The Eric Adams Saga Isn't Over

There's a very simple, easily understandable quote from the political lexicon: "Elections have consequences." When the body politic chooses one person and/or party over another and imbues them with power, we the people live with the consequences of their actions, and those who work for them, for years to  come -- even after they leave office.

Former Mayor Eric Adams has been out of office for over a year. He's easy to forget, and most people want to. Apparently he's been reduced to traveling to Wisconsin to pitch data centers to an unwilling populace -- and, like his time as mayor, it's been a big failure.

But even though Adams and his cronies are out of office, many of them are either on trial or facing trial for their corruption. The consequences of the single Adams' term is that, perhaps for years to come, there will be stories about this weird, dark chapter in NYC's story. 

Here is a helpful summary, courtesy of AI:

The corruption investigations surrounding former New York City Mayor Eric Adams and his administration have resulted in multiple criminal indictments, trials, and high-profile arrests. While Adams himself was indicted on federal bribery and campaign finance charges in 2024 (charges that were later dismissed by the Justice Department to prevent a distraction during a federal immigration crackdown), federal and local prosecutors have continuously arrested and charged a string of his top aides and close allies. The primary figures in the Adams administration facing arrests and criminal charges include:

Major Arrests and Indictments 

 • Frank Carone (Former Chief of Staff): Arrested by federal agents in June 2026. Carone was indicted alongside his brother Anthony and two hotel operators on federal charges of bribery, wire fraud, and money laundering conspiracy. Prosecutors allege Carone used his position at City Hall to steer a $6.8 million emergency migrant shelter contract to a Queens hotel that city housing officials had explicitly deemed unsuitable, pocketing roughly $120,000 in kickbacks. He has pleaded not guilty. 

• Eric Ulrich (Former Department of Buildings Commissioner & Senior Adviser): Arrested and indicted by the Manhattan District Attorney's office in September 2023. Ulrich went to trial in October 2026 for a sweeping bribery scheme. Prosecutors allege Ulrich accepted more than $150,000 in cash, Mets season tickets, and other perks in exchange for utilizing his official powers to lift safety vacate orders and grant political favors for real estate and business associates. 

• Ingrid Lewis-Martin (Former Top Chief Advisor): Resigned and faced a series of corruption indictments by the Manhattan District Attorney. She is accused of accepting over $75,000 in bribes to bypass the expertise of city public servants and fast-track structural and construction approvals. 

• Mohamed Bahi (Former Senior Liaison): Charged federally in late 2024 with witness tampering and destroying evidence, specifically deleting a messaging app during the FBI investigation into the mayor’s campaign fundraising. 

• Dwayne Herbert (Former City Hall Aide): Charged in October 2026 for allegedly pocketing kickbacks from community program funds. He is accused of pressuring a power company to funnel money to a non-profit while acting as an "ally in City Hall" with the ear of administration leadership. 

Related Resignations & Raids (Uncharged) While not directly under arrest, several other top tier officials in Adams' immediate inner circle had their homes raided and cell phones seized by federal investigators, which ultimately triggered a wave of high-profile resignations that dismantled his administration: 

• Edward Caban: Former NYPD Police Commissioner (resigned after IRS/FBI raids). 

• David C. Banks & Philip Banks III: Former Schools Chancellor and Deputy Mayor for Public Safety (both resigned following FBI device seizures). 

• Sheena Wright: Former First Deputy Mayor (home searched by federal agents). 

• Current/Former NYPD Leadership: In June 2026, federal agents executed separate search warrants on the properties of former NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey and other top police officials as part of a distinct, ongoing bribery probe.

3 Million Plus

As they say, the first million is the hardest. It took 18 years to get a million clicks on Mr NYC but then, within a year, it got to two million. 

And now, just a few months later, here we are: three million clicks! 

Not bad. Onwards. Upwards!

Gawker, Oligarchs, Nate Jacobs & Newton's Third Law

Recently I was reading a long article about the 10-year "anniversary" of the fall of Gawker -- the early 2000s and 2010s NYC gossip blog that was known for being nasty, funny, and totally no-holds-barred in whom it covered and lampooned (including reporting on Harvey Weinstein's predations long before the rest of the media). As Chatgtp summarizes Gawker's history:

"Gawker.com was a highly influential American gossip and media blog founded in 2002 by Nick Denton. It became known for sharp, sarcastic coverage of media, politics, technology, and celebrity culture, especially focused on New York media insiders and internet culture.

Key things about Gawker:

• It helped define the “blog era” of the 2000s alongside sites like Gizmodo, Jezebel, Deadspin, and Kotaku, which were all part of the larger Gawker Media network.
• The site mixed investigative reporting with aggressive gossip and commentary.
• It became famous — and controversial — for publishing leaked information, embarrassing stories about public figures, and a blunt editorial tone.

The site effectively ended after a major lawsuit involving wrestler Hulk Hogan. In 2012, Gawker published excerpts of a private sex tape involving Hogan. He sued for invasion of privacy and won a $140 million judgment in 2016. The lawsuit was secretly funded by billionaire Peter Thiel, who had longstanding grievances against Gawker after it publicly outed him as gay years earlier.

The verdict forced Gawker Media into bankruptcy, and its assets were sold to Univision. The original Gawker site shut down in 2016."

When it shut down, Nick Denton wrote its last post called "How Things Work" about how wealthy and powerful people can abuse, lie, and destroy -- and get away with it. It's not unconincidental that a few months later Trump was elected president and the reign of the oligarchs -- Musk, Zuckerberg, Bezos, the Eillisons, and others -- began. And not since the Gilded Age has American government, media, and life been this corrupt and cruel, acting with impunity, treating everyone as either an employee or an enemy, absorbing or ruining everything and everyone in its way. 

Gawker spoke truth to power -- so naturally power destroyed it.

And yet ... Newton's Third Law of Motion still exists: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. You see this in the opposition to Trump: the massive No Kings protests, the election results that are going horribly for his party, the surge of independent media cracking open the truth. 

Monsters and despots are eventually destroyed -- Caligula, Napoleon, Hitler, and countless others. 

I've watching the third season of the HBO show Euphoria. In the first two seasons, the character of Nate Jacobs (playing brilliantly by Jacob Elordi) is everything that's wrong with American men today: his large size, goodlooks, and family's wealthy allows him to abuse men and women, commit crimes (and get away with it) and just generally be an asshole. 

And yet ... karma eventually comes for Nate. Character is fate -- and the horrible Nate has, not shockingly, gotten deeply into debt after conning a gangster out of money. Naturally the gangster comes to collect -- and it comes in the form of beating Nate senseless and cutting off his pinky toe, and on his wedding day no less! No one feels sorry for him -- his years of abuse and impunity towards those weaker than him has lead him to this point ... and now a force more powerful than him is striking back, horrifcally.

