Naked Man Has Cheap Rent

Daily Intel is wrong — the coolest part about the New York Post article about the cheapest rent-controlled apartments in the city isn’t the gay marriage angle but rather that one of the two guys profiled, who only pays $71.23 a month for a 500-square-foot one-bedroom apartment in SoHo, can make his monthly rent from less than four hours of nude modeling:

[The 87-year-old retired military meteorologist], a published poet who was friends with William Carlos Williams, currently lives off an Air Force pension of $1,100 a month, according to court papers.

And he told The Post he earns extra money as a nude model for painting students, earning $18.50 an hour.

“They tell me I’m so good at it, I feel I have a duty to do it,” he said. “I have an interesting face.”

Two Grown-Ass Adults With Two-Hundred Fifty-Seven And-A-Half Square Feet Each

And then you’re like, Why?:

Even fifth-floor walk-ups in the Village are commanding top dollar, she said, pointing to a 515-square-foot two-bedroom that recently rented for $3,195 a month. “It was an all-time high for that building and that floor,” she said. “But for two people splitting it, it’s about $1,600 a month, and relatively speaking for Manhattan, that’s affordable for living in a great neighborhood.”

Concur, Right Down To The Multiple Exclamation Points!

Mandy Patinkin on the Times Square Pedestrian Mall:

[Q:] Which do you prefer, the old Times Square or the new Times Square?

[A:] The old Times Square. I hate, hate, hate the new Times Square. You want to sit at a table? Go to a restaurant or the park or stay home! Bloomberg has made the old adage “go play in the street” a reality!!! Streets are for driving cars and bikes not sitting down and having a picnic!

Location Scout: Times Square Pedestrian Mall.

What Do You Get When You Cross A Memorial Site With An Office Development And A Public Plaza?

I believe the technical term is “fuckshow.” So much for all the rah-rah Jane Jacobsy bluster from those seeking to undo the urban planning eddy of the original World Trade Center site — that dream is years away (if ever?):

It’s the beginning of a gradual process that will eventually weave an off-limits space back into the fabric of the city. But it may be years before the eight-acre memorial is truly reconnected to New York, as part of a plaza where people can come and go freely or stop to enjoy lunch on a bench.

The goal is “an open memorial and true amenity for people who live in work and down here,” said Joe Daniels, the president and CEO of the National Sept. 11 Memorial & Museum. “I think it’s OK that right now, as it opens, it is more of a controlled destination.”

Only those with one of 7,000 daily tickets can enter the memorial, and reservations are filled through mid-October. Access to the entire plaza currently ends at 8 p.m., though closing time will move up with arrival of winter’s shorter daylight hours.

The ticket system is temporary, but Daniels said he expected it to last for about three years, long after the adjacent One World Trade Center tower is scheduled to be completed.

Location Scout: September 11 Memorial.

How Gentrification Sounds

“‘I’m your friend, I’m not your enemy, but you’ve got to leave.'”