With Netflix breaking the back of the working man, and Time Warner content to remain a cold, unkind monopoly, Verizon is attempting to distribute justice/FiOS to the denizens of Flatbush. But what if all those delicious channels and movies came with the price of a 20-foot eyesore that may or may not transform you into a fetus encased in an orb of light? more ›

Joni Mitchell can cry all she wants, sometimes a parking lot is a good thing...especially when it's worth $22 million. A lot in SoHo on the corner of Broome and Crosby has received such a lucrative offer, but the sale is being stymied by part-owner 98-year-old Max Isaacs, who uses the rent to support his extended family, the Post reports. "I don't care if they get a $100 million offer!" he said, presumably while waving a cane and standing in front of piles of lost wiffleballs. more ›

This morning the Landmarks Preservation Commission is expected to deny protected status to the 152-year-old building at 45-51 Park Place that would be demolished to make way for a 500-seat performing arts center & lecture hall, culinary school, exhibition space, swimming pool, fitness gym, basketball court, restaurant, library, art studios and childcare. Oh, and also a "prayer space," commonly referred to as the Ground Zero mosque by critics who don't know how to read a map. Once the Commission lifts the project's last remaining hurdle, most of its opponents are expected to calmly accept the decision and move on with their lives. more ›

Opponents to the plan to build a mosque and community center two blocks from the World Trade Center site insist they're not bigoted, intolerant Islamophobes, but just defenders of what's appropriate. For example, one woman whose relative died on 9/11 recently told the local Community Board, "I am not a bigot and most of the people in this room are not bigots, I oppose the mosque because it's in poor taste." And the ranking Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Peter King, says, "Right at this moment in history, it's bad form to put it there. There are things you are allowed to do, but that aren't appropriate to do." Ah, the Miss Manners approach. Can't lose! more ›

Actor, director, producer, critically reviled restaurateur, and hotelier Robert De Niro made a cameo appearance before the Landmarks Preservation Commission yesterday to defend the penthouse built atop his new Greenwich Hotel in Tribeca. more ›

After stalling their landlord’s attempt to build a parking garage in their courtyard next to the BQE two years ago, tenants and other community activists are still fighting the proposal. Built in 1890, the Riverside Apartments at Columbia Place and Joralemon Street in Brooklyn Heights were regarded as a great advancement in tenement living. Located near the Columbia Place docks, the nine buildings were unique for their running toilets, common courtyard, ventilation, and fireproofing, something unheard of for tenements at the time. more ›

The NY Sun is reporting that the Parks Department received a lackluster response from community members and government representatives last night after agency officials released yet another design for a renovated Washington Square Park. more ›

Yesterday morning, a 200-foot long chunk of a rooftop parapet on a Brooklyn building collapsed onto the street. While this would be news no matter what or where it happened, the building is the Ward Bread Bakery, which happens to be one of many buildings that are being demolished for the massive Atlantic Yards project in downtown Brooklyn. The Department of Buildings is inspecting neighboring buildings and 350 people, including those living in a shelter next door, were evacuated as a precaution. more ›

The Citizens Emergency Committee to Preserve Preservation hauled Mayor Bloomberg to New York State Supreme Court today for failing to reappoint or replace eight of eleven commissioners to the Landmarks Preservation Commission. The commissioners’ terms have expired, which, the Committee alleges, violates the Administrative Code and the City Charter. more ›

documentary seen on YouTube and myspace shows redesign architect George Vellonakis saying that the decrease to the park's central plaza will be just "5 percent" while in actuality, plans were showing decreases of much more. more ›

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. more ›

It's the spirit of old "We're pioneering artists" SoHo versus new "I'm flipping this condo" SoHo: The owners of a building on the southwest corner of Houston and Broadway are fighting to take down a sculpture on the outside wall of the building. Known as "The Wall," and also a landmark, according to the city's Landmarks Commission, Forrest Myers' 1973 sculpture consists of aluminum beams sticking out of the wall; it hasn't been there the past two years because it went in for repair. This issue has been roiling for a while, and the condo at 599 Broadway says they either want the city to pay them for the lost advertising revenue for having the sculpture there (read: "We couldn't get sexy, possibly underage Calvin Klein underwear ads on this wall all these years!") or get rid of the sculpture. The SoHo Alliance says, "SoHo is not for sale. Public art is not temporary." But, the Post reports, a judge will decide whether or not the Landmark Preservation Commission has "taken away the condominium board's private property without just compensation." more ›