NYC, Briefly

City Council To Vote on Budget

The $400 property tax rebate that homeowners receive each year was on the chopping block, but it may turn out that the City Council could come to its rescue. On Thursday, the Council is expected to vote on an update of the mayor’s budget in which the rebates are left unscathed. If the checks were to be cut, it would save the City $256 million, but the city’s 600,000 homeowners would have been affected.

On the other hand, the City Council is in favor of lifting the temporary 7-percent property tax cut that’s due to expire in July six months early.

In other budget considerations, Mayor Bloomberg proposed cancelling the entire upcoming class of police cadets, which would number 1,100. The City Council’s counterproposal, included in their updated budget, is to hire 250 in early 2009 and another 250 later in next year.

Restaurant Week Extended to Sunday

For those looking to maximize their dining experience during the annual NYC Restaurant Week, this winter they have one more day to do it. On Wednesday, NYC & Company, the city’s marketing and tourism organization, announced that 100 of its more than 250 Restaurant Week participants have extended their deals to Sundays. The addition of Sundays will make this winter’s Restaurant Week the biggest ever since the event’s beginning in 1992.

Three-course prix-fixe lunches are priced at $24.07 and three-course prix-fixe dinners at $35.

The event will run two weeks, from Jan.18 to Jan. 23 and Jan. 25 to Jan. 30 from Sunday to Friday. For more details, please visit the NYC & Company web site www.nycgo.com.

Snow Storm In Town for Holidays

The chill in the Northeast is coming from the Midwest this year. Beginning Friday morning, New York is expected to see up to a foot of snow. In the middle of the day, the downpour could become a mix of snow, sleet, and rain, according to the National Weather Service. They have issued a storm warning.

The storm will course over northern Pennsylvania and north New Jersey in the morning, moving east, according to the Weather Channel.

Snow showers are expected for Saturday, allowing a quick breather before another storm comes on Sunday.

The City’s snow shovels and salt spreaders are sitting at the ready. The timely arrival of a “white winter” may be favorable for lovers of the fluffy stuff, but maybe not so much for travelers.

Council Votes Change Parking Laws and More

The City Council made changes to parking during inclement weather and street names.

Parking: If the Department of Sanitation cancels a street cleaning during snowy weather, then for 24 hours, the Department of Transportation is not allowed to ticket drivers that did not move their cars. This change is an effort to prevent the reoccurrence of parking mishaps during the Valentine’s Day 2007 snowstorm, when the DOT did not suspend the parking rule after a snowstorm, leading to drivers being unfairly fined.

Street Co-naming: Forty-eight streets and public places are getting epithets in honor of important figures. Among them are:

—Reverend Gene McGhee, pastor of the Bethlehem Church of God in Christ for over 30 years, at the intersection of 164th Street and 107th Avenue in Queens;

—Count Basie, world renowned musician and band leader in the 1930's and 1940's,on 160th Street Between St. Nicholas Avenue and Edgecombe Avenue in Manhattan, where he lived;

—James "Pop" Colon, a Korean War veteran who served in the United States Navy from 1951-1954. and a decorated member of the FDNY for more than 30 years, at the intersection of King Street and Osborne Avenue in Staten Island;

—Marcus Garvey, a Black Nationalist leader who created "Back to Africa" movement in the United States, on all four corners of Gunhill Road and White Plains Road in the Bronx; and

—Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to Congress, at the southwest corner of Park Place and Kingston Avenue in Brooklyn.

MTA Service Cuts: Coming to a Neighborhood Near You

MTA Regional Plan Association today released comprehensive maps of all 193 subway, bus and commuter rail service cuts affecting the five boroughs, as approved by the MTA board yesterday. The maps of Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, Staten Island and Manhattan show service reductions, eliminations and route "restructurings."

The maps can be found here: http://www.rpa.org/2008/12/mta-service-cuts-coming-to-a-neighborhood-near-you.html.

"Unless the governor and the legislature act, nearly all New Yorkers are going to feel the impact of the MTA's service reductions," said Bob Yaro, President of Regional Plan Association.

In addition to the cuts the board also approved a 23% fare and toll increase to close a $1.2 billion operating deficit for 2009. Hearings will be held in January.