middle School 54 in Manhattan. (James Estrin/The New York Times) Few subjects have stirred up New York City public school parents more than the ban on cellphones in schools that Mayor Michael [...]
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    Posted: June 01, 2007, 8:28am EDT
    by Julie Bosman

  • Latest Intrigue in Horse Race

    Accusations amongst horse racing bidders. [...]
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    Posted: May 31, 2007, 7:19pm EDT
    by Danny Hakim

  • The Race of the Digital Cartographers

    The competition to digitally map New York City is heating up. This week, both Google and Microsoft started new Web features that allow readers to get a bird’s-eye, street-level view of many streets and intersections in Manhattan and in parts of the other boroughs. On Monday, Microsoft announced that Microsoft Live Search [...]
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    Posted: May 31, 2007, 12:23pm EDT
    by Sewell Chan

  • Podcast: From Renters to Owners

    Enclosure: [download]
    Podcast: Only in New York (mp3) Following is the draft script of the weekly “Only in New York” audio podcast. Listen at left or download it to a portable player. A century ago, thousands of angry New Yorkers convened on the Lower East Side of Manhattan to protest high rents. But [...]
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    Posted: May 31, 2007, 10:44am EDT
    by Sam Roberts

  • Spitzerisms: ‘Numerosity’

    In which your correspondents track the unusual verbiage of Gov. Eliot Spitzer, a highly precise public speaker who often uses words or phrases that rarely alight upon the ears in normal conversation. Today’s Spitzerism: “Numerosity” Usage: Mr. Spitzer said Wednesday that overhauling the so-called Wicks Law, which requires multiple contractors on public [...]
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    Posted: May 30, 2007, 7:02pm EDT
    by Nicholas Confessore

  • You Like Me, I Like You

    The mayor has praise for the borough president. [...]
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    Posted: May 30, 2007, 3:39pm EDT
    by Diane Cardwell

  • Let’s Make a Deal

    Top lawmakers meet to make deals in Albany. [...]
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    Posted: May 30, 2007, 2:54pm EDT
    by Nicholas Confessore

  • Adventures in ‘Love’ and Advertising

    Ad agency will revamp "I Love New York" [...]
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    Posted: May 30, 2007, 12:46pm EDT
    by Danny Hakim

  • Congestion Pricing? It’s ‘Complicated’

    Spitzer still mulling Mayor Bloomberg's congestion pricing plan. [...]
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    Posted: May 29, 2007, 3:14pm EDT
    by Danny Hakim

  • On Gay Marriage, Poll Shows a State Split

    Forty-seven percent of New Yorkers oppose gay marriage, while 43 percent support the idea, according to a new poll from Siena College. The poll, which has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points, comes as Gov. Eliot Spitzer, a Democrat, is proposing to legalize gay marriage, [...]
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    Posted: May 29, 2007, 1:33pm EDT
    by Danny Hakim

  • Lofty Goals in Higher Education

    Gov. Eliot Spitzer signed an executive order today creating a commission to look at overhauling the State University of New York system. The goal is a lofty one: to put SUNY on par with elite public university systems in states like California. But it would also be expensive to accomplish [...]
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    Posted: May 29, 2007, 12:38pm EDT
    by Danny Hakim

  • Resistance on DNA Collection

    Assembly Democrats are resisting Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s proposal to expand DNA collection to all misdemeanor convictions without taking more steps that they say will protect the wrongfully accused. On Friday night, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Assemblyman Joseph R. Lentol, both New York City Democrats, introduced their own bill that [...]
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    Posted: May 27, 2007, 10:54pm EDT
    by Danny Hakim

  • Drop and Give the Machine 20

    Watch those vending machines, school hall monitors. A new regulation proposed by the governor says that before students are allowed to buy Gatorade or other sports drinks, they must have “engaged in vigorous athletic activity lasting for more than one hour.” The requirement is included in Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s array [...]
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    Posted: May 27, 2007, 10:51pm EDT
    by Danny Hakim

