How Humans of New York Found a New MissionStreet photographer Brandon Stanton has pivoted his blog into a one-man philanthropy that raises millions of dollars for random people.
It’s Expensive Being Rupert MurdochMEDIA
• Did Dow Jones cost Rupert Murdoch an extra $1 billion just because he’s Rupert Murdoch? [Slate]
• Rik Hertzberg to blog for The New Yorker. From YearlyKos. And without fact-checking. [
the morning line
Rent!
• The Rent Guidelines Board last night split the difference between a tenants’ proposal and one from landlords and settled on renewal increases of 3 and 5 percent for one- and two-year leases, respectively, in rent-stabilized apartments. Both sides, predictably enough, railed against the decision. [NYP]
in other news
Brooke Astor Never Promised You an Azalea GardenSunday’s Times brought a detailed look at Brooke Astor’s last will and testament, the “dark center of a legal battle” between her son Anthony and her grandson Philip. The article doesn’t specify how this center came to be so well illuminated — a “party” involved in the case has furnished the Gray Lady with a copy, we’re breezily informed in the story’s eleventh paragraph. The timing of the leak seems to be tied to Brooke Astor’s frail health — she is now 105 and in what the Times terms a “final decline.” So, not to be crass, but, um, who’s getting what? There’s no particular surprise as to where the lion’s share goes: to Anthony, who has redirected a bulk of the Astor fortune to himself in three controversial amendments to the 2002 document. There are, however, some pretty whimsical allotments on tap. David Rockefeller gets something! So does his (dead) brother Laurance! And NYU! And a garden. An itemization, after the jump.
in other news
It’s Not Easy Being LemonyYesterday’s essay in the back of the Times Magazine, by Daniel Handler, a.k.a. Lemony Snicket, could leave less-than-prosperous readers apoplectic. Handler opens with a bang (“Let’s start by saying I have a lot of money”) and proceeds to relate a terribly humbling episode wherein an acquaintance tapped him for $5 million to preserve a historic house. The inability to cut the check on the spot plunged the Snicket scribe into a funk: “People know I have a lot of money — there’s no way to hide it … But still, I don’t have all the money.”
party lines
Jim Cramer’s Wisdom Is More Valuable Than Ron Perelman’s Boat
A quiz: Which is worth more, a three-night, all-paid, all-access, five-star trip to this year’s Cannes Film Festival, including an all-you-can-party-with-celebs pass on Ronald Perelman’s 188-foot yacht, or, a chance to have dinner with Mad Money moneyman Jim Cramer? The answer: Mad Money, baby. A bidding war erupted last night for the Cramer prize — a chance to have dinner with the investment guru (also a New York columnist) and watch a taping of his CNBC show — at the fund-raising gala New York first lady Silda Wall Spitzer threw last night at Christie’s for her charity, Children for Children. Howard Milstein — president of Emigrant Savings Bank, managing partner of Milstein Properties, and, last night, the man sitting at Governor Spitzer’s left — won the Cramer night with a bid of $20,000. Perelman’s Cannes-party donation — donated anonymously — fared far less well, going for only $12,000 to some guy in the back whose identity we couldn’t really figure out. Perelman wasn’t there, but somewhere, he must have felt slighted. Adding insult to injury: This auction was in the same room where Perelman’s ex, Ellen Barkin, last year hawked all the fancy jewelry he gave her. The price for those? $20.3 million. —Geoffrey Gray
intel
It’s Hard Out Here for a Public-Radio Fund-raiserIt’s not easy soliciting money for a good cause, and, indeed, a recent e-mail exchange among execs at WNYC, New York’s public-radio station, exposes the delicate art of not-for-profit fund-raising. Under discussion was a press release to announce a fund-raising campaign for the station’s new Varick Street headquarters. The first draft of the release lacked a statement from Dawn Greene, widow of philanthropist Jerome Greene, whose $6 million gift was the largest ever made to a public-radio station. “Why not include a quote from Dawn?” wonders Laura Walker, WNYC’s president and CEO, in a leaked e-mail. “[It would] allow someone else to say nice things about us.”
the morning line
Something’s Gotta Give
• Just in time for Bloomberg’s $150 million help-the-poor initiative, the Times unloads a “Giving” section. It comes complete with an attempt to launch a word (“philanthropreneurs,” and, um, keep trying) and, best of all, a graphic titled “Bono’s Beneficent Universe.” [NYT]
• A shocking! new! poll! has Hillary Clinton pulling ahead of Giuliani and McCain in a presidential matchup. Buried in the cover story’s eighth graph: Her advantage falls within the margin of error, so it’s a tie. But you’ve already bought the Post. [NYP]
• The good news is that you are now able to swipe your cell phone at subway turnstiles. The bad news is that it necessitates “a consortium of credit card and wireless providers.” So the future is now — if you’re a Cingular customer with a Citi card. [amNY]
• Andrea Peyser, a noted expert on Crips and Bloods, is disappointed that not enough gang members showed up to a Sean Bell protest, because the press release promised gangs. Oh, just read it. [NYP]
• And Brooklyn hip-hop scenesters mourn the closing of Beat Street on Fulton, an iconic vinyl store; everyone cites digital age as the culprit. This is the store where Fannypack formed — is nothing sacred, iTunes? Is nothing sacred? [NYDN]
