With Mayor Bloomberg up in Albany deriding Gov. Spitzer for bilking the city out of $500 million in promised funding, it's no wonder that the perennial call for secession has arisen. Every time NY State politics gets heated, we get to rehash the economics of NYC declaring itself independent from the state. During his NYC budget speech last week, Bloomberg pointed out (again) how NYC pays more than $11 billion in state taxes it doesn't......

So if you remember correctly, Grand Theft Auto IV, the New York City crime simulator, was supposed to be in stores by now. But between production delays and the million other great games this season to compete with, they decided to just push it back till next Spring and get it right. But just in case you've you've still got an itch for some Eastern European organized crime this holiday season, here's a brand......

After reading this, you may think twice about having a seat in Union Square. The website peeped some peeping toms in the area, visually depicted above (they added a "red carpet" to illustrate the "peeper zone"). They also tell us that a "peeper live zone" can contain up to two dozen pervs at one time and can extend up to 30 feet. We wonder what they do when summer skirt season comes to an......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a water rescue at Chambers and Water Sts. off Manhattan, an armed robbery on Rockaway Blvd. and 75th St. in Queens, and a shooting on Grafton St. in Brooklyn. LibrerDia Lectorum, one of the city's oldest Spanish language bookstores will be closing September 30th. The Manhattan store on 14th St. opened in 1960 and became a mainstay of Spanish literature in the city. A fire broke out yesterday afternoon......

aboutmattlaw took this great photograph at the Ditmars Boulevard subway station stairs. It's a nod to Queens City Councilman Peter Vallone's proposed legislation to ban "non-sensual" peeping, with punishments like 90 days in jail and a $500 fine for first offense. Vallone said that his bill was prompted by some women's complaints that a "rather large pervert" was lurking under the Ditmars station's subway steps. Per the Queens Gazette, Vallone emphasizes, "These perverts use......

On Tuesday, a Con Ed executive faced a number of irritated City Council members seeking answers about the July 18 steam pipe explosion in Midtown. Senior vice president William Longhi said that the investigation could take another two or three months, but City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said, "You may not have all the answers and all the Ts crossed and all the Is dotted. I can accept that. But I cannot accept that you......

You'd imagine that Kevin Burke, the chairman, president, and CEO of Con Ed, would want to attend at City Council meeting about the steam pipe explosion on July 18. But, no, Burke isn't showing up, which annoys many Council members. The Sun has a good look at the head of the city's essential and currently reviled utility. Though the Sun couldn't get a comment from Con Ed about Burke's absence (SVP of central operations William......

Lawmakers are looking to toughen laws around tinted windows on automobiles. Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum pointed out that police officer Russel Timoshenko was fatally shot when he approached a stolen SUV with tinted windows. And current State Senator Eric Adams (a retired police captain and a founder of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care) summed it up, "The criminal element does not use tinted windows to protect themselves from dangerous UV rays. They use......

The City Council voted, 46-2, to allow NYC public school students to bring cell phones to and from school - though not to use them during the day. The bill was meant to address concerns of parents and students who believe cell phones are critical to students' safety (see these tales of cell phone-less horror). City Councilman Lew Fidler who sponsored the bill said his 17-year-old son walks eight blocks for a bus and "We......

After months of silence, it looks like Shepard Fairey's recent work on the streets of New York has brought the Splasher out of retirement. Not clear yet if this is related to last week's stinkbomb arrest. Matt Barber writes:Was down on Wooster today at the candy factory building and snapped this photo, the wheatpaste and paint look pretty fresh to me, Shep just put the same poster up near my house last week so thought......

After two days on life support, the 56-year-old bodega owner, who was shot in the face during a robbery attempt, died yesterday morning and police continued their search for the group suspected of robbing a number of bodegas over the past four months. Police Commissioner Kelly said the robbers are "certainly" considered "dangerous," but Cruz's family wonders why the police didn't tell the community about the robberies. One of Cruz's eight children, Karina Cruz, asked,......

While 11-year-old Xochil Garcia is still being praised for her quick thinking and bravery after escaping and helping nab a man who tried to abduct her, some adults are upset at the law. Her parents, as well as City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., are angry that the suspected kidnapper, Bernard Mutterperl, was set free on $25,000 bail. According to court documents, 19-year-old Borough Park resident Mutterperl told the police "when he sees young girls, he......

As part of Adidas's new spring line of End to End sneakers for Foot Locker, the German shoe manufacturer has created an EndtoEnd Project exhibit in an empty lot on Lafayette and Houston. Adidas had different graffiti artists create designs for shoes in an East London warehouse, so in bringing the finished shoes to the states, Adidas has the artists tagging a replica of a NYC subway car! Cue for a quote from City......

With the Grand Theft Auto IV trailer circulating a good six months before the game's release, NYC officials are giving the thumbs down. The Daily News has comments:"It's despicable to glamorize violence in games like these, regardless of how far-fetched the setting may be," said Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly. "The mayor does not support any video game where you earn points for injuring or killing police officers," said Jason Post, a spokesman for Mayor......

The city's murder rate so far has dropped dramatically. There have been 84 murders through Sunday, and the Post reports that's an "average of roughly one per day - an astonishing figure compared to the early 1990s when six New Yorkers were killed during a typical 24-hour period." For reference, last year, there were 117 murders during the same period. Additionally, shootings are down 20% versus the same period last year (203 incidents in 2007,......