  • Sticking Points on Authorities Bill

    A battle looms this week between Gov. Eliot Spitzer and the Legislature over the details of a bill that would bring new levels of disclosure and oversight to the state’s hundreds of public authorities. Though there is broad agreement on a number of issues, the Legislature favors allowing the state [...]
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    Posted: May 27, 2007, 10:50pm EDT
    by Nicholas Confessore

  • ‘Clearly Anti-Competitive’

    Gov. Eliot Spitzer vetoed his fourth bill last week, rejecting an extension of a law limiting the number of check-cashing facilities in any one area. Since 1994, new check-cashing facilities have been banned within three-tenths of a mile of an existing one. This year, the Legislature voted to extend a [...]
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    Posted: May 27, 2007, 10:47pm EDT
    by Danny Hakim

  • Blogtalk: Holiday Reading

    The fire on the West Side yesterday means Coach employees can start the holiday weekend early. No more smoking on the roof, though. [Fashionista] A complaint about blight on Coney Island, in time for the start of summer. [Gowanus Lounge] A vision for the High Line: a “slow park,” with a lot [...]
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    Posted: May 25, 2007, 3:29pm EDT
    by The Empire Zone

  • Bias Attack or Juvenile Brawl?

    [Update, 7 p.m.: The police have come down on the side of calling the attack on a Sikh student in Queens a hate crime. At a press briefing following a promotions ceremony at police headquarters this morning, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said investigators deemed the attack a hate crime [...]
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    Posted: May 25, 2007, 11:09am EDT
    by Sewell Chan

  • A Smoggy Start to a Long Weekend

    As New Yorkers prepare for the Memorial Day weekend, they can look forward to the usual routines: schools letting out, lazy summer weekends and frequent ozone warnings. The State Department of Environmental Conservation has issued an ozone warning for most of New York State today. The ozone forecast season begins in [...]
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    Posted: May 25, 2007, 9:25am EDT
    by Sewell Chan

  • Spitzer Antes Up

    After weeks of private negotiations with the Senate and the Assembly, Gov. Eliot Spitzer this afternoon released his version of legislation to bring more oversight and accountability to the state’s hundreds of public authorities. What that means, essentially, is that the governor is putting his chips on the table. The Senate [...]
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    Posted: May 24, 2007, 7:33pm EDT
    by Nicholas Confessore

  • What Would Moses Do?

    (Eddie Hausner/The New York Times) A major rethinking of the legacy of Robert Moses is under way, fueled by a three-part exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York, the Queens Museum of Art and Columbia University and a collection of scholarly essays by the Columbia scholars Hilary Ballon [...]
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    Posted: May 24, 2007, 6:30pm EDT
    by Sewell Chan

  • Podcast: New York’s Military History

    Enclosure: [download]
    Podcast: Only in New York (mp3) Following is the draft script of the weekly “Only in New York” audio podcast. Listen at left or download it to a portable player. This is Fleet Week in New York. The city is teeming with men and women in spiffy uniforms, which means that romantics [...]
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    Posted: May 24, 2007, 6:13pm EDT
    by Sam Roberts

  • The Highest Per-Pupil Spending in the U.S.

    New York State spent $14,119 per student — more than any other state in the nation — in the 2005 fiscal year, according to a national analysis of public school spending that the Census Bureau released today. The analysis, Public Education Finances: 2005, placed New Jersey at No. 2 on [...]
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    Posted: May 24, 2007, 10:25am EDT
    by Sewell Chan

  • Manhattan vs. the Other Boroughs?

    Congestion pricing is strongly supported by most Manhattan voters and opposed in roughly equal measure by voters in New York City’s four other boroughs, according to results of a survey of city voters that Quinnipiac University released this morning. Ninety percent of voters surveyed called traffic a serious problem — 59 [...]
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    Posted: May 24, 2007, 9:07am EDT
    by Sewell Chan

  • Next Year’s Budget, This Year

    Eliot Spitzer plans to move up the budget calendar. [...]
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    Posted: May 23, 2007, 6:34pm EDT
    by Danny Hakim

  • Dreaming of Citywide Broadband

    The city’s Broadband Advisory Committee, created in 2005, includes representatives of the City Council and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg who are trying to find ways to broaden Internet access across the five boroughs. The committee held a public hearing yesterday at Borough Hall in Brooklyn, led by Councilwoman Gale A. [...]
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    Posted: May 23, 2007, 6:12pm EDT
    by Sewell Chan

