Day 96 Nat'l Emergency: Tip-toeing to Normalcy

Seventeen weeks, exactly 119 days, from my last residence in a barber’s chair I had my hair cut Thursday. A few days earlier I visited my dentist to complete a crown restoration begun after a root canal procedure in pre-coronavirus lockdown March.

Am I abandoning Dr. Fauci’s safety first guidelines in favor of Trumpian bravado? Hell no, not on your life. My life, actually.

I won’t be dining at restaurants anytime soon, even those with outdoor seating. I will not engage in any activity attracting large groups. Attendance at synagogue services will have to wait. I’m sure God will understand. He or She does not require adherents to unnecessarily place themselves, and subsequently others, at risk.

I wonder about people who act as if they are immune from not only contracting COVID-19 but also unwittingly spreading it. 

I also wonder why people wear masks while driving alone in their cars. 

Makes no sense to me. Then again, there are lots of people out there who lack common sense. Take, for example, those who apparently think swigging diluted bleach could kill the coronavirus, rather than perhaps killing them or scarring their insides. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found in an online study that 39% of 502 adults surveyed had misused a cleaning product (https://www.statnews.com/2020/06/05/cdc-misusing-bleach-try-kill-coronavirus/). 

Now, there is reason to question the conclusions of such a small study, but it does make one wonder why anyone would subject their bodies to such an out-of-the-box, er, bottle, treatment. 

Medical Update: My full face smile is back. The Bell’s palsy is almost all gone, a remarkably rapid recovery, my doctor exclaimed.

Bear Facts: Four times in the last week a black bear has been sighted within a few miles of our home. Over the years wild turkeys, lots of deer and a coyote or two have crossed our paths as we’ve walked in our neighborhood which is down the block from Saxon Woods Park. 

One of the walks Gilda and I take meanders for a mile up Saxon Wood Road. Several years ago during an early spring afternoon we stopped about halfway up the trek so Gilda could look through the windows of a house under renovation. As she walked around the home I looked out onto Saxon Wood Golf Course. Some 500 or more yards away I observed either a very large, I mean a very large, dog or what I immediately presumed was a bear sauntering across a fairway. 

I called 911. From local to county to state police I was dispatched from one constabulary to the next in a vain attempt to alert authorities. 

The recent rash of bear sightings has not elicited any signs of panic from officials. A spokesperson for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has advised, “Never run from a bear; stay calm, speak in a loud and calm voice, and slowly back away from a safe distance. Make loud noises by shouting or banging pots to scare the bear away.”

Aside from our water bottle, I guess Gilda and I will have to start toting pots along on our walks. 

NY, NY: I’ve lived in the New York City metropolitan area for 66 of my 71 years. I grew up in Brooklyn. Before COVID-19 I’d go to the theater more than a dozen times a year, usually preceded by dinner in a theater district restaurant. I went to museums. I walked Manhattan and Brooklyn streets. I took the subway. I drove with ease through every borough enjoying the architecture that flew by my windshield.

I consider myself a New Yorker.

But as I read the Thursday New York Times Styles article “Checkout Time Might be Early” (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/11/style/hotels.html), I lost confidence in that appellation. 

Never a hipster (if that is still a moniker used by trendsetters), I at least professed some knowledge of the city that never sleeps. To say I was confounded, astounded, overwhelmed by all that I did not know even existed would be an understatement. 

Well, I guess not too many people enjoying their eighth decade of life are attuned to the shifting “New York scene.” I’m quite content with my bite of the Big Apple and long for a post-pandemic time to enjoy it fully once more.

Towing the Line

I see where New York City is planning to reduce its dependency on towing illegally parked cars in favor of booting them, forcing scofflaws to pay up on the spot to release their cars from incarceration (http://nyti.ms/13aJblz).

Did you ever have your car towed? I did. In the spring of 1977 Gilda and I were living in New Haven, Conn. I had recently joined Nation’s Restaurant News as a field editor in the New York office. Based on the success of “A Taste of Chicago” the previous year, New York restaurateurs decided to support “A Taste of the Big Apple” on May 22 in Central Park. Chefs would show off their culinary talents to the hungry masses who would be inspired, they hoped, to reserve tables for complete meals at some future date at the respective fine-dining establishments. I wasn't assigned to cover the extravaganza but couldn't resist a chance to frolic in the park and nosh on some gourmet delights.

