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Over 249 million Americans live on the three percent of land that constitutes our cities. More than half of America’s income is earned in 22 metropolitan areas. And people live longer in New York City than anywhere else in the U.S. That being said, our nation continues to grapple with negative perceptions about cities. Images of loud, dirty, noisy, graffiti and crime-ridden urban wastelands persist. Economist Ed Glaeser wants to change that. He’s convinced that cities make us better, and that the proof can be seen everywhere from Minneapolis to Shanghai.

The city will not lay off 4400 teachers this fall, as planned. That announcement was made Wednesday morning just as city principals were gearing up to receive their doomsday budgets for the coming fall.

But the money has to come from somewhere. That's why Mayor Bloomberg has announced that the city will offer no raises to teachers - or principals - for the next two years. The city is facing a shortfall of $500 million in school aid from Albany. The Department of Education says a freeze on raises will save $400 million annually.

In a letter to principals, Schools Chancellor Joel Klein wrote:

"I know that we are asking you to make a difficult sacrifice at a time when many of your families are struggling to make ends meet. But at a time when the City—indeed, the entire country—is being forced to make do with less, this plan allows us to retain the most important ingredient in our schools: the hardworking educators who each day are making a real difference in the lives of our students."

However, despite the mayor's announcement that city teachers and principals will not get any raises, both unions were quick to remind everyone that such a proposal needs to be negotiated at the bargaining table. The city's last offer was a 2 percent wage increase for teachers and principals. United Federation of Teachers president Michael Mulgrew said nothing had changed - just the mayor's proposal to scale back 2 percent to 0 percent.

"This is a process that the UFT has been involved with for 50 years which is called negotiating contracts," he said. "And if the mayor has a proposal then he needs to take it to the PERB board which is where it's supposed to be."

President Barack Obama is coming to the city this evening for a closed fundraising event after his tour of small businesses in Buffalo this afternoon.

For city commuters that means major subway and bus delays. The MTA says to expect delays or detours between 4:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. ...

I think we should have stayed home. But during the rain storm last Saturday my husband and I got into our car and started to drive to a restaurant near our home in Hoboken, NJ.

A mere six blocks ...

New Yorkers aren’t the only ones who call their buses and subways their “yellow school bus.” Other cities also use mass transit to get their students to school, sometimes just as intensively as in New York. Today, as a group of New York City high schoolers meet with MTA Chairman ...

In the age of cell phones, those red fire alarm boxes that dot the streets have become mostly antiquated. And Fire Commissioner Sal Cassano says deactivating 15,000 of them wills save the city $6 million. The Fire Department is also considering closing 20 ...

Puerto Ricans are some of the most prominent figures in New York politics and culture, so some people are surprised when they hear that, overall, Puerto Ricans are among the poorest and least educated New Yorkers. Almost a third in New York ...

This week Judge Frederic Block spent hours interviewing potential jurors for the securities fraud trial of Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin. Cioffi and Tannin are former Bear Stearns hedge fund managers accused of misleading investors about the health of their funds, resulting in losses which totaled nearly $1.5 billion.

While ...

The number of homeless families and single adults in shelters has hit an all-time high, according to a report by the Coalition for the Homeless.

The advocacy group says as of September 30th about 39,000 ...

Furtive glances down darkened subway tunnels may be a thing of the past, now that the MTA has set a timeline for installing countdown clocks. They'll display how long until the next train arrives. The authority says more than 150 stations, along the numbered lines will have clocks up and ...

Screenshot of the city\'s latest 311 iPhone app.

Instead of calling 311, the Bloomberg administration is offering iPhone users a new way to get information from - or file a complaint with - ...

(Photo by Miguel Villagran/Getty Images)

Cold weather is setting in and so is the city's official 'heat season.' That's the period between October and May when landlords must make sure their buildings are warm ...

Tomorrow it will be up to the City's Democrats to make the final pick of candidates for Comptroller and Public Advocate. In the two weeks since the current field emerged, the tone of both contests has became more bitter and combative. WNYC's Bob Hennelly and Soterios Johnson discuss the election.

...

Najibullah Zazi, 24, arrives at the federal building September 17, 2009 in Denver, Colorado.

James Gordon Meek, Washington correspondent and security writer for the New York Daily ...

That loose knit-group of political imposters who take on big issues through big stunts are hitting a local media outlet. Their latest action is timed to correspond with the first-ever New York City Climate Change ...

That's the sound of 271 poncho clad and shower capped pie throwers. Standing outside the studios of Regis and Kelly they hurled 1500 cream pies hoping to make it into the Guinness Book of World Records. Stuart Klaxton officiated and says mass participation records are a challenge, so ...

This year, the readers were volunteers who worked at Ground Zero after the towers collapsed. Mayor Bloomberg says their actions buoyed people's hopes.

"No one stopped to ask, if I can only do a little, should I bother doing anything at all? Each act is a link ...

Last year, family members of the victims of the September 11th attacks walked down a long ramp into the bottom of the pit at Ground Zero. This year they can't do that for the simple reason the pit no longer exists. That's good news for those impatient with slow progress ...

New designs for the Atlantic Yards arena--the first 'official' ones since Frank Gehry left the project in June--came out today. Here's our report:

Since a picture's worth a thousand words, we reproduce one here. It's by Ellerbe Becket and SHoP Architects:

One of the most competitive City Council races is happening in Northeast Queens. Six Democrats are vying in this month’s primary – three of whom have significant money and big name endorsements. The 19th council district borders Nassau County and can seem a world apart from the more urban corners of the city. WNYC’s Beth Fertig has more.

The term “McMansion” typically applies to oversized homes that sprung up throughout suburbia in the housing boom. But it’s also a familiar phrase in Bayside, where City Council candidate Jerry Ianecce points to single family homes, most of which are modest in size.

IANNECE: Now you look at this small little house here which is appropriate for the location, look across the street from it. It’s covering virtually the entire lot.

REPORTER: It looks like a town house.

IANNECE: You would think it’s a multi-family but it’s a one family house.

Iannece explains how homeowners took advantage of loopholes in the zoning law to turn small lots into overgrown structures of four or five thousand square feet. He takes credit for helping the council pass a law limiting overdevelopment.

IANNECE: Basically I’ve been a council member without the pay.

As chairman of Community Board 11, Iannece claims he’s got the most experience of anyone running for the local council seat being vacated by mayoral candidate Tony Avella.