Cindy Rodriguez

New York, NY —

A report commissioned by the city's Buildings Department blames the crane collapse that killed seven people last March on workers, who didn't use the right equipment or procedures to raise the crane. Commissioner Robert LiMandri says his inspectors would not have caught the mistakes because, ...

New York, NY —

The city wants to eliminate funding for an organization it helped create to deal with the foreclosure crisis. The Center for New York City Neighborhoods coordinates financial and legal services for struggling homeowners. The program has a small budget of about $6.5 million -- $1 ...

New York, NY —

A panel of appellate court judges unanimously ruled that the owners of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village wrongly turned rent-regulated apartments into market-rate ones, and overcharged about 3,000 tenants. WNYC's Cindy Rodriguez reports.

REPORTER: In 2006 Developer Tishman Speyer purchased the property for $5.4 billion ...

New York, NY —

Parents say a plan to eliminate more than 3,000 kindergarten slots at city day cares is turning out to be a disaster. WNYC's Cindy Rodriguez reports.

REPORTER: The Administration for Children's Services decided to cut these slots in order to address a $62 million deficit. The ...

(Kathleen Horan)

The city says a group of volunteers counting the homeless on a cold night in February found just over 2300 people. That's a 30 percent drop compared to last year. Deputy Mayor Linda Gibbs says the results are counter-intuitive, given the economic crisis. But she says people living on the streets are typically not the ones who've lost jobs or homes.

GIBBS: While there are clearly economic issues, it is more fundamentally about the underlying untreated mental illness and substance abuse that most often occurs.

New York, NY —

The city says a group of volunteers counting the homeless on a cold night in February found just over 2300 people. That's a 30 percent drop compared to last year. Deputy Mayor Linda Gibbs says the results are counter-intuitive, given the economic crisis. But she ...

New York, NY —

The cash-strapped New York City Housing Authority will soon receive $423 million to make much-needed repairs in public housing.

The housing authority runs 343 public housing developments and for the last few years it's put off about $400 million worth of building repairs, so the money ...

New York, NY —

Federal stimulus money will bring an estimated $841 million in extra food stamp benefits to New York City. This means that starting in April each one of the 1.3 million New Yorkers who use food stamps will see a 13 percent increase every month. WNYC's ...

Myrna Millington (seated far left) is resisting her foreclosure

Myrna Millington bought her tan colored frame house in 1971, when the mortgage payments were $500 a month. She paid off the house, but had to refinance in order to make much needed repairs. Now, she says, a sub-prime loan with an adjustable rate made her payments too high.

'That's why I'm in this mess,' says Millington. 'So I went to ACORN and ACORN is helping me to stay in my home. They can put me in shackles. I'm still not leaving my home because this is my home.'

New York, NY —

The city and state are continuing to fight over a pot of money the city planned to use to build affordable housing. The funds, which currently total over $200 million, come from running Battery Park City in Lower Manhattan. An authority has been set up ...

New York, NY —

The housing group ACORN says it will help fed up homeowners facing foreclosure resist evictions when and if marshals try to remove them. WNYC's Cindy Rodriguez has more.

CHANTING: Whose house, Myrna's house, whose house, Myrna's house, she's staying here, she's staying here.

REPORTER: Instead of a ...

New York, NY —

While some struggling home owners are holding out hope that President Obama's plan to address foreclosures will help them, others are taking matters into their own hands.

In Laurelton, Queens today, the housing group Acorn announced it would stand in solidarity with families who refuse to ...

New York, NY —

New US Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan says the Obama administration will push an agenda that goes beyond fixing the current foreclosure crisis. WNYC's Cindy Rodriguez reports.

REPORTER: Donovan, the city's well regarded former housing commissioner, said he wants to change the largely ineffective ...

New York, NY —

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn wants to buy vacant apartments that developers are unable to sell.

Quinn says the city would negotiate the lowest possible price for the apartments and then make them cheap enough for middle class families to rent or buy.

The idea is still ...

Flight Attendant Donna Dent speaks at a press conference with Flight Attendant Sheila Dail, Flight Attendant Doreen Welsh, First Officer Jeffrey Skiles, Mayor Bloomberg and Pilot Chesley B. Sullenberger of US Airways Flight 1549, after being presented with keys to the city. (Getty)

This time the three flight attendants, pilot and co-pilot were given a key to the city. The second they stepped into the packed room the flashes and clicks started and never stopped. Photographers and camera men yelled at each other and even the mayor requested that the 'stills get down'.

A city hall press aide remarked it's the craziest she's seen it - even crazier than when J-Lo appeared in the same room.

New York, NY —

With former city housing commissioner Shaun Donovan becoming HUD Secretary, the city must find someone to replace him, and a time when the economic downturn has dramatically slowed construction. WNYC's Cindy Rodriguez reports.

REPORTER: Donovan is often credited with finding innovative ways to finance housing for ...

New York, NY —

Five Brooklyn daycare owners are being charged with stealing close to $60,000 in government funds. The owners allegedly faked invoices for things such as computers, cribs, and art supplies, then billed the state for their purchases.

REPORTER: The charges stem from a July audit conducted by ...

New York, NY —

Ever since federal authorities increased efforts to deport criminal illegal immigrants advocates have complained the raids were sweeping up lots of people who posed no threat. And a recent report backs up that claim. WNYC's Cindy Rodriguez has more.

REPORTER: The Immigration Justice Clinic at Cardozo ...

New York, NY —

A $4 million analysis of construction safety is complete, and officials say it'll change the way high-risk construction is regulated and carried out in New York City. WNYC's Cindy Rodriguez has more.

REPORTER: The city commissioned the safety analysis back in April after several high profile ...

New York, NY —

Tenants are cheering the New York State Assembly for passing a package of bills that will make it tougher for building owners to convert apartments from rent-regulated to market rate. Landlords say the bills are misguided. WNYC's Cindy Rodriguez reports.

REPORTER: The Assembly bills do several ...