We drove down in our 1973 Chevy Vega hatchback, arriving at West 66 Street and Central Park West around noon. I couldn't believe our good fortune. A parking space. I read the posted signs and determined the spot was legal. We crossed into the park.  It was a spectacular spring day, full of sunshine and the aroma of delicious food. Around 4 pm we decided it was time to head home. 

As this is a story of being towed there's little reason to make our discovery of no-car-where-we-parked any more suspenseful than a Mister Rogers episode. I quickly discovered the “tow-away zone, no parking Saturday” sign I had missed in my earlier reconnaissance. All we could do was flag down a passing policeman to find out where the redemption pound was. 

Over near Chelsea Piers along the Hudson. In other words, a cab ride over. We had to pay a $75 towing fee and the illegal parking ticket before they'd release our car. By now it was close to 6 pm. Normally it took almost two hours to drive back to New Haven. But the towers had done something terrible to the Vega. I couldn't get the car to drive faster than 40 miles per hour the entire ride home. We crawled along the Connecticut Turnpike with our flashers blinking away, arriving home close to 10 pm, uncomfortable in the knowledge that the next morning I'd be chug-chugging along to my mechanic in Seymour to fix the Vega. 

He did a good job. I kept that Vega until 1986, reluctantly replacing it only after a teenager mistook his gas pedal for the brake and slammed into the rear of my car with such force the bumper collapsed into the back tires. All in all, the “Taste of the Big Apple” took a big bite out of our finances.

Harlem Nights

As I recall the meal some 15 years ago, it was not too memorable. At least as far as taste goes. But as a cultural experience, it was worthwhile.

I’m referring to a pilgrimage to Harlem my staff, Gilda and I made one evening to eat in Sylvia’s Restaurant. The famed soul-food eatery is experiencing additional melancholy recognition these last few days, ever since it was announced Thursday owner and founder Sylvia Woods had died at 86 after suffering the last several years with Alzheimer’s disease.

At the suggestion of Matt, one of our editors, we took the subway uptown to 125th Street that warm, summer evening. About six of us. Some of us must have eaten fried chicken. Maybe some collard greens. Perhaps there was a pork chop. Like I said, the food did not register as among our greatest meals (a review confirmed to me by two other participants that evening). We did not feel different, out of place. We did feel we had tasted part of the culture that makes New York City vibrant.

Some 30 years earlier, during my freshman, or maybe sophomore, year at Brooklyn College, I enjoyed another Harlem experience, a Bill Cosby and O.C. Smith concert at the renowned Apollo Theater. My friend Paul and I were among the few white faces in the crowd. This was, after all, 1968. Few Caucasians ventured onto 125th Street at night back then, even to see Bill Cosby. We sat high up in the balcony, as far back as we could.

Smith performed first, taking particular pleasure in singing his hit, “Little Green Apples,” to Cosby’s wife, seated in one of the stage-right boxes. Cosby emerged from the wings to visually express his pique at being so publicly cuckolded. The crowd roared.

Cosby ended his routine around midnight. The Apollo was just heating up, but we didn’t stay. It was a long subway ride back to Brooklyn. 

  

New York in 10 Objects

If you had to pick 10 objects that told the story of New York City, actual items that could fit into a museum, not pictures of them, what would they be?

This exercise is not original to me. It’s an admitted rip-off of a feature from the Leonard Lopate Show on WNYC, the public radio station that is part of the National Public Radio network. In turn, the Lopate show was inspired by a BBC and British Museum series it is in the middle of broadcasting depicting the History of the World in 100 Objects.

Submissions to the Lopate Show had to be in by 5 pm Friday, February 10, so I’ve missed the deadline. Thus I’ve no need to keep my selections secret. Nor do I have to restrict my nominees to 10. To get the public started, Lopate offered three suggestions—an elevator from the Empire State Building, a bagel and a subway token.

