Yesterday, McDonald's announced that its second quarter profit for 2011 was up 19%, thanks to not only its usual McNuggets and Big Mac on the menu but its McCafe beverage drinks (which are high-margin items) as well as...Fruit and Maple Oatmeal. Yes, apparently America is looking for healthy items at McDonald's. more ›

The newspaper box that was adorned by graffiti artist COST for Showpaper has been recovered. Phew, right?! The box was part of a one-day installation before being brought back out to the street to dispense the publication, but shortly after it (as well as a couple others) was stolen. The COST box was put up for auction on eBay, where it reached a $4,200 bid, but now Animal reports that Andrew H. Shirley, the curator for the project, has recovered it and is now seeking a public space (indoors) to put it on display. How did they talk the Brooklyn man who stole the box into giving it back? Some good ol' fashioned legal threats, and a phone call from COST himself. more ›

Last week a newspaper box was up for sale on eBay, and with days left was already up to a four-figure bid. To recap: the box had been adorned by graffiti artist Cost for an art exhibit in November, and following the exhibit's opening it, and 11 other boxes, were put back on the street. Back on the sidewalks, the boxes dispensed the free show-listing publication Showpaper. more ›

In November "The Community Serviced" show opened in Williamsburg, with 12 Showpaper newspaper boxes adorned by 24 artists on display. After the opening, the boxes were places around the city, back to their old job of dispensing the bi-monthly publication which lists all-ages shows. Of course, they doubled as public art works... and magnets for budding entrepreneurs! The box pictured (by Cost) landed on the Lower East Side, where it resided for a few days before being stolen. It's now up on eBay—the seller claims to have purchased it—with a current bid of $1,025. Well, it does now double as a lighting fixture! more ›

In an interview yesterday, the now 74-year-old Woody Allen was asked about his comment about shooting movies in New York becoming too expensive (again). He told the NY Times, "My first choice would always be New York. It would be my fondest wish—to work where you live is of course the most luxurious privilege, and I’m sure I will film here again. But the few dollars I have go further in certain places.... London, Paris, Barcelona—these are very cosmopolitan, and they’re like New York." more ›

Last year as the Friends of the High Line prepared to open the old elevated tracks as a park, it became clear that the graffiti that had long adorned the area wasn't going to be a part of the new luxury landscape. As such, the mayor's office began painting over what they deemed eyesores last April, a project that has continued as street art fanboys wearily kept an eye on the Revs/Cost mural on 23rd Street. Last year, Gothamist publisher Jake Dobkin declared: "if they touch the Revs/Cost Mural... it's war." Which may explain why he's not in the office yet... over the weekend, that mural was erased. more ›

Just when you thought developer Bruce Ratner was about to turn the corner in the P.R. war over his proposed $800 million arena for the Nets in Brooklyn, along comes the city’s Independent Budget Office with a big bucket of ice water. A new analysis concludes that "over a 30-year period, the arena would cost the city nearly $40 million more in spending under current budget plans than it will generate in tax revenues (present value, 2009 dollars)." It also estimates that "for the developer, Forest City Ratner Companies, the mix of special government benefits result in total savings of $726 million." more ›

A few weeks ago the price of a slice of pizza went up to a groundbreaking $5 at Di Fara, the Midwood pizzeria that's become something of a mecca for pizza nerds around the world. Today the Post ponders whether customers are ready to swallow the dollar increase, which owner Dom DeMarco insists is necessary because he imports all the ingredients from Italy and prices have gone up across the board. Brooklyn's Phyllis Turim groaned, "They must be out of their minds. It would have to be the best slice of pizza in the world." But many assert that, in fact, it is, and Slice blogger Adam Kuban declares, "If it were an everyday slice, no, $5 would be too much. But a lot of the people lining up at Di Fara are pizza tourists. It's like a vacation—you don't do it all the time, and you've already prepared yourself for the overcharge." Have you vacationed at Di Fara recently? Is it worth the expense or an overrated tourist trap? Charlie Fishbaum, who ordered a $25 pie from Di Fara the other day, has this to say: "Go somewhere else if you don't like it." more ›

