‘You’ve Got Mail’ (1998)

Cafe Lalo, 201 W. 83rd St., 212-496-6031
Satisfy your sweet tooth at this Upper West Side coffeeshop and dessert bar. The self-proclaimed “most famous café in NYC” was featured as the backdrop for a chance meeting between Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan’s characters. Open into the wee hours of the morning, the European décor and quiet ambiance make a perfect setting for a first date.

‘The Devil Wears Prada’ (2006)

Craft Restaurant, 43 E. 19th St., 212-780-0880
Andy has dinner at the Tom Colicchio restaurant with her father, who expresses concerns about her career/living situation, and she gets an emergency call from her overbearing boss, Miranda. If you go to sample the star chef’s greenmarket fare, hopefully your boss doesn’t interrupt.

‘The Muppets Take Manhattan‘ (1984)

Sardi’s, 234 W. 44th St., 212-221-8440
Sardi’s has been a favorite in the city for the past 90 years, so much so that the Italian restaurant managed to snag a central role in “The Muppets Take Manhattan.” Who could forget the scene where Kermit replaces Liza Minnelli’s picture with his own green face, much to her own chagrin? You can enjoy a piece of childhood nostalgia by visiting Sardi’s for classic dishes like steak tartar and cannelloni au gratin.

‘Saturday Night Fever’ (1977)

Lenny’s Pizza, 1969 86th St., Brooklyn, 718-946-1292
There’s always been a debate as to where you can find the best New York pizza, and it looks like Lenny’s Pizza might have a leg up on the competition after gaining national exposure in the classic disco film. The way Tony chows down on two slices as he strolls on 86th Street makes it hard to imagine there’s a better tasting pizza in the city. You can still relive your memories from the ’70s at Lenny’s in Bensonhurst.

‘Friends With Benefits’ (2011)

Pershing Square Cafe, 90 E. 42nd St., 212-286-9600
Jaime and Dylan agree to “start over” with their relationship at this east side-meets-west side eatery, parked right across from Grand Central, which boasts “the busiest and best breakfast in New York.”

‘Wall Street’ (1987)

21 Club, 21 W. 52nd St., 212-582-7200
The 21 Club, where greedy moneygrubber Gordon Gekko and his apprentice Bud Fox would meet in “Wall Street,” once functioned as a Prohibition-era speakeasy. Visit for true meat-and-potato dishes  — before you know it, you’ll be discussing some of the finer things in life.

The classic

‘When Harry Met Sally’ (1989)

Katz’s Delicatessen, 205 E. Houston St., 212-254-2246
Houston Street eatery Katz’s Deli has been a favorite of native New Yorkers since the early 20th century, but it wasn’t until 1989 that the rest of the world caught a glimpse of the revered restaurant for the first time. A classic in every sense of the word, Katz has a wide selection of traditional diner favorites from burgers to pastrami sandwiches. If you’re ever wondering what to order, just look to the table next to you and say, “I’ll have what she’s having.”

The post Dine at the New York restaurants from your favorite movies appeared first on Metro.us.

Wall Street bonuses jumped last year, according to a new state report.

New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli released data today revealing that cash bonuses to finance employees increased by 8 percent last year.

The total was a whopping $20 billion, according to the report.

The average cash bonus also increased, by 9 percent to an average of $121,900, according to the report.

And the average salary for the securities industry, including bonuses, was $362,900 in 2011, the last year data was available.

The report also revealed that the industry has 10 percent fewer jobs in the city since the recession began in 2008.

The post Wall Street bonuses jumped up in 2012 appeared first on Metro.us.

About 50 million people from the Mid-Atlantic to Canada were in the path of the nearly 1,000-mile-wide (1,600-km-wide) storm, which forecasters said could be the largest to hit the mainland in U.S. history. It was expected to topple trees, damage buildings, cause power outages and trigger heavy flooding.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said on Monday the Category 1 storm had strengthened as it turned toward the coast and was moving at 20 miles per hour (32 km per hour). It was expected to bring a “life-threatening storm surge,” coastal hurricane winds and heavy snow in the Appalachian Mountains, the NHC said.

Nine U.S. states have declared states of emergency, and with the U.S. election eight days away President Barack Obama canceled a campaign event in Florida on Monday in order to return to Washington and monitor the U.S. government’s response to the storm.

“This is a serious and big storm,” Obama said on Sunday after a briefing at the federal government’s storm response center in Washington. “We don’t yet know where it’s going to hit, where we’re going to see the biggest impacts.

Sandy killed 66 people in the Caribbean last week before pounding U.S. coastal areas with rain and triggering snow falls at higher elevations as it moved north.

Forecasting services indicated early Monday the center of the storm would strike the New Jersey shore near Atlantic City on Monday night. While Sandy does not pack the punch of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans in 2005, it could become more potent as it approaches the U.S. coast.

Winds were at a maximum of 85 mph, the NHC said in its 8 a.m. (1200 GMT) report, up from 75 mph six hours earlier. It said tropical storm-force winds reached as far as 485 miles from the center.

Seventeen people from the replica HMS Bounty abandoned ship while stranded at sea off North Carolina in the path of the hurricane, roughly 160 miles from the center of storm, the U.S. Coast Guard said on Monday.

“The 17-person crew donned cold water survival suits and lifejackets before launching in two 25-man lifeboats with canopies,” the Coast Guard said, adding it was determining which aircraft or vessel was best-placed to launch a rescue.

The three-masted tall ship was built for the 1962 movie “Mutiny on the Bounty.”

New York and other cities and towns closed their transit systems and ordered mass evacuations from low-lying areas ahead of a storm surge that could reach as high as 11 feet.

