Amid the reports and cacophony of (seemingly) one bad economic news story after another, it's important -- perhaps essential -- to take time out to notice the good economic news stories out there.

And there are good news stories about business models, products, and services out there, because despite this period of extraordinary economic problems, the United States remains the most resilient, adaptable, and technology-advanced economy in the world.

An intelligent parking space system/service

One such good news story: smart parking technology, currently being tested in San Francisco.

This fall, San Francisco will test 6,000 of its 24,000 metered parking spaces in the nation's first large trial of wireless sensor network that will communicate which spaces are free at any moment, The New York Times reported.

This post is part of our Big Company, Small Town series, featuring large companies and the small towns in which they are headquartered.

Rest assured, the first decade of the 21st century is not likely to be remembered as a renaissance period in U.S. history. No one will confuse this decade with the Roaring '20s or even the Wonderful '90s.

Further, if the nation needs an example of rebirth and renewal -- it would be hard to find a better one than the story of multinational corporation Corning (NYSE: GLW), nestled in the small town of Corning, New York.

Corning is your classic, feel-good American success story. And doesn't the United States need a few of those today?

Moreover, Corning, arguably, represents one of the signature corporate transformation stories of the digital age.

From cookware to fiber optics to LCDs

Formerly a primarily glass and cookware company, (who doesn't remember that ubiquitous Corning cookware that was safe for microwave ovens?), Corning successfully transformed itself first into a fiber optic company in the 1990s.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) is deeply committed to offering you a huge selection of products, lightning fast service and amazing prices -- and it is willing to sue the state of New York to protect those prices.

On April 23rd, a new law took effect in New York, requiring out of state online retailers to collect sales from New York customers if they have representatives in New York soliciting sales for the company. Amazon's international affiliate marketing program means that it must collect the taxes, according to the state.

Amazon is punching back, suing New York and New York taxation and finance commissioner, Robert Megna, and Governor David Paterson, asking the state Supreme Court to overturn the law as unconstitutional. Amazon also says the law is "impermissibly vague and overbroad."

The Wall Street Journal reports (subscription required) that Amazon is defending itself on the grounds that it has no physical presence or employees based in New York, although the company's jobs site would seem to suggest otherwise. The distinction may be that the shipping facilities located in New York do constitute efforts to solicit business for the company.

In any case, New York politicians are not going to win any fans trying to make it one of the five states charging sales tax on Amazon.com transactions. The others are Kansas, Kentucky, North Dakota and Washington.

A lot of Americans are watching their homes decline in value, and many families are finding themselves upside down on their mortgages -- owing more than the home is worth.

But don't worry: if you were wealthy enough to afford New York City's sky-high real estate in the first place, you're doing quite well. New York apartments hit record highs in the first quarter -- an average of between $1.63 million and $1.72 million, depending on which data source you believe. That's a year-over-year price increase of more than 19%.

Manhattan real estate rose 13% to between $855,000 and $945,276, depending on which source you believe. But some experts say that that number is inflated by a disproportionate number of high-end properties and that prices on lower-end units are flat to negative.

In a related story, Italian businessman Luigi Zunino is looking to sell a Park Avenue apartment he hasn't yet closed on for $100 million.

According to the Wall Street Journal (subscription required), the 1907 Plaza Hotel where the unit is located is also home to Bear Stearns Chairman James Cayne and developer Harry Macklowe -- both of whom are suffering (or rather their investors are suffering) in the wake of the falling housing market.

But as long as executives who destroy value still reap large paydays, high end real estate will probably continue to do fine.

New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who crusaded against corporate malfeasance, apparently lived in a glass house. He should immediately resign in the wake of his near-admission that he was caught up in a reported prostitution scandal.

Spitzer made a somewhat perfunctory televised mea culpa, saying, "I apologize first and most importantly to my family. I apologize to the public, to whom I promised better... I am disappointed that I failed to live up to the standard I expected of myself."

That's just not good enough.

Spitzer, who reports allege is AKA Client 9, was captured on a federal wiretap, "confirming plans to have a woman travel from New York to Washington, where he had reserved a room," according to the New York Times, which broke the story. He was no passive victim here.

The irony here is inescapable. Spitzer made a national name for himself crusading against the evils of Wall Street. He had a knack for getting some of the biggest companies in the world including Merrill Lynch & Co. (NYSE: MER), American International Group Inc. (NYSE: AIG) to knuckle under to his demands without having to try his case in court.

New York State Insurance Superintendent Eric Dinallo has been twisting the arms of major banks to get them to put up $15 billion or so to bail out Ambac Financial Group (NYSE: ABK) and MBIA Inc. (NYSE: MBIA). If the muni bond insurers cannot maintain their high ratings with agencies like S&P, the value of the bonds that they insure could drop sharply, leading to more write-offs at Wall Street firms.

