On Monday Mayor Bloomberg announced a lawsuit against the Poospatuck Indian reservation on Long Island, in an attempt to stop the untaxed sale of 11.3 million cartons of cigarettes on the reservation per year. Today the Times has a great, long article about how the smokes travel from the wholesaler through the reservation and to the streets of New York, where "$5 Men" like "Paco" stand on corners and whisper, "Newports. Loosies. Shorts. Longs." Reporters......

Photo of Con Edison's LIC green roof courtesy Con Edison. The Con Edison training and conference facility in Long Island City, Queens has joined a small but growing family of buildings with green roofs, which absorb heat, reduce the need for air conditioning, and help improve air quality. According to the Sun, Con Edison projects that the green roof will save the building up to 30% in energy costs. There are now 21,000 plants atop......

The Seneca Nation is pressuring Governor Paterson to veto a bill that would tax cigarette sales to non-Indians; officials estimate the tax could generate $400 million in revenue, and Mayor Bloomberg recently said that tax revenue could save us from MTA fare hikes. The tribes argue that treaties dating to the 19th century make them exempt from state sales taxes; greedy white man legislators insist that sales to non-Indians are taxable. The debate is happening......

That mayor Bloomberg has an answer for everything. Cabbies want a fuel surcharge to help cover gas costs? Let them drive hybrids. The MTA is promising another fare increase? Let the smokers pay for it. Hizzoner said yesterday that the cost of subway and bus rides won’t have to go up much at all if the state collects taxes on cigarettes sold on Indian reservations. "That just alone would replace one of those fare increases,"......

Sure, lung cancer is hellish, but nothing motivates smokers to quit like a cigarette price increase. The city’s health department says the calls to 311 from smokers seeking help tripled during the week the state implemented a cigarette tax hike of $1.25. At over $8 a pack, smoking in New York City costs more than anywhere else in America, setting the pack-a-day smoker back $3,000 a year. The city contends tax increases in 2002 contributed......

After years of hemorrhaging film production business to cheaper locations like Canada, New York City is seeing a spike in movie shoots, back up to the pre-9/11 level. Bloomberg reports that the city saw a 36% rise in production last year, with over 245 movies and television shows shot citywide in 2007. A consulting group hired by the mayor’s office determined that the industry pumps $5 billion a year into the economy and employs some......