One of the best green ideas this year comes from Council Member Hiram Monserrate who wants to give free parking for a year to owners of hybrid cars. If the legislation passes, drivers with hybrids can apply for permits granting them the right to free use of parking meters for a year after their initial purchase.
According to Mr. Monserrate, the advantages of such a move would not be limited to the environment.
“It might help in a small way to activate new car sales, which I think is good for the economy. And no one can deny that it would be good for car dealers and the workers at the plants,” he said.
While the cost of the proposal was not immediately clear, Mr. Monserrate said tax revenue from increased car purchases could help pay for it.
“Whatever the city loses on a few quarters, we will gain in the city tax portion of purchasing a new vehicle,” he said.
Along with this free parking proposal, Monserrate is also asking for tax incentives for New Yorkers who get hybrid. He is also suggestion a $100 tax credit on top of that. If these resolutions pass, it will definitely be time to go green with a hybrid in the Big Apple.
If you do, then you can be the proud owner of the GM Building. This white marble masterpiece even comes with an Apple Store in your plaza! Along with the glass cube wonder of exciting products, your fellow tenants include hedge funds and law firms. I am sure you will need them to float this puppy.
But maybe that’s not a great idea, because that’s why its for sale in the first place.
March 7, 2008 — Harry Macklowe moved a step closer toward selling his venerable GM Building, receiving what one source described as “several bids” worth more than $3 billion.
However, at least two big-name suitors chose to sit out a second round of bidding for the 50-story tower at 767 Fifth Ave.
The debt-laden Macklowe has been hoping to sell the GM Building for at least $3.4 billion in order to pay off debt held by Deutsche Bank and hedge fund Fortress Investment Group.
However, there were doubts earlier this week whether he’d be able to get $3 billion, let alone $3.4 billion. And anything short of the $3.4 billion Macklowe wants raises the chances that he would have to sell other assets in order to meet his debt obligations.
So the dude needs money, and he needs it fast. Come on, it’s right on Central Park! Just $3.4 Billion and it’s yours. To bad the NY Times bought that clunker of a building last year, this would have been choice for the Grey Lady.
An owner of Scores West vowed last night to take his case to the state. He is bemoaning the fact that his strip club’s liquor license has been taken all because his dancers were selling sexual favors. See, dancing for dollars is one thing, running a house of ill repute is quite another.
The owner also said it was politically motivated, which is pretty comical since politicians are some of his best clients. HE also said Bill Clinton had affairs in the White House, and they didn’t close the White House. Really, he did!
So soon party goes at the Scores West strip club might not be able to spend $20 dollars on a single drink. Instead they might have to drink somewhere where the beer prices are logical. And as watered down as they maybe, it is not more watered down than Scores stock. Yes, they are publically traded.
Scores East and Scores West were unable to pay $3.4 million owed Scores Holding Co. Inc. last year “because of increased legal costs incurred during investigations together with revenue shortfalls,” documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission say.
Stock in Scores Holding Co. Inc. was trading at 0.0085, less than a penny a share, at Thursday’s market close.
If the walls of most hotels could talk, I am not sure you could show their stories on network tv. Oh the stories they must be able to tell, especially if celebrities and all their antics come to stay. Well, looks like the Four Seasons Hotel in Chicago will finally get its say.
Two former concierges to five-star hotels have written a book called, “Great Reservations”. Abigail Hart and Nancy Joyce Callahan pen tales of some their more demanding visitors:
For a mere 12-hour stay, assistants for Nicole Kidman shipped a set of pink, 800-thread-count Italian sheets to the hotel ahead of her visit – along with diagrams and pages of instructions on how to make the bed. The then-Mrs. Tom Cruise never actually arrived.
Gary Busey pitched a screaming tantrum when he spotted a potted palm in his hallway. “I want that tree in my room!” he’s said to have ordered. The staff obliged him, and gave him the nickname “Abuse-y.”
Diva Diana Ross informed the staff no one was to make eye contact with her. Maids also discovered a black, tumbleweed-like object on the floor of her room; it turned out to be her wig.
John Cusack mistook the Four Seasons for his mom’s house, shipping his dirty laundry to the hotel before he checked in so they could wash it, according to the authors. They also claim he left his discarded underwear around his room to be collected, laundered and mailed to him after he checked out. “Not accurate,” Cusack’s rep tells us. “That’s not John at all. He also hasn’t stayed there in a decade.”
There are also dishes on Anthony Hopkins, Elton John, Madonna and more. The hotel has no comment, but you can read it all April 15.
When Bloomberg introduced his PlanYC, most New Yorkers sort of giggled, and thought it was all hot air. Globally hot air. Well, say hello to a new part of his initiative for a greener New York: efficiency standards for all corporate car services.
This comes on the heels of setting new standards for all of the city’s cabs last year. By 2010, all cabs and cars must be able to get 30 miles to gallon, which is currently double the acceptable average.
To enable small business owners to update their fleets, the city has come up with a plan to help banks and car dealerships offer deals everyone can afford.
“Their savings they will pay for it, even in the first year, and then get enormous savings for their bottom line,” said the Mayor Michael Bloomberg. “Drivers will make a lot more money with this.”
The mayor is also asking the statehouse in Albany to wave the city portion of the sales tax on any updated fleet that meets the PlanYC standards, but we know how things go up there.
New York City is getting greener, or at least car dealerships are seeing more green. Either way, win/win for air quality.
