There Must Be 50 Ways to Love NYC

They don't call it the "rat race" for nuttin'. 

Sometimes living in NYC is like being a rat -- a desperate, exhausting, frantic race for survival. A rat will do anything to survive, and survivin' in NYC is all that and more.

But we live here because we know -- we know! -- in the the depths of our soul, in the recesses of our brains, in the lining of our bowels (okay, that was gross) that all the expense and craziness of NYC is worth it. Damn worth it. Because if a New Yorker is forced to live anywhere else, they might just start to consider suicide. 

Today I heard Nora Ephron on the radio say that when she moved to California as a child, she didn't care how great the weather was -- she wanted to go back to NYC right away. 

On Saturday night I was walking around Bryant Park with my wife. The weather was perfect, the gorgeous buildings piercing the sky with their blasting lights. It was the perfect New York night. And my wife and I agreed that if you live in NYC and you look at this site and don't feel excited and grateful to live here, then you should leave immediately and move to ... wherever. 

In short, we New Yorkers live here because we have to. 

That is why I was so happy to find this latest blog post from the Village Voice entitled 50 Reasons to Be Pretty Damn Euphoric You Live in New York City. Authored by someone named Jen Doll, it's a great, brilliant piece, writing at it's finest. You should click on the link and read it here but I'll just give you a few of the best reasons:

47. There is always someone crazier than you. ALWAYS.

46. The view from the Brooklyn Bridge.

45. The view of the Brooklyn Bridge.

26. Smart people are the norm, not the exception. (Which doesn't mean they're sane, but at least no one's boring.)

13. There is an insane Korean day spa (Spa Castle) waiting for you in Flushing. And Russian and Turkish baths in the East Village.

6. You can be alone, but never feel lonely. And vice versa. But if you die and aren't found until a year later, you won't be the first.

This article was so effective that it it led to lots of "haters" making negative comments. And Ms. Doll brilliantly hit back. 

Remember: this is NYC. No one ever shrinks from a fight here.  

Young People's Day Camp (1988)

Food Court NYC

Among its many splendors, one of the things that makes NYC the best place in the world is that you can virtually eat anything you want here. Think of a nationality or ethnicity and its attendant cuisine and someone here sells it either in a restaurant or some kind of other eating establishment. And for the even more adventuresome, there are groceries stores galore where you can get all sorts of exotic ingredients and cook all sorts of non-traditional meals yourself.

Food is NYC.

Note that I said you can find all sorts of food in "some kind of other eating establishment." For the in the last few years, New Yorkers have been able to break free from the tyranny of either paying restaurant prices or undertaking the burdens of cooking. In the last few years there has been a boom in two things that have more great food more accessible and affordable: food courts and food trucks.

This article in the New York Press highlights the trend in upscale food courts like The Plaza Food Hall, FoodParc, the various food bars in Grand Central Terminal, as well as the recently opened Eataly of of Union Square. If you're looking for variety and communal dining experience, these are some of the places to go.

Food trucks have also surged in popularity in the last few years. It used to be that the only food New Yorkers would by off the street would be hot dogs and pretzels. Then Middle Easterners cooking kabobs, souvlaki, and gyros on food carts found a footing in the NYC diet. Now food trucks in NYC are a full blown New York phenomenon, selling such varied offerings as Kosher Falafel, tacos, bistro fair, even waffles. Some of the best trucks can be found all over the city, from Manhattan to Red Hook to Astoria. If you want to read a list of the best ones to be found around town, go here.

And have no fear. These food courts and food trucks are safe to in (or from). NYC health inspectors have been on a tear in the last few years, inspecting and fining with a vengeance. Never before have eating establishments been so closely monitored for cleanliness and the food grading system (forcing places to display their Department of Health awarded As, Bs and Cs in their window) has added an extra reassurance to customers.

So eat up NYC! In these trouble times, when things look like they couldn't be any worse, isn't it great to know that food in NYC has never been better?

Commies in NYC

At one point in Woody Allen's classic movie Annie Hall, Woody says to his friend: "Don't you see the rest of the country looks upon New York like we're left-wing, communist, Jewish, homosexual pornographers?"

Well, almost 20 years of Republican mayors in this town should put that idea to rest. However, believe it or not, twenty years since the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, there actually are still some Commies around -- and, not surprisingly, they congregate on the west side of Manhattan.

