Ellen Hart, the force behind Ellen’s Stardust Diner. The Stardust Diner and Ellen Hart are Stardust Survivors, Outpacing City Recovery Ellen’s Stardust Diner almost did not survive those dark days of the pandemic. “I thought I might not open,” recalled Ellen... News 25 May 2023 | 10:49
Borough president Mark Levine on May 23 recommended keeping Madison Square Garden on top of Penn Station, endorsing a plan that would demolish The Theater at MSG to make way for an Eighth Ave. grand entrance to the transit hub below. Photo: Keith J. Kelly MSG Should be Allowed to Stay Atop Penn Station, Says Boro Pres in Backing New Plan Proponents for a better Penn Station should abandon efforts to relocate Madison Square Garden and instead focus on winning... News 22 May 2023 | 12:19
The MTA wants to begin installing a new class of turnstiles with sliding panels that it hopes will defeat the turnstile jumpers on subways who cost the MTA $285 million last year. Photo: Marc A. Hermann/MTA Unfair: Fare beaters skip out on $690 million to MTA in past yr. The Pandemic really tore at the fabric of New York. Bad behavior of all sorts has proliferated. Restaurateurs struggle to... News 19 May 2023 | 03:55
Congestion pricing, which supporters say will cut traffic jams and improve air quality, is moving closer to reality but it still has critics who call it an unfair double tax on commuters. Photo: Wikimedia Commons Congestion Pricing: It Could Be Here By This Time Next Year After MTA, Feds OK Plans The political gridlock that has stalled congestion pricing in Manhattan for more than four years may, finally, be clearing.... News 12 May 2023 | 12:49
Battle Against City Rat Population turns to Lidded Trash Containers in Harlem The city announced a new front in its war on rats, launching an experiment in West Harlem to put residential and school... News 08 May 2023 | 01:02
The Vessel in 2019. Photo: Bigstock Developer Ignores Families Trying to Prevent More Suicides at the Vessel Editor’s Note: The following story contains upsetting details about the topic of suicide of young people. Colleen DeSalvo... News 10 Apr 2023 | 03:55
NYS Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal at a press conference in January denouncing Jim Dolan’s use of facial recognition technology to bar attorneys he is suing from attending events at Madison Square Garden, has now spearheaded a bill in the NYS Senate to force MSG to start paying $43 million a year in property taxes. It had been granted a special exemption years earlier as an incentive to keep the Knicks and Rangers at the MSG. Photo: Keith J. Kelly NY Senate Dems Take Ax to Tax Break for MSG worth $43 Mil Madison Square Garden collided head on with the Democrats who control the State Senate over whether to continue the property... News 15 Mar 2023 | 10:39
MSG Entertainment CEO Jim Dolan told Rosanna Scotti on Good Day New York back on Jan. 26 that he was thinking of suspending liquor sales for one day at a Rangers game and encouraging fans to contact the State Liquor Authority, which at the time was threatening to pull his liquor license. He’s now apparently dropped the idea of stirring fan outrage and is instead suing the SLA directly. Photo: Good Day New York via You Tube MSG’s Dolan Sues State Liquor Authority Over Its Threat to Pull Liquor Licenses Does the owner of Madison Square Garden have the right to block lawyers from the Garden and other venues just because they... News 14 Mar 2023 | 05:51
State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal (at mic) and Assemblyman Tony Simone (pictured to his left) speak at a press conference March 3 about moving Madison Square Garden and ending the tax abatement which allows the Garden to avoid paying $41 million a year in property taxes. Photo: Kay Bontempo. Pressure Mounting on Hochul to Dump Penn Station Tower Plan Governor Hochul’s plan to help pay for a renovation of Penn Station by building ten supertall towers around it is “dead on... News 06 Mar 2023 | 12:06
Barbara Askins stands before a board with the names of various city agencies that she has networked with as she developed the 125th St. Business Improvement District into a BID with a citywide, and indeed global, reputation for effictive grassroots coalitions. Photo: Michael Oreskes Barbara Askins: The Woman Who Invented the 125th St. BID Barbara Askins doesn’t just run the 125th street Business Improvement District. She invented it. It was, she recalls, the... People 04 Mar 2023 | 05:13
Carolyn Maloney may be out of Congress but she is active in a whole range of issues that still have impact on New Yorkers. Phote: Courtesy of Carolyn Maloney Out of Congress, Maloney Has No Plan to Stop Serving the People of New York Carolyn Maloney has a technique for chasing the blues that only another New Yorker would really understand. “When I get depressed,... People 04 Mar 2023 | 04:09
A top official at Madison Square Garden dropped a surprise announcement at the end of a CB5 Land Use Committee hearing on Feb. 20 when he said the Garden would consider a move one block east to Seventh Ave but only if it was presented with a “viable” plan. Still it was the first break and came as MSG was insisting it still needed a permit to stay put atop Penn Station “in perpetuity.” Photo: Wikimedia Commons MSG Still Wants to Stay Put, but Cracks Open Door To Move East Across Seventh Ave. Madison Square Garden is seeking permission to stay right where it is, forever, yet at the same time says it would be happy... News 26 Feb 2023 | 07:10
Some activists would like to scrap the Penn Station redevelopment plan endorsed by Governor Hochul in favor of a reimangined Penn Station such as the artists rendering above. Vornado, the largest real estate developer on the Penn Station tower projects, now says it is delaying indefinitely plans to start construction on five office towers around MSG, giving new momentum to opponents of Hochul’s planned redevelopment. Photo: Rethink Penn Station NYC Vornado Retreats from Building New Penn Station Towers...At Least for Now The sagging market for office space has opened a window of delay that is energizing opponents of Governor Kathy Hochul’s... News 18 Feb 2023 | 09:50
Thriving after school and weekend activities have made Harlem School of the Arts a bustling community hub for decades. Currently, it serves between 800 to 1,000 students from 18 months to 18 years old. Photo: Harlem School of Arts Harlem School of Arts, Long a Community Hub, Is Hoping to Become a New K-12 Public School The smudges on the outside of the huge front windows speak volumes to James C. Horton. “If you go look at the glass there’s... Education Guide 10 Feb 2023 | 04:46
Madison Square Garden Entertaintment, the company that owns the Knicks and Rangers wants to stay in the “world’s most famous arena” forever. Politicos and activists want the company gone to make way for a new Penn Stastions. Photo: ajay_suresh Flickr Commons Jim Dolan Wants Madison Square Garden to Get a Lifetime Deal to Stay Put Madison Square Garden dug in against demands that the company move the arena to make way for a better Penn Station, saying... News 10 Feb 2023 | 11:42
