Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Harvest in the Square, our County Fair
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
Harvest in the Square, our County Fair
While the world was waiting for thunder and lightning at the UN, with Presidents Hugo Chavez, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi having preannounced their words of anger to descend on the proceedings, the people of Union Square had more immediate concerns, about forecasts of a heavy rainfall potentially disrupting the 14th Annual Harvest in the Square, our Midtown Manhattan County Fair, on Thursday, September 24. But the clouds turned away, and another sweet and perfect September day greeted our proceedings. Some 1,200 New Yorkers gathered in the white tent that had sprung up overnight at the west edge of the Union Square Park, to taste the best farm-fresh ingredients in the best dishes assembled - and donated to the cause of the Park’s renewal - by the best chefs of Manhattan’s “best-tasting community.” That is a quote from the late Eugene McGrath, former head of the 14th Street-Union Square BID/LDC, now Union Square Partnership, host of the Harvest celebration. It is a joyful event, a giving of thanks for the bounties of the season.
The joys began at the entrance, when Mionetto Prosecco people greeted arrivals with flutes of their Italian sparkling wine, and servers of L. A. Burdick Chocolate Company (New Hampshire, available in East Coast shops) walked around with platters of bonbons, truffles and small chocolate tarts sprinkled with honey-lavender Anglaise and bee pollen, while Jack[‘s] Bistro offered mango-glazed skewered shrimp.
The buffet ambiance was crowded but friendly. Restaurants had tables of food, both in the center and lining the walls of the long tent, the small servings on plastic plates being constantly replenished by chefs from their backup hot tables and cold hampers. The 58 participating restaurant food tables were interspersed with stands of wine from 22 vineries, and beverage displays from Dallis Coffee Company, Fiji Water, GuS Grown Up Soda and Heartland Brewery.
Visitors, were cheerful, many darting between tables, tasting and exchanging impressions. The more sedate filled their plates and found a table and chairs for a leisurely picnic, at the ends and along the sides of the tent.
In the choice of favorite dishes, this was a year of basics. My hardly scientific poll shows that beef and pork predominated. The restaurant receiving the most kudos was BLT Prime, serving slices of American Vagyu (Texan version of the Japanese Kobe buttery beef), cut from flatiron (shoulder steak), with bacon chimichuri (Argentine green parsley/oil sauce). Primehouse had grilled filet mignon with bleu cheese fondue, while Angelo and Maxie’s Steakhouse version was served on sandwiches, with sauteed onions. Fans praised T-bone steaks from Knickerbocker Bar & Grill, Blue Smoke’s Texas style beef ribs, Barbounia’s lamb kebab, with tahini, and Hill Country’s smoked pork spare riblets. Pork sliders from Wildwood BBQ (with chipotle sauce) and Big Daddy’s (“fully loaded”), and pulled pork from Casa Mono/Café Jamon added a new meat favorite, to compete with the beef varieties. In the world of sea-food, Black Duck, a four restaurant operation, had oysters on the half-shell, with tomato-jalopeno granite (a whoopee horseradish/sour cream concoction), Café Spice offered pepper shrimp with tamarind rice, Almond, soon celebrating its 1st year here, offered house-smoked bluefish with dill and goat yogurt. The big B. R. Guest flagship, Blue Water Grill (14 restaurants in the empire, eight in NYC), had bacon-wrapped lobster sausage avec fennel pollen aioli {garlic mayonnaise baste, from Provence).
In what the Partnership calls the veggie category, Danny Meyers’s flagships excelled, Union Square Café with its zucchini in scapece (marinated Amalfi style), and Gramercy Tavern, souffleed crackers with zucchini, reported to melt on your tongue (I only write what they say.) Tamarind had nilgiri korma (Hyderabad curry dish), Lady Mendl’s Tea Salon at Irving Place had sliced apple with brie and cranberry chutney on seven-grain bread, but the added attractions were Harvestini martinis from her Cibar Bar. Of the unsung heroes, City Crab had good crab cakes, Cat ‘n’ Chew featured pulled shrimp tacos, BLT Fish served tuna with aioli, and Eric Peterson’s Coffee Shop offered roasted chicken tamale with salsa verde. Our restaurants still have magic.
Not forgetting the soups and desserts, Back Forty featured cold corn soup, National Arts Club served chili, and Tocqueville chilled some tomato consommé. Ciao Bella Gelato also had sorbets, Stand served a toasted marshmallow milkshake, and Todd English’s Olives featured flavored sno-cones inspired by the Union Square Greenmarket (also an exhibitor, featured in several restaurant offerings).
In wine, North Fork LI vineyards predominated, with Lieb Cellars, Shinn Estate, Marta Clara and Paumanok offering merlots, and viogniers. Finger Lakes had riesling from Ravines Cellars, Standing Stone and Dr Constantin Frank Wine Cellars. Hudson Valley was represented by Brotherhood’s Rieslings and Millbrook chardonnays (still the most popular varietals). Vina Casas Patronales from Chile offered sauvignon blanc and carmenere, and there were vouvrays and sancerres from Loire Valley (JC&CH Pichot, Vincent Delaporte). The locals, Southern Wine & Spirits and Union Square Wine & Spirits, had some of each.
The Harvest was successful, thanks are due to the givers, sponsors, partners, organizers – Matthew Hughes (Blue Water Grill), Gary Tornberg (Southern Wine), Danny Meyers, Eric Peterson, the 30 local and 9 ex-officio members of the USP board, and to Jennifer Falk and her USP staff.
The proceeds of the Harvest In The Square will be put towards the renewal of Union Square North End Project. A pamphlet by that title, printed May 2008, states that the new huge playground will be on a single elevation , and that the rehabilitated Pavilion ‘s upper level will accommodate a seasonal concession and off-season community space, with access by elevator for the disabled, and US Parks Dept office space below. If the two above statements are current, they should go a long way in settling the years-long strife between USP/NYCDPR on one side and CB5/USCC/BP Stringer on the other. On the positive side – let’s hope those words are correct; Union Square economics are up (18 new businesses). And the UN did not erupt, a good sign.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Recession is on the run – J. C. Penney’s is here
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
Upon reading my earlier article about Nordstrom’s arrival in our neighborhood, rich in department store history, an eminent preservationist gently chided me about an important omission.
