tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50500762011-12-11T23:52:03.842-08:00Jefferson Street StationThere are eight million obstacles in the Naked City.
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© 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 Richard Starkexposito63noreply@blogger.comBlogger741100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-36573197166304848482011-02-07T10:19:00.000-08:002011-02-07T11:17:47.233-08:00New Tunnel Might Be Better Than ARC TunnelThe Gateway Tunnel is designed to carry a smaller number of trains than the ARC Tunnel would have, but it includes two important elements that the ARC Tunnel lacked:Direct access to the existing Penn StationTrack running up to Grand Central StationThe ARC Tunnel was designed to leave passengers a couple of blocks north of Penn Station and passengers wouldexposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-20813155758268290182010-02-07T23:07:00.000-08:002010-02-08T09:46:10.189-08:00Harold Ford, you're no Al D'AmatoDuring the debate between the vice presidential candidates in 1988, Dan Quayle compared himself to John F. Kennedy, and Lloyd Bentsen replied by saying that he knew Jack Kennedy and that Quayle was no Jack Kennedy.Harold Ford, a former member of congress from Tennessee, has been testing the waters for a run against (New York) Senator Kristen Gillibrand. As a partexposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-77520258348195217932010-02-07T22:55:00.000-08:002010-02-07T23:06:33.713-08:00Governor Malcolm Smith?In light of the rumor that David Paterson would be resigning as the governor of New York, I was thinking about Lt. Governor Dick Ravitch succeeding Paterson. Ravitch is not a young man, and I wondered who would succeed to the office if Ravitch were to become incapacitated. According to the state constitution, the second person in line of succession for the office of exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-78328210487892555442008-12-31T14:58:00.000-08:002008-12-31T15:04:20.875-08:00Corruption hides behind raceIt's always so heartening when hack politicians use the explanation of providing opportunities for a historically oppressed group to disguise plain-old patronage. Rod Blagojevich's appointment of Roland Burris to the open U.S. Senate seat in Illinois is just the latest example of this. I don't actually object to machine politics and patronage per se, but we must haveexposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-87213180909031845282008-10-24T13:43:00.000-07:002008-10-24T13:49:42.487-07:00Bloomberg is a despotThe New York City Council's approval of the bill to extend term limits for elected officials is not all that different than the Roman Senate giving someone dictatorial powers during a crisis. It is based on the idea that as a society our laws are not adequate to guide us through a crisis but that we need a certain person to guide us. The United States was supposedly foundedexposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-19450088729820782802008-03-10T20:48:00.000-07:002008-03-10T21:49:15.190-07:00Eliot Spitzer, hypocrisy, and hubrisWe live in an age in which are public figures are regularly sacrificed on the altar of righteous hypocrisy. Many of them deserve their fate. Goodness knows we all seem to love to see the arrogant, the powerful, or the rich fall. If someone happens to be arrogant, powerful, and rich, there is always a real pile-on when they fall. Witness the fate of Barry exposito63noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-84698072042442196912008-01-14T13:52:00.000-08:002008-01-14T13:57:46.075-08:00Is Wesley Snipes really so stupid or deluded as to believe that he can avoid paying income taxes (or prosecution for failure to pay income taxes) by claiming that the government has no right to collect them? Bouncing checks to the IRS is, incidentally, not a good way to prove to a jury that he was unaware that he had to pay taxes on his income (which will apparently be his defense).There are exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-82980340881737128412007-12-28T07:56:00.000-08:002007-12-28T08:01:20.093-08:00Time for quotas to limit touristsNew York has become so lousy with tourists during this holiday season that I believe we need to start actively prohibiting them from entering most parts of the city. It's one thing for Times Square or Ground Zero to be inundated with tourists. It is quite another for Chelsea and the Flatiron District to handle these people. Stay in Times Square or go home, I exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-75399131429362485852007-11-15T08:18:00.001-08:002007-11-15T08:28:57.013-08:00Jim Dwyer gets it right on KerikJim Dwyer is, since the retirement of Jimmy Breslin, our best columnist covering local issues. His work in Newsday was exemplary, going back to when he began their regular mass-transit column.Dwyer recently wrote a good column about the fall of Bernie Kerik. The best line in the column summarizes Kerik in one sentence:Mr. Kerik has had one major role in the life exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-26871998163107664492007-09-21T11:44:00.000-07:002007-09-21T11:48:45.043-07:00Is