John S.W. MacDonald

The Dow Jones drops below 8,000 points for the first time in five years, while consumer prices fall 1 percent, raising the threat of deflation. [NY Times]

Joe Ardizzone—Willets Point’s only homeowner—rallies local businesses to fight Bloomberg’s redevelopment plan. [City Room]

Hunter College study shows cyclists break traffic laws. Nah, really? [City Room]

The Gramercy 19 condo comes to the “Block Beautiful.” [Curbed]

Local group Williamsburg Independent People steps up to fight the $1.3 billion New Domino development. [Curbed]

In order to boost sagging sales, a Tribeca condo scores its very own sommelier. [TRD]

New board game created by real estate developer hopes to make real life decisions in the industry a little easier. [TRD]

Triborough Bridge officially renamed the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge. [NY1 via West Bronx Blog]

Instead of closing, the P&G Café may be moving to the site of the old Evelyn Lounge right across from the Museum of Natural History. [Lost City]

Betting that there are still companies out there with the means to expand, Prudential Douglas Elliman markets five new retail spaces at 177 Lafayette Street. [The Daily Transom]

Let the Atlantic Yards deathwatch begin. [AYD]

Curbed founder Lockhart Steele part of Dan Abrams' new media consultancy. [WSJ]

8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. The Mortgage Bankers Association of New York hosts a breakfast seminar featuring a distinguished panel discussing the ins and outs of the loan selling process. Club 101, 101 Park Avenue. $55 for MBANY members; $65 for non-members; $65 at the door. Call 516.997.3707 for reservations.

6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Brooklyn Heights’ latest luxury condominium, 20 Henry, celebrates the opening of its sales office with live music and wine tastings. 114 Henry Street, Brooklyn Heights. Free. RSVP required. Email erica@mediashoppr.com

8 p.m. Head to Times Square for the official lighting of the Great White Way’s most extravagant advertisement yet—Walgreen’s 17-story-high, wrap-around digital billboard, designed by Gilmore Group. One Times Square. Free.

There’s been an unfortunate little rumor floating around the web these last few days. It stars The Roots—the beloved Philly hip-hop band led by Black Thought and Questlove, he of the inimitable ‘fro. According to MTV.com, a low-quality video appeared over the weekend featuring Questlove announcing that the band members would retire from touring next year in order to fully devote themselves to a new creative endeavor—performing as the house band for Jimmy Fallon’s Late Night show! (The SNL alum takes over for Conan O’Brien, who is heading over to the Tonight Show, in March 2009.) Though the video has predictably been taken down from, well, pretty much everywhere, the Philadelphia Daily News reported yesterday that a rep from Island/Def Jam, the Roots’ label, confirmed the group’s new gig as Mr. Fallon’s house band. The spokeswoman, however, remained silent about the band’s tour plans.  read more »

Barring a state bailout, service cuts and fare hikes are a definite for MTA riders next year, with tolls rising to at least $2.50. [NY Times]

The State Health Department steps in to save the obstetric and pediatric departments at Cobble Hill’s Long Island College Hospital. [NY Times]

At a meeting, the Landmarks Preservation Commission strongly disapproved of General Growth’s redevelopment proposal for the South Street Seaport. [NY Times]

The Bronx’s Port Morris—one of the last industrial neighborhoods left in the city—is flourishing after decades of hard times. [NY Times]

Cuomo urges AIG and Citigroup to scrap bonuses for top executives. [DealBook]

MTA’s new budget proposal would significantly raise fares for disabled New Yorkers and express bus riders. [NYDN]

Nine people—including a Brooklyn court official and a sex tour operator—are indicted in a $1.4 million mortgage fraud conspiracy. [NYDN]

Sewage treatment union and the city continue to battle it out over wage increases. [NYDN]

Between the Bricks: Where there were once 20 bidders vying for the former Drake Hotel note, now there are only six suitors; Vornado still hasn’t closed on its 100,000 feet of 1540 Broadway retail space; Walgreen to unveil their new 17-story, 212-foot Times Square sign tomorrow. [NY Post]

New school zoning boundaries expected to be approved tonight would leave many parents who bought multi-millionaire dollar UWS condos to ensure their kids were enrolled at the highly-rated PS 199 stuck with lower-performing schools nearby. [NY Post]

Fifty-four nursing homes have been fined by the state for patient care violations, including Manhattan’s Terence Cardinal Cooke Health Care Center. [NY Post]

Citigroup stocks fall to their lowest levels in 13 years. [NY Post]

Freddie and Fannie’s continued struggles spur debate over their future. [WSJ]

In an attempt to lure hesitant customers, Fifth Avenue shops are breaking out the sale signs early this holiday season. [NY Times]

Bowery apartment building vacated after the DOB deems it unfit for habitation. [City Room]

Recession be damned. Mercedes-Benz to build a $220 million flagship showroom in the bottom floors of a yet-to-be-built West Side high-rise. [City Room]

A report from last night’s first public unveiling of the Municipal Art Society’s ImagineConey project. [AYR via Curbed]

While Gowanus upzones, Carroll Gardens may be headed for a downzoning. [Curbed]