All U.S. stock markets will be closed on Monday and possibly Tuesday, the operator of the New York Stock Exchange said late on Sunday, reversing an earlier plan that would have kept electronic trading going on Monday.

The United Nations, Broadway theaters, New Jersey casinos, schools up and down the Eastern Seaboard, and myriad corporate events were also being shut down.

‘DON’T BE STUPID’

Officials ordered people in coastal towns and low-lying areas to evacuate, often telling them they would put emergency workers’ lives at risk if they stayed.

“Don’t be stupid, get out, and go to higher, safer ground,” New Jersey Governor Chris Christie told a news conference.

Forecasters said Sandy was a rare, hybrid “super storm” created by an Arctic jet stream wrapping itself around a tropical storm, possibly causing up to 12 inches of rain in some areas, as well as up to 3 feet (1 meter) of snowfall in the Appalachian Mountains from West Virginia to Kentucky.

At 8 a.m. (1200 GMT), the NHC said Sandy was centered about 265 miles southeast of Atlantic City and about 310 miles south-southeast of New York City.

Worried residents in the hurricane’s path packed stores, searching for generators, flashlights, batteries, food and other supplies in anticipation of power outages. Nearly 284,000 residential properties valued at $88 billion are at risk for damage, risk analysts at CoreLogic said.

Transportation systems shut down in anticipation. Airlines canceled flights, bridges and tunnels closed, and national passenger rail operator Amtrak suspended nearly all service on the East Coast. The U.S. government told non-emergency workers in Washington, D.C., to stay home.

Utilities from the Carolinas to Maine reported late Sunday that a combined 14,000 customers were already without power.

The second-largest oil refinery on the East Coast, Phillips 66′s 238,000 barrel per day (bpd) Bayway plant in Linden, New Jersey, was shutting down and three other plants cut output as the storm affected operations at two-thirds of the region’s plants.

Oil prices slipped on Monday, with Brent near $109 a barrel. “With refineries cutting runs, we’re likely to see a build-up in crude stocks which could be driving bearish prices at the moment,” said Michael Creed, an economist at National Australia Bank in Melbourne.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered the evacuation of some 375,000 people from low-lying areas of the city, from upscale parts of lower Manhattan to waterfront housing projects in the outer boroughs.

While Sandy’s 85 mph winds were not overwhelming for a hurricane, its exceptional size means the winds will last as long as two days.

“This is not a typical storm,” Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett said. “It could very well be historic in nature and in scope.”

The post Worst of Sandy yet to come; Wall Street closed for business appeared first on Metro.us.

ANIMAL New York posted a video profile on Kelly and his role as a coach at Church Street Boxing Gym, a place he wishes most of the cats he trains would just forget the address to. After a successful stint in boxing during which he was once an Olympic alternate, Kelly’s left eye was damaged with a pool stick in a fight outside the ring, forcing his career to shift to training.

Kelly has no reservations about telling his tight-laced financier clients who are trying to get in a work out (in vain), that they’re terrible, talentless and a waste of his time. His affliction to one-percenters is actually kind of charming.

“Now you got these pieces of s–t wanting to come here and feel like men at the end of the day… you’s a f-ing wuss,” he says.

Kelly tells it like it is, explaining that not everything is for everyone. He says you don’t see him going to down to Wall Street, picking up a briefcase, trying to type, because that’s not what he does — he beats the s–t out of people.

His story ends with a little spontaneous rhyme:

“Yeah they makin’ money, workin’ on Wall Street,
But in their mouth is where all the balls meet.”

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Valued at $104 billion, Facebook is larger than Starbucks Corp and Hewlett-Packard combined, sparking intense speculation on how much higher its valuation will rise once shares start trading.

“A 15 to 20 percent pop is in the realm of possibility,” said Tim Loughran, a finance professor at the University of Notre Dame. “Given they already moved their IPO range up and increased the size, that’s bullish to begin with.”

Facebook priced its offering at $38 a share on Thursday, but the price could be higher when shares begin trading under the FB symbol on the Nasdaq at around 11 a.m. Eastern Time.

Some expect shares could rise 30 percent or more on Friday, despite ongoing concerns about Facebook’s long-term money-making potential. An average of Morningstar analyst estimates puts the closing price for Facebook shares tomorrow at $50.

The IPO, expected to mint more than a thousand paper millionaires at the company, has received wall-to-wall media coverage and sparked hopes of a boom in sales of everything from San Francisco Bay Area real estate to automobiles.

Facebook employees marked the event with an all-night “hackathon” at the company’s Menlo Park, California headquarters starting on Thursday evening, a tradition in which programmers work on side projects that sometimes turn into mainstream offerings.

Facebook’s 28-year-old founder and Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg was expected to ring a bell at the company’s Silicon Valley headquarters on Friday morning to kick off trading on the Nasdaq.

Founded in a Harvard dorm room in 2004, Facebook has grown into the world’s dominant social network with 900 million users.

At $38 a share, Facebook would trade at over 100 times historical earnings versus Apple Inc’s 14 times and Google Inc’s 19 times.

For all the high expectations surrounding Facebook, the company faces challenges maintaining its growth momentum.

Some investors worry the company has not yet figured out a way to make money from the growing number of users who access Facebook on mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones. Meanwhile, revenue growth from Facebook’s online advertising business, which accounts for the bulk of its revenue, has slowed in recent months.

“With mobile usage growth exceeding desktop, monetization in the near term could be reduced given little-to-no ad coverage on mobile, challenged by limited screen sizes,” said a report last week from Susquehanna Financial Group.

GM said on Tuesday it would stop placing ads on Facebook, raising questions about whether display ads on the site are as effective as traditional media.

The post Investors brace for Facebook debut on Wall Street appeared first on Metro.us.

