Posts from — August 2007

Deutsche Bank Tower Fire by 24gotham on Flickr.

They knew! As if the sad tale of incompetence, negligence, and bad decision-making that led to the death of two New York City firefighters could not get worse, the New York Post today revealed a 2005 memo written by Battalion Chief William Siegel to Division 1 Commander Richard Fuerch that drew attention to the problematic issue of inspecting the toxin-filled structure and offered possible organizational plans in the event of an incident during the deconstruction. The Post also has links to page one and page two of the memo. In the meantine, three high-ranking FDNY officers have been relieved of their duties pending the results of the multiple investigations into the tragedy.

Incomprehensible! The Daily News also has the story of a former sub-contractor for Bovis Lend Lease who as apparently chastised for wearing a personal protective asbestos-mask and watched her co-workers down asbestos particles along with their Dunkin’ Donuts.

Shame! This story seems to get worse day by day (Mayor Bloomberg’s piecemeal and ambiguous statements to the city are no comfort), and we should be praying for the day when the abominable truth about this story–from the seemingly shady dealings that brought us an Ayn Rand-dummy corporation to the bureaucratic incompetence of our City agencies to the poor decisions on that fateful day–comes seeping out of the burnt rubble. Until then, John Schiumo over at NY1’s The Call has got the right idea and is letting all ten of his fingers do the talking.

Take a quick spin around “Flight,” the remarkable 1940 art deco mural inside of the Marine Air Terminal at LaGuardia Airport.

Find out more about the historic Marine Air Terminal here.

Paramount Theater in Staten Island by Pro-Zak on Flickr.

Wonderful repository of photos of theaters in Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, Nassau, and Suffolk–just click on the sub-categories (Guano Returns)

Inside the St. George Theater on Staten Island (ForgottenNY)

The sad story of the now derelict RKO Keith’s Theater in Flushing (Queens Tribune)

The theater in Times Square that got up and moved 168 feet (The New 42nd Street)

Collection of old Brooklyn theater playbills and programs (Brooklyn Public Library)

Man vs. Rat by rollerboogie on Flickr.

As Labor Day will soon be upon us, the New York Times City Room has a short piece about labor then and now called When Labor Had Muscle, and Flexed It. New York City was on the leading edge of recognizing labor–the first Labor Day parade took place in New York City in 1882, and New York State was the first to pass legislation to make the day an official holiday.

The piece also highlights early warnings that Labor Day would become an excuse for barbeques and department store sales like this from Samuel Gompers in 1907:

“Labor Day without demonstrations, parades and meetings, will as sure as the sun rises and sets lose its distinctive characteristic and simply become a holiday for jollification, without other purpose, design or result.”

In fact, the holiday did quickly evolve from a day of action to one of rest and relaxation even by the early twentieth century. If you’re giving people a day off, it’s a lot harder to get them to come out and march when they know that they could be “jollificating” with friends and family.

Marches or not, New York City’s labor movement has been steadily losing members and clout–what would DC37’s Victor Gotbaum, IBEW and NYC CLC’s Harry Van Arsdale, and teachers’ union head Albert Shanker think?

District Council 37 | www.dc37.net
NYC Central Labor Council | www.nycclc.org

The panel of seventeen State and City-appointed representatives tasked with rubber-stamping re-examining Mayor Bloomberg’s congestion pricing plan has been announced. The panel has to approve parts of the plan before a big chunk of the federal funds allocated to the city will be released. A look at the appointees finds that no members of the panel reside in or represent the borough of Staten Island–probably not the smoothest move to get the plan moving smoothly.

The Staten Island Advance reported that “City Councilman Vincent Ignizio (R-South Shore) harrumphed, ‘If this was any other borough they would not be allowed to get away with this,” and that City Council Member Michael McMahon said “to me it’s shockingly disturbing and disconcerting…Staten Island deserves a seat at that table. We’ve earned it the hard way by sitting in hours of traffic.”

If people in the boroughs and counties outside of the potential ring of tolls around Manhattan (anyone else see a potential “Escape From New York” angle here down the road?) were dubious about the impartiality of the panel–a whole bunch of the panel already strangely seems to support the Mayor’s plan–this is not going to help their perception. And why did they have to go and piss off the good people of Staten Island who love their cars so much (partly because the public transportation infrastructure, planning, and investment in the borough has been so poor).

Leona Helmsley, the billionaire hotel and real estate mogul has died at age 87 of heart failure at her home in Connecticut. Most of us know her as the “Queen of Mean” from the late 1980s tabloid reports of her abusive treatment of employees, business associates, and family members during her reign as head of a variety of hotels and real estate interests within her and her husband’s empire. It was an empire that included–among others–the Empire State Building, the Helmsley Hotel on 42nd Street, and the Park Lane Hotel on Central Park South. Ms. Helmsley became the public, eyeshadow-laden face of the corporation in ads for their hotels that touted her demanding standards.

She and her husband were convicted in 1989 of tax crimes stemming from renovations to their $11 million home in Connecticut, many of which were written off as business expenses. Ms. Helmsley served twenty-one months in prison and was released in 1994.

In 2007 Forbes named her the 369th richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of $2.5 billion. Throughout the late 1990s and 2000s she largely remained behind the scenes and donated some of her fortune, including $25 million to New York Presbyterian Hospital, and $5 million after the attacks of September 11th to assist families of firefighters.

Speaking of 1980s hoteliers and hotels, let’s not forget the people over at the Milford Plaza Hotel, where one could get a room, cocktail, dinner, breakfast, and an unforgettable jingle for only $43!

The “Lullabuy” of Broadway!