Mayor MIchael Bloomberg's largess makes him the country's seventh biggest charitable donor. The Chronicle of Philanthropy's Top 50 Donor List (less sexy than the Forbes list, but possibly more worthy) notes he committed $205 million to various institutions last year. Bloomberg's giving has been generous ever since becoming mayor, prompting the Sun to note that "the largest jump in his contributions [occurred] last year, amid mounting speculation he will run for president." And as if......

Back in 2006, an agreement signed the day construction started for the new Yankee Stadium promised the team would pay $1.2 million a year in cash and in kind to a fund benefiting Bronx residents for 40 years. It was a gesture to make up for the inconvenience during construction and loss of parkland the new stadium was costing the neighborhood. After a year and half, none of the money has been distributed - and......

Now that you've torn through your presents and are making room for new gifts and purchases -- why not give a little back? Green Brooklyn reminds us that we have until December 31st to make tax-deductible donations (to claim on 2007 income taxes). They were particularly moved by the amount of work Habitat for Humanity has been doing for Brooklyn, they just completed their 9th home in the area -- all "constructed using state-of-the-art, eco-friendly......

During the holidays, we are all bombarded with requests for charitable giving. Sure, it's a great way to do something good and squeeze in one more tax deduction before year's end, but given the number of requests, making a choice about how to spend your charity dollars can be somewhat daunting. The Times focused this week on the dizzying number of food-related charities making year-end requests. Alongside the more traditional hunger-related organizations, "[c]haritable groups dedicated......

Have you seen the copper-toned glow emanating from Rockefeller Center? It's not The Tree...it's a penny harvest field! The installation is the first phase of Penny Harvest, and the copious coins came from students in NYC who have collected $1 million in change. The pennies will later go to different charities and towards improving the students communities.New York first lady Silda Wall Spitzer joined hundreds of public school children on Monday to unveil a mass......

We hope the following doesn't put anyone off their appetite before they've even had a chance to tuck into their Thanksgiving feast, but we have to describe what champion eater Tim Janus managed to consume in a publicity feast for charity. In the course of 15 minutes, Janus gobbled down the following:A 10-pound turkey Four pounds of mashed potatoes Three pounds of cranberry sauce Two and a half pounds of green beans This was accomplished......

The city’s food charities are dealing with dire shortages this year, exacerbated by cutbacks in federal food aid. Many places like St. Benedict the Moor Neighborhood Center in the South Bronx are almost barren; according to today’s Times, the center’s pantry used to be stacked up to the ceiling with food but now holds just “a few sacks of potatoes, some cornflakes, juice and peanut butter.” To help fill the void, City Harvest, the non-profit......

Knicks 97 Minnesota 93: Isiah Thomas was booed when he was introduced before the game, but the rest of the Knicks were cheered. And, when Nate Robinson pledged before the game that this team would win more games than in previous seasons that elicited the biggest cheers of all. Robinson backed up his pledge with 10 points in 16 minutes while Jamal Crawford had 24. Unlike Friday, the Knicks shot well from the charity stripe,......

The Critical Mass Halloween Ride is tonight! If you go, get some good pictures! THEATER: Sam Marks’s new play The Joke peels back the thin gauze separating comedy from an open wound. Set in the last throws of the Catskills comedy circuit circa 1965, the story concerns the disintegrating comedy duo of Steady Eddie and Doug the Mug. Doug has let his envy of Eddie get the better of him and begins adding more of......

New Yorkers are good at finding creative ways to pay the rent. One 20-something couple is painting each thing they want, and selling the painting for the exact price of the item they're hankering for. So a painting of an iPhone will set you back $432.32 and a painted slice of pepperoni will cost you 3 bucks. They even painted their rent...and more optimistically: a million dollar bill (in their work titled Financial Security).......

There appears to be another license plate problem for New York, but unlike the problem of people and groups getting official license plates without being eligible, this situation wasn't created by the DMV. A Missouri-based charity that provides bicycle helmets to children and sells old license plates as a fund-raiser, the American Children’s Safety Network (ASCN), is selling what appears to be a new design of a New York optional license plate in both car......

In what could be his biggest personal accomplishment ever, Mr. Met is going to the Mascot Hall of Fame. Yesterday, the Mascot Hall of Fame named Mr. Met a member of its 2007 class along with the San Antonio Coyote. The Post, which is thumping its chest with the news, talked to Mets spokesman Jay Horowitz, "We're thrilled at what he does. He does a lot of good charity work, the kids love him, and......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a water rescue off the beach at 105th St. and Shore Front Parkway in Queens, a person struck by a train at 77th St. and 4th Ave. in Brooklyn, and a shooting at Martin Luther King Pl. and Tompkins Ave. in Brooklyn. A middle-aged man was arrested Sunday evening after attempting to rob a McDonald's on Staten Island, but settling for ripping the clear acrylic box of donations for......

Bookeaters Return! What started off as an excellent concert lineup just got better and better as the date approached. The additions of Spoon's Britt Daniel and Kevin Drew were a bonus treat. Music, reading and charity aside, perhaps the biggest wow moment was show headliner Jim James' new closely cropped haircut. The My Morning Jacket front man sheared his trademark Muppet locks since the last time we've seen him about. Not that it affected the......

Thought Governor Eliot Spitzer and Senator Hilary Clinton appeared at a press conference to discuss health coverage of New York children, they had to answer questions about campaign donations they accepted from fugitive apparel executive Norman Hsu. Clinton received $23,000 from Hsu and announced that she would donate the money to charity after revelations that Hsu has been wanted in California for defrauding California investors since 1991. Hsu has fled to Hong Kong but......

