Results tagged “donation”

Last year around this time we got word that the East River State Park in Williamsburg would be shutting down for the winter months to save up some money. This year shows less signs of a stalled waterfront park, as the Daily News reports that a playground is being constructed and will open in Spring.

Last year residents of a Perry Street townhouse, one that is home to Carrie Bradshaw in a fictional world, put up a chain and a sign threatening away any fans taking photos on the stoop. Since fans allegedly are ignoring the sign, they have added a new one. This time around it's attached to a money drop box, and asks if you take a photo, to donate to a charity for orphaned animals. Hear that Carrie fans? For every photo you take, and dollar you don't donate, you are killing kittens and puppies. VanishingNY spotted the new system, and calls for a new tax in the city: a Tourist & Yunnie Nuisance Tax.

It's not just us city folk who appreciate the art institutes here. The New Yorker reports that Glenn Lowry, director of the Museum of Modern Art, has received quite a generous donation from a neighbor of his Vermont house who passed away. They say, "Two years ago, when Lowry heard that a man named Michael H. Dunn, from the town of Derby, just across the lake from him, had dropped dead of a heart attack, and that his estate, in excess of ten million dollars, had been left to MOMA, he was flabbergasted."

With the Met Museum announcing a series of layoffs, it's not surprising to hear that visitors of the establishment aren't paying the full recommended admission fee. The NY Post reports that folks aren't willing to fork over the dough during the tough economic times, and many are just giving $1 (of the suggested $20) for their visit. For the Met and other NYC museums that have long shunned a set admission price, there's probably nothing they can do if they don't want to see a decrease in visitors. One recently laid off art lover told the paper, "If they didn't do it, I'm not sure I would come. I really appreciate that they allow me to pay on a sliding scale." There is one museum that hasn't taken a hit yet, the Museum of Natural History is still getting their $15 suggested price from visitors. A spokesman confirmed, "For the time being...people are paying the suggested donation." Survival of the fittest?

Politicker NY noticed how a $500,000 check, from the coffers of one Michael R. Bloomberg, arrived at the state Independence Party a day after upstate billionaire Tom Golisano announced he'd fund an effort against the term limits extension.

In 2007 Gotham Book Mart shut its doors after 87 years of being in business, and owner Andreas Brown held a court-mandated auction, selling the entire contents of the shop for $400K (though it was reportedly worth several million). CityRoom is reporting that now, nearly two years later, "about 200,000 items have been donated to the University of Pennsylvania" by an anonymous donor (the same who purchased the entire contents of the store's inventory). The lot includes “proofs, advance copies, pamphlets, photographs, posters, reference works, catalogs, broadsides, prints and postcards,” as well as books "from the personal libraries of Truman Capote and Anaïs Nin," and signed items from Arthur Miller, John Updike, Woody Allen and Tennessee Williams (who was a clerk at the store at one point). The site wonders if Leonard A. Lauder, former chairman of Estée Lauder, previous benefactor of the bookstore, and graduate of Penn (class of 1954) was the donor.

Solar One, the non-profit Community Environmental Center here in New York, is raising some funds for the new year. Their latest $100 donation plan is dubbed Environmental Health on a Half Shell. It's simple...if you donate 100 bucks, they'll plant 100 oysters in the East River for you. They explain: "The lowly oyster provides a natural filtering system - they eat algae, and well, raw sewage. They purify our waters. When the Dutch arrived, the lower Hudson River Estuary contained 350 square miles of oyster beds. These many millions of bi-valve beauties cleaned the lower Estuary in a single day. They contributed mightily to the wealth of New York as well - pickled oysters became important trade with the British West Indies. Oysters were produced in all 5 boroughs...sold on every corner. Sadly, sewage and pollution exhausted the last beds in 1927." Last year they planted 3,000 oysters, and this year they have a goal of 10,000 (you can help). Just imagine a swimmable East River! And quick, someone dump some oysters in the Gowanus.

The annual NY Cares Coat Drive has been extended past this month and into January because there have been fewer donations this season. The organization usually collected 80,000-90,000 coats a year, but this year, they are off that mark by about 10%--which means 8,000 or more people could be without coats. There's increased demand this year and NY Cares executive director Gary Bagley tells NY1, "We're guessing it's probably the economic situation, maybe people are holding to their coats a little longer, they're a little concerned. We're really asking people to dig deep into their closets and come out." Here are details on where you can donate your gently used coats--and NY Cares has receipts so you can get a tax deduction.

City College of New York told the NY Times the opening reception for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service would be delayed. The decision was made “by mutual agreement between the congressman’s office and the college." Earlier this week, the House ethics committee announced it would expand the probe into Rep. Rangel's dealings. Previously, the committee was investigating his (1) use of Congressional letterhead to solicit donations for the CCNY graduate school, (2) four rent-stabilized apartments, and (3) non-payment of taxes on rental income from a vacation villa; now the committee will look at, per Rangel's request, charges that he helped preserve a tax loophole for an oil company whose chief executive donated $1 million to the Rangel Center.

It's politician vs. big newspaper pissing match! Representative Charles Rangel wasn't happy when the NY Times blew the lid on his four rent-stabilized apartments in Harlem (at a press conference, he told a Times reporter, "Don’t make yourself look more dumb than you want") over the summer.

