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greyparcel79-blog · 6 years ago

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Mayor: There’s Not Enough People Biking to Warrant Dedicated Bike Lane Enforcement

Dedicated bike lane enforcement teams aren’t worth the city’s limited financial and personnel resources, Mayor de Blasio reiterated on WNYC today.

Across the city, bus lanes and bike lanes are perennially blocked by illegally-parked cars — often belonging to city employees. This month, NYPD launched dedicated tow truck enforcement teams for bus lanes. To the frustration of many cyclists, including one caller on WNYC’s “Ask the Mayor” this morning, a similar initiative does not exist for bike lanes.

“We don’t have the resources to [enforce bike lanes] right now in the way I think some folks who advocate for the bicycling community would like to see,” the mayor explained response to the caller.

The question referred to comments the mayor made yesterday, when he told NY1’s Grace Rauh that the city’s relatively low cycling numbers do not warrant the same level of investment as its bus riders, who number in the millions:

I asked de Blasio about expanding crackdown on parked cars in bus lanes to include bike lanes. He does not seem interested. Says effort is about improving part of the mass transit system that serves 2.5M riders per day. Says bike lanes are important but don’t reach as many people

— Grace Rauh (@gracerauh) January 24, 2019

After that comment, advocates and City Council Speaker Corey Johnson took the mayor to task on Twitter, pointing out that there would be a lot more people biking if New Yorkers could trust that bike lanes would clear of dangerous obstructions like illegally-parked cars.

On the radio Friday, de Blasio dug in his heels.

“I respect the advocacy of people in the bicycle community, but I’d also like the acknowledgement to be there that Vision Zero has been the central approach, with a huge amount of resources committed — and clearly working,” he told host Brian Lehrer, pointing the the measured impact his policies have had towards reducing traffic fatalities.

“I had a very honest and straightforward answer,” he added. “We absolutely believe in enforcement in bike lanes, but the point is this specific approach is about something vast.”

De Blasio took no less than six questions from Lehrer and his callers about transportation matters. One called to thank the mayor “from the bottom of [his] heart” for the bus lane enforcement initiative. Another praised the announcement, but raised concerns about government employees using their parking placards to evade penalty for illegal parking.

The city will release a report on its placard enforcement strategy next month, de Blasio said.

Timeline on this: -May 2017 de Blasio announces a new crackdown on placard abuse -February 2018 he says he owes the public an update on how crackdown is going (hasn't happened) -January 2019 de Blasio says in February 2019 he'll have new announcements about fighting @placardabuse

— Ben Max (@TweetBenMax) January 25, 2019

Lehrer also asked the mayor about recent reporting from Streetsblog and Gothamist, which show that the governor’s plan for weekend and night-time single tracking on the L-train will result in dangerous overcrowding and 40-minute headways.

Despite those frightening forecasts, the mayor said he’s OK with the governor’s plan.

“Over the last weekend, our teams were meeting with the MTA to go over the details. We do believe that the new approach is better. We support it,” he said. “Now we have to figure out what it means in terms of those mitigation efforts.”

Listen to the full interview here.

Source: https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2019/01/25/de-blasio-city-lacks-the-resources-for-dedicated-bike-lane-enforcement/

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greyparcel79-blog · 6 years ago

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The Clark,Chapin & Bushnell Bldg - 177-179 Duane Street

Brothers William E. and Freeman Bloodgood made a good partnership. Freeman was a builder and his brother an architect. They established Bloodgood & Bloodgood which both designed and erected buildings--quite likely saving developers money.

As early as 1880 John I. Lagrave owned the commercial building at No. 179 Duane Street. In 1885 he and John J. Jenkins, who owned the structure next door at No. 177, embarked on a cooperative project. They hired Bloodgood & Bloodgood to design and construct a modern loft building on the combined properties.

Using the name F. & W. E. Bloodgood, the partners filed plans in March that year. They called for "one six-story brick store," 50-feet wide, to cost $18,000, or just under $475,000 today. Their employers may have been stretching their finances a bit thin on the project. In August John J. Jenkins took out a mortgage for the full construction amount.

Completed within the year, the structure was an attractive industrial take on the neo-Grec and Queen Anne styles. The elaborate cast iron Corinthian columns expected in the storefronts of a generation earlier were gone, replaced here by geometric, paneled columns which upheld a beefy entablature and cornice. The upper floors were clad in red brick, highlighted by stone trim. Slim keystones were embellished with incised decorations, emblematic of the neo-Grec style. Queen Anne stepped forward at the top, where an elaborate terra cotta parapet took the place of a cornice. Here a row of tiles sprouted large, stylized sunflowers.

The building became home to Clark, Chapin & Bushnell, wholesale grocers. As was common, the firm painted its name across the front of the structure.

As the 1890's dawned, Clark, Chapin & Bushnell, like most of its neighbors, became the victim of corrupt cops. As drays pulled up to deliver or load crates of goods, policemen would move in, demanding payment for "the use" of the sidewalk.

In 1894 the State Senate established the Lexow Committee to investigate police corruption. While some businessmen were reticent to testify, no doubt fearing retribution, that was not the case with Clark, Chapin & Bushnell.

Horse-drawn drays that pulled up to the sidewalk of Clark, Chapin & Bushnell, created an opportunity for corrupt cops. New York--The Metropolis, 1902 (copyright expired)

On June 22 the firm's manager, Andrew J. Wellington, testified "We were very much annoyed by the police about one year ago. A policeman came into the store and said that if wanted to back our trucks across the sidewalk there was a party in authority who would have to be paid. A man called the next day. He was not in uniform and I did not know him. He said there was a regular fee to be paid, generally $50, for houses having so much frontage on the street, but ours would be $25." The payoff would equal $700 today.

