The Lincoln Center fountain. Photo by Kat.
November 2, 2020 Weather: Cold and windy, with a high of 44 degrees.
Notices:
Our calendar is full of local events.
A new expanded seatbelt law is in effect, mandating people wear belts in all seats of a vehicle regardless of age, including in the back seat of a taxi or Uber/Lyft.
Election Day is Tuesday! Find out where you vote here. Polls in NYC are open from 6 a.m. until 9 p.m.
News:
The Biden/Harris ticket has pulled in millions from Upper West Siders, the Times reports. “One Upper West Side ZIP code — 10024 — accounted for more than $8 million for Mr. Biden, and New York City in total delivered $85.6 million for him — more than he raised in every state other than California.
Customers flooded into The Strand after owner Nancy Bass Wyden said the bookstore was in a tough spot as sales have stagnated during the pandemic. In one weekend, the store recorded 25,000 orders. “Over the weekend, lines stretched around the block as people waited patiently to visit the Strand’s two locations in the East Village and Upper West Side, and at some point there were more than 200 people waiting to buy books, according to Wyden,” CNN reported.
The marathon may have been canceled but some people still did the 26.2 miles on Sunday anyway, the Times reported. “On Sunday, the day that would have been the 50th running of the New York City Marathon, many New York runners tackled the beloved route separately. Although they could not run across the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, site of the customary start, they could follow the course down Fourth Avenue and Lafayette Avenue in Brooklyn, over the Queensboro Bridge, through Manhattan and the Bronx, and hurl their bodies over the “finish line” in Central Park.”
The New York Film Festival had record attendance this year, Indiewire reports. “Part virtual, part drive-in experience, NYFF 2020 pulled in more than 70,000 viewers across all 50 states. The festival’s revised format earlier this fall, running longer than usual from September 17 through October 11, averaged 1.5 home viewers per virtual film rental and 2.5 attendees per drive-in ticket.”
Lastly, did anyone lose a ring?
In Central Park recently and you happened to lose a ring? Give us a call. We would be happy to speak to you! And I think you will be happy with what we found 🙂 pic.twitter.com/YEcgb3uao7
— NYPD Central Park (@NYPDCentralPark) November 2, 2020
The Strand story made me smile until I saw other reporting that the very wealthy owner received millions in PPP, was supposed to use that to keep employees on payroll, but still laid off 200+ people that she didn’t hire back. Does anyone know more about this?
AK. The slander directed at the strand owner is scary. PPP has very strict guidelines you get 2.5 times your monthly payroll to pay out over 6 months, which means you do not need to hire them back immediately. you can’t buy Amazon stock with the money, Every penny needs to be accounted for or else you have committed fraud.
That strict guidelines is for forgiveness of the PPP funds. If an owner wanted to use it & then pay the very low interest rate on it, then they can technically find a way.
Is the middle of a pandemic really the most opportune time to be forcing passengers to share a seatbelt, which will NOT be sanitized or sterilized between uses? As if life weren’t hard enough for drivers now?
If you can touch the other hard surfaces in a car you can use an unsantized seat belt.The fabric of the seatbelt has virtually no transmission risk. You can clean the buckle, door handle, seat, window controls. Just don’t lick any of them LOL
I think most traffic doesnt move fast enough to really warrant seatbelts in manhattan but as far as health concerns on touching them —its easy enough to purell after. Those who say that is not enough would also be freaked out by non sanitized seats and door handles.
What an awesome picture!
Very nice indeed.
Yes, it’s beautiful isn’t it?
What makes this photo unique is that it’s:
1. NOT your typical tourist snapshot; and
2. NOT shot in plain old daylight.
The photo is dramatic because it plays with light areas, dark areas, and shadows.
Most important, it has something called “Gesture”: it makes your eye focus on the two people holding umbrellas contrasted against the brightness of the fountain.
Great shot!
I already wait on line for Trader Joes’s, the post office, CityMD covid tests, CVS flu shot, last-chance Flying Tiger merch, and of course VOTING. I guess I can wait on line for books too!
I see the lines for Trader Joe’s early in the morning when I go out, but I was surprised when I came home today around 4-5 and the lines were still all the way down the block. Is it always like this, or is there something else going on that I’m not aware of?
One of the new early voting locations that the New York City Board of Elections just added at Trader Joe’s. What a wonderful idea you can now register your vote while doing your grocery shopping at the same time.
Since the pandemic, Trader Joe’s on Columbus has long (1-2 block) lines pretty much all the time. In recent weeks, the entry line shortened a bit to maybe 0.5-1.5 blocks. The witty Instagram account that parodies TJ line conversations and observations now has less material to work with (@traderjoeslineuws).
Pre-pandemic you generally only found TJ entry lines before major events (like pre-Thanksgiving or pre-blizzard).
Regardless, there is still the legendary inside queue to pay.
And yes it’s still worth it!
I am a firm believer in wearing seatbelts. But good luck with trying to using one in most cabs. If there are moe than two people in the back seat and they are more than skeletal size, the contortions you have to go through are back wrenching. And have you ever tried to pull out the anchored end from deep in the back seat? Or find the shoulder piece back in the trunk? If the city really wants us to use seat belts, they should inspect cabs to make sure the devices are usable.
PSA: For those concerned about the risk of COVID-19 transmission via wearing a seatbelt, I strongly urge you to not lick or chew on said seatbelt. Also, do not rub it directly on your eyeballs or attempt to jam it up your nose.
I already use the seatbelt in the backseat of taxis and Ubers because the drivers talk nonstop on their phones while they’re zooming around. It might be more effective to outlaw that.
The Strand – Not a very nice place to work. The ownership to not union friendly and I can say from experience that employees are not all that happy or treated all that well.