Just a week before closing, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center backs out of a deal to purchase a Sutton Place apartment building, losing its $5.7 million deposit in the process. [TRD]

Christian Kings College signs a 10-year lease for the eighth floor of 330 Fifth Avenue. [TRD]

The new Kellogg’s isn’t so new anymore. The ’Burg’s (in)famous dinner says goodbye to its “fancy pants” new chef only a week after the introduction of a revamped menu. [Grub Street via Williamsburg is Dead]

Willets Point businesses begging Councilman Hiram Monserrate for more money to help relocate. [Iron Triangle via Queen’s Crap]

The Hop Devil Grill—a St. Mark’s waterhole shut down last winter for allegedly serving minors—closes again to get a “new look” and a “new concept.” [EV Grieve]

Oh, Prince. In this week’s New Yorker, the magazine’s Claire Hoffman visits the singer at his 30,000-square-foot LA mansion. Inside, she finds purple paisley pillows, purple thrones, a Lucite grand piano with the “artist-formerly-known-as” symbol dangling overhead, a series of half-naked photographs of His Purpleness, and maybe most mysteriously, a TV cycling through images of bearded men playing flutes.

Anyway… Hoffman and the 50-year-old Prince—the later clad in "yoga pants and a big sweater, wearing platform flip-flops over white socks, like a geisha"—soon got to talking about religion and politics, gayness and straightness, and all that good stuff. Prince, who became a Jehovah’s Witness seven years ago ("I don’t see it really as a conversion.  read more »

7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mingle with 15,000 business people at the third NY Xpo for Business—New York’s largest business networking event. Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, 665 West 34th Street. Returning attendees can register online. Pre-registration for new attendees is closed. Registration available on-site at the Javits Center. Fees may apply.

6 p.m. The New York Building Congress hosts its annual Industry Recognition Dinner. Honorees include STV Group CEO Dominick M. Servedio and Henegan Construction CEO Maureen A. Henegan. David J. Burney, the commissioner of the Department of Design & Construction, will receive special recognition. Grand Hyatt New York, 109 East 42 Street at Grand Central Station. $700. For reservations, call 212-843-1739 or 212-213-6257, or email nyb@hgnyc.com or events@buildingcongress.com.

Budget officials acknowledge that Bloomberg can’t deny New Yorkers their $400 homeowners’ rebate without City Council approval, nor can he charge 6 cents for plastic bags without Albany’s consent. [NY Times]

The first arrest is made in the ongoing LIRR disability scandal, as a former LIRR pension manager is charged with taking money to help employees get disability payments. [NY Times]

Even after a concerted push by the MTA to improve cleanliness and reliability on the 7 and L lines, riders surveyed still only gave them a C—the same grade MTA got last year. [NY Times]

In a surprise move, state Republicans decide to vote on Paterson’s budget-reduction plan today. [NY Times]

A shoot-out at a Brooklyn variety store leaves two customers dead and the owner in critical condition. [NY Times]

MTA to eliminate the W and Z lines and cut 1,500 jobs. [NYDN]

A new Health Department website tracks the spread of rats throughout the city. [NYDN]

According to the Health Department’s Rat Information Portal, Williamsburg and Greenpoint have more rats than south and central Brooklyn, while Bushwick and Bed-Stuy have the most of all. [NYDN]

Comptroller William Thompson and Councilman David Yassky file a lawsuit claiming the city’s housing of inmates at Brooklyn’s empty House of Detention is part of a plot to reopen and expand the center without environmental review. [NDYN]

Native American tribes livid that they were not notified of the city’s plan to replace the Kosciuszko Bridge. [NYDN]

City selling a shuttered firehouse in Averne for just $1 to any arts organization willing to foot the bill for repairs. [NYDN]

Local residents furious that a Jamaica Bay beach has became a site for animal sacrifices. [NYDN]

City claims a lawsuit filed against it for failing to offer a long-time plan to protect students at Mott Haven Schools Complex from toxins at the site before construction began, was all the result of a big misunderstanding. [NYDN]

Mott Haven residents infuriated about a putrid stretch of standing water, or what they call the “Bronx Swamp.” [NYDN]

Realty Check: All that talk from Donald Trump about a glut of office space in Manhattan… don’t believe it. [NY Post]

In order to save costs, MTA plans to help disabled riders with more “in-house” services. [NY Post]

Citigroup to layoff an additional 24,000 employees. [NY Times]

Relief on the way for Con Ed customers, though New Yorkers shouldn’t expect much—the state had the second-highest electricity bills in the country this summer. [City Room]

Port Authority executive director Christopher Ward answers a few questions about Ground Zero—among them, why not build a new set of twin towers? [City Room]

A few wacky renderings of possible Coney Island futures courtesy of those participating in tonight’s ImagineConey event at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. [Curbed]

Williamsburg’s East River State Park to stay open all winter; hipsters to get frostbite. [Curbed]

Landmarks Preservation Commission to vote tomorrow on whether to landmark I.M. Pei’s Silver Towers and the Picasso sculpture in its courtyard. [TRD]

October home sale volumes in five major NYC neighborhoods are down considerably compared to the same month last year. [NY Mag via TRD]

