Results tagged “money”

It's summertime in the city, whether or not the weather's caught up yet, and it's likely you are currently sitting in a freezing cold air-conditioned office. Yesterday NY1's Pat Kiernan Twittered about a USA Today graphic that claimed "2/3 of Americans say air conditioning a 'necessity'," which actually seems slightly low.

Ugh, with the financial crisis totally shredding mommy and daddy's investment portfolio, many young adults in Hipsterland are being forced to find jobs. Times reporter Christine Haughney talked to some landlords and people in the real estate industry, who confirm the tragic trend: parents are cutting back on their contributions to rent and apartment down payments, in some cases eliminating their support entirely. Landlord Ernie DiGiacomo says that instead of getting checks from his tenants' parents, some of them are moving back in with their parents!

The Brooklyn Museum has been robbed! No, we're not talking about Albany, or a good old fashioned caper, rather a former payroll manager stole more than $620,000 from the institution. The NY Post reports that Dwight Newton, 40, siphoned the money into bank accounts he held with his wife. He "faces fraud charges for drafting 38 bogus electronic checks between April 2005 and December 2005, authorities said." As of now there's no evidence that his wife, Donna Tricarico, was involved. Though one might find it odd that the 49-year-old who just retired from the Brooklyn DA's Office where she was a detective took no notice of the extra $620K coming into their bank accounts. As for Newton, he had left the museum last summer to work for a non-profit called Action Against Hunger, where he was arrested. The Daily News has a photo of him fleeing from court; the museum's spokeswoman said that "the losses were covered by insurance."

You'd think over-charging for drinks (including water) for all these years would have given them a nice financial cushion...but allegedly Webster Hall is in debt and in danger of closing. DBTH reports that "the club is in serious arrears to the City, State and vendors, and may be on the verge of declaring bankruptcy." It's the usual story of overdue rent, bounced checks, back taxes, bills piling up and creditors knocking on the door. "They are looking for some kind of bail out from the state (for the taxes issues) and the landlord (apparently they would like their rent lowered by half until things "get better")." Guess their new Studio venture hasn't been bringing in the cash, but maybe the bridge & tunnel crowd that pack into the place on club nights can help bring in the $600K they need. Nightclub shenanigans aside, it would be a shame to see the place shutter, considering it's been open since the late 1800s and hosting music since the 1950s.

You know how the Queens Museum of Art was offering up miniature real estate on their panorama? It's pretty much the only place you can put your name on a landmark or apartment for such a low price. Well, now for some more coin you can put your name on the life-size versions of things! The NY Post reports that if you have $5 million to spare, your name could grace Central Park's tennis center, and for around $2 million you could sponsor the Chelsea Recreation Center. Times are tough, so any name will do! The list of available locations that will gladly accept your cash and take on your name include the restored pool in Williamsburg's McCarren Park (maybe Vice or American Apparel has $3 million for this one); "the track and field house proposed for Ocean Breeze Park on Staten Island ($2 million); and the sports facility being built at Mill Pond Park near Yankee Stadium in The Bronx ($2 million)." Since there is no advertising allowed in parks, the cash will get the donor a plaque, perhaps with a corporate logo. Are we that far away from walking across the Brooklyn Bridge presented by Verizon Wireless?

A judge ruled that a 2001 incident where Charlene Marshall complained about mother-in-law Brooke Astor won't be heard by the jury. Marshall's husband, Anthony, is Astor's only son and is on trial for allegedly forging her will to gain $60 million. Astor's social secretary recounted Charlene that ranted, "She's f---ing killing him!"—referring to Astor and her husband—"If he dies before she does, I get nothing!" Prosecutors hoped to enter the statements into the trial, because they says it points to why Anthony Marshall would have wanted to take his mother's money—to sate his wife's greed. The Post reports that prosecutor Joel Seidemann explained it as, "It's all for Charlene. She's in the mix. It's unavoidable. They can say there is no elephant in the room. But there is an elephant in the room." The Daily News' Joanna Molloy uses her column to wonder why the trial is suddenly about Charlene Marshall, the woman who left her minister husband for the heir of Brooke Astor. A friend of Charlene Marshall's tells Molloy, "[Charlene] is an extremely compassionate woman. She's active at St. James Church. She brings Communion to shut-ins ... She listens. She helps people in pain ... She's not a golddigger at all." Brooke Astor didn't much like Charlene, FWIW.

