Full-House Family Shelters

The weak economy has led to a record number of families in city shelters. 9,720 families call one of the city’s protective havens, their “home.” The Coalition for the Homeless released this unfortunate figure. No significant signs of hope on New York City’s horizon but at least the most impoverished among us can find some sort of comfort provided by the rest.

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IMPORTANT NOTE: This piece was written today about an older New York City news headline. NYCo site delays prevented its publication before now. In an effort to entertain and educate this blog’s devoted viewers, 100’s of older headlines will be posted in chronological order until this blog is discussing current events again. Though some stories may no longer be as relevant as they once were, they remain interesting news items worthy of mention and viewer comments.

[This is a copyrighted editorial, originally published on http://www.NEWYORKCITYonline.com/NYC-Online/blog.php. We invite you to post your comments and reply to others. This piece may be duplicated or printed with permission.]

Home Values Heading South

As financial portfolios decline in Wall Street's Stock Market debacle, so do the prices for most people’s largest asset, their homes. On average, NYC July 2008 home values dropped 16.3% since last July. The study didn’t include co-ops and condos. There are some signs of a price-drop slowdown but no basement price is in sight yet. New York City homeowners did comparably better than owners in other cities. That's little consolation to those hurting here. This bad economy is hitting most of us hard … right where we live.

Bad Economy Burns Ex-New Yorkers

As hard economic times take root in the city, fewer New Yorkers can afford to leave the traditional way … in a casket. More and more families are turning to cremation as a less expensive alternative to saying “goodbye” to the dearly departed. Low end cremations cost around $400 compared to $8,500 for a burial crypt; plot not included. The Cremation Association of North America claims that cremations are up by 33% between 2004-2006. I wonder why the Association doesn’t have more current statistics available. I guess they’re waiting for the smoke to clear!

Drinkers Downing Alcohol And Their Tips

Bartenders throughout New York City are reporting that tips are getting worse in direct connection with the economy. The National Bartenders Association says many mixologists are reporting a decrease of up to 30% in tips. Most bartenders work for tips alone so this economic downturn is hitting them a bit harder than most. For some, it’s enough to drive them to drink … if only they had the extra cash to do so! So be a bit more generous in the future, tipplers. Skip the "one last drink for the road," be safer and instead, be a bit more considerate of your bartender with the extra bucks.