On November 19 Columbia University and the Manhattan Borough President's Office held a conference on The Politics of Food. The half-day conference was devoted to one of New York City's biggest challenges: ensuring that the public has ready access to high-quality food. Speakers included Columbia President Lee Bollinger, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and H.E. Father Miquel d'Escoto Brockmann, President of the United Nations General Assembly.

At the conference, Mayor Bloomberg linked the food issue to what he considers to be his administration's most important achievement - increased life expectancy for the people who live here. That figure is now greater than the average longevity of the U.  read more »

City Comptroller and likely mayoral candidate William Thompson Jr. is asking the United Nations Development Corporation to pay $6 million in back rent he says it owes the city. But the UNDC is telling him to take a hike.

At a press conference Thursday afternoon, Mr. Thompson announced the results of an audit processed by his office. According to the final report, the UNDC owes the city $12 million in rent it has not paid in the last four years.

Upon receiving a draft copy of that audit, the UNDC agreed to pay half that amount, roughly $6 million, but denied the city’s request for the remaining balance. It wants to keep the money on hand in case the UN Consolidation Building Project, a 35-story office building proposed for Robert Moses State Park, revives itself.  read more »

The United Nations will break ground today on a three-story, purposefully ugly building that will serve as temporary space for the international body while its East River headquarters gets refurbished, according to an article today in Canada's Financial Post.

To make sure the temporary building on North Lawn doesn't become a permanent part of the U.N.'s landscape, the United Nations included its demolition in the project's $1.9 billion budget and, in a rather unorthodox move, intentionally designed it as an eyesore, according to Michael Adlerstein, the project's head architect.  read more »

After giving a speech at the United Nations about climate change, Michael Bloomberg told reporters that stopping global warming "is just as important as stopping nuclear proliferation" and "fighting terrorism."

When I asked him to elaborate, Bloomberg said the dangers of terrorism and nuclear proliferation could be felt instantly, while the--also enormous--danger of global warming could be realized over a long period of time.  read more »

The massive, earth-shattering February 6 party Gucci is planning to coincide with the opening of their biggest store will be held on the lawn of the United Nations in Turtle Bay. “A Night to Benefit Raising Malawi and UNICEF,” which is what the fete has been named, is to be the first event of its kind to take place on that strip of land, the north lawn, which is technically international territory.

Joining Madonna, the party’s co-host, musical performances will be given by Alicia Keys, Timbaland and Rhianna. There will also be a special presentation by Columbia professor Jeffrey Sachs. Chris Rock will emcee a live auction. The evening’s co-chairs include: Drew Barrymore, Adrien Brody, Salma Hayek and François-Henri Pinault, Sting and Trudie Styler, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher, Gwyneth Paltrow, Arpad Busson, Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker, Téa Leoni and Lucy Liu. [WWD]

Angelina Jolie’s fame as an actress may have been eclipsed by her notoriety as a humanitarian. An organization of Filipino farmers has just sent out the alarm asking for help from the 32-year-old actress, who has recently relocated to New Orleans with Brad Pitt in order to oversee construction of “green” housing in the city’s wounded 9th Ward. The leftist agricultural group, called Kilusang Magbubukid Pilipinas, petitioned the United Nations High Commissioner to dispatch Ms. Jolie to their country, where, they hope, she can survey, react and draw attention to the dire living conditions suffered by hundreds of refugees displaced by the decades-long plague of insurgencies. Willy Marbella, the leader of the farmers’ alliance, told reporters that the Mighty Heart star can help the group rid the countryside of guerillas.

Since the 1960s, some two million Filipinos have been displaced and more than160,000 have been killed by the violent clashes among the nation’s army, communist fighters and Muslim insurgents.

The curious aptitude of Ms. Jolie’s project titles, too, labors on. She just finished shooting Wanted, a film directed by Timur Bekmambetov. Add to that her other forthcoming efforts, Kung-Fu Panda and Atlas Shrugged, and one could almost compose a fitting haiku from IMDB alone—one that very nearly conveys Ms. Jolie’s ever-expanding role on the world’s political stage.

Nicole Kidman played a fearlessly dedicated United Nations employee in director Sidney Pollack’s The Interpreter, but now, it seems, she has been promoted at the international organization in real life. Today, Reuters reports that the Aussie superstar has agreed to back a program launched by the U.N.’s women’s agency. The 16-day campaign, “Say NO to Violence Against Women,” which this morning began collecting signatures on an Internet petition, rejects worldwide violence against women, urging supporters to help stop it on a local level. Ms. Kidman, who is already a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), did not attend the campaign’s launch event in Turtle Bay. She did, however, release a statement, saying that violence against women is “an appalling human rights violation.”

Al Gore, along with the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, it was announced late yesterday.

And now, speculation (and, in some quarters, hope) that he will throw his hat into the 2008 presidential race is rampant. (Our own canvas of people close to Gore, as of yesterday afternoon, made the prospect sound dim.)  read more »

The United Nations is moving at least 700 employees and 180,000 square feet of office space to 305 East 46th Street, according to a report in Real Estate Weekly.

A spokesman for the UN confirmed to Real Estate Weekly that the move will begin next year, as the famed UN Building undergoes an extensive renovation. The renovation of the building should last through 2015.  read more »

- Matthew Schuerman (via Curbed)