Mayor Bloomberg is bringing his bottom-line approach to governance to the issue of poverty; specifically, where is the poverty line and who is below it? The Mayor is dissatisfied with the current federal standard for judging who is poor and who is not, which is based on the cost of groceries to feed a family. The current federal standard is 42 years old and criticized by many as totally off-base and outdated, especially since it......

It’s not Tracy Letts’s fault that his play, August: Osage County, has been breathlessly overhyped by the critics, from the Times’s Charles Isherwood on down. It’s also not his fault that compared to many other Broadway spectacles the play stands out as a polestar of humor and intelligence. Still, it’s difficult to disassociate the play from the deafening buzz; August: Osage County is being heralded as an Important Theatrical Event, when it’s really just a......

The City Council's Committee on Government Operations met this week to talk about possible changes to how much money council members make. Questions were raised about how raises were determined, leadership bonuses, and whether outside work should remain permitted. After a 25% increase in base pay in 2006, council members earn $112,500 annually. They can earn an additional $10,000 a year on average if a member holds a leadership position. In addition, members can hold......

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has released data showing Manhattan as the country's highest paid place. Thanks to financial executives' salaries, the average weekly salary for a Manhattanite is $2,821. The next highest weekly salary in the country is Fairfield, Connecticut - $1,979. The figure reflect the heady first quarter of 2007. The rest of New York City residents make more modest amounts. Queens residents make an average of $831/week, followed by $788 made in......

The financial markets may be taking a hit lately, but Wall Street is still planning about $38 billion in bonuses this year. Bloomberg News reports that the money was thanks to "a record $9 billion of fees for arranging acquisitions and $5 billion for underwriting initial public offerings and sales of junk bonds." This translate to an average Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers or Bear Stearns worker getting over $200,000 in bonuses.......

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......

Last night, a memorial bike ride was held in memory of Craig Murphey. Murphey, a 26-year-old who worked at the West Harlem Action Network Against Poverty, was biking when he was hit by an oil truck at Union Avenue and Ten Eyck Street in Williamsburg. The truck driver was not charged, and an earlier report had stated that Murphey was biking in the "wrong direction" (opposite of street traffic). However his friend Elizabeth Weinberg told......

This morning, President Bush is addressing the 62nd United Nations General Assembly. He is expected to discuss "global fight against terrorism, tyranny and poverty," as well as sanctions against Myanmar in support of the protest organized by Buddhist monks. However, he will only mention Iran briefly, and will opt to cover "broad themes." A White House spokesman said, "The president wanted this speech to focus on many other issues that are facing the world......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an unusual trauma at Pennsylvania and Flatlands Aves. in Brooklyn, a church robbery on West 31st St. in Manhattan, and a found DOA on Furman St. at the piers in Brooklyn. State officials are now thinking that the best way to reincarnate the glory days of the old Penn Station is not to build two office towers on top of the Farley Post Office building. They've arrested the man......

Yesterday, the U.S. Census released data showing that the number of New Yorkers living in poverty increased, though the national number dropped. With more than 1.54 million New Yorkers in poverty, that makes it a 2% increase from last year, a change the city attributes to how the data was collected. Still, Mayor Bloomberg said, "Whether the numbers are overstated or understated, there is no question that they are much too high and you have......

As Americans continue their race slow, labored walk towards larger and larger coffins, New Yorkers are not far behind. According to a study published yesterday by the Trust for America’s Health, obesity rates rose in 31 U.S. States last year including New York where 22.4% of adults are obese – up by 0.7% from 2005. New York State is tied for 38th place with New Hampshire while Mississippi can boast the widest waistlines, becoming the......

While Mayor Bloomberg may have given himself an A on his personal report card that determes how well he fulfilled goals of his administration, one blot on that report card is the recent rise in the number of homeless people in New York City. When he was elected, Bloomberg promised to cut the number of homeless people by two-thirds. Today, the number of homeless people in the city is at a 20 year high. The......

The city's deputy mayor of health and human services Linda Gibbs announced some details of how the cash-incentives-to-the-poor program will work yesterday. Students (whose schools participate in the program and whose families meet the critieria) would get $25/month for at least 95% elementary school attendance and 50%/month at the high school level, $600 for each of the five Regents exams passed, $300 for taking 11 high school credits a year, $50 for getting a......

John Gotti Jr., son of Gambino mob boss John Gotti and long suspected of still being in the mob (even though his last trial ended in a mistrial) tells the Post he's moving out of New York because he's a bit cash-strapped. The Post touts his "don-sizing" of his Oyster Bay mansion - we wonder if any mob lore fans will want to buy Gotti's 1.96 acre home. Gotti Jr. said, "We're going to move......

La Vie En Rose (directed by Olivier Dahan and Sebastien Caudron) At the end of her life Edith Piaf sang that she didn't regret anything and after you see her story played out in La Vie En Rose, you realize that's really saying something. An icon of French music whose voice instantly evokes the good life in sun-dappled Parisian street cafes, Piaf came from extreme poverty and with her immense talent became a huge international......

Of the world’s total population of 6.5 billion, 90% (that's 5.8 billion people) have little or no access to things the rest of us take for granted - with nearly half not having regular access to food, clean water, or shelter. Design for the Other 90% is an exhibit on view at Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum through September 23rd, and it focuses on affordable and innovative products not geared towards the 10% getting Crate and......