S&P has now said that the $15 billion may be just fine. "The dollars we understand that he's talking about -- $5 billion immediately and $15 billion ultimately -- those are substantial numbers and I think could give us a fair degree of comfort relative to resolving any issues about capital adequacy," S&P analyst Dick Smith said in an interview with Reuters.

The fact of the matter is that no one knows how much money will be needed because no one is certain how much worse the credit crisis and mortgage debacles may get. That, in turn, is likely to make big banks gun-shy about writing checks for money that they may not have themselves. Most are in the market raising funds to save themselves.

The value of the two big muni bond insurers could still go to zero and the big banks my not want to see all of that capital disappear.

If New York State wants to act, it should bring capital of its own to the table and not ask the banks to carry the whole load.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

If you live in Philadelphia's Society Hill, Atlanta's Grant Park, or Dallas's University Park, (and if you're the type who doesn't pay much attention to what's going on in the world), you might be tempted to ask, "Housing slump? What housing slump?"

That's because you live in one of the most lucrative neighborhoods in the U.S., as listed by Forbes. Neighborhoods in 15 major metropolitan areas made the list because they experienced the greatest increase in home sales prices since 1990 -- between 300% and 4,000%. Many were downtrodden areas that benefited from an influx of development. A few others were already among the most upscale neighborhoods in the nation, and have thus far resisted the recent housing slump. For example:

• Bucking the Florida real estate downturn is Miami Beach's City Center, with its mega-mansions with built-on docks. The 2006 median home sales price was $1.64 million, up 1,532% since 1990.
• Chicago's Wicker Park benefited from an influx of young urban professionals and rehabbers. The 2006 median home sales price was $575,525, an increase of 1,870%.
• San Francisco's Western Addition neighborhood is among the fastest growing in U.S. The 2006 median home sales price was $1.38 million, an increase of 522% since 1990.
• New York's uptown neighborhood around 149th Street and Riverside drive features large brownstones and federal townhouses. Its 2006 median home sales price was $774,708, up 4,391%.

See the article at Forbes.com for the complete list.

Today's New York Times reports on the checkered past of one Felix H. Sater:

At 24 he was a successful Wall Street broker, at 27 he was in prison after a bloody bar fight, and at 32 he was accused of conspiring with the Mafia to launder money and defraud investors.

Along the way he became embroiled in a plan to buy antiaircraft missiles on the black market for the Central Intelligence Agency in either Russia or Afghanistan,

My first reaction: What's a perfectly nice guy like that doing associating with a clown like Donald Trump? Mr. Satter's (he added an extra "t" to his name) employer, Bayrock Group, has partnered with Donald Trump on the construction of the Trump SoHo tower. Satter has been going around promoting potential projects involving Mr. Trump.

Check out the Times piece for more information about his interesting background and involvement with Trump.

I'm not sure what all the fuss is about. Sure, he's had his run-ins with the law, but his background can't possibly smell any worse than Donald Trump's cologne.

Thanks to Gary Weiss' blog for drawing my attention to this one.

In typical times, investors with years to invest look for innovative, dynamic companies in growth sectors. It is the lifeblood of a healthy, growing equity market.

But as most investors/readers know, these are not typical times. And under these conditions, sometimes tried-and-true safety of capital, plus a modest return, is more than enough. Consolidated Edison (NYSE: ED) is a prudent play with the above in mind.

Utility Consolidated Edison, or "Con Ed," is the holding company for the primarily electric utility that serves the five boroughs of New York City, most of Westchester County, N.Y, other parts of New York state, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Residential and commercial electric utility customers represent the company's main revenue stream, comprising 63% of revenue in 2006. Natural gas customers accounted for 16%, non-utility revenue 14% and steam 5%. In short, Con Ed is a classic regulated utility play, and its results reflect that:strong, steady cash flow, low customer turnover, conservative technology implementation cycle, and a solid dividend.

"You'll be swell, you'll be great.
Gonna have the whole world on a plate.
Startin' here, startin now',
Honey, everything's coming up roses."
-Ethel Merman, "Everything's Coming Up Roses"

The late Ethel Merman, the First Lady of Broadway, would be proud.

Broadway theater owner/producers and the stagehands' union have reached a tentative agreement, ending a costly, 19-day strike which had kept more than two dozen shows dark in the most-represented, live, dramatic performance district in the world. Details of the tentative contract were not disclosed, The Associated Press reported.

There's bad news and good news on the Broadway strike front.

First the bad news: Unless there's a sudden change in the negotiating stance by the League of American Theatres and Producers or the striking Local 1 of International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, the strike is not likely to be resolved for at least another two weeks, possibly three weeks, industry analysts estimate, and The Associated Press reported. (The strike has shut down more than 24 Broadway plays and musicals since November 10.)