Fort Green Park’s Prison Ship Martyrs Monument is rededicated, its torch re-lit for the first time since 1921. [Brownstoner]

Famed UWS bar, P&G Café, to close its doors for good on New Year’s Eve. [Lost City via VNY]

Best Buy opened its first Bronx store at 402 East Fordham Road. [MarketWatch]

Construction on the second phase of the $700 million East River Science Park is postponed. [NY Post via BoweryBoogie]

NYC inches into its Christmas costume. [EV Grieve]

8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. How will small, immigrant-owned businesses fare in today’s economy? Can these enterprises help jump-start New York’s stalled economy? Find out at “A World of Opportunity,” a conference co-sponsored by the Center for an Urban Future and Baruch College’s Field Center for Entrepreneurship. Featuring a keynote address by City Council speaker, Christine Quinn. Baruch College Vertical Campus, 55 Lexington Avenue, Room 14-220. Free. Call 212-479-3341 or email cuf@nycfuture.org to reserve a seat.

12 p.m. Commemorate the 55-year career of GVA Williams president Jerry Cohen on his birthday at a National Realty Club luncheon. The Williams Club, 24 East 39th Street. $45 for members. $100 for non-members. $125 at the door. Pre-pay by check or at Pay Pal using nationalrealtyclub@gmail.com.

5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Come out to an open house celebrating the launch of Green Desk—a new eco-friendly commercial office building designed for freelancers and small businesses. 155 Water Street, Dumbo. Free.

Time to check back in with Kanye West and 50 Cent, hip-hop’s favorite rivals. It seems Kanye got into another scrap with a paparazzo outside a club in England early Friday morning (the first since his tussle with a cameraman in LA back in September). According to TMZ.com (via MTV.com), Kanye was leaving Newcastle’s Tup Tup club with four girls when a photographer got in his face. A minor fracas allegedly ensued, leaving the pap with a scraped nose and some bruised feelings. So many, in fact, that he had Kanye arrested later that night, though the charges were later dropped.

Never one to miss a good opportunity to rant (particularly when it’s warranted), Kanye had a few things to say about the incident on his blog, namely that there should be laws protecting celebrities like himself from ravenous photogs. “LET US NOT FORGET THE PAPS KILLED PRINCESS DIANA,” Kanye writes.  read more »

In a private meeting Sunday, Paterson, Senate Majority Leader Dean G. Skelos and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver fail to reach an agreement on how to close the state’s budget deficit. [NY Times]

Slowly but surely, the National September 11 Memorial and Museum takes shape. [NY Times]

At the Wagner Houses—an East Harlem housing complex whose elevators break down more often than any other—residents live with the constant threat of getting stuck in a six-by-four-foot box. [NY Times]

A declining real estate market means it’s even tougher for homeowners to sell properties themselves, but that doesn’t mean the for-sell-by-owner crowd is giving getting any thinner. [NY Times]

Say hello to Marine Park—a slice of small-town America in southeast Brooklyn. [NY Times]

Making the jump from Prague to Astoria. [NY Times]

The market may be plummeting in Long Island, but that isn’t stopping these “contrarians” from starting their own real estate empires. [NY Times]

For a few lucky brokers, condos are selling just like they were in the good ol' days. [NY Times]

After a quarter century of creating affordable housing in existing buildings, Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation is teaming up with a Manhattan architect to create housing developments from the ground up. [NY Times]

In New Jersey, opulent mansions of the past are being scooped up and renovated for public use. [NY Times]

After setting a co-op sales record with a $48.5 million Fifth Avenue flip, a hedge-fund manager attempts another big flip at the Ritz-Carlton. [NY Times]

Westchester homeowners face the challenges of going green. [NY Times]

Andrew Scott Dolkart, recently named director of Columbia’s historic preservation program at the Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation, discuss how Wall Street will affect NYC’s architectural future. [NY Times]

Though its lines are getting longer, a Highbridge food pantry is forced to close. [NY Times]

City Island residents up in arms about the city’s plans for a new bridge to replace the old City Island Bridge connecting the island to the Bronx. [NY Times]

Rob Speyer marries Anne-Cecilie Engell, daughter of a former VP at A. P. Moeller-Maers, a Danish ocean cargo carrier. [NY Times]

DOB division chief warned of problems with UES crane months before its fatal May collapse. [NYDN]

Fifty inmates housed overnight at the Brooklyn House of Detention for the first time in five years. [NYDN]

City officials to unveil a dramatic new plan tomorrow for Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. [NYDN]

Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society of Historic Preservation, is one of New Yorkers' staunchest allies against unchecked development. [NYDN]

A Queens group providing micro-loans to women hits the $1 million mark. [NYDN]

Transportation officials nearing approval of a new $630 million bridge to replace the deteriorating Kosciuszko Bridge spanning Newtown Creek. [NYDN]

Bloomberg in negotiations with Thor Equities to purchase a 10.5-acre parcel of Coney Island—one that includes Astroland Park. [NY Post]

Bloomberg orders a 10 percent cut in mayor’s office employees. [NY Post]

No bonuses this year for Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein and six other executives. [NY Post]

Former AIG chief Hank Greenberg plotting to regain control of his firm from the Feds. [NY Post]