Well, here goes. At 22-26 East 14th Street, where the Duane-Reade drugstore occupies the storefront, you will find the newest local addition to the Landmarks designations, traces of the former Bauman Brothers & Co furniture store. I defy anyone to identify that company, an 1881-97 major player. It has since been Woolworth’s pride, to 1928, then H.L.Green’s, and McCrory's, until its present drugstore tenancy. The upstairs once served nobly as the Delehanty Institute for the training of police and fire department candidates (predates the Academy?), and Parson's Art School's annex. So, what's so preservable here? Well, it is a cast-iron age survivalist. The architects, David and John Jardine, working for realtor James McCreery, used cast iron from the West Side Iron Works, to create a most imaginative facade. You can see it above the ground level, amazing that in the modernizing of street-level fronts the upper levels still survived.
We do have a neighborhood of amazing commercial history. First, the Ladies’ Mile, starting in 1858 with R. H. Macy’s store at 14th Street and 6th Avenue. and the 1862 Cast Iron Palace of A.T. Stewart’s (subsequently Wanamaker’s) at what is now 770 Broadway, its southern boundary, and Stern Brothers on 23rd Street at its northern frontier. In between, Lord and Taylor’s, B. Altman and Arnold Constable opened elegant emporiums, with the Siegel –Cooper (now Bed, Bath and Beyond, Filenes’s basement and T. J. Maxx’s) the most imposing. Megamillionaire James McCreery had a palatial store at Broadway and 11th Street, and Tiffany’s was on Union Square. Cast iron abounded.
S' Klein's On The Square, where the Zeckendorf Towers now stand, once defined Union Square’s shopping image. Both Ethel Mertz of Lucy’s and Edith Bunker of All in the Family browsed there for fashionable bargains.
Klein’s became part of Meshulah Riklis’s incredible Rapid American conglomerate empire and went down with it. Riklis, Turkish/Israeli teacher turned stockbroker, while at Piper Jaffray’s in Minneapolis in the 1960s persuaded his clients to stake him to $750,000 for a printing business, starting to buy firms and pyramiding their assets. The urban legends abound: by 1980 he owned McCrory’s dime store chain, and bought into an obscure E-II, a holding company, which involved ownership of Schenley Industries and maneuvers with Dewar’s and Guinness labels, Faberge/Elizabeth Arden Toiletries and Samsonite luggage. He acquired Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, the Pickfair mansion in L.A., once Douglas Fairbanks’s and Mary Pickford’s home, which he tore down and rebuilt to please his bride, Pia Zadora, and Carnival Line, which he sold (or maybe didn’t} to Ted Arison for $1. This all collapsed in late 1980s-’90, losing the investors some $3B, and the tax collectors some $28M, but what a story! Sorry, Riklis is not talking.
On the theme of whether the openings of new department stores forecast an economic recovery, there is a new Miracle on 34th Street (okay, 32nd Street). Once upon a time, there were Macy’s, E. J. Corvette’s and Gimbels department stores, all in a row of blocks, on Herald Square south of 34th Street. Gimbels went out in 1987, and the space was occupied by Stern’s, then Abraham & Strauss, and last, Manhattan Mall. The recession caused the closings of many upscale fashionable tenants in the area, Golden Paradise jewelers, Benedetti’s shoe store, Know Style, Rags, Gold Panel and even a Conway’s branch. It was therefore a pleasant surprise to see J. C. Penney’s open its first New York branch in what used to be Gimbels Basement of fond memory, two floors of 151,000 sq. ft.
Alas, not a pleasant surprise for all of us. The NY Times Thursday Styles fashion writer wants to know how this dowdy Middle American entity dares to waddle into the slickest, scariest fashion capital, in its flip-flops and old oversize shorts, without rebranding itself . Penney’s logo in Helvetica is old, their knockoffs of styles in cheap polyester are laughable, their Halston, Ronson and Liz Claiborne offshoots of styles, especially created for Penney’s, are pitiful nonsuccesses in mass-producing prestige wear (“masstige”), and the prevailing sizes are humongous large, cut even larger, with few size 2 items. Little does the Timesee consider that generations of Americans have found comfort and dignity in wearing Penney’s shirts and suits, and the same applies to their ladies garments (e.g. Cross Your Heart bras). There are tourists and people in the boroughs who wear large sizes, eat French fries and burgers and Cokes for lunch, and will be glad to find the comfort of the familiar logo in the middle of the fashion capital, among the somewhat tarnished go-go gear. Brace yourself, dear (good writer, btw), more mall chain stores are coming! Maybe the Times weekend fashion supplement should trim its space age styles, mostly unsuitable for any woman and man with self-esteem, and get nearer to home. Fashion NYC is getting too close to apocalyptical 1920’s Berlin.
Upon reading my earlier article about Nordstrom’s arrival in our neighborhood, rich in department store history, an eminent preservationist gently chided me about an important omission.
Well, here goes. At 22-26 East 14th Street, where the Duane-Reade drugstore occupies the storefront, you will find the newest local addition to the Landmarks designations, traces of the former Bauman Brothers & Co furniture store. I defy anyone to identify that company, an 1881-97 major player. It has since been Woolworth’s pride, to 1928, then H.L.Green’s, and McCrory's, until its present drugstore tenancy. The upstairs once served nobly as the Delehanty Institute for the training of police and fire department candidates (predates the Academy?), and Parson's Art School's annex. So, what's so preservable here? Well, it is a cast-iron age survivalist. The architects, David and John Jardine, working for realtor James McCreery, used cast iron from the West Side Iron Works, to create a most imaginative facade. You can see it above the ground level, amazing that in the modernizing of street-level fronts the upper levels still survived.
We do have a neighborhood of amazing commercial history. First, the Ladies’ Mile, starting in 1858 with R. H. Macy’s store at 14th Street and 6th Avenue. and the 1862 Cast Iron Palace of A.T. Stewart’s (subsequently Wanamaker’s) at what is now 770 Broadway, its southern boundary, and Stern Brothers on 23rd Street at its northern frontier. In between, Lord and Taylor’s, B. Altman and Arnold Constable opened elegant emporiums, with the Siegel –Cooper (now Bed, Bath and Beyond, Filenes’s basement and T. J. Maxx’s) the most imposing. Megamillionaire James McCreery had a palatial store at Broadway and 11th Street, and Tiffany’s was on Union Square. Cast iron abounded.
S' Klein's On The Square, where the Zeckendorf Towers now stand, once defined Union Square’s shopping image. Both Ethel Mertz of Lucy’s and Edith Bunker of All in the Family browsed there for fashionable bargains.
