The New York Observer (New York, NY) back issues from December 2008:
Paterson Still Proposing Tax Caps, Opponents Still Opposing.
Dec 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ ALBANY--Get ready for the next chapter in the battle over property-tax caps. Governor David Paterson and Tom Suozzi, the Nassau County executive who chaired the state commission on property tax relief, again reiterated their call for a cap on property tax ...
These Giants Compete With Simms, Gifford and Lombardi.
Dec 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ If you're a Giants fan, would you consider it a letdown if they didn't go all the way this season? You should, because right now, after their hugely impressive 23-7 victory over the Washington Redskins on Sunday, the Giants are clearly the best team in the NFC and ...
Obama Is Right to Duck Georgia.
Dec 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ It's been fashionable to compare Barack Obama's presidential transition favorably to Bill Clinton's 16 years ago, which was supposedly a model of chaos and disorganization. This is somewhat unfair to the former president, whose popularity didn't really take a hit ...
Is David Gregory Replacing Tim Russert as Moderator of Meet The Press?
Dec 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Danny Shea of the Huffington Post is reporting that David Gregory has been chosen as the next moderator of NBC News' Meet the Press. Mr. Gregory's name has been reportedly on a short list of possible replacements for the esteemed position since Tim Russert ...
The Afternoon Wrap: Monday.
Dec 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ The National Bureau of Economic Research officially announces a U.S. recession; the Dow drops 680 points. [NY Times] A bus driver is stabbed to death in Bed-Stuy after denying a passenger a transfer. [City Room] Jersey City's City Council votes ...
Fashion Roundup: Siriano's Shoes, Jacobs' Nudes, 'Polanski's' Greed.
Dec 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Project Runway contestant Christian Siriano has signed a deal with Payless to design a line of affordable shoes and handbags. [NY Post] Designer Roberto Cavalli has been cleared of all tax evasion charges brought against him in Italy in 2002 when he ...
The Future of Print is ... Peaches Geldof.
Dec 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Via The Guardian: Import socialite, Brooklyn resident, model, clothing designer, Nylon columnist, and possibly desperate housewife Peaches Geldof will continue to expand her inorganic hipster brand with the release of Disappear Here, a new magazine she co-edits with ...
On Tomorrow...
Dec 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. How can New York and New Jersey take advantage of their ample waterfronts to better serve their communities and jumpstart a stalled economy? Find out at "On The Waterfront: Finding the Balance for Development and Communities" hosted by the Center for ...
!Viva Sean! Penn and Pals Chat Up Chavez and Castro.
Dec 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ It's been a busy week for Sean Penn. In theaters, the actor is generating Oscar buzz for his starring role in Milk and on the newsstand, he wrote the cover story for The Nation. If the Mr. Penn has his way, he just might bring an end to the U.S. embargo on Cuba. ...
Paterson Not at All Pleased by Judicial Nominees.
Dec 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ ALBANY--David Paterson said a list of nominees to replace retiring Chief Judge Judith Kaye, the state's top judge, was "disturbing" on first impression. "I haven't gotten a chance to look at the list other than a couple of preliminary, just, comments that ...
Ousted Boss Rivera Raising Money for...Rivera.
Dec 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Here's an invitation to an event for recently ousted Bronx Democratic leader Jose Rivera, who, it seems, wants to seek re-election to his Assembly seat. Rivera had come under criticism for using this year's county fund-raiser as a way to generate money for his own ...
Britney Tweets From NYC Post-MTV Special.
Dec 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Apparently, Britney Spears took a stroll on the streets of New York last night while her newsless, yet somehow touching documentary For the Record aired on MTV. She updated her Twitter just a few minutes ago: britneyspears ...
Paterson on Hillary's Appointment and, Unrelatedly, Suozzi.
Dec 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ ALBANY--He'd no longer be speculating on speculation, but David Paterson still won't say much about who he might appoint to Hillary Clinton's senate seat, except to praise her as she moves toward becoming secretary of state. "She probably was thought at ...