Freddie Mac needs $13.8 billion from the U.S. Treasury after taking a major hit from home-mortgage defaults. [WSJ]

Harry Macklowe’s former properties—1540 Broadway and Worldwide Plaza at 825 Eighth Avenue—hit the market again after a deal with George Comfort & Sons collapses. [Crain’s]

Barclays decides to stick by Ratner and not bail on its $400 million naming-rights deal for the new Nets arena. [NY Post]

Former iStar Financial COO named president of Gramercy Capital. [GlobeSt]

Architectural firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill teams up with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to brainstorm real world solutions to green building construction. [City Room]

The “Hoop”—a bike rack created by two Copenhagen designers—wins NYC’s CityRacks Design Competition. Expect to see 5,000 more of these little fellas around town in the next three years. [City Room]

Port Authority named the fifth ugliest building in the world by VirtualTourist.com. Thank god someone’s finally building a skyscraper on top of it. [Curbed]

A second-floor 15 CPW condo sold for $9.35 million a few weeks ago; this week it's back on the market with a $16.5 million price tag. [Curbed]

Donald Trump wonders if the Freedom Tower should even be built when “office space is going begging in New York.” [TRD]

Bloomberg looking to connect Carroll Gardens and the Columbia Waterfront District—two Brooklyn neighborhoods split by the BQE—with nine new blocks of housing. [TRD]

Is famed Soho bakery, Vesuvio, turning into a shoe store? [Lost City]

Bronx residents infuriated over the city’s plan to turn the old Fordham Library building off Fordham Road into an animal shelter. [Norwood News via West Bronx Blog]

It’s de rigueur these days to talk flippantly not only about the collapse off the music industry, but also of the whole notion that popular music remains an important part of people’s lives, that it has (or can have) any meaningful impact on the culture. While the former is almost undoubtedly true, a couple of new studies may complicate the later.  

A press release from the Consumer Electronics Association (brought to us via Coolfer), describes the findings of CEA’s latest research into the role of technology in teenagers’ lives. Hidden among the findings' many platitudes (“Today’s teens were introduced to technology as toddlers and rely on consumer electronic products like computers, cell phones and MP3 players that make their lives easier”—Duh), is this nifty little tidbit: “Four of [teens’] five top activities were technology driven, with listening to music as the most popular activity…” And surprisingly, most of these kids actually bought music in stores (58 percent), rather than borrowed it (56 percent), received it as a gift (52 percent), or bought it online (51 percent).  read more »

8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Transform your small business into a force to be reckoned with at the 4th annual New York Times Small Business Summit. Speakers include Stonyfield Farm CEO Gary Hirshberg, and Liz Lange, president of Liz Lange Maternity. Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers, 811 Seventh Avenue. $99 in advance. $125 at the door. Registration required.

6:30 p.m. The Municipal Art Society of New York asked a team of world-renowned architects, engineers and designers to ImagineConey. Now, for the first time, MAS presents the team’s vision for Coney Island’s future to the public. Brooklyn Academy of Music, 20 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn, Bamcafe. Free.

5 p.m., Commercial Real Estate Power Network--CCIM NY Chapter Kick Off Event at Slate NY, 54 West 21st Street. Must RSVP at mydealbook.com. Free.

With Zooey Deschanel’s Janis Joplin biopic The Gospel According to Janis in limbo, it’s good to know another 60’s musical icon is getting their silver-screen dues. According to The Hollywood Reporter (via Stereogum), Eric Eisner, Albert Berger, and Ron Yerxa (the later two responsible for Election and Little Miss Sunshine) have signed on to produce a biopic on Jerry Garcia’s life based on Robert Greenfield’s oral history book Dark Star. Topper Lillien has been tapped to write the screenplay. And no, there’s no word yet on who’ll play Mr. Garcia.

The controversial bit (‘cause there always is one), is that the film will focus not on the singer’s rise to hippe stardom with the Grateful Dead in the 70s or his fall into heroin-induced diabetic coma in the 80s, but his pre-Dead days in California.  read more »

What goes best with a tour of multi-million-dollar Tribeca condos? Wine and bourbon, of course. [NY Times]

An interview with James V. Samuelson, New Jersey Transit’s deputy general manager for safety and training. [NY Times]

In an effort to show off her independence from the mayor, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn harshly criticizes Bloomberg’s plans to overhaul the city’s senior centers and withhold $400 tax rebates from homeowners. [NY Times]

A new cabin culture offers the same coziness but in eco-friendly buildings or ones that embrace new materials like mesh and oxidized steel. [NY Times]

With its natural beauty and progressive atmosphere, Ithaca makes a perfect second-home destination, particularly for Cornell alums. [NY Times]

Second-home security systems get smarter and cheaper. [NY Times]

Plans to build a museum at the site of a Brooklyn house believed to have been a stop on the Underground Railroad are in serious jeopardy. [NYDN]

A Queens woman is incredulous that President Bush would travel to Wall Street to address the financial debacle, when her own neighborhood—Linden Boulevard near 146th Street—is ground zero for the city’s mortgage crisis. [NYDN]

City sanitation workers honored with awards for their acts of bravery. [NYDN]

