The Atlantic is asking if today's McMansions are tomorrow's tenements in an article titled The Next Slum. It seems suburban developments nationwide are seeing the same problems the city streets are: druggies, homeless, grafitti, gang activity, broken windows, stray bullets, and even in Pleasantville copper wire is a commodity. Suburban decay is on the rise, making them a far cry from what they were presented as at the New York World’s Fair of 1939 and......

The city has been crowing about this year's low murder rate since last week, when officials announced it was likely to be under 500 murders. Currently, the murder rate is 492 as of Sunday night (we're not sure if that number includes the three men killed in Brooklyn); this year's murder rate would be the lowest since 1963, the first year with reliable data and a year that saw 548 killings. The NY Times examines......

Could there be another World's Fair coming to Flushing-Meadows? The Bureau of International Exhibitions has reportedly asked New York City if it'd be interested in hosting a fair in 2012 or 2015. The Flushing Meadows Corona Park World's Fair Association is very enthusiastic about the idea, with its president David Oats explaining, "The U.S. hasn't had a fair in two decades. Since they [the committee] opened the door, we felt we had an obligation to......

Our absolute favorite Brooklyn blogger Callalillie took a trip outside her home borough to the Queens Museum-- home of the amazing, stupendous model of New York City. Some info about the model: The Panorama of the City of New York was the creation of Robert Moses and Raymond Lester. It was originally presented in the New York City Pavilion as part of the 1964/65 New York World's Fair. At the time of its creation,......

Fifteen year old industry, Hilary Duff, is featured in the second item of the Observer's New York World column. Why? Because her breasts are stopping men in their tracks. There is some debate about whether or not they are Duff's breasts, but the killer quote is from Elisa DeCarl: "My guess is that they are going for that all-important Humbert Humbert demographic," she said. "The audience will be 90 percent preteens and their parents,......