NYC

It may be hard to believe, but a well-organized group of folks think New York City is too friendly to cars. And these folks have brought positive changes in New York over the past couple of years. So it shouldn't be surprising that some of them don't know when to quit.

A new screed against the city government on the influential site StreetsBlog reveals the difference between fighting to green a city and complaining if some things about a city don't fit your shade of green. Noah Kazis cries foul that the New York City government's recent rezoning of several economically sluggish neighborhoods makes ample provision for parking. It would be wiser, he says, to reject "parking minimums that erode the pedestrian environment."

Yep, with double-digit unemployment and service cuts on the subway system, with foreclosures in working-class neighborhoods and broken promises to build new affordable housing, what we need is ... parking reform?

The Supreme Court of New York recently ruled that even dead people must close on real estate deals they initiate.

Glennette Altman signed a contract in May 2005 to buy a co-op in an 89-unit building on Manhattan's Upper East Side for $2.3 million in cash. Before she could move in-or even finish the paperwork for closing-she died in September 2005 after suffering a stroke. Within the month, her heirs asked the sellers to return a $230,000 down payment. The sellers said no, if Altman's estate did not close on the property it would be in default.

And so the matter went to court–for four years–with appeal following upon appeal until this final ruling was issued in December.

Of course, the whole brouhaha could have been avoided had the buyer made one change to her contract.