In March, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz will wipe the flop sweat off his brow and try to forestall doom by jumping on the value-meal bandwagon. He's is also firing back at a billboard put up by McDonald's in Seattle which reads, "Four bucks is dumb," referring to Starbucks's reputation as the home of the $4 cup of coffee. Baristas will now be doing double duty as brewers of corporate propaganda, instructed to inform customers that the average price of a Starbucks beverage is less than $3, and that 90% of Starbucks drinks cost under $4. more ›

Residents of the 1,003-unit Roosevelt Landings complex on Roosevelt Island are used to paying for their electricity as part of their rents, but come April they'll start receiving separate bills for the first time. Last week the managers of the complex handed out sample electricity bills based on the readings of submeters installed in apartments, and now residents are shocked to learn that electricity is freaking expensive. One tenant who lives in a three-bedroom unit got a bill for $1,050.43, which was about half of what she pays in rent. Another tenant, Missy Feliciano, tells the Times, "I almost died when I opened the package." Assemblyman Micah Kellner wants officials to re-examine the submetering plan; he contends that "this is a de facto rent increase on this building," which used to be part of the state’s moderate-income Mitchell-Lama housing program. But the COO of the complex, Douglas F. Eisenberg, says, "They haven’t been responsible for their electric bills. Now they are. I think at the end of the day, I feel pretty good that we’re doing the right thing here." more ›

How many more hot dogs can a vendor outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art sell at the north side of the museum entrance, as opposed to the south side? First-time vendor Pasang Sherpa is betting he can unload at least $81,701 more lips and assholes, because he's coughing up that much extra for the north location, even though the southern spot is only 100 yards away. Sherpa paid $362,201 to the Parks Department for rights to vend at the north side and $280,500 for the south, but now he's fuming because the more heavily-trafficked north entrance has been blocked by construction won't be done until May. "I don't want to pay them now," he tells a Post reporter, who theorizes that this might be the most expensive retail space per square foot in all the land. more ›

With the price of flour down so low that even PETA activists can afford to hurl the stuff at Lindsay Lohan, you might think bagel and pizza costs might drop a bit. But most pizzeria and bagel shop owners in NYC—who raised their prices earlier this year in response to skyrocketing flour cost—have not been passing the savings along to their customers. Vinny Camporeale, owner of the East Village pizzeria Vinny Vincenz, tells the Daily News, "Our rent goes up every year—customers aren't aware of that." Who knew!? Now Camporeale's "seriously thinking" about raising the price a third time this year, from $2.50 to $2.75. At least at Montague Street Bagels in Brooklyn Heights the bagel price has reverted to 90 cents, down from the summer price of $1. Assistant manager Preston Joseph declares, "It's the right thing to do. We're not con men." Hear that, Vinny, you rapacious pizza fleecer? more ›

The revolving hotel room that's part of theanyspacewhatever exhibit at the Guggenheim isn't the only noteworthy work on view at the moment; through January the museum is hosting a mid-career survey of Catherine Opie, who's known for her striking photographs of diverse subjects ranging from Minnesota ice fishers to the west coast L.G.B.T. community. more ›

Broadway insiders say Julie Taymor is out of control on the set—er, rehearsal studio—of the upcoming musical adaptation of Spider-Man. The projected budget has soared to $40 million so far, with sources telling the Posts's Michael Riedel, "She doesn't care what it costs. Does not care at all. Her attitude is: It's for the art, and you don't question artists." To be sure, with music by U2's Bono and the Edge and direction from the Tony-winning Taymor, Spider-Man could easily be the most fabulous piece of, um, art on Broadway since Capeman. But Riedel predicts that with a weekly running cost of $1 million, the show would "have to run about 8,000 years" to break even. Producers are supposedly eying the big Hilton Theatre for a 2009 opening—they just need the current occupant, Young Frankenstein, to admit defeat. more ›

