Primary Day in NYC

It's Primary Day! Today is the last day for registered party voters to decide who will be the candidates for mayor, comptroller, public advocates, the borough presidents, all 51 city council seat, as well as the District Attorneys, in the November general elections.

All of these elected offices are important but the two most important races are for mayor (obviously) and for Manhattan District Attorney. They easily wield the most power, the most influence, over the city, and their policy and prosecutorial decisions can have ramifications for years -- even decades -- to come.

The next mayor will determine how this city is policed, how the public schools are run, what gets built or doesn't, how legislation from the city council gets signed-off on, and how basic services are delivered. The NYC mayoralty used to attract big personalities like LaGuardia, Koch and Giuliani but are two most-recent Boston-born mayors have been much more low-key and some, like the author of this article, bemoan this fact that even if, in my opinion, blowhard chief executives are a nightmare that we're well rid off. 

But Manhattan DA is just as powerful but nowhere near as high profile. That said, the current Manhattan DA refused to prosecute the Trump family for their corruption or Harvey Weinstein for his predations years ago when he had the chanc. Imagine if he had? Much of recent history would be very different. And while mayors come and come every 4, 8, or 12 years, DAs can stay in office for decades (and most do). Manhattan has only had three elected District Attorneys for the last ... drum-roll ... 80 years! Frank Hogan, Robert Morgenthau, Cy Vance Jr. Whoever wins this race today will probably be in this office for a very long time and determine how criminals are prosecuted for decades. This will shape and influence prosecutorial law for the whole country -- the stakes couldn't be higher.

History has its eyes on us.

Foo Fighters Re-Open Madison Square Garden -- June 20, 2021 Full Concert

 

NYC Celebrates Juneteenth

Scenes From A Mayoral Campaign

In the final days of the 2021 NYC mayoral primary, the candidates for the Democratic and Republican party nominations are criss-crossing the city to win votes on June 22. This comprehensive article with great pictures captures the exhaustive hope and effort that all of these candidates have and are expending to win their primaries -- and then the mayoral election in November. 

By the way, if you want to vote in the primary -- and vote early, like I already have done -- here is a link to the NYC Board of Elections website. 

Go vote! And help to decide the future of this great city. 

Remembering "Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark" @ 10

Every few years, Broadway theater permeates the culture -- usually a with a big megahit or two. Most recently, obviously, was Hamilton in 2015/2016 (it had some good company that year with Waitress); twenty-odd years ago, at the turn of the century, it was The Producers and, a few years before that in the 1990s, it was The Lion King and Rent (which had a great companion in 1996 with Bring in Da' Noise, Bring in Da' Funk and the reboot of Chicago) which followed other megahits from the 1980s like Cats, Lez Miz, and Miss Saigon. 

2011 was another of those years but it was unique in that it saw one of Broadway's biggest megahits and megaflops -- The Book of Mormon and Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark. 

Of the two, Spiderman held all the promise of being the bigger hit -- after all, it was based on one of the most popular comic book franchises of all time, it had music by Bono and The Edge of U2, and it was directed by Juliette Taymor who had achieved greatness with The Lion King. Spiderman had BIG HIT written all over it, a pre-sold sure-fire success.

Eh, not so much.

The book and music had problems, lots of problems (Bono and The Edge were rarely available because they had to tour, etc.) and Taymor's budget grew so out of control that she was ultimately fired. The show went into previews, the word-of-mouth was awful, and eventually the show closed and was re-worked before officially premiering. Due to advance ticket sales the show actually ran for a while but eventually it closed with no Tony glory and millions of lost dollars and lawsuits (even inspiring a brilliant SNL skit). Today, people are remembering it for the disaster that it was -- and even Mr NYC chronicled its troubles at the time (yes, the blog has been around that long that it's remembering, as history, events it wrote about at the time). 

Meanwhile The Book of Mormon, written by the South Park guys and Bobby Lopez of Avenue Q (this was pre-Frozen, etc.) was being quietly developed but, when it opened -- WHAM! It became a megahit instantly, the biggest one since The Producers and before Hamilton, and it continues its sucessful run to this day (COVID-19 interruption excepted). I saw and raved about it back in 2012 -- and could listen to its soundtrack forever. In fact, think I'll go do that right now ...