  • The Peregrine Chicks of Throgs Neck

    Young peregrine falcons inside their box nest on the Throgs Neck Bridge. (Metropolitan Transportation Authority) It is a tale that would have been warm enough to touch the heart of Robert Moses — well, maybe not. According to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, a population of tiny peregrine falcons was recently born [...]
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    Posted: May 23, 2007, 5:13pm EDT
    by Sewell Chan

  • At 5:15, All Join Hands

    It has been 21 years since Hands Across America, when on May 25, 1986, some five million people joined hands in a line to Long Beach, Calif., from New York to raise money to fight hunger and homelessness. A similarly minded endeavor is planned for this evening in Manhattan. At least [...]
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    Posted: May 23, 2007, 4:18pm EDT
    by Roja Heydarpour

  • You Should Hear His ‘Ed Sullivan’

    Enclosure: [download]
    (mp3) The Empire Zone is pleased to bring you an audio clip of Joseph L. Bruno, the Senate majority leader, doing his impression yesterday of Sheldon Silver, the Assembly speaker. I asked him to describe how Mr. Silver sounded during their private conversation this week about legislation to reinstate the death [...]
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    Posted: May 23, 2007, 3:52pm EDT
    by Nicholas Confessore

  • Settlement a Boon for Ground Zero

    The Spitzer administration and a group of major insurers announced a settlement this afternoon of insurance claims at ground zero, ensuring that $4.55 billion will be available for rebuilding the World Trade Center site — about half of what is needed. The settlement provides about $870 million to the Port [...]
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    Posted: May 23, 2007, 3:36pm EDT
    by Sewell Chan

  • The Saga of ‘Toto’ Constant

    Emmanuel Constant A Brooklyn judge’s decision yesterday to hold Emmanuel Constant — a onetime paramilitary leader and C.I.A. informer — for further jail time on grand larceny charges underscores the sad and bizarre aspects of a complex legal case that spans Haiti and the United States and has caught the attention [...]
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    Posted: May 23, 2007, 2:20pm EDT
    by Sewell Chan

  • Testing, 3-4-5, Testing, 6-7-8 …

    New York has reported results of English tests in Grades 3-8 taken in all public schools this spring. The tests show that the number of students passing in earlier grades dropped from 2006 levels in most places, but rose compared with last year in middle school grades. The Times unveiled [...]
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    Posted: May 23, 2007, 1:59pm EDT
    by The Empire Zone

  • The State Assembly’s Error Message

    A screen grab of the New York State Assembly’s Web site. Normally, the New York State Assembly has a lovely little Web site with links to lawmakers’ home pages, a search function for legislation and more. But as of about 12:44 p.m., the site was down. An error message that turns up [...]
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    Posted: May 23, 2007, 12:52pm EDT
    by Nicholas Confessore

  • Same Institute, Different Drummer

    Ah, how times have changed. After Fernando Ferrer, the former Bronx borough president, lost the Democratic primary for mayor in 2001, he found a safe harbor as president of the Drum Major Institute, a liberal policy group. That move may have taken him out of city politics for the first [...]
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    Posted: May 23, 2007, 12:30pm EDT
    by Diane Cardwell

  • Blogroll Update

    We’ve updated our blogroll to include some of the newsier neighborhood blogs from the five boroughs, especially Brooklyn, which seems to be New York City’s blogtopia. Or blogistan. Thanks in particular go to Louise Crawford of Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn, who pointed out that we had not paid enough attention [...]
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    Posted: May 23, 2007, 12:00pm EDT
    by Patrick LaForge

  • Bloomberg for Governor?

    More New York City residents would support Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg if he were to run for governor than if he were to run for president, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released this morning. The mayor’s approval rating remains at a near-record high of 74 percent, compared with 75 percent [...]
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    Posted: May 23, 2007, 8:27am EDT
    by Sewell Chan

  • Brooklyn’s Sweetest Landmark?