Paterson’s proposal to raise CUNY’s tuition to help with the state’s budget gap may leave many struggling students out in the cold. [NY Post]

Blue Man Group open elementary School in the East Village. [NY Post]

Attorney General Cuomo subpoenas Bank of America—which receives billions of dollars through the federal government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program—demanding information on the bonuses of top executives. [NY Post]

Department of Housing and Urban Development announces new rules to ensure homebuyers are more informed mortgage shoppers. [WSJ]

Citibank to lay off 10,000 workers and raise interest rates on its credit cards as it deals with last year's $20 billion in losses. [WSJ]

Five hedge fund managers—including prominent liberal fundraiser George Soros—testify before a House committee that their $2 trillion industry requries more regulation. [NY Times]

Thousands gather in front of UWS temple to protest the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ support of California’s Proposition 8. [City Room]

Prospect Heights man fined in August for drinking a beer on his stoop pleads not guilty and vows to fight the charge. [City Room]

Condos in Williamsburg and Fort Greene offering buyers “PriceChopper Insurance,” or the guarantee that if apartment prices in their building drop after they buy, they’ll get a discount at closing. [Curbed]

Five adjoining garages in Brooklyn Heights to become one condo. [Brooklyn Eagle via TRD]

How Council members voted today on Willets Point. [Queen’s Crap]

There’s a 94-year-old yacht club in the South Bronx (no kidding), but the Parks Department, which owns the club’s marina, recently deemed it unsafe and is trying to close it down. [BoogieDowner]

City Council holds a public hearing to discuss the controversial East Village/Lower East Side rezoning plan. [EVP]

Flatbush Avenue’s Bergen Tile heads to Long Island, leaving 11,500 square feet of vacant retail space next to Atlantic Center. [Brownstoner]

Toll Brothers’ Gowanus Canal development receives the expected approval of Community Board 6. Next up: Borough Hall hearing on Nov. 19. [Gowanus Lounge]

7:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. Gain crucial insight into New York’s real estate industry at a seminar hosted by Commercial Property News featuring panel discussions with the industry’s top executives. Westin New York at Times Square, 270 West 43rd Street. $225. Register online. For more information, contact Brittany Davies at 646-654-7268 or via email at brittany.davies@neilsen.com.

8 a.m. to 9 a.m. The Real Estate Lenders Association holds its November breakfast meeting with guest speaker and TD Bank chief economist Joel L. Naroff. Club 101, 101 Park Avenue. Free for RELA members. $40 for non-members.

8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. New York University’s Rudin Center for Transportation Policy & Management hosts “Making the Connection: Transit Oriented Development—A Blueprint for Success.” NYU Kimmel Center, 60 Washington Square South. $65. $15 for students. Register online.

Sad news, folks. According to billboard.com, Mitch Mitchell was found dead at the age of 62 (or 61, depending on the source) in his Portland, Oregon hotel room yesterday morning from what appeared to be natural causes. Mitchell—best known as the drummer for the Jimi Hendrix Experience—was in town as part of the Experience Hendrix tour with former Band of Gypsys bassist Billy Cox. With Experience bassist Noel Redding’s death in 2003 and Hendrix’s overdose in 1970, the band that defined, if not invented, psychedelic rock is no more.     

There is little doubt that Mitchell’s work with Hendrix between 1966 and 1969 transformed him into one of the most mimicked stickmen in rock ’n’ roll.  read more »

Bon Iver can’t seem to get enough of New York... though you could probably say that about any major U.S. city these days. Justin Vernon—the Wisconsin-based singer-songwriter who goes by Bon Iver (pronounced "bohn eevair")—has been touring nearly non-stop this year since the realease of his haunting debut, For Emma, Forever Ago, in February. A good portion of that time has spent right here in our fair city, where Vernon seems stuck in an endless loop around the Bowery Ballroom, the Music Hall of Williamsburg, and Town Hall (where he has two sold-out shows scheduled next month).

If you haven’t caught Bon Iver’s chilly folk already this year, you might have another chance when the singer returns to the Music Hall of Williamsburg on December 12.  read more »

Paterson’s $5.2 billion in proposed budget cuts would seriously hurt schools, cutting $255 million from NYC schools alone. [NY Times]

An 18-month investigation reveals that half the city’s employment agencies regularly exploit New Yorkers, many of them illegal immigrants. [NY Times]

Former executive director of a Brooklyn Heights nonprofit is accused of stealing more than $500,000 in federal aid meant to go toward feeding poor children. [NY Times]

A simpler, cheaper solution to the mortgage crisis: each month for five years, the Treasury pays the first $250 of every American’s mortgage. [NY Times]

City officials to reach out to struggling Bronxites with a series of events meant to inform them of their options when facing foreclosure. [NYDN]

The number of drivers using MTA's bridges and tunnels have fallen for 12 consecutive months, with the number of commuters down 7 percent between last month and September. [NYDN]

Willets Point plan set to get the thumbs up from City Council today. [NYDN]

Springfield Gardens elementary school receiving new $150,000 kitchen after going without one for decades. [NYDN]

Beautifully innovative buildings have sprouted up around the High Line like nowhere else in the city, but will they make any money? [NY Post]