On NY Tech Meetup: Change is Sexy, But Let's Focus.
Dec 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Last week, Scott Heiferman, C.E.O. of Meetup, announced when and where candidates could announce their interest in replacing him as organizer of the New York Tech Meetup. So far, several candidates have stepped forward, including Greg Magarshak, founder of social media ...
Atlantic Yards as Political Theater.
Dec 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Bruce Ratner has drawn resentment and scorn in the Brooklyn community surrounding his planned $4 billion Atlantic Yards project, but now he's inspired cultural enrichment. Sort of. A local theater company has created a production, running this week, on the ...
Just How Many Vacant Apartments Does Manhattan Have?
Dec 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ We dropped on you this morning the gong-rattling pronouncement that Manhattan is now a tenant's market by the two most important measures: rents (they're dropping across the board) and vacancies (they're up and climbing). But there's more to the math. ...
One Drawback of Senator Gillibrand.
Dec 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ ALBANY--Representative Kirsten Gillibrand's name is persistently circulating--along with many others--as a possible replacement for Hillary Clinton in the Senate, but the idea may dissolve if Democrats think that would mean sacrificing a congressional seat. ...
Mayor Bloomberg Knows You're Smoking Late at Night.
Dec 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Despite Mayor Michael Bloomberg's 5-year-old ban on smoking in bars, patrons are still lighting up after hours. If you've ever been to the Beatrice Inn or Rose Bar at Gramercy Park Hotel last at night, this isn't exactly news. But rarely is it pointed out--with 1,800 ...
Murdoch the Magnificent.
Dec 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ The Man Who Owns The News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch By Michael Wolff Broadway Books, 446 pages, $29.95 Among people in what's called "traditional media," a genre that today ranges in intellectual and commercial ...
Ravi Batra on Our Next Senator, Pork Retention.
Dec 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Ravi Batra, an attorney who seems to be everywhere something political is happening, said that what New York needs in a new senator is ...
Paterson: Still, No Rush.
Dec 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ ALBANY--Responding to the totally expected nomination of Hillary Clinton for secretary of state, David Paterson praised the politician he has long supported, and made it clear he is not going to announce a replacement any time soon. In addition to calling ...
Apthorp Condos Officially Up for Sale.
Dec 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ From Curbed: "Legendary Upper West Side landmark, coveted luxury rental building, celebrity-filled hideaway--the Apthorp is/was all of these things, and now thanks to an epic and bitter condo conversion, the 19th-century beauty at ...
Consultants on Replacing Clinton: Great Demands, Limited Bench.
Dec 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ A couple of interesting, educated takes on what David Paterson might be thinking about when it comes to replacing Hillary Clinton in the Senate: Rodney Capel, the former executive director of the state Democratic Party, said that the governor should pick a ...
On Tour, Madge Makes the Most Money.
Dec 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ As Madonna embarks on life sans Guy Ritche, she'll have more than A-Rod to look forward to. NME.com is reporting that Madge's Sticky and Sweet World Tour is set to become the highest grossing jaunt by a solo artist ever. According to Live Nation--the concert promoter ...
Happy Tina Fey Day!
Dec 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ What else do you call a day when the comedic actress and writer is seemingly everywhere all at once? First up, Vanity Fair, which enlisted The Times' Maureen Dowd to profile Ms. Fey, whom the magazine's cover trumpets as "A New American Sweetheart!" ...
CBS News Names Nancy Cordes as Congressional Correspondent.
Dec 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Today CBS News executives named Nancy Cordes as the network's new Congressional Correspondent. Previously, Ms. Cordes served as the network's Transportation and Consumer Safety Correspondent. According to the press release, she will continue to cover both beats. ...
Early Afternoon Update.
