New York, New York, It's a Helluva Town... And Gets Its Own Section: Introducing HuffPost New York

New York, New York, it's a helluva town... so today we're launching HuffPost New York.

New York has always held a special place in the heart of HuffPosters. It definitely has for me. It was the first place in America I lived in after moving here from London in 1980. And the majority of the HuffPost team is based in New York, working out of our offices in SoHo. But whether you live in New York or not -- New York is part of our national collective consciousness. The Statue of Liberty, Broadway, Seinfeld, Sex and the City, the Yankees, Giants, Jets, Knicks, Mets, Rangers (love 'em or hate 'em, you probably follow them), the Brooklyn Bridge, Times Square... Ground Zero.

HuffPost New York features our curated selection of the best New York news coverage, plus a collection of bloggers -- some familiar faces you know, some we're excited to introduce you to -- who are eager to share their takes on everything from local politics to the city's fashion, food, entertainment, real estate, sports teams, and business trends. Today's lineup includes posts from Nora Ephron on the summer joys of Shakespeare in the Park, Sen. Chuck Schumer on biking in the city, legendary New York cop Frank Serpico on the recent shooting of a black NYPD officer by a white fellow officer, former mayor Ed Koch on giving the state senate the heave-ho, and NY takes from a trio of longtime HuffPost favorites, Lizz Winstead, Chris Durang, and Patricia Zohn, who has been covering culture in New York on HuffPost since our early days.

In an effort to bring you all the great local journalism going on in New York, we've formed partnerships with more than a dozen local outlets offering the best on-the-ground and in-the-boroughs reporting happening around town. Read our Special Projects Editor Katharine Zaleski's account of her Pilgrim's Progress through the great sites of New York. Our partners' content will be available on a constantly updating widget in the middle of the page -- and also added to the mix of stories featured with headlines and pictures.

And we will, of course, make our community a big part of the mix. As we move forward, we hope you'll help shape our coverage via our Eyes & Ears citizen reporting unit. We'll be asking you to share your favorite local spots, point out what isn't working in your neighborhood -- and what is being done to make it a better place to live.

We are also teaming up the Gotham Gazette and the Brooklyn Rail to combine their local reporting experience with our citizen journalism outreach to dig deep into important local stories. And we'll be working with the Mayor's office to highlight and help in its efforts to encourage and facilitate service among New Yorkers.

HuffPost New York is being edited by longtime New Yorker Dan Collins, a veteran journalist who covered the city for many years. He's also written books on Rudy Giuliani and Ed Koch -- so he knows New York politics from the inside. Katharine Zaleski will continue to spearhead our partnerships with local sites. And everyone in our New York office has something to say about the city, so expect to be hearing a lot from them too.

This promises to be a very eventful year in The Big Apple, with the city gearing up for a mayoral race, Wall Street scrambling to figure out what's next, new stadiums for the Yankees and the Mets, the post-Plaxico Giants and the post-Favre Jets, the opening of the new High Line park on Manhattan's West Side, Times Square being turned into a pedestrian mall (aka Beach Chairs on Broadway), and the state government in the midst of a major meltdown (it's been a long, long, time since so many New York dinner conversations have focused on the state senate).

So check out HuffPost New York and use the comments section on this post to let us know what you think.

Follow Arianna Huffington on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ariannahuff

Comments

[maryec00]

LOVE THIS!! i was hooked by the photo of Guerilla Cafe! I miss Brooklyn
so much!

[atexasdem]

I find it fascinating that the news media, the television industry, the entertainment industry in general consider New York City the center of the universe. As they like to say there's New York, L.A. and the vast wasteland in between. Saying that New York is America compares to saying that London is England.
Perhaps nobody has noticed that New York is shrinking. They are no longer the second largest state by population. New York City only survives from the tax money from other areas of New York State. I've actually quit watching the Today show because all it seems they talk about it New York City.
I know, I'll get comments from New Yorkers and that's fine. But as far as I'm concerned. Who cares?

[epiphany1234]

Here's another ex-New Yorker born & bred, now living in the wasteland known as the American south.

New York is like a vi.rus....once in your blood traces of it always remain.

The taste for New York, the lifestyle, the rythyms, the energy and creativity, never dies. It reawakens every time I return to the watering ground, which is often, as soon as I set foot on the ground.

I LOVE New York, and thank you AH, for this new feature.

[PresidentRobertBooth]

What about HuffPo LA?

Or HuffPo London?

Or HuffPo Vice City Stories?

[Emlyn]

Now, I have nothing agaisnt Huff Post having a section on New York City or Chicago. I think it is great. I would not be that interested in them and probably would not read the posts from those two cities because I don't live there.

So, that brings my comments up to - what about some of the other cities in the USA? What about Los Angeles? San Francisco? Denver? Phoenix? Of course, if you ran a post on every city in the USA, you would have an awfully big Huff Post.

So when are you going to run the other cities?

[dteg]

Hoping the ATL gets one.

[VivaZapata]

New York has always had it's nay sayers and promoters, but whether it is negative or positive, NYC is the city to which other cities are most often compared. The only real issue isn't in terms of its greatness or depravity.

Is New York losing its unique flavor? There is concern that some of the international and ethnic feel of the city is giving way; that New York is in danger of pricing itself out of being interesting.

