Please pardon the following post, which is both a brag and an exercise in Northeast corridor navel-gazing.

I left my apartment building in Queens at 5:05 a.m. today. At 7:01 a.m., I was standing on a street corner in downtown Washington, D.C.

This 116-minute trip time shatters my previous personal door-to-door record of 145 minutes. And it should finally silence the Acela partisans who insist the train takes "about as long" as flying without all the hassle.

Here's how my morning went:

• 4:30 a.m.: Alarm goes off. Snooze.
• 4:40 a.m.: Wake up, shower, dress.
• 5:05 a.m.: Get in Uber car.
• 5:18 a.m.: Arrive at LaGuardia Airport Marine Air Terminal. According to my Uber ride receipt, the ride to the airport took 13 minutes and 12 seconds. Normally it's 10 minutes; an exit ramp from the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway was closed this morning.
• 5:35 a.m.: Obtain bagel and board.
• 5:50 a.m.: Delta Shuttle flight 5901 departs.
• 6:42 a.m.: Flight arrives at gate at Washington Reagan National Airport.
• 6:50 a.m.: Board taxi to downtown Washington, D.C.
• 7:01 a.m.: Arrive at 14th & F Streets N.W.

Yes, yes, I know what the train advocates are going to say: "You live in Queens." That's true. Early in the morning, it takes me about five minutes longer to get to Penn Station than LaGuardia Airport by taxi. If I lived in Manhattan, the ground transportation advantage might be 10 minutes in the other direction. Flying would still be way faster than taking the train.

The key error most of the train partisans make is showing up to the airport too early. But even if I had gotten to the airport a completely unnecessary 60 minutes before departure, I still would have had a door-to-door trip time of 144 minutes. Most Acela trips take 170 minutes from station to station.

Planes are much faster than trains.

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MANHATTAN — Finding a three-bedroom apartment is no easy feat for many New York City families — which is why many new developments now opening or underway include sprawling floor plans.

Supply in older housing stock is tight, but demand is certainly there: Some 42 percent of Brooklyn's third-quarter sales in new developments were for three-bedroom units, according to a market report released Thursday by MNS.

Three-bedrooms accounted for 28 percent of new development sales in Manhattan, where many more large units are in the pipeline.

"Once you start going over 2,500 square feet, until the new development surge kicked in, it was difficult-to-impossible to find that size apartment," Robert Dankner, president of Prime Manhattan Residential.

Three-bedrooms in Manhattan, for instance, made up only 12 percent of sales for co-ops and condos overall, according to a recent third-quarter sales report by Douglas Elliman.

But the development community saw the need for larger apartments, Dankner said, pointing to such new projects underway like Walker Tower in Chelsea and 56 Leonard in TriBeCa that have included big, flexible layouts.

"A lot of families are now moving assets and redeploying them in a home," Dankner said, noting that the "sweet spot" of three-bedroom homes in Manhattan cost in the $4.5 million to $6 million range.

"Developers are playing into that by including spacious floor plans that are good for two or three kids. They're delivering what a family wants: practical, well-built, well conceived."

In Chelsea, a new project going up next to the High Line at 508 West 24th St., for instance, has only 15 units, all two- and three-bedroom condominium residences, ranging in size from 2,000 to more than 3,300 square feet. Designed by renowned architect Cary Tamarkin, the homes range from approximately $3 million to more than $12 million, and the project is already 40 percent sold after one month of opening the sales office, according to the building's team.

Another example on the Upper East Side, at 150 East 72nd St., Macklowe Properties is overhauling the interior of a classic 1913 apartment building into gracious three- to five-bedroom condos with white oak floors, 10-foot ceilings and central air conditioning. More than half of the apartments, which range in size from 2,300 square feet to 4,500 square feet, have already been sold, with five units currently on the market ranging from $5.8 million to $15.5 million, according to the building's site.

"By creating three-to-five-bedroom apartments, we have filled a void in today’s marketplace for large-sized homes, which are not readily available and actively sought after,” Jarrett White, a spokesman for Macklowe, said in a statement.

Prices in Brooklyn are much lower, MNS pointed out, which is marketing the Williamsburg Townhouses on N. Third Street, where homes with 1,892 square feet of interior space and 957 square feet of outdoor space start at $2.38 million.

While improving public schools are often cited as a reason more families are staying in the city, Wei Min Tan, of Rutenberg Realty, thinks that better parks and playgrounds are a bigger deal, especially for his clients looking for three-bedrooms in kid-friendly neighborhoods such as TriBeCa, Battery Park City and the Upper West Side.

"If they can afford a three-bedroom, they don't really need to go to public school," he said, adding that plenty of families (like his) make do with kids sharing a room in a two-bedroom.

SEE ALSO: 10 Tips For Buying An Investment Property In New York City

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The words "health insurance" don't immediately conjure imagery of cute cartoon characters with large fonts and soft colors.