Gimme Shelter: Justin Timberlake snags a $5.25 million Tribeca condo; High Jackman and his wife grab a Perry Street spread for $21 million with interiors redesigned by Richard Meier; Joel Klein grabs a Snag Harbor compound for $2 million; Tommy Mottola sells his Westchester estate for $15 million. [NY Post]

Transportation Alternatives calls for reducing Broadway in the UWS from four lanes to six in order to make the street safer for bicyclists. [NY Post]

Claims for state unemployment benefits jump to their highest levels in seven years. [WSJ]

Dubai’s long-running housing boom finally slows as tightening credit and a government probe into the real estate and financial markets scare away investors. [WSJ]

Medicaid and education to get slammed with the bulk of Paterson’s proposed $5.2 billion in cuts over the next year and a half. [City Room]

The crosstown M96 wins the Pokey Award for the city’s slowest bus. [City Room]

Major changes to the Joseph Papp Public Theater at Astor Place to be discussed at tomorrow’s Landmarks Preservation Commission meeting. [Curbed]

Williamsburg’s East River State Park may close for the winter. [Curbed]

Eco-friendly townhouses with exterior “living green wall[s]” coming to Bed-Stuy. [TRD]

WTC developer Larry Silverstein and the Port Authority enter into arbitration to settle a dispute over late fees stemming from land the Authority handed over to Silverstein. [AP]

The Edge—home of Williamsburg's most expensive condo—tops out. [Brownstoner]

Winners announced in the Forum for Urban Design’s competition to re-imagine Red Hook as “the most bicycle friendly neighborhood” in NYC. Now what? [Streets Blog]

The future of the Chelsea Hotel “lies in flat screen televisions, in-house movies, mini-bars, and i-Pod docking stations.” [LWL via Vanishing New York]

9:30 a.m. The Landmarks Preservation Commission holds a daylong public hearing regarding the appropriateness of numerous applications requesting modifications to historic properties. Landmarks Preservation Commission, Municipal Building, 1 Centre Street, 9th Floor, Conference Room. See here for the times at which specific properties will be discussed.

11:45 a.m. to 2 p.m. Hartz Mountain Industries CEO Emanuel Stern discusses the condition of the Meadowlands economy and what his company is doing to attract NYC businesses to the area. The Landmark II, 26 Route 17 South, East Rutherford, New Jersey.

6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Party with the Real Estate Board of New York at the Residential Division’s Westside Committee Fall Party. Buffett dinner with three-hour open bar. BBK King Blues Club & Grill, 237 West 42nd Street. $40 for REBNY member; $50 for non-members; $60 at the door. Advanced registration available here.

Oh my God! Only four days, 8 hours, and 25 minutes till the last TRL! As we move ever closer to the finale of Total Request Live—the show that defined pop’s pre-millennial resurgence—new details are emerging on who might show up on that last, bittersweet day. Billboard.com is reporting that hip-hoppers Ludacris, Snoop Dog, 50 Cent, and the stubbornly irrelevant Nelly will be performing this coming Sunday, as will Beyoncé, Fall Out Boy, and the Backstreet Boys. Kid Rock, Christina Aguilera, Hilary Duff, Mariah Carey, and reunited N-Syncers Justin Timberlake and JC Chasez are also planning on stopping by. And, of course, what would a TRL party be without nu-metal fun-boys like Fred Durst and Jonathan Davis? Presumably one without  read more »

A new Brooklyn research facility focused on finding an AIDS vaccine is Bloomberg’s latest effort to transform NYC into a biotech center. [NY Times]

At a town hall meeting in Syracuse on the state’s dire financial situation, Paterson has some tough words for concerned New Yorkers. [NY Times]

New Jersey’s many malls—the most per square mile of any other state—prepare to ride out the economic turbulence. [NY Times]

What $150,00 gets you. [NY Times]

Bloomberg faces an uphill battle with his Willets Point redevelopment plan. [NY Times]

Mayor offers to double the affordable housing units included in his Willets Point plan ahead of a crucial City Council vote on Thursday. [NYDN]

Why one Willets Point business-owner sold out to Bloomberg. [NYDN]

The cost of a subway ride could climb to $3 unless the MTA is graced with a state bailout. [NYDN]

NYC’s non-profit animal shelters to loose $434,000 as part of Bloomberg’s budget cuts. [NYDN]

A colony of rats infest former classroom trailers at a Williamsburg elementary school. [NYDN]

Bronx residents, particularly blacks and Hispanics, are having a tougher time obtaining mortgages than homeowners in other boroughs. [NYDN]

Between the Bricks: Major developers like Extell and Tishman Speyer shed staff; after bailing on the former Limelight, the New York Artist Series decides to open an event space at 54 Crosby Street; Northeast Power Coordinating Council to move from 1515 Broadway to the 10th floor of 1040 Avenue of the Americas. [NY Post]

Bloomberg vows to trim the size of the municipal workface rather than cut its wages. [NY Post]

PBS series This Old House to renovate a 104-year-old Prospect Heights brownstone. [NY Post]

Fannie and Freddie to “streamline” the loan modification process for hundreds of thousands of homeowners behind on their payments. [WSJ]

