Results tagged “increase”

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."

The NYC Water Board is expected to vote today to approve a 12.9% water rate hike. But wait, didn't they raise the prices? It certainly feels that way—this is the third double-digit rate hike in a row; the rate last went up 11.5% in 2007. Of course, the DEP had orginally proposed a 14% rate hike—which would raise an average single-family home's fees from $799 to $911 a year—so maybe we're getting off easy? According to the Daily News, the DEP was able to trim the rate hike from 14% to 12.9% because fuel costs are falling, but officials say the increase is still necessary because of 5% budget cuts the city is forcing on agencies. Councilman David Weprin (D-Queens) says, "Enough is enough. These water rate hikes have amounted to nothing more than a backdoor property tax increase." And in a statement, city Comptroller William Thompson grouses, "A 12.9 percent water rate hike is still outrageous. This reduction is a drop in the bucket and simply too little, too late... As I’ve shown, these charges are gouging New York City families and small businesses precisely at a time when they can least afford it."

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.

A new study by the DOT [pdf] has revealed an unprecedented surge in the number of cyclists, increasing an estimated 35% in NYC between 2007 and 2008. In the past six years, cycling levels in the city have doubled, and Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan says the numbers prove the department is "well on the way toward our goal of doubling the number of bike commuters." In particular, the cyclist volume on the Williamsburg Bridge has quadrupled from 2000-2008 to 4,000 cyclists on a typical day. And the study shows that cyclists are riding earlier in the morning and later in the day than previously believed. To that end, DOT reps will be stationed on the Manhattan sides of both the Williamsburg and Brooklyn bridges from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. tonight handing out free bike lights, which cyclists are required by law to use. So race on over there, all you gonzo fixed-gear cyclists from that crazy video!

Is the economic free fall already leading to higher crime and degentrifying neighborhoods, as previously speculated? Brooklyn's 88th precinct, which includes Fort Greene and Clinton Hill, is reporting that so far this year robberies have spiked 7.6 percent and burglaries are up 18.6 percent. And a cardboard box of bloody human remains discovered on fancy Washington Park isn't exactly putting residents at ease; one of them tells The Brooklyn Paper, “This hasn’t happened since the 1970s. Back then, I came out of my building one morning and found a body hanging from a lightpost."

The Times went around fretfully asking experts and 'men on the street' whether the economic downturn is going to lead to higher crime. The consensus? Well, it couldn't hurt to get renter's insurance, and hide those iPod earbuds as you stroll home through your increasingly blighted neighborhood. While this isn't an exact science, the article does draw some persuasive parallels between today's meltdown and the crime explosion that followed the 1987 Wall Street crash, as well as the fiscal crisis of the 1970s that made New York a “hell on earth,” as former NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton puts it. (He blames the high crime in those days on the city's decision to lay of thousands of cops.) Today budget cuts have left the NYPD with about 4,000 fewer officers then in 2000, and the department has been asked to cut another 2.5% of its budget. Mya Bee, a filmmaker in Bed Stuy, predicts, "When you can’t use your credit cards, it will get worse. When that happens, all hell will break loose."

The Legal Aid Society and Legal Services of New York have filed a lawsuit in State Supreme Court to overturn a controversial vote in June by the Rent Guidelines Board to add a supplemental rent hike for tenants who have lived in a rent-stabilized apartment for over six years and who pay $1,000 or less a month in rent. The lawsuit argues that requiring tenants to pay an extra $45 or $85 is a higher increase than what's allowed under this year’s RGB guidelines. A press release from Legal Services describes the hike as “a poor tax” against low-income tenants; at a press conference yesterday City Council Speaker Christine Quinn declared that "this unprecedented increase on longtime, low-income residents could very well drive some residents out of their homes. This rent hike proves once and for all that the RGB is completely out of touch and needs to be reformed.”

A study commissioned by the state police has determined that Governor Paterson's security detail is inadequate, so the squad assigned to protect him will be increased by about 45 officers. The Post, naturally, is quick to point out that the beef-up will cost over $4 million – "even as Paterson calls for cuts in state spending." Pataki had about 200 troopers assigned to executive security; the number shrank to 150 under Spitzer. The addition of more cops is something of a surprise in Paterson's case since he previously talked about "an element in the police force... of out-of-control people who had power that were clearly monitoring a lot of the elected officials." Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is investigating these allegations about "rogue members" on the state police squad assigned to protect politicians.

"People have seen them sitting on benches," says Andrew Albert, an MTA board member and chair of the NYC Transit Riders Council. "From what riders have told us, they appear to be getting bolder." That's the subway rat population he's talking about, which many commuters say is surging, at least according to an amNY article that's teeming with great quotes. "Next thing you know the doors are going to open and one is going to come on the train with us," one exterminator predicts.

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.

After years of hemorrhaging film production business to cheaper locations like Canada, New York City is seeing a spike in movie shoots, back up to the pre-9/11 level. Bloomberg reports that the city saw a 36% rise in production last year, with over 245 movies and television shows shot citywide in 2007. A consulting group hired by the mayor’s office determined that the industry pumps $5 billion a year into the economy and employs some 100,000 people.

Chances are you probably smoke pot, you are probably smoking it right now...at least according to the latest reports, which say that "the number of people arrested for small amounts of marijuana in New York City has increased tenfold in the past decade."

New York water consumers (i.e. everyone) are about to take a bath once the City's Water Board follows through with its recommendation to raise rates by 14.5%, which it was scheduled to propose Friday. The rate hike proposal comes less than a year after the most recent increase of 11.5% in 2007. To its credit, the Water Board has been cracking down on freeloaders. After the City Council nixed a proposed 18% hike, water scofflaws who ignored their bills started to have their water shut off for the first time in modern memory.

The MTA has released details for its subway and bus fare hike. While the base fare will still stay at $2, there will be increases for unlimited cards - plus a new two-week unlimited: 1-Day Fun Pass: Increases from $7 to $7.50 7-Day Pass: Increases from $24 to $25* New 14-Day Pass: $47* (*Current 7-Day Pass users who switch to the new 14-Day Pass will actually enjoy a fare reduction.) 30-Day Pass: Increases from...