Category: Linked

Intellectually, I think term limits are a good thing. Practically, they are rife with unintended consequences, the biggest of which is the expensive game of musical chairs it has created. Part of that game is that pretty much from the beginning of their second term, pols are looking at their next job, not the one they were elected to do.

The current system is not serving us well, and should be changed. But having survived two public referendums, any change to the current system would have to be put to the voters to have any legitimacy.

JellyNYC steps up for the Democratic cause. Yo La Tengo, Titus Andronicus and Ebony Bones do their part too.

But really, who can keep track of these things?

Rudy lies through his teeth: “[Obama is] one of the least experienced candidates for president in the last 100 years, if not the least experienced.” This is a talking point that needs to be shut down: its simply not true – not even close.

With 11 years of experience (combined at the state and national level), Obama is more experienced than 11 of the 19 presidents elected since 1900 (that’s presidents, not just candidates, Rudy). And he’s tied with one more (Eisenhower).

And if you are looking for a correlation between prior experience and performance as president, there isn’t one. If anything, the correlation for “great” presidents tends to be slightly inverse. The list of “great” presidents with less experience includes Lincoln, Truman, John Adams, both Roosevelts and Wilson. “Great” presidents with more experience? Jackson, Jefferson and Washington. (And again, Eisenhower is a push.)

Will Obama be a great president (or even a decent one) based on his level experience? Who knows. Will McCain be a great (or even decent) president because of his 26 years* of experience as a Senator and Representative? Not if Gerald Ford and James Buchanan are any indication (but again, who knows).

* If elected, McCain would rank third out of the 42 men who have served as president.↩

I’m old enough to remember when the drinking age in NY was 18 – and the de facto drinking age in NYC was about 15. Fairness dictates that should be that way again (the 18 part, not the 15 part). If the government is going to require you to register for the draft, it should allow you to have a beer at the same time.

Jacob Neuman is the 5-year-old boy who died yesterday in a tragic fall down an elevator shaft at Taylor-Wythe Houses in Williamsburg.

What makes this tragedy more galling is the fact that it is not all that surprising. The New York City Housing Authority, which runs the City’s public housing projects, has a horrible track record when it comes to elevator safety. In this case, the two elevators at Taylor-Wythe had a history of stalling between floors going back at least six months. Further, the elevators at Taylor-Wythe had been labeled “unsatisfactory” in 17 of 21 inspections between 2004 and 2007. And despite a requirement that elevators be inspected every six months, NYCHA has no records of an elevator inspection at Taylor-Wythe since October, 2007.

And its not just this housing complex. Citywide, NYCHA experienced over 25,000 elevator breakdowns in the first six months of this year (and that’s down 5% from last year). Over 49% of housing authority residents rate their elevator service as poor or bad. The history of breakdowns and fatalities directly or indirectly tied to them is depressing. Last year, Lillian Milán, who suffered from asthma, died when she was forced by a broken elevator to walk up 10 flights of stairs to her apartment at Bushwick Houses. Despite calls to action after that tragedy, little has changed.

NYCHA is pointing the finger at the Federal government, for cutbacks that prevented NYCHA from undertaking upgrades to the elevators at Taylor-Wythe back in 2004. But that is just passing the buck. NYCHA knew it had problems with elevators system wide, and knew that these elevators needed replacing. Rehabilitating these elevators was a life-safety issue, and the responsibility for performing the upgrade rests solely with NYCHA. (Others are pointing the finger at DOB, but this is one case where criticism of DOB is misplaced – the Department does not even have jurisdiction over NYCHA properties.)

Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes has already announced an investigation, and surely there is plenty of blame to be passed around. But the buck has to stop somewhere, and it stops with NYCHA. They knew they had an elevator problem – here specifically and in general system-wide. It is their responsibility to keep their properties safe, wherever the money comes from.

The Sun “discovers” that there are antique stores in Williamsburg: “Where there’s money, there’s a market for antiques”.

Huh?

Moon River Chattel (which the article cites) has been around since 1995. Portmanteau (also cited) is a newcomer, but all of the other stores at the west end of Grand Street have been around a while. That includes Cosmo Modern (close to ten years?), Two Jakes (OK, used office furniture is not antiques) and Carl Chaffee and Modest Designs (the shared modern spaces at the corner of South 1st and Wythe – maybe the Sun doesn’t consider mid-century modern to be antique, but the stuff sells for a lot more than most other “antiques”). Add to that Golden Calf (North 6th and Wythe), which started out at South 1st and Wythe close to 10 years ago.

I suppose the Sun is trying to draw a distinction between “the innumerable thrift, vintage, and secondhand stores” in the neighborhood and bona fide antique stores, but its a stupid distinction. There has been a market for higher-end vintage furniture for well over a decade now (M and White on White were here in the 1990s). That includes the mid-century modern pieces at Modest and the ancient Chinese pieces at Golden Calf. It sure doesn’t seem to me that we have suddenly crossed the line into curated “antiques”.

Nice that they no longer poll workers to take the machines home with them, but why would anyone have thought this was a good idea in the first place?

Oh, and this doesn’t inspire much confidence in the system either.

JellyNYC builds support for post-pool live music in Williamsburg.

These concerts are the last bastion of what this neighborhood has come to represent over the past 10 or 15 years. If they leave, Williamsburg will become just another SoHo. [JellyNYC’s founder Alexander Kane]