Today on the Gothamist News Map: A hazmat situation in Brooklyn, and a fire at Essex and Broome in Manhattan Unusual sighting on the Metro North: A 7' tall drag queen A magistrate judge recommends dismissing the lawsuit that is blocking Atlantic Yards construction, but a district judge will have the final say The suburbs totally suck the smart out of you: One guy bought a CPR dummy to be able to commute on......

As the City Council continues to look at police-supplied data showing blacks are stopped 55% of the time during stop-and-frisk searches, the community has startled to rumble. The Reverend Al Sharpton said that he would start collecting names to file a class action lawsuit against the city. He asid, "It's an outrage. It's enough. No matter how productive you are, to be cast as a suspect rather than a citizen is intolerable in this country.........

The Department of Health released the top dog names and breeds, and dog names are really pretty boring. Or, at least, owners who got their dogs licenses last year (that's how the DOH measures dog name popularity) really like names lke Max, Lucky, Rocky, Buddy and Princess. (And while we say their names are boring, we're not saying they aren't cute.) We're sure our readers have dogs with more interesting names - tell us!......

When City Councilman Peter Vallone is not complaining about graffiti, it seems like his other pet peeve are pit bulls. Vallone is trying to ban pit bulls from city pet owners (by way of repealing a "state law prohibiting breed-specific legislation"). NYC would join cities like Denver and Miami, and the resolution notes that pit bulls are "often a weapon of choice of drug dealers and gangs seeking to intimidate and terrorize neighborhoods." Vallone tells......

This must be what happens when the Euro is strong and the U.S. dollar is weak. It turns out that 70% of elaborate subway car graffiti is created by Europeans. The Daily News puts this on the cover, noting that many taggers from "from Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Switzerland, Denmark and Norway to spray-paint their murals and elaborate tags - called "pieces" - on trains, fully aware that the Transit Authority will scrub them......

Thanks to YouTube, more people can see tagging in action. The Post looks at the YouTubing of graffiti vandals/artists at work in the subways. The vandals declined to be interviewed, but said that the trend began with graffiti writers who took to photographing their work because of the MTA's practice of painting over cars as soon as they're tagged. Though this wasn't what the MTA had in mind when they tried unsuccessfully last year......

Yow. Reaction to graffiti artist-vandal-user-whathaveyou Kiko's sentence (6 months and a $25,000 fine) for tagging various Queens locations was pretty straightforward - graffiti hating City Councilman Peter Vallone was upset Kiko didn't get more time with street art enthusiasts were sorry about it. ANIMAL New York wrote a post noting that Vallone's used graffiti as a "personal soapbox": Although we do think KIKO should be punished in some form or another, specifically public service,......

One year ago, Kiko, aka Oliver Siandre, was arrested for criminal mischief - he had tagged around fifty locations in Queens. And yesterday, he agreed to plead guilty and was sentenced to 6 months in jail and to pay $25,000 back to the city and the owners of the properties he defaced. Siandre will also be on fiveyears of probation and will have to perform community service. Siandre's lawyer says that Siandre is pursuing jewelry......

With the weather turning quite brisk today, it's almost hard to remember that back in stifling July heat, many neighborhoods were without power for days and days. Almost. Yesterday, Con Ed released a 600 page report detailing what happened, why they decided not to shut down the network, and why trying to fix the problem caused delays. All in all, Con Ed is saying it wasn't really their fault - it was the equipment!......

The Office of Emergency Management has decided to stop relying on Con Ed-supplied information on power outages, after the July Queens blackout mess that affected about 300,000. OEM Commissioner Joseph Bruno said that the fact that Con Ed said only 1700 customers were without power on July 20, later raising it to 25,000 customers (and customers equal entire buildings, with indeterminate number of people in them), was cause for the city to start sending canvassers......

As the City Council hopes to strengthen its ability to shut down misbehaving bars and nightclubs, venues may need high-tech ID scanners to check their crowds. The NY Sun has a really interesting article about the technology - and its limitations. Card Scanning Solutions, which makes various ID scanning products, says they have been getting more calls from NYC clubs in the wake of an underage teen's night clubbing before being killed. And the Sun......

Mayor Bloomberg finally made his way to Astoria yesterday to be briefed on the situation leaving thousands of Queens residents and business owners have been with little or no power. Yet he nor Con Ed could not explain why power had been out for four days. Mayor Bloomberg did say, “I cannot explain why we’re in this situation. It’s an intolerable situation.” And the Mayor and Con Ed don't know when power will be......

City Council members - plus public school students and their parents - are gearing up for a fight with the Mayor over the cell phone ban in public schools. Yesterday, the City Council held a hearing about the ban, eliciting a lot of City Council and public support for removing the ban, while the Bloomberg administration wants to stand firm. In April, the Department of Education started "surprise scans" at all high schools, which allowed......

That City Councilman Peter Vallone! Back in 2003, he proposd a bill to study NYC's secession from NY State. But nothing happened. And nothing happened in 2004 (he didn't reintroduce it in 2005, maybe he had graffiti to fight), but no matter, the Queens councilman reintroduced the bill last week. And at the core, the idea of secession makes emotional sense, as the city shoulders a lot of the NY State tax burden (look at......

Newsday has an article that details the relationship between City Councilman Peter Vallone and graffiti taggers. Basically, it goes over what we all know - Vallone hates graffiti, taggers hate him - but it's a good primer on what's happened so far. How one of the city's graf-cleanup trailers was stolen (hey, that's what happens when it says "Sponsored by Peter Vallone" on the side) or like when Cope2 leaving him that crazy message......