Thanks to the soft real estate market everywhere except our fair city, many New York City residents have been able to pick up and move out of the Big Apple for less expensive and literally greener pastures. The NY Times had an article yesterday about people who cash out of their NYC apartments and "get much more for their money outside the city." The first example is a couple who sold their Upper West Side......

An Upper East Side lingerie shop was robbed yesterday by a man posing as a vacuum cleaner salesman. In what the New York Post describes as a "Panty Raid," a black man in his 40s or 50s was let into Lingerie & Company on 3rd Ave. and 71st St., where he bound the 77-year-old clerk in the back room and robbed the store of cash and merchandise. The Daily News writes that the "Park Ave.......

An ex-husband and other acquaintances have been sharing their experiences with the two women accused of robbing open houses in Manhattan and NJ. After a rash of robberies sparked fear in home sellers - and their brokers - the police caught the suspects and Jessica Joyner and Jennifer Jones have pleaded not guilty to grand larceny and other charges related to at least four robberies on the Upper East and West Sides, and will be......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: A "large dispute" at JFK Airport; a school bus accident at Broadway and 37th Street in Manhattan; and a car-into-a-house on Murdock Ave in Queens. Rudy Giuliani says people giving him a hard time about rooting for the Red Sox "should give [him] a break." People to Giuliani, "No way, not when you make it so easy!" Awesome Halloween decoration in Greenpoint. A different kind of customized candy to......

Broken engagements are tough to deal with, and one of the tougher questions is what to do with the ring. An Upper East Side man is suing his ex to return a 4.06 carat cushion-cat diamond ring worth $48,000. The Sun reported that the man's lawyer "declined to say which partner ended the engagement," because the ex should return it. Says who, the judge of etiquette? Emily Post that the woman should return the ring,......

Well, this wasn't a surprise: An Upper East Side community board committee moved to reject plans for a 30 floor apartment tower at 980 Madison Avenue. The design by Lord Norman Foster, ballyhooed for his addition to the Hearst Building and a design for the World Trade Center, is shorter than the Carlyle Hotel nearby, but the Carlyle's height is less obtrusive due to set backs. Just last week, the NY Times' architecture critic Nicolai......

-Construction induced cracks (right) inspired some Ave. B tenants to evacuate. Twice. - Ratner's Atlantic Yards project is hitting some more community noise because a rooftop garden that was previously proposed for public use is now not so much. - Dan Doctoroff vows to never leave Bloombergs side. And in case you were wondering, Governor's Island is his next project. - An Upper East Side Blockbuster left reams of personal information including social security......