From And Finally: “The plan was that it would grow gradually, but I spent all my time building it, and I never promoted it,” he said. “So, I blame myself.”
Promoting could be a good idea. Maybe if he got someone from the New York Times interested in writing about it? That might build some notoriety.
tune of "Fame"
Look here, Rockaway!
I'm in New York Today
Seems my landlord wants to get rent
But each cent I had has been spent - to build.
Thought I'd ride a wave
And never thought to save- no!
So now I look for new turf
So as I click and surf
It's really a shame (Blame!)
Thought I'd be rent-free forever.
Never thought I'd have to pay! (Hey!)
Guess that just wasn't too clever.
There's no one else I can blame.
2
Hearing about another upcoming fare hike proves that the MTA will still be doing this constantly even if congestion pricing happens showing that they must be audited now to prevent any constant hikes, though that could end up making congestion pricing feel unnecessary if they start using their existing revenues correctly.
3
@Tal Barzilai, I hope it's OK with the moderators to post this link from fall 2013 again
MTA Audit Reveals ‘Unanticipated’ Surplus Of Nearly $2 Billion - State Comptroller Urges MTA To Reexamine Planned Fare Hikes
https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/09/28/mta-audit-reveals-unanticipated-surplus-of-nearly-2-billion/
Can't an audit be done at a leisurely pace using mainly people they're paying anyway? If not, there's like a million CPAs who will be lousy with free time after midnight tonight.
I know that article doesn't sound like a lot, but (to almost quote the late Senator Everett Dirksen) you find an extra $2-billion here, a billion under a dusty edger book there, pretty soon you're talking some real money.
2
@Freddie
Knowing the nature of the MTA these days, nothing will change unless there is some serious reform with them. I highly doubt that congestion pricing will change any of that. As for the lock box, I have a feeling that we've been down that road before and previous promises were broken then. BTW, I did have a letter on the Daily News last Thursday explaining this very issue under the title, End it, don’t mend MTA.
https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-letter-april-11-20190411-2m42756asfeutfrn64kb7rahha-story.html
2
That horrible story in the Fordham University bell tower remind me of the end of the movie "Vertigo."
Vincent Musetto's personal favorite headline was “GRANNY EXECUTED IN HER PINK PAJAMAS.” That's sexist. I guess the artist isn't always the best judge of his own work.
I have always loved the Guastavino tiles.
No strong opinion on Azi's photo. It's fine. So was the other one.
2
Azi I love your new picture! I see the old one is still at the end though, is that so we can compare? I much prefer the new one. The previous one always bothered me since it seemed as if your head was a bit chopped off at the top. I had to fight the urge every morning to center the photo!
4
A short trip across the river and you can see more cherry blossoms than Washington, D.C. at Branch Brook Park in Newark.
https://www.northjersey.com/story/life/2019/04/12/branch-brook-park-cherry-blossoms-2019-how-and-when-see-them-newark-nj/3376589002/
2
"There were no rats in sight, she said, and only a smattering of graffiti was visible."
Of course there were no rats down there. No people equals no trash. No trash means no food for rats. They go where there is food, which is all the populated stations. The busier the better for them, because that means more trash (food). If only we could train people as well as we have trained the rats.
8
When I was a kid, in the 1950s, subway seats were of woven straw, and tall people held into leather straps. Everyone read newspapers carefully folded so that no one had to dodge elbows. Women like my mother wore white gloves to work.
In the 1970s, there were graffiti, rancid cigarette smoke, and purse (and chain) snatchers to contend with. Saw a guy snap a woman's necklace right off her neck and jump out the just opened door.
I saw my first rat c. 1973 when one leapt over my shoulder at West 4th Street.
If people's behavior weren't so aberrant, our subways and MTA workers would have a better time of it.
5
"...Topless Bar” - Wasn't it during the Giuliani crackdown that the phrase "sTopless Dancers" became really big, that the pole (or exotic) dancers started wearing undershirts as part of their costumes?
That little "s" reminded me of that scene in a Rodney Dangerfield film where he and his friends really needed food, any food, badly - and saw an all-night diner, but when they got really close, the sign said "Open 23 Hours" - and this was the one off hour.
4
The Diary made Pat Kiernan's "In the Papers" segment today, especially that great punchline.
PS. Nobody's going to comment on the new updated Azi photo?
6
@Freddie
I did, and it just got printed. And yes -- the photo's very nice....But do we need two of them???
2
So, Azi what's the deal? Are you now posting your picture at the beginning and the end of your column for any special reason?
Is it so we recognize you on the street?
Or maybe it's your birthday -- if so, have a Happy one.
In any case, thanks for the Monday line-up.
Oh, and can we get rid of those pesky icons at the top again?
Thanks.
2
@N. Smith
Are you referring to the Facebook, Twitter, email and share icons? What's wrong with them? I sometimes post to Twitter.
2
@N. Smith re "Oh, and can we get rid of those pesky icons at the top again?"
Next thing, you'll be wanting them to get rid of the bullet-point numbering.
1
@Lifelong Reader
No. I am strictly referring to the New York Today section in the NYT as I am a digital subscriber.
I do not avail myself to social media platforms.
2
"roughly the equivalent of $972 million now, according to museum officials.
That is a fraction of the roughly $4.4 billion that it cost to build the first section of the Second Avenue line on the Upper East Side, including three new stations."
We're probably going to hear several times today that the Federal tax system not wanting to subsidize taxes of states and cities like NYS and NYC (through the state and local tax deception on Federal) is the Trump Mnuchin Income (maybe call it "TMI") rules wanting to punish states like NY for the way we vote.
But our pols keep justifying what Trump and Mnuchin are doing by a steady stream of examples of wasteful spending of the state and local tax dollars, which suggests that high-tax states just don't budget well as long as the flow of money is uncontrolled. Certainly NYS and NYC are doing that in the Cuomo and de Blasio era. It's not all corruption, it's just easier not to have to live within a budget - and whatever the G.O.P. motivation, Cuomo and de Blasio almost daily give them examples of what the Feds feel the IRS coffers should not be subsidizing 25 ro 35% of the burden on.
6