NY Rising Community Reconstruction Fund to include Marine Park, Mill Basin, and Canarsie • Brooklyn Daily

NY Rising Community Reconstruction Fund to include Marine Park, Mill Basin, and Canarsie • Brooklyn Daily
(excerpt)
Local leaders are unimpressed by the decision to include Mill Basin, Marine Park, and Canarsie in a program that will invest more than $16 million in the area’s vital infrastructure to make it more storm-resistant, because residents will first have to put their mouths where the money is.

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Murrow High School’s chess team wins city title, eyes state and national titles too

Murrow High School’s chess team wins city title, eyes state and national titles too | Brooklyn Daily Eagle

By Rob Abruzzese
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Azeez Alade had a plan. He went into the championship game against teammate Alex Ostrovskiy with a move in mind that he was so sure that would work that he couldn't wait to use it. He methodically played his game, slowly setting up the move, but when the time finally came to execute it he realized that he had fallen into a trap.

"His thought process is incredible," Alade said of Ostrovskiy. "When he plays, he plays very solid and safe, but there is always a trick. In my game, I wanted to play this one move so badly, but he set a trap for me and I realized that it would have lost almost immediately. I thought it was such a perfect move, but he lays down so many traps that when you step on one it's over."

That's what Ostrovskiy likes to do, he sets traps and waits for opponents to fall into them. It's a strategy that he used on Sunday when he took first place and led Edward R. Murrow High School's chess team to victory at the 48th Greater New York Scholastic Chess Championships at the Brooklyn Marriott.

Hundreds of students from both public and private high schools from in and around New York City gathered at the Brooklyn Marriott Hotel in Downtown Brooklyn on Sunday to participate in the 2014 New York City High School Chess Championship.Hundreds of students from both public and private high schools from in and around New York City gathered at the Brooklyn Marriott Hotel in Downtown Brooklyn on Sunday to participate in the 2014 New York City High School Chess Championship.

Brooklyn real estate keeps soaring

Brooklyn real estate keeps soaring as both sales and rental markets end 2013 on a high note  - NY Daily News

Brooklyn's totally out of your league now.
The hot borough continued to show signs of strength at the end of 2013 in both the sales and rental markets, according to multiple reports released on Wednesday.
The median price of a Brooklyn home reached $570,110 in the fourth quarter, up 11.2% and marking an 11-year high, according to Douglas Elliman. Sales surged 21.2% to 1,752.

At the same time, the median rent in North and Northwest Brooklyn rent rose about 1% in December to $2,660, and rents in certain must-have Brooklyn neighborhoods soared to new heights.
Bushwick led the way, with the average rent in the neighborhood jumping 8.2% in December to $2,005, according to a report from residential real estate firm MNS.
"If you have to pick the strongest housing market in New York City, rental or sales, Brooklyn seems to have both," Jonathan Miller, CEO of appraisal firm Miller Samuel, which compiles the Douglas Elliman reports, told the Daily News.

Supply in Brooklyn is scarce, creating frustration for buyers and renters, brokers said. Sales inventory dropped nearly 28% in the fourth quarter.
"We've had bidding wars on rentals," said Michael Guerra, managing director of Douglas Elliman's Brooklyn division.
"We have people anxious to buy in Brooklyn, but they haven't found something that matches their criteria."
Demand is strong across the board. "Sunset Park, Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope, you name it," Guerra said. "Bedford-Stuyvesant is unbelievably hot now."
"Brooklyn has emerged as one of the best rental markets in the country," added MNS CEO Andrew Barrocas.

Brooklyn is chugging ahead as Manhattan's notoriously expensive rental market is easing. The median rent in Manhattan fell 1.6% to $3,100, according to Douglas Elliman.
The gap between Manhattan and Brooklyn is now just $440 - it has been hovering from about $300 to $450 since the fall. Back in 2008, the gap was closer to $1,100.
"Prices are down and inventory is up, so all in all now's a great time to be in the market for a new apartment," in Manhattan, said Citi Habitats president Gary Malin.

pfurman@nydailynews.com

Manhattan and Brooklyn are much poorer than you think. So how can anyone afford to live there?

New York City census data: Manhattan and Brooklyn are much poorer than you think.

(Excerpt)
Measured by median income, Manhattan and (especially) Brooklyn are much poorer than you think. Manhattan’s median annual household income is $66,739, while Brooklyn’s is a mere $44,850. Its less fashionable neighbor, Queens, outearns Brooklyn at $54,373 per year. New York City’s most suburban borough, Staten Island, is also its richest, with a median household income of $70,295, while the suburban counties surrounding New York are all richer than any of the boroughs. Meanwhile, the cost of living is astronomical in Manhattan, where the median monthly rent is $3,100; it’s $2,800 in the gentrifying northwestern quadrant of Brooklyn. So how can so many relatively low-income people still live in these areas? The answer has to do with the peculiarities of New York’s housing stock, demographics, and history. Here are the main seven factors.

De Blasio's French Lessons by Nicole Gelinas

De Blasio's French Lessons by Nicole Gelinas - City Journal
Gotham’s new mayor sounds like François Hollande, and he risks similar results.

Brooklyn native Janet Yellen named new Federal Reserve chair

Janet Yellen, our new Federal Reserve chair or chairperson, was born in Brooklyn and went to Fort Hamilton High School.  Some media has opted out of deciding her new title saying that she will head the Federal Reserve.

Read the rest of her story here.