[goodkahuna]

I live in NYC and the one thing that no body understands is that Americans are hurt by the multi billion dollar coverups that take place here that are federal. I saw myself a multi billion dollar cover up take pace that destroyed many people in business in America and globally.

Consumer were defrauded for billion of dollars and the government made sure that no one knew about it so the consumers that were defrauded and business could take actions to have their money returned

Elliot Spitzer has the same problem when he went after AIG and was told by the southern district that they would take care of it. You saw the results years later when the feds in NYC did nothing and we have to pay for it big time.

NYC is very expensive and more people are leaving but beyond that NYC the financial capitol of America is a third world country of multi billion dollar criminal cover ups that effects people globally.

[porkido]

You mean is MANHATTAN losing its unique flavor...the other boroughs (even Staten Island?) have plenty going on...

[SBrooksB]

@VivaZapat­a.........­..Sadly, yes. Manhattan is increasingly shiny, corporate, and bland. For now, the damage is confined to Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn. The rest of Brooklyn -- along with Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island -- still feels like the "old" NYC.

[rosic]

Hate to burst your bubble out there. But New York Is NOT the Greatest City on Earth!!
Crime ridden, dirty, crowded and too much into itself to be really cool. I will take European capitals any day!
In fact, Amsterdam is a great city! So is Vienna!! So is Istanbul...and so is Madrid!
New York and New Yorkites Need To Think Outside Their BOX!

[sophieozz]

Europe is over. NYC is over. It's all become stale.

[porkido]

New York has heard this a great many times...yet it continues to be the center of the universe...

[ButterFlyGirlFly]

Great idea, looking forward to many great articles from the NY side. Thanks Arianna

[antirightwing]

So Colorado is chopped-liver ?

[ok9otj]

Hey Arianna, If I'm not mistaken you have/had a residence in CA. CA's a hell of a state. We have lots of Yankee ingenuity, CA cool, resources & experience to offer the national & global economy. We have opportunties & resources we can no longer afford to squander. Why don't you start a HuffPost CA page?

[Laura Roberts 1]

Love this idea, can't believe it wasn't done sooner, looking forward to a SF Bay/California counterpart as well!

[norgotoad]

Greatest city in world!! As someone who left the east coast, traveled 3000 miles and several centuries to get to CA, and I was born in CA! I really miss NY!! Woody Allen was spot-on when he said the only cultural contribution from CA is the ability to make a right on red. Chicago? Puleeze! Hayseed wide spot in the road on the way to NYC! Besides, just try getting a decent Reuben or pizza outside of NYC! Forgettaboutit! That "deep dish" thing in Chicago, ain't pizza. Dunno what it is, but it ain't pizza. New York city: the reason the world was made. Nuf said.

[NotMcCain]

Oh, Arianna. Despite your speech, you really ARE killing the newspaper!

What's most amazing is that none of them are -aggressively following the HuffPo model--which with their amazing journalistic resources--WaPO, NYT and LAT should be able to do SUPERBLY.

Why they don't invest in a similar online presence--­emphasizin­g up-to-minute news, blogs, and reader comment, is BAFFLING>

[dteg]

Probably has been discussed many times but the dinosaurs in charge at NYT,WaPO,LAT are kicking the can along until they can retire.

[Docbcs]

So glad to have our New York Metro Section! Perhaps we can even post articles and comments critical of Mayor Bloomberg. Does anyone have any idea how difficult this is to do, even if one is oft-published on other controversial issues? It begins to seem as though Mayor Mike not only has the City Council in his pocket (on board, and eager to dismiss votes cast on two separate occasions by New Yorkers intent on retaining term limits), but the press as well. Has he done anything for New York other than to make Manhattan a gated community for the wealthy, raise property taxes...oh, yes, and smoke-free bars. That's worth something.

[Brooklyn49]

It's possible that I am being too possessive or sensitive in one of those just-get-over-it sorts of ways, but I take issue with referring to the World Trade Center as "Ground Zero" (see above in the list of "attractions"). For me, the area of the former Twin Towers will always be the WTC -- "Ground Zero" is some hideous, almost Disney-att­raction-li­ke term that was applied by the MSM within hours of the 9/11/01, horror, and, regrettably, it seems to have stuck in some circles. I am a New Yorker, and the only people I hear using the term in the City are tourists; whenever I am asked which subway goes to "Ground Zero," I answer that the R or whatever train will go to the World Trade Center. Maybe it's a small point; but , to me, it's just such misplaced, not-from-a­round-here hype-babble: to redefine an area after a terrorist attack as something "catchy" is embarrassing and a disservice to everyone affected.

[Furby]

You don't sound like a New Yorker. NYers wouldn't give a rat's ass what tourists feel like calling that gaping hole in the ground, and would probably have a few choice names for it themselves. So when are they going to put something in that hole?

[Brooklyn49]

Born and raised. I spent dollars and energy on the "rebuild the Towers" effort, evidently for naught; but I agree that the insult that IS "that hole" and the BS and political jockeying that have prevented, after 8 years, the building/rebuilding of SOMETHING, are insane. Maybe some powers that be are so enamored of the "Ground Zero" concept that they see some financial gimme in allowing that horrible wound to remain so unhealed.