The Oscars have arrived. While most associate the awards show with the red carpets galore out in Los Angeles, the official New York Oscar night will be held at the Carlyle Hotel. Here, the cream of the crop of the east coast media industry come to meet and greet and watch their ponies in the race out West.
If you have yet to see any of the movies (Michael Clayton, Atonement, There Will Be Blood, No Country For Old Men and Juno), free up your Saturday! At the AMC theaters in town, there will be all day showings of all Oscar nominated movies! With your all-day pass you get unlimited popcorn and ability to walk out on a movie and not feel like you wasted your money.
Hidden in a knock Under St. Marks, there is a theater where emerging artists cut their teeth. Well before they get to Broadway, or even off Broadway, some of the best new talent goes through this venue. The current production is like a post-punk rock opera, a tale of a broken family who comes together when a dark stranger comes to visit. HORSE TRADE THEATER GROUP
94 St. Marks Place
Saturday, 8 p.m.
$16
First off, the bad means naughty in a politically incorrect way, not being razzed by the critics. The Bad Plays Festival returns for its second year, this time to the Players Theatre at 115 MacDougal Street in Greenwich Village, running from September 10 through 30. Each night starting at 8 p.m., there’s a unique theme of 3-6 new plays for one all-inclusive ticket price of $15-$25 (varies with discounts and advance sales).
This year’s festival presents 6 THEME NIGHTS of fun and exciting “bad” plays on a rotating basis:
SOMETHING TO OFFEND EVERYONE featuring: “Hollywood Saves Africa” by K. Knapp, “The Mexican Cleaning Lady or How I Almost Offended the Dalai Lama” by Leslie Bramm, “The Hootens of Hollerville” by Michael Paul Girard, and “The Jewish Roaches” by Richard Ravits.
SEX, THUGS AND ROCK ‘N ROLL featuring: “Revenge Is Best Served Cold” by Samuel Toll, “God’s Pants Too Huge” by George Holets, “Artist vs. Landlord” by Doron Braunshtein a/k/a Apollo Braun, “Sexual Perversity in Connecticut” by Mike Folie, “The Age Game” by Joan Blake and Tia Maria, and “Perfect Pitch” by Patricia Lee Stotter.
SWINGTIME FOR HITLER (& FRIENDS) featuring: “Goebbels! One Night Only! Live From Hell!” by Scott Munson, “Better Than Hitler” by Jon Brooks, and “God Bless America” by William Morton.
LITTLE BOXES MADE OF TICKY-TACKY featuring: “Going Postal” by George Holets, “The Greatest in the Whole Wide World” by David Kosh, “A Fake Fiasco” by Frederick Timm, and “The Canary” by Don Chan Mark.
IS THAT A GUN IN YOUR POCKET? featuring: “Aphrodite’s Nightie” by Frank O’Donnell, “Berry Season” by Rosemary Toohey, “Down Goes Rocky” by Reid MacCluggage, “The Devil and His Sunglasses” by Csaba Teglas, and “Time Went by but Slowly” by J. Boyer.
POKING AT SACRED COWS (a faux classical romp) featuring: “The Moor’s Pastiche” by Jean Hart, “Come Again?” by Richard J. Budin, and “The Queen’s Privy” by Michael Paul Girard.
Saturdays at 3 p.m., the company’s original children’s musical “Ebony Black,” a multicultural take on Snow White, will perform for children and family audiences. Tickets are $7/children & $10/adults.
Even the hard working and step-child of the boating world has its day. Once a year tugboats get the limelight in the harbor of New York in the New York Tugboat Race and Competition. The annual race, which was yesterday, included historic boats like the Urger from 1901, and the W. O. Decker from 1930, which is also docked at the South Street Seaport. More modern tugs also were in the hunt.
The boats sailed from Pier 84, located at 44th Street in the Hudson River Parll, to about 79th Street, more or less a nautical mile. The race resembled more of a tractor pull than a drag strip, the spectacle of the work horses parading up the East River was still exciting.
After the main race, there was what is called a bow-to-bow pushing challenge, where two tugboats meet and try and push each other around. It was like watching two sumo wrestlers battle it out on water, with the most horsepower always prevailing. Other events included best crew member tattoo, best decorated tug and best tug mascot, be it a lizard, dog or even pony.
Make sure not to miss this next year. Check out their website for more fun events: www.workingharbor.org
One of the best green ideas this year comes from Council Member Hiram Monserrate who wants to give free parking for a year to owners of hybrid cars. If the legislation passes, drivers with hybrids can apply for permits granting them the right to free use of parking meters for a year after their initial purchase.
If you do, then you can be the proud owner of the GM Building. This white marble masterpiece even comes with an Apple Store in your plaza! Along with the glass cube wonder of exciting products, your fellow tenants include hedge funds and law firms. I am sure you will need them to float this puppy.
An owner of Scores West vowed last night to take his case to the state. He is bemoaning the fact that his strip club’s liquor license has been taken all because his dancers were selling sexual favors. See, dancing for dollars is one thing, running a house of ill repute is quite another.
When Bloomberg introduced his PlanYC, most New Yorkers sort of giggled, and thought it was all hot air. Globally hot air. Well, say hello to a new part of his initiative for a greener New York: efficiency standards for all corporate car services.
The Oscars have arrived. While most associate the awards show with the red carpets galore out in Los Angeles, the official New York Oscar night will be held at the Carlyle Hotel. Here, the cream of the crop of the east coast media industry come to meet and greet and watch their ponies in the race out West.
Hidden in a knock 