The labor unions which were taking root at the time gained power by the turn of the century. The disparate interests of the workers and management sometimes boiled over into ugly and violent clashes. When teamsters went on strike in December 1905, Clark, Chapin & Bushnell refused to give in to their demands. They simply fired those on strike and hired new drivers. It did not sit well with the union. But, recognizing the potential of danger to its new employees, the firm put an armed guard on each truck.

Early in March 1906 the strike seemed to have been settled, and the guards were released. The union men then launched a series of attacks, landing ten drivers in the hospital, one of whom would not survive. In that case, a gang jumped onto his truck, beat him with heavy cotton bale hooks until he was unconscious, then threw his body into the street.

Then, at around 4:15 on the morning of March 14 a massive explosion occurred at the Duane Street building. The New York Times reported "The entire shipping department was destroyed by the explosion. The dynamite was thrown through a door opening on the street, the wire screen to which was wrenched off on Monday night and the glass panel broken." The Evening World said "The vibration was so great that it was heard for a radius of half a mile." Damages were estimated at $1,000, about 28 times that much today.

Ericsson F. Bushnell placed the blame on the shoulders of what today seems an unlikely target. He ranted to reporters "I believe that if any one man more than any other can be blamed for the labor outrages of to-day that man is Theodore Roosevelt. He has given the hoodlum element in labor circles the swelled head by interfering in coal strikes and by consorting with strike leaders."

The Sun, March 21, 1906 (copyright expired)

The ongoing labor feud may have contributed to the heart attack suffered by the firm's principal partner. On April 25 The Times reported that "Frederick C. Clark, head of the firm of Clark, Chapin & Bushnell, 177 Duane Street, one of the oldest tea importing firms in New York City, died in his home in this city this afternoon of apoplexy."

The union had not yet made its point. On July 22, just before midnight, a second bomb exploded. The New-York Tribune reported "An attempt was made last night to wreck the warehouse of Clark, Chapin & Bushnell, wholesale grocers, at No. 177-179 Duane street. Dynamite was used." The damage was less severe this time. "A hole about big enough for a cat to crawl through had been torn in the lower part of the steel sheathed oak doors. In the stone flag which made the threshold of the door a jagged hole about a foot long and four or five inches wide had been torn straight through into the basement."

After two bombings, Police Officer Artemus Fish was posted on the block to keep watch on the building. He thwarted a third attempt on the night of August 6 when he saw 24-year-old John Malone and 23-year-old Morris McAleer approach the building, the loiter there. Both had been employed as truck drivers for Clark, Chapin & Bushnell before the strike.

Fish walked up, flashed his shield, and ordered the men to "beat it." He later explained the men replied "Beat it? We'll beat you for a change." They then pulled out heavy metal truck spokes from their trouser legs and began pummeling the officer. His cries for help were heard by two other beat cops, who arrived just in time. Fish was nearly unconscious and bleeding from head wounds and other injuries. Both men were captured and charged with the March bombing.

The union's violent methods did not work. On the contrary, they steeled the already-adamant Ericcson Bushnell against organized labor. He was in the courtroom the following day and, according to The Sun, "He declared his firm would fight them with its last dollar if necessary and never would recognize the union."

In 1909 Clark, Chapin & Bushnell was joined in the building by Drose & Snyder, wholesale butter and eggs merchants. Headed by Charles F. Droste and James H. Snyder, it had branches in Newark and Paterson, New Jersey. The firm not only moved in, but purchased the property. Clark, Chapin & Bushnell remained on until around 1914.

The new owners replaced the outside advertising with its own. New York Produce Review & American Creamery, 1909 (copyright expired)

Charles F. Droste kept himself busy. In addition to being the head of one of the largest egg and butter operations in the Northeast, he was president of the American Paper Goods Co. and the Troy Cold Storage Co., and a director in Rock Island Butter Co. and Lawlor & Cavanaugh Co.

Reporters regularly sought his expertise to explain fluctuation in the market. When egg prices dropped in 1911, he explained prices were driven by supply and demand--there were simply too many eggs that year. "I do know that our warehouses are full of goods, and there is no market for them, and that we are facing a new season." Eggs, unfortunately for wholesalers, were not like coats or shoes--they lasted only so long. And when prices skyrocketed in 1916, Droste was once again called upon by reporters. He told Dairy Produce what he had said five years earlier--it was all supply and demand. "There are comparatively few eggs in the warehouses than were there in April...so that the eggs we now have in storage cost us considerably more than those in April."

While elevators were a welcomed convenience in the early 20th century, there were few if any safety regulations. Many elevators in industrial buildings did not have doors or gates, a condition that regularly resulted in injuries and deaths. On December 8, 1919 The Evening World reported that Teresa Vindora had died in the Duane Street building. "She was working on the fourth floor and it is believed she peered into the elevator shaft to look for a car and lost her balance."

Charles F. Droste died on April 19, 1920, but the firm continued on without its well-known head for another five years.

New York Produce Review & American Creamery, 1922 (copyright expired)

On June 17, 1927 The New York Times reported the cheese importer Otto Roth had leased No. 177-179 Duane Street "for a long term of years and the building will be extensively renovated to suit the requirements." In calling the lease "a long term of years" the newspaper was not wrong by a long shot.

