Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, pictured here at last week's Atlantic Antic, is still drawing fire over the way he runs several non-profit groups that put on free Brooklyn events and promote tourism. Last month city comptroller Bill Thompson said he was "very concerned" about $680,496 in taxpayer-financed no-bid contracts Markowitz awarded to the non-profits, and the Brooklyn Paper saw a conflict in the estimated $260,000 that Atlantic Yards developer Forest City Ratner donated to......

The film adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's satirical novel Choke concerns a sex-addicted med-school drop-out (Sam Rockwell) who works as an Irish indentured servant in a Colonial-era theme park to help pay for his Alzheimer’s-afflicted mother's (Angelica Huston) stay in an expensive private medical hospital. The movie's creepiness gets under your skin a little bit, but it also has a lot of heart to temper all the black comedy. Rex Reed begs to differ: "I......

Whenever a NYC teacher calls out sick to wrestle in the WWE or attend a relative's sentencing, the Department of Education has to send in an expensive substitute from the Absent Teacher Reserve pool. A new report has found that the city's substitute teacher system costs $74 million a year, because the reserve teachers receive full-time salary and benefits, and many of them are senior educators at the top of their pay grade. In fact,......

Mayor Bloomberg's not about to let a little economic turbulence down on Wall Street ruin his ambitious plans (paid for with $3 billion in bonds) for a business district at the west side Hudson Yards site. Today the Hudson Yards Development Corp., which is overseeing construction of the project and the recently scaled-back extension of the No. 7 subway line, has released five possible designs for four acres of park space, the Post reports. Five......

After the Daily News raised questions about $680,496 in no-bid contracts that Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz awarded to the nonprofit he runs out of his office, a spokesperson for city comptroller Bill Thompson tells the Brooklyn Paper that he's "very concerned about the contracts, which were clearly meant to circumvent the transparency [of] the contract registration process.” Thompson and Markowitz are both possible mayoral contenders. The contracts have raised eyebrows in part because four......

Are the city's borough presidents just a bunch of lazy, pampered functionaries who draw a $160,000-a-year salary to show up for photo ops and issue proclamations? After reviewing the schedules for all five presidents during the week of August 4th, the Post seems to have arrived at that conclusion. The tabloid is shocked to find that the job of borough president turns out to be largely ceremonial, with a week in the life filled......

More than 100,000 people have taken the free ferry over to Governors Island so far this year, up from 56,000 in 2007 and 26,000 in 2006. Today the Times takes a look at the 172-acre island's new-found popularity among everyone from crowd-surfing punks to exuberant swing dancers. If only those groups could one day share the same dance floor! Oh, and let's not forget the island's appeal for miniature golfers. The Figment celebration of participatory......

Since September 10th, when blocking the box was changed from a moving violation to a parking violation, the NYPD has issued over 1,000 citations to the tune of $150 each. But some traffic cops have come out against the change because they say they're ill-equipped to deal with traffic stops, which are "one of the most dangerous interactions even police officers engage in," according to Anthony Miranda of the National Latino Officers Association. He tells......

Two children are recovering from gunshot wounds after being hit by stray bullets during separate incidents Saturday night. On President Street in Crown Heights, 10-year-old Denia Kearse (pictured) was enjoying a block party when shots rang out around 8 p.m. Her aunt tells channel 7, "Everybody heard pop, pop, pop, and it sounded like it was blocks away. And then, the next thing you know, my niece is bleeding." The stray bullet tore across her......

Getty Images Have you seen this parasite sucking blood from your child's head? Not yet maybe, but be vigilant. While there's no major lice outbreak to report in the city's schools so far, there's still reason to be afraid, because the critters are becoming immune to insecticides used in prescription and over the counter lice treatments. In fact, lice experts tell the Daily News it takes just three to five years for lice to adapt......

Get yourself some popcorn, because this week Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni is taking the hammer to big shot media power-lunch nest Michael's. Turns out dinner there is an overpriced joke: "I thought Michael’s prided itself on produce. Then I had its appetizer of peekytoe crab with spears of white asparagus, which might as well have been spears of white wax for all the flavor they had....[Michael’s] certainly charges like a serious restaurant, levying a......