Tomorrow’s “May Day” is a general strike — people across the world are being encouraged by the Occupy movement not to attend work or school and not go shopping. Protesters say the day is meant to send a message of what life without the 99 percent would be like.

“By simply stepping out of the systems of production that confine and divide us, we can transform the conditions of society itself,” the May Day website for actions in NYC states.

In NYC — the birthplace of Occupy Wall Street — marches, workshops and rallies are planned throughout the day. A “Pop-up Occupation” at Bryant Park begins at 8 a.m., which will be “a launching ground for direct action and civil disobedience in Midtown, including 99 pickets,” according to the site.

One of the day’s larger events will likely be a permitted march from Union Square to Wall Street at 5:30 p.m., which will kick off after a rally featuring musical acts, including one from Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine. Occupiers are calling on students, labor unions, immigrants and other organizations to join them in the march, followed by an after party dubbed the “Haymarket Martyrs Memorial Resistance Rager.”

Occupy protesters are heavily promoting May Day through social networking. Here’s roundup of tweets across the country as the movement gears up for what it hopes to be a momentous day of action.

[View the story "May Day" on Storify]

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Members of Occupy Wall Street have taken to sleeping near the New York Stock Exchange nightly for about a week. The group has grown to more than 80 people who camp on the sidewalk with sleeping bags and blankets, which is protected by law as a form of protest, as long as no tents are erected.

This morning, four protesters were taken into custody.. After the arrests, protester were seen loudly shouting with each otherwhile camped out on the steps of Federal Hall, as passing tourists watched with curiosity.    

The post Four arrested in Occupy Wall Street sleepover appeared first on Metro.us.

Sleeping as a form of protest is protected by law under the first amendment, as long as half the sidewalk is still accessible for pedestrians. Protesters have now begun occupying the sidewalk on Wall Street overnight, beginning on Monday evening when a small group of them showed up with a poster-sized sign of the law allowing them to use sleep as a form of political expression. More than 80 protesters joined last night’s sleepover near the New York Stock Exchange, according to SleepOWS.

“We are sleeping across from the NYSE to symbolize the loss of homes in the foreclosure crisis brought on by Wall Street practices,” said protester Martin Bisi. “We represent these homeless.”

While the sidewalk “camp” lacks the tents and tarps that once covered the ground in Zuccotti Park, more protesters are joining the group each night, armed with nothing but warm clothes and sleeping bags. So far, there has yet to be a clash between the slumbering protesters and NYPD officers who stand ground near them nightly. No arrests have been made. In fact, protesters note, there seems to be a renewed, more cordial, relationship between them.

“They seem to like this action. They were almost jovial last night,” Bisi said of officers. “Seems like if there’s a professionality and gravitas to the action, there are some NYPD who almost seem to enjoy it.”

Police asked protesters to leave at 6 a.m Tuesday morning after their first Wall Street sleepover. However, they could still be seen in their sleeping bags on the sidewalk this morning after 8 a.m.

The post ‘Occupy’ protesters sleep on Wall Street appeared first on Metro.us.

But this cover letter that’s been floating around the internet due to its absurdity brings it to a whole new level. Written to JP Morgan by a motivated NYU student named Mark, it has been circulated through pretty much every business on Wall Street.

A self-proclaimed “shrewd individual,” Mark says of himself, “I am unequivocally the most unflaggingly hard worker I know.”

Hard to argue with that. After all, the guy did manage to get a 3.93 GPA and bench double his body weight. Don’t forget, he can also do 35 pull-ups — very important skills for an investment banker. He performs office tasks with “terrifying efficiency.” Not that he is conceited, though, and definitely not a “braggart,” due to liability issues associated with having an ego. 

If you’re wondering whether Mark got the job (or any job), the answer is no. Just read it for yourself. You have to.

1/23/2012

J.P. Morgan

Dear Sir or Madame:

I am an ambitious undergraduate at NYU triple majoring in Mathematics, Economics, and Computer Science. I am a punctual, personable, and shrewd individual, yet I have a quality which I pride myself on more than any of these.

I am unequivocally the most unflaggingly hard worker I know, and I love self-improvement. I have always felt that my time should be spent wisely, so I continuously challenge myself; I left Villanova because the work was too easy. Once I realized I could achieve a perfect GPA while holding a part-time job at NYU, I decided to redouble my effort by placing out of two classes, taking two honors classes, and holding two part-time jobs. That semester I achieved a 3.93, and in the same time I managed to bench double my bodyweight and do 35 pull-ups.

I say these things only because solid evidence is more convincing than unverifiable statements, and I want to demonstrate that I am a hard worker. J.P. Morgan is a firm with a reputation that precedes itself and employees who represent only the best and rightest in finance. I know that the employees in this firm will push me to excellence, especially within the Investment Banking division. In fact, one of the supporting reasons I chose Investment Banking over any other division was that I know it is difficult. I hope to augment my character by diligently working for the professionals at Morgan Stanley, and I feel I have much to offer in return.

I am proficient in several programming languages, and I can pick up a new one very quickly. For instance, I learned a years worth of Java from NYU in 27 days on my own; this is how I placed out of two including: Money and Banking, Analysis, Game Theory, Probability and Statistics. Even further, I am taking Machine Learning and Probabilistic Graphical Modeling currently, two programming courses offered by Stanford, so that I may truly offer the most if I am accepted. I am proficient with Bloomberg terminals, excellent with excel, and can perform basic office functions with terrifying efficiency. I have plenty of experience in the professional world through my internship at Merrill Lynch, and my research assistant position at NYU. In fact, my most recent employer has found me so useful that he promoted me to a Research Assistant and an official CTED intern. This role is usually reserved for Masters students, but my employer gave the title to me so that he could give me more work.