nowhere safe from this pox?Cell phones in subway trains will make what is already an often unpleasant experience into an even more unpleasant experience. That describes many "advances" in technology, I suppose. The argument that this is necessary so people can communicate during emergencies is absurd. The people who need to used telecommunications during emergencies are the police, exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-21845692410703642312007-09-06T09:14:00.000-07:002007-09-06T09:32:00.321-07:00The Graft StateSo the mayors of Passaic and Orange, as well as several other public officials, have been indicted today in the latest corruption scandal to break in New Jersey. All the officials in question are Democrats, and the local Republicans are noting this fact with glee. Despite my membership in the Democratic Party, I know that no party has the moral high ground in New Jersey. If exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-87385632974000846152007-07-12T17:06:00.000-07:002007-07-12T17:10:11.019-07:00"I'm innocent of all these charges"It's about goddamned time! Sharpe James was finally indicted. He will insist that this prosecution is motivated by racism, but he was the one who stole from the people of Newark for twenty years. Contrary to his assertion that he is innocent of all the charges, I believe he is guilty of many, if not all of them.It was gratifying to read that he was in irons exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-41936265894998117022007-06-13T14:23:00.000-07:002007-06-13T14:30:46.093-07:00I have tried to avoid going down the road of nostalgia for the New York of my childhood, but the increasing proliferation of tourists here makes that difficult. New York in the 1970s might have been a dump, but it was our dump. Now it is a city that seems to be designed for tourists and rich transplants from elsewhere. Fuck that noise. Those of us who paid our dues here during the Lindsay andexposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-28465781424091993472007-05-11T13:08:00.000-07:002007-05-11T13:26:30.288-07:00Congestion charge means cleaner airThe usual complaints are being made about Mayor Bloomberg's proposal to institute a fee for cars entering Manhattan during busy hours. These are the same people who complain when there is a proposal to put tolls on the free bridges into Manhattan: Drivers from the Outer Boroughs. Here's a news flash for these people: There is no guaranteed right to drive exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1166814954688666782006-12-22T11:00:00.000-08:002006-12-22T11:15:54.703-08:00Cast iron tunnelsIt is always a comfort to read an article on the dangers of a given transportation system while one is riding on that system. Today's edition of The New York Times features a story on the PATH system's vulnerability to attack. A report commissioned by the Port Authority was leaked to the Times by a whistleblower who believed that the Port Authority wasn't taking enough steps toexposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1166722565489103732006-12-21T09:30:00.000-08:002006-12-21T09:36:05.500-08:00Light pollutionThe New York Times Sunday City section recently featured an article on the efforts of one dedicated resident of New York who works to reduce the light pollution in the city. This is an issue that is often overlooked, especially in New York, where bright electric lights are so much a part of the cityscape that we often don't even notice them.Having well-lit streets is important. exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1160142566874919552006-10-06T06:32:00.000-07:002006-10-06T06:49:26.890-07:00Lautenberg votes to allow tortureIn my posting below I have reproduced a letter I recently sent to Senator Bob Menendez. I sent a similar letter to Senator Frank Lautenberg that I will not bother to reproduce here, as the substance of it is the same as the Menendez letter. It is a sad day when the two ostensibly liberal U.S. Senators from New Jersey vote with the forces of evil.exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1160137412509722522006-10-06T05:16:00.000-07:002006-10-06T05:31:37.243-07:00Menendez votes to allow tortureThe following is the text of a letter I recently wrote to U.S. Senator Bob Menendez:29 September 2006 Senator Robert Menendez502 Senate Hart Office BuildingWashington, D.C. 20510 Dear Senator Menendez, Yesterday I visited the web site for your election campaign; I was preparing to make a contribution to your campaign when I was interrupted. By the time Iexposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1159044843714425702006-09-23T13:50:00.000-07:002006-09-23T13:54:03.740-07:00This is a picture of the parking lot at the now-abandoned Benson Street Station in Glen Ridge, New Jersey. Service on this line was ended approximately four years ago. Note the spaghetti junction of wires on the utility pole in the center. On the left is one of Glen Ridge's useless gas lights.exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1158331885290796662006-09-15T07:31:00.000-07:002006-09-15T07:51:25.340-07:00Are there any honest Republicans?