A Great Start: Protecting Us from Storms
If you go all the way back to 1900, three of the 10 worst storms to hit the Battery occurred after 2009. That’s one of the more staggering things revealed in the Bloomberg administration’s comprehensive analysis of the growing threats from climate change. The most memorable — and overwhelmingly the largest of the 10 storms [...]
We Will Fight Back
Seven anti-gay attacks in 16 days. One, a shocking close-range shooting of Mark Carson in the face, resulting in the 32-year-old man’s death. The West Village, the East Village, Madison Square Garden, Union Square and Soho. The city’s elected leadership laudably stepped up to condemn the hatred, support the victims and mourn Carson. Mayor Bloomberg and [...]
Street Fair Oversight
Street fair season is back — and with it, the perennial issues surrounding this very public, and much-debated, feature of city life. Community Board 2 (CB2), which includes Greenwich Village, annually has among the most street fairs in the city — and receives the most street fair applications. These events, when small and locally based [...]
Scouts Earn Badge of Shame
Perhaps after years of digging in their heels amidst mounting PR problems, the Boy Scouts of America thought they could garner some favorable press with the recent announcement that gay members would no longer be barred from their ranks. In late May, the 1,400 members of Scouting’s National Council will vote on a motion put [...]
Community News
The news industry is in flux, and has been for the last six or seven years. That’s no secret. Some things, however, remain constant — foremost among them, the demand for solidly reported local news. That’s why, even though daily newspapers are taking serious hits in circulation, community weeklies and biweeklies are continuing to thrive. [...]
Quinn on the Spot
At a March 20 candidates forum sponsored by Gay City News, our sister paper, the five Democrats running for mayor spent 90 minutes with hundreds of members of the LGBT community, and the results were encouraging for those hoping to move critical LGBT needs to the top of the city’s agenda in the next four [...]
High Noon at High Court
About one week from today, the U.S. Supreme Court will be concluding oral arguments on two major marriage equality cases On March 26, the federal lawsuit challenging the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) filed by Village resident Edie Windsor — assessed more than $360,000 in federal estate taxes after her spouse Thea Spyer died in [...]
Quinn’s Middle Way
It’s become de rigeur for our top city officials to all give annual State of the City addresses. As it turns out, these speeches are about more than simply raising one’s profile, and, in fact, offer many good ideas. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, in her State of the City address on February 11, laid [...]
Hizzoner Ed Koch
It was hard to imagine New York City ever being without Ed Koch. Whether you loved him, hated him or fell somewhere in between, Koch was a larger-than-life figure who always seemed to embody the very essence of the city. His death on Feb. 1 at age 88 came as a shock — even though [...]
Landmark, then Rezone
The City Planning Commission’s recent approval of a major rezoning of Hudson Square means the clock is now ticking until the City Council takes up the application for a vote — in about a month and a half from now. An extremely serious concern is the impact that approval of a residential rezoning for the [...]
