Another light week
Posting will be light for the next couple of days. Jen moves to New York this weekend and I'll be in Boston starting tonight to help.Thirty-four years later, Park Slope still recovers
The shell of an unfinished apartment sits at Sterling Place and Seventh Avenue in Brooklyn's Park Slope neighborhood, site of a 1960 airline crash that killed 134 people. The lot, empty since the crash, seems to resist all efforts to fill it.
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Joe Camp goes his own way
When I was small, my mom took me to see the first Benji movie, which I just adored. The latest film, Benji Returns: Rags to Riches, is now out, and its director, Joe Camp, refuses to take film-making cues from Hollywood. Let's all hope he does well. Children need more from film than the endless exploits of spy kids and Scooby-Doo.Random iPod 5
The next 15 shuffled songs on my iPod: King of the Road, Roger Miller Burnin' Streets (London Is Burning), Joe Strummer Tiny Barnes, Bearsuit The Hole In My Heart, Dawn Parade Perfect Day, Lou Reed Possession (Live), Elvis Costello & the Attractions Moonlight Zombie Dance, Bruce Lenkei The Laughing Song, Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks The Wind, Cat Stevens Shiloh Town, Mark Lanegan Rumba De Barcelona, Manu Chao Sweet Happy Life, Rosemary Clooney & John Pizzarelli Supermodel, Juliana Hatfield I'm Gonna Make Him Mine, The Donnas Spread, OutKastLessig releases Free Culture under CC license
Stanford law professor Lawrence Lessig has released his new book, Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity, for free under a Creative Commons license. This means you can download and read the book without paying a penny. Of course, you can still buy aDebt and the kids
If I ever have children, one of the most important lessons I want to teach them is responsible debt management skills. My generation faces crushing debt loads, crippling interest rates and late fees, and deceptive practices from the agencies that we trust to "counsel" us. Banks and other credit issuers pay colleges big bucks for the right to market to teenagers, and they send offer after offer for new cards to people with proven bad credit, and then they turn around and rail against debtors for being "irresponsible" and petition Congress to tighten consumer bankruptcy laws. The trick is to teach kids to use credit responsibly without outright forbidding the use of credit cards. Teaching them how to build a good credit rating while still staying on top of their bills is an important skill, but that's a hard balance for adults to manage, let alone for teenagers to understand.Prospect Cemetary
Following up on yesterday's post, Satan's Laundromat and ForgottenNY have photos from Prospect Cemetery.Abandoned New York
From the New York Times, two articles look at forgotten bits of the city's past: a Queens cemetary, and a Bronx synagogue. One of these days, I gotta get on one of those ForgottenNY tours.A Drunkard's Agenda
Via Boing Boing, this funny list of 40 things any drunkard should do before the old liver fails.
[Weird stores
Lockhart Steele discusses weird stores, and he lists several that I'd like to check out. I read a recent survey of the fashion industry, in which one prominent designer commented on his love of browsing small New York clothing boutiques. I'd like to broaden my wardrobe anyway, and I'd like to see some of these boutiques myself, but now Lockhart's got me jonesing to look for weird stores, too. Lockhart's comments come by way of reading Adam Gopnik's review of the new book,First amendment mob
From e-mail: Join us -- recite the single sentence that guarantees the right of free speech and peaceable assembly. When: Tuesday the 23rd, 6:30 PM, for 30 minutes. Where: WTC Path Station on Church Street at Ground Zero (Subway: "A" to Cortland, "N/R" to Rector, "4/6" walk over from City Hall) What: Come down the steps into station, a large boxy room with a view of GZ. And bring a cell phone! How: First, memorize the 1st Amendment, or wear it on your sleeve, or have a friend prompt you over the phone. Continue reading "First amendment mob"Vinegar Hill tour; Revised track maps
A couple of notable items today: Mike, of Brooklyn-based photoblog Satan's Laundromat, will lead a tour of Brooklyn's Vinegar Hill neighborhood, Saturday, March 27. Also, Peter Dougherty has updated his book, Tracks of the New York City Subway. Updates new to Version 3.6 include the Manhattan Bridge changes, the restoration of PATH service to WTC, and the AirTrain routes to JFK. Dougherty plans a centennial edition for May and the fourth edition for 2005.Random iPod 4
The next 15 shuffled songs on my iPod: Sea of Love, Cat Power Relax, The Who The World And His Wife, Elvis Costello & the Attractions By Hook or By Crook, Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks Black Math, The White Stripes Roses, OutKast Tattoo, The Who Once I Loved, Rosemary Clooney & John Pizzarelli Execution Day, New Pornographers We Float, P. J. Harvey Baby Love Child, Pizzicato Five Get Rid of That Girl, The Donnas Rollercoaster by the Sea, Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers Breaking Us in Two, Joe Jackson Everything Goes to Hell, Tom WaitsMedical privacy
February 13: Charlie Suisman, writing for Manhattan User's Guide, discusses the DoJ's request for the records of women seeking abortion services. He quotes a DoJ attorney: "Individuals no longer possess a reasonable expectation that their histories will remain completely confidential." Today, Charlie follows up: He reasons that if medical records aren't private, and Attorney General John Ashcroft has just had his gall bladder out... Suisman's among the sharpest NYC Web writers, and MUG is a daily must-read.Ban porn in cars?
