NYS Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal at a press conference in January denouncing Jim Dolan’s use of facial recognition technology to bar attorneys he is suing from attending events at Madison Square Garden, has now spearheaded a bill in the NYS Senate to force MSG to start paying $43 million a year in property taxes. It had been granted a special exemption years earlier as an incentive to keep the Knicks and Rangers at the MSG. Photo: Keith J. Kelly NY Senate Dems Take Ax to Tax Break for MSG worth $43 Mil Madison Square Garden collided head on with the Democrats who control the State Senate over whether to continue the property... News 15 Mar 2023 | 10:39
MSG Entertainment CEO Jim Dolan told Rosanna Scotti on Good Day New York back on Jan. 26 that he was thinking of suspending liquor sales for one day at a Rangers game and encouraging fans to contact the State Liquor Authority, which at the time was threatening to pull his liquor license. He’s now apparently dropped the idea of stirring fan outrage and is instead suing the SLA directly. Photo: Good Day New York via You Tube MSG’s Dolan Sues State Liquor Authority Over Its Threat to Pull Liquor Licenses Does the owner of Madison Square Garden have the right to block lawyers from the Garden and other venues just because they... News 14 Mar 2023 | 05:51
State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal (at mic) and Assemblyman Tony Simone (pictured to his left) speak at a press conference March 3 about moving Madison Square Garden and ending the tax abatement which allows the Garden to avoid paying $41 million a year in property taxes. Photo: Kay Bontempo. Pressure Mounting on Hochul to Dump Penn Station Tower Plan Governor Hochul’s plan to help pay for a renovation of Penn Station by building ten supertall towers around it is “dead on... News 06 Mar 2023 | 12:06
A top official at Madison Square Garden dropped a surprise announcement at the end of a CB5 Land Use Committee hearing on Feb. 20 when he said the Garden would consider a move one block east to Seventh Ave but only if it was presented with a “viable” plan. Still it was the first break and came as MSG was insisting it still needed a permit to stay put atop Penn Station “in perpetuity.” Photo: Wikimedia Commons MSG Still Wants to Stay Put, but Cracks Open Door To Move East Across Seventh Ave. Madison Square Garden is seeking permission to stay right where it is, forever, yet at the same time says it would be happy... News 26 Feb 2023 | 07:10
Some activists would like to scrap the Penn Station redevelopment plan endorsed by Governor Hochul in favor of a reimangined Penn Station such as the artists rendering above. Vornado, the largest real estate developer on the Penn Station tower projects, now says it is delaying indefinitely plans to start construction on five office towers around MSG, giving new momentum to opponents of Hochul’s planned redevelopment. Photo: Rethink Penn Station NYC Vornado Retreats from Building New Penn Station Towers...At Least for Now The sagging market for office space has opened a window of delay that is energizing opponents of Governor Kathy Hochul’s... News 18 Feb 2023 | 09:50
Thriving after school and weekend activities have made Harlem School of the Arts a bustling community hub for decades. Currently, it serves between 800 to 1,000 students from 18 months to 18 years old. Photo: Harlem School of Arts Harlem School of Arts, Long a Community Hub, Is Hoping to Become a New K-12 Public School The smudges on the outside of the huge front windows speak volumes to James C. Horton. “If you go look at the glass there’s... Education Guide 10 Feb 2023 | 04:46
Madison Square Garden Entertaintment, the company that owns the Knicks and Rangers wants to stay in the “world’s most famous arena” forever. Politicos and activists want the company gone to make way for a new Penn Stastions. Photo: ajay_suresh Flickr Commons Jim Dolan Wants Madison Square Garden to Get a Lifetime Deal to Stay Put Madison Square Garden dug in against demands that the company move the arena to make way for a better Penn Station, saying... News 10 Feb 2023 | 11:42
Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine has unleashed a sweeping housing plan that could add 70,00 new units in Manhattan to help alleviate the affordable housing crisis. The report finds 171 vacant lots that could support new housing. Boro Pres Unveils Sweeping Housing Plan, Seeks to Add 70,000 New Units Manhattan borough president Mark Levine unveiled a plan to create thousands of new apartments in Manhattan, declaring that... News 02 Feb 2023 | 09:47
One of the five real estate moguls bidding for a casino license in Manhattan is hoping to gain support by offering to place a huge ferris wheel overlooking the East River atop the casino. Photo: Soloviev Enterprises Ante Up: Developers Must Pony Up $1M to Play Casino Game Only high rollers can play in this Casino game. That was the basic message as New York State set up the process to apply... News 06 Jan 2023 | 01:31
NYC Mayor Rudolph Giuliani (third from right) describes the clean-up operation at the site of the World Trade Center terrorist attack in lower Manhattan to Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld (second from left) on Nov. 14, 2001. Photo: Department of Defense photo by R. D. Ward, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Giuliani’s Fall from America’s Mayor to Trump Sycophant There came a moment when Michael Bromwich began to think this was not the Rudolph Giuliani he had worked with to prosecute... News 31 Dec 2022 | 05:01
Mayor Eric Adams and New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan issue health guidance ahead of the holiday season. City Hall, Tuesday, December 20, 2022. Photo: Caroline Willis/Mayoral Photography Office Bypassing the Bivalent Booster If the Great City were granted one holiday wish it should probably be this: All we want for Christmas is for everyone to... News 28 Dec 2022 | 09:19
Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams at announcement for New New York panel’s action plan. Photo: Don Pollard / Office of Governor Kathy Hochul ( Don Pollard) Penn Station and the New New York Governor Kathy Hochul was told by a key legislator that she must come up with a new plan for rebuilding Penn Station and... News 15 Dec 2022 | 03:33
Opponents call this “eyewash”: Hochul and the ESD’s planned underground Penn Station, with the long atrium next to the truck bay being the predominant source of bringing natural light to the two-block station. Rendering by FX Collaborative Fighting ‘Eyewash’ on Penn Station One of the challenges of debating a development project is that the core of the argument is presented in images, not words.... News 09 Dec 2022 | 09:40
Mayor Eric Adams receiving his second COVID-19 booster shot at City Hall on September 20, 2022. Photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office Vaccine Angst For a brief moment we greeted those vaccines as our salvation from COVID-19, scrambling for appointments and celebrating... News 27 Nov 2022 | 10:34
May 2009 photograph by C. Ford Peatross, staircase, former Restaurant Longchamps # 12, Fifth Avenue at 34th Street (Empire State Building), opened 1938. Photo courtesy of C. Ford Peatross Taking Away the Stairway A historic stairway, the last surviving restaurant interior designed by the noted New York artist Winold Reiss, has been... News 15 Nov 2022 | 01:02
