Broadway Sets Stage for a Comeback

A total of 40 new plays and musicals will open on the Great White Way during the 2008-09 season, the greatest number of productions to open since 1986-87.
Contrary to popular belief, the curtain is far from falling on Broadway.

In fact, if all scheduled shows open as planned over the next few months, the Great White Way will have more new productions than any season in the last two decades. A whopping 22 new shows are opening this spring, bringing the total of new plays and musicals to 40 for the 2008-09 season.

Though the number is just one more than last season, it still marks the most openings since 1986-87 when 43 shows opened, according to Bloomberg News.

“Despite the fact that like Chicken Little said, ‘the sky is falling,’ there are a lot of new productions,” said Daryl Roth, producer of the new Tovah Feldshuh play, Irena’s Vow, which opens March 29. “Of course everyone is a bit anxious to be sure that all the new plays and musicals find their audiences, but people are feeling optimistic.”

NYC Fears a Return to the 1970s

NEW YORK (Reuters) - While many U.S. cities worry that their economies are deteriorating to the level of the 1930s Great Depression, New York City fears reliving a more recent decade that features strongly in city lore.

The 1970s were a low point in city history as a fiscal crisis almost pushed it into bankruptcy, crime rates soared, and homeless people crowded sidewalks as public services crumbled.

Almost a million people fled New York's Mean Streets during the decade for the safer, more stable suburbs, a population decline that took more than 20 years to reverse.

Hudson Yards Could Be In Jeopardy

January 21, 2009 3:51 PM

If negotiations fall through between the MTA and the Related Cos., the project may never be built.
If the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Related Cos. cannot reach a deal on Hudson Yards in 10 days, the $15 billion project could end up being postponed indefinitely or never being built.

The authority and the developer have until Jan. 31 to sign a contract, which would trigger a schedule of payments that could ultimately bring close to $1 billion into MTA coffers. But the sinking economy and a paucity of financing are pressuring both sides

Atlantic Yards still just an artist's rendering

Project stalls amid lawsuits, recession and credit crunch
Talk about an unhappy anniversary.

Five years ago last month, Forest City Ratner announced its plan for Atlantic Yards, a massive 22-acre development in Brooklyn that would include 8 million square feet of retail, residential and office space along with an arena for the Nets basketball team. Building the Frank Gehry-designed complex would cost $2.5 billion and take about 10 years.

As Economy Weakens, NYC's Budget Gaps Swell

After several years of amassing large surpluses, New York City now faces swelling budget gaps as long and deep recession erodes jobs and tax revenue.

To Avert Blight, NYC Will Repair and Resell Vacant Homes

New York City will spend $24 million in federal financing to rehabilitate and resell 115 foreclosed homes, one of the most aggressive steps city officials have taken in years to prevent vacant foreclosed properties from becoming a blight on neighborhoods, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced on Wednesday.

Miami is Fattest US City, Magazine Finds

Miami residents aren't all following the South Beach Diet.

It is the fattest city in the USA and Salt Lake City is the most fit, according to Men's Fitness magazine, which has been doing the annual analysis for 11 years. The results appear in the February issue.

Gulf Oil States Seeking a Lead in Clean Energy

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — With one of the highest per capita carbon footprints in the world, these oil-rich emirates would seem an unlikely place for a green revolution.

Recession Rocks Manhattan Office Market

Leasing activity in Manhattan hit a seven-year low last year, as rents tumbled and sales dried up, even as the wilting economy sent prices lower.

Frances Goldin receives JFREJ Risk Taker Award

Frances Goldin, a founder of the Cooper Square Committee, and a literary agent accepts an award from Jews for Racial and Economic Justice.

Future of NYC: No Quick Cure for Wall Street's Hangover

As the financial industry's profits dried up, so did the city’s most lucrative jobs. It could be a while before the finance sector bounces back.

New York Housing Plan Is Delayed

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s plan to create or preserve 165,000 units of housing for low- and moderate-income families by 2013 has been pushed back one year because the economic recession has stifled the financing of low-cost housing.

The one-year extension is the first major setback

Residential permits fall 74%

The decline mirrored a national one that saw housing starts fall across the country; tight credit and slack sales are cited as reasons for the decline in the city.
New residential construction in the city continued to plummet in November as developers grappled with tight credit markets and dwindling sales.

Permits for new residential buildings fell 74% to 63 in November compared with a year earlier, while the units authorized by those permits dropped 48% to 1,235, according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The scarcity of new residential projects drove the value of construction associated with permits more than four times lower than November 2007, to just over $51 million.