Klein’s became part of Meshulah Riklis’s incredible Rapid American conglomerate empire and went down with it. Riklis, Turkish/Israeli teacher turned stockbroker, while at Piper Jaffray’s in Minneapolis in the 1960s persuaded his clients to stake him to $750,000 for a printing business, starting to buy firms and pyramiding their assets. The urban legends abound: by 1980 he owned McCrory’s dime store chain, and bought into an obscure E-II, a holding company, which involved ownership of Schenley Industries and maneuvers with Dewar’s and Guinness labels, Faberge/Elizabeth Arden Toiletries and Samsonite luggage. He acquired Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, the Pickfair mansion in L.A., once Douglas Fairbanks’s and Mary Pickford’s home, which he tore down and rebuilt to please his bride, Pia Zadora, and Carnival Line, which he sold (or maybe didn’t} to Ted Arison for $1. This all collapsed in late 1980s-’90, losing the investors some $3B, and the tax collectors some $28M, but what a story! Sorry, Riklis is not talking.
On the theme of whether the openings of new department stores forecast an economic recovery, there is a new Miracle on 34th Street (okay, 32nd Street). Once upon a time, there were Macy’s, E. J. Corvette’s and Gimbels department stores, all in a row of blocks, on Herald Square south of 34th Street. Gimbels went out in 1987, and the space was occupied by Stern’s, then Abraham & Strauss, and last, Manhattan Mall. The recession caused the closings of many upscale fashionable tenants in the area, Golden Paradise jewelers, Benedetti’s shoe store, Know Style, Rags, Gold Panel and even a Conway’s branch. It was therefore a pleasant surprise to see J. C. Penney’s open its first New York branch in what used to be Gimbels Basement of fond memory, two floors of 151,000 sq. ft.
Alas, not a pleasant surprise for all of us. The NY Times Thursday Styles fashion writer wants to know how this dowdy Middle American entity dares to waddle into the slickest, scariest fashion capital, in its flip-flops and old oversize shorts, without rebranding itself . Penney’s logo in Helvetica is old, their knockoffs of styles in cheap polyester are laughable, their Halston, Ronson and Liz Claiborne offshoots of styles, especially created for Penney’s, are pitiful nonsuccesses in mass-producing prestige wear (“masstige”), and the prevailing sizes are humongous large, cut even larger, with few size 2 items. Little does the Timesee consider that generations of Americans have found comfort and dignity in wearing Penney’s shirts and suits, and the same applies to their ladies garments (e.g. Cross Your Heart bras). There are tourists and people in the boroughs who wear large sizes, eat French fries and burgers and Cokes for lunch, and will be glad to find the comfort of the familiar logo in the middle of the fashion capital, among the somewhat tarnished go-go gear. Brace yourself, dear (good writer, btw), more mall chain stores are coming! Maybe the Times weekend fashion supplement should trim its space age styles, mostly unsuitable for any woman and man with self-esteem, and get nearer to home. Fashion NYC is getting too close to apocalyptical 1920’s Berlin.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Conservatives look at retreat from Afghanistan
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
Why any sane rational American would choose to run for President in 2008, inheriting the mass of problems left behind by the inept ideologue warriors of the Bush regime, is hard to fathom, and one can only admire the patriotism and willingness to submit to the loss of personal life and reputation on part of the candidates of both parties who ran. The main quality distinguishing the admirable from the purely fame-seeking was willingness to sacrifice ideology in favor of really saving the world, by compromise and rational thinking. President Obama has been the best example, and Senator McCane, always organizing nonpartisan reconciliations, was not far behind.
Despite their efforts, we are now a partisan country, with the Limbaugh types of “save the party, let the country take care of itself” bludgeoning the more reconciliation-minded Republicans in line. Osama’s Wednesday 9/9 speech and its reception highlighted the split. For those who worry, please do not, the health reform will go on, despite the ugly stuff. Foreign affairs are more pressing, Americans are dying.
To help prioritize the President’s problems in order of urgency, Afghanistan is on top of the list, with its heavy burn rate of young American manhood. What to do now is the problem, we are losing in Afghanistan, and Vietnam-like withdrawal is an option. It is therefore that a recent article by Patrick Buchanan, the most rational of right-wing ideologues, needs parsing. Writing in Human Events, the old Cold-War anti-Communist organ, which also sports Ann Coulter’s diatribes, Buchanan notes the Taliban’s growth in strength, and General Stanley McChrystal’s request for more troops, just leaked to the press, is proof. Buchanan notes that both in Korea and Vietnam the presidents who persisted in a losing fight, Harry Truman and LBJ, lost their second term bids, Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon came in, cut our losses and got reelected. But Obama has to more to worry about: the debacle that the Talibans would wreak, our rescue costs and the patriotic voters crying treason and cowardice. His response to Gen. McChrystal’s request for 20 to 40,000 troops will be the Rubicon to cross that will determine the future of his governance.
Buchanan’s article of September 9 elicited 250-plus responses in his right--wing conservative journal, definitely worthy of reviewing, even in part. Essentially they are thoughtful, evoking substantial back-and-forth debates (quite witty) among writers. Significantly, much less than 5% advocate continuing the war, regretfully, e.g., if the inexperienced Obama leaves, undoubtedly we will have come back to clean up, also quoting Obama as calling this a good and necessary war, so…Some suggest that the 110,000 Americans left in Iraq could clean it up in six months. Use drone bombers, fight Taliban with forays from safe places.
The withdrawal advocates are an overwhelming plurality. Some suggest arming our friends and leaving CIA and Strategic Forces detachments behind, but the majority favors outright retreat, speaking explicitly or by implication. Donald Rumsfeld and cohorts who did not go full tilt after bin Laden at Tora Bora are blamed. Several literate commentators quote savants, Winston Churchill (1899) about the intractable demands of Muslim religion, Julius Caesar about crossing the Rubicon, Lucanius of “the die is cast,” unnamed savants on Afghanistan as the graveyard of empires, and insert articles by historians, Andrew Bacevich (about Americans not learning from USSR failure) and Frederick Kagan. The inept Bush, his people, and the neocons are blamed. President Obama is seen mostly as rational relief from Bush, although some claims over his legitimacy emerge, and Jewish bankers and Israeli lobbyists are tied to the wars. The conspiracy theorists blame the internationalists and big banks/oil/traders, for Council of Foreign Relations-based destructive policies. All American presidents and candidates of both parties since Eisenhower have been CFR members, perhaps excepting Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinic. The Trilateral Commission and Bilderberg group also rise up from the past, as continued tools of the evil internationalists. [The nebulous Bilderberg group, sometimes dubbed the secret club for global elite, organized in 1954 as a committee government, business, academic and world trade officials, to work out American and West European policy and trade relationships, has long been blamed by the type of people who believe in the Dan Brown/Da Vinci Code and other mystics for bedeviling the world. It was sponsored by the Dutch royalty, and may have provided the structure for organizing the European Union. Its May 2009 annual meeting in Greece was attended by such Americans as Robert Zoelick, President of World Bank, Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Perle of American Enterprise Institute,, banker James Wolfenson, presidents of Alcoa and Coca Cola and representatives of State Department, National Security Council, and Microsoft, It somehow manages to fly below the radar of the global anarchist groups, who haunt the G20, G8, IMF and World Bank conferences.]
