Mike the Influencer

Once more our dear Mayor has been named to the list of Time magazine's 100 most influential human beings currently roaming the earth. Robert Kennedy Jr has penned this glowing tribute to Hizzoner, lauding him for making New York City a more environmentally friendly place.

Interestingly enough, Mike is listed under the heading "Scientists and Thinkers", not simply lumped in with other politicians. That must make Mike proud. He's not just rich and powerful but has been dubbed an intellect and scientific genius to boot. How good can life get for this guy?

Our great, brilliant, wonderful President calls himself "the Decider" (he decided to go to war with Iraq and that, of course, has been a huge success). But our Mayor should genuinely be called "the Influencer." His governing style, his innovations in city government, his war against illegal guns, and his environmental initiatives amongst others are influencing his fellow mayors and doubtless will influence his successors for a generation to come.

A decider or an influencer -- which would you rather be?

Tough Times in NYC but Not Everything is Bleak

Because of the lousy economy, Mayor Bloomberg is making painful cuts to education and other city services. Needless to say, some of these cuts are necessary, but it's always interesting how, when cuts are made, they fall heavily on the poor and rarely result in tax increases on the very rich. Oh well, what else is new?

However, I must commend Mayor Bloomberg for drastically reducing the number of parking placards issued to city employees. These have been horribly abused in the past and, as I've noted earlier, has made parking in Lower Manhattan virtually impossible. Hopefully it will reduce some congestion on the city streets and make Lower Manhattan a bit more accessible for ordinary people.

Another happy development is the return of John Gambling to WOR Radio. The Gambling family have been doing radio in NYC for decades and his return to WOR, after being rather shamefully fired from WABC a couple of months ago, is a happy thing. I don't particularly agree with Mr. Gambling's view of the world but, unlike so many radio blowhards, he's a class act and always respectful. Mayor Bloomberg will join him every Friday from 8 to 9 AM starting May 16.

Finally, you should read this short but lovely story about a doorman who lives Astoria and writes blogs and gives tours about Queens and its past. He is a devoted and caring steward of this city. Anyone can have a blog saying how much they love NYC but guys like this put bloggers like me to shame. What a great guy. I tip my hat to him.

So while NYC may be facing some tough times, there are dots of light in the darkness. And there always will be.

Back in NYC

As promised, I have returned. Europe was great and I can't wait to go back. To sum up my trip briefly:

London: a bit rainy but some days were lovely. Went out to Windsor Castle on the nicest of day. Also went to the Victoria & Albert and British Museums. Did a lot of walking around as well, although London is so congested now with traffic and tourists that this isn't easy. One piece of advice: if you ever go to London and anyone suggests you sign up for the "Hop On/Hop Off" all-day bus pass, do not do this. The routes are circuitous and, because the traffic is so bad, the buses move very slowly. Better bet: get a five-pound all-day tube pass and zip around town via train. One thing you should also do is visit Harrods, the huge department store, where I did the equivalent of window shopping (I had no interest in spending my life savings there). There I saw the most obscene thing ever: the Diana and Dodi memorial. Apparently Dodi Fayed's father owns Harrods and, in the lower ground floor, has erected this huge, revolting memorial to their non-existent love affair. You've never seen anything like it. A must see.

Paris: beautiful beautiful weather, beautiful, beautiful people. The rap that all French people are snooty is untrue -- the French folks I met were lovely although, considering how awesome France is, they have lots to be snooty about. We went to the Musee Orsay, Notre Dame, and the Cluny Museum, probably the best medieval museum in the world (if you like the Cloisters, you MUST go to the Cluny). Also spent some time in the stunningly gorgeous Luxembourg Gardens and, on our final night, ate at the wonderful Bofinger Brassiere, the oldest restaurant in Paris. A lovely place. Paris is everything it's cracked up to be and so much more. If you haven't been there then you must make a pilgrimage before you die.

Brittania Rules

Greetings from London. I'm five hours ahead of you. I promised that I would blog from England if I could and I'm a man of my word (although this British keyboard is a female dog). I hope you're all well and keeping an eye on NYC for me. I'm writing to you from the lobby of the Grosvernor House hotel where we're staying (or, for those of you who've seen the movie, the Sexy Beast hotel). It's a lovely, lovely place and this afternoon we had High Tea here where I had the best scones I've ever ate (American scones are lousy -- too big, too dense, too tough; these were small, warm, and fluffy. But enough about the food.)

I've been to London about seven times so I've seen most of the big sights several times already. However, thus far, we've seen Windsor Castle, the Imperial War Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the British Museum (where we saw the Elgin Marbles and Rosetta Stone). We also went to Harrods and although I didn't buy anything (I mean, I want to keep some of my life savings), we walked around it's amazing food court and also saw the most bizarre, weird thing ever: the Dodi and Diana Memorial. I took pictures of it and will upload them to here if and when I can.

The weather for our Windsor Castle day was perfect but yesterday and today the weather has been quitessentially British: lovely and sunny one minute, rainy and nasty the next. Gotta love this country.

Tomorrow we're off for Paris on the Eurostar and I'll try to blog again there if I can. Otherwise, when I'm back, I'll give you all a more complete roundup of this trip.

Toodles.

Mr NYC Abroad

Less you think this is a totally provincial blog, please don't think that Mr NYC doesn't like to go to other places. Quite the contrary -- I adore traveling. So tonight I will be leaving for London for a few days, then heading to Paris for a few more. If possible, I hope to blog from Europe and tell you all about the fun things I plan to do and see (although with the dollar what it is compared to the British Pound and the Euro I don't know I'll be able to afford to!). However, I will be back on May 1st and give you a full run down then. I know you'll all be waiting with bated breath. Until then, take care!

