Where's NYC Going?

New Yorkers have only one thing on their mind -- money. Well, money and real estate (and real estate is basically just money in tactile form).

It's a given that the current financial crises and resulting scandals are wrecking havoc on the finance and real estate industries in this town, two of the underpinnings of the NYC economy. But how is this actually affecting the lives of New Yorkers, rich and poor?

Two new magazine articles examine this impact in depth. Marie Brenner's Vanity Fair article looks at how the Bernie Madoff Ponzi Scheme has shaken Upper East Side society and the city's upper crust. While no one is going to feel overly sorry for this crowd, this scandal is more than just about lost money: it's about how a whole sub-cultural has been forced to look at itself and not liking what it sees. Also, this week's New York magazine has an article by Gabriel Sherman about Tishman Speyer's 2006 acquisition of Stuyvesant Town, and how it's attempt to turn this working class bastion of city life into the latest Yuppie enclave has been a debacle.

We are living through a turning point in New York City history, in some ways even bigger thaan 9/11. The current economic situation is forcing New York to make hard choices about its priorities. The many industries that fuel this city's economy are changing -- permanently. Crain's New York Business is hosting a conference tomorrow called "The Future of New York City." Mayor Bloomberg and several of the big mucky-mucks in this town will be there trying to figure it out. What's they'll conclude, I have no idea but let's hope they can come up with some good ideas to keep this the #1 city in the world.

You can listen to live coverage of it tomorrow on WNYC 93.9 FM/820 AM Brian Lehrer show.

LaGuardia vs. Moses

This past week I went to Robert Caro's last lecture on "The Shapers of New York" at the New-York Historical Society. This final lecture was about the battle between New York's greatest Mayor and its greatest builder as they wrestled for control of the city's destiny during the Great Depression and World War II. While history has sainted Fiorello LaGuardia's Mayoralty as the one that successfully implemented the New Deal into our city, in the end Robert Moses won the battle as to who would set the city's priorities for literally decades to come.

LaGuardia and Moses were two titanic egomaniacs who literally could not stand the sight of each other. When the Mayor and his Parks Commissioner would be in the same room together, they would pace around each other like two boxers in a ring waiting to the punch the other guy out. They would yell and scream and call the other loathsome names. Moses would call LaGuardia a "dago" and "wop" or, even worse, an "organ grinder." And LaGuardia, the lesser educated and refined but more gentlemanly of the two, would call Moses "your grace."

As I mentioned in my first post about this series, each year LaGuardia would present a city budget that would take care of the needy and poor in NYC and Moses would then swoop in and re-jigger it so that he could get money for his building projects. But their disputes weren't only centered around money. Theirs was a brutal battle of wits and raw power.

This conflict is probably best exemplified in the Astoria Ferry incident of 1936. Shortly before Triborough Bridge was to open, Robert Moses wanted to get rid of the ferry service that took people from Astoria across the East River to Manhattan. These were working people who couldn't afford cars to go over Moses's new bridge and this service was vital to them. LaGuardia ordered that the ferry service continue. So one night, literally minutes after the last ferry had pulled away from the dock on the Manhattan side, a couple of barges pulled up in front of the dock. Bulldozers and pile drivers were unloaded and they began ripping and shredding it to pieces. A furious LaGuardia ordered the police to head down and stop this. Armed cops told the workers to cease and desist immediately. Their reply? "We don't work for you. We work for Mr. Moses." And their work continued without incident.

Robert Moses was so popular, so powerful, his power so unquestioned that not even the Mayor and police department of the greatest city in the world could stop him.

That said, Fiorello LaGuardia's impact on NYC was enormous. He reformed the corrupt Tammany Hall-controlled government and steered the city successfully through the Depression. He was also an out-sized, only-in-New York personality who liked to read comics to children over WNYC radio. But in his last years as Mayor, he was literally dying. After he left office in 1945, he would eat lunch at his favorite downtown club and grumble that Robert Moses had too much power -- and that while he, LaGuardia, could control him (which wasn't true) now no one could (which was true). He died in 1947. Today's he's remembered as NYC's greatest mayor and has an airport, a street, a high school and a college named after him. (This is especially ironic since LaGuardia never graduated from either). If you ever walk down LaGuardia Place, between Houston Street and Washington Square, you can see a life-sized statue of the Little Flower that captures his personality perfectly.

These final lectures were a lot of fun and very informative. It was great to hear Robert Caro bring old New York back to life and I was especially grateful that he autographed my copy of The Power Broker. He also told a funny story about how, when he was writing the book, he couldn't get a hold of Moses's Triborough Authority records which were legally sealed. However, he was told that carbon copies of all these records were stored by the Parks Department under the 79th Street Boat Basin. So Caro and his wife Ina would go there to browse through these carbons. The Parks Department made it clear they didn't like having them there and, whenever the guard went to lunch or stepped out, he would remove the light bulbs so that Caro and Ina would literally be in the dark. So after that they would bring their own light bulbs and screw them in whenever the guards went away.