But here's to Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark at ten -- it may have been a bad show and a big flop but it certainly wrote a colorful chapter in the history of the Great White Way.

NYC Is Back -- But Where Is It Going?

In retrospect, the COVID-19 pandemic wasn't that long -- in less than 15 months we went from the depths of death and despair to the heights of healing and optimism. New York City, the epicenter of the pandemic, is now the epicenter of recovery from it. The city is looking forward, moving into its post-pandemic future.

But what will that future look like? 

I've asked this question before and the answer is impossible to craft right now. That's why I strongly suggest reading this massive article by NYC writer Jonathan Mahler who looks at the history of NYC since the 1970s -- from the times of high crime and the fiscal crises to the times of economic booms and the city as a "luxury product" -- and explains how they created structural divisions amongst the city's population that the pandemic only exposed and exacerbated. There are more rich people and more poor people here than ever before. There are so many broken systems -- like the schools and the tax struture -- that are seemingly impossible to fix because some people benefit greatly and don't want to fix something that is broken in their favor while everybody else suffers. 

The questions that recovery from the pandemic asks is: can we build a more equitable and just NYC? Did the crises of the pandemic create an opportunity that we must seize or soon lose to create a fairer city -- or will it be squandered? 

The next mayor -- whoever he or she is -- will have a big role in determining this future, along with the brand new city council. Of course NYC was going to "come back" -- it always does -- but where it's going doesn't always bring everyone along. The promise of this city, from almost a century ago, was that it took great care of its citizen. It doesn't done such a great job lately but it can -- if we make it. 

"In the Heights" is Here!

It's in theaters, it's on HBO, it's everywhere! Watch the first 8 minutes of the movie ...

... and learn all about the big premiere!

Herb Sturz RIP

We New Yorkers are a loud bunch but, reading the obituary of a man named Herb Sturz, you realize that some of the most impactful of our citizens are our quietest ones. Such is the case of Herb Sturz, who recently passed away at age 90. 

Who was Herb? 

He was a lifelong NYC public servant, working in city government and as an advisor to many mayors over the decades. His two big accomplishments were very different but have changed the face of the city we live in today. As head of the city's planning commission in the 1980s he plotted the transformation of Times Square from a palace of a sin into a family playground. But in his later years he was a strong advocate for criminal justice reform -- pushing hard to end "stop and frisk" and closing Riker's Island. He did a great deal of empirical research about the problem facing New Yorkers and developed policies to address them. He didn't seek fame or glory -- just results, and he got them.

Herb Sturz was a leading citizen of this city and we're all better off because of him. RIP. 

Is There Anybody Alive Out There?

As New York City pulls itself out of COVID-19, as we emerge from our homes and congregate, as we rediscover the distant and familiar joys of being with each other, as we celebrate renewal, this city is coming to grips with what it's gone through.

Many of us have survived and are refinding our optimism, but so many died, so many were lost, that we shall grieve them forever.

So it's fair to ask the question: "Is there anybody alive out there?" This is the refrain from Bruce Springstein's 2007 hit "Radio Nowhere" and the music video is almost prophetic -- it shows people walking around NYC, lonely and searching for connection, doubtless asking themselves this very question. 

In the song and video's 2007 case, the question is more spiritual. Post-COVID, in 2021, it takes on a ominous literal quality. 

So yes -- we are alive out there (Mr NYC raises his hand) but not as many of us as before, and all of us changed for good.

Gotta Love New Yorkers

Here's a rare good news story -- how Lin-Manuel Miranda and his friends saved the Drama Book Shop on West 40th street from its demise. It's a story of modern day noblesse oblige, the wealthy saving and sponsoring art and artists or, in this case, an artistic platform, from which the rest of the culture gains.

It's both great and depressing for obvious reasons -- book stores, particularly in NYC, have been vanishing thanks to technology, gentrification, etc. So when the wealthy and powerful intervene -- great! But when they don't ...

And that's the point -- we need an economic model where the wealthy don't always have to be saviors. That's why I hope, great as this news is and great as its current benefactors are, co-ops really should be the future for American business.