Thirty-five years later, on August 5, 1963, The Times wrote "There are so many cheeses in this world that it would be virtually impossible to catalogue them all. However, if a cheese is produced on a fairly extensive commercial basis, it is likely to be on the list of Otto Roth & Co." The firm was celebrating its 100th anniversary at the time, and dealt in more than 300 varieties of cheese from about 15 countries. The article's author, Nan Ickeringill, described each floor of the Duane Street building as "cheese-perfumed."

Each of the cheeses demanded different care. Cheddars sat on racks as they aged. "We age the Cheddars here for about a year before selling them," explained president Benjamin Villa. "After the cheeses have been cured, they are dipped into dark paraffin to distinguish them from unaged cheeses."

Ickeringill wrote "In another room, Provolone cheeses festooned the ceiling in quantities reminiscent of balloons at a New Year's Eve dance." On a lower floor were "sacks of cartwheel-sized" Swiss cheeses.

But even as Ickeringill wrote her article, changes were coming to the old egg and butter district. In 1979 the Harry Wassermann bakery operated from No. 177. Its puff pastries were recommended by Dublin-born chef Pat Moore for authentic steak and kidney pie. Next door was Damon Brandt's gallery of tribal and ancient art.

In 1998 the "cheese-perfumed" building which for for 113 years had been home to wholesale grocery and dairy merchants was converted to two cooperative apartments per floor. Despite terrorist explosions and a century of neighborhood change, the facade of William E. Bloodgood's handsome loft building survives essentially intact.

photographs by the author

Source: http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-clarkchapin-bushnell-bldg-177-179.html

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greyparcel79-blog · 6 years ago

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Parker NY Sample Sale

Parker is a brand focused on dresses and tops with flirty details and girly prints perfect for day or night, work or play. Launched in 2008, Parker was created with the desire to reach the uber-stylish metropolitan girl. Focusing on an overwhelming need for pieces that fit perfectly, the New York-based design team behind Parker knows that their girl loves sophistication and sexy all in the same look. Source: https://thestylishcity.com/parker-ny-sample-sale

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greyparcel79-blog · 6 years ago

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DASQ Romania

Official Website : www.dasq.club

Beatport : www.beatport.com/artist/dasq/418263

Spotify : open.spotify.com/artist/5nsF64qhPcZIW09jFmKBAB

Itunes : itunes.apple.com/ca/artist/dasq/892643524

Discogs : www.discogs.com/artist/6816428-DASQ

Patreon : www.patreon.com/DASQ

Youtube Channel 1: www.youtube.com/DavidescuAndrei

Youtube Channel 2 : www.youtube.com/user/JummyBeats

Youtube Channel 3 : www.youtube.com/user/MrGamezilla

Facebook Personal Profile : www.facebook.com/DasqMusic

Facebook Artist Page : www.facebook.com/OfficialDASQ

Soundcloud : soundcloud.com/officialdasq

Mixcloud : www.mixcloud.com/dasqmusic/

Twitter : twitter.com/xDASQ

Bandcamp : dasq.bandcamp.com/

Amazon : goo.gl/ogBzAX

7Digital : us.7digital.com/artist/dasq

Traxsource : www.traxsource.com/artist/450274/dasq

Deezer : www.deezer.com/us/artist/14923323

LinkedIn : www.linkedin.com/in/dasq-dj-and-producer-447896167/

ReverbNation : www.reverbnation.com/officialDASQ

Junodownload : www.junodownload.com/artists/Dasq

E-Mail (Booking, Collabs & Info) : [email protected]

DASQ (Musical Artist) Romania 2019

Done Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/157863822@N06/32146926758/in/pool-35034350743@N01

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greyparcel79-blog · 6 years ago

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Matta Sample Sale

WHAT: Matta Sample Sale

WHY: Women's clothing and accessories at a discount at the Matta Sample Sale.

This year's sale will feature a broad array of old, new and one of a kind pieces including our coveted dupatta shawls/pareos, dresses and more! Items from design archives as well as pieces from current seasons and everything in between will be included.

Price range $15-125. Size range XS-XL.

Credit cards and cash welcome.

WHEN: 7/17 - 7/18; W-Th (10-7)

WHERE: 27 Greene Street (between Canal & Grand St.) New York, NY

For the complete list of today's sales and sample sales check HERE.

Add to calendar

Source: https://thestylishcity.com/matta-sample-sale-7

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greyparcel79-blog · 6 years ago

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Zwift System Status Monitor

If your Zwift session encounters technical difficulties and you wonder if the problem is on your end or Zwift’s, check their real-time status monitor at status.zwift.com.

You can also follow @GoZwiftStatus on Twitter for real-time status updates.

The system monitors key Zwift services and delivers the current status of each:

Ride: free riding in Zwift’s virtual worlds

Events: in-game signup, joining, and participation in events

Workouts: in-game workout activities and plans

Partner Connections: third-party connections such as Strava, Garmin, Training Peaks, etc as well as the Zwift API used by ZwiftPower

The status page also saves all incident history, so you can take a look at details for past events.

Source: https://zwiftinsider.com/system-status-monitor/

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greyparcel79-blog · 6 years ago

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The Tower at MOSCOT’s Old Orchard Street HQ is Now Above Ground

Six years after MOSCOT moved across the street, the multimillion-dollar cause of its ousting is slowly ascending.

We’re talking, of course, about the twelve-story tower currently under construction at the northeast corner of Orchard and Delancey Streets. Foundation and underpinning work recently wrapped, and the superstructure skeleton is now poking above the plywood. Sitting at a roughly two-story height.