The experimental Bx12 Select Bus Service that runs between upper Manhattan and the Bronx has been a big hit according to New York City Transit, with a trip from end to end on the route taking an average 12 minutes less time than before. (One transportation advocate says her average 65 minute commute has been cut to 48 minutes.) You'll recall that the route now features more buses (up to ten more during peak hours)......

Kids returning to school Tuesday were handed pamphlets outlining Mayor Bloomberg's new "Respect for All" policy, intended to reduce bullying, particularly harassment in public schools based on ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation or disability. Every principal is now required to designate a staff member to whom students can report incidents, with schools required to report complaints to the Department of Education within 24 hours. According to WNBC, an accounting of all the incidents......

Michael Wilson over at the Times wanders the boroughs to talk to working class types whose inability to afford gas or airplane tickets means they're stuck in town all summer. The article devotes over 1,400 to the phenomenon, which, as you no doubt know, is called a "staycation," in the parlance of our times. Wilson's crazy about the portmanteau, in a Seinfeldian sort of way: "...it’s a very fun word to say. Staycation. How was your staycation? My parents went on staycation, and all I got was this lousy T-shirt. Our son-in-law threw his back out on staycation." (Salsa, anyone?)...

The third and final day of Summer Streets was Saturday, and DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan tells the Times, “I’ve heard nothing but rave reviews. When I was along the route, most people I talked to wanted it done every weekend in the summer.” But as previously noted, some retailers complained about losing business during the five hours that streets were closed to motor vehicles – particularly "destination" shops like T. Anthony Ltd., a luxury luggage store on Park Avenue. Owner Jack Weiss theorizes that, “If someone is coming to buy luggage, they’re generally going to bring a car.” ...

Just because Merrill Lynch reneged on leasing office space in a tower planned for where the down-at-heel Hotel Pennsylvania still stands, don't think the property owner won't demolish the 89-year-old hotel anyway. Vornado Realty Trust still hasn't publicly settled on plans for the property, but the Observer reports the company recently applied for a Certification of No Harassment from the city, a prerequisite for demolition. Vornado is debating whether to construct a giant office tower......

This week the Times’s Frank Bruni rhapsodizes about Perbacco (pictured), which has been open for about five years on East 4th Street, but has a much-buzzed about new chef: 26-year-old Italian hot shot Simone Bonelli, who comes from “the northern city of Modena and the kitchen of Osteria La Francescana, where Italy’s old guard meets Spain’s New Wave.” A two star rating from the Times is a slam dunk for a casual restaurant in this......

The most indispensable member of Council Speaker Christine Quinn's staff seems to be an unpaid 81-year-old World War II veteran, her father Lawrence P. Quinn. An endearing profile in the Times today spotlights his ongoing efforts for his daughter, who will run for mayor next year. Ms. Quinn, an openly gay liberal, calls him "an all-purpose schlepper" who comes in handy for retirement home photo-ops. Mr. Quinn, a practicing Catholic, seems to be crying for......

That new law enabling tenants to sue their landlords for harassment could be overturned. A lawsuit filed in state Supreme Court by the misleadingly-named Rent Stabilization Association and the poetically-named Prometheus Realty Corp. (because the corporation is chained to the rock of onerous regulation while tenants peck at their livers) argues that while the NYPD is free to intervene in cases of tenant harassment, it is not within the city’s power to regulate housing issues,......

The surf was definitely not up on the city's waterways today, but that didn't stop a crowd of surfers from hanging ten in a paddle parade around Manhattan. The surreal sight of men and women standing on boards as they paddled up the East River was brought to you by Sea Paddle NYC, the second annual fundraiser for autism charities and the Surfers' Environmental Alliance. Razor Wire reports the 28 mile odyssey started at South Street Seaport at 9 a.m. this morning and finished in Battery Park City this afternoon. More photos here....