Carbons and light bulbs -- just one of the ways that great history is unearthed so that the rest of us can better understand the great city that we live in.

Would You Want to Live Someplace Else?

Poll Finds People Like Home but Want to Live Elsewhere

8 out of 10 people want to move from wherever they live. This poll doesn't say how many New Yorkers wish to flee our fair city but I guess I'm one of those fringe 2 out of 10 folks who's happy where he is.

Madonna - Speed The Plow

In October I reviewed the Broadway revival of David Mamet's Speed-The-Plow. This play has had a rather bumpy ride since then, when Jeremy Piven dropped out for rather fishy reasons.

Anyway, as I mentioned in my review, the female role in this play was originated by Madonna in 1988. This Entertainment Tonight report covers her Broadway debut in Speed-the-Plow when she was still a hot young star (as opposed to being a hot middle aged star today). It's hard to imagine that this happened more than 20 years ago!

Flight 151

Pubs are one of the staples of city life. You know the places. You walk in and its your typical bar and then, a little farther back, are booths and tables where you can get a burger and brew.

Most of these places in NYC are a dime a dozen. However, this weekend some pals and I went to Flight 151, a pub in Chelsea, and really enjoyed it. As its name denotes, it's a pub devoted to ... aviation. It's got an airplane theme, and while this might sound tacky, this joint actually makes it cool. They have lots of airplane, airplane, and airport signs and swag on the walls. Best of all, you go into the bathroom and hear, over some speakers ... jet engine noise ... and occasionally an airline attendant's voice comes over -- sounding like an airline attendant than a real airline attendant -- who tells you to make sure the toilet seat is in an upright position or some other such witty thing. This might sound kinda silly but it's actually endearing.

Another cool thing: on the tables, they have paper place mats and cups of crayons so that you and your friends can draw wacky pictures while awaiting your food (the drunker you get, the more interesting the pictures I suppose). My friends and I had a lot of fun drawing stuff and feeling like we were back in kindergarten.

The food at Flight 151 is pretty good and they have a fine selection of beer. Best of all, the service was really good and friendly which made the experience all the better. So if you're ever in Chelsea with some friends and want to hang out, Flight 151 is a great find.

Flatiron to be a Hotel

Italian real estate investor buys stake in Flatiron building, eyes hotel

Don't know how to feel about this. First the Plaza, now the Flatiron. Not to sound xenophobic or anything, but what's with all these rich people gutting our architectural jewels? I guess this is globalization in action -- and it sucks.

Yours truly used to work in the Flatiron building and, while its exterior is probably the most gorgeous in the city, its interior is drab and dull to the point of being depressing. Besides paying almost $200 million for this building, these investors are going to have to spend a FORTUNE re-doing the interior. Except for the nose of the building, which has a nice view of Madison Square Park, most of the building overlooks Broadway and 5th Avenue, and the views from there are boring. The ceilings are low and the building doesn't get a whole lot of sunlight. Fung shui-ing this building is gonna be hard.

Also, I don't see what makes it a great location for a luxury hotel. It's across from Madison Square Park (which is nice) but the Plaza, Pierre, or Sherry Netherland are right across from Central Park and have amazing views of it. On top of everything, the traffic on 23rd street is crazy and noisy beyond belief. I can't imagine that the guests of this hotel, who will be paying top dollar, will like dealing with that. The Flatiron does, however, have an N-train stop right outside the door so those wealthy guests willing to brave the subway will be pleased.

I'm not good at making predictions but my gut tells me this is going to be one of the biggest New York City real estate debacles ever (even bigger than the new Plaza or Trump Soho). But I could be wrong. Only time will tell.

"What Must the Widow Feel?" The Compassion of Al Smith

This past Wednesday we went to the second of Robert Caro's lectures at the New-York Historical Society on "The Shapers of New York." This time the subject was Al Smith, the great New York Governor who served on and off from 1919 to 1928. (I had blogged about Al Smith in October when both McCain and Obama, at the height of the presidential race, appeared at the Al Smith Dinner which is held every year in the old Governor's memory to raise money for Catholic charities). Caro indicated that this was his favorite lecture to give because of his great admiration for Al Smith (1873-1944) .He also sad that, sadly, there are no great books about Smith so learning about him and how important he was is difficult.