But this is Oscar, New York entrepreneur and venture capitalist Joshua Kushner's new health care startup. He's launched a new ad campaign to introduce the provider, "Hi, we're Oscar, a new kind of insurance company." The name of their website is your reply: HiOscar.com.

Founded with Microsoft's former director of health care Kevin Nazemi and former McKinsey & Company computer scientist Mario Schlosser, the team amassed $40 million in investment and grabbed talent from places like Google and Tumblr.

Their goal was to take advantage of the way the Affordable Care Act (i.e. Obamacare) changed health insurance marketing, from business-to-business to business-to-consumer. Industry mainstays like Aetna are now working with ad agencies to change their images, but Oscar has the advantage of starting without all that legacy "insurance" baggage.

The official New York state health insurance marketplace recently underwent a makeover, from a horrid interface out of the 1990s to something more user-friendly, but Oscar manages to be even more user-friendly. Much more, actually.

"Health care should make a headache go away, not give someone a headache," said Oscar co-founder Nazemi in an interview with Business Insider.

With the goal of "humanizing health insurance," the team partnered with the New York agency Design and Acquisition (DandA), led by former president of marketing for Disney, M.T. Carney.

Kushner took the name Oscar from his great-grandfather. The team chose it because they wanted to personalize something most people hate dealing with due to its frustrating complexities. 

Oscar VP of Marketing Veronica Parker-Hahn and DandA decided they would take the anti-stock photo approach. They came up with a diverse cast of characters getting attacked (in a charming way, of course) by bees, bears, and exploding potholes.

Their copy ads rely on large font, with messages like, "Health insurance that won't make your head explode. And if does, you're covered."

Oscar, which launches on Jan. 1, covers New York's downstate market — the five boroughs, Long Island, Westchester, and Rockland. Ads are appearing in the subway, online banners, and the streaming music service Pandora. They also have a ground campaign in neighborhoods with a high rate of the uninsured, like Washington Heights in Manhattan and Williamsburg in Brooklyn.

Their website looks great on mobile, tablets, and is shockingly simple.

The campaign is engaging, but runs the risk of seeming gimmicky. Nazemi insisted the concern is unfounded when combined with their services.

"We're not using technology for technology's sake. We're using it to make things simple," he said.

Oscar has 40,000 providers and 83 hospitals, and is heavily promoting its "Teladoc" feature. A client can place a call at any time of day and receive a guaranteed call-back from an Oscar doctor within an hour.

Nazemi said that he and his team have been thrilled with the response since Obamacare went live earlier this month. According to him, their phone lines keep ringing and their site has gotten tens of thousands of hits each week.

Without revealing numbers, Nazemi said Oscar is "well on track" to exceed their goals when the coverage launches at the start of next year.

It will be interesting to see if Oscar registers with New Yorkers, and if the company avoids becoming another insurance company that just happens to have a cool site and funny commercials.

But it is clear that the team is aiming for nothing short of an industry revolution, and will want to grow if successful.

"We obviously don't want to get ahead of ourselves," said Nazemi, "but it's like that old saying. If you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere."

You can check out the current video from DandA, which is kind of like a less-violent Happy Tree Friends. Four more videos are on the way. 

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In the ongoing battle over 5Pointz, the famed Long Island City graffiti hub, a Federal Court Judge has granted a group of 17 artists a temporary restraining order against landlords Jerry and David Wolkoff. The 10-day restraining order will temporarily keep the building from being demolished to make way for a new residential building.

The decision comes after the group of artists sued G&M Reality in a last ditch effort to save their beloved graffiti art. The plaintiffs are now hoping that the judge will announce a hearing for a preliminary injunction before October 28, which would allow the artists to testify, according to LIC Post.

The artists’ attorney, Jeannine Chanes argued that the artwork should be protected since it was created after the 1990 Visual Artists Rights Act, has significant cultural relevance and was painted with the permission of the property owner.

In defining what kinds of art are protected under the 1990 act, Chanes stated: “Aerosol art would be considered painting, [scribbling] ‘Jeannine was here’ would not.” [LIC Post]

NOW: Take a tour of the incredible artwork at '5 Pointz'

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 Joel Klein, the chancellor of the New York City schools from 2002 through 2010, and current CEO of education startup Amplify, talks about the current New York City mayor race between Bill de Blasio and Joe Lhota. Click for sound.

Edited by Amanda Macias. Additional camera by Will Wei

SEE ALSO: How To Make A Good First Impression At A Job Interview

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Joel Klein, the New York City schools chancellor from 2002 through 2010, and current CEO of digital education startup Amplify, tells us about the most successful, the least successful, and the most surprising policies by the Bloomberg administration. Click for sound.

Edited by Amanda Macias. Camera by Will Wei.

