Posted by Leonard Steinberg on February 27th, 2014 In this morning’s Wall Street Journal, Josh Barbanel writes about a class-action lawsuit launched posing a constitutional challenge to New York City’s complicated property-tax system, a formula that has mystified skyscraper owners and renters for a generation. http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303801304579407651052464532?mod=WSJ_NY_MIDDLETopStories&mg=reno64-wsj It is charged that the system unfairly affects blacks and… [Read More]
THE COST OF OBESITY
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on February 26th, 2014 So many New Yorkers were outraged by Mayor Bloomberg’s efforts to curb obesity by posting nutritional and caloric content with all foods sold (now a world-wide trend), limiting the size of sugary sodas, banning trans-fats, etc. They said he was being too invasive with people’s ‘rights’, yet… [Read More]
THE COLD STATE OF HOUSING
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on February 25th 2014 Has the success of the housing market in the past few years been a result of ultra-cheap money and artificial demand because REIT’s and investors have bought large swaths of housing stock? Housing starts in the U.S. dropped in January by the most in almost 3 years as… [Read More]
PIED-A-TERRORISTS? FOREIGN BUYERS ARE GREAT FOR NEW YORK!
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on February 24th, 2014 This weekend’s New York Post had a brilliant article written by a foreign owner (Diane Francis) from Canada, reminding all once and for all just how GOOD foreign buyers are for the City of New York. Recently they have been treated on the same level as terrorists!… [Read More]
NEW YORK RANKS 47th IN MERCER QUALITY OF LIFE INDEX
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on February 23rd, 2014 Mercer has released its report for 2014 for the best ‘quality of life’ cities in the world and New York ranked 47th: European cities fared best with strong healthcare, infrastructure and recreational facilities with political stability and relatively low crime levels. These are the TOP FIVE GLOBAL… [Read More]
THE HEALTHY WEALTHY
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on February 22nd, 2014 Once you’ve achieved great wealth, often a painful lesson sets in: without your health that wealth is pretty useless, although it certainly helps to be wealthy if health is important to you. Have you noticed how health-conscious the wealthy have become not only in weight and appearance-obsessed… [Read More]
MURDOCH’S PENTHOUSE ECONOMIC STIMULUS: A NEW DOWNTOWN RECORD
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on April 21st, 2014 Rupert Murdoch is in contract to buy the penthouse (combined with one floor below)at One Madison Park for $57,25 million, the fabled building that was possibly the most famous victim of the 2008 GREAT RECESSION, bailed out by HFZ Capital and Related, and redesigned on the interior… [Read More]
LUXU-WEE TOILETS COMING TO MANHATTAN?
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on February 20, 2014 I think this is a brilliant idea: New York has failed to deliver clean public toilets for decades, so a New York firm wants to charge people up to $8 a day to use “luxury” toilet complexes in Midtown. Posh Stow and Go plans to open “clean, safe… [Read More]
55 NEW MULTI-MILLIONAIRES: WhatsAPP WITH THAT?
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on February 20th, 2014 It has been reported that Facebook will be buying WhatsApp for almost $19 billion, hence making each of their 55 employees multi-millionaires. If this were to be averaged amongst them (highly doubtful) they would each be taking home an average of around $344 million, making POWERBALL winners… [Read More]
MAYOR DEBLASIO DECLARES WAR ON NEW YORK PEDESTRIAN FATALITIES
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on February 19th, 2014 I applaud Mayor DeBlasio for making bold efforts to reduce pedestrian fatalities and injuries in New York: now he wants to reduce the Manhattan speed limit to 25mph from 30mph and help enforce this by installing more cameras to help enforce this law. Its always smart to… [Read More]