Dec 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ It's 1999 all over again! Nervous New York apartment landlords are offering more concessions to lure tenants. [NY Mag] "Condo owners are definitely dropping their starting prices. Those living downtown--in Chinatown, the financial district, and Greenwich ...
Martin Scorsese to Direct Yet Another Movie.
Dec 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ It's official: Martin Scorsese doesn't want anyone else directing movies in Hollywood. Production Weekly is reporting (via /Film) that the Oscar winner is set to helm the poorly titled Falcon's Tale. The film would focus a criminal who gets busted for drugs and then ...
City Cuts Renters' Fund, May Ban Bottled Water.
Dec 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Barack Obama is aiming for "no drama" foreign policy, writes Jason Zengerle. [Plank] Liberal Obama supporters are upset by what they perceive to be his shift to the right, writes one conservative upstate blogger, but the problem is that during the campaign ...
Schumer on the Clinton Nomination.
Dec 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ ALBANY - It's official - Hillary Clinton has been nominated as secretary of state. Here's what Senator Chuck Schumer had to say about it: First and foremost, Hillary has been a superb public servant for the people of New York, a terrific partner ...
Obama on Clinton, Old Quotes.
Dec 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Never mind the campaign. That's Barack Obama's once-and-for-all line on his former differences with Hillary Clinton, who he just announced as his secretary of state at a press conference this morning introducing the Obama foreign policy team. ...
Former Lehman President Joseph Gregory Puts $32.5 Million Bridgehampton Mansion Up for Rent.
Dec 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Richard Fuld Jr., who recently sold off 16 works of art at Christie's, is not the only former Lehman Brothers executive selling off his assets. The financial firm's former president, Joseph Gregory--who has already sold his apartment at 610 Park Avenue for $4.4 ...
Powerful Liquor Authority Chairman Now Less Powerful.
Dec 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ State Liquor Authority Chairman Daniel Boyle, ranked No. 21 on The Observer's 100 Most Powerful People in New York Real Estate, has lost some clout in the apparent political fallout from his unsuccessful fight to sink the Cipriani family's restaurant empire. ...
Siegel: 'This is It'.
Dec 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Norman Siegel, one of the recognizable names in next year's public advocate's race, said that if his third bid for the office is unsuccessful, he won't try again. "I told my wife and we had a conversation, and this is it," Siegel said.. "That's why it's ...
Post Reconsiders Saving Hotel Penn.
Dec 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Last November, the Post's Steve Cuozzo railed against the campaign to preserve Hotel Pennsylvania, which he called "one of the gloomiest structures between the Battery and The Bronx." Now, the paper is listing the old Glenn Miller hangout among its "10 ...
Morning Memo: Christopher Buckley to Continue Telling All; Madonna and A-Rod Spotted in Mexico; Lindsay Lohan Gives Advice.
Dec 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Christopher Buckley will continue to work through his daddy issues with a new book about the death of his parents, William F. and Pat Buckley, which he predicts will "land hard in some quarters." [P6] Cameron Diaz made a big deal of avoiding ex Justin ...
The Jets Get a Beating and a Lesson.
Dec 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Last week, an upstart team packed its backs and traveled to play the conference-leading Tennessee Titans when few supposed it had any realistic chance of success. As it would turn out, the upstarts destroyed that Titans team, embarrassing it before its hometown crowd ...
No Foolin' This Time! Manhattan Now a Tenant's Market.
Dec 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Yowza! In an email time-stamped 6:38 a.m., The Real Estate Group New York declared that Manhattan was now, for all intents and purposes, a tenant's market going forward. "Landlords are feeling a lot of pressure this month," Daniel Baum, the firm's COO said ...
Mid-Morning Read: Clinton, Imbarrato, Mondello.
Dec 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ "This was not me," Republican State Chairman Joe Mondello said of his party's poor showing during the elections. He plans to finish his term, which expires in September. Alan Chartock says Hillary Clinton may be great at her new job, or she may be "the ...