A Chase bank employee is being blamed for dropping the dime about a Long Island dentist's $800,000 individual account to her husband. The NY Post reports that while Nazita Aminpour and David Shamash "have a joint account at a Chase branch in Kew Gardens, Queens," Aminpour also had the secret account. Well, secret until a bank employee cold-called Shamash, "telling him he should take his small fortune out of the low-interest account and make other investments with Chase." Aminipour's suit says that once Shamash heard about the money, he "began harassing [Aminpour], asking for money from the funds that he can invest in the stock market and to cover a margin call he had on his stock account." The suit adds that Shamash "alienat[ed]" Aminipour until she gave him $155,000 "to save her marriage and restore order in the marital home." Aminipour says Chase violated non-disclosure laws and wants the bank to pay her the $155K plus legal fees.

It's really no secret that C. Lo has been dealing with some serious cash flow problems. Even if one isn't able to translate her many rants on MySpace or Twitter, there tends to be a common theme to the tirades involving mysterious Cobains popping up around the country and buying houses with her and Frances Bean's money. Or something. On March 18th she wrote, in part:

"we were just looking at Cobains over 100 years of age, there are none so these peopel ALL HAVE PROPERTY< they all own PROPERTY, there are 1000s and 1000s of these using my and my daughters surname. Kurt is DEAD. yet he owns under his ssn over 2000 properties, under a few other names even more, do you get it? they stole HIS money were forced to use HIS surname and bought REAL property."

Police are looking for a cousin of a former Jets linebacker in connection with two murders. Investigators suspect a cousin of Jonathan Vilma, who now plays for the New Orleans Saints, has been using in Vilma's unoccupied Westchester County condo, where two men were apparently killed. The victims were believed to be involved in a "black paper scheme": Con men tell gullible people that smuggled paper money has been dyed many times black and that a special bleach is needed to take the dye away—but really the black paper is just construction paper. Newsday reports, "With black paper found in the condo, and black paper and bleach found in the dead men's Bronx apartment, detectives said the victims scammed the wrong people." Police also found blood in the condo; the victims' bodies were dumped in Queens and Brooklyn. Vilma is not suspected in the killings; his agent said the player "was in complete shock that anyone was in the house other than his real estate agent."

After Rep. Anthony Weiner revealed his hesitance about running for mayor this fall, reporters asked Mayor Bloomberg if his wealth was intimidating to other potential candidates. The mayor, the 17th richest man in the world, is reportedly spending $80 million (or 0.5% of his wealth) on his campaign. Politicker NY, which has video of the extended answer, reports that Bloomberg said, "There’s no evidence to me that there are fewer candidates running... We don’t preclude you from running because you got a better education than I did or are better looking or more photogenic.” Related: The NY Times' Clyde Haberman explains Bloomberg's "we love rich people" remark by way of the Mayor's budget data that "show... people earning $500,000 or more a year make up 1 percent of New York taxpayers but account for nearly 50 percent of the income taxes that the city collects."

Remember the other day how Councilman Bill de Blasio was all, 'Leave billboards ALONE!' because, he says, the Department of Buildings has been slapping billboard owners with huge fines over supposedly minor infractions? And some of you cynics in the audience were quick to insinuate that the honorable gentleman from Park Slope was only making a stink because he's in bed with the outdoor signage industry? Well, maybe you were right. Just days after calling attention to the vast hardships endured by billboard owners, de Blasio, who is running for public advocate, has accepted $8,000 in campaign donations from billboard companies, the Post reports. Not too shabby! Maybe this will motivate de Blasio to finally do something to protect the poor tobacco industry and persecuted fast food restaurants and the defenseless auto industry?

Time to break out the world's smallest violin again: With President Obama's proposed $500,000 cap on executive compensation—at firms receiving federal bailout money—the plight of the rarefied rich is examined in the NY Times. Today, the Times gives us details like this: "Private school: $32,000 a year per student. Mortgage: $96,000 a year. Co-op maintenance fee: $96,000 a year. Nanny: $45,000 a year. We are already at $269,000, and we haven’t even gotten to taxes yet." Then there's the personal trainer, the gowns for the galas, children's private tutors, four-star vacations... OMFG, Houston is looking pretty good! Holly Peterson, who wrote The Manny and whose dad Peter founded the Blackstone group, puts it dramatically: "Five hundred thousand dollars means taking their kids out of private school and selling their home in a fire sale.” A few days ago, the Times asked some people to remember back when they made $500,000.

In his $6.6 million divorce settlement two years ago, big shot real-estate lawyer Steven Simkin (pictured) paid his ex-wife Laura Blank $2.7 million to buy out her half of their Madoff investment, which he thought was worth $5.4 million. Now, according to his attorneys, the "account" is worthless, "literally not worth the paper on which the parties' valuation rested." So Simkin wants some of that money back, because "Laura has been unjustly enriched, having received millions of dollars based on an illusory and exaggerated value attributed to the 'account.'" Blank, who works for CUNY, tells the Post she isn't really feeling Simkin's pain: "What he's doing is outrageous. He made a poor investment choice and it's his problem." Just as every bum's lot in life is his own responsibility, regardless of who he chooses to blame!