Please realize that I am not a braggart or conceited, I just want to outline my usefulness. Egos can be a huge liability, and I try not to have one.

Thank you so much for your time, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Best,

Mark

(via Gawker)

The post This ridiculous JP Morgan cover letter is the laughingstock of Wall Street appeared first on Metro.us.

At a recent meeting, protesters debated what to do with the money, down from $706,855 at the movement’s peak, according to the New York Post. Much of that $700K came via online donations from OWS supporters and has already been spent on food and supplies.

The remaining OWS members meet daily at the atrium at 60 Wall Street. During one such meeting, the Post reported, one of the ideas pitched included burning the cash in a bonfire on Wall Street, a suggestion that has since  been dropped.

About two dozen protesters met at the atrium yesterday. There, Yuri P., a wireworker who came all the way from Siberia to join OWS, said he wants to organize a fundraiser, perhaps a crafts fair, to ensure occupiers are self-sustaining.

“The general fund should be used for things like housing and major obstacles, like getting us out of jail,” he said.

Protester Par’jila Kote, 19, thinks the money should be spent on a van circling the boroughs to tell people about Occupy, or a new place to set up tents.

“We need to find a new spot to permanently occupy,” he said.

But Kote also said the movement is “falling apart,” with occupiers scattered. “Nothing ever gets done,” he complained.

Follow Alison Bowen on Twitter @AlisonatMetro

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“There’s a lot of talk about numerous things going in different directions,” said Shane Patrick, 32, a member of OWS from Queens who works in press relations for the movement. “There are a lot of people working toward occupying another space.”

Many displaced campers are staying at local churches. Protesters still hold  regularly scheduled meetings, including the 7 p.m. general assemblies, but the number of attendees is no longer in the thousands, Patrick said.

Dec. 6 has been selected as a second “Day of Action” to replicate the crowds of people that turned out on Nov. 17 for marches through the Financial District and across the Brooklyn Bridge. Protesters have said they will stage sit-ins at foreclosed properties throughout the city.

“What occurred on the 17th, such as disrupting the opening bell on Wall Street or protesting outside the homes of the wealthy, that will continue,” Patrick said.

Some OWS members admit their numbers have dwindled since the NYPD raided the camp.

“I think everyone’s going underground until spring,” said Christopher Geist, 38. “Zuccotti is gone; it was our sanctuary. I’ve seen people fading.”

But protester Matt Sky, 27, said the movement is just entering a transitional phase. “I think we’re seeing a much stronger global presence of the ideas that started here,” Sky said.

Burned on books

Occupiers say they lost thousands of books when the city kicked them out of Zuccotti Park nearly two weeks ago. Police trashed roughly 4,000 books and other documents, according to William Scott, a member of the Occupy Wall Street people’s library.

Occupy Wall Street protesters said they have retrieved 1,099 books that belonged to the library from the police, of which only 800 are usable. Protesters say they are still looking for about 2,900 books. Less than one-fifth of the original collection is still usable, they estimate. 

Mo’ money?

The last reported amount of Occupy Wall Street’s general assembly donations left the number at around half a million dollars.
   
Protesters said the money would be distributed through consensus at the general assembly, as always. Even though Zuccotti is gone, they said, there’s still work to be done.

Follow Emily Anne Epstein on Twitter @EmilyatMetro.

The post What’s next for the Occupy Wall Street movement? appeared first on Metro.us.

The occupiers’ “Day of Action” arrived two days after they were cleared from Zuccotti Park in a surprise 1 a.m. raid by police earlier this week.

The worst clashes were in the morning near Wall Street, where OWS hoped to delay the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange. Because of an impenetrable police ring around Wall Street, however, the Stock Exchange opened as scheduled.

Protesters were pushed back by officers at Wall Street, taking refuge in Zuccotti Park before continuing on to Union Square, as well as Foley Square near City Hall and the Brooklyn Bridge.

The most violent police-protester encounter happened after noon in Zuccotti Park, where protester Brendan Watts suffered a cut on his head after a fight reportedly broke out between demonstrators and the police.

Although mostly peaceful, the protests were filled with tense moments, such as when irate demonstrators yelled “Shame!” at officers blocking them from Wall Street.

The protest grew during the day, from a few hundred at Zuccotti Park to several thousand at night in Foley Square.

Police injured

Seven New York City police officers were injured in clashes with protesters, according to the NYPD.
   
Spokesman Paul Browne said some of the protesters were throwing an unknown substance, possibly vinegar, in police officers’ faces.
  
The worst injury occurred at Broadway and Liberty Street, where an officer received a laceration to his hand after a protester threw a star-shaped object at him, Browne said. The officer required 20 stitches to his left hand.

Follow Alison Bowen on Twitter @AlisonatMetro.

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Approximately 25 Occupy Wall Street members met at 60 Wall Street yesterday to discuss their willingness to be arrested when they take to the streets this morning as part of their Day of Action.

The protesters will attempt to march to the New York Stock Exchange at 7 a.m. On their way, they say they will “confront Wall Street with the stories of people on the frontlines of economic injustice,” according to OccupyWallSt.org.

The NYPD and the MTA are preparing for the worst. Last night more than 20 NYPD squad cars gathered at Battery Park to prepare for the protesters’ march. Department of Homeland Security vehicles and two NYPD mobile command units — vans carrying officers and police technology — were also on hand.

“The protesters are calling for a massive event aimed at disrupting major parts of the city,” Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson said yesterday.

“Everything that we have seen and heard suggests that we may have tens of thousands of people tomorrow protesting,” he added.

Subway shutdown?

