Photo by Steven Nereo.
We took a week off from the weekly news bulletin, but we couldn’t stay away for long. Check out some recent news about crime, shopping, real estate and politics published in other outlets over the past couple of weeks.
A fedora-wearing bank robber who held up several UWS and midtown banks has been caught, according to police. (NY Daily News)
Times have changed. You can’t give your unvarnished opinion about someone else’s clothes at the Upper West Side Loehmann’s like you used to. (NY Times)
Times really have changed. Check out the new more upscale Barney’s on Broadway. (Racked)
A brief look at the 10 candidates fighting for the District 7 City Council seat, representing the Northern section of the Upper West Side. (Daily News)
Forty apartments in the Apthorp are hitting the market. “Before they hit the market, the apartments are undergoing a painstaking restoration of original detailing including wood-paneled walls, engraved doors and crown moldings. Many of the units still have the original Baccarat chandeliers, which were installed after the building first got electricity.” (Daily News)
The community board thinks collecting fares off of the M86 will make service faster. (DNAinfo)
Oddly enough, Gale Brewer appeared to have sponsored a $75,000 grant for the High Line even though it’s not in her Upper West Side district. Brewer said she knew nothing about it, and the reporter traced the grant back to Christine Quinn’s office, which blamed it on “a mistake.” The City Council has given the real-estate-industry-controlled High Line well over $100 million in city money. “The organization that built and runs the park, Friends of the High Line, is dominated by a wealthy and politically connected coterie of real estate developers and property owners, which has poured hundreds of thousands of dollars, directly and as intermediaries, into Christine Quinn’s mayoral election campaign.” (City & State)
Another sign of gentrification? Once, people rioted in the Bronx out of anger and frustration. Now they protest because they want more classical music. “People were chanting, ‘Dvorak,’ and, ‘We want Dvorak,’ ” she said. “People were quite irritated as to why they hadn’t played it.” (NY Times)
Re: the above kvetch that “The organization that built and runs the park, Friends of the High Line, is dominated by a wealthy and politically connected coterie of real estate developers and property owners, …”
UMMM…SO WHAT !! The High Line is a WONDERFUL AND UNIQUE ADDITION TO MANHATTAN…something no other city has (as yet, although several are scrambling to imitate it).
And, GASP!!!, the High Line is supported by real estate industry funds? WELL, THANK GOODNESS THAT THEY ARE DOING SOMETHING WONDERFUL AND GIVING BACK TO THE COMMUNITY.
Let’s get real. My lousy cheapo $40 annual donation to Friends of the High Line is NOT going to do very much, is it? It’s certainlyt not going to pay for expanding the Third Phase of the park! An undertaking this significant requires BIG (HUGE!!)BUCKS, and if it comes from people like Barry Diller that’s jes’ fine, thank you!
And the High Line is a PEOPLE’S PARK without any commercialism except for the independent food vendors at its southern end. WALK THE HIGH LINE ANY DAY AND YOU’LL SEE… YES, TOURISTS, BUT ALSO ORDINARY EVERY-DAY CITY RESIDENTS ENJOYING THE UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE OF NEW YORK THAT THIS LINEAR PARK PROVIDES.
In this case, the end DOES justify the means. So THANK YOU, REBNY et. al. for giving us something that makes Manhattan even more wonderful!
The tiny High Line has more private funding than every park in the city except for Central Park. Its construction coincided with a wholesale rezoning of the area, that resulted in a doubling of real estate prices and the most astonishing wave of gentrification in the city’s history, with local businesses pushed out left and right in favor of tourist-friendly destinations. And it’s done so with well over $100 million in public money, even as the city has torched the budget for parks in poor neighborhoods. Yep, this one deserves quite a bit of scrutiny. First, read the article from City & State linked above. And then, read this article by Jeremiah of Vanishing New York: https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/22/opinion/in-the-shadows-of-the-high-line.html
There are bigger fish to fry in this post, but I only have the Monday morning capacity to chime in on Barney’s right now-
It’s about time they upgraded! Even with “co-op” tacked onto the sign, the prices are exceptionally high (especially for the UWS, as far as clothing goes) and if people are going to dish out the money, they sure as hell don’t want to walk on thin, fraying carpet with unorganized racks and a lacking shoe selection, in poorly lit lighting.
Pardon, Monsieur, but consider, s’il vous plait, the above comment about a clothing store: “and if people are going to dish out the money, they sure as hell don’t want to walk on thin, fraying carpet with unorganized racks.”
And just as no one wants a shabby clothing store, most people don’t feel comfortable in a shabby neighborhood (unless they’re doing the ‘urban pioneer’ shtick) … which is what a large part of the area now marked by the High Line once was. Reportedly, it was seedy by day and dangerous by night, and, unless you were a photographer seeking ‘authentic urban grunge’, it was not a place in which to feel comfortable.
NOW, thanks to the gentrification, it is vastly improved, with uber-galleries like Gagossian, Zwimmer, etc. showing cutting-edge art; decent restaurants serving interesting food; and a general sense that this is a great urban area worth exploring.
Its transformation is simply a microcosm of how our little island of Manahatta developed over the years: there was a time when ‘The Fifth Avenue’ was a wilderness …until the very wealthy colonized it and made it desirable; indeed, our own UWS was once a place to be ignored — until The Dakota rose on W. 72nd.
And so it goes. New York is an ever-evolving place, and that’s good…because to NOT grow/change is to stagnate … cf. Detroit.