From left: Mayor Bloomberg and Silent Barn, a loft-performance space that was shut down earlier this yearSince the days Rudolph Giuliani reined as mayor of New York City, the police, fire and building departments have cracked down on lofts that double as living and performance space.

Though it has discouraged some, the Village Voice reported that the practice, which dates back to the 1930s, is still widespread.

The crackdown, dubbed Multi-Agency Response to Community Hotspots (MARCH), was initiated by the Giuliani administration after the Happy Land fire in 1990, and it gained steam through the Bloomberg administration, which has increased MARCH activity by 35 percent. [more]

From the May issue: This past month, a real estate broker
advertised that he would dress up as the Incredible Hulk at a Sunday
open house, hoping an appearance by the muscle-bound monster would lure
buyers to his listing for a Midtown condo. He even went so far as to
place signs around the unit warning that lowball offers would cause the
Hulk to get angry. The stunt may have been a joke, but the sentiment
was real. This spring, despite a flurry of activity by
bargain-hunting home-seekers, deals are still rare as buyers and
sellers exhibit contradictory expectations. “For every one seller who
thinks pricing will be going up soon, I have 100 buyers telling me the
opposite,” said Paul Purcell, co-founder of Charles Rutenberg
Realty. [more]