One day the monsters ruling out world will be get their commupance -- and they can only hope that they will have all their fingers and toes and limbs at the end of it.

Two Million & Up

So today Mr NYC hit another milestone -- two million views!

It took 18 years to get to one million but -- whatyaknow?! -- in just another a year this blog has doubled its total views.

The first million truly is the hardest. It's all compound views from now on!

Congratulations ... to me!

Remembering Francis Ellen Work: Princess Diana's NYC Great-Grandma

There are, and have been, royal scandals galore -- Mrs Fitzherbert! Mayerling! Rasputin! Wallis Simpson! Epstein! Megxit! 

And, of course, Diana.

Her notoriously failed 1980s marriage to the then-Prince of Wales/now King Charles III has become the stuff of legend. 

The irony is that, while the marriage itself was a failure, as a royal union it was a huge success: Diana produced an heir and a spare, and they've now produced heirs and spares. The marriage of Charles and Diana may not have lasted but its legacy has kept the dynastic royal line for the House of Windsor secure for the rest of this century.

But did you know that the future Monarchs of the United Kingdom have not only American but also NYC blood?

See, Princess Diana's great-grandma was a New York-native named Frances Ellen Work. She was a classic "dollar bride", a rich new money American who married a broke English bloke with a title.

The marriage was as big a disaster as Frances Ellen's great-granddaughter's -- and Frances' father forced them to get divorced and bring her two sons back to America (much like Queen Elizabeth would force her son to divorce Diana and hand over their two sons). Frances Ellen's rich American father not only hated his British ex-son-in-law but gnerally hated the lust of Britain's nobility for American women and money. 

And here we get to a hinge of history.

Frances Ellen's father stipulated in his will that his sons must never go back to England. They must agree never to set foot in the UK or forfeit their $14 million inheritance. But, when the old man died, the sons appealed to their relatives -- who had also inherited money -- to see if they would agree to waive this clause and let them get their cash without the travel restriction. They agreed. And then one of the sons, Edmund, moved to the UK, married a woman named Ruth, and they had a daughter named Frances. This Frances then married Viscount Spencer and their daughter Diana would then go into history.

Imagine, for moment, if Edmund's relative's had so no. Imagine if they had enforced this clause. Edmund wouldn't have moved to the UK, married, and fathered Princess Diana's mother. And the course of British and world history would be very different.

But it's not. And one day the crown of the UK will be worn by someone with NYC lineage. 

Listen to this great podcast about the life and legacy of Frances Ellen Work. It's a story of booze, bucks, broads, gambling, divorce, and glittering crown.

What Does AI Think of Mr NYC?

Last year I asked Chat GPT to describe this blog. You can read it here.

And now I've asked Grok and Google AI to describe this blog and got the following:

Google AI:

The blog mrnyc.blogspot.com is a "fun, upbeat, and thoughtful blog about this great city". It aims to capture the "soul of the world's greatest city" and is described as "part of the NYC underground". The blog appears to cover various aspects of New York City life and culture. The author, sometimes identified as [REDACTED], maintains an active presence on platforms like X (formerly Twitter) under the handle @MrNYCBlog and Facebook. The blog has been running for almost two decades and has reached a considerable milestone, having been clicked on over a million times.

Grok:

The website https://mrnyc.blogspot.com/ is a blog titled "Mr NYC," dedicated to capturing the spirit and culture of New York City. It describes itself as "Blogging the soul of the world's greatest city. Part of the NYC underground. Feel free to comment!" The blog covers a wide range of topics related to NYC, including its history, culture, media, politics, and notable figures, often with a personal and opinionated perspective.

Key points about the blog based on its content: 

• Focus: It explores various aspects of NYC life, from apartment living and late-night television to local politics and cultural events. Posts often reflect on the city's unique character, its underground scene, and its historical significance.
  
  
• Content Style: The blog combines personal anecdotes, cultural commentary, and critiques of current events. For example, it discusses the significance of NYC in late-night TV history, the impact of apartment living, and political developments like the NYC mayoral race.
  
  
• Recent Posts: As of July 31, 2025, recent posts include discussions about Awkwafina and Marc Maron talking about Queens, the history of NYC apartment living, the decline of late-night TV in NYC, and political commentary on the NYC mayoral election.
  
  
• Social Media Presence: The blog has associated social media accounts, as mentioned in a post encouraging readers to explore its "multi-tentacled" digital presence.
  
  
• Tone and Perspective: The author often takes a critical stance, particularly towards political and economic issues, as seen in posts criticizing corporate influence in politics and media, and expressing frustration with figures like Mayor Eric Adams and former Governor Cuomo.

The blog is hosted on Blogspot and has been active for years, with posts referencing earlier writings (e.g., a 2018 post about a Stephen Colbert show taping). It positions itself as an independent voice in the NYC cultural landscape, often highlighting lesser-known or nostalgic aspects of the city.

Architecture & the City

The apartment is the heart and soul of NYC living.

Yes, many of us live in houses but the vast majority of NYC's 8.5 million residents live in apartments, from rich to poor, young to old, of every religion, race, color, creed, gender, nationality, in every borough. 

This city would not be what it is without apartments.

So what are the most common kind of NYC apartments -- and how did most New Yorkers end of living in them? Was it inevitable? 

These two fascinating videos give some insight and history into how apartment living became de rigueur for New Yorkers, what so many of us call home.

Zohran Wins, Heads Explode

Now Zohran hasn't actually won the mayoralty -- he still has to win the general election in November. It looks like there's going be a cluttered and super nasty general election campaign. He'll be up against the Republican candidate, the always crazy Curtis Sliwa, and Mayor Adams himself, running as an independent.  

Expect super racist, fear-mongering propaganda to flood NYC for the next four to five months -- the NY Post will go nuts on him, and he'll get little actual support from the Democratic party. 

And you should also watch this interview from CNBC who gives you an insight into his enemies minds. This prick totally contradicts himself when he says that city hasn't recovered since COVID but there's also not enough housing to match the city's job creation. Dig the logic: "The city is in crises, people are leaving! And too many people want to live here!" The truth: NYC has a bigger population than ever before, 8.4 million. Between 2010 and 2020 over 600,000 people moved in -- that's the equivalent of the entirety of Miami moving here. The DEMAND to live here is greater than the SUPPLY to house everyone -- that's capitalism, something I thought CNBC understood. And usually demands increases, and therefore prices go up, because it's a highly desirable product.

