laser-things

[laser-things]

A Prince of Rockaway

A Prince has many great and noble qualities. First and foremost, a Prince is a gentleman in the oldest and truest sense of the word. They have an air of chivalry about them, they are generally the one who will lay their jacket across a puddle for a lady to be able to walk across. They hold doors, they say please and thank you. They never overstay their welcome, although they are always the first to be there when you need a hand. They give up their seat to a person older or in need of a seat. They never speak foully, even when it is most definitely called for, and they always speak well of people, or they say nothing at all.

There are very few Princes in real life. In my view, being a Prince has nothing to do with some hereditary or King given right, nor does it have much to do with one’s economic standing in life. But it does have everything to do with how one lives their life. Being Princely has an almost spiritual quality about one, because someone who acts in this way strives always to do what is right.

Princes do small things with great meaning. They are “present”, less concerned with themselves and always seeming to run around doing one thing or another for others. Be it a cup of coffee to one who needs it, a trip to the store for one who can’t get out, a smile, a laugh, a look that says, “don’t worry, everything will be ok”.

Princes have kingdoms, for they cast a huge shadow over the hearts that they permeate. Their kingdoms are not always physical palaces, but somehow, they make you feel special and noble along with them, so it feels like you are living in a palace. A kingdom can be a block, tavern, a home, a state of mind. Some kingdoms are adorned with flags. Some of those flags get hung up mysteriously every spring by the Prince and his assistant (I like to refer to the assistant as the Duke, not because of any nobility thing, but because he is a lot like John Wayne!), so when you look up you are taken by surprise that the entire block is adorned with flags. Princes act in strange and mysterious ways sometimes, there one moment, retiring at an early hour the next moment, and sometimes predictably so. Anyone frequenting a certain porch would know this for sure.

Machiavelli’s Prince was practiced at the art of deception, intrigue and manipulation. That’s not the Prince we are talking about here. Disney’s Princes are usually on a white horse and have long flowing blond hair, muscles, and battle witches; again, definitely not what we are talking about here. Our Prince is just an everyday low-key kinda guy, born and raised in his hometown, happy to stay within a five-block radius of his castle.

When a Prince leaves us, it seems like a dark time, and for a while it will be. But how lucky were we to have been in the presence of a Prince. What a great example of how to act and live a life. We need more princes in the world, more noble qualities. In short, we need more people like Dick Roberts, the Prince of 130th Street., we will miss him dearly. We can take some solace that although our Prince has left us and our Duke has moved, we still have a King on the block. Thank goodness for that!

[laser-things]

Italiano, Prego

So, if you hadn’t noticed it Plum Tomatoes on Beach 129th Street has changed owners. Not much to notice from the outside but there are changes on the inside. Plum Tomatoes used to be a pizza place that also served dinners. You could get slices and hang out on the side at a table. There was a wall that kind of separated the slice eaters from the diners. The various types of pizza slices were displayed under a glass case at the counter.

The new owners have renamed the place to La Sorrentina and have made changes, and I have to say, I like them. La Sorrentina is now an Italian restaurant that happens also to sell pizza. And that tells the main difference. The wall separating the areas is gone, and each table is adorned with a white tablecloth and setting. There are waiters who are attentive to diners and wine bottles are everywhere. In other words, the place has transitioned from a pizza parlor to an Italian restaurant, and when you think about, what other real Italian restaurants do we have on the peninsula? Yes, there is the old stalwart Tiberio’s on 116th Street, and there is Elegante’s on 92nd Street, and while their food is excellent, it’s not a sit down place to eat, more of a take-out kinda place.

I have eaten twice at La Sorrentina’s and have enjoyed my meal both times. I found the portions to be plentiful and tasty, however be aware of the garlic, it will get you later! They have a wine list, and the ambience is warm and inviting. I wish them luck in their new endeavor, as the block already has Mexican, Chinese and pub-style food establishments.

I understand the prior owners of La Sorrentina didn’t always endear themselves to the neighborhood, at least that’s what I understood from the scuttlebutt. But they made the investment when no one else did and they stayed the course for many decades, and I wish them well. And I understand that the new owners have made it clear that the new place is not a hang-out for the pre-teens to pile their bikes outside of, or to buy a coke and sit for hours inside and kibitz. And that some of the kids are asking their parents to boycott the place. But I think that is really unfair. These folks made an investment too and are focusing on serving adults, and well, being an adult, I side with them!

