September 20, 2012 Weather: Partly Cloudy, High of 71 Degrees.
Notices:
Events today include an appearance by Tim Gunn, a Central Park tour with the New York microscopial society, and a free Lincoln Center concert.
News:
Manhattan rental vacancy rates rose in August tot heir highest level for the month in three years. On the UWS, 1.38% of apartments were vacant. That might convince landlords to lower rents, or at least stop increasing them as much: “As they head into the winter months, the last thing they want to do is rack up vacancies,” Citi Habitats President Gary Malin said. “So if they have to modify their prices or if they have to offer incentives they’ll do so.” (Bloomberg)
Rent, by the way, consumes more than 50% of the incomes of 30% of New Yorkers, a scary statistic. That includes 38% of middle-income earners. (Village Voice)
The private Speyer Legacy School will open a new middle school for gifted and talented studentsnext fall at an undisclosed location. Maybe the city will eventually deal with the growing number of kids trying to get into the limited gifted and talented programs at local public schools, instead of making their parents pay $31,000 to go to a private school. (DNAinfo)
David Mitchell was indicted on rape charges against a 73-year-old woman in Central Park last week. (NBC).
Bruce Willis is looking for a home on the Upper West Side. (NY Post)
About rent consuming 50% of income PLUS CA CHANGE, PLUS C’EST LA MEME CHOSE. I remember living in the Village as a starving 20-something in the early 1970s. We all assumed that to live in that coveted part of NYC, we EXPECTED to spend 50% of our income on rent. We lived on pasta (it was called canned spaghetti then), just to be able to walk out our front door and be at our perceived center of the world.