SEE ALSO: The Education Issues In The Mayoral Race That Have The Former NYC Schools Chancellor Worried

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A year after Hurricane Sandy knocked out power to millions in the Tri-State area, including all of downtown Manhattan, a dispute over ConEd's request to raise electric rates has created uncertainty about whether the utility has adequate resources to prepare for another megastorm. 

As the situation deteriorated last fall, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo blasted utilities, including ConEd, which supplies power to New York City, for their performance in responding to the storm. 

"They have failed the consumers," he said. "The management has failed the consumers."

So in January, the utility proposed raising customers' electric rates to pay for upgrades.

The increases requested amount to about $3 more per customer. The goal is to raise$1 billion over four years. 

 "For 2014 we have a plan to spend about $250 million in storm hardening initiatives in substations, electric distribution, gas system, and the steam system," ConEd spokesman Mike Clendenin told us in a statement. "Without proper funding we will not be able to protect the system as planned.”

But ConEd already asked for, and received, a rate increase three years ago, to the tune of $10 per customer. 

And for several reasons, including its sheer age, New York's power system is among the most expensive in the country.

So Gov. Cuomo is opposing the rate hike, calling it unnecessary.

"Given the historically low interest rates and the economic and income growth forecasts, such investments can be made without the rate increase requested by the utility," he said earlier this month.

New York City has also come out against the proposal.

"Most or all of the funding can be derived from greater efficiencies in project design, development, and construction, provided that Con Edison’s revenue requirements are set at levels commensurate with the Company’s projected needs,"it said in its statement during the rate hearing. 

But ConEd says that without the additional funds, it would have to reassess what improvements it can pay for.

In a follow-up interview, Clendenin told us plans to bring overhead cables underground, beef up protection at substations, and infrastructure that would help isolate outages may have to be put on hold.

"We can't go forward with the plan we've put out without proper funding," he said.

The utility hasn't been sitting on its hands. It has already installed flood walls and, literally, moats, at generators like the one on the Lower East Side that blew up and caused the downtown outage. 

But some say it's not enough, and that stronger regulation of ConEd is needed. Westchester County Assemblyman Tom Abinanti, who was critical of ConEd in the aftermath of the storm, told LoHud

“I’ve seen nothing to tell me that they’re better prepared,” he said. “I have no faith Con Ed can respond any better than they did last time.”

Though the last rate hike was large, its initial price tag was eventually brought down through negotiations. 

That could happen this time, but there's obviously less room for maneuver.

The state's Public Service Commission, which has final say over the matter, could vote on the increase as soon as next month.

SEE ALSO: The SEC Is Checking Around To Make Sure Funds Aren't Endangered By Puerto Rico's Debt Problems

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A few months ago, I decided I wanted to try riding a Vespa around New York City. Then I learned that to ride a scooter legally in this state, you need a motorcycle license.

And that's how I ended up making two trips to the DMV, taking three tests, dropping $350, and spending a weekend split between a college classroom and a college parking lot.

All in all, it was a lot of fun, especially the two-day course I took with the Motorcycle Safety School, which is where I learned everything I know know about motoring on two wheels.

Here's how it went down.

Step 1: Getting a learner’s permit

You need to do this, whether you want to take a course or learn to ride on your own. It's the least fun part of the process, as it involves a trip to the DMV.

Before going, I took a few hours to study the Motorcycle Manual, a helpful booklet that goes over the basics like controls, proper riding gear, and rules of the road. It also covers the things least familiar to car drivers, like which part of the lane you should be in at any given point.

Once I got through the DMV rigmarole and sat down for the written test, I was relieved even before I handed it in. There are 20 multiple choice questions. You can get six wrong and still pass. Several were about the risks of drinking and driving. A few more were about what road signs mean. One was about how to parallel park a car.

So I got my permit.

Step 2: Sign up for a two-day rider course

If you don’t know how to ride, the best way to learn and get licensed in New York is through the two-day course with the Motorcycle Safety School. There are locations around the city and a few upstate. I went with a course at Lehman College, in the Bronx. Price: $350.

Before my course, I took a two-hour introductory lesson, where we did some very basic riding. It's not necessary for the two-day, and is really meant to help people decide if they really want to learn to ride. 

At the two-day course, I immediately learned people who are into motorcycles are really friendly, and each had their own motivations for getting their license.

One woman was tired of riding on the back of her husband’s bike, or seeing him disappear for hours on long rides. One man hated his nearly 90-minute commute to work that involved multiple trains and buses, but didn’t want to buy a car. Most people just thought it would be fun to learn.

Step 3: Learning by the book

The course goes from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the afternoon, both Saturday and Sunday. It’s roughly half classroom time and half riding time.