[Kean] has sat on United Health's board since 1993 where he seems to have filled the same role of useful idiot that he played for the ABC producers.Joe Conason, on Salon.comThe former governor of New Jersey (who, incidentally, left behind major budget shortfalls that his successor, Jim Florio, had to address by raising taxes [earning the unending enmity of exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1158284046671551222006-09-14T18:14:00.000-07:002006-09-14T18:34:06.726-07:00The devil and the deep blue seaNow that the primary elections in New York are over I can once again be grateful that I no longer reside in that, my native state. Is there is a more disheartening choice on the ballot anywhere than the choice between Jeanine Pirro and Andrew Cuomo for Attorney General? Which of these two is more loathsome than the other? Andrew Cuomo may be the most detestable exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1153178717831646952006-07-17T16:11:00.000-07:002006-07-17T16:25:17.886-07:00Sharpe James: A pig at the trough?Today's Star Ledger has a story about how former Newark mayor Sharpe James will collect $323,654 in taxpayer dollars next year. He is the beneficiary of an amazingly sweet pension deal that was available only to elected officials in Newark (special state legislation was required to set-up this pension system). He also had the Newark city council approve exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1152497902339291562006-07-09T19:15:00.000-07:002006-07-09T19:18:22.340-07:00Lieberman deserves to be tossed from the Democratic PartyAs I have said before, Senator Joe Lieberman does not belong in the Democratic Party anymore. His announcement that he would run as an independent candidate if he lose the Democratic primary election to Ned Lamont should be evidence enough to the Democratic leadership to cut the cord to this sanctimonious sore loser.exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1152497343148857872006-07-09T19:04:00.000-07:002006-07-09T19:09:58.233-07:00exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1152220942673297562006-07-06T14:19:00.000-07:002006-07-06T14:22:22.686-07:00A budget at lastSo the shutdown of New Jersey State government will end. And everyone will get to pay higher sales taxes. I applaud Governor Corzine for holding firm in his insistence that the state must balance its budget with recurring sources of revenue, but I still think that a gasoline tax increase would have been fairer than a sales tax increase.exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1149777395471405782006-06-08T07:06:00.000-07:002006-06-08T07:36:35.530-07:00Fast buses? Maybe it isn't a pipe dreamThe City of New York is finally planning to implement "bus rapid transit" over ten years after Mayor Dinkins first studied the matter (God forbid Giuliani should have followed up on any innovative transit initiative of his predecessor).There is an article in today's New York Times that explains the outlines of the proposal. Systems such as this, which exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1147389088021594872006-05-11T16:00:00.000-07:002006-05-11T16:11:28.030-07:00File under "any irony is purely unintentional"They should've been picketing Henry Ford. There is progress everywhere. There is a constant change. The issue is how to manage it.Frank GehryMr. Gehry made this remark in reaction to protesters who objected to the proposed Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn. There's nothing like labeling your opponents as enemies of progress.exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1146693059145635322006-05-03T14:41:00.000-07:002006-05-03T14:50:59.156-07:00St. Savior's ChurchI have appended a message I sent to the President of Maspeth Federal Savings Bank and the response I received from him.From: Richard Stark [mailto:rstark@speakeasy.net] Sent: Tuesday, April 18, 2006 9:26 PMTo: krudzewick@maspethfederal.comSubject: Please don't let Maspeth Development LLC tear down St. Savior's ChurchDear Mr. Rudzewick, I am writing to urge you to ensure that exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1144723314878705032006-04-10T19:36:00.000-07:002006-04-10T19:41:54.890-07:00A proud son of New YorkI, for one, am proud to be a native of the state that has not one, but two taxpayer-subsidized museums dedicated to cheese. Wisconsinites can eat cheese or die, but I bet they don't get to subsidize two such cheese-barrel projects.exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1143511284266868252006-03-27T17:58:00.000-08:002006-03-27T18:01:24.276-08:00Sharpe James: Good riddance!Now that Sharpe James has announced that he is not running for reelection maybe Newark can finally get out from under his thumb. Cory Booker shows a lot of promise and we can all hope he is able to get elected mayor and make a difference in Newark.exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1143214060556611422006-03-24T07:18:00.000-08:002006-03-24T07:27:40.576-08:00N.J. should raise its gasoline tax before raising its sales taxGovernor Corzine's proposed budget includes a one percent increase