–The city’s comptroller says renters on the Lower East Side and in Chinatown are forced to pay 15 percent of their annual income for first month’s rent and security deposit. He wants to see a new state law to give low-income renters some relief. [Curbed]
–A Lower East Side woman says her dog was attacked by a larger unleashed dog near Clinton Street and East Broadway. Now she’s posting flyers to warn other dog owners. [Channel 7]
–Greg David chimes in on the debate over the Union Square Tech Training Center, which some local activists want to block if the city doesn’t agree to a downzoning. He writes: “Downzoning is probably a bad idea anyway, but using it to derail a plan to address one of the city’s most important priorities—preparing New Yorkers, especially those from minority groups, for the well-paying jobs in the burgeoning tech sector—seems a misplaced priority. The question is whether Council Speaker Corey Johnson will allow neighborhood concerns to outweigh the needs of the city.” [Crain’s]
–A state supreme court judge calls the eye-popping legal fees in the Seward Park Co-op’s parking garage brouhaha, “highway robbery without the six-gun.” [New York Law Journal]
–Another so-so review for Anthony Mangieri’s Una Pizza Napoletano: “…there’s not much about this latest reboot that feels revelatory or groundbreaking, especially at these prices ($25 per pie)… But like music fans who’ll pay to see renditions of the songs they’ve heard again and again, you’ll find there’s a certain value to catching the performance of a quirky, uncompromising master of the genre practicing his craft night after night.” [Grub Street]