One has to go to unusual sources to see whether this is such a split country as the media portray, and whether all rockbound Republicans are determined to sink the Obama government. Well, we are more together than apart, and the good of the country outweighs that of the party. Return to sanity is not far away.
Why any sane rational American would choose to run for President in 2008, inheriting the mass of problems left behind by the inept ideologue warriors of the Bush regime, is hard to fathom, and one can only admire the patriotism and willingness to submit to the loss of personal life and reputation on part of the candidates of both parties who ran. The main quality distinguishing the admirable from the purely fame-seeking was willingness to sacrifice ideology in favor of really saving the world, by compromise and rational thinking. President Obama has been the best example, and Senator McCane, always organizing nonpartisan reconciliations, was not far behind.
Despite their efforts, we are now a partisan country, with the Limbaugh types of “save the party, let the country take care of itself” bludgeoning the more reconciliation-minded Republicans in line. Osama’s Wednesday 9/9 speech and its reception highlighted the split. For those who worry, please do not, the health reform will go on, despite the ugly stuff. Foreign affairs are more pressing, Americans are dying.
To help prioritize the President’s problems in order of urgency, Afghanistan is on top of the list, with its heavy burn rate of young American manhood. What to do now is the problem, we are losing in Afghanistan, and Vietnam-like withdrawal is an option. It is therefore that a recent article by Patrick Buchanan, the most rational of right-wing ideologues, needs parsing. Writing in Human Events, the old Cold-War anti-Communist organ, which also sports Ann Coulter’s diatribes, Buchanan notes the Taliban’s growth in strength, and General Stanley McChrystal’s request for more troops, just leaked to the press, is proof. Buchanan notes that both in Korea and Vietnam the presidents who persisted in a losing fight, Harry Truman and LBJ, lost their second term bids, Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon came in, cut our losses and got reelected. But Obama has to more to worry about: the debacle that the Talibans would wreak, our rescue costs and the patriotic voters crying treason and cowardice. His response to Gen. McChrystal’s request for 20 to 40,000 troops will be the Rubicon to cross that will determine the future of his governance.
Buchanan’s article of September 9 elicited 250-plus responses in his right--wing conservative journal, definitely worthy of reviewing, even in part. Essentially they are thoughtful, evoking substantial back-and-forth debates (quite witty) among writers. Significantly, much less than 5% advocate continuing the war, regretfully, e.g., if the inexperienced Obama leaves, undoubtedly we will have come back to clean up, also quoting Obama as calling this a good and necessary war, so…Some suggest that the 110,000 Americans left in Iraq could clean it up in six months. Use drone bombers, fight Taliban with forays from safe places.
The withdrawal advocates are an overwhelming plurality. Some suggest arming our friends and leaving CIA and Strategic Forces detachments behind, but the majority favors outright retreat, speaking explicitly or by implication. Donald Rumsfeld and cohorts who did not go full tilt after bin Laden at Tora Bora are blamed. Several literate commentators quote savants, Winston Churchill (1899) about the intractable demands of Muslim religion, Julius Caesar about crossing the Rubicon, Lucanius of “the die is cast,” unnamed savants on Afghanistan as the graveyard of empires, and insert articles by historians, Andrew Bacevich (about Americans not learning from USSR failure) and Frederick Kagan. The inept Bush, his people, and the neocons are blamed. President Obama is seen mostly as rational relief from Bush, although some claims over his legitimacy emerge, and Jewish bankers and Israeli lobbyists are tied to the wars. The conspiracy theorists blame the internationalists and big banks/oil/traders, for Council of Foreign Relations-based destructive policies. All American presidents and candidates of both parties since Eisenhower have been CFR members, perhaps excepting Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinic. The Trilateral Commission and Bilderberg group also rise up from the past, as continued tools of the evil internationalists. [The nebulous Bilderberg group, sometimes dubbed the secret club for global elite, organized in 1954 as a committee government, business, academic and world trade officials, to work out American and West European policy and trade relationships, has long been blamed by the type of people who believe in the Dan Brown/Da Vinci Code and other mystics for bedeviling the world. It was sponsored by the Dutch royalty, and may have provided the structure for organizing the European Union. Its May 2009 annual meeting in Greece was attended by such Americans as Robert Zoelick, President of World Bank, Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Perle of American Enterprise Institute,, banker James Wolfenson, presidents of Alcoa and Coca Cola and representatives of State Department, National Security Council, and Microsoft, It somehow manages to fly below the radar of the global anarchist groups, who haunt the G20, G8, IMF and World Bank conferences.]
One has to go to unusual sources to see whether this is such a split country as the media portray, and whether all rockbound Republicans are determined to sink the Obama government. Well, we are more together than apart, and the good of the country outweighs that of the party. Return to sanity is not far away.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Drugstores prepare for flu vaccine distribution, NYC is on alert
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
Fears of swine flu are expected to increase demand for the vaccine, and national chain drugstores have started to offer seasonal flu shots early, with the more dangerous swine flu H1N1 vaccine to become available after October 15.
Many of Walgreen’s 7,000 stores and 350 Take Care retail clinics, and, in comparable numbers, CVS stores and their Minute Clinics have made shots available as of beginning of September in many of their pharmacies, Rite Aid started earlier in their 5,000 locations. For CVS store locations and flu shot dates you can call 888-FLU-SHOT or 800-SHOP-CVS, for Walgreen’s schedules call 800-FLU-9950, Maxim Health Systems (largely Rite-Aid and Duane-Reade based) list is available at 877-962-9358. Mostly, the shots are given on specific clinic days, the local ones are often starting early in October, and calling the stores first is strongly advised. If they do not know yet, call the above national numbers; in fact, calling them may give you a different list of stores than the one printed below, based on your phone area code and first three numbers and therefore more applicable to your area.
Medicare and certain insurance recipients can pay via their coverage (Medicare recipients should bring their cards and proof that Schedule B coverage is not through an HMO), not covered individuals will pay cash. At Walgreens the fee is $25 for flu shots, and $35 for pneumonia shots, the latter not available in all locations (very advisable, check with your physician about your prior shot’s expiry date). CVS prices are comparable.
Please note that the Centers for Disease Control warn us of an oncoming H1N1 season, starting week 35 (first week of September), and continuing. While H1N1 shots are not available (Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sibelius hopes that a limited supply of the vaccine to arrive before the scheduled October 15 date), the usual precautions – no social kissing, cover your coughs and sneezes, and wash hands frequently - with soap, 15 seconds – are strongly advised.