Protesters plan to “occupy” the following stations at
3 p.m. today:
   
Bronx:
Fordham Road
Yankee Stadium

Brooklyn:
Broadway Junction
Borough Hall
   
Queens:
Jackson Heights-Roosevelt Avenue
Jamaica Center-Parsons-Archer
   
Manhattan:
125th Street A,B,C,D station
Union Square
23rd Street/Eighth Avenue
Staten Island:
St. George, Staten Island Ferry Terminal

The post New York braces for Occupy Wall Street march today appeared first on Metro.us.

“On the 17th, mark my words, we’re going to burn this city down,” said Nkrumah Tinsley, 29.

Protester Eli Moses said Tuesday’s midnight police raid on the park only “invigorated” the movement.

“Anyone who was in that raid is going to be more angry than scared,” said Moses, 22. “We have to get more intense if we want anything to change. There are a lot of things that are going to happen tomorrow.”

Occupy Wall Street protesters are planning a litany of events meant to disrupt New York City in commemoration of the group’s two-month anniversary.

As several hundred protesters entered the park after sunset, they cried and hugged in celebration.

They were searched by police before entering, to make sure they didn’t bring in sleeping bags, tarps or tents, all items that are now contraband in the private park.

But many of the protesters vowed that even without their gear, they’re staying put at Zuccotti, no matter how cold it gets.

“It’s really good to be home,” said J.A. Myerson, 25, who is looking forward to Thursday. “A lot of people are willing to throw their bodies into the streets for this movement.”

What to expect
   
7 a.m. Shut Down Wall Street: Protesters will meet in the park, before the opening of the Stock Exchange. “Tomorrow the opening bell will be shut down,” said Eli Conrad, 23.
   
3 p.m. Occupy the subways: Protesters will gather at 16 central subway hubs throughout the city.
   
5 p.m. Foley Square: Protesters say thousands will gather at Foley Square and will then march across the Brooklyn Bridge.

Salvaged books are up for grabs

Books seized from Zuccotti Park during the massive crackdown yesterday will be available for pickup today.

The “Occupy Wall Street Library” first started when college students who joined the movement wanted to designate a secure space for their textbooks. It quickly grew to include thousands of donated books as supporters spread the story via social media.

Julie Wood, a spokeswoman for Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s office, said via Twitter that the confiscated books are safely stored at the 57th Street Sanitation Garage. Anyone can go there to claim them today. 

Follow Emily Anne Epstein on Twitter @EmilyatMetro.

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The Roots’ drummer tweeted “Omg, drivin down south st near #ows. Something bout to go down yo, swear I counted 1000 riot gear cops bout to pull sneak attack #carefulyall.”

Occupy Wall Street protesters brushed the information off saying it was just the change of shift.

“If its shift changes so be it. they always watch yall in the thousands like that?” Questlove tweeted back at them.

We all know what happened next.

NYPD arrested more than 150 protesters as they cleared out Zuccotti Park.

“@OccupyWallStNYC wait. so i was right? #ows is being raided?” Questlove then tweeted.

“told yall! tryna make me think i was crazy! i knew i saw what i saw. i was tryna downplay it 1ce tweets were discrediting me. but i swear i saw like 6 city blocks of nothing but riot gear cops under my bridge. this was like 11 pm. i live down here so i know the police climate,” he wrote.

He also said that “#OWS needs a better lookout system.”

On Tuesday a judge ruled against the Occupy Wall Street protesters and decided they can return to Zuccotti Park, but they cannot erect tents and tarps.

So lesson learned: Next time always listen to what the drummer of the beloved hip hop/soul band has to say.

Read More

Reporters covering Occupy Wall Street arrested
PHOTOS: Protesters try to reoccupy Zuccotti Park
Bloomberg slammed for decision to evict Occupy Wall Street

The post Questlove predicted Occupy Wall Street raid appeared first on Metro.us.

“They dropped our business down by 30 percent,” complained Panini & Co. owner Angelo Tzortzatos, one of the four business owners. He told Metro he had to close his bathroom for repairs after protesters broke his sink. Then, he said, protesters began threatening his employees when they couldn’t use the restroom.

“They’re coming in and grabbing [employees] and saying ‘Watch your back,’” Tzortzatos said. “I don’t feel safe.”

Ever since he heard about Panini & Co.’s plight, Astoria resident Jeremy Madden has been volunteering at the café once he’s finished with his 9-to-5 finance job, he said.

Chinese restaurant Ho Yip is losing business too, said manager Hong Zhao. Even worse, he says protesters are depositing bags of feces in his garbage, leaving Ho Yip on the hook for sanitation violations.

“They have been taking our bins and filling them with human waste,” Zhao said. “A lot of human waste.”

Occupy Wall Street protesters present at last night’s rally said they couldn’t possibly control the actions of everyone who identifies as a member.

“Certainly, someone may be putting feces in someone else’s garbage,” said Eric Lazarus, 50, of Occupy Wall Street. “We will do everything we can do to reduce this kind of behavior. We have somewhat limited control.”

OWS is planning to shut down the Stock Exchange at 7 a.m. Thursday and will take over the subways.

Follow Emily Anne Epstein on Twitter @EmilyatMetro.

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The two made it official Sunday morning, just six weeks after they first met.

According to the New York Daily News, Emery Abdel-Latif, 24, of Westchester County, PA married his sweetheart Micha Balon, 19, of Staten Island in a traditional Muslim ceremony.

NYU Islamic Center Chaplain Khalid Latif officiated the ceremony.

Abdel Latif, who was living with his parents and applying to law schools before making Zuccotti Park his home told the Daily News that he didn’t come to Lower Manhattan in order to find love.

