Every fall, the city flings open the doors to some of its most amazing, off-limits spaces for a weekend-long celebration known as Open House New York. OHNY has given New Yorkers the opportunity to see the Brooklyn Navy Yard, an MTA substation and the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, to name just a few, and it's always been free... until now. more ›

One of the greatest things about this city is that, despite the occasional $135 bowls of soup, priceless works of art are on display basically for free every day at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which charges a "suggested" donation of $20. But now the museum, facing "a number of daunting, ongoing budgetary challenges," is raising its pseudo-admission fee for the first time in years. The question: will anyone bother? more ›

It was recently reported that elderly members of the Queens Botanical Garden were furious over "extortion" that now requires them to pay $150 for gardening plots which had been free to use for the past 45 years. But according to QBG Executive Director Susan Lacerte, that's not quite the case. She tells us that the fee to use plots was actually $30 last year, and reiterates that it's just $50 if the seniors volunteer, which most of them already do. She writes: more ›

The town of Bridgewater, NJ went to great lengths to prove that stubbornness isn't a character flaw, but rather a costly reward unto itself, after they ended up in a fight with one resident over a $5 fee for a CD. Tom Coulter filed a complaint with the New Jersey Government Record Council in October 2008 arguing that he should pay the actual cost of the CD, 96 cents, to get a recording of a council meeting, not the $5 he was charged. The state council agreed recently; altogether, the town of Bridgewater paid more than $14,000 in legal fees defending the case, and had to pay $3,500 to Coulter for his legal fees. Adding insult to injury, the town had to give him a $4.04 refund too. more ›

For the first time since the Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting was established in 1966, the city will start charging productions for permit fees. While this certainly won't help to lure the Hollywood set here, other cities (including Los Angeles) already charge for permits. The one-time fee will be just $300—pocket change for blockbusters, but a healthy chunk for those working on a shoestring budget. In comparison, L.A. charges $625 for two weeks of filming, with additional fees for services like cops on set, parking, and street closures (which will all remain free perks in New York). more ›

Another year, another new fee that may drive productions filmed in New York to, well, Canada or someplace. According to the NY Times, the new charge of $3,200 would accompany each permit to film inside city owned buildings. Of the 54 buildings included, there were reportedly 190 requests to film in them last year. more ›

In addition to the Bicycle Access to Buildings Law, which requires commercial building owners to allow tenants to bring bicycles to their offices, another bike law went into effect recently: The Bicycle Access to Garages Law. It requires some commercial garages and parking lots to provide spaces for bikes at a specific ratio relative to their number of car spaces. But prices for the new bike parking have been left up to the market, and Streetsblog notices that at least one garage is taking cyclists for the proverbial ride. more ›

Mayor Bloomberg's proposed 5-cent fee on every plastic bag used by shoppers would help reduce waste and raise an estimated $100 million to help the city's budget crisis, but it will probably never see the light of day now that City Council Speaker Christine Quinn opposes it. Quinn is also blocking a move to reimpose the city sales tax on clothing and shoes under $110, which would raise an estimated $394 million a year, and instead she wants to increase the city's sales tax from 4% to 4.5%. more ›

With music and movie downloads prompting its customers to use loads of bandwidth, Time Warner Cable is testing out a controversial tiered-pricing plan for bandwidth usage in Rochester, NY, plus North Carolina and Texas: According to eWeek, "In addition to 5, 10, 20 and 40GB caps, the company said this week that it would offer a 100GB tier for heavy users. Prices (so far) would range from $29.95 to $75.00 a month, and users would be charged an extra dollar for every additional gigabyte they download, up to a maximum of $75. An 'unlimited' bandwidth plan, therefore, tops out at $150." more ›

Unsurprisingly, Brooklyn breeders have worked themselves into a tizzy over their favorite bookmarked site and online soapbox, ParkSlopeParents.com, who have dared ask that their 13,000 frequent visitors toss some coin in the tip jar. more ›

During a time when art appreciators aren't paying the full suggested admission price to get into museums, and the Queens Museum is selling off panorama real estate, the Brooklyn Museum has just announced they'll be raising their suggested admission fee. Starting on March 21st (just prior to the opening of Sun K. Kwak's Enfolding 280 Hours installation) the suggested fee will go up 2 bucks (making it $10 for adults and $6 for older adults and students). Director Arnold Lehman addressed the change, saying, "We truly regret that the challenges created by the economic downturn have made it necessary to modestly increase the admissions fee at the Brooklyn Museum. We are grateful to the Department of Cultural Affairs for its support as we move forward with this suggested admissions increase." The museum will, however, keep running their Target First Saturdays series, with free admission for all. And let's not forget, there's even a free shuttle that'll take you there. more ›

With the Met Museum announcing a series of layoffs, it's not surprising to hear that visitors of the establishment aren't paying the full recommended admission fee. The NY Post reports that folks aren't willing to fork over the dough during the tough economic times, and many are just giving $1 (of the suggested $20) for their visit. For the Met and other NYC museums that have long shunned a set admission price, there's probably nothing they can do if they don't want to see a decrease in visitors. One recently laid off art lover told the paper, "If they didn't do it, I'm not sure I would come. I really appreciate that they allow me to pay on a sliding scale." There is one museum that hasn't taken a hit yet, the Museum of Natural History is still getting their $15 suggested price from visitors. A spokesman confirmed, "For the time being...people are paying the suggested donation." Survival of the fittest? more ›

It's been months since we last heard about Bloomberg's plastic bag tax plan, which was officially proposed last week—and since November the fee has gone down one cent (from 6 to 5 pennies). As the mayor seeks approval from Albany, CityRoom takes a closer look at some questionable figures estimating just how many plastic bags we use in the city. more ›

A little-noticed fee on Con Ed bills goes to finance energy efficiency projects throughout New York State, but a Times analysis of how the money gets distributed found that a disproportionate amount of NYC dollars gets out of town. The so-called SBC [System Benefits Charge] typically amounts to about a dollar a month for the average NYC Con Ed customer. According to the Times, local Con Ed customers paid half of the state's total SBC charges over the past decade, while about 59% percent of the rebates, loans and other benefits handed out by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority went to fund projects outside of the metropolitan area. more ›