As previously reported, owner-developer David Escava of Helm Equities purchased 118 Orchard (aka 86 Delancey) in 2012 for $4.8 million. Moscot later fled its home of eighty years (a story first told by Bowery Boogie) but was quickly replaced by the Wallplay creative agency, which curated a revolving door of art and music-related stunts.

It wasn’t until early 2017 that 86 Delancey Street met the proverbial wrecking ball. And then another year for actual construction to commence on the 120-foot luxury development. The mixed-use newcomer will boast 29,437 square-feet of total floor area split between residential and commercial. There are twenty-four rentals planned, per public records – floors three through eight will carry three units each, with duplexes rounding out floors nine through twelve. Balconies are also part of the equation. The ground-level retail space is 5,769 square-feet, and zoned for “use group 6,” which includes a restaurant. There is also a rooftop “recreational area” listed in the proposal.

Fits right in with the new class of Hell Square…

Source: https://www.boweryboogie.com/2018/12/the-tower-at-moscots-old-orchard-street-hq-is-now-above-ground/

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greyparcel79-blog · 6 years ago

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The Simon Bolivar Statue - Central Park at 6th Avenue

On April 17, 1921 the New-York Tribune noted that "Bolivar Hill," a knoll in Central Park near 83rd Street and the West Drive "has been for thirty years the center of a drama which had the elements of human interest, passion, gossip of the art world, comedy, tragedy and wasted fortune, to say nothing of international relations." It all had to do with the Venezuelan Government's frustrated attempts to have a fitting memorial to Simon Bolivar in the park.

In 1883 it had commissioned Venezuelan sculptor Rafael de la Cova to create a monument to the hero. Bolivar is credited with gaining independence from Spain for not only Venezuela, but Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru and Panama. The completed statue, a gift to New York City, was dedicated on June 17, 1884. On one side of the pedestal was the single word "Bolivar" and on the opposite "Venezuela to the City of New-York, 1883."

At the time The New York Times reported "Upward of 2,000 people witnessed the unveiling of the statue of Gen. Simon Bolivar, in Central Park, yesterday afternoon, and most of them were obliged to stand patiently beneath the pelting rays of the sun." When the drapings came off the speeches and ceremony went on as planned. Parks Commissioner Egbert Viele diplomatically pronounced "This statue is not merely a work of art...It is a tribute of esteem from a young republic of South America to her sister in the North."

But in fact everyone, perhaps more so the Venezuelan representatives, were aghast. Rafael de la Cora's Boliva was a stiff, comic looking figure--what was a century later termed a "monster-piece."

The 1883 statue was, in a word, hideous. (image from a vintage stereoscope card)

Before long the President of Venezuela, Joaquin Crespo, decided that the statue was "not fitting." In 1896 his government commissioned Giovanni Turini to execute a replacement. Completed in 1898, it was no more acceptable. The New-York Tribune later said "Turini's Bolivar was modeled after a statue at Caracas, a pompous figure seated stiffly on a conventional Roman horse."

The New York Times politely said "A new statue ordered from another sculptor was not altogether satisfactory," while The National Sculpture Society "flatly rejected" the ungainly statue. It was put in place. The Venezuelan government refused to pay Turini his agreed-upon $75,000 commission (a rather stunning $2.3 million in today's money). The New-York Tribune remarked "only $8,000 was paid."

In 1897 the Parks Commission could abide the hideous De la Cova statue no longer and "condemned" it, as worded by The New York Times. The stone pedestal sat empty for 19 years until on the morning of April 4, 1916 New Yorkers awoke to find a bronze grouping of hounds in place. In the dark of night a group of about a dozen men helped William Hunt Diedrich hoist his Levriers, or Greyhounds, into place.

Park police were not amused and the following day The New York Times reported "the playing dogs of Paris were thrown ten feet to the ground and 'damaged almost beyond repair.'" Deiderich lamented that the Parks police had treated the gift "as a pretty woman sometimes spurns a flower."

Deidrich was perhaps unaware that the Venezuelan government had plans for the pedestal. That year it sponsored a global competition to select a sculptor for a third stab at a respectable rendering of Bolivar. Art critic Alexander Woollcott, writing in The Delineator a few years later remarked "Venezuela wanted to place a monument to him in Central Park, particularly as a quite painful equestrian statue of Bolivar had previously been taken out of that playground and hidden somewhere by New York's Municipal Art Commission."

Twenty artists competed and the winner was surprising, indeed. Born in Ogdensburg, New York in 1869 Sally James Farnham had no artistic training. The daughter of a U.S. Army colonel, she had traveled throughout Europe and Japan as a child where her father took her to art museums. At the age of 32 she was hospitalized, recovering from a long illness. The mother of three was bored and her husband, George Paulding Farnham, a jewelry designer for Tiffany & Co., suggested she use modeling clay to while away the time.

After her release from the hospital, Sally kept up her clay modeling. As it turns out she was a long-time friend of Frederic Remington. She took him a figure of a Spanish dancer, asking him if it were any good. "Well, I'll be," he reportedly responded. "I don't know how you learned it...but she's full of ginger. Keep it up, Sally." And she did.

At a time when female sculptors were rare, Farnham received the prestigious commission. She worked on the 15-foot Bolivar statue in a rented Brooklyn studio while she simultaneously went through a divorce. She depicted Bolivar in full military dress astride his prancing horse. The South American described the statue in April 1921 as "shown in the attitude of acknowledging the shouts of an applauding populace, a gallant figure of a soldier and a gentleman."

