Memo to Rosie Mendez: Why even bother running for reelection when you've got such a cherubic challenger gunning for your City Council seat? It's all over but the crying for Manhattan's District 2; 18-year-old preppy Dodge Landesman's victory in November is all but assured—why just look at those adorable cheeks! His father happens to be Obama's NEA nominee Rocco Landesman, who draws a lot of water in this town as president of Jujamcyn Theatres, and a recent fundraiser for the teen's campaign was recently attended by Julianne Moore. more ›

Yesterday, the New School held a forum to discuss how New York City will save its public housing. The New York City Housing Authority, which is the city's primary sources of affordable housing to 400,000 residents, has an annual shortfall of $225 million. more ›

Last Friday's Critical Mass with the NYPD's new parade rules (groups of 50 or more must apply for permits) certainly got many of you commenting. For those of you who didn't participate in the ride or see it unfold, our videographer Kelly Loudenberg filed this video. She was even riding in the pedicab with City Councilwoman Rosie Mendez! more ›

Last night's first Critical Mass ride in an era of the police parade rule that requires groups of 50 or more to apply for permits resulted in three people getting arrested, forty-four receiving tickets, and a few people getting summonses. Based on the NY Times and Newsday articles, the arrests were for disorderly conduct, obstructing government administration, and something to be determined. Newsday had this interesting account of one bicyclist's experience after the ride started:

Moments later, police stopped Kim Kalesti, 49, on Park Avenue South near 18th Street, confiscated her single-speed bike and put her in the back of a squad car. more ›

It's the last Friday of the month, which means it's Critical Mass time. And with the NYPD's new parade rules, which require gatherings of 50 people or more to have permits, tonight's bicycle ride is being seen as a test of whether the NYPD will enforce the rules. more ›

Around midnight, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus came into Manhattan with its traditional procession of elephants, other animals and performers through the Queens Midtown Tunnel towards Madison Square Garden. Kelly Loudenberg was on the scene and captured comments from the circus as well as protesters. She also writes:

City Council Member Rosie Mendez has introduced legislation to ban wild animal acts. The legislation would prohibit the display of wild or exotic animals for public entertainment or amusement. Recently, the Bronx Zoo decided that they would be closing their elephant exhibit after the death of one or two of its three aging elephants. John Philips, executive director for The League of Humane Voters says, "Not even the Bronx Zoo can provide for elephants' needs, why should we expect that Madison Square Garden can?" more ›

We received a press release about the closing of yet another establishment in lower Manhattan today. This time it's not a high profile venue like CBGB, but a little vegan bakery on St Marks that is being forced out due to high rent. more ›

The City Council has introduced a bill to stall the sale of Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village. At the end of August, MetLife announced it would seek bids for the 110 building complex that spans 80 acres in Manhattan, with an ideal asking price of $5 billion. The sale sent tenants of STPCV into a frenzy, worrying about their status there, as well as advocates for affordable housing, as all signs point to developers taking the land for a luxury development. Last week, many bids were submitted, and one of the bids was from the tenants - $4.5 billion to "preserve at least 40 percent of the complexes as middle-class housing" - which is half a billion below bids from other developers in the running, according to the NY Times. The Times also explains the bill:

The legislation, introduced by Councilwoman Rosie Mendez, would require the owners of large-scale apartment complexes where more than half the units are rent-regulated to provide 120 days’ notice of a sale. The city’s housing department, in turn, would asses the impact of losing large numbers of apartments for low-, moderate- and middle-income tenants. more ›