As Grub Street and others reported yesterday, a letter written last Thursday by Senator Chuck Schumer to Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Friedman may have prevented the forcible closure of the Red Hook Ball Field food vendors this past weekend. While this seems to be a small victory for the food purveyors, doubt remains whether the operating season for the newly food safety-certified vendors will end just after Labor Day, or at the end......

On Sundays, Gothamist runs opinion pieces on issues relevant to life in New York. The views expressed below belong entirely to the author. "Let me preface this with some full-on full disclosure. I love Maureen Dowd. I love her not just for her columns and their brash, fearless intelligence. I also love her for being a woman in a man’s world, where even at her liberal Gray Lady’s office of eight columnists and one public......

The City releases information that the smoking ban did not affect the restaurant and bar business, but, of course, that's the City's opinion. Increases for liquor licenses, restaurant & bar jobs, and tax payments, make it seem that the ban had no effect. However, other groups point out that information is flawed because it does not separate restaurants and bars. As David Rabin of the New York Nightlife Association says, "There's no separation between Starbucks......