Even though OPEC has been trimming production to slow the tide, oil falls to it lowest price in 20 months. [NY Times]

Millionaire landlord Alistair Economakis finally succeeds in buying out five tenants at one of his LES tenements who had held out for five years. Now he can build a mansion for his wife and two kids. [NY Post]

President Bush leads a 90-minute ceremony to rededicate the newly renovated Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum (formerly the U.S.S. Intrepid) at Pier 86 on the West Side. [City Room]

If history is any guide, lawmakers will have a very tough time succeeding in their efforts to place a toll on East River bridges. [City Room]

A 125-foot condo by Gilman Architects known as The Prism on its way to Long Island City. [Curbed]

Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall unveils its shimmering new glass façade. [Curbed]

Now that a plan to build a high-rise along Tin Pan Alley has collapsed, preservationists are pushing to landmark the area. [TRD]

With developers struggling to secure financing from banks, NYC land prices have plummeted, in some instances by as much as 75 percent. [TRD]

The Center for an Urban Future releases a report featuring influential authors, developers, architects and amusement industry experts offering up their visions for Coney Island’s future. [CUF]

The Cake Shop—LES’ beloved rock venue/coffee house/basement bar—receives approval from Community Board 3 for a street-level liquor license. [SLES! via BoweryBoogie]

Pies for the East Village! [EV Grieve]

12 p.m. Go “Inside the MTA” with MTA chairman H. Dale Hemmerdinger at the B’nai B’rith Real Estate Unit Luncheon. Cornell Club, 6 East 44th Street, Ivy Room. $60 in advance. $70 at the door. Contact Aracelis Kuilan by phone (212-885-7239), fax (212-697-5076), or email (akuilan@bdo.com) for reservations.

6 p.m. to 9 p.m. With the economy slumping and credit tightening, what’s a homebuyer to do? Discover the best ways to secure financing for the home you deserve at a seminar hosted by Halstead Development Marketing, Wells Fargo and The New York Observer. Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, Volvo Room. Free. Registration required. Email akasbarian@halstead.com.

6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. The annual awards dinner of the Greater New York Chapter of the Institute of Real Estate Management. Honorees include Dawn Real Estate president Dawn Carpenter as Certified Property Manager of the Year, and Jacqueline Aleman as Humanitarian of the Year. Tavern on the Green, West 67th Street and Central Park. $200.

Today, Rolling Stone posted the first official review of Guns N’ Roses' (choose your adverb) delayed Chinese Democracy, due out finally and officially and exclusively through Best Buy on November 23. (That’s 12 measly days from now.) The author is, unsurprisingly, David Fricke, and the review is, surprisingly, gushing. Up until this juncture, and with only leaks of varying reliability to go on, the reviews from fans have been mixed to positive. Still, we assumed the logical conclusion to the Chinese Democracy saga would be the arrival of a disappointing record overstuffed with guitars, techno experimentation, and abandoned ideas (though we’ve never been a GNR fan-boy, so our views may be biased).  read more »

While state labor unions declare that contracts cannot be renegotiated, schools and hospitals push back hard against Paterson’s proposal to significantly cut their funding. [NY Times]

Queens groups are concerned that Hunters Point South only sets aside affordable housing for middle-income families, and not those that—like roughly half the households in the borough—make less than $55,000. [NY Times]

NYC opens its first all-night health clinic in Chelsea. [NY Times]

Applications to CUNY community colleges spike as New Yorkers look for a new career or a second income in tough economic times. [NY Times]

American Express to become bank holding company. [NY Times]

Endless construction on a high school library froces Bronx students to struggle through English exams without access to books or computers. [NYDN]

Believe it: gas can be found for less than $2 a gallon in New Jersey. [NYDN]

Realty Check: Extell scores development rights to 57 West 47th Street—the last piece of the puzzle needed to move ahead on its delayed Diamond Tower. [NY Post]

NYC offers residents its latest public art project: prayer booths in Midtown Manhattan. [NY Post]

As companies like Fannie Mae and General Motors continue to cry for help, Bush is pressured to expand his $700 billion bailout package. [WSJ]

Though home inventories dropped slightly in October, they remain extraordinarily large in metropolitan areas nationwide. [WSJ]

Citigroup to modify the terms of $20 billion in mortgages, helping as many as 500,000 borrowers. [WSJ]

The Transport Workers’ Union regains the right to automatically deduct dues from members’ paychecks after being prohibited from doing so for 17 months as a penalty for its 2005 strike. [Crain’s]

As the wealthy get skittish over bad economic headlines, the luxury residential market takes a major hit. [New York]

Cleveland’s delayed skyscraper known as the Medical Mart gets some competition from New York’s own tower dedicated to the medical industry—the $1 billion World Product Centre. [Plain Dealer Metro]

MTA chief Elliot Sander warns that “draconian” cost-cutting measures—such as toll hikes and service cuts—are on the horizon if the agency can’t find other revenue sources to confront next year’s $1.2 billion budget gap. [City Room]

Yet another boutique hotel coming to the LES at the site of the former Fine & Klein Handbags store. [TRD]

Already struggling with the construction of the Second Avenue subway, UES residents now have to deal with another major street dig—this one for Con Ed transmission cables running from 75th to 96th streets. [NY Post via Curbed]

