As a relatively young sector, cryptocurrency has seen rapid expansion in recent years. Blockchain technology is becoming more and more well-liked as new cryptocurrencies arise. But as the sector expands, so does the need for efficient public relations (PR) tactics. We’ll talk about the function of PR in bitcoin marketing and provide examples of effective…
Unveil the secrets of Harlem, where history and architectural wonders intertwine. Step into a world brimming with unique charm and rich historical significance. As the heartbeat of African American culture, Harlem holds hidden gems that are waiting to be discovered. From storied brownstones to iconic theaters, the architectural marvels of Harlem stand as testaments to…
NYC rent is often a topic of discussion, but when they continue to soar to new heights it’s no wonder why. As New Yorkers we’re pretty good at laughing at our pain, but, at this point, things are getting out of hand.
According to CNBC, the average Manhattan rent just hit a new record of a whopping $5,588 a month–a 9% increase over the last year and a 30% increase compared to 2019 based on data from Miller Samuel and Douglas Elliman.
What’s worse is that this is the fourth time in five months Manhattan has hit a record.
Even median rent prices and prices per square foot have hit new records, coming in at $4,400 and $84.74 per month respectively.
And according to Commercial Observer, Queens and Brooklyn are also reaching peak highs, with rents in those boroughs increasing 17% and 12% year-over-year respectively.
The soaring rents are reportedly due to higher interest rates and low supply, and CNBC reports that Jonathan Miller, CEO of appraisal and research firm Miller Samuel, added that August is typically the peak rental month as families move before the start of the school year.
In other words, we could be looking at a whole other month of breaking records.
And the rising rent prices aren’t discriminating on unit size–rent has gone up 19% for studio apartments while three-bedroom rent prices are up over 36%. Even rent-stabilized apartments are facing rent increases.
The good news is, there may potentially be a light at the end of the tunnel.
According to Commercial Observer, Jonathan Miller from Miller Samuel stated “Leasing activity is declining because I think we’re reaching some kind of affordability threshold. Landlords are pushing prices higher and people are not accepting them.”
So though rents are the highest they’ve been since 2008, we’re reaching a rent ceiling so to speak, and though Miller explains that doesn’t necessarily mean that rents will go down, the “drop in leasing activity means we’re topping out.”
So we can only cross our fingers that at some point NYC rent prices start to decline and we can stop worrying about whether or not buying a slice of pizza will make us go bankrupt.
NBCU’s new performance-based, reality music series, Chasing the Dream, was created by Monica Kelley, a 25-year veteran of the entertainment industry, and a pastor in Harlem, NY. has added another iconic name to its growing list of celebrity mentors. The series, created by Monica Kelley, a 25-year veteran of the industry, has announced the addition…
Calling all bagel lovers and Magnolia Bakery lovers (so, essentially, all true New Yorkers) a sweet collaboration is in the works between two iconic NYC brands, and you will NOT want to miss out on it.
Just in time for Banana Pudding Day (August 31st), Magnolia Bakery and Ess-a-Bagel are joining forces to create a one-of-a-kind bagel sandwich, and trust us when we say you’ll want to devour the whole thing in one bite.
Let us introduce to you the Banana Pudding Bagel.
Source / Magnolia Bakery x Ess-A-Bagel
The bagel highlights a brand new cream cheese inspired by Magnolia Bakery’s world-famous Banana Pudding. The perfect shmear of banana pudding cream cheese is sandwiched between two halves of a plain bagel (dyed yellow to look like a banana, of course!) and then rolled in Nilla wafers.
We bet your mouth is watering now!
Available between Thursday, August 17 and Friday, September 15, the bagel sandwich will be available to purchase at Ess-a-Bagel Gramercy (324 1st Ave.) and Midtown (108 W 32nd St.) for $7.25. They’ll also be selling the banana pudding cream cheese by the 1/4 pound for $5.35.
Source / Magnolia Bakery x Ess-A-Bagel
Won’t be in New York during that time? No problem! The sandwich will also be available nationally on Ess-a-Bagel’s Goldbelly shop, because us New Yorkers can’t have all the fun.
P.S. did you know you can make Magnolia Bakery’s mouthwatering banana pudding at home? It’s true–we did it ourselves!
Last month, many African Americans lauded President Joe Biden’s action in establishing a national monument in tribute to Emmett Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley. A chorus of cheers now will resound from the Native American population with his designation of a new national monument near the Grand Canyon to protect lands sacred to Indigenous people.
On Tuesday, Biden spoke at the Historic Red Butte Airfield in Arizona prior to signing the proclamation and visiting the Grand Canyon. What he proposes will place a permanent ban on new uranium mining claims in the area that covers nearly a million acres.
“Our nation’s history is etched in our people and our lands,” the president said. “Today’s action is going to protect and preserve that history, along with these high plateaus and deep canyons.”
The announcement comes after a yearslong effort and is part of Biden’s trip to shore up his presidential campaign on climate change and the economic challenges facing Americans in the West.
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American to hold the position, said the plan was “historic.”
“It will help protect lands that many tribes referred to as their eternal home, a place of healing and a source of spiritual sustenance. It will help ensure that indigenous peoples can continue to use these areas for religious ceremonies, hunting, and gathering of plants, medicines, and other materials, including some found nowhere else on Earth,” Haaland said. “It will protect objects of historic and scientific importance for the benefit of tribes, the public, and for future generations.”
