If you forget your reusable bags at home it could soon cost you in New York City, as local lawmakers are poised to vote on a measure that would add a five cent fee to consumers’ bills if they opt for a plastic or paper bag at checkout. [More]
new york city
Police: Scammer Punched NYC Tourist In The Face For Refusing To Buy Statue Of Liberty Tickets
By 2.17.16
If you don’t want to visit the Statue of Liberty, that’s your choice, and you shouldn’t be punched in the face because of it. That’s why police in New York City have arrested a man who’s accused of hitting a tourist and knocking him to the ground after a failed attempt to sell him sightseeing tickets. [More]
NYC’s Proposed Plan To Rein In Horse-Drawn Carriages Falls Apart Before Vote
By 2.4.16
A deal that would have limited New York City’s horse-drawn carriages to Central Park and cut down how many were allowed to operate was thisclose to becoming reality tomorrow, only to fall apart before the City Council could vote on it. [More]
Some New York City Uber Drivers Will Go On Strike At Noon
By 2.1.16
You might remember last week that we reported about Uber’s plans to cut fares by about 15% in New York City. Customers are surely delighted, and some drivers are happy to have less downtime, but other drivers are less thrilled, and around 1,000 drivers are expected to go on strike today at noon. [More]
Longshoremen Walk Off The Job At New York City Area Ports
By 1.29.16
Earlier today, work at cargo ports in the New York and New Jersey area abruptly stopped, and dockworkers walked off the job. While trucks line up outside of the ports to deliver and pick up cargo containers, no one is there to move them around. The dispute involves “hiring practices,” specifically, control of the licenses that allow dockworkers and their employers to work on the ports. [More]
NYC Tourists Will Still Be Able To Hail A Horse-Drawn Carriage In Central Park After City Reaches Deal
By 1.18.16
Tourists visiting the Big Apple will be tooling around Central Park in horse-drawn carriages for years to come, after New York City officials reached a deal that allows some carriage operators to stick around, and will mean a new stable for the four-legged workers. [More]
New York Lawmakers Call For Legalizing “Hoverboards” As One Explodes In Brooklyn Apartment
By 12.30.15
So-called “hoverboards,” which don’t actually hover, are illegal to use on the streets of New York City. Two lawmakers are trying to change that, but their timing couldn’t be worse, as one of the self-balancing scooters caught fire in a Brooklyn apartment Tuesday. [More]
Study Shows Women Pay Significantly More Than Men For Virtually The Same Products
By 12.23.15
It’s expensive being a woman, literally. At least according to a new study that found women will spend thousands of dollars more than men over the course of their lives on products that are effectively the same. [More]
Restaurant Group Sues NYC Over New Salt Warning Labels
By 12.4.15
Well, that was quick: two days after New York City’s new salt labeling rules went into effect — requiring chain restaurants to slap a salt shaker symbol on especially salty menu items — a restaurant group is suing the city, arguing that health regulators have gone too far. [More]
Man Experiences Every New Yorker’s Worst Fear By Falling Through Open Cellar Door In Front Of McDonald’s
By 10.16.15
You don’t have to be a New Yorker to fear the sidewalk grate — those shuttered cellar doors restaurants and other businesses have out front that are supposed to be safe to walk on — it can strike fear in the heart of any pedestrian, city dweller or tourist. One man embodied that common worry when he stumbled into an open sidewalk door in front of McDonald’s recently in the city’s busy Midtown neighborhood. [More]
NYC Officials Grill Verizon About Incomplete FiOS Rollout
By 10.14.15
A few months back, the city of New York released a damning audit of Verizon’s FiOS rollout in the Big Apple. According to Verizon, they have met their obligation to bring service to New York as laid out in the franchise agreement. But according to New Yorkers, the telecom giant has a long, long way yet to go. [More]
NYC Will Start Fining Businesses That Blast AC Out Into The Streets
By 10.8.15
There’s nothing quite like walking down the street on a hot, muggy day in the middle of August in New York City, only to walk past a store with its doors open and feel a quick blast of arctic air. But as nice as that might feel, it’s not so great for the environment. To combat all that leaking air, come summer, NYC is going to enforce a new law that require stores to keep their doors shut when the AC is on. [More]
Once Medicaid Decides That You’re Dead, It’s Hard To Come Back To Life
By 9.28.15
When you’re dead, you generally can’t come back. It’s also difficult to come back when you’re actually alive, but the government thinks that you’re dead. An 87-year-old on Brooklyn is understandably worried, because Medicaid has declared her dead. If other government services believe them, dead people don’t need to do things like visit doctors or eat, so her income, food stamps, and health insurance would stop. This would be bad. [More]
Church And State Officials Really Mad At Scalpers Of Papal Procession Tickets
By 9.14.15
Pope Francis is visiting three East Coast cities this week, bringing holiness and traffic snarls everywhere he goes. While tickets to papal events are usually limited to parishioners living nearby, the city government in New York made 40,000 tickets available by lottery for a procession in Central Park. Free tickets by free lottery. Naturally, people are trying to sell these tickets for hundreds or thousands of dollars online. [More]
NYC Board Of Health Approves Sodium Warning Labels For Extra Salty Menu Items
By 9.9.15
Like your food salty? If you live in New York City, you’ll be reminded exactly how salty your next meal is starting Dec. 1, when chain restaurants will have to include a salt shaker symbol on menu items that exceed the recommended daily intake of sodium. [More]
Uber Defends Robocalls, Claims They Were Legitimate Political Messages
By 8.20.15
A week after Uber was sued for allegedly spamming non-customers with text messages, the ridesharing service faces another complaint claiming intrusive telephonic behavior. This time, the plaintiff says Uber is violating federal and New York state laws with pre-recorded calls urging consumers to contact their local lawmakers. But Uber says the calls were political in nature, thus exempt from the robocall rules. [More]
Patients At NYC Hospitals Will No Longer Become Accidental Reality TV Stars
By 8.13.15
We don’t know about you, but the last thing we want when we go to the hospital is for anyone — not even our loved ones — to shoot video of us. We certainly wouldn’t want to find out that we’re being filmed without our permission by a crew for some cruddy reality TV show. And after one such show actually broadcast the secretly recorded death of a patient in a New York City hospital, it looks like patients in NYC may not have to worry about being caught on camera at your worst. [More]
NYC Mayor Ditches Plan To Curb Uber Expansion In The City
By 7.23.15
It seems Uber will get its way in New York City after all: Though Mayor Bill de Blasio was pushing for limits on how much the ride-hailing service and other for-hire vehicle companies could expand their fleets, city hall is now backing down from that plan amid backlash from Uber, Governor Andrew Cuomo and some famous folks. [More]