in the sales tax. The sales tax is a regressive tax that disproportionately burdens the poor. In his defense, Corzine is also proposing to eliminate the income tax on people who earn less than $25,000 a year, which is a sound proposal. Replacing at least part of theexposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1142291217766590852006-03-13T14:59:00.000-08:002006-03-13T15:06:57.776-08:00This is probably a silly question,but why is there no ramp from the Garden State Parkway (GSP) southbound to I-78 eastbound? I would imagine that there are many people such as myself, who live north of I-78 and who take that road east to Newark Airport or the Holland Tunnel. All this lack of an exit ramp accomplishes is encouraging people to exit in Irvington before they reach I-78; the exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1134576732672624742005-12-14T07:27:00.000-08:002005-12-14T08:23:24.653-08:00Transit strikes and other worriesWe might be having a subway and bus strike in New York on Friday. This has become a biennial event around the holidays in New York. The mayor is not a part of the negotiations between the MTA and the transit workers union, but that hasn't stopped him from publicly discouraging a strike. In his defense, there is really no other responsible position he could takeexposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1130537886916523982005-10-28T14:38:00.000-07:002005-10-28T15:18:06.930-07:00The struggle to do the right thingThis morning I let two downtown express trains pass without attempting to board them, as they were far too crowded. A few persons at the station (34th Street and 7th Avenue) managed to get onto each train, but several of us waited for a less-crowded train. The third train arrived just a few minutes after the second train had left and it was marginally less exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1130443469661587282005-10-27T16:07:00.000-07:002005-10-27T13:05:00.310-07:00Keep the buckWhy is the M.T.A. intent on giving out discounted rides during the holidays? Why not take the $100 million they have budgeted for this and put it towards one (or all) of the following:Paying-down its pension liability even further than they already propose to do. It is irreponsible to leave pension plans underfunded.Capital improvements such as the Second Avenue Subway, or even exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1129502825596691972005-10-16T15:45:00.000-07:002005-10-16T15:47:05.600-07:00Scheduling 101What genius at the Port Authority decided that cleaning the 14th Street Station during evening rush hour was a good idea?exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1128372455631699442005-10-03T13:33:00.000-07:002005-10-03T13:47:35.636-07:00It's time for us to stop listening to victims' familiesA certain egotism characterizes the families of some 9/11 victims. They have exploited the international outpouring of sympathy for their loss in every possible way. But while they have the right to grieve and memorialize their dead, they don't have the right to force the rest of us, in our public spaces, into an endless orgy of grief.Sherylexposito63noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1121975235712503862005-07-21T12:11:00.000-07:002005-07-21T12:47:15.716-07:00As the rights erodePeople don't consider any measures that you take for safety to be an inconvenience. This is New York City.Ray Kelly, Commissioner, NYPDI seem to recall several purges under Stalin that were justified the same way. Kelly and Bloomberg are not mass-murderers, but they should consider the lessons of history. As Robert Bolt had the character of Thomas More say in A Man For All exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1120671805816240512005-07-06T10:40:00.000-07:002005-07-06T10:43:25.820-07:00Hurrah for London!It was truly a case of Schadenfreude for me when I heard that London had been awarded the 2012 Olympics. I love London; it is among my favorite cities. I wish Londoners all the best. That said, I must say thank goodness New York will not host the Olympics. It was a bad idea from the start and I hope it is now dead for good.exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1118189283235064412005-06-07T17:02:00.000-07:002005-06-07T18:21:57.633-07:00Good riddanceThank goodness Shelly Silver blocked the West Side Stadium project. Silver is nothing more than a political hack, but sometimes even hacks do the right thing. Maybe New York can now leave this hare-brained Olympics idea behind and get on with investing money in infrastructure projects that will actually spur long-term economic development:The Cross-Harbor Freight TunnelThe Second exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1117831304261031412005-06-03T13:40:00.000-07:002005-06-03T13:41:44.266-07:00Chronicles of life in the big cityThere are eight million obstacles in the naked city.exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1114034247996622382005-04-20T14:31:00.000-07:002005-04-20T14:57:27.996-07:00New Nieuw-NederlandFor years I have advocated giving Texas back to Mexico (the gift would be contingent on the agreement of the Mexicans to