Sally James Farnham at work in her Brooklyn studio. The caption reads "The largest statue ever made by a woman." The Delineator, May 1921 (copyright expired)

Five years after winning the contest plans were made for the dedication. Art critic Alexander Woollcott said Farnham's Bolivar outshown even Anna Hyatt Huntington's Jeanne d'Arc in Riverside Park. "But this is a loftier figure, this one of Bolivar." He called the Venezuelan gift a "towering monument that enters the annals of American sculpture as the largest work by a woman which history anywhere records."

The dedication was to be no small affair. On April 17, 1921 the New-York Tribune announced that "Last week the great bronze was put in place on Bolivar Hill. President Harding has accepted the invitation to assist at the unveiling on Tuesday."

Five days earlier The New York Herald had begun reporting on the luminaries already arriving in New York for the ceremony. Dr. Estaben Gil-Borges, Venezuelan Minster of Foreign Relations, along with his wife and three children, arrived on April 11. On the same ocean liner were five other high-ranking Venezuelan officials. The newspaper added that now Charles E. Hughs, the Secretary of State, would be joining the President at the unveiling along with other cabinet members.

The unveiling ceremony, on April 19, was grand. The Presidential party was escorted from the Waldorf Astoria by United States marines, soldiers and sailors and a detachment of sailors from the Brazilian battleship Minas Geraes. At the park a squad of New York State Guardsmen fired the Presidential salute. Two little girls, 7-year-old Patricia Paez MacManus and her sister Mariquita Paez MacManus, granddaughters of General Jose Antonio Paez, an associated of Simon Bolivar, pulled the cords to unveil the statue.

This time there was no disappointment. Sally James Farnham's statue was deemed masterful. The South American wrote "The bronze horseman fashioned by Mrs. Farnham is declared by all who have seen it to be a great work of art, worthy of our great city."

The Bolivar statue became the site of annual celebrations of the liberator's birthday. But the beloved statue appeared threatened when President Franklin Roosevelt formed his War Production Board. On August 7, 1942 Roosevelt endorsed a program to scrap bronze statues and recycle their metal into weapons of war. The New York Times explained "At his press conference he agreed with reporters that some of the statues and the guns used as monuments would serve a more useful purpose if junked...Some of the statues, he said with a smile, could be replaced after the war with--and here he paused to cough apologetically--something more artistic."

Art critic Edward Alden Jewell, writing in The New York Times on March 7, 1943, warned patriotic New Yorkers not to be too hasty. "Supposing an inclusive call for scrap bronze to have been sounded, which of the hundreds of statues in our city are to be deemed of particular worth and which are not? More simply put which are good and which are bad?" He said "Before Art gives Mars the green light," the merits of the city statues should be weighed Jewell compiled a jury of one sculptor; an architect; a "widely known collector," Chester Dale; a painter and himself to do just that.

The group was brutally honest in its condemnation of some statues which it said "should go into war's caldron." Not surprisingly, the Bolivar statue passed with the esteem of the cultured and knowledgeable crew. (As it turned out, very few bronzes were lost to the war effort.)

In 1945 Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia prompted the city to rename Sixth Avenue "The Avenue of the Americas" to honor Pan-American ideals. A new plaza was designed in Central Park at the head of the avenue and on November 15, 1948 The New York Times announced plans had been approved by the United States State Department to move the statues of Simon Bolivar and José de San Martin to either side of its entrance. The idea quickly became a political issue.

On September 11, 1949 Oren Root, candidate for Manhattan Borough President, railed against the project's high cost. He saw no logical reason to move the statues and said "the amount seemed excessive and that the $495,000 might better be used to rehabilitate some school or hospital."

It created a stalemate that was broken by the Venezuelan Government. On October 19 Parks Commissioner Robert Moses announced that Venezuela had "formally requested" the statue to be moved and offered to pay all expenses. The $190,000 necessary to move Bolivar left the city taxpayers with a substantially reduced bill.

The second unveiling of the Bolivar statue, on April 19, 1951, was only slightly less impressive than the first. A parade up Fifth Avenue included 3,000 marchers, 360 Venezuelan military cadets, and American and Venezuelan dignitaries who rode in automobiles. Five bands joined in the procession as did hundreds of school children.

A crowd estimated at 15,000 pushed in to witness the unveiling. The New York Times, April 20, 1951

But the best was to come. The estimated crowd of 15,000 heard a message by President Harry Truman before G. Suarez Flamerich, President of Venezuela, unveiled the statue by pressing a button at Caracas, almost 2,000 miles away.

As had been the case for three decades, the yearly ceremonies on Bolivar's birthday continued for years. One of the first important sculptures by a female artist, Sally James Farnham's monumental Simon Bolivar holds a commanding spot at the entrance to the Central Park.

photographs by the author

Source: http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-simon-bolivar-statue-central-park.html

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greyparcel79-blog · 6 years ago

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Uncle Ben. Weds, 2/28/18

Well, the government is falling apart and the country is on the verge of a civil war regarding guns, so all in all, it’s been a typical Wednesday. The newsfeed on my phone needs a goddamn break. I mean, I am well-aware it is an automated process, but I actually still feel bad for it, like, every time I go to my phone feed all the articles change again, and I’m just like, “I know your algorithms must be so tired. Please, have a rest.” People who got into media are going to come out of this administration like it’s the journalistic version of the Iron Man. They’re going to be able to type 300 words-per-minute, follow six stories at once, and interview two people with one microphone and use their comments interchangeably in both republican and democratic-slanted articles. They are doing the equivalent of holding a bucket and running around trying to catch verbal gaffes being spewed by the human misconduct sprinkler and publishing them before they hit the ground. Or, they will just quit journalism altogether because their will is broken.