Add mold infestation to Stuy-Town’s growing list of troubles. [Lux Living via Curbed]

NYC rejects all proposals to redevelop Red Hook’s Pier 11 two years after soliciting bids. [Brooklyn Paper via TRD]

Some good economic news for the city: jobs in Sheepshead Bay have increased 53 percent since immigrant retailers, attracted by low rents, began flooding the area 10 years ago. [TRD]

Cupcakes for the East Village! [EV Grieve]

8:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. Find out how an Obama presidency will affect New York real estate at “Election 2008: What it Means for the Real Estate Industry.” Speakers include lobbyist Martin McLaughlin and political consultant Hank Sheinkopf. Hosted by the Community Housing Improvement Program. Association of the Bar of the City of New York, 42 West 44th Street. Free for CHIP members. $50 for non-members. Email RSVP@chipnyc.org, call 212-838-7442, or register online.

10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Real Estate Board of New York's Fall Benefit Fair. 570 Lexington Avenue, classroom. Free for REBNY members. Registration required.

12 p.m. The Young Men’s/Women’s Real Estate Association hosts their monthly luncheon with MTA chairman H. Dale Hemmerdinger. The University Club, 1 West 54th Street. Free for YM/WREA members. $80 for their guests. RSVP online.

Way back in March, the Department of Justice approved Sirius Satellite Radio’s plan to buyout its rival, XM, for $5 billion. The marriage officially took place in July with the formation of Sirius XM Radio Inc. And now finally the line-up of the new satellite radio provider is beginning to take shape. According to Orbitcast (via rollingstone.com), select stations on both Sirius and XM will switch to their new homes beginning Wednesday, November 12. Though both XM’s Escape and Sirius’ the Pulse have revealed their new locations, Sirius XM’s official line-up has yet to be announced and may not be before channels begin switching over on Wednesday.  read more »

Buildings like 1095 Avenue of the Americas—whose new tenants are suddenly refusing to move in, citing the high cost of rent from leases signed two years ago—are victims of Midtown Manhattan’s slumping real estate economy. [NY Times]

With winter on the horizon, Con Edison heads out to inspect every transmission tower between NYC and Dutchess County. [NY Times]

The economic slowdown hits NYC real estate as home prices and sales volumes drop across Manhattan. [NY Times]

Park Slope pioneers modernize their four-story brownstone. [NY Times]

A Gramercy Park family makes the jump to Hell’s Kitchen. [NY Times]

With the economy tanking, more of New Jersey’s historic homes are being saved from demolition and redevelopment. [NY Times]

An UES apartment where Obama wooed a swarm of investment bankers hits the market for $14.5 million. [NY Times]

Of the 326 apartments at Phiippe Starck’s Downtown, 36 have been put up for sale, including a $11 million duplex owned by Adam Sender—the same involved in the wiretapping trial of private detective Anthony Pellicano. [NY Times]

Court rules that city officials broke the law when they started construction on a school in the South Bronx without first developing a plan to ensure future attendees would not be exposed to pollutants at the site. [NY Times]

For some, Somers offers the perfect retreat, for others, the small Westchester County town can seem too remote and underdeveloped. [NY Times]

Thoughts from Ada Louise Huxtable—the nation’s premiere architecture critic—on how there are worst things for NYC than a sinking economy. [NY Times]

Residents of Staten Island’s North Shore come together to start a food co-op. [NY Times]

Soil tests of Willets Point show significant levels of toxins leaking into the ground water, a finding that adds ballast to Bloomberg’s redevelopment efforts. [NYDN]

Both elevators at the Bronx’s Mott Haven Houses break down, forcing residents to the stairwells of the 22-floor building. [NYDN]

NYC Housing Authority charging Community Board 18 only $32 a month to rent its Glenwood offices. [NYDN]

The Intrepid—an aircraft carrier turned museum—opens its doors this weekend after a $115 million makeover. [NYDN]

State commission recommends adding tolls to four NYC bridges as a means of closing MTA’s widening budget gap. [NYDN]

Biking riderships jumps across all three Boroklyn bridges. [NYDN]

Whitestone Shopping Center in Queens devastated by two-alarm fire. [NYDN]

Paterson’s $2 billion in proposed budget cuts may be headed for defeat next week. [NY Post]

The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation refuses to die even though it held only seven public meetings in the last 17 months. [NY Post]

Elite private schools may face severe enrollment declines if parents are unable to foot the bill for rapidly rising tuition costs. [NY Post]

As part of the latest round of land acquisitions, NYC grabs a half-acre of Willets Point for $3.5 million. [NY Post]

NYPD to reveal its “Ring of Steel”—a Broadway center commanding 5,000 cameras gazing down on Lower Manhattan—by November’s end. [NY Post]

Feds restructure their $123 billion bailout of AIG with a new $150 billion package with easier terms for the insurance giant. [WSJ]

Donald Trump sues to extend a $640 million construction loan on his 92-story Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago. [WSJ]

With unemployment rising steadily, hundreds lined up today for a job fair at the Pierre Hotel on Fifth Avenue. [City Room]

Plaz