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| It's All About the View |
Of course, building up is the only way to make way for growth, growth and jobs being an essential part of what makes this City so attractive in the first place. As it has for 150 years, NYC has grown around transit, from boats to bridges to subways. We're the "next stop" on an never-ending march towards the City's very finite border. Barring the occupation of Long Island, the eastern edge of the City remains the barely noticeable DMZ, with the only obvious changes being the DOT signage and alternate side parking regs.
Each day brings word of new purchases, plans and razings of 100+ year-old structures. We may, or rather we will PROBABLY, see a down-turn in the next year or so, which may once again require a radical rethink of policies and activism. The Q remains saddened by the inability of the powers-that-be and activists-that-are to recognize how we are missing the opportunity of a century to choose how and where we want to grow. The moneyed interests will continue to do the choosing, the buying of property and the influencing of politicians. And just as the billionaire oligarchs waltz into the seats of ultimate power, we seem willing to hand over whatever little negotiating rights we have. The moment has passed CB9 by...even the agencies aren't coming out to meet us anymore. We are a laughing stock. No, worse, we are being ignored. And who can blame them? We made them unwelcome and sullied their good names. And did we achieve anything for all the name-calling, race-baiting and chair-hurling?
Nope. What a world-class waste of my time were the years on the Board. I can point to not a single thing I, or we, accomplished. Except the one thing that I swore I would see before I died. The awakening of the Flatbush Trees at Empire and Flatbush. Thank you Pearl Miles, Jake Goldstein and David Eppley for helping make that corner just a little more hospitable. Oh, and Rudy and the Parkside Crew for the Plaza at my beloved Q at Parkside.
And now, off to Washington to add my fat-assed body to the resistance. I'm sure to have far more efficacy as one among 250,000 than I did as one among 50. Math, it appears, DOES lie on occasion.
6 comments:
Look to Trump to acknowledge that Obamacare is mainly Medicaid by another name. Then watch as he rebrands it as TrumpCare and further expands Medicaid to cover all the people who are now stuck with absurd Obamacare policies with sky-high deductibles and barely affordable premiums.
Count on approval for both the Keystone XL Pipeline and the Dakota Access Pipeline, and a lot of other hydrocarbon projects.
He'll gladly encourage everyone to practice conservation. Turn the heat down. Drive a Prius or a Volt. Buy a solar panel or wind generator if you want one, but pay for it without subsidies supplied by taxpayers.
It will probably become easier to open a charter school and help some kids otherwise trapped in public schools that have been unmanageable for too long.
Count on some infrastructure projects. Roads, etc. And count on a corporate tax cut that is likely to induce companies including Apple to repatriate over $2 TRILLION that's now resting comfortably and barely taxed outside the US.
I went to the big march in Manhattan on Saturday. Based on my personal observations, backed up with photos, the march was yet another example of action undertaken by gentrifiers. Those marchers. Wow, the white privilege crowd, for sure. Wildly defying the demographics of the city, which is only 30 percent white these days. But there they were, hordes of the marchers, most of whom were white. Probably 75 percent white, 25 percent everyone else.
According to pundits, the marcher profile in DC was about the same, which is even more interesting, since unlike the NY City marchers, virtually all the DC marchers traveled there from somewhere else.
Of course, a good time was had by all, but as everyone came to understand, the marchers were airing their list for grievances, much like a Festivus celebration. Perhaps Trump was the magnet, or the Festivus tree, whatever, but the griping about this and that and everything under the sun made it clear that no one was herding the cats.
I was disappointed by the signs carried by marchers. They suffered from a terrible lack of creativity. Most were about as catchy and imaginative as a traffic sign.
Anyway, now that the weekend has ended, everyone will return to their regularly scheduled programming. The slight weekend rebellion of the girls club may have released a little extra hot air into the atmosphere, but it's over now.
Sour grapes
It was an anti-Trump march. I think the demographics reflected that fact. People of color may not have been as well-represented as you (and others) would have liked. But it was damn diverse in every other way.
I think we need to consider that mad is mad, engaged is engaged. What would be nice would be to see way more white faces when the issue is specifically a black one, no?
The marchers seemed to have been angry, or at least annoyed, by everything. A favorite term on signs was "resist".
Well, resist what? Trump says he wants to build roads and bridges. Seemingly the protests say no. We must resist. No new roads and bridges.
Trump wants to lower taxes on businesses. Again, is the crowd determined to resist? No, tax our businesses, and squeeze out every dime.
Trump wants to make the US a better place for skilled workers. Bring back some factory work, stop or limit foreign competitors from undercutting our domestic producers. No, say the protesters. We resist.
Trump has already signed the executive orders to complete the Keystone XL Pipeline and the Dakota Access Pipeline. Both will help the US to reduce oil imports from countries that clearly wish us harm. No to that too, I guess.
Charter schools? Oh heavens no. Not competition in education. No, no, no. Because school choice is not a choice when it comes to this sacred cow.
After attending the march and considering the commentary since, it's clear the protesters were obsessed with saying no to everything, resisting, I guess, while offering nothing better in return.
Your analysis misses most of the point - the dude is an a-hole who is quite mentally unstable and under the spell of an equally effed up white supremacist conspiracy theorist who relates to Darth Vadar.
You're right that some individual policies are worthy of discussion, but not wrapped up in a twisted bully's persona. You gotta resist it all, because he's changing the very nature of the office he holds and it's not enough to simply discuss policies with the man. He is way beyond fixing.
Sorry. You sound like an apologist, and there's no room for that at this point in history. He's gotta go.
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