We Built This City on Rock and Roll? Alert Robert Moses!!!

I'm currently reading "The Power Broker", Robert Caro's massive biography of Robert Moses. This book is literally 1300+ pages long and I'm determined to read the whole thing. I'm currently on page 578 and will post a review when I'm done. "The Power Broker" is, both in length and reputation, the "War and Peace" of biographies.

In case you don't know who Robert Moses was, he was New York City's "master builder" of the 20th century. He built Shea Stadium, Lincoln Center, the United Nations, the Triborough Bride, the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, the West Side Highway, the Long Island Expressway and a whole lot more ("If you seek his monument, look around you" and so forth). He was also a complete bastard but I'll tell you more about that when I write my review.

Anyway, being a child of the 1980s and having the associative mind that I do, the idea of "building cities" led to me to think of this now-classic song from my youth, "We Built this City (on Rock and Roll)" by Starship (nee Jefferson Airplane). In 2004, VH1 declared this the most "Awesomely Bad" song of all-time. The video, as you can see, is one of the most bizarre, surreal, Felliniesque things ever made. It's pure 1980s schlock. I remember as a kid watching it on MTV -- back in the days when they still showed videos and before they realized they could get higher ratings with hot chicks on reality shows.

This song isn't really about New York or any city in particular. Although the traffic report you hear in the middle of the song here is for San Francisco, various versions of this song has reports for different cities. There was one for NYC but I can't find it. Sorry.

Now admit it: you love this song. As dumb as it is, it's catchy and fun. Grace Slick never sounded better, and it brings our minds and emotions back to that wonderful time of Ronald Reagan and "Family Ties." Besides, how can you not love a song whose catchphrase is "Marconi played the Mamba?" Enjoy!

McCain Follow-Up

I don't usually do two follow-ups in one day but I must draw your attention to this great Huffington Post entry by a former student of that loathsome hack "journalist" George Stephanopoulos. Mr McCain will be on little Georgie's show "This Week" on Sunday morning and the author of this post has some good questions for Georgie that he should ask McCain -- but won't, because it's clear that little Georgie is in the tank for McCain. Still, it's worth a read.

Important Questions For George Stephanopoulos To Ask John McCain This Sunday

My Last Pope Entry

In case some of you found my previous entry about the Pope a little too snarky please let me explain: while I'm not religious, I'm not one of those people who mocks those who are. In many ways, I envy the faithful since they seem to be truly happy people. I just have some problems with organized religion and how it's practiced and exploited by so many people today.

However, I should add that I had the privilege of seeing this Pope give his usual Sunday blessing from his window at the Vatican in 2005. He has a beautiful speaking voice and it was a truly uplifting moment. It's a memory I'll always cherish. My brother, who's a great photographer, took the photo of the event that you see here, as well as these other postcard-perfect pictures of the Vatican. We even went all the way to the top of St. Peter's Basilica. It was gorgeous.

Are New Yorkers Sinners?

The Pope, the Holy Father himself, is in town tonight. He's had a busy day today, addressing the UN General Assembly, going to a Jewish Synagogue, then leading a service at church tonight. He has a big day tomorrow, going to a parade and everything, so I doubt he'll be hitting the nightclubs tonight or be able to go see a show. (Too bad. He won't be able to see Rent before it closes or go to Mamma Mia!)

But I hope his Holiness has a nice time here. Even if our city is full of sinners.

Not long ago the Vatican released a list of new sins. We all (or should know) the original, old-school, seven deadly sins: lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, pride. It goes without saying that most New Yorkers are guilty of a lot of these sins (particularly lust, greed, and pride. We are greedy for money to we can get the sex that we lust for and we're prideful of our ability to get both).

As this article indicates, the new sins include contributing to poverty and social inequality and using drugs. I don't think most New Yorkers intentionally contribute to poverty -- who wants people to be poor? -- but the huge differences in wealth in this town certainly lead to social inequality. So I guess we're sinners there. And when it comes to drugs? Well ... this is the town of Bright Lights, Big City. We like to get high. So we're sinful there too.

Oh well. I guess New Yorkers are sinners. So one sinner to another, let's hope the Pope will forgive us.

John Armani McCain

Though this blog is mostly interested in NYC related happenings, the Presidential race is very much on the mind of New Yorkers, who also happen to be Americans even if most Americans don't believe it.

Needless to say, this election has already resorted into the usual petty, "gotcha", personality-driven trivial freak-show crap that has become the staple of our American electoral system. It's all so depressing familiar. We've heard about Obama's wacky pastor and "bitter" comments, as well as Clinton's "misremembering" of being under sniper fire. But when it comes to John McCain ... well, the media gives him a free pass.

Did you know he dumped his first wife who had waited for him for more than 5 years while he was in the Hanoi Hilton because she had been in a car accident and gotten fat?

Did you know he then chased the current Mrs McCain -- a skinny blond roughly twenty-years his junior -- who was also the heiress to a big fortune that's funded his entire political career?

Did you know he was one of the Keating Five?

Did you know he and his wife own EIGHT homes?

Probably not. The media considers him "salt of the earth", oh-so-manly, a real "man of the people." But sometimes reality has a nasty way of intruding. Just last week, Newsweek magazine published a picture of "Mac" that was meant to make him look all bad-ass. Dark glasses, tie flapping in the wind, a steely look on his face. But OH WAIT! Did you see tag on that tie? Why yes, it say "Giorgio Armani." Newsweek tried to blur it but it still came through.

We've heard a lot about Obama's middle name so let's give one to Mr McCain: Armani.

Some man of the people. Some real "salt of the earth" guy. Some bad ass. But don't worry, Johnny, the media won't give you any grief for being out of touch.

Can you only imagine if this was a Democrat?