“Neither of us believed in love before we came here, and now that we found each other, we believe it exists,” he told the Daily News.

Abdel Latif’s wife, Balon, is an undergraduate in Middle East studies at Hunter College.

The couple, who up until now stayed in separate tents, did not know whether they will move in to the same tent now that they’re married. Regardless, the couple told the Daily News that plan on staying at the protest throughout the winter.

While we might think getting married after only six weeks is a little hasty (hello, did Kim Kardashian teach us nothing?) we wish these two love birds all the best. 

The post Occupy Wall Street protesters find love, get married at Zuccotti Park appeared first on Metro.us.

Fort Greene photographer Andrew Piccone’s show “Faces of Occupy Wall Street” opens at the Frontrunner gallery in TriBeCa tonight.

The portraits of some 26 protesters will be sold for $200 a print, but Piccone, 24, said he hasn’t spoken to a single one of his subjects.

“I didn’t interact with them or tell them what I was going to do with the photos,” Piccone said. “I liked my role as a voyeur.”

Some Occupiers say they feel violated. Eric Cartar, 30, from New Orleans, called Piccone’s exhibit “disingenuous.”

“All the energy in this park is against being commodified,” said Carter. “He’s just missing the point.”

Protesters told Metro that they understand they are occupying a public park, but wish Piccone would have been more transparent about his intentions.

“It’s his first amendment right” Camille Raneem, 21, a Hunter student, said. “I don’t think it’s morally right.”

Raneem said she’s been photographed hundreds of times since the occupation began and finds the barrage of cameras “harassing.”

“They photograph you while you’re waking up,” she said. “You feel like an animal in a zoo.”

Piccone’s say

Piccone says that he doesn’t identify with the Occupy protesters.
   
“I would not consider myself a participant in the protest,” he said to Metro. “There are certain things I agree with, and certain things I might not.”
   
“Faces of Occupy Wall Street” is the budding photographer’s first show.
   
When told of protesters’ fury over his exhibit, Piccone said he now plans to donate “a portion of the profits” to the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Follow Emily Anne Epstein on Twitter @EmilyatMetro.

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Real estate agents say they not only have to promise buyers the area is safe from another terrorist attack, but they also have to escort potential renters through a maze of barricades, screaming protesters and unsightly portable toilets.

“A client asked me, ‘What is this all about?’” said broker Gea Elika at Elika Associates. “I wish I knew.”

Buyers are often bothered by the hubbub at Zuccotti Park, another broker said.

“The clients are definitely turned off by the idea of walking through a protest to look at apartments,” Bethany Walsh, the managing director of Prime New York, said.

She’s learned to slip past the protest to reach a Greenwich Street property with minimal exposure, and she directs her clients to do the same.

“It’s a concern for a lot of clients,” she said. “They ask when is the best time to go down there, how long will it be there.”

With no end in sight, Walsh, who said she supports the group’s right to protest, downplays the movement.

“I just say it’s not really that big of a deal,” she said.

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The “End to End” march began at 10:30 a.m. at the corner of 181st Street and St. Nicholas in Washington Heights. Marchers didn’t finish until they hit Zuccotti Park at about 4:30 p.m.

The 11-mile march snowballed throughout the day, with Occupy Wall Street recording 1,000 marchers at its max. Police reported the march began with 300 protesters and finished with 500 at the park.

“Communities of color have been especially hard hit,” said Tyler Combelic, a volunteer with Occupy Wall Street. “We’re proud to stand with our brothers and sisters from diverse communities around New York.”

Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was reportedly spotted amongst the marchers, along with City Comptroller John Liu and other local officials. The NAACP and members of Community Board 12 also marched.

Among the marchers was Sal Laquila, 55, a Brooklyn veteran who trudged the entire 11 miles while waving Old Glory.

When asked if he was tired, Laquila shot back: “I’m tired of the unnecessary tactics against the poor. They’re human beings at the bottom of the pyramid.”

Follow Emily Anne Epstein on Twitter @EmilyatMetro.

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Bloomberg said a number of illegal activities in the park have not been reported to police, endangering the lives of all New Yorkers.

“Instead of calling the police, they form a circle around the perpetrator, chastise him or her and chase (them) out into the rest of the city — to do who knows what to who knows whom,” Bloomberg said.

He called protesters who keep quiet “despicable.”

The mayor’s criticism comes after the arrest of kitchen worker Tonye Iketubosin, 26, for allegedly groping an 18-year-old protester on Oct. 25. Iketubosin is also suspected of another alleged rape in the camp, Bloomberg said.

Police Commissioner Paul Browne said protesters delay reporting crime because it is “OWS protocol not to report such incidents to the police until there were three complaints against the same individual.”

But protesters disputed his claim, saying it’s up to victims to decide if they want to report a crime.

“If there’s a rape, the survivor has all the decision power,” said protester Tashy Endres, 29. She said she knows of three rapes that have occurred in the park. Two of the victims went straight to the NYPD to report it, and the third victim has yet to report it, she said.

“Sometimes victims need time,” she said.

Follow Emily Anne Epstein on Twitter @EmilyatMetro.

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But the freedom was short-lived: Police put the barricades back up last night in anticipation of a possible OWS march.

“Make up your mind!” fumed Pavan Surabhi, 33, who works on Wall Street. “It’s a pain in the a—. I don’t know what the barricades are here for — are they protesting Tiffany’s?”

Police officers at One Police Plaza told Metro the barricades will be erected or taken down “as the situation dictates.” “If they need to be deployed, they will be,” said one cop.

Meanwhile Lower Manhattanites are resigned to life behind bars.

“It’s bizarre, and nobody tells you what’s going on,” said Ed Klonsky, 56, who works on Wall Street. “You ask a cop what’s going on down here and they tell you ‘I’m just following orders.’”

