Photo by pbump.
A writer in a cold Winnebago, a campaign to raise money for a sick child, and some political twists highlight our news bulletin this week.
For about three months this winter a writer lived in a Winnebago parked on 81st and Riverside. “I’ve lived in 14 different addresses in New York City and was familiar with the perils of street-level apartments: sounds of passing cars and trucks, the occasional drunks or street people looking in my windows. But the Winnebago was a more intense experience. There was no buzzer, lobby, super, neighbors. No buffer between me and the world besides a few inches of uninsulated meta. The street was only 4 feet below me.” (Salon)
Some of the candidates for City Council in the 6th district have connections to the real estate industry, but most supported curbs on the industry in a recent debate. (Observer)
The parents of Upper West Side infant Idan Zablocki are trying to raise money to treat his rare autoimmune disorder. “They are currently trying to raise $250,000 for Idan’s treatment, including trips to experts across the globe, lost wages, and relocating expenses, and have already received $70,000 in donations, many from strangers.” (Daily News)
There’s a pay phone graveyard on 135th street and 12th Avenue. (Daily Mail)
Anthony Weiner recently got heckled on 72nd street by a man upset with his vote supporting thee Iraq war. “But yelling at the top of your lungs is not the New York way. We don’t roll like that,” said Weiner, who became a Youtube star for screaming at the top of his lungs on the floor of The House of Representatuives. (NY Times)
Scott Stringer could have a run for his money in his race to become the next comptroller of the city. Eliot Spitzer is getting in the race! (NY Times)
CitiBike is cutting into the business of some Central Park bicycle rental shops. (DNAinfo)
City officials were warned about problems with 911 calls being “lost” before the death of 4-year-old Ariel Russo, whose parents are suing the city after she was hit by an SUV on 97th and an ambulance wasn’t dispatched for more than 4 minutes. (Daily News)
A trapezoidal apartment in Manhattan Valley just went on the market for $2.95 million. Nice views. (Curbed)
The JCC is getting a massive Sol Lewitt drawing. (NY Times)
Citibank gets millions in publicity and small rental business get……. Another wonderful idea brought to you by Bloomberg. Did you know that CITI bike riders don’t have to wear helmets the way other bike riders do. The city council gave them a special law to exempt them. Another blow to small business!
Oh, Boo! BAD CITIBANK! BAD BANK! BAD, BAD, BAD!! You partially funded the bike-share program and now you DARE to put your name on the bikes, and NOW…WE HAVE TO SEE YOUR NAME!! OH,THE HORROR!! C’EST DE TROP!! THE WORLD IS ENDING!
Oh, Boo! BAD MAYOR BLOOMBERG! BAD MAYOR! BAD,BAD, BAD!! You (WELL, NOT EXACTLY YOU BUT YOUR COMMISSIONER OF TRANSPORTATION, BUT WHAT THE HECK, SINCE YOU ARE WEALTHY YOU ARE FAIR GAME FOR RABBLE TO THROW STONES…AND, PERHAPS, LE GUILLOTINE!)You DARED to bring to our city an amenity FOUND IN OTHER WORLD-CLASS CITIES LIKE LONDON, PARIS, ETC. How dare you cut into the revenue of small rental businesses…of which there must be … errr … 14? No, wait, SAMMY’S SNAPPY BIKE SHOP JUST CLOSED BECAUSE THE COPS CAUGHT SAMMY VENDING A LITTLE MOLLY …so that’s 13!
Hmmm…maybe when Sammy gets out of Rikers he’ll figure out that he can MAKE MORE MONEY STANDING NEXT TO CITIBIKE STATIONS AND SELLING BIKE HELMETS!!
Now there’s a BOON to small business!
thanks for sharing your concerns! Citibank is paying for the publicity, the same way that companies pay for ads on taxis and bus stops. Their sponsorship is $41 million over six years. That deal was open to the public, so any and every business had a chance to take it. It’s a drop in the bucket to the $20 million per year over 20 years that Citi is paying for naming rights at Citi Field.
Did you know that the only cyclists required by law to wear a helmet in NYC are kids 13 and under, and working cyclists? Citibike riders and other bicyclists are no more required by law to wear a helmet than are drivers or pedestrians like Ariel Russo, or Dorothy Rabinowitz or yourself. There is no special law, no exemption, and no intent whatsoever to harm small businesses here. The DNAinfo story made that clear.
Citibike is wildly popular. By their latest stats through the end of June, the program has close to 52,000 annual members. Users take between 20,000 and 30,000 trips a day and have pedaled more than 1.5 million miles – and 500,000 of those miles were from June 22 to June 30. There clearly is tremendous interest in and appreciation for point-to-point, commuter and local-oriented service like this one.
If you want to support small local businesses, support small local businesses. I’m an avid cyclist – and can’t wait for Citibike to expand to the UWS – and will vote for candidates who are going to make it happen. That doesn’t mean I’ll ever stop supporting my favorite independent local bike shop in the neighborhood – ever! But I don’t have a problem with it if the touts around Columbus Circle and their boss on 58th street shift their tourist-chasing approach in the sidewalks near Central Park.
Let us forget Weiner and Spitzer…at no great loss.
I do think the Citibank bike program is bottom shelf OK. Kind of fun, marginally useful. But let us not make too much of this. Just wait until the weather gets cold and rainy.
And how about the elderly, disabled and young? Off to the office or to school on a bike? I don’t think so.
For the city – as it is now – this is just a great way to put off and/or ignore much needed imporvements to our mass transit system.
Re: “….this (Citibike program) is just a great way to put off and/or ignore much needed imporvements to our mass transit system.”
Ummm…I think many would agree that NYC (at least here in Manahatta) has a PRETTY DARN GOOD mass transit program, both subway and bus, and is not yearning for improvements. Although as a mobility-scooter-user I do not use subways (ingress and egress issues)I most certainly DO use MTA buses, and have no complaints. The buses are scooter-accessible and the drivers are polite and helpful.
Sure, the buses can sometimes be slow, BUT THAT IS BECAUSE MAJOR AVENUES AND CROSS-STREETS ARE OFTEN CHOKED WITH: DOUBLE-PARKED TRUCKS MAKING DELIVERIES; INSANE CABBIES WHO THINK ITS THEIR RIGHT TO HOG THE RIGHT-MOST LANE, EVEN IF IT’S A DESIGNATED BUS LANE; “BLACK-CAR LIMOs; AND CARS FROM THE OUTER BOROS OR SUBURBS.
Mayor Bloomberg’s plans to ease the above by introducing Congestion Pricing were shot down by the NYS Assembly under the leadership of good old ‘Shelly Silver’ who, even before he wasted THOUSANDS of tax-payer dollars buying off Vito Lopez’s victims, caved to suburban/out-of-town interests rather than the interests of his own city.
Want to improve public transit? Make it too expensive for those outside the five boros to drive into Manhattan!
Not exactly sure where Scooter is coming from. Make Manhattan inacessable for the other 4 bouroughs and beyond? So those who are the very infrastructure of our fair city cannot afford to bridge the island? Why, we’d have to wait on ourselves – and pick up our own garbage – and drive our own busses and run our own trains!