CDC also speaks of using the post-exposure anti-flu medicines, oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relienza, both need prescriptions), not to cure but to decrease the ability of the virus to reproduce. Insofar as the H1N1 spread in our area, the hard-to-understand CDC Newsletter seems to indicate that in Week 35 the Region 2, which includes NY and NJ, has a lower than the national incidence of swine flu, better than New England’s. Their figures deal in terms of hospital admissions, and have comparison rather than absolute count value, measuring period to period and area to area incidences... Thus, 2,121 seasonal and 494 swine flu occurrences since October 2008 only show that H1N1 makes up 1/5th of the hospital-treated incidences.
The Medicare website indicates that, while one flu shot per year is covered, a second, if necessary (first a seasonal flu shot, then an H1N1 shot) will also be paid for. Note that the priorities for H1N1 shots are highest in the age 2-4 range, then to age 17; seniors 65 and above have a low incidence. Health workers will have first call for the injections.
The local pharmacies that will offer flu shots are as follows:
Walgreen stores: at 20 Astor Place, corner Lafayette Street (212-375-0734) and 198 First Avenue at 18th Street (212-777-0740, by appointment).
CVS stores: at 275 Third Avenue (22nd Street), 212-677-4677; 215 Park Ave South (at 18th Street) 646-602-8237, first clinic for ages 9+ will be on 10/22; 158 Bleecker Street (at Thompson Street), 212-982-3369.
Maxim Health Systems: Duane-Reade pharmacy, 926 Third Ave (at 18th Street), 212-598-0339; Rite-Aid, 408 Grand Street (at Clinton Street), 212-529-7115 (in October); Rite-Aid, 516 East 14th Street 212-979-2455 Oct 8, 2-6PM; Duane-Reade, 300 Park Avenue South (at 22nd Street), 212-533-7580, Oct. 9, 10-2.
New York City is also making preparations to combat the expected second outburst of swine flu, although the plans are less defined. On September 1 Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg declared that H1N1 vaccine will be distributed to students, once the vaccine becomes available after October 15. Health clinics will turn into “flu centers,” to relieve hospitals. Schools will be closed only as a last resort. Signs will be posted warning students to observe precautions, such as covering coughs and washing hands, and to report symptoms to school nurses. After the spring H1N1outbreak, findings throughout the country indicate that school closings do little to control the flu, and, and severely disrupt family routines, forcing parents to stay home. Students will be expected to observe precautions, such a covering coughs and washing hands, and will report their symptoms to school nurses.
As to the specifics, NYC will offer free vaccine at every public and private elementary school. Middle and high school students will be expected to go to student vaccine sites that will be opened on weekends. Parental permission will be required for the injections.
Fears of swine flu are expected to increase demand for the vaccine, and national chain drugstores have started to offer seasonal flu shots early, with the more dangerous swine flu H1N1 vaccine to become available after October 15.
Many of Walgreen’s 7,000 stores and 350 Take Care retail clinics, and, in comparable numbers, CVS stores and their Minute Clinics have made shots available as of beginning of September in many of their pharmacies, Rite Aid started earlier in their 5,000 locations. For CVS store locations and flu shot dates you can call 888-FLU-SHOT or 800-SHOP-CVS, for Walgreen’s schedules call 800-FLU-9950, Maxim Health Systems (largely Rite-Aid and Duane-Reade based) list is available at 877-962-9358. Mostly, the shots are given on specific clinic days, the local ones are often starting early in October, and calling the stores first is strongly advised. If they do not know yet, call the above national numbers; in fact, calling them may give you a different list of stores than the one printed below, based on your phone area code and first three numbers and therefore more applicable to your area.
Medicare and certain insurance recipients can pay via their coverage (Medicare recipients should bring their cards and proof that Schedule B coverage is not through an HMO), not covered individuals will pay cash. At Walgreens the fee is $25 for flu shots, and $35 for pneumonia shots, the latter not available in all locations (very advisable, check with your physician about your prior shot’s expiry date). CVS prices are comparable.
Please note that the Centers for Disease Control warn us of an oncoming H1N1 season, starting week 35 (first week of September), and continuing. While H1N1 shots are not available (Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sibelius hopes that a limited supply of the vaccine to arrive before the scheduled October 15 date), the usual precautions – no social kissing, cover your coughs and sneezes, and wash hands frequently - with soap, 15 seconds – are strongly advised.
CDC also speaks of using the post-exposure anti-flu medicines, oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relienza, both need prescriptions), not to cure but to decrease the ability of the virus to reproduce. Insofar as the H1N1 spread in our area, the hard-to-understand CDC Newsletter seems to indicate that in Week 35 the Region 2, which includes NY and NJ, has a lower than the national incidence of swine flu, better than New England’s. Their figures deal in terms of hospital admissions, and have comparison rather than absolute count value, measuring period to period and area to area incidences... Thus, 2,121 seasonal and 494 swine flu occurrences since October 2008 only show that H1N1 makes up 1/5th of the hospital-treated incidences.
The Medicare website indicates that, while one flu shot per year is covered, a second, if necessary (first a seasonal flu shot, then an H1N1 shot) will also be paid for. Note that the priorities for H1N1 shots are highest in the age 2-4 range, then to age 17; seniors 65 and above have a low incidence. Health workers will have first call for the injections.
The local pharmacies that will offer flu shots are as follows:
Walgreen stores: at 20 Astor Place, corner Lafayette Street (212-375-0734) and 198 First Avenue at 18th Street (212-777-0740, by appointment).
CVS stores: at 275 Third Avenue (22nd Street), 212-677-4677; 215 Park Ave South (at 18th Street) 646-602-8237, first clinic for ages 9+ will be on 10/22; 158 Bleecker Street (at Thompson Street), 212-982-3369.
Maxim Health Systems: Duane-Reade pharmacy, 926 Third Ave (at 18th Street), 212-598-0339; Rite-Aid, 408 Grand Street (at Clinton Street), 212-529-7115 (in October); Rite-Aid, 516 East 14th Street 212-979-2455 Oct 8, 2-6PM; Duane-Reade, 300 Park Avenue South (at 22nd Street), 212-533-7580, Oct. 9, 10-2.
New York City is also making preparations to combat the expected second outburst of swine flu, although the plans are less defined. On September 1 Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg declared that H1N1 vaccine will be distributed to students, once the vaccine becomes available after October 15. Health clinics will turn into “flu centers,” to relieve hospitals. Schools will be closed only as a last resort. Signs will be posted warning students to observe precautions, such as covering coughs and washing hands, and to report symptoms to school nurses. After the spring H1N1outbreak, findings throughout the country indicate that school closings do little to control the flu, and, and severely disrupt family routines, forcing parents to stay home. Students will be expected to observe precautions, such a covering coughs and washing hands, and will report their symptoms to school nurses.
