NYC General Discussion - You Hear That Giant Sucking Sound?

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I obviously agree completely.

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Why the Second Ave. subway could be delayed—again

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The sucking sound is louder than ever, but, for once, it's not coming from de Blasio's general direction- for he's in the right here. Cuomo (as we know) is shafting the city, but he's going too far, far too far. The subway is already a semi-decrepit embarrassment prone to breaking down far more often than should be tolerable. Heck, my own 1 train seems to be out of service north of 96th St (i.e. where I live) every other (maybe every third) weekend.

The 2nd Ave Subway is... well I'm not sure there's a particularly apt adjective to describe it at this point; it's already an embarrassment, ridiculous, beyond ridiculous a joke, delayed... but this is further beyond ridiculous. I mean, "it" ("it" being "a line from 63rd to 96th) is almost done and yet here we are on the verge of stopping again. Not to mention "Phase 3" which is the actual  bulk of the project which looks like a pipedream at this point.

Did Bloomie have more leverage over Cuomo? Because things got done, whereas those things seem to be coming off the tracks these days. De Blasio is right (!) in saying that fare hikes won't and shouldn't pay for an underfunded system but what can/is he doing about it?

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Complete the Full Second Avenue Subway Now

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A no brainer, but it seems like a pipe dream at this point. Brewer, Stringer, and other pols need to stop sticking their nose in and creating so many problems for people who want to build skyscrapers in Manhattan (quelle horreur!)¹, and start pushing for this, and hard.

1. Obviously ugly and out of place skyscrapers must be stopped and historic buildings must be preserved but the knee-jerk opposition to highrises and super-tall buildings in Midtown is utterly nonsensical and boggles the mind, at least as far as I am concerned.

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Like this?

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This makes me rather angry:





This is why:



I mean, BIG has done some pretty good work, but this is just bad. Not only is it bad, but 1) It replaces a far superior design and 2) it looks like it's about to fall over. Clearly they did not have a conversation that was anything like the following:

Guy #1: I've finished the design for the new Two World Trade Center- you know, where the Twin Towers fell down.

Guy #2: So... you designed a building that looks like it's going to fall down... to replace a building that fell down?

Indeed, I almost want to call this "Libeskind's Revenge", because the towers have de-evolved back into the largely formless glass boxes that he designed in (what was around the fifth iteration of) his master plan-they (particularly #3) have been value-engineered into oblivion:

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Cuomo: Chances for new rail tunnel are dim

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http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/hudson-river-rail-tunnel-prospects-not-bright-cuomo-article-1.2318691

Well, uh, all I can really say... is what a jerk. Are we supposed to wait until one of them collapses? If Cuomo is betting on Congress footing the bill, he's apparently forgotten that it's in the hands of those "Republican" people he likes beating up on.

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New Yorkers Think the City’s Quality of Life Is Worse Than Ever: Poll

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This idea rears its ugly head yet again:

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I'm all for supressing toplessness, but not at that price. This is perhaps the archetypical example of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. The plazas are great and should obviously stay. It'd be best if we just adopted Sen Ruben Diaz's proposal and banned toplessness for men and women, and saved the plazas.

They are currently protected because they are considered panhandlers, which, ridiculously, is considered protected speech. Now, thanks to that "right", we may lose some open space. Hate Times Square if you wish, but if you ever find yourself there even just taking the subway, they are a welcome addition.

http://m.ny.curbed.com/archives/2015/08/20/mayor_proposes_nixing_times_square_pedestrian_plazas.php

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Toplessness is protected speech

I do like it when oakvale is on my side of things!

Like I said, I support Diaz's proposal to ban toplessness for both sexes.

Bloomberg nostalgia level rising.  The man, for all his reputation, and not to say that he was without his faults, was genuinely more progressive and perceptive than de Blasio on the issues that really matter.

Being governed by a great businessman is better than being governed by a socialist fool.

Who would have ever imagined.