People move in and out of NYC all the time for work, family issues, life changes, many reasons, that's been true since the time the Dutch ruled this town. This focus on how rich people feel about this town is gross -- without a vibrant middle class that can afford to live here we'll turn into a dead city. I don't know if Zohran can actually achieve his goals but the voters clearly want someone who'll try.

I strongly advise watching these two videos from the Bulwark, one that analysis Zohran's victory and the other with an interview with Zohran himself. He's a natural politician, a super talent, one of a kind. 

Something I also learned: he's another Morningside Heights kid! Zohran, George Carlin, Fiona Apple and moi are all residents of those strange streets around Columbia University. Very cool. 

Also, apparently Zohran did very well in Waterfront NYC -- Queens (Astoria, LIC) and Brooklyn (Williamsburg, Gowanus) that's now being renamed the Commie Coast. Cute. 

Mr NYC Makes a Million

Well, it finally happened.

After almost two decades of this blog's existence, we reached a considerable milestone: a million hits!

Yes, you read that right, Mr NYC has been clicked on over a million times.

Considering that I do no promotion or any real flacking for this blog, that its subject matter is very niche, that its content is very mild (I don't really write sensational or "flaming" posts), there's no pictures of naked chicks or anythig racy like that, that's it kind of earnest and straightforward (like its creator), finally getting to a million "readers" (or hits) ain't bad.

I don't know how many of these hits are bots or whatever but, hey, I'll take.

Now on to the next million!

Curse of the Comptroller

In the final season of The Crown, Prince Charles ruminates: "To be Prince of Wales is not a position -- it's a predicament." 

The same is true of the American Vice-Presidency. Much like the Prince of Wales, the job is mainly just to exist, to be ... there ... until the top job opens up ... or not.

Right now the American Vice-Presidency is under a microscope -- as President Biden steps aside, his Vice-President, Kamala Harris, is being vaulted to become the 2024 Democratic nominee for President (and, God willing, will be elected President in November). And President Biden, of course, was Vice-President just a few years ago.

And, yes, two years ago Prince Charles in real life became King Charles. 

Eventually the predicament of being #2, the understudy waiting in the wings, comes to an end, one way or another (for the previous Vice-President, Mike Pence, it almost ended when his President, Donald Trump, sent a violent mob to attack him).

As the 2024 presidential race gets hotter and wilder, the 2025 NYC Mayor's race is being quietly talked about. Mayor Eric Adams is not popular and several people are being spoken about challenging him next year. Amongst the rumored candidates are Scott Stringer and Brad Lander, the former and current Comptrollers of NYC. 

Much like the Prince of Wales or Vice-President, the NYC Comptroller is also a predicament. Now, unlike those jobs, it does have some real substance to it -- the Comptroller is the Chief Fiscal Officer of the city, overseeing the city's accounts, running audits of city agencies, managing the pension system, issuing bonds, reviewing and approving city contracts, etc. It's a very important position, and it's overall job is to make sure NYC tax dollars are spent legally, ethically, and transparently.

However, what makes the job a predicament is that it simply doesn't have the powers or glamour of the mayoralty -- the Comptroller is the CFO, not the CEO of the city, doesn't get to sign or veto legislation, doesn't get to set government policy, doesn't appoint agency heads, and doesn't get to live rent-free in a mansion. It's a job that's so close and yet so far from the top job, existing across a chasm that's a foot wide and a million feet deep.

On paper, the Comptrollership should be the perfect launching pad for the mayoralty. It's a citywide elected position, it has real power, and the comptroller's name is often in the media. And yet the last NYC Comptroller to be elected mayor was Abe Beame back in 1973 -- since then, almost every single Comptroller has run for mayor and lost, often badly. For more than half a century the #2 job, the job that seems like the perfect political stepping-stone to #1, has instead proven to be a political banana peal. 

Not for nothing, NYC political wags have come to believe in "the curse of the comptroller." 

Of course, in every election, there have been various, often forgotten reasons, why these Comptrollers have never become mayor. But it will very interesting to see if, next year, two Comptrollers run and if either of them can actually topple Adams and become mayor. 

If so, then the "curse of the comptroller" will be lifted. If not, it will be doubled. 

Review: "Escape from New York" (1981) and "Single White Female" (1992)

If you pay attention to the news, the media is full of hysterical fearmongering, trying to convince the denizens of this 8.8 million strong burg that it's a crime ridden hell-hole, a dystopia of sorts.

This, of course, is nonsense -- crime remains WAY lower than it was even twenty-years ago, the city is quite safe -- but fear sells, helps otherwise unpopular (i.e. Republican) politicians get elected, the media does everything to help them, and they use it to pursue an agenda in government that no one actually likes. 

It's happened before and will go on and on, ad infinitum. 

New York City is in no ways a dystopia but the image of the city as some kind of scary place persists. Obviously this has been captured in movies such as Taxi Driver and The Warriors from the 1970s, at a time when the city really did seem to be verging on the dystopic.

Two other movies, very different in premise and plot, show another way that NYC might be dystopic. They couldn't be more different in story and tone, as one is totally surreal and out-there while the other is disturbingly believable and possible -- and something some New Yorkers have really dealt with.

Escape from New York (1981) by John Carpenter is about how Manhattan island, in the year 1997(!) has become a literal wall-off prison where the most dangerous criminals have been sent to live out their lives in an abandoned urban jungle. When Air Force One crashes into the island (thanks to terrorists from the Soviet Union which the USA is at war with), a prisoner named Snake (Kurt Russell) is sent-in to rescue the President in 24-hours -- or he'll literally die. Along the way, he recruits a bizarro cab driver played by Ernest Borgnine and a man from Snake's past played by Harry Dean Stanton. There's also a hot chick and lots of weirdos who follow Snake on his mission, trying to free the president from the crime lord who rules this hell-hole played by, of all people, Isaac Hayes (he of "Shaft" fame). While the premise from Escape from New York is insane, it's a remarkably straight-forward and smartly paced action movie -- and unlike movies today that are non-stop action sequences with tiny bits of plot, in this movie the plot drives the action, and there actually isn't that much violence. And Kurt Russell shows what a great leading man he is, and why he's had a very long career. If you want to see the ultimate NYC as dystopia movie, this is it. 

Then there's Single White Female (1992). Now this is a scary movie -- it should have been called These White Bitches Are Crazy! This is a believably dystopic story -- in fact, the only unbelievable thing about it is that two underemployed women could afford a huge apartment in the Ansonia. This is about how the greatest danger you can find in this city might literally be in your own home! Bridget Fonda stars as a woman named Allie who finds out that her handsome fiance is cheating so she kicks him out and gets a roommate named Hedy (Jennifer Jason Leigh, brilliant as always). At first Allie and Hedy get along great, become friends, and life seems good. But when Allie gets back together with the fiance, all goes wrong -- Hedy becomes jealous, starts to pretend to be Allie, tries to seduce the fiance, tries to take over herself and become Allie -- and all hell breaks loose. This is the NYC  dystopia in the form of the roommate from hell, how our worst dystopia isn't a city full of criminals but a house full of craziness. It's also just a really good  mainstream thriller, the kind of movie they don't make anymore. 