I am excited by the prospect of another place opening up right on the corner of 129th street. Again, my sources tell me it’s to be a Brennan & Carr type place with roast beef au jus. Perfect! Add that to the newly opened Harbor Light around the corner and it makes cooking almost an afterthought. How lucky are we living in the greatest place, in the greatest city on earth. Happy New Year Rockaway, can’t wait to begin the third decade of the 2000’s!!

[laser-things]

Madam Secretary

We don’t have a woman Secretary of State anymore. Hillary Clinton was the last, Condoleezza Rice was one and so was Madeline Albright. But I am not writing about “real” Secretary’s of State, I’m referring to the television show with Tea’ Leoni. On that show Tea played a CIA analyst who became Secretary and then became President. The show just recently aired its final show. I’m not weighing in on politics, that’s what Facebook is for (LOL!). Rather I want to focus on an aspect that gets overlooked too often, and the impact it has on America.

The TV show Madam Secretary was one of the shows that liked to riff on current headlines and weave moral stories into its segments. My father didn’t like the show because he thought they were too liberal, and I have to say he was right. But in all the years that I watched the show they never glorified violence, horror or gratuitous sex. I would have been ok with two out three of those, but they hit the trifecta. I am not advocating that everyone start watching the Hallmark Channel Christmas shows starting in July, but how many shows about Evil, Special Victims, or Criminal Minds do we really need. How many shows opt for the shoot-out, or the knife fight, or some cadaver laying on a slab in the morgue with the autopsy results half splattered on the screen. And all in prime time. I know I am being a bit prudish about this and there is far worse on the internet, but when did we stop caring as a country about what gets broadcasted into our homes.

Notwithstanding the great acting opportunity for the one who gets to lay on the slab and hold their breathe, do we really need to see all the blood and gore and insinuation of evil in the world? Isn’t the news bad enough?

What I liked about Madam Secretary is that they took a different path. They tried to take an issue, present it fairly, and then reconcile what the “right” thing to do would be. I recently started watching Wagon Train on Me TV. I was a little too young to watch the original shows, but each show was a mini-morality play, highlighting good and evil, right and wrong, and yes, the show was in black and white, just to highlight the issues (color didn’t come till later in TV land). Among the stars of Wagon Train was Ward Bond. He was a good friend of John Wayne’s and appeared in many of Wayne’s movies, so I wasn’t too surprised when an episode about Ulysses Grant had a cameo by John Wayne. But the message was clear, do the right thing, just like John Wayne and Ward Bond. I’m not sure that Spike meant the same thing.

So why am I so wound up about Madam Secretary? Because I think we need shows that depict human situations and how we can “do the right thing”. And not just for the kids, there are plenty of adults who could use remedial instruction too. But rather we get tutorials on how to be a terrorist or how to be evil. Wouldn’t it be better to bring back ethics, morality, right and wrong. I’m not saying that there is a bright line here, and God knows I have been on both sides of the line in my life, but it would be nice to be reminded that good exists, that kindness is not weakness, that strength is standing up for what is right.

I guess the real reason I’m upset is that Madam Secretary ended its run not because they ran out of ideas, but because of low ratings. Low ratings! So, I guess America voted with their TV sets and Madam Secretary was voted out of office. And the real tragedy here is that now I have to find a new show, and they are so hard to come by without having to subscribe to a hundred different streaming companies! Ugh!

[laser-things]

Chchachaanges…..

The rehearsal was over, and it was guaranteed that not one person would remember what was expected next Saturday. A lovely collection of coconuts, we sat down to a sumptuous dinner prepared by Whit & his staff, thanks to the gracious and handsome parents of the groom. The betrothed were celebrating one week before the grand ceremony with their wedding party and family, and it was a wonderful afternoon!

The next day, fresh off a Yankee win, and prior to a painful Yankee loss, the bride’s parents walked down Literary Walk in Central Park thinking to themselves how they got here. Literary Walk is lined with statues of the world’s great authors and also lined with majestic elm trees. The elm in America was ravished earlier last century by a beetle that ate right through them. Elms in mid-October are a beautiful tree. As we walked by them, we noticed that one great big elm had been chopped down completely. The Central Park Conservancy knows that to protect all the other elms, that any sign of disease must be treated aggressively, so they chop it down.

Late afternoon in mid-October is a wonderful time to wander through Central Park, especially as the great big trees breathe their last sighs of being green, and gently begin the process of turning to red and gold, silently releasing their leaves to the ground. The affect is stunning as the late afternoon air cools off the remaining sun as it sets. Mid-park adjacent to the Sheep’s Meadow is a Le Pain Quotidian, where they now serve drinks. And it is a lovely place to sit and nosh on a salad and sip a glass of wine, watching the dogs play in the meadow beyond.