Here are my choices for objects peculiarly New York in character with historical and/or social significance (I’ve restricted myself to items available from 1900 going forward, though some may have originated earlier). See if you agree and can cull them down to the 10 most significant. Or you can add your own iconic items. My Top 10 picks are at the bottom:

1. Slice of New York-style pizza
2. Nathan’s hot dog
3. Car from Coney Island’s Cyclone ride
4. Playbill from a Broadway show
5. Bloomingdale’s big b brown shopping bag
6. Interlocking N-Y Yankees logo on a baseball cap
7. Front page of the New York Times
8. Central Park bench
9. Checker taxi cab
10. Steel girder from the World Trade Center
11. Statue of the Wall Street bull
12. Ticker tape
13. The marquee of Harlem’s Apollo Theater
14. Art deco frieze from Radio City Music Hall
15. Sewing machine work station from the garment district
16. Manolo Blahnik shoe from Sex and the City
17. Ralph and Alice Cramden’s main room from The Honeymooners TV show
18. Ellis Island immigration stamp
19. A New Year’s Eve ball dropped at Times Square
20. TKTS theater booth
21. The detectives room from Law & Order TV show
22. Lions in front of the 42nd Street Public Library
23. Inside of a tenement apartment from the Lower East Side
24. A montage of magazine covers including Colliers, Saturday Evening Post, New York, The New Yorker, Time, Life, People, Look
25. Street sign of Madison Avenue
26. Menu from The Four Seasons or some other iconic restaurant
27. The steps in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
28. Part or whole Staten Island ferry
29. A bodega
30. Jackie Robinson’s cleats
31. Willie Mays’ baseball cap
32. Babe Ruth’s bat
33. Neon lights of Broadway
34. Fashion show runway
35. Pushcart
36. Looped showing of Woody Allen’s film “Manhattan”

My Top 10:
4, 6, 8, 10, 11, 13, 19, 23, 24, 30,

All the News That's Fit to Print. Really?

If you read the front page article in the Arts section of the NY Times Wednesday you would have been informed of a plan by the Metropolitan Museum of Art to update the plaza in front of the world-renowned edifice. In the newspaper’s words, the project would “transform this four-block-long stretch along Fifth Avenue, from 80th to 84th Street, into a more efficient, pleasing and environmentally friendly space, with new fountains, tree-shaded allées, seating areas, museum-run kiosks and softer, energy-efficient nighttime lighting.”

Furthermore, you would have discovered the long overdue remake would be underwritten by a member of the museum’s board of trustees, David H. Koch (pronounced Coke), to the tune of $60 million. The article pointed out Koch is a philanthropist who previously pledged $100 million to renovate the New York State Theater at Lincoln Center (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/08/arts/design/olin-designs-metropolitan-museum-a-new-fifth-avenue-plaza.html?_r=1).

But what the newspaper, whose page one motto is “All the News That’s Fit to Print”, didn’t say about Koch is he is among the most controversial personages of American politics. David H. Koch and his brother Charles G. are among the largest contributors to right wing causes, including political action committees dedicated to the defeat of President Barack Obama and the overturning of many if not all of the social benefit laws passed during his term of office and any of his Democratic predecessors. Heck, they’re probably against any progressive legislation Republican presidents endorsed, as well.

Which begs the question, if New Yorkers were aware of the Koch antipathy toward many of the ideals and values they cherish, would they be comfortable accepting his largess to spruce up their city and support their cultural centers?

It’s a tough and sensitive question to answer. Surely history is laden with many examples of controversial, even nefarious, figures extending their wealth to provide enrichment to the masses. Andrew Carnegie was no saint in business, but he endowed countless libraries and a university. The Rockefellers were not without warts, but much of New York City has their imprimatur stamped on it. Consumers go ga-ga over anything Apple, despite the sweatshop conditions under which Steve Jobs allowed its products to be constructed in China.

So, should we hold David Koch to a higher standard, simply because we might disagree with his politics? I’m not quite ready to say. My point in writing this, however, is not to blame the message, but to shoot the messenger, so to speak. I expected more from The Times than just a recitation of David Koch’s philanthropy. David Koch has baggage he chose to add to his personage and the public is entitled to know, and should be informed, of it, even when he is doing something laudable and altruistic.

Walking Over Water

Yesterday was a delightful early fall day, a perfect time for a walk in the air. Anyone who has traversed New York City’s High Line vertical linear park along the West Side of Manhattan knows it presents an exhilarating experience. Gilda and I have walked it several times, but Sunday’s stroll took place some 90 miles to the north, across the Walkway Over the Hudson, from Poughkeepsie on the eastern end to Highland and back.

A converted cantilevered and truss railroad bridge opened in 1888 and mostly abandoned after a fire in 1974, the structure now is the world’s longest elevated pedestrian bridge, soaring 212 feet above the Hudson River. The walkway across the river is 1.28 miles. If you combine it with a walk across the nearby Mid-Hudson Bridge, built for cars, trucks and pedestrians in 1930, the entire loop is an invigorating 4.5 miles.