As to the specifics, NYC will offer free vaccine at every public and private elementary school. Middle and high school students will be expected to go to student vaccine sites that will be opened on weekends. Parental permission will be required for the injections.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Obama - Looking ahead, Nobel Committee made the best choice
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
Obama - Looking ahead, Nobel Committee made the best choice
I have this theory that President Barak Obama presents the world’s best hope for peace. It goes back to January 24, 2008 when this column predicted that a dream team of Obama and Bill Richardson could pull the world out of mutual hatred, Obama as the front man, because he has the right ideas and the looks to engage the third-worlders, and Richardson because he can negotiate, particularly in Latin America.
Now my belief has been validated by the Nobel committee, amid cries of disbelief claiming lack of accomplishment. Let's examine. Obama has spoken all over the world, establishing his sincerity and credibility, and a new direction for the US. He has proven his peaceful intentions towards Russia by canceling the rocket defenses against Iran to be built in Poland and the Czech Republic that the Russian Federation considered threatening, and has gained some Russian support in talks with Iran about not developing nuclear bomb facilities. His talks with Iran should be eased by acknowledging that country's original 2001 support in restoring a peaceful Afghanistan with a $500,000 contribution, which was spat upon when Bush in January 2002 declared Iran, Iraq and North Korea the axis of evil.
Iran has its own problems. The Taliban Sunni fanatics are Iran’s enemies. Also, the Saudis and their 21 fellow Arab League members do not accept the Shia Farsi Iranians even as observers, and in the 1980-Iran-Iraq war the League backed Iraq. Internally, the sophisticated Iranian cityites, well westernized by former Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlevi before the 1979 fundamentalist revolution, are creating internal protest by struggling against the heavy- handed leadership of Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Muhadinejad. The Iranians’ push for nuclear power and the threat of atomic weaponry is as much against the masses of Sunnis surrounding them as against Israel. Assuming they are not suicidal on a global scale, it is obvious that they understand that as a nuclear power they will create a total unbalance, and prompt all surrounding countries to weaponize. Sincere peaceful overtures on part of President Obama and promises of peace with the Arab League Sunni powers, e.g. Egypt and Jordan, as well as Saudi Arabia, all beholden to us, might be precisely the restorative for a compromise. It would placate Syria, long known to be looking for a solution, help Pakistan in subduing the Talibanis, bring Mullah Omar to some negotiations, and, just possibly, neutralize Osama bin Laden .This leaves the forever struggle of Israel and the Palestinians unresolved.
I brought this idealistic scenario to the attention of an Israeli friend, in New York for a conference, after he downgraded the Nobel price award to Obama as unearned. He feels that bombing the Iranian nuclear works by Israel is unavoidable. Until the 2nd Intifada in 2002 I had known this friend, then an Israeli official, as a peace advocate, Labor and Meretz Party supporter and reader of the Haaretz newspaper. Now he sees the situation as unsolvable, with religious radicalism in Gaza and the Green Zone expanding, as a popular trend rather than a product of Hamas propaganda. Young women are voluntarily dressing in burkas or heavy hijabs, showing only their eyes. The concern is that of some seven million Israelis, one and a half million are Palestinians, with a birth rate that can overwhelm the democratic Jewish state in 5 years. Another million are in Gaza, and two million in the Green Zone. While the al Fatah / PLO Palestinians are willing to negotiate with the Israelis, all Palestinian parties demand the right of return and sharing Jerusalem as part of any settlement. In the Oslo Accord of 1993, giving the Palestinians self-rule, and in the Roadmap of 2003, Israel traded land for peace (Gaza in 2005), to no avail. After the death of Yasir Arafat in 2004, his PLO, under his successor Mahmud Abbas (Abu Mazen) was overwhelmed and outvoted in the Palestinian parliament by the uncompromising Hamas, and wars ensued, in Lebanon and Gaza.
Our visitor strongly suggests that giving land (e.g. West Bank settlements) will not work. What stops suicide bombers and terrorists is the six-story wall separating Arab lands from Israel in the West Bank. Would an Obama peace plan, softening Iran and the Arab League (they founded el Fatah in 1950s), with the aid of Egypt and Jordan (who ceded Gaza and the Green Zone 40-odd years ago because they want no warlike Palestinian groups acting out on their borders) produce a settlement? No sir, nohow, not now, but…?
Anyhow, this column (and the Nobel committee) support Obama because that is the only choice for survival of the planet.
Wally Dobelis and the staff of T&V offer their belated best wishes for a happy New Year, Yom Kippur, Succoth, Simchat Torah and Eid ul Fitr to our readers, and a good recovery to our publisher, Chris Hagedorn.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Muni-parking- a boon or nightmare for local drivers?
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
Spring-driven mechanical parking meters in NYC date back to 1952. The meters were often treated as nuisances, and wrecked. Some 60-70,000 mechanical meters eventually came into use, powered by a weekly wind-up. In 1995 a battery-driven electronic meter, fitting right into the strong capsule, started replacing the windups that had served well for 50 plus years. By 2006 some 62,000 meters had been automated, with a repair rate down by 85%, Meanwhile the nickels and dimes had mounted to quarters, and by 2006 the meter income for NYC reached $120M a year.
But city expenses also grew, and in 1996 the Muni-Meter arrived. Long in use in London, Paris and other European cities, it featured an unobtrusive meter at each end of a designated curb-parking block, dispensing time-stamped receipts , to be placed on the dashboards s of cars parked on the street, highlighting the expiry time.
By now some 3,000 Muni-Meters have been installed in NYC, sneaking in and making some previously parking- free neighborhoods into cost centers for householders who previously only had to worry about alternate side parking moves twice a week, Occasionally standalone new Muni-Meters are used for replacement of individual old-style parking meters, but sometimes they seem to take over an entire side of the street. Our part of the world of East Midtown, from 14th Street to 34th Streets, is bound to get more and more of them. On the south side of East 17th Street east of 3rd Ave they were sneaked in on an early Sunday morning in August, the four individual meters at the avenue end of the block quietly removed and replaced by the new stuff which is barely noticeable, consisting of a boxy ATM-like receipt dispenser, and dark blue placards attached to parking sign posts, requesting that we “pay at the Mini-Meter,” pointed out with an arrow. The beginning and end of the metered parking areas is not indicated, and you are asked to call 311 in case of problems. At 311 the agent insisted that the limits and regulations are stated, but would not explain how, “it varies.” A mysterious “green post” was described as a delimiter, but could not be identified. One 311 agent stated that meters apply only between the blue signs, but that is not true, I have seen a parking ticket on a car outside. Another 311 press relations person suggested that “end of the block’ may be the limit, or the arrows on the alternate side parking signs might be used to identify the parameters. In other words, total confusion. Woe betide the visitor who would innocently park on the block, celebrating his good luck in finding a spot, only to be surprised by a parking ticket under the windshield wiper, fining him $65, . But the good city fathers have also eased the motorists’ fine-paying burden, providing for an internet /credit card payment methodology for parking violations.