Real estate tycoon Donald Trump, who owns the Trump Building downtown, reportedly called Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s office to request the barricades be removed, according to Mark Epstein, owner of the Milk Street Cafe on Wall Street.

Epstein, who said he had to lay off 21 people because the barricades stymied his business, told Metro he called Trump to personally thank him.

And even the temporary removal of the barricades is not enough to keep some happy, as lawmakers ratcheted up the pressure on Bloomberg to do more to improve the quality of life in Lower Manhattan.

Mayor warns Occupy

Mayor Mike Bloomberg warned yesterday that the city may start taking a tougher line with protesters. “We are constantly monitoring the situation to preserve public safety and guarantee the rights of all people,” the mayor said yesterday. “No one should think that we won’t take actions that we think are appropriate.”

Protester charged with sex assault

A male protester at Occupy Wall Street who reportedly worked in the kitchen area of the camp was arrested Tuesday and charged with sexually assaulting a female protester while the two were inside Zuccotti Park. Police said 26-year-old Tonye Iketubosin, a Brooklyn resident, touched the 18-year-old victim inappropriately. 

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“My restaurant is getting busier and we hope everyone comes down here because I want to get those 21 people back,” Epstein said.

Just one day after a Wall Street business owner complained of having to lay off 21 employees because of police barricades, those barricades have been removed. For the first time since the start of the Occupy Wall Street movement, people moved freely across Wall Street this morning. A group of mounted police is keeping watch in the center of the street.

The metal barricades were often a source of annoyance for people who were forced to push their way through crowds confined to the narrow sidewalks of Wall Street on their way to work or their homes.

Police did not immediately respond to questions about why the barricades were removed today or whether they are permanently gone, but Mayor Michael Bloomberg told reporters this morning that Occupy Wall Street was beginning to negatively affect the residents and businesses of Lower Manhattan.

“You know, I think increasingly you’re seeing that communities, businesses and residents in Lower Manhattan feel that they are the ones that are being occupied,” Bloomberg said. “This isn’t an occupation of Wall Street. It’s an occupation of a growing, vibrant residential neighborhood in Lower Manhattan and it’s really hurting small businesses and families.”

Yesterday, Mark Epstein, owner of the Milk Street Cafe on Wall Street, blamed the barricades for his dwindling sales, which he said forced him to lay off an entire shift of employees and change his 9 p.m. closing time to 3:30 p.m..

“Every week, it started to impact business more and more,” Epstein said about the barricades.

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Epstein, who chose the Wall Street location because of heavy pedestrian traffic, said business had been steadily increasing since he opened the eatery in June. A few weeks after the protest began in September, though, he said everything changed.

“All of the sudden, everything went whacky and these barricades went up,” Epstein told Metro. “And every week, it started to impact business more and more.”

Epstein said sales took such a nose-dive in recent weeks that he was forced to eliminate an entire shift of workers and change his closing time from 9 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. during the week.

“I blame it on three groups,” Epstein explained. “Protesters, city officials and police. The barricades are it.”

Many people who work or live in the financial district have complained about the barricades set up by police on Wall Street, which have led to cramped and crowded sidewalks. In the early weeks of the protest, police also temporarily closed several subway entrances in the area.

Epstein said he believes those routine hassles caused people to avoid Wall Street, leading to the sharp decline in sales at the Milk Street Cafe. When asked whether he could bring those 21 laid off employees back to work if the barricades are removed, Epstein said he isn’t sure.

“Nothing would make me happier. It depends on the business coming back,” he said.

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“As long as there’s fire in people’s bellies, they’ll stay warm,” said protester Evangelina Jimenez, 33, of Portland, Ore, who was bundled up in two sweaters, three shirts, a jacket and two pairs of jeans.

“The last couple of days were pretty rough,” admitted Miami native Lily Casteanedo, 22. “But it’s not going to stop us.”

Not all protesters share that conviction: A few have fled Zuccotti Park for the winter, according to Jimenez. About one in five protesters packed up and left this weekend to avoid the snow and ice, reports claim.

Protester Michaela Weber, 18, has been camped out for three weeks, but says she doesn’t know how much longer she can take it.

“I’m from Florida and I’m already sick and have an ear infection,” Weber said. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to stay through the winter.”

Without generators, protesters are using metallic “space blankets,” hand warmers and layers of clothing to shield them from the weather.

Others use plain old body heat.

“I’m staying here with my girlfriend, so we use body heat to stay warm,” said protester Nelson Cespedes, 18, of Washington Heights. “I almost went into hypothermic shock, but I’m going to stay as long as my body will allow it.”

Pedal power skirts crackdown

The FDNY confiscated fuel-powered generators from the OWS camp on Friday, saying they were a fire hazard. But one generator passed muster — one with wheels.

“We’re powering batteries with the bike,” said Brooklynite Keegan Stephan. “This is the one generator they can’t take.”

The batteries are used to power computers and small electronics, said Steven Ma, 27, a bike mechanic from Brooklyn. Each battery holds 100 volts of electricity, but four hours of biking yields only 25 volts, he said.

“We would need 10 people to power a hair dryer,” said Ma.

More on Occupy Wall Street

Protesters take measures to deal with homeless in Zuccotti Park

OWS demands free subway rides for the jobless

Protesters march in solidarity with Occupy Oakland

Follow Emily Anne Epstein on Twitter @EmilyatMetro.

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“Homeless people appear here because they’re hungry,” protester Barbara Ross, 48, said.

To curb their appetites, protesters are considering shutting down the cafeteria-style food distribution and only giving out food to active protesters, said Ross.

“There have been plans to have food delivered to the working groups,” Ross said.