A YouTube video titled "NYPD corruption at its best," depicts undercover NYPD officers stuffing cash in their pockets during a raid at embattled Staten Island bar "Beer Goggles" (MySpace). The surveillance tape was recorded back in November 2007 when cops busted the bar for promoting gambling; three employees were arrested but the charges were eventually dropped.

10-year-old Kemoy Gourzang was walking to school in East Flatbush Friday morning when he found a wallet on the sidewalk stuffed with over $500 in cash. But instead of doing what we would have done at his age—blow it all on Transformers and Garbage Pail Kids—Gourzang took the wallet to his school's principal, who used a business card in the billfold to contact the owner. The unidentified man was so relieved to have it back that he gave Gourzang a $100 finders fee, which the honorable little lad promptly invested on a video racing game called Midnight Club 3. "I was pretty excited," he tells the Daily News. "I went straight to Toys 'R' Us." But Gourzang still has $50 left, and is apparently going for the title of sweetest little boy in all the land: The rest of the money will be spent on Valentine's Day, "to buy a Teddy bear with angel wings, milk chocolate and maybe a necklace. For my mom."

Every $5.4 billion purchase of a sprawling apartment complex during the height of the boom has its problems! Bond analysis firm Fitch Ratings released information about Tishman Speyer's Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village complex and found the developer "has approximately six months of reserves remaining to cover the trust portion of the total debt on the property." The Observer puts it more bluntly: "When the reserve is completely eroded, Tishman Speyer... would need to put in more cash or potentially face default on its loans." The threat of default is something that observers had been suggesting since last summer, after an earlier analysis of Tishman revenue. While Tishman Speyer hasn't commented, a tipster told Curbed yesterday that much of the complex's staff seemed to be laid off.

How many billionaires does turn a third party into a contender? At least two, according to the Post, which says that Mayor Michael Bloomberg and upstate businessman Tom Golisano are working to "revamp the state Independence Party as an 'issues oriented' group focusing on government reform."

Sometimes budget cuts fall in the forest, so while you are all worked up about the plants and animals on Paterson's chopping block, we're betting you turned a deaf ear to the opera's budget drama. The NY Times reports that "the Metropolitan Opera has been bludgeoned by the recession and now faces a 'disaster scenario' unless the company finds major cost cuts, including concessions from its powerful unions."

Last week, Hiram Monserrate was sworn in as a State Senator. Some Republican Senators had argued he should not enter the Senate, since he was charged with beating up his girlfriend, but Monserrate has repeatedly denied the charge and his girlfriend has also said it was an accident (though speculation continues). Now there's a vague form of censure: Monserrate will not receive payments for chairing—yes, he still gets to chair—the consumer protection committee while he is still charged with assault. The annual lulu for the chair is $12,500. The Daily Politics points out that a few years ago, then minority leader David Paterson stripped State Senator Ada Smith of her perks after a "pattern of bad behavior"—and "she hadn't yet been convicted of anything at the time."

Among the many "draconian" recommendations made by the Ravitch Commission for keeping the MTA afloat, conspicuously absent was a call to transfer $2 billion worth of transportation money belonging to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The Observer takes a closer look at that loot today, and wonders what's to come of it; sources tell the paper that former M.T.A. chairman Dick Ravitch wanted it for the MTA, but there's speculation that Paterson vetoed that move. Now the moneys—originally intended to fund a "New York-based regional transportation" project—may get swallowed up by the beleaguered World Trade Center site, which is way over budget. Or it may get transferred to that perennial pipe dream: a new Penn Station. Anything, it seems, but helping out the subway system!

Yesterday there was word of Bronx Zoo funding going the way of the dodo, as Gov. Paterson’s budget proposal promises to eliminate it in two years. The Daily News reports that the cutbacks would also effect "museums across the state — including the New York Botanical Garden and Wave Hill in the Bronx." The Brooklyn Eagle has more today on cutbacks that will hit the borough, where the only good news is that the Prospect Park Zoo won't be effected. The paper reports that with the proposal the BBG's in-house exhibits and educational programs would suffer, and the institute's president said, "We can understand a reasonable reduction, but a 55 percent cut, followed by the elimination of the fund itself, is too much." All in all 76 zoos, botanic gardens and aquariums are on the funding chopping block—and the main problem here is, of course, that “animals don’t stop eating and don’t stop needing care."

Prosecutors say that (alleged) $50 billion Ponzi scheme mastermind Bernard Madoff should be in jail after violating his bail conditions by sending packages to relatives. The feds say he's transferring his assets, but Madoff's defense lawyer Ira Sorkin claims they were just innocent gifts—the Post describes some objects as "expensive watches, pens, cufflinks and a $200 pair of mittens meant as a Hanukkah gift" and the Daily News adds there was jewelry and that the packages were apparently worth $1 million.