According to the announcement, the national monument will be named Baaj Nwaavjo l’tah Kukveni Grand Canyon National Monument. This designation follows a proposal drafted by Grand Canyon Tribal Coalition and means “where tribes roam” in Havasupai, and “l’tah Kuvkeni” translates to “our ancestral footprints” in Hopi.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, putting a different spin on the notion that the monument was a campaign gambit, said, “We’re going to continue to do our jobs and continue to talk about it … And the hope is that we’ll get our message out. We’ll see, I think, Americans start to feel and see what it is that we have been able to do in Washington, D.C.”
The shuttering of the Navy Yard Boys & Girls Club––which serviced the Downtown Brooklyn, Navy Yard, and DUMBO neighborhoods––has led to a broad dispersal of the children who used to attend the site.
The building at 240 Nassau Street now stands closed and empty. The commercial real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield has been contracted to accept proposals from developers and organizations interested in purchasing the location, which is directly across the street from NYCHA’s Farragut housing projects.
For now, the children who took part in Clubhouse activities are off attending summer programs at Fort Greene’s P.S. 067, at the Farragut Community Center, and even at the nearby The Church of The Open Door. There weren’t exactly enough spots in the varied summer programs for all the former Clubhouse kids to go to, so some kids have spent most of their summer close to home. With fall quickly approaching, the next challenge is to find out where former Clubhouse kids will be able to go for afterschool and extracurricular services.
“The idea of what is yet to come is very scary,” community activist Samantha Johnson acknowledged, “because there won’t be any community-focused space. As gentrification and other things start occurring, we’re finding ourselves in complete battles for spaces and services when we’re in a very ‘rich’ area, so to speak, that has an image of having resources. But when you’re in the middle of NYCHA residences and you’re in the middle of developers, who wins?” Johnson points out that the Clubhouse building was not only a space for neighborhood children, it had also become a community resource. There were pantry services, and it had a meeting space: It was a facility that catered to people of varied ages.
The loss of the space for the children is the most obvious, but everyone is going to notice the difference. With the former building available to be sold or leased out, a new owner could renovate the property or completely demolish and redevelop it.
Dorian Muller, a former Farragut resident who remains concerned about his former neighbors, was the first to raise the alarm about the closing of the Navy Yard Clubhouse. He remembers playing basketball there when he was a child. “So that’s why I said to myself that I was fighting for this Boys & Girls Club,” he said. “I didn’t ask nobody no questions; I didn’t start to talk about I’m going to fight. I just said, ‘Listen everybody, I’m fighting whether you’re going to walk with me or not.’
“You know, we lost a daycare center in Farragut to a federal halfway house,” Muller added, referencing the conversion of the former Farragut Tenants Day Care Center at 104 Gold Street into a 161-bed halfway house for federal prison parolees. “And you know why we lost that? It’s because we’re poor: Poor people lose everything. It’s because the downtown area is very inviting. And once you had 9/11, everybody wanted to live in that 11201 and that 11205-area code. These are some of the richest and most expensive area codes right now, even though we got people that’s in poverty across the street from the DUMBO area.
“It’s called DUMBO now, but when I lived there, it was called the Dots, with big rats. It smelled like eggs, and we just used to throw rocks against the dirty water.”
The trauma of gentrification
The Madison Square Boys & Girls Club Foundation is selling the Navy Yard Clubhouse because it faced hundreds of child sexual abuse lawsuits filed under the New York State Child Victims Act (CVA) against a former Foundation volunteer; claims were that the volunteer abused children beginning in the year 1948 and continued doing so up until 1984.
The Foundation filed for Chapter 11 restructuring in June of 2022 to save itself and said it found it could get the most money to pay those claims against them by selling their Navy Yard Clubhouse. The building could be sold for between $15 to $25 million.
This past July 28th, the Foundation announced that the U.S. Bankruptcy Court had accepted its reorganization plan, and it will be able to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
“The confirmation of our plan is a significant step that puts us on a clear path to emerge from the reorganization process and continue serving New York City’s most vulnerable communities for decades and generations to come,” Tim McChristian, executive director of the Madison Foundation, said in a press release. McChristian said he hopes Foundation abuse survivors will be able to “continue to heal from the harm they suffered,” and he promised that Madison would continue “to support our community as one of the longest-serving providers of afterschool programming and youth development programs in underserved communities in New York City.
“We are highly optimistic that the Department of Youth and Community Development will approve our ability to continue to provide afterschool programs in the new school year at a local school to be determined,” he added.
With the Navy Yard Clubhouse shuttered, fears are that the former building could become yet another luxury rental. Since 2004, more than 20,000 new apartments have been built in the Downtown Brooklyn area where, according to the apartment listings site RentCafe, monthly rents now average $4,048 a month.
“In terms of gentrification, nobody deals with people having to move out, nobody deals with the trauma,” The Church of The Open Door’s Rev. Dr. Mark V.C. Taylor expressed to the AmNews.
He said the situation echoes the many times Black people are mistreated and damaged by the larger society, but nothing is done about it. There is little reflection on the pain that’s been caused. “So, a lot of times, when services are lost, when churches are closed, nobody deals with the trauma, nobody even asks about it.
“What is really so … I don’t even know the right words to describe it: crazy, insidious. What is so striking about the situation is that one person’s actions are impacting a whole community institution and impacting all of the kids, not only who have come but who will come.”
Samantha Johnson had helped form the ad hoc Farragut Fort Greene Coalition to try to save the Navy Yard Clubhouse. Now she says the Coalition is thinking about the future: “We’re thinking about what it means to have transparency and accountability in our community. We’re thinking about how we build this out to where the Coalition is a central source for information and how do we deal with issues in the community like loss of spaces, community-based work, and therapy. We’re really focused on the Boys & Girls Club right now, but we don’t know if we’re going be talking about another community center in the next few years, you know, we don’t know what we might be doing. So, our Coalition is very intentional about trying to get information out to the best of our ability.”