The classroom portion is taught strictly to the test you take on day two. We went over things like:

• The four steps in turning (slow, look, press, roll).
• When you should lean left to go left - when you should lean right to go left.
• Why you always use both the front and rear brakes (and that there’s no real risk of flipping over the handlebars if you forget to hit the back one)

This was helpful and mostly interesting, but not nearly as helpful or interesting as actually learning while on the bike. And the written test, it turned out, was about as easy as the learner’s permit.

Step 4: Riding

By early Saturday afternoon, I was standing in a parking lot, ready to ride. Students provide full-fingered gloves, over the ankle boots, and a long sleeve shirt. The school provides helmets and bikes. Most of us rode very well broken in Suzuki GZ 250s. These aren't powerful bikes.

Unlike cars and scooters (in the U.S., at least), most motorcycles use manual transmissions. There’s no need to know how to drive a stick before taking the course (the only requirements are the permit and the ability to ride a bike), but a basic understanding of what a clutch and gears do will make learning how to use them much easier.

With my instructors Danny and Brett, I learned how to ride in logical baby steps. I began with the controls and how to start the bike. In first gear, I learned about the most important tool available to beginners: the friction zone.

If the bike is in gear, letting the clutch out a bit (into the friction zone) will move it forward, just like taking your foot of the brake in an automatic car. Even without hitting the throttle, there’s enough power here to get the bike up to a few miles per hour.

Once I was comfortable riding the bike using just the friction zone, the instructors pushed me to use the throttle. Throughout the course, they encouraged everyone to go faster and shift into higher gears. The idea is that you won’t be riding at 10 mph once you’re in traffic, so you had better learn how to ride faster in a safe environment.

It’s also more fun to go fast. That goes to the heart of why we all gave up a weekend to learn to ride: It’s supposed to be fun. Even circling cones in a parking lot at 20 mph generates a rush. If you don't get a rise out of it then riding probably isn't for you.

Each exercise built on what we had learned so far in the course, and followed a simple pattern. One instructor explained what we would do. The other demonstrated. Then we mounted up and tried it ourselves.

We covered shifting gears while accelerating, then engine braking by downshifting. We did quick stops, how to swerve around an obstacle, and what to do if there’s a two-by-four in the road (approach at a 90 degree angle, rev the throttle just before hitting it, and rise off the seat).

Step 5: The Test

The road test was not as easy as the written exam, but it wasn’t tough, either. There are four components: a tight U-turn, a swerve, a quick stop, and a regular turn. Each mistake adds points to your score. If you rack up more than 20, you fail. If you fall off your bike, you fail immediately.

It’s hard to flunk. I ran totally outside the lines on the tight U-turn — twice — and didn’t go into the regular turn with enough speed. That left me with eight points, so I passed easily.

Everyone in my course passed. I got a waiver, which I took to the DMV and exchanged for a license.

Am I Ready To Ride?

Sort of. I feel like I did after my first few lessons driving a stick shift car — ready for the road, but not brimming with confidence. I can operate a motorcycle; I won’t fall off or crash if a car cuts me off. But I have zero experience riding on a real road. Everything I know about riding in traffic comes from classroom instruction.

If I do buy a motorcycle, I would feel ready to ride in very light traffic and optimal conditions (daytime, dry weather). I would also consider going back to the Motorcycle Safety School for extra lessons.

Do I Want To Ride?

Absolutely. I learned about the risks — the course covers them thoroughly. I learned the limits of my ability — the simple road test drove that home. And I learned that it doesn't take anything more than a good teacher and plenty of practice to get better.

Full Disclosure: Vespa covered our $350 course fee, and the Motorcycle Safety School provided the $90 introductory lesson at no charge.

SEE ALSO: 17 Simple And Cheap Ways To Make NYC's Subways A Lot Better

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What's better than getting the living daylights scared out of you?

OK, probably a lot of things. 

For some people, surprises are absolutely terrifying. 

But there's actually a lot of value in that, Tania Luna of Surprise Industries tells Business Insider.

In fact, Luna and her sister, Kat Dudina, have built an entire business devoted to surprising people and companies like Google, Etsy, and Bit.ly.

Some of these surprises could involve zombies, circus performers, fire-eaters, spy training, target practice, mazes, and speakeasys. It's all about getting you out of your comfort zone. 

"Usually we as people decide what we like and don’t like," Luna says.

But Luna, who has a background in psychology, says that it's important to sometimes let fate decide for you, or to simply throw yourself into new, unplanned situations where you don't know what the outcome will be. 

That's the idea behind New York City-based Surprise Industries, which Luna and Dudina started back in 2008. The goal is to help people grow, and learn more about themselves and others. 

"It was ironic for me because I violently hated surprises," Luna says. "But [Kat] likes surprising people."

Now, five years later, Luna says she genuinely feels like a different person. 

Surprise Industries initially set out to host public surprises and charge about $25 per surprise, but has since started to focus a lot more on companies.