Of course, if NYC had someone who helped to make the city a transportation dystopia that persists to this day -- Robert Moses, the 20th century "master builder" who rammed highways all over town and starved public transportation. There's a new play about him on Broadway played by, of all people, Ralph Fiennes called Straight Line Crazy. Believe it or not, even though it's about a famous New Yorker, this play is a fully British production -- Brit actor, writer, and director, first premiering at the National Theater in London. This news story about the play is fascinating -- watching Ralph Fiennes describe how Robert Moses wanted to thrust a highway in Lower Manhattan is bizarre and amazing to watch. 

Mr NYC: 500,000 and Counting

I don't obsess over the number of people who read or have read Mr NYC over the years -- this blog is such a niche thing and lives such an underground existence that it's amazing anyone besides me and two other people have read it.

But a lot more than two people have!

It took 15+ years but, as of today, Mr NYC has been read over half-a-million times. 

Considering that I certainly don't advertise, don't promote, or am heavily linked elsewhere, that's not bad. More people than live in the entire borough of Staten Island have read this blog and hopefully it won't take another 15 years to hit a cool million. 

Onwards!

The Future Face of NYC

In the almost fifteen years of this blog's existence, I've written a lot about how the "face" of NYC keeps changing, transforming, evolving. It's inevitable that in a city of almost nine-million people that the physical, economic, political, and cultural infrustructure of it will forever alter itself.

Old buildings will be torn down, new ones raised. Some businesses will close, new ones will open. Politicians of various stripes will leave office, new ones will replace them. Shows and cultural institutions will dissapear, new ones will appear. It's a cycle, the constant churn of the city, the forever changing face of NYC.

Recently -- talking about a cultural institution that vanished and reappeared -- the sequel series to Sex and the City, And Just Like That, has inspired writers to look at how different NYC has become in 2021-2022 compared to the show's original run from 1998-2004. As this article indicates, the show feels less inspiring, less fun, in part, because the city of today feels less inspiring and fun than the one in the original show. It's vastly more gentrified, sleek, overbuilt, and boring -- plus it's been dealing with a pandemic. A young colleague of mine who recently discovered the original show has told me about her fascination of the NYC portrayed in Sex and the City -- it seems like another, wilder, funner, cheaper world. Even though the first show ended less than twenty-years ago, it feel literally like a whole different planet. It's amazing to contrast the NYC of And Just Like That to the 1950s, 1960s city of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. That city feels not only like another world, but another universe. 

But that's just the NYC of the popular imagination, popular culture, as re-interpreted by TV. The future of NYC is always, always determined by it's phyiscal shape, economy, and politics. And that's changing, big time.

Within the next fifteen years, by the time this blog celebrates its 30th (!) anniversary, the following developments will have profoundly altered the face and life of NYC:

First, there's the Interborough Express, a reconstituted freight train line that will be turned into rapid transit connecting Brooklyn and Queens. Until now, there has never been any good public transportation between the city's two biggest (by far) boroughs, and this be a big change. It will originate at Woodside, snake through Maspeth, Middle Village and Ridgewood, then curl into Bushwick, Brownsville, Flatbush, Borough Park, and terminate at Bayridge. It will connect to the 2, 3, 5, 7, B, D, F, Q, and R subway lines, plus various bus lines. It will be the most massive expansion of public transporation in this city in a century, make commuting to and from and between those neighborhoods and boroughs much easier, dramatically lower car and subway congestion, and its impact on housing values and businesses in the areas it serves will be immense. 

Second, casinos -- they're coming to NYC. There's the Racino way out in Queens but there are plans -- and new laws supporting them -- that will allow the construction of casinos all over the city. This city is, not suprisingly, the nation's biggest untapped casino market, and the city loses huge amounts of tax revenue that goes to Atlantic City and casinos out on Native American reservations. A whole new industry, a whole new tourist and cultural magnet, will have a massive impact on the cultural and economic life of NYC. No longer will people be coming here just for culture and history -- they'll be coming here to drop their kids college funds into slot machines, to "let it ride." 

Third, and final (for now), is the political map of NYC and the whole state. For decades and decades, the New York State Legislature had divided political control -- Democrats controlled the Assembly, Republicans controlled the State Senate. This wasn't an accident. When both parties got control of the respective chambers, they made a deal to gerrymander their districts, their political maps, basically guarenteeing each party control for each chamber. This lasted from the 1970s to the 2010s. It was unnatural, ridiculous, corrupt. But a few years ago the Democrats got control of the State Senate and now -- with a Democratic Assembly and Governor -- they are gerrymandering the state so that Democrats will control the New York State Legislature for the rest of the decade.

Also, and most controversially, for the first time in over a century, Democrats are able to gerrymander the state's Congressional Districts which could shrink the number of Republican representatives from 7 or 8 to 3 or 4. This means, at a national level, there could be up to four new Democrats in Congress and could, potentially (although not certainly), determine control of the US Congress. 

Needless to say, Republicans in New York and nation-wide are howling, yelling and screaming that Democrats are abusing their power in order to protect and consolidate their power. Obviously the Republicans are hypocrites and liars (what else is new?) because not only are they viciously gerrymandering the numerous states that they control but they engaged in gerrymandering for decades in New York to keep control of the State Senate -- not to mention creating a whole new State Senate district (did you know we have 63? Insane!) and engaging in outright bribery (remember the IDC?) to stay in power. The fact that this state had divided control of the State Senate for so long was because of gerrymandering, it just happened to be bipartisan gerrymandering. Now the state is being re-gerrymandered for Democrats, and there's nothing the Republicans can do about it. It's also a rare display of raw power, a power play, by Democrats and obviously Republicans don't like having to take their own medicine.

In NYC this means that the long-held Republican district in State Island will probably (although not certainly) flip to the Democrats, effectively ending any chance of a Republican representing any part of NYC in Congress. It's fun to watch the loathesome Republican representative bemoan her fate, accusing Democrats of trying to "steal" the seat. No, Democrats are simply using the power that the voters gave them and that's called democracy, something that, we know, Republicans actively want to overthrow.  

So, as you see, New York City is changing all around us and before our eyes. It's changing in our hearts and minds. It never stops and never stops evolving. The face of the city from yesterday, today, and tomorrow will always be diffferent. 