Have no fear -- these Commies aren't "operational", they're not planning revolution or taking to the streets. No, this Communist cell is basically a debating society and apparently all are welcome to participate and pontificate -- even Republicans! 

Seems that these communists like to sit around all day in nice surroundings and blither. I figure that's probably the safest thing for them to do these days. 

And considering that both Communists and Republicans believe in a narrow, hardcore, unworkable ideology, in many ways they make natural allies.

Mr NYC on Twitter

It's a gala day here on Mr NYC! (A "gal a day" is all I can handle, ha ha ha. Ok, sorry, Groucho).

Anyway, I finally buckled and decided to jump on the Twitter bandwagon. I think this will help the blog reach more people and branch out. So as of today, you click on the Twitter feed to MrNYCBlog on the right hand side and get brief descriptions of new blog posts, heads up on blog posts that I'm planning to write in the near future, as well as some exclusive non-blog comments about my various comings and goings in, and observations about, NYC. I hope you'll follow it and find it informative and fun!

Governor Cuomo: The Sequel

It Coulda Been Different

Right now the Congressional Democrats are going to their slaughter and, as this interesting column points out, there's no reason why this should be happening. Posting this article may be a little too late but it basically backs up my point from my previous Memo from NYC. Naturally it's much funnier and insightful than anything I could ever write (which is why I write a blog and not for a real publication).

Interview: Anonymous

Recently I blogged about how structurally corrupt our city government has become. Many of us think think this corruption doesn't affect our daily lives but, in fact, it does. Here is one story in our city of eight million. It is an outrageous story of police corruption and how a good, innocent person was screwed. For the sake of privacy and safety, I am keeping this person's identity secret.

So tell us your story.

I feel the need to share this with the public. People need to have this brought to their attention.

Last month I went to traffic court for a simple traffic violation (improper cell phone use), when in fact I was pulled over and the police witnessed no such action.

I went to court with a copy of my itemized bill showing the judge I was not using it. What shocked me to my core was the false testimony the cop gave: “I observed her talking with her left hand to her left ear." Because I went into shock over the blatant lie, I argued (probably not to my benefit) and still lost the case, having to cough up to those criminals $80 bucks so I can still keep my license. When I showed the judge my proof she completely ignored it. Here is what I’m pissed about ... I'm deaf in my left ear! I’m appealing the charge to the Traffic Court but it makes me angry as hell (as I read countless events online that police perjury is out of control and it affects us all, innocent and guilty alike).

What is the status of the case now?

Closed after the judge found me to be "guilty" with no explanation but reduced the $185 fine down to $80 and it had to get paid or else my license would be suspended. When I asked the judge to explain after I gave her my proof, she said, "This is my decision. If you don't agree appeal it." Of course I see now why she said it, it costs 10$ to file the appeal and another $50 to have the hearing transcribed, and then evaluated.

Have you called your city councilman or local representatives?

No, I didn’t realize I can, nor would they be interested. What can they do?

What message do you want to send to New Yorkers about what happened?

How police officers abuse their positions as law enforcers and it is a known fact police TESTI-LIE in court, just Google police and perjury and you should see the countless pages that come up. What is annoying is I didn't tell the judge at the time that I have hearing loss in the left ear cause I felt that was violating my privacy, and i was sure enough that the proof from my cellular statement will show I was not engaged in a call. I was so angry at that time because a) I wasn’t equipped with the proper "court/ law" wording and b) I was just a civilian who was taken advantage of by the system we empower to protect us. I can't even put a complaint on the officer directly because the system also says while they allow for complaints to be filed and if the complaint is investigated and revealed their was no error on the police officer, he IN TURN can file a complaint against you, and if you are found to be guilty, guess what -- JAIL TIME! I’m far from guilty, but what do you think the odds would be in my favor, when the police officer pulls me over in my gray BMW, harasses my sister why she has two PBA CARDS (police benevolent cards, like "get out of jail car" an officer gives you as a courtesy to show to officers you have an "in") when my sister told him to call the officers to vouch for us he didn’t.

Thank you for sharing your story, Anonymous. Just another example of how the powerful protect their own and the regular people are their victims.

Memo from NYC

In a couple of days America will go to the polls to vote for -- or more likely against -- their members of Congress. This will be seen, obviously, as a report card on the Obama presidency. And in all likelihood this Ivy League graduate will be given a failing grade.