accept every member of the Bush family —no matter where they lived along with Texas). Recently I have developed a parallel idea: All territory in the United States formerly controlled by the Dutch should rejoin the Netherlands. This would include all exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1113605513032922452005-04-15T15:41:00.000-07:002005-04-15T15:51:53.033-07:00SchadenfreudeI cannot help but take some pleasure in the news that the State of New York's video lottery terminals are not bringing in the revenue Governor Pataki had anticipated. High-tech slot machines should not be the hope of a State trying to balance its budget. And the fact that some of the revenues from these video lottery terminals were going to the state agency that runs the racetracksexposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1112221642736975002005-03-30T13:56:00.000-08:002005-03-30T14:35:36.830-08:00Frank Hague is not deadDespite the real estate boom, Jersey City is still a city run by political hacks of the highest order. The city has perceived that there is a crime problem at night along certain commercial strips. Their solution? Institute a curfew on businesses along those strips. So anyone who wanted a late-night snack would just be out of luck. It is obviously an established fact exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1110575257753199512005-03-11T13:00:00.000-08:002005-03-11T13:07:37.756-08:00It's deja vu all over againThe number of homeless persons I see on the streets of New York has been increasing steadily for the past couple of years. This phenomenon isn't getting the attention it did in the 1980s, but it is starting to look the Koch administration all over again. Winter weather has driven many of these people into Penn Station and they do not appear to be getting any help exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1109194102210098452005-02-23T13:18:00.000-08:002005-02-23T13:28:22.213-08:00The GatesFor the record, this is one New Yorker who is in favor of The Gates project. The installation accomplishes what I believe all Christo/Jean-Claude works do: It makes you see a familiar place with fresh eyes. I have enjoyed visiting Central Park for years, but a week ago Sunday I saw many aspects of the park I had previously overlooked.And let us not underestimate the value of a exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1107552959977190762005-02-04T13:24:00.000-08:002005-02-04T13:35:59.976-08:0045 years to upgrade the subway's electrical systems?
So after forty-five years will we have an electrical system that is state-of-the-art for 2005, similar to how we currently have a system that was good by 1930 standards? One hopes that if it takes that long to upgrade the system that they keep up with technological innovations that occur over the years.
That said, who can believe the exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1107058546630076312005-01-29T20:09:00.000-08:002005-01-29T20:15:46.630-08:00Bravo for Richard Codey
The asses who make a living as "shock jocks" deserve to be called out much more often than they have been. Governor Codey has been a vocal advocate of increased aid for people suffering from mental illness during his years in the New Jersey state legislature and he is continuing this advocacy as Governor. Goodness knows we need more leaders to take similar positions on exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1104442718405978472004-12-30T13:29:00.000-08:002004-12-30T13:38:38.406-08:00Giuliani should just shut up
He was never a real New Yorker and he never represented us well until 9/11. And if the death and destruction of 9/11 were not horrible enough, we have had to listen to likes of Giuliani, Kerik, Pataki, and W. make hay out of that tragedy for the past three years. It is just disgusting.
Giuliani was always a bully. And a grandstander. He does not deserve all the exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1104442091370306382004-12-30T13:14:00.000-08:002004-12-30T13:28:11.370-08:00Jerry Orbach
Lenny Briscoe was a great character. There have been many depictions of NYPD detectives over the years on both the big and the small screens, but Orbach's portrayal was one of the best. Briscoe reminded me of my Uncle Gene, who was an NYPD detective for many years; Gene, like Briscoe, was also a no b.s. guy who had a good heart underneath it all.
I first noticed Jerry Orbach in exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1103767490007051672004-12-22T18:00:00.000-08:002004-12-22T18:04:50.006-08:00Jack Newfield, R.I.P.
We have lost one of the greatest journalists of our era. New York will miss Jack Newfield. He never lost his passion to fight injustice, whether he was excoriating slumlords or corrupt boxing promoters. Here's to writers who never forgot their working class roots.exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1102976437719331902004-12-13T14:13:00.000-08:002004-12-13T14:20:37.720-08:00Regarding Bernard Kerik
...remember, he is accustomed to working in a climate that celebrated audacity and protected insiders. He must have thought that, as in his City Hall days, he was still immune.