Since it opened in 2009, each year the Walkway Over the Hudson State Historic Park has attracted some 600,000 amblers and bike riders, even dogs on leashes.

Linear parks are all the rage these days, so much so that one Westchester County official is suggesting the Tappan Zee Bridge linking the the county to Rockland County be converted to such a use when a replacement bridge is erected. Of course, even with the project being fast-tracked by the Obama administration it will be years before a new bridge is built. And there are questions about the wisdom of converting the Tappan Zee to pedestrian use given its steep mid-span incline and, equally important, the appeal the bridge has had in the past to people who choose to end their lives by jumping off its superstructure.

The Walkway Over the Hudson did not ignore suicide considerations. At several points along the walkway mental health telephone hotlines were available for use by any troubled soul. While we were there, no one fortunately was using the phone.

A Bite Out of the Big Apple?

Word is spreading that Wal-Mart is looking for sites in New York City. The usual suspects—unions, social activists, politicians, all looking to score points with their constituencies and small business owners—are lining up to block the world’s largest retailer from planting a toehold in any of the five boroughs.

It’s a classic fight that has transpired across the country, most notably in Chicago where Wal-Mart has one store and is angling to place another within the city limits. It has scores of them ringing the Windy City.

It’s also a classic tale of elitism. Of out and out snobbery. I’ve said it publicly so I might as well put it in print—there is no difference between the operating practices of Wal-Mart and Target, or most other large scale retailers, with the notable exception of Costco. Only size differentiates them, Wal-Mart being several multiples larger than any other retailer. They pay low wages. They limit medical benefits. They employ far greater women and minorities in their stores compared to the percentage of women and minorities in positions of management, both at store and headquarters levels. Their sizes virtually assure that some managers are bigots or poor adherents to corporate policy, so the inevitable discrimination occurs in hiring and promotion. Because it is the largest company, Wal-Mart is the target (pun intended) of legal challenges. Back in the 1970s, when Sears was top dog, it bore the brunt of most discrimination lawsuits. Such is the burden of being number one. (Full disclosure: my wife has a modest holding of Wal-Mart stock.)

Target is among the largest U.S. corporations, with revenues exceeding $65 billion. Yet Target enjoys a warm and fuzzy reputation with shoppers, particularly the power elite. They lovingly, disarmingly call it “Tar-Zhay” and feel comfortable inside its stores. Their snobbery makes their skin crawl when inside a Wal-Mart.

The impact a Target or Wal-Mart has on a market can be equally devastating. Or exhilarating, depending on your point of view. There’s no doubt any small business that offers the same merchandise but at higher prices runs the risk of being closed down. It’s equally true that many retailers thrive in the shadow of one of the big box stores.

In downtown White Plains, NY, Target and Wal-Mart compete across the street from each other. On any given day, Wal-Mart has considerably more traffic, strong evidence that even in upscale Westchester County there is a solid customer base for a store that promises, and often delivers, savings on life’s necessities.

The current brouhaha over Wal-Mart was first reported in Crain’s New York Business earlier this week. Wal-Mart was said to be a possible tenant in the Gateway II project in the Jamaica Bay area of Brooklyn, a mostly working class neighborhood. Here’s Crain’s original reporting, though I can tell you with certainty that it parallels events and comments throughout the country over the last 20 or more years:

“’We don't like how they treat workers as it relates to salaries and benefits, and we're not going to have them in our community,” says City Councilman Charles Barron, D-Brooklyn. “They will have the fight of their lives.”

“United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1500 is planning a protest in the next week and is already arguing that Related's (the developer) earlier traffic study presented to gain land-use approval did not take into account a Walmart being situated in Gateway II. The union is planning to send canvassers out to the neighborhood to drum up opposition to a potential Walmart.

“’Walmart was never, ever mentioned once through the entire land-use process,” says Pat Purcell, assistant to the president of UFCW Local 1500. “The area cannot sustain a Walmart, a Target and a BJs. In this area, it's a job killer; it's just the wrong use.”’

Twice before Wal-Mart abandoned projects in Queens and Staten Island. I can’t forecast what will happen at Gateway II. But I can predict that unless more large-scale food retailers open more stores in the inner city featuring wide assortments at competitive prices, Wal-Mart will eventually take a big bite out of the Big Apple.