September 17, 2018 Weather: Cloudy, with a high of 79 degrees.
Notices:
Free music and more local events are on our calendar.
Have stuff to sell? Sign up for a booth at the 104th Street yard sale, coming up at the end of the month.
News:
A postal worker was seen tossing packages, including at least one marked “fragile,” onto the ground at 63rd and West End Avenue. “Witnesses said they happened to be looking out the window and saw boxes propelled out of the USPS truck, one of them rolling into the middle of the street.” USPS called it “unacceptable.”
A NYCHA building at 154 W. 84th St. got a score of 97 on a recent inspection, but residents say that’s nonsense. “Neighbor Richard Welch, a former US Customs agent who’s used a wheelchair since a car crash 18 years ago, said the building’s balky elevators have left him stranded in his apartment for as many as five days in a row.”
The Broadway Mall (the median of the avenue) is getting an upgrade from 102nd to 104th Streets.
Local private schools including Trinity and Columbia Prep are being criticized for throwing books out, instead of donating them. “The ‘vast majority’ of the volumes [from Columbia Prep] were in perfect condition, said Anna Sacks, a recycling advocate who happened upon the shameful sight in July during one of her nightly walks around her Upper West Side neighborhood.”
Public schools toss out perfectly good books, too. I found large plastic bags (water-soaked after the rain) in the recycling pile on the curb outside the middle school on 93rd St between Columbus/Amsterdam recently. I recovered some brand-new major publisher textbooks the retail for $20-$80. If the school can’t use them, they should at least see about selling them.
Postal worker was fired and it was on CBS-TV about a week or two ago.
As most postal wreckers he was a bit disturbed.
I hope that the renovations to the mall make it a bit safer–my vision-impaired friend once tripped over the curb there–but don’t drive out the folks who sit there now. I’m not sure why people like those benches in the middle of traffic when there are parks two avenues east AND west, but they plainly do, so I hope “upgrades” don’t end up excluding them.
…yours to take Anna! Most people don’t realize the cost to mail them is greater than the value often times. You can do it via Amazon and it’s depressing how little your precious tomes often get.
School libraries can arrange prepaid shipping of unwanted books that meet criteria of Better World Books = https://services.betterworldbooks.com/libraries/material-guidelines/
They raise funds for worldwide literacy and resell many books online directly and through aggregators such as AbeBooks and Alibris. I’m a satisfied customer.