NYC Anniversaries

Last week saw the passing of former Mayor Ed Koch, an NYC institution if there ever was one. At 88 years old, it seemed impossible that he wouldn't be around forever.

But there are a couple of other NYC institutions that are still going strong.

Most notably, Grand Central Terminal. The great train station on 42nd street on the east side has been shuttling Americans from our city to the rest of the country for 100 years -- it opened on February 1st 1913 at 12:01 AM. Grand Central is the gold standard of American train stations, a monument to American ingenuity and an icon in our city's landscape. Thirty-five years ago it was almost torn down but thankfully New Yorkers of all stripes pulled together to save it. This beautiful station -- sorry, terminal, since trains terminate there -- has almost a million people passing through it every day. It also has amazing history and you can read about it here. 

Then there's the music of the night that's been playing continuously for 25 years. 

Ed Koch was still mayor when "The Phantom of the Opera" debuted in January, 1988. The Andrew Lloyd Webber musical based on an old movie about a phantom that haunts a Paris opera theater is not only the biggest hit ever to be on Broadway -- by far -- but also the single most successful entertainment enterprise ever. It has grossed billions of dollars in NYC and around the world. Many shows, including some big hit musicals like Rent, have come and gone in the time that "Phantom" has been on Broadway. Heck, if you were born when "Phantom" first opened, you would be old enough to star in it! Here's to 25 more years, an NYC icon that keeps going strong. 

Megacities New York

Ed Koch RIP

The 105th Mayor of NYC died on February 1st of heart failure at age 88.

Ed Koch was mayor when I was a kid, the first that I remember, and at the time it seemed like he always was -- and always would be -- mayor. After it left office, it felt like he still was mayor, always appearing on TV and radio, giving his voluminous opinions.  

Koch was a larger than life figure. He is credited with saving the city from fiscal calamity when he took office in 1978, and he piloted the city throughout the 1980s before losing his bid for a fourth term in 1989. He had a mixed legacy -- good fiscal management, much needed housing projects, along with ignoring the AIDS crises and vast corruption within his administration. But he lifted the city's spirits at a tough time for the city and continued to do so in the nearly quarter century after he left the mayoralty. 

The city won't be the same without him. 

Making of the Mayor 2013

This November, New Yorkers will be going to the polls and electing a new mayor. For the first time in 12 years, an incumbent mayor won't be running for re-election since Mayor Bloomberg is term-limited (for real this time!). 

So the job is open, and it's anyone ball game.

Several candidates, both Democrat and Republican, have either declared their candidacies or are planning to declare soon. The game is on. 

This election promises to be an epic battle for the soul of this city. Will we continue down the road of the Bloomberg authoritarian corporate city or will become a more equitable, middle-class friendly town? Will our government keep punishing the poor and coddling the rich -- or not? What will our city's future be?

As the year grinds on, I plan on covering the battle for the mayoralty as it develops. I'm sure it'll be interesting, with lots of candidates, lots of wars or words, lots of ads, lots of noise.

The noise has already started. Last week, Bloomberg criticized some of the candidate as sounding "ridiculous" -- because he, of course, never is.

This will be interesting. Make sure to come here to find out more as it goes on. 

Ya'll listen now! Ya' hear?

NYC hasn't had a country music radio station in over 17 years.

Believe it or not, this town actually used to have a thriving country music station (I believe it was called WYNY) but since this is, you know, New York City, it eventually died out and it wasn't replaced.

Why? you wonder

Who knows? But it's probably safe to say that the Bush presidency didn't exactly make New Yorkers thirst for redneck music on their radio.

But now it's back! 

Apparently a nationwide radio station called NASH has snagged a place on the NYC radio dial at 94.7 FM. Yessir, ya' wanna listen to some Alan Jackson or Garth Brooks or .... whatever ... you gotta place for it on the dial. 

So put on your cowboy hat, chew some tabakky, break out some moonshine, and enjoy.

Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir Sings at the 2013 Presidential Inauguration

Christmas In Hollis - 25th Anniversary

Gotta NOT love these New Yorkers

Election 2012 was one of the biggest progressive victories in American politics since the LBJ landslide of 1964. Americans not only re-elected its first black Democratic president, increased the Democratic majority in the US Senate, and reduced the Republican majority in the US House, but Democrats gained state legislatures, and liberal ballot initiatives -- pot legalization, marriage equality, tax increases to fund education -- passed in a number of states. 

It was a great progressive victory.

This included New York State. Obama won the state, our junior senator was re-elected in a record landslide, Democrats gained congressional seats, and also won control of the New York State Senate.

For decades, literally, through gerrymandering, Republicans maintained control of the state senate. They cut a deal with the Assembly Democrats to draw district lines where the Republicans had a virtually unbreakable lock on the state senate while Democrats had a similar lock on the state assembly. It was a sleazy bi-partisan disgrace and it kept our state government dysfunctional and, more importantly, our laws behind the times. 

But times changed. 

New York is more liberal and Democratic today. The Republican party is all but finished here. It hasn't won a state-wide race since 2002 when Governor Pataki won his last term. We haven't had a Republican senator or Attorney General since 1998 or a Republican comptroller since 1993. The New York State Congressional Delegation is overwhelmingly Democratic and our few Republican Congresspeople are way more liberal than Republican congresspeople from the rest of the country. The one last bastion of Republican power in this state was the State Senate and, despite gerrymandering the hell out of it, the Democratic tidal wave broke through in 2012 and Democrats won control of the chamber -- 33 to 30.

Until they didn't.

Last week, six so-called Democratic State Senators broke away from the Democratic caucus and agreed to create a "coalition" with the Republicans. These means that even though voters in this state went the polls and voted for a Democratic state senate, six "Democrats" cut a deal with the GOP to keep that party in power while also getting some power for themselves. 

Banana Republic time in Albany. 

This cabal -- sorry, coalition -- is absolutely breathtaking in its arrogance, venality, and dishonesty. It is undemocratic and wrong. Voters voted one way and the people they elected decided to go the other way. These six people presented themselves as Democrats, got the party to nominate them, got people to donate to and vote for their campaigns as Democrats -- and then gave power of the state senate to Republicans. Wow.

Of course, the leaders of this "coalition" see it differently. They talk about the glories of "bipartisanship" and "reform" and "putting politics aside" -- all a bunch of cynical, dishonest crap. They don't mean a word of it. They have put together a complicated, idiotic "power sharing" agreement where they will share control of the state senate and its agenda. They claim they will pursue progressive legislation like hiking the minimum wage and campaign finance reform. 

Well, if they want a progressive agenda, why not create a progressive caucus in the state senate? It defies logic because, of course, there is no logic there. Only greed and power.

The GOP and these six "Democrats" have warped the desires of the New York State electorate and continued the corrupt practices of Albany. They are unfit to serve. This is an attempt by a dying political party and six state senators to cling to power that the people of this state do not want them to have. Sick.

Let's hope that one day they will pay a heavy price for this.

Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting 2012

Gotta Love New Yorkers

Great story today about a conductor of the Queens College Aarron Copeland School of Music. His name is Maurice Press, he's 82 years old, and has been working as a conductor and a teacher for over 60 years. These are the kind of NYC characters I love -- and whose company I could only hope to aspire to.