For 13 years the Vazquez family has watched Sunset Park change from the window of their three-bedroom apartment on 55^th Street. This year, the shifting tides of New York real estate hit home.

Developer Galla Condominiums recently bought and converted to condominiums a dozen apartments in the 16-unit building at 546 55^th Street where Carmen and Alex Vazquez live with their children. Each unit that goes up for sale marks one less rent-stabilized apartment in a neighborhood where such units are scarce.

As the number of rent stabilized units dwindle, long term residents find themselves living surrounded by housing that rents and sells at rates far beyond what many longtime and new immigrant residents in this working-class neighborhood can afford. Read the full story

A man shot three times outside a local barber shop in Sunset Park, Brooklyn on Thanksgiving night died Sunday, police said.

Police found 28-year-old Samuel Oliveri in critical condition with three gunshot wounds to the neck and thigh on November 26 at about 6pm. An ambulance rushed the victim to Lutheran Medical Center. He passed away as a result of his injuries at 7:30pm on November 28, police said.

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NY1 captured a sparse but passionate crowd gathered yesterday to support decorated Iraq War Veteran allegedly harassed and beaten by McDonald’s employees in Sunset Park. Luis Montalvan, the disabled veteran who said he was mistreated by employees at the Fifth Ave restaurant, made a statement excoriating the company for its treatment of the disabled and violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“McDonald’s should be ashamed of themselves,” Montalvan said. “They should be ashamed of their mistreatment of people with disabilities.”

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Luis Montalvan with Tuesday, his service dog. Image courtesy of Caitlin Brown.

Combat disabled Iraq war veteran alleges two men he believes McDonald’s employees beat him as he prepared to file a complaint against the Sunset Park franchise.

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When people want to track a societal shift, they turn to statistics. But signs of the times also come in less quantifiable bites.

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Amid the butchery, the guys at the New Public Meat Market at Fifth Ave and 51 Street keep their sense of humor. Look close and you’ll see the cigarette dangling from middle pig’s gob. A few days later to find his friend had apparently bummed one, too.

Anyone who spends time on 5th Ave has seen, and probably tasted, the dulce de tamarindo. Today the sweets appeared on a blog called Eating in Translation, which features “fascinating food from New York City and sometimes farther afield.” You can find the gentleman mentioned on 5th nearly everyday–sometimes near the new Duane Reade, sometimes a few blocks north.