The Local: Tin Pan Alley Sounds Cautious Tune.
Dec 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ "Tin Pan Alley is gone," Bob Dylan wrote in the jacket of his 1997 album Biograph. "I put an end to it." The neighborhood that was once the hub of the American music-publishing industry in the early 20th century has undergone many transformations since it ...
Whatever Happened To 'Central Park North?'.
Dec 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ It's been three years since the Athena Group purchased the lot at 111 Central Park North, occupied then by a low-slung brick building that housed a hair salon and a parking lot. In the ensuing years, the development company built a glossy condominium tower, ...
The (Big) Round-Up: Monday.
Dec 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ NYC owes local companies $800 million in tax refunds after many of them overpaid based on more optimistic performance forecasts. [NY Times] After seven years of repairs and construction, the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine is finally rededicated on ...
Investing in the Region's Mass Transit.
Dec 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ This summer I wrote about the need for increased public subsidies for mass transit and about the importance of keeping transit fares as low as possible. Due to over borrowing for capital improvements during the Pataki administration and the reduction in revenues from ...
Despite Everything... Holiday Parties!
Dec 01, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ It's a bad economic climate for holiday parties, but some organizations, including my old newspaper, the Queens Tribune, are bravely pressing forward with celebrations. (See above.) Here are some others I've heard about: Tonight, The United ...
More Details on Those Manhattan Rent Drops.
Dec 02, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Our world was rocked assiduously by the Monday morning news that Manhattan rents have begun to not only drop but tumble in some cases. Above is a rundown on the dips ...
$192.8 M. Contract for Bronx-Queens Connection.
Dec 02, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ From GlobeSt: "The Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Monday awarded a $192.8-million contract for reconstruction on the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge connecting the Bronx to ...
Steven Soderbergh Talks 3-D Cleopatra Musical, Finds Caesar.
Dec 02, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ As we anxiously await the release of Steven Soderbergh's Che--the four-hour epic begins a limited one week engagement at the IFC Center starting on December 12th before coming back around in January--isn't it time we got an update on the craziest/awesomest project ...
On Home Price Comebacks.
Dec 02, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ From the Wall Street Journal: "Those hoping for a quick rebound are likely to be disappointed. Economists and other pros generally say home prices won't bottom out before the second half of 2009, and some don't see a bottom until 2011 or 2012. Even when they stop ...
Morning Memo: Gossip Girl Gossip; Kate Moss Gets Physical; Boy George Did Not Really Want to Hurt Prostitute.
Dec 02, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ It looks like Gossip Girl's Vanessa Abrams ("Jessica Szohr") has finally come around to Chuck Bass ("Ed Westwick")--the two were spotted "stealing" kisses at La Guardia Airport. [P6] Meanwhile, Chuck may soon have a new half-brother--Lily van Der Woodsen ...
Mid-Morning Read: Local Budgets, Tax Caps, Senate Jockeying.
Dec 02, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ The daughter of Bill Lynch's driver was kidnapped in the Dominican Republic, and released after Lynch contacted a bunch of New York politicians. Democrats in the State Senate are meeting in Saratoga, while Democrats in the Assembly are meeting in Brooklyn. ...
The Round-Up: Tuesday.
Dec 02, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Schumer report says there are as many as 60,000 low-income apartments in NYC in danger of falling into ruin because of "predatory" real estate investors. [NY Times] Long-time Statue of Liberty concessionaires fend off challenges from bigger companies to ...
Augusten Burroughs' Mother Margaret Robison Shopping a Memoir.
Dec 02, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Roughly two weeks after orchestrating a six figure book deal for one-time girlfriend of J.D. Salinger Joyce Maynard, literary agent David Kuhn is selling a memoir by Margaret Robison, the mother of Augusten Burroughs. Mr. Kuhn actually submitted Ms. Robison's book ...
Recession, Reshmession! The Party Must Go On, Says Barry Diller, Chocolate Fountains and All!