Right before the Thanksgiving holiday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a statement saying she expected the ethics committee investigation into Rep. Charles Rangel by January 3, 2009: "I look forward to reviewing the report at that time." The ethics panel is looking into three things: Rangel's use of Congressional letterhead to solicit donations to City College's school of public service (which is being named after him); his four rent-stabilized apartments; and unreported income from his vacation villa in the Dominican Republic. As allegations and questions have accumulated over recent months (most recently, about a $1 million donation to the school from an oil executive), Rangel has denied any wrongdoing and has been allowed to keep his chairmanship of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee in the meantime.

      

The annual Canstruction sculptures are on display at the World Financial Center. As the Canstruction website explains, "Teams of architects, engineers, and students mentored by these professionals, compete to design and build giant structures made entirely from full cans of food...At the close of the exhibitions all of the canned food used in the structures is donated to local food banks for distribution to emergency feeding programs that include pantries, soup kitchens, elderly and day care centers."

Today in the ongoing examination into Rep. Charles Rangel's dealings, the NY Times wonders--on the front page-- about a pledged $1 million donation to a City College school of public service (being named after Rangel) from a oil executive. Eugene Isenberg, who has paid $200,000 of the donation so far, heads an oil drilling company Nabors Industries which dodged "tens of millions" in retroactive tax payments, thanks to Rangel. Nabors' practice of operating a Caribbean office to "reduce their federal tax payments" was targeted, but Rangel worked to keep the tax shelter--"Mr. Rangel said he stood with Nabors because, as much as he was offended by the company’s attempts to get around some of its United States taxes, he thought it wrong to impose a retroactive tax increase." Naturally, Rangel and Isenberg deny any wrongdoing , but read the article for other details--it's fascinating (and long).

Everyone's least favorite Paul McCartney ex, Heather Mills, is trying to earn points by doing some good...and right here in New York, no less (where she resides part-time). NYMag reports that after cashing in on her divorce with the Beatle to the tune of $50 million, she is now donating $1 million in vegetarian food products to the children of Hunts Point (Mills is a honorary chairperson of the Hunts Point Alliance for Children). The South Bronx neighborhood, where more than half the population is below poverty level, will now be stocked up with soy products from the vegan--and she'll be on hand tomorrow, grilling up some of the goods, at a ceremony with Congressman José Serrano.

Is gambling really a vice if you donate your $3 million lottery ticket to a church in need? The growing True North Community Church, which Newsday says was about to hold services in "rented ballrooms and school gyms," received a blessing when an anonymous donor gave them a winning Ba-Da Bling scratch-off ticket's winnings. The Port Jefferson Station church will received $150,000 a year for 20 years. Taxes will be taken out, but since the church is a nonprofit, "the church can file for refund claims for a portion or all of the taxes withheld by the lottery." The church has decided to give the first year of earnings away to charities and its pastor denied being the lottery ticket winner, "I'd give a lot of it to the church, but not all of it. This is a rare, remarkable, generous person."

Late New York composer and Broadway writer Richard Rodgers became world-renowned, but as The NY Post notes, "never forgot his Harlem roots." Yesterday his family donated $1 million to restore the neglected bandshell at Marcus Garvey Park, and as Bloomberg reminded everyone at a press conference--Rodgers also donated the original funds (to the tune of $150,000) to build the facility in 1970. The city has also put forth $4 million towards the renovation, which will begin in the Fall of 2009. When complete the new bandshell will feature improved acoustics, new seats, wheelchair accessible sections and a new name: The Richard Rodgers Bandshell.

David H. Koch, the richest man in NYC with a net worth of $17 billion, is donating $100 million towards the renovation of the New York State Theater at Lincoln Center. The City Opera and New York City Ballet perform in the space, and Koch told the NY Times, “I’ve been going to the New York State Theater for 40 years. I can assure you, I would not make a gift of this magnitude unless I was absolutely convinced that the quality of the work was world class.” Other parts of Lincoln Center are currently under renovation.

The NY Post's big cover story is a look at the corporations who donate money to the Reverend Al Sharpton's National Action Network.

How much did you spend on lunch today? $10 for a salad at Chop't? $7.50 for a sandwich at Pax? A whopping $175 on the lunch tasting menu at per se? Regardless, if you set that amount of money aside tomorrow, May 14th, and donate it to City Harvest's Skip Lunch, Fight Hunger campaign, you can make a difference in the lives of hungry New Yorkers.

Following the announcement of a $100 million donation for the New York Public Library, The Whitney has just announced their own sugar daddy: Leonard A. Lauder.

A number of staffers at Queens Intermediate School 73 became upset when they discovered "new or slightly used books tossed into a Dumpster" outside. The Daily News has a photo of the books, which include "Little Women," "Sarah, Plain and Tall," and "Treasure Island," and one staffer said, "Those books, you open them up, they still crack, they're so new. Why not give them away or hold a book drive at least?"

Mayor MIchael Bloomberg's largess makes him the country's seventh biggest charitable donor. The Chronicle of Philanthropy's Top 50 Donor List (less sexy than the Forbes list, but possibly more worthy) notes he committed $205 million to various institutions last year.