1) With all the Manhattan apartments supposedly coming to auction in the near future, it makes sense that there would be a website to go to for one-stop shopping. Enter Bid on the City, which goes live on Friday with 10 Manhattan condos, half listed by developers, half by sellers. The auctions will be a real-time event, happening live and online (through an engine built by PropertyShark) simultaneously, with no hidden reserve prices. So far, the apartments are in buildings such as 555 West 23rd Street in Chelsea, Millentium Tower in BPC, Place 57 on East 57th Street and 325 Fifth Avenue. Based on the impulsive way we use eBay (did we really need that bronze bald eagle sculpture?), let's just say we're wary about bookmarking. ['Trying to Replace Brokers With Auctioneers']
2) The $300,000 studio is now the $200,000 studio, but what are these places like? "To tour these Lilliputian abodes is to find the feats of pragmatism that are a hallmark of Manhattan living. Murphy beds abound. One owner, perplexed by a tiny kitchen, decided to place the full-size refrigerator a few feet away — in what had been a coat closet." ['Making a Comeback: $200,000 Studios']
3) The dumpster outside the 92nd Street Y has long been a topic of interest, and now the Times wades into the controversy. The trash bin is there when the Y does construction, which apparently has been constantly, for years. Neighbors have finally coaxed Community Board 8 into cracking down on the metal menace, and it may be gone by August. Power to the people! [The City/'Loving the Y, Loathing the Trash Bin']
4) The Kosciuszko Bridge, the unpronounceable worn strip of metal that connects Greenpoint and Maspeth along the BQE, is set to be replaced with a new nine-lane bridge, with construction beginning in 2013. The scrap metal dealers and wholesalers located below will lose their land via eminent domain, but don't expect another Atlantic Yards or Columbia. After all, good lord that bridge needs replacing. [The City/'Uneasily Contemplating the Arrival of a Spiffy Newcomer']
5) Once the kids are out of the house, a middle-age Long Island couple set their sights on moving back to the city, in a two-bedroom priced around $1 million. Thinking they could get a deal, they head to 50 Orchard Street on the Lower East Side, but the hard-partying LES turns them off. So it's off to Chelsea, and a renovation job at West 23rd Street's Cheyney. [The Hunt/'The Suburban Transplants']
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