1947 vs. 2021

In 1947 there was a small pox epidemic in NYC and 5 million New Yorkers got vaccinated in two weeks. The COVID-19 vaccines have been available for almost two months and, so far, less than 200,000 New Yorkers have gotten the shot.

What happened?

How did we go from being able to vaccinate nearly the entire city's population in less than a month seventy-four years ago to a tiny fraction of that today in almost two months?

The answer is, quite simply, outsourcing.

Back in 1947, the vaccines were distributed at clinics set up by the Department of Health. New Yorkers went to one in their neighborhood, got the shot, and life went on. It was centralized and efficient -- and fast. But today it's been outsourced to hospitals and medical centers -- i.e. private profit-seekers -- and so it's become a giant strategic and inefficient mess.

It's really quite tragic -- and yet another example of how the so-called "free market" has failed the public. 

"Heaven's Gate" @ 40

Forty years ago today one of the most infamous movie reviews in American history appeared in The New York Times. It was written by Vincent Canby, the most respected movie critic in America, and he was reviewing the new movie Heaven's Gate by director Michael Cimino. Cimino's previous film, The Deer Hunter, had won the Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director the year before. Heaven's Gate had just had its premiere in NYC the night before, and this movie and review were much anticipated.

And movie history changed.

Canby wrote: "'Heaven's Gate' ... fails so completely that you might suspect Mr. Cimino sold his soul to the Devil to obtain the success of 'The Deer Hunter', and the Devil has just come around to collect ... an unqualified disaster."

Ouch. 

United Artists, the studio that had financed and produced this movie, cancelled its scheduled wide-release in December. Cimino went back to the editing room, cutting down his nearly four-hour disaster into a two-and-a-half less-of-a-disaster. It was released in April, 1981 and earned about $1.5 million against a roughly $40 million-plus budget. It was the biggest failure in American history at the time -- and United Artists was sold to MGM and effectively ceased to exist. 

One movie had brought down an entire studio. Like 9/11 or the Trump Presidency or COVID-19, something unthinkable had become quite real.  

Cimino's career nose-dived after this -- he only made four small movies afterwards and then nothing at all before his death in 2016. His career was one of the quickest rises and falls of anyone in the history of movies. Over the years many people related to this movie -- either directly or indirectly -- have shared their memories of this unprecedented flop. It premiered in NYC on November 18th, 1980, and has become perhaps the most infamous movie premiere ever -- a party no one wanted to go to, a party everyone hated, a party that quickly turned into a kind of funeral. It was like being at the election night event for a losing candidate -- a candidate losing big. 

Of course, in the forty years since, many other films have come and gone that failed bigger than Heaven's Gate. But this movie remains the most expensive failure in history -- it took down a studio, one started by, amongst others, Charlie Chaplin. 

What's also sad is that Heaven's Gate had the potential to be a truly great movie -- another Godfather, another Chinatown, another Gone with the Wind. It was a revisionist anti-Western, a re-examination of America's founding myths of the West being this vast welcoming space where immigrants to roam free and realize their dreams. The film, based very loosely on Wyoming history, was about how, in the late 19th century, immigrants were murdered by wealthy cattle barons who resented and feared immigrants' enchroachments on their land (sound familiar?). These murders were, apparently, sanctioned by the Federal Government and President Benjamin Harrison. It was an American genocide, and all perfectly legal. Sadly the movie's notorious production and failure overwhelmed any interest in its plot or the history behind it -- and, instead, it was derided as American history's most expensive "minor footnote."

The movie also became a footnote in Hollywood history, a not-so-gentle reminder that no one controls  or has the final say over history -- any kind of history. 

If you want to more of Mr NYC's Michael Cimino/Heaven's Gate coverage, go here.

NYC Ghosts Redux

Over the years of I've blogged about the ghosts of NYC, and how NYC is and always has been, in some ways, a ghost town.

Recently it's felt like a literal ghost town -- COVID-19 has emptied out the city's streets in ways that were previously unimaginable outside of a horror movie.

But in a city that's always being reborn, constantly changing, evolving, re-imagining itself, a perennial busy body, the relics, the parts of its past that still exist, still endure, are still here -- at least for a while -- reminds us of a previous time, an older city, a different world -- a city that, while mostly gone, isn't as completely gone as people might think. 

Two most additions to the Mr NYC Ghost Canon:

There's the story of a woman who lived in Soho for almost 50 years, supporting herself in odd jobs and selling amateur crafts. She was a regular lady, the kind of middle-class NYC denizen that used to be able to live in Soho no problem, now replaced by the gentrifiers, the uber-wealthy. In 1972 she bought her loft for $15,000 -- and just sold it for $2.4 million. Yes, she's rich now, her loft a goldmine that will fund her later years. But it's gone forever, and all that she has left are the memories of it -- the ghosts of her past and of the city's past. It's amazing that she held out for as long as she did! She's moved out -- but the ghosts will endure. 

Then, there's the Ottoman Empire. NYC is, of course, famous for its immigrant communities, many of which have come to define certain neighborhoods: Greeks and Egyptians in Astoria, Chinese and Italians in Lower Manhattan, Russians in Brighton Beach, Koreans in the East Thirties, Germans and Hungarians on the far Upper East Side, Puerto Ricans and Dominicans in East Harlem and the South Bronx, Eastern Europeans in what is now the East Village, the Hasidim and Orthodox Jews in Williamsburg. Turkish immigrants have never had quite such a defined geographical presence in NYC but, as this article points out, the Turkish imprint in NYC is quite strong, the long gone Ottoman Empire still present in NYC -- you just have to know where to look for it and understand its history. 

The number of ghosts in NYC is forever unknowable. 

Interview: Jean-Pierre Dorleac, International Costume Designer, on His Career and "Quantum Leap"

“Theorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime … "

In the early 1990s, when I was a youngster, the Golden Age of Television had yet to arrive. There were no streaming shows and cable television didn't have many original (or good) shows then. The big networks still ruled absolutely. Hit shows were watched by twenty to thirty million people each week, and even lesser-rated shows got around ten million or so viewers. The audience sizes back then are unimaginable today. This was the era of LA Law, Doogie Howser, thirtysomething, Cheers, The Cosby Show, Growing Pains, Dallas, etc. -- shows about lawyers, doctors, cops, families, etc. which were mostly boring to me and my fellow adolescents. But there was one show that was a huge exception, standing out and shining brightly like a star, a show that my friends and I were utterly obsessed with – Quantum Leap.