It was one of those days that had been forecasted to be 58 degrees but then, in a sudden turn of events, the clouds didn’t part, and the the temperature never rose above 32. That’s actually the worst kind of day because you get yourself all jazzed up for a long-overdue dose of spring weather, maybe put on a lighter coat and a smile, only to go outside and find it’s still depressing-winter, and everything you hoped for will never materialize as you envisioned, just like your dreams.

On a positive note, the office finally replenished the chocolate supply. I went and took three pieces today, sat down at my desk and ate them, and then promptly got up and went back for another three. And then a final two. I was careful to not let all the crumpled foil sit in little balls on top of the trash because I didn’t want anyone walking by a judging me- not only for being fat, but for my devil-may-care with the company candy. That’s the thing about junk food / office food in general; you can never go into the communal supply, like, “I’m just going to take this entire bag and put it in my desk.” You may plan to eat the entire bag, but you have to do it in installs, in shifts, lay the planks a few at a time without flagrant intention, until you can look back and see you’ve built a bridge. Or in this case, throwing away the empty bag. And if you’re smart, you can even take the last one and hold up the empty plastic to whoever is in the kitchen (ideally an influencer on the grocery order) and say, “Ugh someone ate all the chocolate- can you imagine?” Knowing full-well you’re possibly a sociopath but cunning because maybe that person will be able to find or order more. And people won’t know you alone consumed 95% of it.

I ate one of those 90-second Uncle Ben’s rice things for lunch. First of all, there’s nothing more embarrassing than whipping out one of those packets at an office, like that is somehow a grown-up option to bring to a corporate lunch environment, or even suffices as an entire meal. It’s something you eat in college because you had $3 and ran out of Easy Mac and this was your ‘healthy meal.’ Except I’m 33 and I’ve been in the work force for a decade so there’s that. People were unpacking their kale salads with fresh hard-boiled egg, chopping up vine tomatoes to pair with their avocado slices, and here I was with my fucking bright orange packet, ripping off the top and dumping the contents in a bowl, which fell out with a big ‘thump,’ amongst the din of conversation, like I publicly defecated on the kitchen counter. But when people looked over there was nothing to say aloud other than, “hard times?” Or “that’s nice you put it in a bowl.” It felt like I was feeding a dog, but then I sat down with the bowl, and tried to carry on conversation, but it was hard knowing I was eating a large pile of overly-fragrant bagged rice amongst a table of pine nuts and radicchio.

Alas, I survived. I skipped working out because as I stated in yesterday’s post, I’ve given up on doing anything beneficial for my health until this weekend, other than drinking alcohol. When my co-worker asked, “Why arent you working out today?” I didn’t even have an answer other than, “I literally just don’t want to.” Success always tastes sweeter when you’re at rock bottom. And then I left the office with a headache and when I got home, before I took my coat off, I poured a heaping glass of wine. I was like, “This is precisely why people get nervous about alcoholism.” But, I swear, it was just a rough day.

And now I am going to bed for a solid 10 hours and if anyone wakes me up, other than to tell me you like my blog, it’s curtains for you. I’ll come over and wake you up for an otherwise unpleasant reason and see how you like it. And with that, sweet dreams and adieu.

<3 Justin

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Source: http://justinthecity.com/post/171401910040/uncle-ben-weds-22818

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greyparcel79-blog · 6 years ago

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How many weird foods have you tried?

I tried 89 of 100 rare foods, making me a "True Foodie", according to this quiz.

Only 8 people have tried all 100 foods on this list.

I have yet to try: kangaroo, black truffle, Pavlova cake, fugu, mangosteen, morel mushrooms, chile relleno, purple ketchup, or dessert pizza!

How many rare foods on that list have you tried?

Source: http://weirdfoodclub.blogspot.com/2013/01/how-many-weird-foods-have-you-tried.html

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greyparcel79-blog · 6 years ago

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Currently In My Cart

I've been trying to cut back on shopping ever since my "No-shop February." I've been doing a pretty ok job at it. I've still been window shopping, but instead of impulse buying, I keep items in my cart and go back to it every few days to see how I feel. I wanted to throw this post together to show you things that are currently sitting in my cart waiting to be purchased.

(dress & shoes)

Lingua Franca personalized sweater (picture from Over the Moon)

silk ruffle wrap top

popover dress

custom embroidered book clutch

french straw bag

beaded clutch

fun earrings

Green fit and flare dress

pearl beaded bag

Eyelet off the shoulder top

pearl headband

Blue floral print dress

Blue ruffle wrap dress

Lace puff shoulder top

White lace tank

Lobster straw bag

Source: http://www.coveringbases.com/2019/05/currently-in-my-cart.html

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greyparcel79-blog · 6 years ago

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AmeriHealth Caritas D.C. Graduates Fifth Class in Workforce Readiness Program

Seven people received certificates from the AmeriHealth Caritas District of Columbia “Pathways to Work” program on April 9. Here graduates, mentors and supervisors pose for the happy occasion. (Photo by George Kevin Jordan)

By George Kevin Jordan

It was an emotional moment for many during the April 9 graduation ceremony of the AmeriHealth Caritas District of Columbia “Pathways to Work” program. Seven people received certificates showing they had finished the 12 week paid internship program, which provides training in hospitality and customer service skills in a classroom environment and then learning about healthcare while onsite at AmeriHealth Caritas. Interns are paired with a mentor during the internship process.

Graduates of this cohort include: Eseomon Aledan, Autumn Fennell, Iyana Davage, Robert Jordan, Melissa Spencer, Tonya Rawlings and Tamara Moses.