Bring back Bloomie! De Blasio is an exhibit of idealess ineptitude at its worst. He's bound to be primaried in 2017.

Seriously though, can Bloomberg run? If not, give us Diana Taylor.

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Toplessness is protected speech

Eh, maybe "protected speech" wasn't the exact right phrase, but it is most certainly legal:

http://www.villagevoice.com/news/yes-ladies-you-can-walk-around-the-city-topless-6710067

Diaz's bill is at least not discriminatory, but it is unnecessary and useless prudery for the sake of prudery.

Let's not try and make this some progressive woman's rights thing or call them "desnudas" as if this were some identity politics issue. These women are working for "managers" (i.e., pimps) who take a 30-50% cut of their earnings.  It's an organised operation, not some free-spirited performance.

If you want to be liberal about it you could say that it appeals to the same old objectifying and sexualising tendencies of men that liberals have until recently fought against (buy now, they want to legalise prostitution!). It's not about rights, it's about public decency, restraint, and the freedom to walk around unmolested by panhandlers. I mean just think about it. It sounds something out of Bangkok's Soi Cowboy on a late night:

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Do you support the opebo-isation of New York? Is that progressive? This also applies to the weird bootleg Elmos and so forth, which I think de Blasio is also (rightly) trying to suppress.

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How the Christ is this a real quote from the mayor of the largest city in the country?

I am increasingly convinced that New York's only real hope would be for the entire state to go through something akin to post-Civil War Reconstruction. Our governance, our political culture, and our public leaders are really that irredeemable.

New York would be the ideal place to try out experimental ideas on "stakeholder-driven, community-oriented" governance (a new euphemism for an old idea of mine). Of course, I doubt anyone else would like my ideas aside from the transit, zoning, and maybe cultural policies.

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NYT with an editorial with a bad pun of a pun: Shirtless Bodies in Pointless Times Square War

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Right to call ripping out the pedestrian plazas an overreaction, wrong to brush off concerns about tawdry and crude panhandlers accosting and even groping passers by (the example given in the Daily News could certainly count as sexual harassment). Someone there observed that it might sound prudish and provincial to find topless women offensive, but as a New Yorker it is embarrassing to see parents be confronted by them out of the blue; they should not have this kind of thing thrust at them without prior warning.

For many people visiting this is their first experience with the city. An outsider might wonder why such a (presumably) great city would allow itself to be overrun by such tasteless, talentless hacks for whom crude self-exhibition is the only way they could make money. Even the musicians in the subway have to audition for their gigs. These talent-less freeloaders add nothing good to Times Square.

We owe the city, its residents, and our visitors so much better than this.

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The Observer has it's own take: De Blasio Open to Ending Times Square Pedestrian Plaza to Fight Off Naked Women

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Meanwhile the Times a few days ago had a weirdly fawning and whitewashed article, as if they were overeager to show how "openminded" and "permissive" they were. There was also the usage of "desnudas" and a healthy amount of references to the Hispanic origin of many of the women, clearly trying to work the ethnic angle as well as the "women's lib" angle of this. A selection of quotes shows the steepness of the slant:

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The most (unsettlingly) comic part of the article is how they bury sexual harassment--but it's by liberated women, paid well and totally uncoerced, on men, who like it anyway:

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It's weird and discomforting how powerless the city seems about this, to the extent that de Blasio must propose repaving the whole place with road to get rid of them.

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Meanwhile, de Blasio has come out as willing to let the $3 billion plans to develop Willets Point be torpedoed (and let half a billion dollars of city money go to waste) unless the developer gives into his demands to jam in "affordable housing" as he has been doing-- because we all know leaving the literal car junkyard that is Willets Point at present will do more to solve the housing shortage than allowing the big bad developers to build 5,000 market-rate apartments out in Central Queens, an area well-known for its exorbitant real estate prices.

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What wasteful, small minded, and short-sighted pettiness. Here are some pictures of the "neighborhood" as of present that our mayor is willing to let stay unless the developer gives in:





Truly something worth fighting over.

