Year: 2024

The Strange Case of the Inaccessible Restroom

This is a story of a friendly little sandwich shop in our neighborhood. Like many small shops in the area, it is located in an old building that has seen many modifications over the years. Now this is the kind of shop that neighbors like to have around and like to patronize. It is a safe place to go, convenient to get a satisfying meal or a quick snack. Until recently, the little shop didn’t have enough room for seats to require a customer restroom so it was mainly a take-out restaurant.

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New York Needs an Arts District

We first heard of Roberto Monticello years ago but we had never met. One thing we have in common, then and today, is a love for Manhattan and the desire to save the Village by bringing subsidized housing like the Manhattan Plaza buildings here.

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A NO Can Lead to a YES!

Some people think they can’t say NO, but in reality, all of us say NO all the time to something when we choose to say YES to something else. If you choose to wear an outfit, you are saying YES to wearing that outfit and NO to wearing something else. 

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Beth Israel Closure Stopped for Now

A walk through Beth Israel today is like a walk through a museum. It has over 600 beds, fully equipped operating rooms, and an Emergency Room. But it is largely empty. No doctor wants to take a permanent job, and Beth Israel is advertising for doctors who are independent contractors. Nurses call me constantly about patients being examined and sent elsewhere, even those with dangerous health conditions.

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The Last Shot at Saving Elizabeth Street Garden

Any day now, the highest court in New York State will announce the start date for the final appeal to save Elizabeth Street Garden. The fact that the Garden is still standing and fighting is nothing less than miraculous given the forces seeking its destruction.

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Battling to Preserve the Soul of Governors Island

Nestled in the New York Harbor, just a stone’s throw away from the bustling streets of lower Manhattan and the vibrant neighborhoods of Brooklyn, Governors Island stands as a beacon of tranquility amidst the urban chaos. But behind its serene facade lies a battleground, a struggle in imminent danger of turning into a high-rise profit-driven over-development and exclusive destination shopping center for the wealthy.

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Book Review – The Real Anthony Fauci by Robert Kennedy Jr.

This is the worst book I have ever read in my life, and at 76 I have read a lot of books. It is not possible to cover everything in a book of over 400 pages with thousands of references, but I will try and cover the major issues and the sadness about what RFK Jr. could have done before he went down the conspiracy pathway.

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Where’s Raisin?

I’ll never forget the hot August day in 2022 when our daughter Rebecca called me frantically saying that she just rescued a cat that was near death. Rebecca was doing a nanny job in upstate NY when a friend came to the house excitedly saying, “I was finally able to corral that cat in the barn.” It was a sweltering, humid day and Rebecca knew that the temperature in the barn was at least 110 degrees.

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New Kids on the Block

The Village doesn’t have too many quick order burger shops once you peel off McDonald‘s and Burger King—don’t get me wrong, some of the best burgers in NYC are in the Village, but you can’t just run in and grab one.

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Earth Day Clothing Swap at Pier 57

On a sunny Saturday in April at Pier 57, dozens of people looked through a variety of clothes from jean skirts to exercise leggings carefully laid out on folding tables. “This is really cute!” and “what do you think about this?” could be heard from the various attendees throughout the space.

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Me First

It’s spring migration season, and it’s BIRDS that I’m looking at/for. Frankly, it still amazes me that there are people surprised to hear about the annual migration of birds as though for the first time. They’ll ask, “Really? Birds fly through New York City?”

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Remembering 9/11

America at 250

Pet Pages

Past Issues