Quantum Leap was one part science fiction, one part history lesson of the second half of the twentieth-century, and one part buddy comedy. It’s about a brilliant scientist named Sam Beckett who, in the late 1990s, builds a time machine called Project Quantum Leap and finds himself “leaping” into the bodies and lives of different people at different places in the past. Sam is accompanied on his leaps by his friend from the future, Al – a cigar-chomping, quip-a-minute retired Navy man who appears as a hologram (Al steps into something called an imaging chamber at Project Quantum Leap linked to Sam’s brain, and only Sam can see and hear him – except for, as we learn, small children and the mentally disabled). In each episode, Al tells Sam what history he must change, what he needs to “make right that once went wrong” so that Sam can then “leap out” and into a new adventure or – as is always teased – back home to the future.

And for a show about time-travel, it’s fair to say that Quantum Leap was way ahead of its time. When Sam landed in a new place and time each week, the episode would hook the viewers in with the music and clothes and scenery – and that would brilliantly set the stage to introduce the characters and, more deeply, force us to confront much that was uncomfortable in our recent past. Years before #MeToo and Black Lives Matter, Quantum Leap made Americans reckon with their county’s ingrained racism and sexism. While the stories and characters might be sentimental, it was always brutally honest: yes, the South in the 1950s was racist as hell; yes, the New York City corporate world of the 1960s was sexist as hell (this was more than 25 years before Mad Men felt the need to remind us week after week); yes, the military was deeply homophobic; yes, the Cuban Missile Crises and Kennedy Assassination made everyone nuts; and yes, the Vietnam war was a tragedy that haunts our country, even to this day. Yes, the second half of the twentieth century in America was a wild, crazy place -- and Quantum Leap dramatized it so well and so originally.

Quantum Leap ran from 1989 until 1993 and each week was a masterclass in writing, acting, and production Along with shows like Twin Peaks, Larry Sanders and The Days and Night of Molly Dodd, it paved the way for the Golden Age of Television that we enjoy today.

As I mentioned, for a show that jumped around several decades between the 1950s and 1980s, the costumes were extremely important. And the costumes on Quantum Leap were brilliant – they accentuated the characters, gave them a dimensionality beyond the story and script, rooted them not only in the time and place they were living in but also were extensions of who these particular people were – and helped us understand what was going wrong with them so that Sam could set their lives to right.

Almost all the costumes on Quantum Leap were the work of one man, Jean-Pierre Dorleac, a name that popped out every week in the opening credits. Jean-Pierre has had a truly legendary career in show business, designing costumes for the original Battlestar Gallactica in the late 1970s and other classic shows like Max Headroom, Airwolf, and Jake and the Fatman as well as movies like The Blue Lagoon and The Only Thrill. He’s won an Emmy and worked in theater and opera as well, all over the world. His long and successful career is a tribute to his great talent and eye for how the costume can help make the character.

Jean-Pierre has a lively Twitter presence and, while he had a long and varied career in many mediums, it’s clear that his time on Quantum Leap was very special to him. He was the costume designer for almost every episode (except the last five) and he probably had the biggest, most challenging, and most enjoyable costume design job in all of television history. That’s why it was AWESOME that Jean-Pierre was kind enough to answer some of Mr NYC’s fanboy questions about his career, his work on Quantum Leap (especially some of the NYC episodes), and what he thinks the legacy of the show is in the 21st century, almost 30 years since it went off the air.

Thank you so much for doing this interview Jean-Pierre. 

First, I would like to say thank you very much for your interest in my work, especially “QUANTUM LEAP.”

Tell us a little bit about your background and how you became a costume designer.

I have been in show business since I was 10 years old, when I was featured in a review in England (where I received my formative education) singing and dancing to a popular song of the era. “Keep Your Sunny Side Up.” My performance, which turned out to be quiet entertaining and captivating, launched me on the road of entertainment.

I went on to perform in stage productions, radio and eventually television and film as an actor. Sometimes, due to restricted budget, I made my own costumes from scratch. In the sixties when I was studying for a degree in Historic Apparel, I went to work for various designers in Paris as a workroom assistant, shopping textiles, making patterns, and helping in fitting (by handing the designer pins at first). Dior, Cardin, and Givenchy were amongst the notable designers I worked for. I was still doing theater at the time, which at times, required my participation in the costumes I wore. One of the plays I did, “Oh, Dad, Poor Dad, Mama’s Hung You in the Closet and I’m feeling So Sad,” lost its costume designer to illness, and I volunteered to take over. My work created such sensational reviews, I thereafter concentrated more on the designing aspect of entertainment than on being a performer. Soon, because of my special knowledge in 18th Century apparel, I was asked to be the historical consultant to the costume designer for the Royal Shakespeare’s production of Peter Weiss’ bizarre play, “Marat/Sade” concerning the aftermath of the French revolution as performed by the inmates of a mental institution outside Paris. It won many awards and brought me to New York when it opened there, and consequently to Los Angles where the east coast world premiere was staged. I won the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle award for the costume designs in 1973.

Fate had a very funny, supplementary hand in its success, which is fully explained in my book, “The Naked Truth” available at Amazon.com, eBay, and at my website www.jean-pierredorleac.com.

In time, I realized through my experiences in the making of costumes for the theater, and the expertise I have developed in couture creations, it had culminated in an ability to create costumes that had an underlying, subliminal message, placing them apart from just being attractive and in sync with the narrative.

Within three years I did another two dozen well-known plays in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle, New York, Paris, Berlin, London, and Hawaii. And through them, I caught the attention of Edith Head, who then mentored me. Before long, renowned actress, Nancy Walker, requested me to do her costumes alone for her new series in 1977, “Blansky’s Beauties.” Through this, I was inducted into the entertainment’s union, The Costume Designers Guild, that opened more doors to other venues, like my first feature with Henry Fonda, Susan Sarandon and Eileen Brennan, “The Great Smokey Road Block” (a terrible title on a badly shot film with a sensational cast, that bombed).

Although I had become pigeon-holed as mostly a period costume designer, Universal recognized my special talents in fantasy and I was offered Battlestar Galactica in 1978, for which I went on to win an Emmy. I, of course, jumped at the chance to do the show, mainly because it would offer a different aspect of my abilities to the industry as well as the public.

You worked on lots of TV shows and movies over the decades but, on Twitter, it seems like your work on Quantum Leap remains close to your heart. How did you end up working on the show?

One of the associate producers on Battlestar Galactica was Don Bellisario. Matter of fact, he wrote the script for which I won my Emmy. Following the series demise, Don produced a wonderful show entitled The Tales of the Gold Monkey. During its run, he asked me to do a spinoff series from Magnum P.I, that never was aired, but I did become his favorite designer. So, years later, when Quantum Leap was done, he called me in after they shot the pilot episode, to redo a lot of the scenes in it, specifically an entirely new wardrobe for Dean Stockwell, playing a very sybaritic fellow named “Al.” I stayed and did EVERY show in all the season thereafter, except for the last five when I left the production to do Heart and Souls in San Francisco with Robert Downey, Jr., Kyra Sedgwick, Elizabeth Shue, Charles Grodin, and Alfre Woodard.