Long Island waiters who provide a tantalizing description of the daily specials while omitting such vulgar details as price may have to change up their patter if a proposed law in Nassau County gets passed. Of course, resistance is coming from the New York Restaurant Association, which in recent years has failed to block regulations on calorie info and bans on artificial trans fat. The executive vice president of the group maintains, "It’s good business to give the prices, but it’s beyond the purview of a legislative body to get that far into managing restaurants." But Harvey B. Levinson, a champion of the proposal, tells the Times: "I’m sure that at one time or another you have been enticed by a waiter or waitress into ordering the special of the day, only to discover that it was really the price that was special." more ›

Last week there was considerable ebullience voiced by Red Hook residents who were taking full advantage of the free shuttle buses and Water Taxi service provide by IKEA. This weekend many were looking forward to “hacking” free Water Taxi to get to the food vendors’ first weekend back at the Red Hook ball fields. An IKEA rep even told the Daily News, “We are thrilled that we are providing free transit options for the people of New York to come to IKEA and to come to Red Hook. We support mass transit, and if people are using our services and not going to IKEA, that's fine with us as well." more ›

Sure, lung cancer is hellish, but nothing motivates smokers to quit like a cigarette price increase. The city’s health department says the calls to 311 from smokers seeking help tripled during the week the state implemented a cigarette tax hike of $1.25. At over $8 a pack, smoking in New York City costs more than anywhere else in America, setting the pack-a-day smoker back $3,000 a year. The city contends tax increases in 2002 contributed to a five year, 21% drop in adult smoking and a 52% drop in smoking among New York City public high school students.
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Mayor Bloomberg’s ambitious congestion pricing plan may be toast (or Governor Paterson may bring it back from the dead) but it seems that skyrocketing gas prices are succeeded where Hizzoner failed. The Times is reporting that traffic on the city’s bridges and tunnels dropped 4.7 percent in June, compared to the same time last year. Meanwhile, subway, bus, bicycle and commuter rail ridership has surged. A transportaion consultant predicts that “if we start eclipsing $5 a gallon, which we might over the summer, I think we might get very close,” to reducing traffic in Manhattan by 6.3 percent, which was the goal for Bloomberg’s congestion pricing plan. Go peak oil! more ›

The state-controlled price for a gallon of milk went up another 44 cents this morning, bringing the maximum amount that a retailer can charge to $4.37. But an investigation last month revealed that many retailers haven’t even heard of this law and charge whatever they want. The rising prices are due to high fuel costs, corn shortages and floods in the Midwest, according to WABC. And at $4.37 a gallon, inventors’ dreams for a milk-powered car are now cost-prohibitive. Time to switch to rat milk? more ›

While skyrocketing food prices are sparking riots around the world, in New York the crisis is forcing restaurants like Good Enough to Eat to make due with frozen blueberries in their pancakes! The owner tells the Times the blueberries she gets shipped from Maine are now $38 per flat, up from $24 last summer. A five gallon jug of Canadian maple syrup is now $250, up from $200. And a 100-pound sack of flour costs $7 more. more ›

This morning, New York Water Taxi introduced their new commuter ferry route for residents of the Rockaways in Queens. While it's not a straight shot--it stops once at the Brooklyn Army Terminal--it will move up to 400 commuters from Riis Landing to Wall St.'s Pier 11. more ›

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The total annual cost (including room and board) of NYU has gone up 65% in the past decade and next year it will reach an all-time high of $50,182 – a 5.9% increase from last year. The Washington Square News notes that the university is cash poor, drawing 60 percent of its resources from tuition. In an attempt to soften the blow, NYU plans to increase need-based aid to "more than $150 million" total. more ›

The cost of rice has shot up dramatically in recent months, and some analysts say a domestic shortage is on the horizon. The price increase is part of an alarming trend that’s seen the cost of flour rise 13 percent, milk 10 percent, eggs 30 percent and soon – make sure you’re sitting down – beer 10-15 percent. more ›

First devastating weather patterns and destroyed coral reefs, then lousy harvests and global food shortages, now this: soaring beer prices. In an increasingly warmer world, precious, life-sustaining beer is becoming a luxury item. The past year has seen a drought in Australia, flooding in Germany, hailstorms in the Pacific Northwest, and lower crop yields throughout Europe – all resulting in a dramatic spike in the cost of grains and hops. more ›