Leona Helmsley, whose conviction on tax evasion charges made her infamous beyond her repute as a hotelier and real estate developer, died today at age 87. She and her husband Harry Helmsley (who divorced his wife of 33 years to marry her) ran a $5 billion real estate empire that included the Empire State Building, 230 Park Avenue, Tudor-City, a number of hotels including the Park Lane, New York Helmsley, and Helmsley Palace, and......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a pedestrian struck on Pennsylvania Ave. and Fulton St. in Brooklyn, a bank robbery on Co-Op City Blvd. in the Bronx, and a commercial high-rise fire on Broadway in Manhattan. An actor who once played a police lieutenant on L&O;: SVU turned himself in to NJ cops today on suspicion of possession of child pornography. YouTube wants to subpeona comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert in a lawsuit charging......

Stephon Marbury has done some great things through his career on the basketball court and off the baseketball court. His Starbury line of affordable shoes and apparel, and giving back to the community in Coney Island with Starbury's Give Back Day. This past Sunday, he went on Mike'd Up on WNBC to talk about his charity work and the Knicks with Bruce Beck (filling in for Mike Francesa). What followed was more than 9......

It appears that the iPhone day incident between a television news producer and a charity mascot seems to be more than that it appears. The mascot, from a group that calls itself Hungrr was involved in a verbal altercation with the producer and was then asked to move along by the police. Watch the video for yourself, here. Here is what we know: WNBC released a statement yesterday afternoon saying: "We looked into this serious......

Last night Beverly Sills lost her battle with lung cancer, she died at her home in Manhattan at the age of 78. While she was a lifelong non-smoker and only found out about the cancer a few weeks ago, this wasn't her first experience with it - she underwent a successful surgery for cancer in 1974. Sills, born Belle Miriam Silverman (and called "Bubbles" in her youth), was a Brooklyn-born soprano, and one of the......

With less than four days until the Apple iPhone finally hits shelves across the country, anticipation is reaching a boiling point. This $600 device (for 8gb, $500 for 4gb) is following the tradition set down by generations (and repeated recently with the PS3), fan boys are starting to amass in the time honored tradition of excessive line waiting. The honor of first in line goes to two gentlemen whom Gizmodo interviewed at the Fifth......

Not long after their triumphant The Threepenny Opera (and the not-so-triumphant Wall Street crash of 1929), Bertolt Brecht and his close collaborator Elisabeth Hauptmann began assembling Saint Joan of the Stockyards from the spare parts of Happy End, the critically maligned follow-up to Threepenny (both with music by Kurt Weill). The story was heavily influenced by Brecht’s first dip into Marxism, not to mention Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle and George Bernard Shaw’s Saint Joan......

In an interesting yet somewhat crass article, The New York Times jumps the gun on 105-year-old Brooke Astor's impending death and pores over her last will and testament, examining the document to see who is getting what. It is almost fortunate that Astor's sufferering from reduced mental competency at this point, because we imagine the doyenne of New York's philanthropic scene might be embarrassed at her final personal requests and bequests being publicized in the......

Staten Island is not having a good week. In addition to the outrage over the weird ad copy appearing in part of a Virgin Mobile campaign, the borough’s president has also called for an ice cream boycott. Last Friday, a perturbed James P. Molinaro wrote a letter to Scott and Kim Myles, husband and wife co-owners of the Queens-based 5 Boroughs Ice Cream company. Someone had shown Molinaro a copy of a flyer printed off......

June 7 - June 11: Broadway Panhandler "Yard Sale" Just because they don't technically have a yard in their new location won't stop Broadway Panhandler from having its annual Yard Sale, where you can find discounts of up to 75 percent off on select cooking supplies. 65 East 8th Street, 212-966-3434. June 8: Beard on Film Join directors whose films will be featured at the upcoming NYC Food Film Festival (June 14–16, 21–23, September 6–8):......

Frank essentially calls Robert out on his Il Brigante review from a couple of weeks back. Looks like he is getting his pizza jones ramped up, expect a flurry of pizza output in the next few months. In a sad bit of news, Teresa's the the Polish stalwart on lower on First Avenue has ended its 22 year run in the East Village. They remain in business at a Brooklyn Heights location. In a sadder......

The only previous owners of Rothko's "White Center" have been the Bliss family (founders of the MoMA) and David Rockefeller. Tuesday night, the painting will be on the auction block at Sotheby's. The rest of us who can't afford it can check it out starting today at Sotheby's (1334 York Avenue at 72nd Street) during the following times: Friday, 11 May 07, 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM Saturday, 12 May 07, 10:00 AM - 5:00......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a bank robbery on Lenox Ave. in Manhattan, a shooting on Farragut Rd. in Brooklyn, and a home invasion robbery on 84th St. in Queens. The City honored Jay-Z's mom, Gloria Carter, today for her work overseeing the Shawn Carter Scholarship Fund, a college-oriented educational charity that helps disadvantaged and non-traditional students. A Queens man, already under arrest for threatening a police officer with a gun in front of......

"Some Time in New York City" was released in 1972 as John Lennon's third post-Beatles album (and his fifth with Yoko Ono). Critically and commercially the album didn't do well, especially compared to Lennon's previous albums. "Imagine" had just come out in the 1971, and comparatively this one was brash, loud and more reflective of his political and new geographical surroundings at the time, in Greenwich Village. As documented in The US vs John......

Courtney Love (who recently sold some of her own stuff on Ebay) has announced she'll be putting almost all of Kurt Cobain's belongings up for auction at Christie's. Love told AOL's Spinner, "I'm going to have a Christie's auction, (My house) is like a mausoleum. My daughter doesn't need to inherit a giant ... bag full of flannel ... shirts. A sweater, a guitar and the lyrics to '(Smells Like) Teen Spirit' -- that's what......