Joyce Purnick in The New York Times
Read the entire column here.
exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1102019218173565062004-12-02T13:12:00.000-08:002004-12-02T12:26:58.173-08:00Why is Jon Corzine running for governor?
He spent over sixty million dollars four years ago to convince New Jersey voters to put him in the Senate. And what has he done there? I don't believe he did a hot job as the Chair of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee this year either, given the loss of Democratic seats. I agree with Corzine on many issues, but he is starting to seem like a exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1101773250825586952004-11-29T15:48:00.000-08:002004-11-29T16:07:30.826-08:00Long Island and how it got that way
Where are these men going to go? They should go back home to where their home is. There is no pot of gold here unless they can do it legally.
Brookhaven Town Council member Geraldine Esposito, in reference to the influx of immigrant day laborers to her town.
The New York Times reports today about the growing problems between recent immigrants (both legal andexposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1101058224190510062004-11-21T08:55:00.000-08:002004-11-21T09:30:24.190-08:00No to West Essex County
Towns (such as Cedar Grove, Montclair, and Verona) that wish to secede from Essex County and form a new county are misguided. The costs of duplicating the services currently provided by Essex County would outstrip any purported savings the secession would provide.exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1100317677625550352004-11-12T19:44:00.000-08:002004-11-12T19:47:57.626-08:00No service cuts!
Higher fares on the subways, buses, and trains are better than service cuts. Before fares are raised, however, it is imperative that the MTA put tolls on all the crossings into Manhattan in order to reduce its deficit. Make the people who drive in from Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx and who add to New York's congestion and pollution pay for that privilege before forcing exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1099692699376922442004-11-05T14:09:00.000-08:002004-11-05T14:11:39.376-08:00License plates
What is the State of New York doing issuing special license plates for out-of-state colleges and sports teams? And if fraternities and sororities can have their own license plates why can't organizations such as Move On have their own license plates?exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1099670015433758422004-11-05T07:34:00.000-08:002004-11-05T11:15:10.136-08:00Tourists from the heartland
This morning the subway car I rode in also carried a number of tourists from other parts of the U.S. I am wondering what the motivation is for those of us in New York to be courteous to Bush voters from areas that will never be significant targets of terrorism. Those of us in New York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, etc. are the people who exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1099668403436670172004-11-05T07:23:00.000-08:002004-11-05T07:26:43.436-08:00Futility
There are few cirumstances that underscore the impotence of a corporate middle manager from the suburbs more than watching one's train pull away as one approaches the railroad station.exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1099536153300255972004-11-03T18:36:00.000-08:002004-11-03T18:42:33.300-08:00Secaucus Junction
I had the occasion to use the new Secaucus Junction railroad station for the first time yesterday. It is impressive. It is clean, spacious, well-lit, and equipped with informative signage. It also had less than a hundred people using it while I was there at the height of the evening rush hour. It cost a huge amount of money to build this station that slows down almost everyexposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1098918194552459382004-10-27T15:45:00.000-07:002004-10-27T16:03:14.553-07:00Newtown Holders
I miss the Elmhurst gas tanks. I also miss the Greenpoint gas tanks, but I miss the Elmhurst gas tanks more; they went up and down and thus one did not know what they would look like until one could see them. I wish they had left both sets of gas tanks standing.
The landscape of my childhood was bounded by the Greenpoint gas tanks to the west and the Elmhurst gas tanks to the exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1094258714204859852004-09-03T17:43:00.000-07:002004-09-03T17:45:14.203-07:00Good riddance
So New York has survived the Republican National Convention. Aside from Mike Bloomberg, how many New Yorkers actually believe this was worth the expense and the trouble?exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1092345996760424852004-08-12T14:00:00.000-07:002004-08-12T14:26:36.760-07:00Jim McGreevey has been a good governor
It is a shame that Governor McGreevey feels that he must resign due an extra-marital affair. If the reported sexual harassment lawsuit against him materializes that is, of course, a serious matter, but I cannot help but believe that a straight person in his situation wouldn't be resigning; that person would probably stick it out, as Bill Clinton did. The exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1090547108338327212004-07-22T18:28:00.000-07:002004-07-22T18:45:08.336-07:00On the # 11 bus in Newark
On Wednesday evening there were power outages causing major delays on all westbound trains leaving Penn Station, so I took a train that looked as if it might get me to Newark, which would be most of the way home. After a long wait in the tunnel, we eventually made it to Newark Penn Station, where I caught the # 11 bus to Bloomfield. It was hot and humid outside, and exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1088902217951902402004-07-03T17:50:00.000-07:002004-07-03T17:50:17.950-07:00Get a new job!
