Mostly New York Weekend Links
A few more items I found interesting this week:

Time Out New York has an absolutely hilarious cover feature this week on what it takes to be a True New Yorker. They list 118 things you've probably done - from "carry on a conversation with a cabbie without understanding a word he says" to "walk your parents through the Gay Pride Parade without mentioning anything out of the ordinary is happening." A few come in pairs: "Make a joke about all the kitchens on East 6th Street's Indian Row being connected;" and "roll your eyes whenever someone makes that joke about the kitchens on East 6th Street." Also: "Look out your window and - whoa! - see your neighbors having sex" paired with "stop caring that your neighbors can see you in action." They also know you're devised a subway escape plan: "For instance, in case you ever happen to drop your wallet onto the tracks, you've already gauged how much time it would take to jump down and get back up before a train will arrive."

The median rent for a rent-stabilized studio in Manhattan is $850 while the median price for a Manhattan studio at market rate is $1,750, according to the NY Times. More than a million apartments in the city are still rent-controlled. They come out only when the rent-controlled rate hits $2,000 or if the city-wide vacancy rate hits 5 percent (now at 2.94 percent.) Between 1999 and 2002, only 3 percent (at least 32,000 units) were removed from rent control. Where we lived in the Village, ours was just under $2,000 for a fifth-floor walk-up that masqueraded as a two-bedroom. However, a really nice guy a few floors below us (who owned his own place in the Hamptons) was paying around $100 a month for a place 50 percent bigger than ours.

The day after I posted a passage from "Radio" about the significant amount of editing that goes into a "This American Life" show, WNYC's "On the Media" did a segment on the ethics of cleaning up quotes for radio. You can listen to the show online, or wait a few days and they'll post the transcript here.

Upper East Siders prove themselves to be as smart as folks who move into a trailer park at the end of an airport runway and then complain about the noise. From the NY Times story on the Met Museum's plan to add more underground storage space: "Opponents fear that the expansion will draw more visitors to the museum and add to the double-parked taxis, idling school buses and carnival of buskers, opera singers and boom boxes in front of the building."

New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer - famous for going after telemarketers and Wall Street hooligans - plans to run for NY governor in '06.

Darwin should be happy - subway surfing's back in fashion. I find it hard to believe, but the NY Times reports these numbers: "In 1997, there were 188 incidents of people riding atop, astride or between subway cars, a transit spokesman said. In 2002, the number was down to 86, and as of last month stands at 58 incidents for 2003."

Forgotten New York has a new feature up today about the murals of Williamsburg.
- posted by Amy @ 11/16/2003 11:43:00 AM