Some Stuff That's Interesting
Whole Foods announced it's not coming to Gowanus. Nobody is surprised. [Curbed]
The New York Police Department still uses typewriters. Some people are surprise. (Not me. I'm pleased. And not only because the story caused the Post to run a picture of "Barney Miller.") [NY Post]
Someone wants to put the screws of Joe Jr.'s former landlord. Hey, I'm all for putting the screws to landlords, whatever the reason. [Eater]
New screw-up named to lead MTA. [City Room]
The Museum of the City of New York is opening a speakeasy, which is about the coolest thing the Museum of the City of New York has ever done. [City Room]
Tony Avella tells off CB7 in no uncertain terms. [Queens Crap]
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3 comments:
New screw-up named to lead MTA
I understand that you might be skeptical of the MTA, but I have a few questions for one. What basis do you have for alleging that Jay Walder is a screw-up? He's a very accomplished transit expert who has done some very good work in both New York and London over the last two decades. He's not some politically-connected real estate mogul with no idea about transit needs or policies.
And how does calling him a "screw-up" help any sort of discourse about actually improving transit options in the city?
Name one way the MTA has done well by the city and its riders in the past ten years? It has had a couple chiefs in that time. Nothing has improved or changed. It's an arrogant and corrupt institution predisposed to failure. I doubt one man with change it. Rather, I expect it will change the man. Can me a fatalist. I have seen nothing to encourage me otherwise.
That may be true, Brooks, even though, as someone who's able to compare the 1979 performance of the subways and Metro-North (then Conrail) with their performance today, I can say with absolute certainty that we're a hell of a lot better off in 2009. Even so, you have no business calling the new chief a "screw-up" before he even starts the job. It's like calling Obama a screw-up on January 19, 2009 because the federal government had been so irresponsible over the previous eight years. You're just being nasty, and if you're trying to come across as a humorless, self-important, closed-minded dunce, congratulations: you're succeeding.
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