In this lecture, Caro talked about Al Smith's incredible rise from being a street kid in the Bowery to New York's first Catholic Governor. Smith worked as a laborer and ran errands for the corrupt Tammany Hall machine. Eventually he worked his way into a seat in the State Legislature where he became one of the hardest working and most capable legislators Albany had ever seen (amongst other things, he actually read the legislation he voted on, something a lot of his colleagues didn't do). During his time in the legislature (he rose to Speaker before becoming Governor), Smith came up with ideas that were revolutionary in early 20th century America but are commonplace today: state farm insurance, worker's compensation and safety laws (following the terrible Triangle Shirt Waist Factory fire of 1911), health insurance for the poor, and higher teacher salaries. His compassion for the working poor and working women in particular was extraordinary. In fact, his ideas were so revolutionary that when FDR implemented the New Deal in the 1930s, he told people that "What we're doing is basically what Al Smith in New York." If FDR was the Father of the New Deal, Al Smith was its Godfather.

Smith's life and career had great highs and crushing lows. Although a very successful governor, he never realized his dream of the Presidency. He was the Democratic nominee in 1928 but was crushed by Herbert Hoover. The reason? He was Catholic, and people outside of New York and the Northeast didn't like Catholics very much back then. (It's amazing to think that 80 years ago a Catholic couldn't elected president but now a black man can.) And when FDR became President, he ignored Smith completely and he was never able to bring his talents to the Federal level. However, in the early thirties, the retired Al Smith helped to build the Empire State Building. But his anger at Roosevelt made him abandon his Democratic party affiliation and become something of an angry reactionary late in life.

One other interesting thing about Smith. He had a young assistant whose career he nurtured named Robert Moses. When Smith was retired and Moses was at the height of his power, Moses re-built the Central Park Zoo just for him. Smith loved animals and Moses made him an Honorary Zookeeper. He also gave Smith a key to the zoo so that the old governor could leave his apartment across the street on Fifth Avenue any time day or night to go into the zoo and visit with the animals. Moses, who was a legendary egomaniac, loved to demonstrate his power by calling everyone, including the Mayors and Governors he supposedly worked for, by their first names (including even Nelson Rockefeller). But Moses always called Smith "Governor" and his respect for him never waned. And neither should ours.

Big News Day in New York

More like New York State rather than NYC -- although NYC is in New York State, isn't it?

Anyway, Caroline Kennedy will not be replacing Hillary Clinton in the US Senate. Camelot will not be resurrected in the Empire State for now. Instead, Governor Patterson chose Kirsten Gillibrand, an upstate Congresswoman, to fill the seat once held by now Secretary of State Clinton and, before her , Daniel Patrick Moynihan, James Buckley, and Robert F. Kennedy. Those are some big metaphorical shoes to fill so let's wish her well.

The Senator-designate is 42 years old, has two young children, and (if I may be a man for a moment) is easily the most attractive Senator we've probably ever had. Now we all just have to get used to saying her name correctly (it's Kur-sten Gilly-brand, not Kristin Gillebrand).

Some other big news: the former State Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno was indicted today. Apparently he was steering state contracts to businesses that paid him consulting fees. The usual pay-for-play, back-scratching political stuff. While I realize a New York State official (or former official) getting indicted isn't really news but this one is particularly sad: Joe is in his eighties and his wife died a year or so ago so. Can't help feeling bad for the guy. Hope justice is served but that he doesn't end his days in jail.

So it's never boring in New York. And hey, that's why we live here.

What a Beautiful Sight ...

... and so far he's off to a great start. Got a hell of a tough job ahead of him but he seems to be handling it well. Only time will tell. Good luck man!

Little Steven's Underground Garage

Driving home last night we tuned in a radio show that I haven't heard for a while: Little Steven's Underground Garage on Q104.3.

Little Steven is Steven Van Zandt who was a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band as well as an important songwriter and producer. Of course, he's probably best known for playing the mobster Silvio Dante on The Sopranos. Although he's made a whole career out of being the sidekick to famous guys from Jersey, on the Underground Garage, Little Steven is the absolute star.

This is an eclectic music show and nostalgia trip for anyone who loves or remembers popular music from the 1950s to 1970s. Although it's mostly a rock show, Little Steven also plays various offbeat songs and medleys. The first time I heard the show he played "Do the Mouse" by Soupy Sales and last night he played a bizarre yet hilarious version of Frank Sinatra singing Simon and Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson." Most of the songs he plays, however, are by bands I've never heard of but wish I had.

What's great about this show is you get the feeling that you're listening to a guy with the world's biggest, coolest music collection and with an encyclopedic knowledge about music. Little Steven doesn't talk much on the show but, when he does, he's hilarious. On last night's show, he talked about the character Frank Sinatra played named Tony Rome. He was, according to Little Steven, even cooler than James Bond because, instead of sleeping with lots of women, he turned them all down!

The Underground Garage is on Q104.3 every Sunday night from 10 to 12. It's one of the few interesting music shows left in NYC and a great cure to the Sunday night blues.