Sleeping on the Subway

Today I saw something that drives me nuts: people sleeping on the subway. 

What do they think the subway is? Their bedroom?

Sadly, for some people, it is (I guess). But even most homeless people manage to get to shelters and sleep there or they do it on the streets. Most of the people who sleep on the subway clearly have a bed at home but I guess they just can't wait. What drives me nuts the most are people who fall asleep on the person sitting next to them. This has happened to me gawd knows how many times and it drives my meshughana. This is what I saw today. And just watching it makes me mad!

But most people like me wonder: how can anyone sleep on the subway anyway?

After all, the subway is always stopping and starting, stopping and starting, clack-clack-clacking away. People are moving about and talking, doors melodically opening and closing, announcements blaring, even babies crying and people singing ... it's a real party. So how can anyone sleep?

Well, a couple of doctors with too much time on their hands apparently decided to study it. It seems that people can sleep on the subway but just not very well (no kidding). There are five stages of sleep but subways sleeps usually only get to stages one or two -- the least restorative stages. So on top of annoying people and putting themselves at risk of getting mugged, subway sleepers are getting lousy sleep. 

Wow, these doctors sure are brilliant.

Perhaps the MTA could create a sound-proof sleeping car with bunk bends. Then I just myself start sleeping on the subway too.

Transit Tidbits

Here in NYC, transportation is a constant concern. Anyone who reads this blogs knows transit is one of my chief areas of interest -- and gripes -- about this town. NYC is the greatest city in the world yet getting around it is always a challenge. Just one of the many, it turns out, about living here. 

Most of it is the fault of You Know Who -- but that's for another time. 

Yet two stories this weekend highlight a couple of interesting developments in the never ending saga of NYC transit.

First, there's the fact that as bridge and tunnels tolls have increased, there has been a 4% decrease in the number of cars going across and through them. In the last year, as tolls have gone up, there are almost a million fewer vehicles going in and out of this town. Subsequently, ridership on public transportation has increased! Fewer cars, more people maximizing public transit -- who says there's no good news?

Second, as the economy lumbers back to life, one of the sectors experiencing growth in NYC is the "tech sector." Yes, good ol' Silicon Alley is back and better than ever! One of those great pieces of 21st century lingo is the "tech corridor" -- areas populated with tech company giants and start-ups that are linked by similar transportation routes. Most people probably think of highways in Northern California when they think of "tech corridors" but the one in NYC connecting Silicon Alley together is naturally on the subway -- specifically, the R train. New economy meets old infrastructure, I guess. Who knew the future of NYC's economy lay on one of its crappiest subways line?

Moving around this dynamic city is and always will be ... dynamic.

Memo from NYC

Oh no! Catastrophe! This is a total disaster! 

The unemployment rate fell dramatically. 

Wait, that's bad news? Well yes -- if you're a Republican.

For the last three years, ever since Obama became president, the Republican have been doing everything they can to destroy the economy since they think this will make Obama a one term president. Never mind that it was a Republican president named Bush who created this economic mess -- as the one in office since the great recession began (actually, just before he took office), Obama has been on the receiving end of Republican blame for the bad economy -- again, never mind that the Republicans are the ones responsible for it. 

But suddenly the unemployment rate fell from 9.1% to 8.6%. There have been 21 straight months of job growth. Things are looking (slowly, slowly) up. So obviously this is terrible news for the Republicans because, if this keeps going, Obama will be re-elected. And the Republican party will be totally discredited once again. It will show how wrong they've been about the economy and, well, everything and how Obama, despite his flaws and stumbles, has done well.

Bad news for Republicans.

Good news for America.

Mayor Bloomberg Thinks He's a Sovereign with His Own Army

Jim Henson's Fantastic World

We are all Jim Henson's children.

The brilliant creative mind that created the Muppets -- those furry talking animals with lots of attitude and lots of heart who loved to sing and dance -- has literally given generations of children countless hours of joy. Kermit the frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzy bear, Rowlf the dog, Gonzo, Scooter, Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, the Swedish Chef, Statler and Waldorf, Sam the eagle, ANIMAL! -- we grew up with them, and now our children are growing up with them. The Muppets created a world we all wanted to belong to and where everyone was wanted.

Some day we'll find it ... 

It's hard to describe how much I love the Muppets -- in fact, I don't know anyone who doesn't. And best of all the Muppets are back and bigger than ever with a new hit movie and a big exhibit here in NYC. 

At the Museum of Moving Image through January, you can go to see "Jim Henson's Fantastic World" that explores the life and work of the man who left the world too early in 1990. Henson was a puppeteer, a filmmaker, a writer, a singer, a voice over artist, and a visual genius. He worked on Sesame Street in its early years, created The Muppet Show and their subsequent movies plus Fraggle Rock and also made movies like The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. He had a unique vision that the world loves to this day. 