Can't a guy change his website without people suddenly asking questions about it? Well, if you're the billionaire mayor of the country's largest city who may or may not have presidential/gubernatorial leanings, then no. And not when he announces to to the press, either. Mayor Bloomberg's mikebloomberg.com website, which had most recently been his mayoral election and re-election site, underwent a makeover that emphasizes all of his initiatives. The mayor told the press, "This......

After looking across the pond for his congestion pricing scheme (London introduced congestion pricing in 2003 and extended it westward this February), Mayor Bloomberg is travelling south of the border to Mexico on a fact-finding trip to fight poverty. The subject of the mayor's journey is a program dubbed Conditional Cash in the U.S., but called Oportunidades in Mexico. Oportunidades pays poor Mexican women unrestricted cash bonuses for behaving in a manner that officials hope......

On Tuesday "The Oprah Winfrey Show" became a platform for the Hip-Hop community to respond to the Don Imus controversy with a panel discussion featuring Russell Simmons, Dr. Benjamin Chavis, Kevin Liles, Common and more. Should musicians lose their jobs or their contracts for using words that are considered racist and sexist? As seen in the video clip below, the former EIC of Essence Magazine thinks so. She is met with many who disagree, however,......

The city is embarking on a new pilot program to offer cash to poor families to motivate them to "break the cycle of intergenerational poverty." The public-private plan which has raised $42 million in private funds so far is called Opportunity NYC, and Mayor Bloomberg said, "If you’re serious about tackling poverty, an entrenched problem that has proven resistant to conventional government programs, you have to be serious about trying new things, taking a new......

A look at some noteworthy programs this week: The Morning Show With Mike & Juliet (Monday, 10 a.m. WNYW 5) Fox takes another stab at a morning show. Just the thought of a Fox morning show brings back memories of the insipid Fox After Breakfast from the mid 90s that had Tom Bergeron and Viki Lawremce hosting from a faux Manhattan loft. The new entry is fronted by Mike Jerrick and Juliet Huddy of the......

From HealthCareThatWorks comes this informative new mashup, showing all of the hospitals in the city, including the ones slated for closure or reduction in services. If you look at the map, one thing is obvious: Today, New Yorkers who live in low-income communities are less likely than ever to live near a hospital. This trend may worsen: Of the 12 hospitals currently slated for closure, downsizing, or restructuring, 8 are located in or near......

A report from the New York City Coalition for Educational Justice says that many city middle schools are "pathways to failure." Ouch. The group also has some damning statistics: Though 50% of white students can read at eighth grade levels, only 25% of Hispanic and African-American students can (and only 22% of eighth grade students at high poverty schools can read at eighth grade levels). From the Sun:Accelerated math courses are offered at 57% of......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a double shooting in East New York, an escaped psych patient in Queens, and hazmat condition on 39th and 6th in Manhattan. Rosie vs. Trump has entered into its most troubling phase yet: free verse! Our favorite Brooklyn pastime: stalking Steve Buscemi on the F-Train. Did you know that New York State sets "recommended milk prices"? If a store wants to sell milk for more than that, they've got......

Yesterday, Joseph Bruno, the NY State Senate's majority leader, revealed that the FBI was investigating him for his "outside business interests." Wow, is being investigated by the feds the new black for Republicans? Or is being investigation something most politicians need to go through (we're talking to you, Alan Hevesi!)? Republican Bruno called a press conference and told reporters, "I have nothing to hide. They are going into background over the past five or six......

Oh no. Someone jumped in front of the F train at West 4th Street. Expect delays as service has been rerouted - from the MTA: Due to a Police investigation at the West 4th Street-Washington Square Station, the Brooklyn bound F train is running express from the 34th Street-Herald Square Station to the West 4th Street-Washington Square Station. The V train is running on the E line from the 5th Avenue-53rd Street Station to......

MOVIE: In their ongoing series about The Next Generation of Film, the Film Society at Lincoln Center has been bringing award winning filmmakers to the Upper West Side to discuss the behind the scenes of their work. This newest installment features Ben Affleck, the Oscar winner who seems to be on the road back from being a celeb couple punch line with his work in the recent film, Hollywoodland. Affleck will be screening this movie......

There is an incredible feature about British author Will Self visiting NYC in the NY Times Arts section. Why a feature and why so incredible? Well, Self decided to walk from JFK Airport to Manhattan - all 20 miles - and Times writer at large Charles McGrath and Times photographer Casey Kelbaugh went along for the journey, too. So it's incredibly brilliant and incredibly nuts at the same time. There's a great map of......

Illinois Senator Barack Obama was in New York yesterday as speculating about the 2008 Presidential race started to reach a fever pitch (or as much of a fever pitch as possible this early on). He spoke at a fundraiser for Kids in Distressed situations, saying, "We have an empathy deficit. It's time for a sense of empathy to infuse our politics in America. It is time to stop making excuses for inaction." The Daily......

Let's face it, this weekend was made for bonding with your couch, napping and eating leftovers. But if you really want to go against the flow, here are some things to get you out of the house... THEATER: Gutenberg! The Musical did so well at the recent New York Musical Theatre Festival that it’s moved on up to 59E59. (The show was directed by Alex Timbers, who most recently helmed Hell House.) In this two-man......