As chains take over every nook and cranny of this city, some people in the East Village are forming a united front against them. The Villager reports on the corporate takeover, the resistance and the new spin on this story as old as time. Multiple Starbucks in Astor Place act as a welcome sign to the East Village, but the East Village Community Coalition would like to say good riddance to them, and more than......

A recent NYU study found that children in the South Bronx suffer from astronomical asthma rates: in one Hunt’s Point elementary school, one in four children showed symptoms of the respiratory disease. The study attributed the frequency of asthma to the maze of highways and truck routes that traverse the area. Another likely culprit not mentioned in the study's press release: the seven MTA and privately owned bus depots in the Harlem/South Bronx area.......

In the 2000 census, somewhere around 150,000 New Yorkers described themselves as working in the arts, design, entertainment, and sports occupations. These people, making up 4.3% of the total working population, are the nucleus of what urban theorist Richard Florida calls the "creative class". This map, showing the density of artists and designers in the five boroughs, confirms what we already intuitively know: the creative class is centered in neighborhoods with the most cultural activity.......