Dec 02, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ In November, the employees at Barry Diller's media conglomerate, IAC, were unsure whether the company would throw a holiday party. The season, after all, has not been kind to media employees used to a year-end bacchanal on the company dime. In October, the ...
In This Week's Observer...
Dec 02, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Billionaire babies keep buying up Manhattan--the latest drops $16.5 million on East 91st. Self-storage developer Adam Gordon asks $61 million for townhouse and castle. Xerox's CEO, an Obama transition adviser, sells her condo to Novartis boss. ...
Obama and the Bush Realists.
Dec 02, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Just over six years ago, as legend has it, George H. W. Bush weighed in on the invasion of Iraq that his son seemed hell-bent on pursuing, deputizing his old confidante Brent Scowcroft to deliver a very public warning to the president. Mr. Scowcroft's ...
Brokers as Shrinks.
Dec 02, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Do you feel burdened with an empty storefront? Are you convinced you're the only landlord saddled with too much debt? Do you feel terrified that the bottom of this infernal market will never come? Are you anxious? Depressed? Lonely? Call your broker. ...
Ciprianis Push for Rainbow Room Landmarking.
Dec 02, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Gradually, the letters have begun to accumulate in Robert Tierney's Lower Manhattan office. They all implore the same thing: landmark status for the Rainbow Room in 30 Rockefeller Center. The first letter to Mr. Tierney, chairman of the Landmarks ...
Laid Off Recently? Come to Tina, Darling!
Dec 02, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ On the day the perennially troubled Radar magazine folded, its editor Maer Roshan got an email from an old friend, Tina Brown, with whom he'd worked at her own sunken ship, Talk. "Maer my darling, I'm grieving so terribly," she wrote in her Masterpiece ...
Suddenly Substantive: Does Obama Era Mean No More Blahniks?
Dec 02, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Wake up, girls! This is the dawning of a new era. It's time to get serious. The age of Obama has no place for superficial broads who spend all day ironing their hair, blowing their credit on status handbags and coveting bunion-mangling shoes. In the ...
Hair-d Times.
Dec 02, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ The recession wasn't officially declared until Monday, Dec. 1 (tell us something we don't know, fellas!), but the city has been gripped by an epidemic of financial anxiety and belt-tightening since at least September. Beyond the ambiguous if constant dread of ...
Superstar Avatars.
Dec 02, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Hillary Clinton: powerful, reliable, classic. These are the ideas that Ms. Clinton seems to want to convey about herself with her Facebook profile picture. In the black-and-white headshot, she's looking off to her right, and all of her signature attributes are there: ...
Handsome Brazilian Swain Waxes Eloquent on Society.
Dec 02, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Later this week, the fall season of society events takes its final bow, as it does every season, with the Winter Wonderland Ball at the Botanical Gardens. Luigi Tadini, the Brazilian-born 25-year-old unabashed male socialite, who for the last six years has been a ...
What Makes Moguls Believe They Belong In the Book Business?(Company overview)
Dec 02, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ Eric Wolff went to work for the consulting firm McKinsey & Company after graduating from college in the spring of 2005. As he described it at the time on his Facebook page, he spent the following summer reading books that "warn of the inadequacy of the American Dream, ...
This Restaurant Has a Bull's-Eye.
Dec 02, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ With all due respect to Ago, the widely panned Italian eatery in Robert De Niro's Greenwich Hotel, Delicatessen at 54 Prince Street was undeniably the city's most loathed new restaurant in 2008. Critics hated it. Neighbors hated it even more. "A ...
Obama-Clinton Policy Team Hits Fast Wall: India.
Dec 02, 2008 ... <![CDATA[ As Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton stood at a Dec. 1 press conference in Chicago to announce her nomination as secretary of state, they promised the country, and the world, a much-needed push toward the restoration of world order. It would be, Mr. Obama ...