This week finds the Times's Frank Bruni rhapsodizing about Matsugen, the new haute soba restaurant in Tribeca from chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, who's kind of a big deal. Actually, as Bruni makes clear, only half the place is Jean-Georges; the other half, which includes the kitchen, is run by Taka, Yoshi and Masa Matsushita, brothers who also operate Matsugen restaurants in Tokyo and Honolulu. "Their soba, condiments, dips, broths and interlopers... are so clearly and cleanly......

The International Olympic Committee filed a copyright infringement claim yesterday against YouTube for hosting video of a Free Tibet protest at the Chinese Consulate in Manhattan Thursday night. The video depicts demonstrators conducting a candlelight vigil and projecting a protest video onto the consulate building; the projection features recent footage of Tibetan monks being arrested and riffs on the Olympic logo of the five interlocking rings, turning them into handcuffs. YouTube dutifully yanked the video,......

Photo courtesy istolethetv. The first Summer StreetsSaturday took place over the weekend, with the city barring motor vehicles from 6.9 miles of streets from the Brooklyn Bridge to East 72nd Street and Central Park. Cyclists and pedestrians reveled in the car-free oasis as the vehicular traffic was replaced by music, dance, yoga and other exercise classes from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. But some drivers, retailers and garage owners were less enthused. Mark Barbosa, a......

On Tuesday the L.A. city council passed a bill that would prevent new fast food restaurants from opening in certain parts of the city for at least one year. Not to be outdone, New York City Council member Eric Gioia is proposing the same thing here. He tells the Sun, "People are literally being poisoned by their diets – LA's idea deserves serious consideration as we look for holistic solutions to a serious problem." Suprisingly,......

Cemusa, the Spanish company that won a $1 billion contract to install new newsstands, bus stops and other street furniture throughout this fair city, hasn’t exactly impressed newsstand owners, some of whom are out of business for a month or longer while the company removes their old stand and puts in the new version (pictured). Previously, owners have complained that the roofs on the new stands leak and the locks are defective; now another problem......

Jill Priluck It's really finally happening, isn't it? First the Bat Signal hyped up the Woolworth Building, now the Batmobile is in town for the The Dark Knight world premiere tonight. The full-size toy was spotted outside the AMC Loews Lincoln Square theater – the one with the IMAX – earlier today. Our correspondent tells us that "handlers were in the process of covering it because people taking pictures wouldn't stop photographing it. When people......

Earlier this week, New York Mag’s Adam Platt panned star chef Alain Ducasse’s Benoit (pictured), declaring it an “ersatz” brasserie and concluding that “French cuisine, as we used to know it, is deader than we think.” Now the Times’s Frank Bruni takes his turn, and while he disagrees that it’s “a throwaway restaurant,” he does concur that “Benoit is selling a dining experience so familiar it’s almost a cliché… And what of the ‘Parisian salad’?......

Tired of wasting their talents on such frivolities as Wii tennis tournaments and water gun wars, equities lawyer Franz Aliquo and Thrillist editor Steve Bryant have gotten serious with an ambitious “Rental Car Rally,” which will pit 60 teams of drivers in a road race from New York City to Montreal this August. Because with gas costing over $4.50 a gallon and global warming leaving civilization almost certainly doomed, what could be more amusing than......

Yesterday's overcast skies were not the optimum conditions for documenting the launch of Olafur Eliasson's NYC Waterfalls; photographs from the first day tended to deemphasize the falls amid the uniformly gray background. But that's part of what's compelling about the work; it's never the same waterfall twice, being constantly affected by the light, air and your point of view. And as we suggested yesterday, while the project may seem underwhelming when you stare straight at......

No matter what you think, these falls are going to be big in Japan. Now that we've all had a chance to see the NYC Waterfalls, at least in pictures, from the land and water, let us know what you think so far. Keep in mind that there is still the nighttime perspective to come, during which the falls with be lit up until 9 p.m. And while the NYC Waterfalls are obviously no match......