Next: is nighttime parking free? Hmm, no answer. What are the hours for Free Sundays, a liberalization granted in 1995 but not announced on signs? 311 says from 12PM Saturday to 12PM Sunday, but hearsay indicates Monday till 8AM is also free, Who’s right? One begins to have dark suspicions that the rules are deliberately left vague to keep the opportunity open, if people do not protest. to spread the metering to entire streets and raise the Department Of Transportation income stream. Look at the rates. Our residential meter boxes show $2/hr, non -renewable, although this rule is not enforceable if quarters are used. On East 19th east of Broadway the rate is $3 first hour, $5 for two, $9 for three, a case of sheer robbery. See, the plot thickens, To ease the pain you can purchase a $20, $50 or $100 Muni-Card, or use a credit card, good luck! I did not succeed.
Besides escalating rates and grabbing the one free benefit of curbside parking for the poor, the city also confiscates leftover time, If you leave early, no one can slide in to use your surplus
Spring-driven mechanical parking meters in NYC date back to 1952. The meters were often treated as nuisances, and wrecked. Some 60-70,000 mechanical meters eventually came into use, powered by a weekly wind-up. In 1995 a battery-driven electronic meter, fitting right into the strong capsule, started replacing the windups that had served well for 50 plus years. By 2006 some 62,000 meters had been automated, with a repair rate down by 85%, Meanwhile the nickels and dimes had mounted to quarters, and by 2006 the meter income for NYC reached $120M a year.
But city expenses also grew, and in 1996 the Muni-Meter arrived. Long in use in London, Paris and other European cities, it featured an unobtrusive meter at each end of a designated curb-parking block, dispensing time-stamped receipts , to be placed on the dashboards s of cars parked on the street, highlighting the expiry time.
By now some 3,000 Muni-Meters have been installed in NYC, sneaking in and making some previously parking- free neighborhoods into cost centers for householders who previously only had to worry about alternate side parking moves twice a week, Occasionally standalone new Muni-Meters are used for replacement of individual old-style parking meters, but sometimes they seem to take over an entire side of the street. Our part of the world of East Midtown, from 14th Street to 34th Streets, is bound to get more and more of them. On the south side of East 17th Street east of 3rd Ave they were sneaked in on an early Sunday morning in August, the four individual meters at the avenue end of the block quietly removed and replaced by the new stuff which is barely noticeable, consisting of a boxy ATM-like receipt dispenser, and dark blue placards attached to parking sign posts, requesting that we “pay at the Mini-Meter,” pointed out with an arrow. The beginning and end of the metered parking areas is not indicated, and you are asked to call 311 in case of problems. At 311 the agent insisted that the limits and regulations are stated, but would not explain how, “it varies.” A mysterious “green post” was described as a delimiter, but could not be identified. One 311 agent stated that meters apply only between the blue signs, but that is not true, I have seen a parking ticket on a car outside. Another 311 press relations person suggested that “end of the block’ may be the limit, or the arrows on the alternate side parking signs might be used to identify the parameters. In other words, total confusion. Woe betide the visitor who would innocently park on the block, celebrating his good luck in finding a spot, only to be surprised by a parking ticket under the windshield wiper, fining him $65, . But the good city fathers have also eased the motorists’ fine-paying burden, providing for an internet /credit card payment methodology for parking violations.
Next: is nighttime parking free? Hmm, no answer. What are the hours for Free Sundays, a liberalization granted in 1995 but not announced on signs? 311 says from 12PM Saturday to 12PM Sunday, but hearsay indicates Monday till 8AM is also free, Who’s right? One begins to have dark suspicions that the rules are deliberately left vague to keep the opportunity open, if people do not protest. to spread the metering to entire streets and raise the Department Of Transportation income stream. Look at the rates. Our residential meter boxes show $2/hr, non -renewable, although this rule is not enforceable if quarters are used. On East 19th east of Broadway the rate is $3 first hour, $5 for two, $9 for three, a case of sheer robbery. See, the plot thickens, To ease the pain you can purchase a $20, $50 or $100 Muni-Card, or use a credit card, good luck! I did not succeed.
Besides escalating rates and grabbing the one free benefit of curbside parking for the poor, the city also confiscates leftover time, If you leave early, no one can slide in to use your surplus
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Summer in the city: Saturday in the Park with Tylon
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
If you are upset with the rainy weather, inability to get away, the economic situation, tough decisions on health coverage – relax and enjoy your perks, you live in the most desirable part of the greatest city in the universe (as we know it).
Before or after Labor Day, Union Square is the destination of choice for natives as well as tourists, guaranteed to show you something new and exciting, and cheer you up. Literally thousands of people flock here, to admire and be admired. Saturdays and other market days are the best, for fresh groceries, a bite to eat, and to see the vendors offering art, souvenirs , political tracts and tee-shirts, or engaging in political discussions or testing your skills at chess-for- pay.
A week ago I was passing through, stopping to look at a tall black athlete doing flips and contortions in the large forum-like plaza at the south end, with several rows of spectators surrounding the spectacle and a drummer accompanying the action. He was starting a new session, asking for volunteers. An embarrassed but brave teenager was soon cajoled to the center stage by the contortionist, who introduced her to the crowd and warned her of hazards, while folding himself into a human frog, walking on his hands with legs folded behind his shoulders and gesticulating with his toes. The hazards ? Well, he was going to jump over her head, and any unexpected moves would cause injuries. Having cleared the runway, with willing aid from the intrigued crowd, he made some test runs and declared Tina would flinch, and therefore should turn her back to the jumper. She did, and Tylon (I found the names later) easily somersaulted over the five foot three inches tall girl, to drum rolls and applause of the crowd. When she tried to leave, he made her stay and declared that he would now jump over eight volunteers. Intrigued, seven more youngsters came forward, were aligned and warned not to move, under any circumstances. While they got comfortable, Tylon moved through the crowd with a huge blue pail, collecting donations for the forthcoming adventure. The thrilled spectators gave willingly, singles and even a rare fiver, and, a hundred dollars richer, Tylon revealed his secret. The kids were made to cover their eyes by bending down, a grownup was added at the end, and Tylon flew over the sequence, with an imperceptible pushoff on the end man, to complete the somersault. We were left breathless, after a near hour of suspense, and a quite a few admirers came to Tylon with handshakes and more dollar bills.