Karen Dale, market president for AmeriHealth Caritas District of Columbia, spoke to the AFRO about how the program got started.

“The idea I had was first and foremost we needed to be good stewards in the community we serve,” Dale said speaking of the impetus for the program. “This represents an investment in our community. We know that health is more than healthcare. So to have resilient communities, people must have the basics and essential and if you don’t have a job a lot of the basic and essentials are harder to have.

“So if we can pour in and help people who want to work – and most people want to work – what they need are all the right tools and resources and sustainable support in order to be successful. That’s the piece we thought we were uniquely positioned to provide.

Dale said that she and other program leaders continue to listen to graduates, learn and grow making new changes even with the current cohort.

“We’ve changed in a couple of ways,” Dale said. “One, we realized that diversity in the class is important. And diversity meaning wee have people of varying levels of experience. We have more of a mix so people can see the possibilities they can support engage and mentor each other. A little bit more peer support built in and we’ve seen wonderful success from that.”

Tonya Rawlings, a D.C. resident and graduate was able to secure full time employment with AmeriHealth prior to even completing the internship. For her, the journey back through unemployment was foreign to her, having worked since she was 17-years-old. However what she learned about herself and her capabilities will hopefully carry her beyond her current career.

“Pathways to Work” graduate Tonya Rawlings (Right) receives the Sonya Dupont “Perseverance Award” from Stephanie Hafiz, Director of Member Engagement, AmeriHealth Caritas D.C. (Photo by George Kevin Jordan)

I didn’t know what unemployment was,” Rawlings said. “When it happened I had just come out of a major surgery.”

Rawlings said she started as a registered medical assistance but moved to the administrative side when she couldn’t do the medical side due to an injury. When she lost her job she was shocked and unprepared for what came next.

“I had been in the medical field all my life,” she said. “I didn’t know unemployment I didn’t know homelessness.”

Rawlings said that thankfully she only had to spend one night sleeping in her car before her son found out and helped her. But joblessness had an emotional toll on her.

“I hid it from my kids, and staying place to place,” she said. “It was hard. I didn’t know how I was going to make it. And all that stress.”

And the stress piled on as she lost her mother to cancer and her fiance to a pulmonary embolism six months later. The Pathways program was a source of hope, and offered her a place to see a larger picture for her life. She was able to take yoga, and learn about meditation. During the internship she even created a vision board.

“I didn’t want to come out of my dark space,” Rawlings said. “The Pathways program saved me mentally as well as physically. I got back to that positive me.”

She was so moved by her experience, she wants to one day start her homeless facility.

The Pathways program is open to all D.C. residents.

AmeriHealth Caritas District of Columbia is a Medicaid managed care health plan with a mission to help members get cars, and maintain health and wellness for themselves and their community.

The next round of internships begin in the fall of 2019. For more information please visit www.amerihealthcaritasdc.com.

This article originally appeared in The Afro.

Source: https://www.blackpressusa.com/amerihealth-caritas-d-c-graduates-fifth-class-in-workforce-readiness-program/

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greyparcel79-blog · 6 years ago

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Luis Barraza firma su primer contrato profesional con New York City FC

New York City FC se complace en anunciar que Luis Barraza ha firmado su primer contrato profesional con el Club.

El portero, que fue seleccionado en la primera ronda del Superdraft MLS 2019 (12º en total), se convierte en la sexta adquisición de la pretemporada de NYCFC, después de la llegada de Tony Rocha, Keaton Parks, Ebenezer Ofori, Justin Haak y Juan Pablo Torres.

"Es uno de los momentos más felices de mi vida, sin duda", dijo Barraza después de firmar su contrato. "Estoy agradecido por todos los que me ayudaron a llegar a donde estoy hoy. Lo más importante es mi familia que me ha apoyado y ha creído en mí desde el primer día.

"Es un sueño hecho realidad. Me siento honrado y orgulloso de llevar la insignia de NYCFC ".

NYCFC intercambió $75,000 de General Allocation Money y la 19ª selección global a LA Galaxy por la 12ª selección general para asegurar los derechos de Barraza en el SuperDraft en Chicago a principios de este mes.

El Director deportivo del NYCFC, Claudio Reyna, dijo: “Luis es un muy buen portero con un futuro brillante. Es alguien que realmente nos gusta y agrega más profundidad a la posición del portero. Creemos que es realmente valioso en la MLS tener un cuerpo muy sólido de porteros que se se apoyen entre sí.

Estamos felices de darle a Luis la oportunidad de realizar su sueño y de ser una parte importante de su vida como Club. Queremos cuidarlo, empujarlo y desarrollarlo para que dé los pasos correctos en su carrera".

Luis se graduó recientemente después de cuatro años en la Universidad de Marquette, donde reclamó el premio al Portero del Año de la Big East Conference en 2018 y también fue nombrado para la First Team All-Big East Conference.

Barraza se une a un talentoso grupo de arqueros que incluye a Sean Johnson, Brad Stuver y Jeff Caldwell.

"La razón por la que tenemos cuatro arqueros estadounidenses es porque todos tienen cualidades diferentes", dijo el entrenador de NYCFC, Doménec Torrent. "Nos gusta jugar con una acumulación y Luis tiene una cualidad que es muy importante para nosotros porque se siente cómodo cuando tiene la pelota.”

Al principio de su carrera juvenil, Barraza formó parte de la configuración de la academia en Real Salt Lake-Arizona, donde ganó los Campeonatos U-15 / U-16 de la USSDA en 2013.