"Part of it had to do with my own personal transformation, and allowing myself to give up control," Luna says. "We started working with companies, less from the perspective of 'this is fun,' and more from, 'how does your company handle surprises?' Are they able to handle uncertainty and ambiguity?" 

Surprise Industries especially sees itself as a training center for tech companies, Luna says, because change is such a norm and happens very quickly in the tech world. 

"We never thought [Bit.ly and Etsy] would need us because they already seemed so comfortable with surprise," Luna says. "We realized they’re the best clients because they get the need for it and they understand that you can’t really run a business the same way as you did 20 years ago."

Starting next year, Surprise Industries will start to work exclusively with anywhere from 10 to 12 companies per year. The idea is to help these companies create silly and weird, but professional cultures where people aren't afraid to make mistakes, Luna says.

"Being interesting, playful, and weird helps you make more money," Luna says. 

Surprise Industries has been profitable since 2011 and has a projected 2014 revenue of $450,000. To date, the company has planned over 2,500 surprises. 

"It’s interesting that it almost feels like from what we see in NY, tech companies set norms for things like cultural value," Luna says. "Even things like perks in a company. I think a lot of that has to do with becoming better and better. They have to get better at handling surprise and uncertainty. They have to operate like a bunch of explorers. It will be very exciting to see more companies catch up. It’s so much more open. There are so many more opportunities for individuals to feel empowered and express their ideas. To me, that seems like a much happier place to work."

SEE ALSO: Meet The CEO Who Lived In A Taco Bell Parking Lot And Now Runs A Cool New Startup

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The New York City of the 1970s looked very different from the gentrified metropolis we know today. The Bowery, now lined with luxury apartments, housed much of the city's illicit activities, while drug dealers and prostitutes worked openly from Park Slope to Times Square.

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Police: Subway vigilante Bernie Goetz, who shot 4 in 1984, sold undercover officer marijuana

NEW YORK (AP) — Subway vigilante Bernie Goetz, who ignited a national furor over racism and gun control after he shot four panhandling youths on a train in the 1980s, has been charged with misdemeanor sale and possession of marijuana, authorities said Saturday.

Goetz was nabbed in a sting operation in Union Square park Friday evening for selling $30 worth of pot to an undercover officer, police said. He asked the woman if she wanted to get high, then went back to his apartment, where he has lived for decades, and returned with marijuana, authorities said. He was arrested on charges of criminal sale of marijuana.

Goetz wasn't being targeted specifically; he just happened to cross paths with the undercover officer assigned to crack down on drug dealing in the park, authorities said.

The 65-year-old was arraigned Saturday in Manhattan Criminal Court on three misdemeanor drug charges for sale and possession of marijuana. He was released on his own recognizance and is due back in court next month. His lawyer couldn't be reached for comment.

Goetz became a household name as the skinny, bespectacled white man who, on Dec. 22, 1984, rose from his seat on the No. 2 train in Manhattan and shot four black teens inside a subway car with an illegal handgun. The teens had sharpened screwdrivers and were asking him for $5. Goetz said it was self-defense and the youths intended to rob him.

The shooting brought to the surface long-smoldering urban issues of race, crime and quality of life. It also thrust Goetz, a self-employed electronics expert, into the role of spokesman for what some New Yorkers considered a justified form of vigilantism.

It was a vastly different era. Subway cars were spray-painted with graffiti tags and inhabited by muggers, panhandlers, junkies and the homeless. And crime was out of control — there were about 40 felonies per day in the nation's largest mass transit system. Last year, there were about eight per day, and the figure is declining.

Goetz was cleared of attempted murder charges in 1987 and spent 250 days in jail the same year for a weapons conviction in the case.

In 1996, a Bronx jury awarded one of the teens, Darrell Cabey, $43 million in his lawsuit against Goetz. Cabey's attorney, Ron Kuby, said Saturday his client remains paralyzed in a wheelchair and has never received a penny from Goetz, who had declared bankruptcy.

He had since slipped into relative obscurity, surfacing infrequently, like in his 2001 failed bid for mayor.

Copyright (2013) Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Tiny type caused huge headaches as voters headed to the polls Tuesday morning.

Across the city, voters complained that the minuscule 6-point type on the new paper ballots was too hard to read.

"It's so tiny. I need my glasses," said Melinda Katz, candidate for Queens borough president, after voting at P.S. 144.

Voters were particularly baffled by the rows of small type on the back of the ballots, describing six proposals including allowing casinos across the state and raising the retirement age for judges.

"The type was too small. Even with my glasses it was hard to read," said 69-year-old Alan L., who voted in Flatiron. "It said something about casinos and the ages of judges, but I had to abstain from those because I had a hard time reading."

Retired mason Brian Pressley, 56, of Harlem, also said the type size on the ballot made it hard to read.

"It's too small. I can't see anyway," said Pressley. "I had to look real close."

The city had used the classic lever voting machines in the September primary, but on Tuesday reverted to electronic voting machines that scanned paper ballots.

