The other day, we were listening to the radio and heard an ad with Wesley Autrey, the city's beloved subway hero! Autrey has done a series of public service announcements with the city's health department to encourage New Yorkers over 50 to get screened for colon cancer. From the DOH statement:

"I’m an average New Yorker over the age of 50 who could be at risk of colon cancer," said Autrey. "That’s why I’m joining this campaign. I’m very happy to be able help get this message out about colon cancer to maybe help save more lives – and I don’t have to jump onto the subway tracks to do it!"

The New York City Journal is a blog about New York... in Sim City. It's author has spent many months laboriously recreating every detail of the five boroughs, from Times Square, to MSG, to Governors Island, to Roosevelt Island, and beyond. It's amazing stuff-- page through his monthly archives for reenactments of major New York events like September 11th and the Upper East Side plane crash. more ›

The NY Times looked at some numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that showed income dispartiy between Manhattan and the other boroughs. When looking at salaries adjusted by inflation, Manhattan salaries have increased while in the other boroughs, salaries have decreased. Cost of living expenses, like rent and utilities, have outpaced many raises that outer borough residents do get. A Crown Heights resident, whose rent went up 11.8% (from $850 to $950), told the Times he felt "priced out of Brooklyn, where I was born and bred...I feel disgusted. I feel like the 'Sex and the City' set has taken over, spending most of their money on rents, which puts pressure on the rest of us." And relative to the rest of the country, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Staten Island and Queens were doing worse with lower wage increases and higher inflation, which might very well be why NJ and even Pennsylvania is looking better and better. more ›

Mayor Michael Bloomberg spent his post-election day basking in his resounding victory, traveling the city (hugging wellwishers, photo ops with kids, buying pastries), promising that he would turn to a career of philanthropy after his second term is over in 2009. And he did work some. The NY Times dives into the voting returns, and says that he "crossed ehtnic barriers" for his win: Estimates say that Bloomberg got about half of the black vote, and about 30% of the Latino vote, giving him a "winning multiethnic coalition," and disproving that minorities always vote as a bloc. (Here are some more numbers from the NY Post.) However, Fernando Ferrer-supporter, the Reverend Al Sharpton, pointed out that many low income neighborhoods voted heavily for Ferrer, showing that there "really are two New Yorks." more ›

Gothamist was reading our NYC Voter Guide for Manhattan when we noticed an unusual party in the profiles of the mayoral candidates: The Rent is Too Damn High party. Intriguing! We went to James McMillan's profile, and his answers (to the three questions posed to all candidates) were extremely on point. We're reprinting them here in the Voter Guide:

1. WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE IN THE CITY YOU WOULD ADDRESS IF ELECTED? RENT Is Too Damn High there is nothing else to talk about. All poor people are being ran out of New York. more ›

),  Jelvis, (the world's greatest Jewish Elvis impersonator), Todd Levin (standup comic), Jessica Coen (editor at Gawker.com), and Najla Said (of Arab-American theater collective Nibras).  The ringmistress of ceremonies will be Rachel Feinstein. more ›