Month: March 2009

“Luxury” and “condo” are no longer joined at the hip, as brokers struggle to find ways to say the market is tanking without saying the market is tanking.

Right.

Went to the Mother-in-Law Lounge when Ernie was still around – quite a trip.

In the late 80s and early 90s, Newsday published a City edition that was intended to challenge the News and Post on the tabloid front. Of the three, Newsday was far and away the best paper. It even gave the Times a run for its money – Newsday certainly had much better Metro coverage, and it even won the Pulitzer two years running for its international coverage (in one of those years the Times didn’t win a Pulitzer at all). The City edition was a money loser, though, so in the mid-90s Newsday retreated back to Long Island (you can still find it on Brooklyn newsstands, but the coverage is almost exclusively Long Island-based).

Now Cablevision, which bought Newsday last year, has announced the paper will “end the distribution of free Web content and make our newsgathering capabilities a service to our customers”. They plan to do this by “transforming Newsday’s Web site into an enhanced, locally focused cable service that we believe will become an important benefit for Newsday and Cablevision customers”. In other words, Newsday will become even more parochial.

Newsday and Cablevision aren’t sharing any details on how they plan to avoid being the next newspaper casualty, but I’m sure the Dolan family knows what they’re doing. They’re astute businessmen – I’m sure they wouldn’t run a good franchise into the ground.

[via Gothamist]

With both Malcom Smith and Sheldon Silver on board, tolls on the Williamsburg Bridge might not be that far off. I’m not particularly opposed to the idea, particularly if the toll is pegged to the cost of a subway ride, but agree with Marty, who says there should be a comprehensive commuter tax (again), not just tolls on the bridges. (And remember, it was Silver who killed congestion pricing, which was effectively a commuter tax – a comprehensive, well-thought-out one at that.) A $2 toll shouldn’t result in a huge increase in parking on local streets, but still, any toll should come with a local permit program to prevent auto commuters from using Brooklyn nabes for free parking.

And why is that City-owned bridges are being used to generate revenue for the MTA? If there are going to be tolls, shouldn’t the money be used to help the City budget?

Thanks to some great detective work (right out of TV), the bat-man in the brutal beating of Jose Sucuzhañay was arrested. According the News, he’s going with self defense.