“We’re asking them to join many of the working groups, or directing them to a food pantry,”?she said of the homeless.

The overworked kitchen volunteers are serving an estimated 1,200 people a day, spokesperson Patrick Bruner said, and they just can’t take it anymore. “The kitchen team became worried they wouldn’t be able to continue to feed everyone,” he said.

The once-gourmet menu will be nothing but cold fare for the next three days while the kitchen crew reorganizes, Bruner said.

Security has also been working hard to keep the protests peaceful, Ross said.

“The bad behavior is coming from that southwest corner,” Ross said, referring to where homeless people congregate. “They’re not following the guidelines set up by the general assembly for being nonviolent in the park.”

On Wednesday night, 10 people were arrested in a solidarity march with Occupy Oakland because police said they trashed a Tribeca street.

The cops have become so fed up with protesters that the NYPD’s Sergeants’ Benevolent Association is ready to sue if cops are injured by the demonstrators.

Ed Mullins, president of the SBA, told the New York Post that more than 20 police officers have been injured at OWS protests.

Follow Emily Anne Epstein on Twitter @EmilyatMetro.

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A man was arrested after the woman told police he assaulted her and her friends on Oct. 11 inside the park. Cops say the man’s friends then “threatened to kill” the woman on Monday for having filed the complaint.

Meanwhile, a group called Parents for Occupy Wall Street announced yesterday they will begin patrolling the park wearing bright lime green T-shirts. The group will walk through Zuccotti Park four times a day to address noise and sanitation complaints.

And the Manhattan district attorney’s office might dismiss charges against about half of the 700 people arrested Oct. 1 on the Brooklyn Bridge. The deal would require protesters not to be
rearrested within six months. 

Follow Alison Bowen on Twitter @AlisonatMetro.

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Last week, protesters met with members of Community Board 1 to address noise complaints from residents who live near Zuccotti Park. CB1 drafted a resolution calling on protesters to limit loud noise, including drums, to two hours per day.

But their plea did not seem to make much difference.

Kelly Magee, communications director for City Councilwoman Margaret Chin, whose district includes Zuccotti Park, told Metro yesterday she still received calls from downtown residents complaining of eight hours of drumming on Friday and 11 hours of drumming on Saturday.

The Occupy Wall Street camp has established two phone numbers for residents and business owners to voice complaints. Eric Lazarus, a member of the OWS mediation team, answered the line for merchants on Monday.

He said he received fewer than 10 calls from businesses, with the biggest complaint being that protesters have been using restrooms without making purchases.

“This is an unusual situation in that all we have is the ability to say to our people, ‘We would like you to be polite,’ and tell them why it’s important to be good citizens,” said Lazarus.

Metro called the number designated for residents multiple times, but could only reach a voice mail greeting, which did not identify the line as associated with Occupy Wall Street.

Community Board 1 will meet again tonight to discuss the noise complaints.

Cuomo vs. Protest

The mayor of Albany defied instructions from Gov. Andrew Cuomo over the weekend to enforce an 11 p.m. curfew at a city park where Occupy Albany protesters are camped out.

Cuomo’s press secretary reportedly called Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings to ask the state police to enforce the park curfew, and arrest protesters if they didn’t leave. Jennings, however, refused to comply. 

The post The beat goes on at Occupy Wall Street appeared first on Metro.us.

As it turns out, it seems like MTV is trying jump on the Occupy Wall Street bandwagon much faster than that.

On November 5, MTV will be airing “True Life: I’m Occupying Wall Street.”

The episode will follow 23-year-old Bryan who is “one of the leaders of the sanitation team.”

The episode was filmed during the sanitation showdown on Oct. 13 when Zuccotti Park was scheduled to be cleaned.

The preview of the episode (which we’ve attached below) is set up as a countdown to the cleaning deadline.

As we all know, since this happened several weeks ago, the cleaning was cancelled, though many people were arrested.
 
The clip MTV released doesn’t provide us with anything that new. We’ve already seen people sleeping in tents and the General Assembly human microphone system they use. We’d be more into having MTV follow the dude who, according to New York Times Magazine, claimed to have lost his virginity at Zuccotti Park. Now that’s an MTV show we’d like to see (but who are we kidding, we’ll probably watch still tune in on Nov. 5).

How about you?

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Occupy Wall Street’s New York encampment has amassed nearly half a million dollars — $480,000 — since they first started, according to Brooklynite Pete Dutro, 36, of the organization’s finance committee.

But New York protesters haven’t shared one cent with other Occupy camps set up across the nation.

“We could definitely use [New York’s funds],” Vernon Johnson, a volunteer at Occupy Philly, said yesterday. “What’s the point of collecting money if you’re not releasing it to the people you’re trying to help?”

“We need money bad,” agreed fellow Philadelphia protester Kate Corbett. Occupy Philly has raised $10,000.

Most of New York’s money comes from individual donors, who give an average of $50 each, Dutro surmised. So far, the Wall Street camp has spent about $66,000 of that money on computers, credit card processing fees, food and medical supplies, he said.

“Most of the money is still in the bank,” said Wylie Stecklow, 40, the finance group’s attorney.
And even though OWS has quite a coffer, some protesters gripe that it’s not trickling down fast enough.

Last week, when drums were damaged and stolen from the drum circle, the New York General Assembly voted not to spend money to replace them.

“We’ve been an important part of this movement,” said frustrated drummer John Eustor, 46, of Asbury Park, N.J. “I’m done with the meetings. We’ve just stopped giving them our donations.”

—with Alexandra Wigglesworth

Follow Emily Anne Epstein on Twitter @EmilyatMetro for in-depth coverage of Occupy Wall Street.

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