De Blasio, for his part, downplayed the advent of the new subway, even though its northern terminus is three blocks from Gracie Mansion, the Mayor’s residence. Technically, the state runs the subways, so his deferral to Cuomo makes sense in terms of structure, if not exposure. The Mayor has so far declined to work the Q into his commute to City Hall. This is in large part because he chooses to travel most mornings by chauffeured S.U.V., under police escort, from the Upper East Side to the Y.M.C.A. in his old neighborhood of Park Slope, Brooklyn, in order to work out. Afterward, he is driven back across the East River to City Hall. His exercise regimen is reportedly a half hour on a stationary bike. The geographical illogic smarts. He might as well make a side trip to Staten Island for an egg-and-cheese.
February 21, 2017
Profligate De Blasio.
From "The Second Avenue Subway Is Here!/THE SECOND AVENUE SUBWAY IS HERE!/The début of New York’s newest train line took place at noon on New Year’s Day—ninety-seven years after it was first conceived" (in The New Yorker):
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19 comments:
Do as I say . . . .
This is such a classic New Yorker piece. Take something that can be well told in 3,000 words and take it to 146,000. Needless to say, I didn't get as far as Ann.
So much for walkable neighborhoods.
Take away his police escort, and see what happens.
I wonder if they plowed the snow from his route to his exercise bike.
When I worked on Wall Street and lived in Brooklyn I went to midtown to work out. Admittedly I didn't work out every day or have a police escort.
I'm a native New Yorker. Unfortunately I can't afford to live where I was born, so I can't move back to vote against De Blasio.
The Godfather,
I'm not a New Yorker, but ditto. I grew up in what had been a small town west of Chicago where five generations of my family had lived. I could not afford to buy my childhood home now, even if I wanted to do so.
The irony is that a few years ago, Mitt Romney could have bought his childhood home with whatever cash happened to be in his wallet at the moment.
Upper east side to Brooklyn then back to City Hall? Not very carbon-sensitive for a guy who want's to ban plastic bags.
It's good to be the Mayor.
I got your mayor right here.
2 miles of track at $420,000 a Foot. $4.5B
At least it wasn't all Fed money like the Big Dig...
See, this is how much progs really care about global warming.
Off topic, but I find it really odd the way the NYT insists on using periods in acronyms that are almost exclusively otherwise expressed without them.
One wonders if they've ever had anything to say about S.C.U.B.A. diving or L.A.S.E.R.s.
Are we sure that he isn't making said side trip to Staten Island? Where's the press on this question?
I'm sure there's room for an exercise bike at Gracie Mansion.
Didn't click. New York shit. Who cares?
What I would like to know is if Dylan has a (good) song about riding the subway? I'm in the mood for that kind of feeling right now.
So I'd click that.
Gives him an hour of hubba-hubba hi-jinks,
with plausible deniability.
Hey! I'm ready to go in the A.M. myself.
Just no opportunity.
And don't forget. "every sperm is precious"
So don't even.
We are masters of our splooge.
The real story here is, why has it become so difficult and costly to do things which could be done a century ago at much greater speed and far lower cost?
This first phase of the 2nd Ave Subway comprises 3 stations at 72, 86, 96 Sts; it's slightly over one mile long. The next phase (96 to 125 St.) is about a mile and a half, and is projected to take 10-12 years.
Beyond that there is no funding, and at least some doubt there ever will be if costs can't or won't be reduced.
So, twenty+ years for about two and a half miles of two-track subway. As compared with four years to build 9.1 miles of four-track subway with 28 stations from 1900 to 1904 (including a powerhouse and power distribution system to power it).
It's become so routine that large projects cost far more than they once did, and take much longer to complete, that few seem to even notice anymore, but, isn't there something alarming in realizing that it's no longer possible to build on a scale that was possible over a century ago?
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