The ballots used such a tiny font in order to fit the long roster of candidates, along with translations in Chinese, Korean, Bengali and Spanish, according to Board of Elections Executive Director Michael Ryan.

The mayoral candidates portion of the ballot alone has 15 different names — some of which are repeated for different parties.

"There's a limited amount of real estate on a piece of paper, and so we have to work on that moving forward," Ryan told reporters Tuesday. "Clearly it is something that we must address moving forward."

Ryan added that the Board of Elections website has sample ballots so voters can take a closer look before heading to the polls, and there are also poster-size printouts of the ballot at polling sites.

Voting monitors at the New York Public Interest Research Group said they had received "a handful" of complaints about the type's size Tuesday morning, a spokesman said.

"We had one person who, because of the darkness of the polling site coupled with the font size, just gave up," said NYPIRG spokesman Gene Russianoff.

Russianoff said he heard similar complaints during the 2010 elections.

"It eventually has to get solved because what're we going to do, end up with size 1 font?" he said.

"The print is very, very small," said Francis Green, 55, of Bed-Stuy. "The station I was at had a magnifying glass, but other stations did not."

Samuel Cohen, 85, who voted on the Upper West Side, was confused by the propositions on the back of the ballot.

"The type was too small," said Cohen, who added that the proposals also had too much jargon.

Cohen has been casting ballots for 64 years and said voting on Tuesday "was very confusing. The old machines were better."

With reporting by Emily Frost, Colby Hamilton, Heather Holland, Jeff Mays, Paul DeBenedetto and Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska.

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New York City still hasn't found a 14-year-old autistic boy who vanished from his Queens school a month ago, despite a high-profile search that blanketed the subway with missing-person photos.

We spoke with David Perecman, a New York personal injury lawyer who's representing the mother of 14-year-old Avonte Oquendo in a legal action against the city that lost her son on Oct. 4.

Oquendo, who can't speak, disappeared sometime after lunch at The Riverview School in Queens that day. When he left the building, a security guard reportedly asked him where he was going but didn't stop him. However, the school's worst offense wasn't losing him in the first place, Perecman told Business Insider. He says the school waited 45 minutes to call the police and another 15 to call the boy's parents.

"When administrators make a decision on a higher level not to call the police ... There's a lot of words for that," Perecman told BI. "... They could have found him within those 45 minutes."

Instead, Perceman said, teachers were "running around" the neighborhood looking for the boy. "Imagine how pissed off you would be if you were this child's mother," he said. "I am not his father, and I know how pissed I am."

Schools Chancellor Dennis M. Walcott has said the boy's disappearance has spurred schools to evaluate emergency protocols, The New York Times reported.

Police have scoured the city for the boy, making announcements over the subway loudspeakers, checking buildings, and even looking in trash cans, according to The New York Times. Police commissioner Ray Kelly recently enraged the boy's family when he suggested the boy was dead, The Times reported.

“Unfortunately, we are not hopeful that we’re going to find this young man alive, but we are continuing our search," Kelly told WABC-TV on Oct. 24.

Avonte's brother, Danny, posted a heartbreaking message on the family's "Bring Avonte Home" Facebook page on Monday — a month to the day the boy disappeared.

"Each day that passes without Avonte being found is more devastating than the previous," he wrote. "I still feel your energy Avonte, I know you are out there somewhere."

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Dear Mr. Mayor-Elect,

On behalf of General Assembly, and the broader NYC tech community, I’d like to congratulate you on your decisive victory in yesterday’s election.

Over the past several years, we’ve all seen New York City emerge as one of the country’s strongest and most attractive startup ecosystems. This wouldn’t have been possible without the unwavering support of City Hall and the Economic Development Corporation. GA is living proof of this: we were founded with the support of the Economic Development Corporation, and in less than three years, we’ve grown from four co-founders to 100 full-time employees in New York, and about 100 more worldwide.

So, Mr. de Blasio, I am confident that as Mayor, you will also be committed to maintaining our place as a global technology hub, and continue to support and encourage the city’s entrepreneurs, innovators and creators, in the same way that the city supported us.

As you begin to build your team and prioritize the issues where your administration will focus its efforts, I want to offer a few thoughts on why tech matters to NYC, and what you can do to keep us on the right path:

1) Tech means diversification.

Tech is important to New York City for a lot of reasons, but one in particular stands out: the economy. Ten years ago, NYC’s tax revenue was overly dependent on financial services – and we all now know that was a precarious dependency. High growth tech companies are the best hope towards creating a more sustainable and diversified tax base for our city’s future well being.

2) Talent is key.

One of the key assets that NYC has is that people want to live here. Creating, attracting, and keeping the world’s best and brightest is the only long-term strategy for sustainable economic growth. The tech industry knows this better than most. And at GA, producing top tech talent is our core mission.