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Is that what they call it? Either way, I'm a little bit disappointed to see you (apparently) glorifying squalor, particularly when it's that egregious.

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I see. If we were talking a parking lot I can see where the sentiment would come from. Thankfully (for now), that's not what's on the table.

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Greg David: Why Mayor de Blasio is in Israel

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A concise summary from Crain's Greg David, insightful as ever. I've mentioned his book Modern New York before many times and I'll mention it again-- you should read it.

Jews, surprisingly, don't appear to be particularly overrepresented amongst the voting population; they're around 18% of the total population. I actually thought it'd be much lower, I swear I read an article a while back saying that the Jewish population in NYC had fallen below a million yet the figures I can find claim anything between 1.1 to 1.5 million. Maybe someone who knows more about this than I can shed some light on the matter.

Either way, the Jews don't care for de Blasio, and that should be cause for worry. Because Jews control everything, at least according to the guy who stands by the campus gates every now and then, holding up a sign reading just that. Which I'm fine with; where would this country be without the Jews? Speaking of Jews running things...

WSJ: Eva Moskowitz won't run against de Blasio

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So I imagine the leading challenger would be Stringer now. Tell me, though, what would you think a de Blasio v Bloomberg election would look like? (NYC limits consecutive terms, so Bloomie could actually run again. I'd obviously love to see this happen, but I'm curious how others think it would play out. De Blasio's poll numbers, while on a downwards trend, don't seem poor enough to guarantee defeat.

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Exactly. So let's bring Bloomberg back.

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Clueless de Blasio needs a Trump Tower traffic plan – fast

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http://nypost.com/2016/11/15/clueless-de-blasio-needs-a-trump-tower-traffic-plan-fast/

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Mayor de Blasio's Approval Rating Soars, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; He Tops Little-Known Challengers 3-1

This is just depressing. Sure, he's not as terrible as I feared he'd be, but the city is treading water. It's coasting on the achievements of the past three decades, losing its dynamism. Transit services are perceivably on the decline. It's one thing for his challengers to be relatively unknown, but approval numbers this high is another thing entirely.

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This is despite a serious recent pay-for-play scandal, in which he avoided charges but racked up $11 million in legal fees, even though one prosecutor said  he"acted on behalf of donors seeking favors from the city," while the other said that some of their practices appeared to violate “the intent and spirit” of the law. He's alternately tried to pay off the bills with contributions (more ethical problems, yay!) or with public funds.

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Mayor de Blasio Has a Habit of Leaving Out the Press

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http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/05/mayor-de-blasio-has-a-habit-of-leaving-out-press.html

It appears he's not up to media scrutiny; as the Observer put it, he appears to have a "transparency problem"

This remains an issue, as an article and an editorial in the Times expressed:

Bill de Blasio's Press Problem? Don't Ask

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A Mayor Raises Questions by Refusing to Take Any

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By embracing Bloomberg's idea at long last, New York City has the real potential to ease its traffic woes and help New Yorkers breathe and walk easier:

Congestion Pricing Could Turn Manhattan Into Pedestrian Paradise

A coming fee on vehicles entering Manhattan’s most congested streets won’t just reduce traffic while funding improvements to the subway. It could also lead to wider sidewalks, expanded bus and bike lanes, and new pedestrian plazas.

At least that is the vision that New York City’s transportation chief has for Manhattan if the fee significantly reduces congestion.

“It certainly would open up a lot of pretty transformative possibilities,” said Polly Trottenberg, New York City’s transportation chief, in an interview last week.

New York state lawmakers approved the congestion fee as part of the state’s latest budget earlier this year.

The model for the city lies in London where the success of congestion pricing over the past 16 years has allowed city officials to expand sidewalks and pedestrian areas, add bike lanes and reconfigure roadways to make them more bicycle and pedestrian friendly.

Now, it's time to regain the momentum on pedestrianization.