CNN reports that some citizens, police, and officials see in-car porn as a hazard. Two issues are at stake, and I think only one is actually valid: 1. Watching television is a distraction for drivers. 2. Passing motorists and pedestrians might happen to see, and be offended by, pornography in someone else's car. Lawmakers are considering rules and fines. Funny how "small government" applies only to corporations and not individuals, isn't it? [via BoingBoing]Michael Powell wavers on indecency
Powell warns that free-speech rights could hamper efforts to crack down on indecency.Random iPod 3
The next 15 shuffled songs on my iPod: Things That Scare Me, Neko Case Don't Forget to Dance, The Kinks Flight to Jordan, Tito Puente Fumblin' With the Blues, Tom Waits No One Knows When I'm Gone, Tom Waits Sea Song, Robert Wyatt Sure Beats Me, Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks Putty (In Your Hands), Detroit Cobras* Lonesome Blues, The Be Good Tanyas Heart of Gold, The Kinks Jimmy Jimmy, The Undertones Gentle on My Mind (Live), Glen Campbell Sci-Fi Wasabe, Cibo Matto Testament to Youth in Verse, New Pornographers J'ai Deux Amours, Josephine Baker *No, this isn't the only Detroit Cobras song on my iPod. I don't know why it keeps coming up.Judges slam lawyers' filings
The Times discusses two attorneys, both slammed by judges for typos and all-caps spellings. WRONG! BAD LAWYER! BAD BAD BAD! NO TREAT FOR YOU! [via Languagehat]Fulton Street Tunnels
Today's Fulton Street subway complex is a warren of tunnels and passageways, stairwells and storefronts, confusing to visitors and residents alike. The current complex serves fourteen routes in seven stations, and it was built over twenty-seven years by three different companies or agencies (the IRT's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 9 services; the BMT's J, M, N, R, and Z; and the IND's A, C, and E). This map shows the current configuration of the Fulton Street complex (source, MTA):
The MTA is in the process of designing a new Fulton Street Transit Center that will add new connections and tunnels, streamline and beautify existing connections, and introduce new retail opportunities to Lower Manhattan. Eventually, a straphanger could ride the 2 or 3 to Fulton and William streets and walk west through the passageways all the way to the World Financial Center's Winter Garden.
As Times reporter David W. Dunlop writes, in Midtown terms, that's roughly Times Square to the Chrysler Building. Dunlop describes the tradeoffs involved in designing such a complex:
But underground concourses (like skyways in other cities) are not an unmixed civic blessing. If they are simply unadorned passages, they can be bleak and discouraging. If they are filled with stores, restaurants and other amenities, they can drain life from the streets.
The new complex will cover ten million square feet of space over twelve acres, says Joseph J. Seymour, of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The new complex will connect to the rebuilt WTC and link the MTA to the new PATH station. This map, from the Times article, shows the configuration of the new complex:
Other improvements include a new centralized gateway, improved street access, and a new passageway under Dey Street.
Construction of the Transit Center is scheduled to begin by the end of the year, with completion expected by 2007.