3) We can achieve more together.

There are so many issues to tackle, the only way we’ll be able to grow NYC’s tech community (and the overall economy) is if we play to our strengths and work together. The last administration achieved amazing things through public/private partnerships and we’ll be looking for more innovating thinking from you, Mr. de Blasio, on that front. There’s no way we can solve our needs for more broadband, real estate, and talent, without us all working together with a shared sense of mission and purpose.

For our part, General Assembly is continuing to aggressively invest in NYC in a number of ways. We will be significantly expanding our footprint over the coming months, in an effort to graduate even more junior web developers into our startup ecosystem. As we set our sights on filling the nearly 5,000 developer job openings in the city, we look forward to partnering with you to broaden the tech talent pipeline, and help the city’s technology industry flourish, by connecting local companies with workers equipped with 21st century skills.

Again, congratulations. We can’t wait to work with you to help make NYC the global capital of innovation.

Jake Schwartz is Co-Founder and CEO of General Assembly. You can learn more about taking classes at GA here.

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Landlords are charging more for top-floor apartments that they call “penthouses,” according to new research from Citi Habitats, a brokerage that specializes in  apartment rentals.

The penthouse label brings the most revenue for units in the middle and lower price tiers  – $10,000 a month or less; adding “PH”  tacks on an average of $1,355, or nearly 30 percent.

Even in apartments that cost more than $10,000 a month, the label ‘PH’ still jacks up the rent but only by 5.5 percent, the author of the study, Dan Bamberger, wrote in a newsletter seen by Curbed.

In 2008, there were 174 listings for units in elevator buildings in Manhattan with “PH” in the number, according to data compiled by StreetEasy for The Real Deal.

By 2011 that number grew to 256, a47 percent increase. As of September, 112 units dubbed “PH” have been listed.  [Curbed]

SEE ALSO: The 10 Best Tailors In New York City

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The New York Department of Financial Services has announced it will hold hearings in the coming months to discuss regulating Bitcoin.

Among the topics they'll discuss is whether to begin issuing what they're calling "BitLicenses" to businesses deemed in compliance with a possibly new set of financial statutes created solely for digital currencies like Bitcoin.

"Our public hearing will review the interconnection between money transmission regulations and virtual currencies," the release states. "Additionally, the hearing is also expected to consider the possibility and feasibility of NYDFS issuing a ‘BitLicense’ specific to virtual currency transactions and activities, which would include anti-money laundering and consumer protection requirements for licensed entities." 

Much of the popularity of Bitcoin seems to hinge on its status as an unregulated, decentralized unit of transaction, and we've previously discussed the paradox of how the mainstreaming of Bitcoin could actually cause its value to decline. As Bloomberg View's Timothy Lavin wrote, "Almost all the advantages Bitcoin has -- it's cheap, somewhat convenient, anonymous, free from centralized authority -- derive from the fact that governments haven't taken it very seriously." 

Many Bitcoin proponents dismiss that argument, however, noting that even if demand slips in Western countries, there remains a healthy interest abroad, especially in countries where the government sets exchange rates. Indeed, a surge in Chinese Bitcoin users seem to have driven much of the recent climb in value. 

In August, representatives from Bitcoin firms met with officials in Washington to answer questions about the cryptocurrency, which can now be used to purchase virtually anything on the web.

Bitcoin's value has climbed more than 70% in the past month to about $430 on the Mt. Gox exchange.

Here's the NYDFS full release: 

In August 2013, the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) issued a public notice that it has launched an inquiry into the appropriate regulatory guidelines for virtual currencies. In that notice, we wrote that it is important for regulators to balance both allowing new technologies and industries to flourish, while also working to ensure that consumers and our country’s national security remain protected.

NYDFS launched its inquiry in part because of evidence that the cloak of anonymity provided by virtual currencies has helped support dangerous criminal activity, such as drug smuggling, money laundering, gun running, and child pornography. Indeed, the same week that NYDFS issued its public notice, a national magazine published an interview with an alleged key figure in the black market drug website “Silk Road,” who cited the virtual currency Bitcoin as a key ingredient in the site’s efforts to commit illegal acts. Law enforcement authorities have subsequently taken action in the Silk Road case.   

Virtual currencies may have a number of legitimate commercial purposes, including the facilitation of financial transactions. That said, NYDFS also believes that it is in the long-term interest of the virtual currency industry to put in place appropriate guardrails that protect consumers, root out illegal activity, and safeguard our national security. Failing to do so would not only threaten the virtual currency industry as a legitimate business enterprise, but could also potentially expose virtual currency firms to extraordinarily serious criminal penalties. 

