Monday Bulletin: Iconic UWS Brunch Spot Faces Eviction; UWS Zipcode Has Most Properties Potentially Affected by Pied-a-Terre Tax; UWS Leaky Toilet Nine Years Ago Led to Lawsuit; Did Stray Voltage Cause Carriage Horse to Bolt?

Today is Monday, August 3rd, 2026

The forecast calls for showers and the possibility of a thunderstorm with a high of 82. The weather for the rest of the week includes high humidity and showers or thunderstorms every day, but there should be peeks of sunshine as well, with highs in the 80s.

On this day in 1492, Christopher Columbus set sail from Spain with a trio of ships — the Niña, the Pinta and his flagship, the Santa Maria — sailing west in hopes of discovering a shorter sea passage from Europe to the spice-rich East Indies. Two months later, he instead landed on an island in what is now the Bahamas, but reported to his sponsors, Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella, that he had landed in the Far East. (Most historians believe he was too skilled a navigator to have made that mistake, and only said so because he didn’t want to lose their sponsorship.) Though he is often credited with discovering the New World, that’s erroneous; not only had it been populated by indigenous peoples for centuries, but the Vikings already had set foot there. However, buzz over Columbus’s journey did open up the New World to European exploration and settlement.

Notices

Our calendar has lots of local events. Click on the link or the lady in the upper righthand corner to check.

Tomorrow at 9:30 a.m., the Landmarks Preservation Commission meets to discuss the Presbytery of New York’s application to remove the landmark status of West-Park Presbyterian Church so that the building can be sold to a developer; a vote on the issue is expected on August 18th. The meeting will be held at 253 Broadway, on the second floor; it will also be streamed on Zoom. The link can be found — HERE.

News Roundup

Compiled by Laura Muha

Sarabeth’s, the iconic brunch spot on Amsterdam Avenue, is in danger of being evicted by the building’s owner, Crain’s New York Business reported.

In paperwork filed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan last week, building owner Lawrence Arnsten said the restaurant  failed to pay rent in June and July, and also failed to share sales figures for those months, in violation of its lease, which states that the rent is either $10,000 or 8% of monthly sales, whichever is higher, Crain’s said.

He is asking the judge to approve the eviction “by any means necessary,” and is seeking $43,400, which represents the missed rent and penalties, Crain’s said.

Sarabeth’s, which has held the lease on the restaurant space at 423 Amsterdam Avenue (at 80th Street) for nearly 40 years, is owned by husband-and-wife team Bill and Sarabeth Levine, and operated by RBM Restaurant Group. Neither the Levines nor RBM had responded to the suit by press time, Crain’s said.

Read the full story — HERE.

The UWS appears to have the largest number of properties citywide that could potentially be subject to the new second-home tax, according to an analysis of recently released city data by Patch.com.

The publication found that 178 residences in ZIP code 10024, and another 158 in neighboring ZIP code 10025, which also includes part of Morningside Heights, are valued at $5 million or more.

“Together, the two Upper West Side ZIP codes account for 336 residences valued above the threshold, making the neighborhood one of the City’s largest concentrations of homes that could be reviewed under the surcharge,” Patch reported. The data came from the City’s Department of Finance, which released it in advance of notifying property owners that they might owe the surcharge.

“The findings show the potential tax base extends well beyond Billionaires’ Row, with large concentrations of high-value homes spread across Manhattan’s long-established luxury neighborhoods,” the publication said, noting that the properties that could face the surcharge are largely concentrated around Central Park, and, on the East Side, Fifth Avenue and Park Avenue.

The so-called pied-a-terre tax, which was approved by the state legislature earlier this year, would impose a surcharge on property owners who live outside of New York City, but own second homes valued at $5 million or more within city limits.

Last month, letters went out to owners of many of the properties, telling them they might be subject to the surcharge, with information on how to file an appeal; the original deadline for the appeal was August 21st, but it has been extended  to September 18th after a public outcry.

Read the full Patch story — HERE.  The link to start an appeal is — HERE.

The former owner of a West 87th Street co-op is locked in a legal battle with the building’s board over a toilet that leaked from an upstairs apartment into his apartment nearly a decade ago, the New York Post reported.

Gary Paul, who owned a studio apartment at 108 West 87th Street, told the paper he was sitting on the toilet reading the paper in 2017 when he heard the sound of water cascading behind the bathroom wall. A hose had detached from the toilet in the unit above, and ultimately flooded his first-floor kitchen and the hallway outside.

“What followed was a messy, fingers-pointed-every-way legal battle,” the Post said. “It’s nine years later and the fight is still ongoing.”

Paul, who is suing for $750,000 in damages, maintains that, although he notified building management, it was a Sunday, and no one responded till the next day. “Thousands of gallons poured over my apartment from when it was discovered until midday the next day when management arrived, with keys, and a few hours later when a plumber arrived to arrest the flow of water,” he told the Post.

But Michael Lab, president of the co-op — which ultimately bought Paul’s apartment from him in hopes of resolving the dispute — maintains that Paul refused to let anyone into the apartment to dry it out, claiming he had severe dust allergies, and that he ripped out his own stove, tub and drywall so he could claim the apartment had been destroyed by the leak.

“He’s been a nightmare for us,” said Laba.

Read the full story — HERE.

Stray electrical voltage was found in the area in which a carriage horse bolted in June, and the union representing drivers says it may have caused the accident that killed a teenage passenger in the carriage.

Cornelius Byrne, who owns the stable where the carriage horses are housed, told Eyewitness News that multiple drivers had reported horses acting nervous in the area near the Cherry Hill Fountain prior to the accident, and he testified in a City Council hearing that  the horse who bolted “acted as if he was electrocuted.”

He said he asked Con Edison to investigate because the area contains an extensive underground electrical infrastructure. He asked Con Edison to inspect the area, and later received a text from a utility employee stating, “We found the problem and cut the power.”

ConEd confirmed to Eyewitness News that it had detected “very low levels of stray voltage” in the area during inspections on July 16 and July 23, but said  the voltage did not originate from the utility’s equipment; ConEd referred the tv station to the New York City Parks Department.

“Since then, power has been shut off to the Cherry Hill fountain, nearby lampposts and lights leading to Tavern on the Green,” the station reported. “The area has been blocked off with caution tape and signs warning of a ‘possible electrical condition’ as crews from Con Edison and city agencies investigate.”

The union is encouraging the City Council to hold off on voting on a bill that would ban carriage horses until the investigation is complete. The Central Park Conservancy told the station that it supports the investigation, but continues to advocate for a carriage-horse ban.

Read/watch the full story — HERE.

In Other UWS News

• A memorial was held last week in Central Park for the teen who died when he fell from the carriage pulled by a runaway horse, CBS News reported. Read about it — HERE.
• An UWS woman told NY1 that she was sprayed with a chemical irritant by a masked federal agent while recording an ICE operation in Inwood; she said she plans to sue. Read/watch the story — HERE.

ICYMI

Here are a few stories we think are worth a look if you missed them last week — or a second look if you saw them. (Note that our comments stay open for six days after publication, so you may not be able to comment on all of them.)

Didn’t See That Coming on the Upper West Side

The 218-Year-Old Metal Bolt in Central Park: Its Significance and Its Secrecy

The New Robot Cutting Grass in Riverside Park South: Meet The Spider

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