Democrats will lose Congress and wail about everything they did wrong. Republicans will win Congress and boast that this validates their ideology, policies, and overall worldview. I've seen this scenario many, many times over -- and it's depressing.

See, I learned a long time ago that facts don't really matter in politics. That's not to say that they never matter -- sometimes they do. But usually facts get overwhelmed by overheated rhetoric, posturing, and fear-mongering. It's the reason in life that the nice, dweeby guy doesn't usually get the girl -- the bad boy is more exciting and better to look at. Flash beats substance (mostly).

So in the interests of elevating flash over substance, here are the facts: President Obama and the Democratic congress inherited the absolute worst mess of any president since FDR. An exploding Federal debt, two badly run wars, a collapsing auto industry, and a damaged international reputation for the USA. All of that would have been bad enough if not for the fact that, on top of all this, the American economy had imploded and was in its absolute worst shape since the Great Depression. The Bush administration and the Republican congress had wrecked this country so much that, everyone knew, the clean-up crew following them was going to have a long, hard, miserable job ahead of them.

Boy was that true.

And what would do you do in this situation? First, you would try to boost the economy and prevent the financial system from collapsing. Then you would look at the things that are going to create economic problems in the future (like health care and a failing education system) and do something about them. Second, you would try to save the auto company instead of letting a great American industry vanish, which would otherwise means lots of unemployed people and basically ceding the car market to the Japanese. Third, you would try to turn the disastrous wars you inherited around: commit more troops to the war of necessity (Afghanistan) but with clearer goals, objectives, and timetables; and get the hell out of the war of choice (Iraq) that we had no business launching in the first place. Fourth, you would try to fix the damage to America's reputation by re-engaging our allies and enemies alike (keep your friends close and your enemies closer, you might say).

That's all that Obama and company did for the last two years. And apparently it's going to cost them dearly in November.

And what if none of this had been done? Well, instead of 9% unemployment we would have 12% unemployment, the US financial system and auto industry would be gone (leading us into another Great Depression and turning the US into a banana republic), schools would continue to fail and health care costs would continue to bankrupt people, the badly run wars would still be going ... badly ... and the US would still be reviled around the world. To me, this would have been an unacceptable situation and things would be so much worse right now.

But apparently not many Americans believe this.

Apparently these folks (calling themselves Tea Partiers after the people who triggered the American revolution) believe that all the government should have done is cut taxes (but they won't say by how much) and cut spending (again, they won't say what or by how much) and that somehow everything would have just magically worked out and America would be back in business, just dandy. Seems idiotic and bizarre to me but millions of people apparently believe this, according to the polls.

I've kvetched plenty about the Tea Party on here and I won't do it much anymore. Either you think this fake "movement" is for real or you don't. Either you see it for the faux populist-hypocritical-corporate scam that it is or you don't. And besides, the great Matt Taibbi dissects it more brilliantly than I ever could in his latest article and you should probably just read that (he is spot on when he says that the Tea Party movement is, as its fundamental core, narcissistic).

Something else occurred to me, however. The Tea Party is thusly named because it invokes the American revolution. And in the last few decades, Republicans have come to love their revolutions. We had the Reagan Revolution of 1980 and then the Gringrich Revolution of 1994. Now it seems that the Republican party is getting ready for its third revolution in thirty years. That's roughly one revolution per decade.

Republicans apparently love America so much that they see the need to overthrow it so often.

But then here's the question (or two): if the Reagan revolution was so successful in the 1980s, why did Bill Clinton end up as President in the 1990s? And if the Gingrich revolution and Bush presidency were so successful in the 1990s and 2000s, why did Barack Obama end up as President (and the Democrats running Congress) in the 2000s second decade? It seems to me that all of these Republican revolutions eventually fail. These right wing, reactionary attempts to fit the government according to some kind of ideological template all, in the end, come to nothing (kind of like the Soviet Union).

If you guys screwed up your previous two revolutions, are we to believe that somehow the third time will be the charm?

My message to Republicans is this: you've had your chance and you've blown it -- on multiple occasions! In the last thirty years, your party has controlled either one or both branches of the Federal government for twenty-six of them. Most of my conscious life has been when you maniacs were in charge. And it always seems to lead to misery: promises of fiscal discipline lead to exploding spending and deficits, promises of ethical behavior and honesty in government lead to scandals and indictments, promises of a sensible foreign policy lead to wars and even more scandals, promises of job and economic growth lead to recessions and falling wages.

