Cindy Rodriguez

The number of dormant construction sites has increased by 50 percent in the past 1-1/2 years despite improvements in the real estate market, according to city buildings department data. 

The arrest of accused Colombo footsoldier Ralph Scopo Jr. during a mafia takedown last week comes on the heels of a report that sheds light on decades of corruption at a Queens-based concrete and cement union that has been handed down through generations of mobbed-up families, according to union documents.

Working families staying at city homeless shelters must now pay into savings accounts that will be returned to them once they leave.

It was standing room only at Convent Avenue Baptist Church in Harlem on a recent night. Organizers said nearly 2,000 people were in attendance as clergy, elected officials and union leaders invoked the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. to ignite support for a so-called living wage bill. The controversial bill sets a higher minimum wage for businesses receiving government subsidies.

A group of workers at Flatbush Gardens in Brooklyn has been picketing outside the apartment complex since they were allegedly locked out of their jobs following failed negotiations in early December.

Construction sites are getting safer in the New York City, according to data from the Department of Buildings that reveals accidents decreased 28 percent in 2010 compared to the prior year.

As many as 25 families remain displaced nearly two weeks after a fire ripped through an apartment building in Queens during the December blizzard that hampered emergency response efforts.

One of the city's largest general contractors has reached a $5 million settlement with New York City.

WNYC reporter Cindy Rodriguez joins staff attorney for MFY Legal Services, Tanya Kessler, to discuss Cindy's story on the so-called "three-quarters houses" -- boarding homes that pack in poor people, and collect welfare funds or disability checks as rent.

The problems of three-quarter houses are not new or unknown. New York's City Council voted in April to end referrals to them from homeless shelters. Now, several tenants have join...

Some city council members are expressing outrage at a homeless prevention study that is denying certain families services.

Since 2007, 598 poorly maintained properties were put into the Department of Housing Preservation and Development's Alternative Enforcement Program. The majority are small buildings in Brooklyn and the Bronx. A report by the city's Independent Budget Office finds that on the one hand, building owners that clean up their act once stricter enforcement begins have significantly fewer housing violations going forward. On the other hand, only 28 percent of them comply with making repairs and paying fines.

A new report finds that while each year tens of thousands of people arrested for minor offenses are released pending a trial or some other outcome, a substantial number that can’t...

New York's chief judge is asking the state legislature for a $100 million increase in civil legal services for the poor. It would go towards defending clients in evictions, foreclosures and other debt-related cases.

More than 10,000 people live at Flatbush Gardens and Monday they were left without the 74 custodial and maintenance staff that typically take out their trash, clean the hallways and elevators and make repairs. The workers were locked out of their jobs after refusing to accept a 30 percent pay cut.

Most New Yorkers have been rushing around buying turkeys, searching for cranberry sauce recipes and buying the perfect bottle of wine. On Rikers Island, a small group of inmates h...

Last week Mayor Bloomberg announced significant cuts in his plan for New York City's budget. WNYC reporters Arun Venugopal and Cindy Rodriguez explain what's in the budget, and what's not.

State Senator Tom Duane and the heads of several AIDS organizations around the city blocked a stretch of Broadway near City Hall Tuesday afternoon, holding up traffic for just over 10 minutes, before being arrested by police waiting nearby.

A Queens woman is undergoing a psychiatric evaluation after throwing a 2-year-old boy off a balcony in Flushing on Tuesday night.

The New York City Housing Authority struggles with call volume, causing delays in housing repairs.