As the next step in our inquiry, we are providing notice that NYDFS intends to hold a public hearing on virtual currency regulation in New York City in the coming months at a time and location to be determined. We will announce logistical details for the hearing in the near future. 
This upcoming public hearing is part of an ongoing fact-finding effort informing NYDFS’s determination regarding the appropriate regulatory guidelines for virtual currencies. As part of its August 2013 notice, NYDFS stated that it was concerned that certain virtual currency firms may be engaging in money transmission, which is an activity that is licensed and regulated by our Department. However, we also said that we were considering whether to issue new regulatory guidelines tailored specifically to the unique characteristics of virtual currencies.

Our public hearing will review the interconnection between money transmission regulations and virtual currencies. Additionally, the hearing is also expected to consider the possibility and feasibility of NYDFS issuing a ‘BitLicense’  specific to virtual currency transactions and activities, which would include anti-money laundering and consumer protection requirements for licensed entities. Among the issues related to the potential issuance of a BitLicense that we are considering include but are not limited to the following:

What specific types of virtual currency transactions and activities should require a BitLicense?

Should entities that are issued a BitLicense be required to follow specifically tailored anti-money laundering guidelines? 

Should entities that are issued a BitLicense be required to follow specifically tailored consumer protection guidelines?

Should entities that are issued a BitLicense be required to follow specifically tailored regulatory examination requirements?

To be clear, NYDFS has not made a determination at this point about the necessary regulatory guidelines for virtual currencies. Our Department is currently engaged in a broad-based inquiry on virtual currency. The virtual currency industry represents a new frontier in electronic commerce, and it is important that regulators obtain the necessary information – through a rigorous, deliberate fact-finding effort – to set appropriate guardrails for this industry. 

Indeed, it is not clear at this point whether virtual currencies will become a long-term, prevalent fixtures of the electronic commerce world. But given the increased demand from consumers and investors, as well as demonstrated concerns regarding money laundering, regulators would be remiss if they turned a blind eye to virtual currencies. We have a responsibility to take a hard look at these issues.

We look forward to continuing to work with the virtual currency industry as our inquiry proceeds.

SEE ALSO: What Is Bitcoin?

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Central Park is the natural heart of New York City's busiest borough, accounting for 6% of Manhattan's total acreage.

Commissioned by state legislature in 1853, it is the first landscaped public park in the U.S. It now draws around 35 million visitors every year.

We took a day trip and documented some of the things that make Central Park the best — even in a chilly November.

Central Park is a vast oasis in the middle of New York City. (Here's the morning view from Spanish Harlem.)

The Harlem Meer is a beautiful lake beginning at 110th and 5th. The name is a nod to the 17th Century European settlers who first inhabited the village of Harlem.

The wildlife in the park's several bodies of water is outstanding. A 2003 census found 500 species of plants and animals. Another census will be published in a few weeks.

Source: CentralPark.com

East Harlem, aka Spanish Harlem or El Barrio, is still one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in New York City, but that hasn't stopped an influx of young professionals, with rising rents and other signs of gentrification.

You can spot the rapid change in real estate data (see map on right) or, better yet, just by walking around the  neighborhood.

The new Spanish Harlem.

The demographics are clearly in flux, as the number of self-identified Whites and Asians have doubled over the past two decades.

This isn't the first demographic turnover for the area. Always a working-class neighborhood and originally a German area, by the early 20th century East Harlem was largely inhabited by Irish, Italian, and Eastern European Jews.

Whether they boast a stellar view, excellent weather, or proximity to top shopping and dining, for years certain streets around the world have consistently attracted the globe's wealthiest people. 

As part of their recent Billionaire Census, international wealth intelligence firm Wealth-X evaluated average property prices to find the most expensive streets in the world.

According to their census, the world's billionaires hold an average of $78 million worth of real estate. Keep reading to see the streets they choose to call home.  

#10 Avenue Montaigne, Paris

This upscale street in the Champs-Elysees quarter is considered one of the world's top avenues for high fashion — Harry Winston, Christian Dior, and Salvatore Ferragamo all have locations here —but it's also one of the most exclusive residential neighborhoods on the globe. 

Average price per square meter: $26,000

Who lives here: Marlene Dietrich (before her death in 1992), Canadian Embassy

Source: Billionaire and Wealth-X

#9 Fifth Avenue, New York

Fifth Avenue, especially the homes that front Central Park between 59th and 96th Streets, has long been a destination for the rich and famous. It's also home to every designer boutique imaginable and the Empire State Building, the Rockefeller Center, and, of course, the Saks Fifth Avenue flagship. 

Average price per square meter: $28,000

Who lives here: Bill Murray, Tom Brokaw

Source: Billionaire and Wealth-X

#8 Ostozhenka, Moscow

This street in downtown Moscow is at the center of Russian history, dining, and luxury living.  A five-level apartment on Ostozhenka Street once sold for $48 million, the most expensive exchange on this trendy avenue. 

Average price per square meter: $29,000

Who lives here: Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov

Source: Billionaire and Wealth-X