And on and on and on.

Basically, all of your promises for a great conservative future, a trickle down flood leading to a rising tide lifting all boats, the market magically fixing everything and prosperity reigning supreme, come to nothing. You always have lots of wonderful intentions and yet everything always seems to end up going horribly wrong. And then who do you blame? Not yourselves or your policies or your narrow ideology. Oh no. Somehow it always turns out to be the fault of the media (i.e. Jews), the liberals (i.e. more Jews), Hollywood (i.e. even more Jews), egghead professors (i.e. lots more Jews), the blacks, the illegal immigrants, the Muslims (and various other swarthy people), you know, the usual suspects.

And I'm sure when your next "revolution" fails, you'll start blaming these people all over again. So depressing. So familiar.

So after this record failure, my big question to the Republican is this: why should anyone believe you now?

Abuse of Power

If you listen to the media in this town, things have never been better in New York City government. Even in these tough times, the powers that be in this city are considered tops. The bad old days are gone and New York today is a new governmental nirvana. Sure, New York State government is corrupt and dysfunctional but not, so the pundits say, is city government. It's great! And all of this is thanks to our two "great" mayors, past and present, Rudy Giuliani and Mike Bloomberg.

Not so fast.

The story of how Rudy appointed corrupt people like Bernie Kerik to top positions in city government is well known (Kerik is the first NYC police commissioner to go to jail, something that didn't even happen during the good old bad days of Jimmy Walker). But Rudy's biggest sin is how woefully underprepared this city was when 9/11 hit -- the police and firefighters didn't have enough resources and Rudy arrogantly put the Office of Emergency Management in the World Trade Centers after he had been told to put it underground in Brooklyn after the 1993 attack on the WTC. And yet the myth persists that Rudy did a "great job" handling 9/11 -- he beacme "America's mayor" and his leadership a model to be replicated. Something tells me that if Rudy had been a Democrat, the story of his "leadership" would have been considered a much different thing by the media.

But that was then. Today, under Mayor Mike, we're told that city government has never been this clean and honest. BS! Last year I wrote about the bombshell story that the mob had essentially taken over the Department of Buildings. This story hit in the midst of the mayoral election -- when Bloomberg was running for this dubious third term. But how did the media pundits treat it? With a big yawn. And as I said then and I say again now, something tells me that if Mike had been a Democrat this would have been a much different story.

Mike's hypocrisy continues. Yesterday he came out in favor of the new ballot initiative that would restore the two-term limit for city office holders. Even the media is having a tough time swallowing this one. You gotta love these headlines (the toughest he's ever faced):

Bloomberg's Latest on Terms: 3 for Him, but Only 2 for Everyone Else
Bloomberg Zig Zagging on Term Limits

Ouch. But he's not the one getting the toughest headlines. Today it was revealed by a great website called nypdconfidential that Ray Kelly, our sainted Police Commissioner, has been having his drinks and meals and membership dues at the Harvard Club comped for years! Some "non-profit" called the New York Police Foundation has been picking up his tabs since 2002 in blatant violation of the rule that city employees can't accept any gift over $50. Something tells me that tabs at the Harvard Club over the years have come to something more than $50.

Even more outrageous: Kelly has accepted numerous free flights from Bloomberg on his private jet to his vacation home in Florida. Not billionaire Mike's place in Florida's -- Kelly's house in Florida! Isn't it interesting that a lifelong lawman like Kelly is able to afford a second home? And apparently Mike jetted Ray down to Florida six times in 2008 and five times in 2009. Wow! I wish I had been able to go on vacation five or six times in one year! Isn't our "amazing" police commissioner such a common man? And Commissioner Kelly has failed to report these gifts since 2002. Again, if a Democratic mayor was doing this stuff and his police commissioner was accepting free gifts and going on vacation multiple times per year, the media would be going crazy with what a big scandal this is. But no, in this situation, it's just a minor story.

And the police under Kelly have become needlessly aggressive in going after our citizens, violating the Constitution, and engaging in racial profiling. If readers to my blog stay tuned, in days to come, I will have an exclusive, first-hand story of police abuse that will make your skin crawl.

So even today, there's still plenty of corruption in NYC government. It's just that it's more insidious. If Jimmy Walker came back to life and saw what was going on, he'd probably feel that nothing had changed.