Apparently Mayor Bloomberg believes that the hundreds of thousands of people who will be inconvenienced by the "security" measures put into place for the Republican National Convention should "get a life." The hell with him. He isn't a business owner or commuter who must deal with the street closings and closing of exits at Penn Station. This is leadership? If we want "big exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1088692230209791212004-07-01T07:26:00.000-07:002004-07-01T07:30:30.210-07:00OUTRAGEOUS!
Amtrak believes that by creating massive disruptions and discomfort during the Republican National Convention for commuters who use Penn Station that they will effectively discourage many people from using Penn Station and thus "reduce" the impact of these disruptions. Why don't they just close the subways and railroads while they are at it; that way no one will use Penn Station andexposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1087358905266808672004-06-15T21:07:00.000-07:002004-06-15T21:08:25.266-07:00Isn't it about time that the City of New York seceded from the State of New York?
New York's state government was once the model for the rest of the nation. Governor Al Smith presided over a reform of state government that overhauled a broken system and ushered in an era of good government that was continued by Franklin Roosevelt and Herbert Lehman. Unfortunately the likes of Smith, FDR, and exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1086314856260120982004-06-03T19:01:00.000-07:002004-06-03T19:07:36.260-07:00Football stadium boondoggle plans move along
Today's news carries the story of how the City of New York and the State of New York each intend to spend $400 million (respectively) of taxpayer money on building this proposed West Side football stadium. Given that some of the money they are planning to draw upon for this boondoggle was intended to help build low-income housing, one is forced to exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1085534838467141132004-05-25T17:56:00.000-07:002004-06-01T17:43:52.646-07:00Penn Station should stay open during the Republican Convention
I have lived in a city while it hosted a Democratic National Convention four times (New York in 1976, 1980, and 1992; Atlanta in 1988). On each of those occasions security was tight at the convention hall. I will never forget how intimidated I felt upon seeing all the mounted police officers surrounding Madison Square Garden (MSG) exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1085327703186344662004-05-23T08:49:00.000-07:002004-05-28T15:08:49.713-07:00No to the West Side Stadium, Yes to Extending the 7 Train and Expanding the Javits Center
How many times must cities in North America spend hundreds of millions of dollars on stadiums for professional sports teams before they learn it is a lousy investment? Football-only stadiums are particularly egregious wastes of money since they get used for a maximum of twelve games a year (two preseason exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1085327345831889662004-05-23T08:47:00.000-07:002004-05-23T08:49:05.830-07:00Bloomberg Is Right
At least Mayor Bloomberg sees the absurdity of outlawing unlicensed photography on the subways.exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1085178640232454642004-05-21T15:22:00.000-07:002004-05-21T15:30:40.233-07:00An LIRR tunnel into lower Manhattan is not the best use of our limited transit dollars
The Second Avenue Subway, the LIRR connection to Grand Central Station, a Metro North connection to Penn Station, additional tunnel space between New Jersey and Penn Station, a subway connection to LaGuardia Airport, a single-train connection to JFK, and a Cross Harbor Freight Tunnel (from Brooklyn to New exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-1085177528740183492004-05-21T15:05:00.000-07:002004-05-21T15:19:06.080-07:00No photographs in the subway?
National security is the argument made in favor of every restriction on our freedoms. So now taking pictures on the NYCTA trains and buses is going to be illegal without a permit if the TA gets its way. Why not ban sketching on public transporation while we are at it? The terrorists could be sending people into the subway right now in order to sketch the layout exposito63noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5050076.post-891063742003-02-14T11:24:00.000-08:002003-02-14T11:24:40.660-08:00Buses are for losers.
I say this a daily rider of buses. In the transportation food chain of the New York area, there is no lower form of transportation than the bus. Even those pedicabs one sees in the warmer months are higher in the transportation food chain; they are acutually capable of getting through some of the traffic jams that buses get stuck in.
Buses are transportation for exposito63noreply@blogger.com0