Here we go again: New Yorkers are leaving the city for Georgia. Or rather, Atlanta. The NY Post has the latest on the exodus, zeroing in on a family who live on an "above average" income but were still only able to live on Long Island while here...with one of their parents. "But when the family moved to Atlanta, Merritt and his wife found they were living far better on about the same income," saying "We went from struggling to having a great quality of life in just a few weeks." Real estate is, of course, a main factor here, with a 4-bedroom home going for around $275K in an Atlanta suburb, and property taxes about a 1/4 of what they would be in New York. So maybe the Real Housewives of Atlanta aren't really that rich after all? The paper also reminds that "between 2000 and 2005, 40,000 New Yorkers moved to Atlanta, according to the city's Regional Commission."

The Brooklyn Museum has become nothing more than a storage closet for its "storied couture clothing collection," but now the Brooklyn Paper explains the "cash-strapped" institution is "unloading" the 105-year-old cache to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The BMA, which hadn't displayed the clothing since 1991, won't receive any money, but it's saving some, since it will no longer pay for the storage and care. The Met, with its funding (not to mention 10 times the BMA's visitors) can mount a proper exhibition of what's being called "one of the world’s best collections of American fashion" (the NY Times reported that its "largely assembled from the closets of grand ladies of Brooklyn and Manhattan"). The paper also notes that while the "Met’s Costume Institute will own, curate and preserve the pieces, the two museums will collaborate on a bi-borough costume show in 2010."

It's that time of year again when everybody's looking for a handout, and those of us with means are expected to dole out extra cash to the help as thanks for simply doing their jobs. And just because this sucker's going down, that doesn't mean you're off the hook when it comes to holiday tipping, or so says the rich liberal elitist media. Despite citing surveys that at least 30% of respondents plan on tipping less (or zilch) because of the recession, the latte sippers at WABC insist "you've got to do your best to give something, particularly cash."

NYC comptroller William Thompson is proposing that the city plug the MTA's budget gap by raising automobile registration fees in the 12 counties served by the MTA’s trains and buses. If passed by the State Legislature, his plan would require drivers in the city and surrounding counties to pay $100 a year to register their vehicles. (The city currently charges $30 every two years.) According to the Times, drivers with vehicles weighing more than 2,300 pounds would have to pay an additional 9 cents per pound. By that measure, owners of Lincoln Navigators, which weigh in at 6,000 lbs., would owe the city $450 per year. Thompson says the revenue could add up to about $1 billion per year and serve as an alternative to the MTA's "devastating" budget proposal announced last week.

This summer Roc-a-Fella Records co-founder Damon Dash received a warning from his bank after having not made a payment on his $78,504.20-a-month mortgage since January. Now the Daily News is reporting that the bank wants his two Tribeca condos, which under the same mortgage and located at 25 N. Moore Street and 79 Laight Street. On top of losing the homes, the city is seizing his SUV and "his lawyer dropped him for not paying his legal bills." Yikes, what happened to the $20 million he got for selling his half of Roc-a-Fella to Jay-Z? He also has an outstanding $2.1 million bill from the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. A lawyer who settled another suit against him and his wife for unpaid fees told the paper, "to borrow a phrase from my Kentucky homeland, they haven't got a pot to piss in - they're broke."

Like other classy gentlemen, 39-year-old Luis Lora-Martinez liked to impress the erotic dancers at AJ's Lounge in Secaucus by tipping them with 20 dollar bills. But Lora-Martinez's tips were actually forgeries, according to Secret Service agents who arrested him after employees at the strip club called the police. It seems Lora-Martinez never watched a little movie called To Live and Die in L.A.—which shows how labor-intensive the counterfeiting process actually is—because his fake bills were produced on a computer printer on regular paper. But according to The Jersey Journal, his funny money was good enough to fool the dancers for a little while, at least. When they wised up, they directed investigators to his motel room, where they found $5,000 in fake $20s and $50s stashed away. He now faces up to ten years in prison, and will only be released on bail if he can prove he has $60,000 in non-computer printer bills.

Seven major sponsors have dropped out of the always awesome West Village Halloween Parade, and the event's artistic director, Jeanne Fleming, says she's working with half the budget she had last year, leaving a $4,000 deficit. Organizers count on major sponsors to donate $25,000 each to the event, and the tanking economy could make next year a Hollow-een parade. Eh? Fleming tells Craine's, "The Halloween parade is a folk event. We can't just say we won't do it this year. It's what the people need right now." Registration for the parade is higher than ever, and thankfully the decline in funding won't affect this year's most hotly anticipated float: The Ferris Bueller parade reenactment. And here are some stellar photos from last year's parade.