For nearly every episode you had to design costumes for a different decade between the 1950s and 1980s, as well as for a different part of the country. It must have been a both big creative joy and challenge. How did you approach creating costumes for not only a specific era but also for totally new characters each time?

By the time Quantum Leap came along, I had developed a knowledge of the 20th Century that surpassed all the other earlier periods. I don’t think you could fill half-a-page of what I DON’T KNOW regarding the trends in fashion for the last hundred and fifty years. Therefore, QL came easy to me. I didn’t have to do much research for any of the episodes unless I was looking for something that was out of the ordinary. The one thing that comes to mind immediately was the 18th Century stylization for the wedding dress in “Sea Bride”. I wanted to design something lovely, because it was a wedding dress, yet something comical at the same time, so that Beverly Leech has to struggle with it in the opening scene when she has to hide in the ship’s small stateroom closet. I remember combing old 1957 magazines to find that Dior had used a pannier for some of his gowns at that time, and that gave me the idea for the design I needed. Everything else in that show, including the drop-dead red tango dress, and all the shows, thereafter, just came off the top of my head.

Character costume ideas come from the script. They are born when I begin to read it and then grow into a full figure by the end. Having learned from past endeavors, I want the character to blend with the other actors so there is continuity within their scenes yet have some unique characteristic that sets them apart. It requires imagination, especially with men, as they aren’t as bedecked as women.

There is an adage that goes, “If it ain’t on the page, it ain’t on the stage.”

I saw on Twitter that in one episode you had to create KKK outfits and that it was a hard and painful thing to do. What were some of the hardest costumes you had to create as well as some of the most fun?

Having lived and worked on five continents in the same number of decades, I have tried to learn as much as I can about people. One, it helps me incorporate character in my design, and two, I learn about diversity and how it brings individuality to everyone. Each person has something wonderful to express in how they dress, no matter how much someone else thinks differently. Everyone’s ideas and concepts matter. The two things I abhor are bigots and fabulist. I have a hard time with titles as well, as I have always felt they cover a lot of sins. I’ve met as many people with an academic, medical, engineering, theatrical, artistic, and other degrees, as I have met people who know more by experiencing life and learning the hard way through vocational training. I believe the value of someone’s abilities lie in the merit of their work, not how much they can attract the public’s fancy by being a flash in the pan with a glorified handle.

Having to generate a faction of history by making KKK robes, as there were none from the 50’s in existence, mainly due to changes in design, I was faced with having to create the actual monstrosities, including The Grand Dragon in red. It upset me very much, just in knowing how abhorrent the sight of them would be to many people that were my friends, especially in the south, where the episode occurred. In other episodes of QL, over the years, I had to come up with Nazi and Russian uniforms, but they were ordered from costume houses. They were not of my creation. But the KKK robes that I watched being constructed, really left me sick.

On the other hand, there were many fun things I did for the show that left me elated. There was “Play It Again Sam,” (with the widow who couldn’t help it, if she looked good in black), “Sea Bride,” “One Strobe Over the Line” (glamor, glamor, glamor)“A Single Drop of Rain,” “Glitter Rock,” (Rock the Redhead), “Miss Deep South” (especially the silly Carmen Miranda get-up for ‘Quanta La Gusta’), “What Price Gloria” (Sam’s dinner ensemble with the quivering feather hat), “Private Dancer,” “Southern Comfort” (all those wanton women in lingerie) and “It’s a Wonderful Leap,” among many.

Okay, let’s get to the NYC part. You designed the costumes for the brilliant episode “What Price Gloria” where Sam becomes a secretary dealing with sexual harassment. What are your memories about that episode and the challenges of making Scott Bakula an attractive, dignified professional woman in 1961 NYC?

It didn’t start with Sam. Nothing ever did. It started with Gloria, who you are supposed to be seeing. She was a gorgeous woman. It’s always easy to dress gorgeous women as everyone looks at their faces, not what they’re wearing. And if she were curvy and appealing, it was even easier. I choose simple sheaths that weren’t revealing in anyway at the office, with smart but subtle jewelry. As the story progressed, I selected more feminine styles when we realized that it wasn’t how Gloria presented herself that was making the wolf howl, it was his vain glorious believe in himself. I tried to choose designs that were very reminiscent of the early 60’s and especially chic because it took place in New York City’s business world. I was helped in keeping the look light by the fact that it took place in October of 1961, in the Big Apple. Having lived there at the time, I knew what the weather could be like.

One of the best episodes of Quantum Leap, as well as maybe the best NYC episode, is “Private Dancer” where Sam becomes a Chippendales’ dancer in 1979 and saves a deaf lady from a horrible fate. That episode is both one of the most hilarious and poignant episodes of TV I’ve ever seen on any show (the beginning of the episode, where Sam leaps into the dancer mid-jump, with screaming women all around, Kool and Gang’s “Ladies Night” blaring in the background is one of the funniest things ever). Also, it was probably the most realistic portrayal of late 1970s NYC I’ve ever seen, the costumes are clearly from the 1970s but don’t have a “paper-dollish” look and seem to capture how these struggling dancers at that time would have really dressed. What do you remember about working on that episode?

Well, it wasn’t about putting Sam in next to nothing as the Zorro dressed dancer! That was fun. What was a lot of work, were the dresses to be used in the dance sequences. I had seen Debbie Allen’s choreography in other films and knew I was going to have to have outfits that twirled, floated, and looked seductive, yet classy. They also couldn’t look expensive as these dancers had no money and when they bought things, they tended to stay with styles similar to workout/rehearsal garments.

Debbie Allen’s white gown, at the disco, was little more than four panels of triangular shaped wedges of white matte jersey with self-string straps, belt, and a self-wrapped turban. And the red handkerchief dress worn for the final audition by the young girl was silk jersey with a minimal scattering of sequins at the V-neckline and at the edges of the numerous skirt panels. I wanted simplicity at its best for these scenes as the dance was supposed to be the center of attention and where your mind should linger.

The last NYC episode I’ll ask about is “It’s a Wonderful Leap” that takes place in 1958. In that episode you had to turn Scott Bakula into a Jewish cab driver. His costume and look in that episode, especially the glasses, is quite memorable (so much so that Stephen Colbert referenced that episode in 2015 because, sadly, it includes a child Donald Trump). I also remember all the costumes had a vibrant, 1950’s feel about them. Was that a fun episode to work on (Trump excluded)?