Visiting Whole Foods or Trader Joe would have been anticlimactic, and I chose to turn towards Strand Bookstore , to check the records for high jump and broad jump (eight and twenty-nine feet). Tylon was well up for an athlete, and exceptional for performing in a carnival environment. What was really exceptional was finding that the Strand’s thirty or so outside bookcases, filled with thousands of titles ($1 the volume, forty-nine cents for pocketbook novels) were surrounded by three dozen browsers, polite but persistent, some carrying armfuls or shopping-baskets full of selections. Inside, a more controlled large crowd was lined up at the ten cash registers (mine was serviced by a Pre-Raphaelite looking brunette, recent Cambridge grad with a Masters in fine arts, looking for a theatre or museum opportunity). At least, America should not worry about internet damaged unfocused students as long as they are still devouring books en masse.
Sunday noontime in Union Square was quiet, the Greenmarket spaces unoccupied in the dull sunshine, sales booths for art and tee shirts duly in place, and early brunch crowds busily chatting at the Coffee Shop and Blue Sea Grill’s outdoor tables. Today the Park’s south end plaza was occupied by brightly colored tents of Sabra Hummus Company food wagons and service tables, offering free samples of Classic Hummus, the chick pea and ground sesame-based spread. It is basic food in the MidEast, and Israelis travel cross-country to the old Crusader town Accra’s Arab quarter for its best home-made taste. Park visitors received sampler packs, and were served with plates of humus, mixed with yogurt and other taste enhancers, plus pita crackers, as dip or appetizer.
On most afternoons the plaza is host to music groups, local as well as travelers from faraway places. New Orleans sound has been noted, on occasions. The political groups with their banners also come late, eager to engage visitors in debates about economics and the Palestinian issues.
Speaking of economics, there’s another new store on 14th Street, helping stem the recession – Rainbow, a junior, kids, plus and petite specialty apparel chain offshoot. New to us, although active since 1980 as Kidspot, 5-7-9, Foxmor, Plymouth and Caren Charles, they have 1,000 plus stores in 38 states. Rumored to be paying $48,000 rent for the location of our former main source for housewares, the Bloom and Krup spot, they are making a sizeable bet on 14th Street’s future.
If you are upset with the rainy weather, inability to get away, the economic situation, tough decisions on health coverage – relax and enjoy your perks, you live in the most desirable part of the greatest city in the universe (as we know it).
Before or after Labor Day, Union Square is the destination of choice for natives as well as tourists, guaranteed to show you something new and exciting, and cheer you up. Literally thousands of people flock here, to admire and be admired. Saturdays and other market days are the best, for fresh groceries, a bite to eat, and to see the vendors offering art, souvenirs , political tracts and tee-shirts, or engaging in political discussions or testing your skills at chess-for- pay.
A week ago I was passing through, stopping to look at a tall black athlete doing flips and contortions in the large forum-like plaza at the south end, with several rows of spectators surrounding the spectacle and a drummer accompanying the action. He was starting a new session, asking for volunteers. An embarrassed but brave teenager was soon cajoled to the center stage by the contortionist, who introduced her to the crowd and warned her of hazards, while folding himself into a human frog, walking on his hands with legs folded behind his shoulders and gesticulating with his toes. The hazards ? Well, he was going to jump over her head, and any unexpected moves would cause injuries. Having cleared the runway, with willing aid from the intrigued crowd, he made some test runs and declared Tina would flinch, and therefore should turn her back to the jumper. She did, and Tylon (I found the names later) easily somersaulted over the five foot three inches tall girl, to drum rolls and applause of the crowd. When she tried to leave, he made her stay and declared that he would now jump over eight volunteers. Intrigued, seven more youngsters came forward, were aligned and warned not to move, under any circumstances. While they got comfortable, Tylon moved through the crowd with a huge blue pail, collecting donations for the forthcoming adventure. The thrilled spectators gave willingly, singles and even a rare fiver, and, a hundred dollars richer, Tylon revealed his secret. The kids were made to cover their eyes by bending down, a grownup was added at the end, and Tylon flew over the sequence, with an imperceptible pushoff on the end man, to complete the somersault. We were left breathless, after a near hour of suspense, and a quite a few admirers came to Tylon with handshakes and more dollar bills.
Visiting Whole Foods or Trader Joe would have been anticlimactic, and I chose to turn towards Strand Bookstore , to check the records for high jump and broad jump (eight and twenty-nine feet). Tylon was well up for an athlete, and exceptional for performing in a carnival environment. What was really exceptional was finding that the Strand’s thirty or so outside bookcases, filled with thousands of titles ($1 the volume, forty-nine cents for pocketbook novels) were surrounded by three dozen browsers, polite but persistent, some carrying armfuls or shopping-baskets full of selections. Inside, a more controlled large crowd was lined up at the ten cash registers (mine was serviced by a Pre-Raphaelite looking brunette, recent Cambridge grad with a Masters in fine arts, looking for a theatre or museum opportunity). At least, America should not worry about internet damaged unfocused students as long as they are still devouring books en masse.
Sunday noontime in Union Square was quiet, the Greenmarket spaces unoccupied in the dull sunshine, sales booths for art and tee shirts duly in place, and early brunch crowds busily chatting at the Coffee Shop and Blue Sea Grill’s outdoor tables. Today the Park’s south end plaza was occupied by brightly colored tents of Sabra Hummus Company food wagons and service tables, offering free samples of Classic Hummus, the chick pea and ground sesame-based spread. It is basic food in the MidEast, and Israelis travel cross-country to the old Crusader town Accra’s Arab quarter for its best home-made taste. Park visitors received sampler packs, and were served with plates of humus, mixed with yogurt and other taste enhancers, plus pita crackers, as dip or appetizer.
On most afternoons the plaza is host to music groups, local as well as travelers from faraway places. New Orleans sound has been noted, on occasions. The political groups with their banners also come late, eager to engage visitors in debates about economics and the Palestinian issues.
Speaking of economics, there’s another new store on 14th Street, helping stem the recession – Rainbow, a junior, kids, plus and petite specialty apparel chain offshoot. New to us, although active since 1980 as Kidspot, 5-7-9, Foxmor, Plymouth and Caren Charles, they have 1,000 plus stores in 38 states. Rumored to be paying $48,000 rent for the location of our former main source for housewares, the Bloom and Krup spot, they are making a sizeable bet on 14th Street’s future.
Labels: Tylon Moore