    The former Domino sugar refinery on the waterfront in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, is slated to become part of a mixed-income residential development. It may also soon become a landmark. (New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission) The city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission voted today to schedule a hearing on whether to designate the former [...]
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    Posted: May 22, 2007, 6:09pm EDT
    by Sewell Chan

  • Giuliani’s Touchdown in Albany

    Rudolph W. Giuliani swung by Albany today to receive the support of a wide swath of New York state senators and members of the assembly. Well, not so much Albany — he flew into a private air terminal, run by the company Million Air, at Albany’s airport, received the endorsements [...]
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    Posted: May 22, 2007, 6:02pm EDT
    by Nicholas Confessore

  • ‘A Song, and a Dance’

    The Senate Republicans gathered today at a news conference with law enforcement officers from around the state to demand that Gov. Eliot Spitzer push the Assembly to pass a bill reinstating the death penalty for cop killers. Afterward, Joseph L. Bruno, the State Senate majority leader, said that he had [...]
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    Posted: May 22, 2007, 5:59pm EDT
    by Nicholas Confessore

  • The Road From Yellow to Green Taxis

    Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s announcement today that the entire fleet of New York City taxicabs — more than 13,000 vehicles — will become all-hybrid by 2012 marks a reversal of his administration’s earlier slowness in embracing the issue. (Daniel Acker/Bloomberg News) Hybrid vehicles run on a combination of electricity and gasoline and [...]
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    Posted: May 22, 2007, 1:23pm EDT
    by Sewell Chan

  • Making New Yorkers Stay Put

    Silda Wall Spitzer's effort to keep New Yorkers in New York. [...]
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    Posted: May 22, 2007, 12:06pm EDT
    by Danny Hakim

  • Civics Lessons in Albany

    Governor Spitzer meets with Legislative leaders. [...]
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    Posted: May 21, 2007, 5:44pm EDT
    by Danny Hakim

  • Spitzer, Nixon and Gonzales

    As one might expect, Eliot Spitzer, the former New York attorney general turned governor, has some opinions about Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. As one might expect, they are not kind. “I think it is a blight upon the Department of Justice that Alberto Gonzales is still the attorney general,” Mr. [...]
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    Posted: May 20, 2007, 11:16pm EDT
    by Danny Hakim

  • Traffic, Heavy Traffic and Statistics

    Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg was in Albany last week lobbying state lawmakers on his PlaNYC, a raft of measures — many needing state aid and approval — to ensure that New York City grows in an environmentally sustainable way. Legislators were treated to a PowerPoint presentation in which Mr. Bloomberg [...]
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    Posted: May 20, 2007, 11:10pm EDT
    by Nicholas Confessore

  • New York Republicans, Pining

    State Republicans are pining for a 2008 ticket with the name Rudolph W. Giuliani at the top. Senator Serphin R. Maltese of Queens described last year’s election as a “cataclysmic event” but said the potential benefit of Mr. Giuliani as the nominee “can’t be calculated.” “Those ethnic Democrats, wherever they [...]
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    Posted: May 20, 2007, 11:00pm EDT
    by Danny Hakim

  • Lining Up Behind Giuliani

    Bruno ready to endorse Giuliani. [...]
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    Posted: May 18, 2007, 4:20pm EDT
    by Danny Hakim

  • Making a Case for Congestion Pricing

    Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg faces huge hurdles in getting the State Legislature to go along with his congestion pricing proposal, but there were indications at a forum this morning that local officials are sympathetic to his position. The forum, organized by the Partnership for New York City and the Drum [...]
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    Posted: May 18, 2007, 2:31pm EDT
    by Sewell Chan

  • Bruno, Steaming

    Bruno sounds off on Spitzer at fundraiser. [...]
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    Posted: May 18, 2007, 2:00pm EDT
    by Danny Hakim

  • Bloomberg on the Guest Worker Deal: ‘Totally Impractical’

    Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who has been a staunch advocate of easing immigration restrictions, offered harsh words for the guest-worker provision in the immigration deal struck Thursday between senators and the White House. The mayor praised measures in the bill that would create a path to citizenship for the estimated 12 [...]
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    Posted: May 18, 2007, 1:03pm EDT
    by Ray Rivera
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