Funny, but I have blanked out tRump being in it! God knows why…ha ha ha ha!

Yes, “It’s a Wonderful Leap” was a wonderful show. After the various times I had spent in NYC, I was quite knowledgeable regarding Hell’s Kitchen, so Sam’s costume was quite easy to put together. I think I only bought one hat to the fitting as I knew it was perfect with the turtlenecks, scarf and beaten jacket of a cabdriver. The glasses were something I picked out from a selection that Props had, as they are a prop item on a shoot.

Most of my time was spent with my old, dear friend Liz Torres. I had known her since 1975 when she had appeared at the Backlot Room of Studio One, in Hollywood.

Liz is one of the most talented actresses in the world who can sing like a bird, dance like a ballerina, and realistically act the hell out a scene. I knew I didn’t have to create much of a character for her as it would all come from her. So, I went for a magical look in whites and grays that didn’t grab your attention, giving away the fact that she was ghost from the 20’s. We made everything, including her hat, shoes, coat, and dress that was beaded. I found old garters and we rolled her stockings down to just below her knees and rouged them…very de rigueur for a flapper of that period.

Longshots on television are rare, so when Liz found out there was going to be one on the street, she spoke with the director first, and then improvised the Charleston dance step so the audience could see our efforts with the stockings and garters. She was definitely one of my favorite actresses of all the ones that I’ve ever worked with.

The rapport between Sam (Scott Bakula) and Al (Dean Stockwell) was amazing, they worked brilliantly together. Did you ever get to watch them work and create that magic?

Yes, many times. I went to the set every day when they were on the lot, and many times when they were on location as well. A major part of my job as a costume designer for film or television, is being on the set to establish a new costume that has never seen before, not even by Dean. Having been in the business for so many years, Dean didn’t like to deal with fittings. So, he and I established a look for him at the beginning. I also had the studio tailor take all his sizes. After a month, we were so in sync, I simple designed his outfits without anyone’s input, and took them to the set the day they worked. He would put them on in his motor home, and then come out with his cigar and parade around the set where all the grips, lighting technicians, sound, camera men and props would ooh and ah about how crazy they were. He loved showing them off as much as he did acting in them.

He and Scott worked together in tandem as they were both extremely professional and didn’t mess around; it was always a business, that they made appear like fun. But they always knew their lines and hit their marks right on time. No one had to wait for either of them.

Finally, even though the show’s been off the air for almost 30 years, my friends and my wife still love it. What do you think is Quantum Leap’s legacy? Was it one of the shows that paved the way for the later Golden Age of TV?

I think its legacy was the great scripts. I don’t remember too many that didn’t hold my interest all the way though. I loved the fact that they also taught some moral responsibility amidst all the foolery. Plus, even though it was achieved though writer manipulation, there was usually a pretty rewarding and uplifting ending that sometime was quite nostalgic.

I’m very rewarded by the followers on Twitter, who, for the most part, didn’t see the show when it was first released, but have becomes fans over the decades from the many times it has aired. That is very unusual for a TV series; it hasn’t been that way with the many other shows I’ve done. But I’m forever getting a residual check for the episode I appeared in, “Shock Theater,” so I know the show is always airing somewhere in the world.

And I’m grateful after all these years that it has become the phenomenal cult hit it is. Between it, “Somewhere in Time,” and “Battlestar Galactica” my costumes have been exhibited all over the world and I have lectured as much as I have done. Examples of my creations have been exhibited worldwide. Benefits for AIDS Project Los Angeles have celebrated my work, as have The Mannequins Auxiliary of the Assistance League of Southern California where an hour long, dazzling fashion show paraded my creations. The Los Angeles County Museum of Arts showcased my costumes and sketches in their exhibition and book, HOLLYWOOD AND HISTORY: COSTUME DESIGN IN FILM, as well as exhibitions at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City; La Palais de la Civilization, Montreal, Canada; and La Place Vendôme, Paris, France. Recently, ATAS exhibited thirteen examples at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles, in a presentation of award-winning television costumes. 

What a career! What a legacy! Thank you so much Jean-Pierre!

Make sure to visit Jean-Pierre’s website and check out his book at the links above. Also, delve into Mr. NYC’s QL fandom here.

What It's Worth?

Tomorrow is Super Tuesday. Numerous states will vote in the presidential primaries -- and it's the first one where former Mayor Bloomberg will appear on the ballot. How well he performs on Super Tuesay (namely, how many votes translated into delegates he gets) will determine if his campaign is viable enough to keep going -- or if this will have a been a two month, nearly $500 million folly.

Bloomberg is worth $60 billion, a sum so vast that even rich people can't really comprehend how rich he is. His net worth is practically the GDP of some countries and he's attempting to use the force of that money to win the Democratic nomination and the presidency.

Bloomberg is basically trying, as close as one can, to buy the American presidency.

After all, he did buy the NYC mayoralty back in 2001, 2005 and 2009. In fact, he shouldn't have been allowed to buy it in 2009 but he got the law changed so that he could run again. Changing laws in their self-interest is the kind of thing that rich people can do! 

But so ghastly and horrible is the presidency of Donald Trump that the idea of yet another rich guy from NYC buying the presidency away from him seems almost worth it to a lot of people, including me!

The thing is, as stomach-churning as this is, the idea of rich people essentially buying things that  are supposed to be precious and sacred, is nothing new. 

Look at the college admissions scandal. Being admitted to a top college should be an honor bestowed on those students who have worked hard in school and achieved great grades, awards, and extracurriculars. But, as we've seen, for the right price and by pulling the right strings, parents can get their kids into great schools even if they don't really merit it.

Right now there's a new book about the movie Chinatown, the classic film about how developers bought huge swaths of Southern California land for next to nothing by starving it of water -- and then getting tax payers to sponsor a new dam to irrigate it, exponentially increasing the value. Even though the movie is fiction it exposes how rich people use their money and power to warp government resources for their own private benefit. "Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown" is the short-hand way of saying, "We all know this is corruption but the forces behind it are so powerful that it's best not to ask questions or challenge it."

But you can go even further back into history and see how people like Rodrigo Borgia bought the papacy by paying bribes and granting favors to his fellow cardinals -- and by threatening violence against anyone who might challenge his plans. 

In all honesty, everyone and everything has a price, even though we like to pretend they don't.  Nothing really is sacred unless you make it sacred -- and other people might not agree that it's scared.

So forget it, everyone, it's politics!

More than 30 years ago, a book was written about presidential politics called What It Takes? Today the matra should be "What It's Worth" -- and this is something in American life that goes far beyond presidential politics.