Gotta Love New Yorkers

When it comes to New Yorkers, we are audacious bunch of people, in ways both good and bad. Recently I have read about a few things that New Yorkers, both past and present, have done that have both inspired and shocked me, filled me with hope as well as dread, reminding me about what people in this town can do, for better or worse. For example:

There's the story of Neir's Tavern out in Queens -- the oldest one in NYC and one of the oldest in the United States, dating back almost 200 years -- that was literally hours away from closing. But then the mayor, the community, as well as some landlords who came to their senses, were able to broker a deal and keep the legendary pub open. It was a beautiful example of people uniting in a good cause to do something for the common good and prevailing, keeping part of our history alive. New Yorkers at their best!

Then there's Hope Consolo. Who was she? She was a very successful real estate broker in NYC for decades who died a few years ago. At first, upon her death, retrospectives of her life story had made it seem like she was an admirable woman who has forged a great career. In reality? She was a fraud. She lied about her background, her accomplishments, and was a sleazy and dishonest a businessperson. Her revised obituary makes for fascinating reading because it's a story of pure sociopathy, pure greed, pure vanity, pure heartlessness. If you wonder how another dishonest real estate person from NYC made it to the White House, this deep-dive into the life of this lesser known person gives you a glimpse into the fetid world of NYC real estate world they both operated in and that is now stinking up the country.

Another person with a less than savory legacy is William O'Dwyer. He was mayor in the late 1940s and his entire mayoralty was basically a tool for the mafia. He was controlled by organized crime. In 1950, just months into his second terms, he resigned, left the country, and never returned. The story of his rise and fall is fascinating and depressing, the story of a time in our city's history when its government was not being run for the benefit of its people. The story its like something out of a crime movie -- but it was depressingly real.

But then there's The Snowy Day. This is a great children's book by the NYC born author Ezra Jack Keats. Published in 1962, it's a very simple story about a young black boy who goes out and plays with the snow. The story is so simple and so beautifully told that it's become a classic. It won the Caldecott Medal in 1963 but it's now won an even bigger prize -- it's the most checked out book in the history of the New York Public Library, having been checked out almost half a million times. That's more than any Harry Potter book, more than any Dr. Seuss book, more than any other book ever. I've read this story to my kids many times and the fact that I'm sharing this story with them along with hundres of thousands of other NYC kids, is heartwarming indeed.