The reason? Two weeks is the length of time it would probably take to exhaust both the owners'/producers' patience regarding losses and the unions' $4.1 million contingency fund. Of course, each strike/job action is unique, but if historical precedent is any indicator, labor and management begin to get serious about resolving a strike when each begins to incur unacceptable losses, Reuters reported.

Now the good news: Strike talks resumed Sunday, and with any luck the neon lights may be back on "On Broadway" in time for the pivotal Holiday/New Year's period. A settlement by that is pivotal because, historically, Broadway's biggest revenue week is December 26 - Jan. 6 -- the period from Christmas through just after New Year's Day, a vacation period when tourists from college students to senior citizens flock to the city. If the strike wipes out Christmas/New Year's week revenue, every Broadway show will suffer large losses, and some shows, including some with inadequate advance sales, may be forced to end their runs.

It seems Chicago, home of Wrigley Field and the Sears Tower, has hired a marketing firm to explore the potential of offering naming rights to public property, programs, and other assets as a way of raising revenue. The city hopes to begin attracting corporate sponsors as soon as next spring. Any proposed sponsorship will have to be approved by an advisory committee made up of civic leaders, whose job it will be to ensure the integrity of the city's brand image.

Chicago isn't the only city to consider offering naming rights. New York has partnerships with Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ), and Pepsico (NYSE: PEP), and the Las Vegas monorail is sponsored by Nextel (NYSE: S). Winnipeg, Calgary, and Toronto also have similar programs.

Chicago is no stranger to naming rights issues. The city has already attempted to sell naming rights to the Chicago Skyway, which links the city to the Indiana Tollway. Many White Sox fans decried the name change of New Comiskey Park to U.S. Cellular Field, and an attempt to sell the name of Solider Field ultimately went nowhere. Many Windy City shoppers still haven't forgiven Macy's Inc. (NYSE: M) for changing the name of State Street institution, Marshall Fields.

But Chicago hasn't yet found itself in the embarrassing situation that Houston did after the naming of Enron Field. I wonder if there was an advisory committee to protect the integrity of Houston's brand image?

It was less than 3 weeks ago when Alex Rodriguez decided that the middle of World Series Game 4 was the opportune time to announce he was ditching the Yankees through a clause in his contract. At the time, Howard Stern sidekick (and lifelong Yankees fanatic) Artie Lange quipped: "Don't let the free-agency door hit you on the way out" (I'm paraphrasing to keep it clean, folks).

In the wake of this stunt, our own Georges Yared referred to A-Rod as a "crybaby extraordinaire" and a "selfish, self-centered you-know-what." Georges also noted that, "The attempt to upstage the Red Sox and Rockies should not be forgiven nor forgotten by the baseball brethren." Indeed, it was a classless move, one likely perpetrated by A-Rod's agent, but certainly given the green light by the third baseman himself.

And yet, here it is mid-November, and hijo pródigo A-Rod and the Yanks are back at the table. It's all sorts of amusing, really. This morning, it hit newswires that negotiations mediated by Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) officials have resulted in a new contract for the clutch player who isn't. Reportedly, A-Rod wanted to restart negotiations with the team, but chose to use a third party (Goldman representatives) instead of his agent, Scott Boras.

If you like following the seedier side of finance, New York's "Money Issue" is worth checking out. With the headline "Dirty Money: Shady Business, in Three Parts," this features some of the best long-form financial reporting I've seen all year. We get Joe Hagan's piece on the "biggest insider-trading ring since Boesky," David France's piece on The New York Times reporter who lost his job trying to save a kid from his "career" in porn, and an interview with two drug kingpins.

For the full table of contents for the issue, check out the magazine's website.

As long as we're on the topic, I'd like to take a moment to bemoan the decline of this kind of journalism. With newspaper budgets being squeezed by declining ad revenue, few news organizations are able to devote the resources to support investigative or even just detailed reporting.

So support New York's effort -- maybe it will inspire others.

To those of you sitting at home who often think you can manage your favorite baseball team better than those actually in charge -- a position just came open.

On the heels of the New York Yankees bowing out in the first round of post-season play -- again -- Joe Torre has parted ways with the legendary club, but on his terms. Instead of being dismissed, as many fans and sports analysts were anticipating, Torre was actually given the option of a one-year contract carrying a price tag of $8 million (including incentives).

But the former Yankees skipper -- who held the title for 12 years and ranks second in the club's history for number of wins (at 1,173, trailing only Joe McCarthy) -- met Thursday afternoon with Yankee general manager Brian Cashman and owner George Steinbrenner to turn down the offer.