A new LaGuardia Airport is coming!

Marc Maron in NYC

If you're like me, you're a huge fan of comedian Marc Maron's insanely great podcast WTF.

Originally started as one comedian talking to his fellow comedians, in recent years Maron has also been interviewing actors, singers, movie directors, and other high profile people. His podcast has become so popular and "important" that people are begging to be interviewed on it. Most recently, the President of the United States himself was a guest. 

Maron records WTF out of LA but he lived in NYC for many years and his show has a definite New York vibe. This article about Maron's past life in New York is very interesting and revealing about the man who America wants to talk to.  

Eat at Seinfeld's

It's a testament to the eternal greatness of Seinfeld -- the ultimate New York show "about nothing" -- that now, almost two decades since it went off the air, people still watch, talk, and write about it.

Recently the Internet streaming service Hulu licensed all of the episodes, netting the creators and owners of the show a cool $150 million.

And now this nostalgic article in The New York Times about the New York food culture on the show -- the coffee shops, hot dog stands, restaurants, and soup Nazis that Jerry, Kramer, George and Elaine all frequented during their madcap, 90's adventures. Several of the places featured on the show have closed but many are still around and can be visited by any fan.

Great food, great comedy -- just part of what always make NYC great.

Marriage Equality Rocks America

Marriage equality is now legal throughout the entire country. This is a great achievement. Here is what I wrote about it back in 2011 when marriage equality was legalized in New York State. I think my comments then still stand now.

Bloomberg Back in Biz

Have you been wondering what former Mayor Mike Bloomberg has been up to since he left office in 2013?

Of course you haven't! 

But this very long article is a rough summary of what our former mayor has been up to since he laid down the burdens of running NYC and resuming the duties of running his company Bloomberg LLC.

It's an interesting read but it also shows that Bloomberg is, at heart, a businessman and that his 12-year detour in government was really an aberation.

Past Tense, Future Perfect

Forgive the intellectual laziness of the following sentence but I can't think of a better way to put it: a big city like NYC has a big history. Big -- in that it is varied, complicated, and endless.

In fact, there are many histories to NYC: political, social, cultural, architectural, you name it. There are whole libraries devoted to the history of NYC, literal forests of felled trees devoted to capturing the complex biography of this place. The following are links to just a few resources and articles to learn more about the history of NYC:

A "Book Bag" that summarizes some of the best novels and non-fiction writing about NYC.

A recent segment on WNYC radio about the history of landmarks and the preservation of great buildings in NYC.  

An article about the legendary hangout and music haunt Max's Kansas City where Andy Warhol liked to go and where the Velvet Underground gave some of their last, great shows.

And a history of Roosevelt Island, that sliver of land in the East River between Manhattan and Queens that has as long, complicated, sometimes scary, but always amazing history all its own. Recently it was the site of Hillary Clinton's campaign launch for president -- yet even more history being made in NYC.

The Triple Crown at Belmont State - 2015

David Letterman's Last Show - May 20, 2015

NYC in the Movies

Interesting article about the movie tours of NYC -- where buses cart lots of tourists around to look at spots in the city where classic movies were filmed -- and how the "idea" of NYC that we see in the movies is so very different from the reality of NYC in real life. 

For me, that's the greatness of this city. It's a place where dreams are realized and harsh truths are revealed. It's reality and fantasy all at once. What could be better?   

De Blasio's Vision for NYC

Rolling Stone recently published a very long article about Mayor De Blasio and his progressive vision for NYC.

Elected in 2013 with 73% of the vote, Mayor De Blasio put the issues of economic inequality at the center of his campaign and governing strategy. So far, he has given NYC universal pre-K (which, as a parent, I love), paid sick leave, launched a municipal ID card, and unveiled plans for more affordable housing units. More controversially, he reduced the use of "stop-and-frisk" by the police but has largely maintained the "broken windows" policing that has kept crime low.

His agenda is mostly, to my mind, uncontroversial. Who can argue that parents don't need pre-K? That paid sick leave is a humane policy? That a municipal ID card that helps people access services is bad? And the need for more affordable housing? That last one answers itself. 

These policy achievements might be viewed as "progressive" but, for me, they are just common sense improvements to the quality of life in NYC in the 21st century.

And yet, as successful as he's been (so far), and despite his huge mandate, De Blasio has faced vicious push back from the state government, the media, the wealthy, the so-called (corporate) charter school movement, and, naturally, Republicans. De Blasio wants to fight inequality and these various groups instead want to fight him. In fact, they are scorch-earthed in their hatred for him and his agenda, as this article explains. Just read some of the comments that accompany the article -- they are really, really nasty.
 

Clearly, instead of wanting to reduce inequality, these people want to preserve it. They don't really hate De Blasio -- they hate the people he represents (namely, the sick and disabled, the poor, minorities, Democrats, and basically anyone who isn't rich, white, and Republican). Really, what the De Blasio haters hate is democracy itself. For them, it doesn't matter that De Blasio and his policies won big and have huge public support -- they want to destroy him and his policies and the people that these policies help. They believe that De Blasio' policies threaten their socioeconomic dominance -- and they can't stand it!

Whether or not De Blasio is successful in the long run remains to be seen. He may have future policy and political stumbles. He may get caught up in some kind of scandal. There might be a  rises that arises that he is incapable of handling. And, of course, the corporate/Republican/media/state government jihad may ultimate succeed in defeating his planned re-election bid in 2017.

But, for now, I'm grateful that, at this moment of history, NYC has a progressive mayor that actually cares about the people and is succeeding.