What's great about this exhibit is your learn how much work went into Jim Henson creating his fantastic world. There are countless exhibits of his drawings and notes. Remember the great beginning to The Muppet Show? You get to see the original drawings that Henson did for it, seeing how he storyboarded the shots and the song lyrics to match them. The exhibit teaches you a lot more things about Henson that I'm sure you didn't know -- like that he had four kids, he was nominated for an Oscar in the 1960s, and he created Kermit the Frog as far back as 1955. 

It's a great exhibit about a great man -- one that all us all should be grateful we had for as short a time as we did. He made us all a little bit more innocent, a little happier. He made all of us ... better people.  

The lover, the dreamer, and me.

They come, they see ... they spend money

One of the biggest businesses in NYC is the city itself. This town is quite literally a magnet, snapping  tens of millions of people towards it each year. 

In these hard times, tourism has become one of the few growing sectors of the NYC economy.

And oh boy, do they come. This year the number of tourists flocking into our city will top 50 million for the first time. Yeah, that's a lot of people. That's the population of Australia and Canada combined plus a few million. That's basically the entire equivalent of France. As big as our city is and as huge as our population is, it's virtually impossible to conceive how many people come here each year just to visit.

Here are some of the stats, according to New York magazine:

• Of the roughly 50 million visitors, roughly 10 million of them are from abroad and roughly 40 million of them are from the USA
• The typical American visitors stays two days and spends less than $500 
• The typical foreign visitors stays a week and spends almost $2000
• Ten percent of all foreign tourists are British
• Visitors from Scandinavian countries spend the most money here
• The fastest growing demographic of foreign tourists are Brazilians

As economies around the world boom and the dollar remains weak, foreigners love to come to NYC and drop coin. It's cheaper for them here than at home (if you can believe that). And surprisingly, most of the American visitors to NYC actually live about 30 miles from town.

Obviously, we love tourists. They pour tons of money into our economy and keep up afloat. 

But is this a good thing? 

The obvious answer is yes. Mo' tourists, mo' money. But there's always a dark cloud.

The dark cloud is that tourism is replacing real economic growth. Mayor Bloomberg himself says that in this article, apparently without any worry about it. But I worry. NYC's economy must always been dynamic, growing, evolving. We don't want to become a Venice or Colonial Williamsburg, a once great city existing purely on its historical reputation or famous sites. We want to be a thriving city, a metropolis on the move.  

Also, as this article points out, tourism has boomed in the last several years thanks to a cheap dollar and low crime rates. But what if the dollar strengthens? What if crime goes up or there's another horrible terrorist attack? Then tourism will plunge and what will replace it then?

So when it comes to tourists, I say the more the merrier (and the more money, the much merrier). But let's also not turn into a city of navel gazers, thinking we're so great while the city crumbles about our ears. Let's create new businesses, attract new industries, and keep the city's economy dynamic. Then we'll really be something to see.

How the 1% Lives

Much of the Occupy Wall Street protests have focused anger at the richest of the rich Americans -- the so-called 1% -- and how they don't pay their fair share in taxes. Basically, the argument goes, they don't pay enough and the government goes without much needed revenue to do the things that will improve our society.

"But that's not fair!" the 1% and their defenders shout. "The 1% pay the most in taxes!"

Not really. See today's huge article about how one of NYC's richest men -- Ronald Lauder of the Estee Lauder fortune -- cleverly hides his money from the government in legal tax shelters. It's really scummy and depressing. The loopholes and "donations" to various "charities" and foundations dramatically reduce the amount of taxes that so many rich people like Lauder have to pay. 

Like most rich people, the Lauders of the world get to eat their cake and have it to. It's the best of both worlds really: the rich can boast that they are "oh-so generous" buy giving huge amounts of money to "charity" and earn brownie points with the public for how "good" they are. In reality, they're just reducing their tax burden, moving money around from a taxable entity to a non-taxable one. It's gotta be great to reduce your taxes and get free positive publicity instead paying your fair share and getting no glory. 

Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.

Call it vanity unfair.

Thanksgiving Day Parade 2011 Balloon Preview

Classic Mr NYC

Following up on my post below, I thought it would be cool to re-post a blog entry from last year about secret places in NYC. Needless to say, there's a lot! Enjoy.

An Underground Park?

Ever since the Highline opened in 2009 -- and gave NYC its first park in the sky -- the idea of "re-purposing" city areas for parks or other public uses has become quite the urban vogue. NYC is very big but also very dense -- so making use of every inch of it and making it as great as possible is a very wise indeed.

So what not have a park right under our feet? 

There's a couple of eager young engineers who want to design a subterranean park under Delancey Street. They want to hollow out a long buried, ancient trolley terminal (who knew those even existed?!) and make it into a park using fiber optics to channel natural light for photosynthesis. 

You should check out this article about it and look at some of the designs -- they're quite impressive. This project is still very much in the planning/its-gotta-get-financed stage but, hopefully, it'll become a reality. 

After all, NYC is a place that it's always re-imagining itself so why not?