The Observer's Top Twelve Stories of 2011
NYU's Brooklyn Tech Campus Is a Top Contender, But MTA's Jay St. Asking Price Has Grown
Steve Forbes: 'We All Know That Ron Paul Can't Stop Mitt Romney'
Dodge Landesman is Now Campaigning for State Committee
Republicans Skirmish As Iowa Caucus Approaches
College Humor's Ricky Van Veen Graduates from West Village to Chelsea
Which New Yorkers Are Funding The Santorum Surge?
Jed Walentas, Champion of New York and Occupy Wall Street
After The End Of Merce
Steve Forbes: ‘We All Know That Ron Paul Can’t Stop Mitt Romney’
Millionaire and former Republican candidate Steve Forbes thinks a vote for Ron Paul or Rick Santorum in Iowa is really a vote for Mitt Romney--and he doesn't like that one bit. Mr. Forbes sent an email on behalf of Rick Perry's campaign today imploring voters to unite behind the Texas governor to defeat the Romney menace. "Let me be blunt, facing Paul and/or Santorum would be a dream come true for the Romney high command," Mr. Forbes wrote. Read More
Dodge Landesman is Now Campaigning for State Committee
Dodge Landesman, who made headlines in 2009 as the youngest New York City Council candidate in history, has decided to set his sights a tad lower for 2012: Democratic State Committee.
Mr. Landesman has recently registered a committee, set up a campaign Facebook page, and papered the background of his Twitter page with his new campaign signage.
And, the 21-year-old Landesman is no longer in high school for this campaign, he's currently attending Manhattanville College. Read More
Jaguar Presents 12 to Watch in 2012 Episode 9: Solid Objectives-Idenburg Liu - Virtual World to Physical Space
Meet Florian Idenburg and Jing Liu of Solid Objectives-Idenburg Liu, an architecture and design company based in Brooklyn. In the summer of 2010, they designed an interactive installation called Pole Dance at the courtyard of MoMA's PS1 in Long Island City, Queens. The installation, which lasted the entire summer, helped showcase the SO-IL practice beyond pure architecture and, as Mr. Idenburg puts it, "explore the edges of the profession in a more artistic realm."
Presenting Jaguar for 2012: XK, XF, and XJ -Three ways to be moved like never before. Learn more at jaguarusa.com.
Republicans Skirmish As Iowa Caucus Approaches
In the final day of campaigning before the Iowa Caucus tomorrow, Mitt Romney compared President Barack Obama to the Kardashians, Michele Bachmann invoked Margaret Thatcher, Newt Gingrich lamented his fall from the front of the pack and Ron Paul plotted a path to the White House. Mr. Romney is currently leading in the latest Iowa polls followed by Mr. Paul. Mr. Santorum is ever so slightly ahead of Mr. Gingrich in third place. Read More
College Humor’s Ricky Van Veen Graduates from West Village to Chelsea
College Humor founder Ricky Van Veen is known for his love of West Village restaurants. The comedian turned rising media mogul will have to soon refine his palate, as the funny man has moved uptown. Well, to Chelsea, anyways.
Ricky, nee Richard Raphael Van Veen (no, that is not a joke), just bought a $2.45 million condo, according to city records. The two-bedroom, two-bath place is located in tony development The Campiello Collection on West 17th Street, a surprisingly conventional choice for the comedic wunderkind. Read More
Which New Yorkers Are Funding The Santorum Surge?
Recent polls show former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum heading to a close second or maybe even winning the Iowa Caucuses tomorrow night.
The sudden surge coming at exactly the right time for Mr. Santorum's prospects, but it may come too late for him to have any chance of raising enough money to see his way through the rest of the GOP nomination.
Here in New York for example--long the ATM of both parties, there are only eight donors who have given to Mr. Santorum's campaign in the last half of last year, according to campaign finance records.
There are, needless to say, a far remove from the high-roller crowd familiar to most GOP candidates, like those that Mitt Romney hit up for cash at three New York fundraisers in one day last month. Read More
Jed Walentas, Champion of New York and Occupy Wall Street
The Sunday Times had a city-straddling profile of Big Real Estate’s prince charming, Jed Walentas and his ascension into the realm of the famous families, Durst, Trump, LeFrak et al.
The delightfully disheveled Mr. Walentas, “whose daily uniform usually consists of a hoodie and jeans,” speaks on topics ranging from his domains in Dumbo and Hells Kitchen to art and air hockey. The most striking passage, though, is his staunch defense of development as a social good for New York. Read More
After The End Of Merce
On the first night of the last performances of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company at the Park Avenue Armory, last Thursday, an overzealous staffer sounded more like a ringmaster as he handed out programs.
“We have three stages! Six balconies for you to go on! You can walk around! It’s a very interactive show!” Read More
Guy Molinari to Chair David Storobin’s State Senate Campaign
David Storobin, an attorney and Brooklyn GOP official, is about to get a sizable establishment boost to his prospective campaign to replace Carl Kruger in his southeast Brooklyn State Senate seat. According to sources close to Mr. Storobin's campaign, Guy Molinari, a former Congressman and Borough President in Staten Island, will co-chair Mr. Storobin's increasingly likely State Senate bid. Read More
Networks Rally For Grossest New Year’s Eve Coverage (Video)
As television stations fight for viewers home alone watching television as the ball drops to midnight like feral dogs fighting over scraps of decayed meat, anchors and hosts have had to ramp up their "disgusting" quotient in order to add enough shock value to their programming to warrant next-day coverage.
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The New York Giants Are Going to the Playoffs: What That Means For You
After a playoff drought of two years and a season that could only be described as "mildly inconsistent," the New York Giants are headed to the playoffs after decimating the Dallas Cowboys last night at the Metlife stadium. Here's what you'll need to know in order to have intelligent cocktail conversation about our resident champion sports team.
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Charles Barron is confident about his Congressional campaign chances
From his Facebook posts, Brooklyn Councilman Charles Barron appears quite confident indeed about his recently launched Congressional campaign, even though it looks to be a difficult three-way slog against both the incumbent, Ed Towns, and Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries.
A post earlier today announced, "Change is inevitable. Lead, follow or get out of the way. OUR VICTORY IS CERTAIN! HAPPY NEW YEAR!" Read More
James Joyce Has Gone Public! The Public Domain Class of 2012
January stretches out before us like a desolate wilderness raging with inclement weather. What better way to fill the hours than filming your own adaptation of Ulysses and uploading it to the Internet? Other writers who died 70 years ago with works now in the public domain include Virginia Woolf, Sherwood Anderson and Henri Bergson. Read More
Bicycle Backlash Gets Industrial in Greenpoint
As if there were any question that the bikelash would continue for another year, it is only the second day of the year and the stories have already begun popping up. The Brooklyn Paper called the Prospect Park West bike lane fight one of its stories of the year, and now it looks like brownstone dwellers are not the only NIMBYs wary of new bike lanes. Read More
New York Times Now Costs More Than Subway Fare
The New York Times raised its Monday through Saturday newsstand price from $2.00 to $2.50, according to a note to readers on today's home page. Sunday newsstand price is staying the same. As subscribers were alerted in a letter last month, home delivery rates were hiked between 20 and 60 cents a week, depending on Read More
Potsdam Town Council Votes to Keep Control Over Hydrofracking
Several small New York towns are not sticking with Governor Cuomo's plan to have the Department of Environmental Conservation decide how to regulate the controversial natural gas drilling procedure known as hydrofracking. Last week, the Town Council in Potsdam voted to keep local control of hydrofracking setting them up to join a legal battle against energy companies who have been lobbying to have the procedure legalized and want Albany to make the final call. Read More
