Director of the legendary hip-hop documentary Style Wars, Tony Silver, died last weekend after battling an irreversible brain condition for several years. Shot in New York City in the early '80s and originally airing on PBS in 1983, his documentary is considered to be the first film about hip-hop culture. While the 70 minutes covers rap and breakdancing, its main focus is on graffiti, which at the time was viewed by some as a groundbreaking......

While Plaxico Burress hasn't practiced much all year because of an ankle injury, now another injury seems to be hampering the Giants receiver. Burress is listed as "questionable" because of a left-knee injury that has bothered him on and off this season. The injury prevented him from practicing on Wednesday or Thursday. Yesterday, he was limited to a few individual drills. Joining Burress on the injury report is defensive end Osi Umenyiora, who has an......

While no one is questioning the fiscal stability of New York City the way they were during the 1970s, municipal spending has nonetheless exploded during Mayor Bloomberg's five years in office, far in excess of anything his predecessors accomplished over the last three decades. Thanks to swelling city revenues from the booming stock and real estate markets, New York remains on firm budgetary footing. The New York Times reports, however, that Mayor Bloomberg has overseen......

This is a pretty interesting clip from a documentary on hip hop called Beat This. In 1984 New York graffiti artist Brim talked about the Vandal Squad, Mayor Koch and New York's finest having a problem with things they can't control. Beat This was directed by Dick Fontaine and includes footage of Afrika Bambaataa, DJ Kool Herc (and his original dance parties), The Cold Crush Brothers, Jazzy Jay and many more.......

Moving onto a new job is always exciting - and it's always another opportunity to have a farewell party from your old one. But it seems that partying got the better of former deputy commissioner of the Community Assistance Unit Christopher Coffey. The Daily News reports that Coffey was pulled over in his car after the police got a call about a "rowdy drunk" - apparently Coffey had been "stumbling around and pounding on cars"......

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. The Writ of Mandamus seeks to force Mayor Bloomberg to reappoint or replace commissioners whose terms have lapsed. “Mayor Bloomberg has failed to honor is own......

- If Connie Chung was in on the joke with her singing last week, then she is the funniest woman ever - NYC school kids love to dance at school - check out this NY Times video of kids during Dance Festival, but be warned, you'll want to boogie along (Gothamist's coordination is akin to that of a kindergartener) - Gotham Gal finds Chinatown Brasserie good but not great - Hey, that school in......

- Turns out Mayor Bloomberg and NJ Governor Corzine teamed up to convince Pataki to rework any sort of Ground Zero proposal to Larry Silverstein. And re: the NY Times' mention of past NY-NJ spats, we wish we remembered how Mayor Koch "once symbolically boarded up the entrance to the Holland Tunnel over the loss of jobs to New Jersey." - Some City Council members want Con Ed to pay fines when people get shocked......

vs. The New York Times reports that Fresh Direct is creating a new advertising campaign featuring some rather prominent New Yorkers, Mayor Koch, Bobby Flay, and Paulina Porizkova (did you know she lived here?), to contend with the newest challenger to the New York food world, Trader Joe's. Trader Joe's advertising strategy to get back at Fresh Direct? Nothing. Well, almost nothing -- they plan on using their general advertising strategy, designed to keep......

Lately, there have been a spate of articles about Deputy Mayor Patricia E. Harris. The Mayor recently said that Harris, who is apparently one of his best pals, would be in charge of the city when he leaves town. Which is like almost every weekend he can - if Gothamist had our own island in Bermuda, private jet, and $5 billion fortune, we'd probably go too - which means she's pretty damned powerful. (She replaces......

With the MTA and the transit workers union still in contract negotiations, every day without an agreement is another day for the media to help us freak out about the possibility of a strike. The NY Times details what is at stake for both parties. Basically, the MTA wants "flexibility in work assignments, tighter sick leave rules and less substantial health care and pension benefits for future employees". Flexibility as in being able to......

The search for Peter Braunstein continues, now into Brooklyn. Cobble Hill residents, be on the lookout! Bernie Kerik is either an idiot or took a huge discount on construction in his apartment, possibly both as renovations for his Riverdale pad were nearly $200k.  The MTA is adding intercoms to some stations. We're thinking the intercoms will sound like Charlie Brown's teacher. Muni meters in Midtown are getting ready to take credit cards. Yay, no......

While many people, in and out of the political arena, can find bad stuff to say about Mayor Bloomberg, there seems to be a problem with finding anything to say about the Democratic candidates who want to run against him. At least, anything to say that will stick with voters, and many Democratic leaders are worried about that. The NY Times quotes Reverend Al Sharpton's political director as saying, "People are saying, why should we......

Fernando Ferrer, the former Bronx Borough President and Democratic frontrunner for the mayoral race, has raised $3.1 million so far, which prompted his aides to tell the media that Ferrer is a "force." While City Council Speaker Gifford Miller has already raised the $5.7 million allowed by campaign finance law (candidates get $4 for every $1 they raise) for the primary, it seems like Ferrer will definitely be able to raise that much. Of course,......

Gothamist was wandering around the Mayor's website when we found this Republican National Convention FAQ. It lets you know things like what pedestrian traffic will be affected and whether there will be protests...which makes this is a site for people half-living under a rock. But we appreciate it anyway, because you know that we'll be calling 311 to complain about delegates being too noisy or protestors needing some deodorant. Some more of today's stories about......

New reader Randi emailed Gothamist with this link to perhaps the best use of demonstration of wackiness at City Hall that does not involve the City Council, the Mayor, and some spinning: The Wise Owl, a Crash Test Dummy, Mr. Clean, and Tony the Tiger re-enacting Abbey Road (on what looks like Broadway) to kick off Advertising Week in NYC - which doesn't happen for another month. This other photograph shows Mayor Koch and other......

The weather is a mixed bag this weekend as we stick around the city this weekend (we're glad we won't need to follow Gawker's rules of conduct for getting to the Hamptons - we've seen people getting on and off the Jitney and it looks worse than the school bus we had to take). We've been trying to think of what we want to do, and have come up with some ideas that we'd like......

Juliana Nash, Co-owner of Pete's Candy Store...

Former Mayor Ed Koch is volunteering for the Repubilcan National Convention - seriously! A volunteer effort, NYC2004, has been launched to show Republicans (and the country) how great New York and New Yorkers are. In the press conference yesterday, the Mayor emphasized that job creation the convention will bring, citing the success of other conventions in helping jumpstart summer business, which is usually slower. Former Mayor Koch said, "You don’t have to be a......