Competente con su distribución y un potente tapón, Luis continúa su desarrollo en un sólido grupo de porteros de NYCFC junto a Sean Johnson, Brad Stuver y Jeff Caldwell, comenzando en Abu Dhabi en la primera etapa de la pretemporada 2019 de NYCFC, que comienza el 29 de enero.

Todos en la NYCFC queremos felicitar a Luis por su primer contrato profesional y esperamos verlo desarrollarse en el Club.

Nombre: Luis Barraza Posición: Portero Altura: 6’2" Peso: 195 libras Fecha de nacimiento: 11/08/1996 Edad: 22 Ciudad de origen: El Paso, TX Lugar de nacimiento: Las Cruces, NM Ciudadanía: Estados Unidos Cómo se adquirió: Elaborado con la 12ª selección general en el MLS SuperDraft 2019 (selección adquirida de LA Galaxy para la selección 19 en el SuperDraft MLS 2019 y $ 75,000 en dinero de asignación general)

Source: https://www.nycfc.com/post/2019/01/28/luis-barraza-firma-su-primer-contrato-profesional-con-new-york-city-fc

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greyparcel79-blog · 6 years ago

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bejeweled

thats how it feels to me

as if the skyscrapers are bejeweled

they shimmer

they sparkle

Source: http://onthem104.blogspot.com/2019/01/bejeweled.html

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greyparcel79-blog · 6 years ago

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Dwayne Haskins and Kyler Murray join Tua in New York City - CBS42.com

NEW YORK CITY (AP)-- Heisman Trophy finalists Dwayne Haskins of Ohio State, Tua Tagovailoa of Alabama and Kyler Murray of Oklahoma were on Wall Street to ring the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange on a day the Dow closed down 558 points.

Stock for the three first-year starters has been soaring this season. A year ago they were second on their team's depth chart. On Saturday, one of them will win the Heisman Trophy as the top player in college football.

Haskins, a third-year sophomore, stepped in after the departure of a four-year starter and smashed Ohio State and Big Ten passing records.

The question Haskins will face is whether to return to college for another season or enter the NFL draft. He could be a first-round pick.

"After the bowl game I'll sit down with my family and talk about it," Haskins said.

The sixth-ranked Buckeyes face No. 9 Washington in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1 in what will be coach Urban Meyer's last game before retirement.

Tua Tagovailoa picked up where he left off in the second half of last season's national championship game victory against Georgia to lead the top-ranked Crimson Tide back to the playoff as a sophomore.

Tagovailoa rolled across the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on a black scooter with a little Alabama sticker on the front, his sprained left ankle in a gray plastic boot, safely propped up as he pushed off with his right foot.

Murray, a fourth-year junior, replaced last season's Heisman winner and had an even better season than his predecessor. Murray waited the longest to finally take over a team, transferring from Texas A&M after a rocky freshman season, taking a redshirt year to satisfy NCAA transfer rules and then backing up Baker Mayfield in 2017.

"I think sitting down and watching is kind of important," Murray said. "I know Dwayne got to sit and watch. Tua obviously got to sit and watch. I think it just helps you with your growth and maturing on and off the field. I think that's a big part."

For the 16th time in the last 19 years, a quarterback will win college football's most coveted individual award and that should not be a surprise this season. This has been the year of the quarterback, with FBS records for completion percentage, yards per pass and yards passing per game all within range as bowl season arrives. For the first time since 2008, when Oklahoma's Sam Bradford, Texas' Colt McCoy and Florida's Tim Tebow were the Heisman finalists, only quarterbacks were invited to New York for the trophy presentation.

That season, the Heisman finalists combined to pass for 9,726 yards and 100 touchdowns, completing 70.9 percent of their passes at 9.1 yards per attempt. This season's finalists, each still with at least one more game, have passed for 11,986 yards and 124 touchdowns, completing 69.7 percent of their passes at 10.6 yards per attempt.

There is also a good chance that for just the second time in the 83-year history of the Heisman, the top-five vote-getters will be quarterbacks, too. West Virginia's Will Grier and Washington State's Gardner Minshew II were the other contenders, but neither drew enough support to earn a trip to New York. In 2001, when Nebraska's Eric Crouch won the Heisman, the top six in the voting were quarterbacks.

During a 30-minute interview session with reporters at the Stock Exchange, Tagovailoa was asked a lot about his health. He sprained his ankle in the Southeastern Conference championship game last week and said he expects to be fine for the playoff, when No. 1 Alabama faces No. 4 Oklahoma and Murray in the Orange Bowl on Dec. 29. Alabama trainer Jeff Allen is traveling with Tagovailoa on the awards circuit this week.

"Life throws problems at you sometime and it's how you deal with it," Tagovailoa said. "Just trying to get better."

Murray fielded numerous questions about his future in baseball. He was a first-round draft pick by the Oakland Athletics in June and has already signed $4.66 million contract. This will be his one and only season as a college starting quarterback.

"My future's already kind of been decided as of right now," Murray said. Asked if he could see himself trying to play both sports, Murray said: "I would love to do be able to do both if that was possible. I don't know how possible that is."

Tagovailoa spent most of the season as the Heisman front-runner, but Murray kept bailing out Oklahoma's faulty defense and gaining ground in the race. It seems Murray might have taken the lead last weekend when Tagovailoa threw two interceptions against Georgia and could not finish the game.

"If I win it that's awesome," Tagovailoa said. "If not, it's not the end of the world."

Source: https://www.cbs42.com/news/local/dwayne-haskins-and-kyler-murray-join-tua-in-new-york-city/1646963001

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