A walk along 72nd Street out of the park to Madison Avenue brings you to St. James Church on the east side of Madison. As we walked by, we noticed that the doors were open and that candles were lit inside. We peeked in, but not being Episcopalian, we entered gingerly. We were we greeted at the door by a kindly looking woman who welcomed us in. We sat in the back and were amazed at the candle-lined aisle and the candle lit alter in the darkened church. The Minister came out and welcomed everyone to the service as the piano played an Irish melody. The Reverend Brenda Husson, the first female Rector of St. James spoke of the invitation by her church to all who were interested in a deeper relationship with God. We felt as we were meant to be there, drawn from the deep recesses of Central Park to the mystical candles of the century old church, whose community was established in the early 1800’s. If you are every by St. James on a Sunday night, I encourage you to stop in for their 6 pm services: it is very life affirming.

And while change had come to this church in so many ways, it remained firmly in place even with its half-filled pews. Earlier that day I had been at Mass at St. Francis de Sales. Reading the hand-out from the leaflet, I noticed the statistics about the Brooklyn-Queens diocese. Nearly half the priests in the diocese would be gone in the next ten years, with no replacements in sight. The population of church goers over the last 20 years had declined by over half as well. The picture it painted was of a community clearly in rapid change. I thought it hard to imagine that the two boroughs with probably over 4 million people in total couldn’t muster enough to fill its pews anymore. The good pastor of SFD spoke of change coming in light of these statistics. He solicited suggestions but said that suggesting women priests or married priests was something he himself could not make happen. It was in stark contrast to our evening experience.

As I write this piece, I contemplate walking down the aisle with my oldest daughter on my arm. We will not be in a church, but God will certainly be walking with us. And God will certainly be the one managing the changes that will come. And God will certainly be the one blessing her and her groom, then and for years to come. In this I have faith.

[laser-things]

Let’s Split the Difference

Recently the SEC asked the industry and the investing public how to more effectively regulate thinly-traded securities (issuers whose shares trade fewer than 100,000 shares daily).  This is another chapter in a larger discussion on boosting liquidity, a debate that has assumed many forms and myriad solutions.

One solution for incentivizing trading has been to reduce or eliminate fees. One interesting example is the current rush to zero commissions by the retail brokerage firms.  How can they do that?  Well, among other things, those firms benefit from selling their customers’ order flow to wholesalers.  The payments are substantial.  And how do the wholesalers make money?  Well, they regard retail order flow as uninformed, non-professional flow that can be they can reliably trade against without much market impact.  What’s more, even though the wholesalers guarantee the national best bid or offer, so much today trades either off-exchange or in between the best bid and offer, that they have plenty of opportunities to make money.

Then there are proposals to concentrate liquidity.  This was the hope behind the ill-fated Tick Size Pilot: reducing the number of price points would increase the amount of displayed liquidity and maybe even attract block trading opportunities.  Alas, poorly designed and implemented, the pilot proved nothing of the sort.  But maybe they went about it in the wrong way.

The SEC now proposes eliminating unlisted trading privileges to concentrate liquidity on the listing exchange; or limiting off-board trading; or creating new incentives for market makers. It’s unclear if any of these would effect meaningful change – maybe, as some have asked, the problem is just lack of interest.

But there are other possible causes, and other solutions.  A recent Wall Street Journal article highlighted the unprecedented increase in odd-lot trades in the markets.  Odd-lot orders are currently not included in the national best bid and offer and often simply float in-between.  While retail order flow makes up many of those odd lot orders, the increase can also be attributed to the effect of electronic trading and the slicing of orders into smaller and smaller pieces to hide intention and increase profit opportunity.  For many of the retail players, the prevalence of odd lots may reflect that some stock prices have simply gotten too high to enter a round lot order.  For instance, one share of Google was recently priced at $ 1,260.11, meaning a round lot of 100 shares costs $126,011. What retail investor is making that trade?

You could address the problem by eliminating round lots as outdated artifacts, the same way we eliminated trading in eighths and teenies.  After all, round lots were a work-around to facilitate manual trading – when you’re recording trades on chalk boards, calculating settlement prices with adding machines and plain old pencil and paper, and recording transfers in physical ledgers, round numbers are easier to work with. But since computers and algorithms don’t sweat those calculations, maybe we shouldn’t either. On the other hand, round lots may continue to matter because the rules of yester-year reference round lots extensively and the systems of Wall Street have that concept embedded deeply into their infrastructures and processes.

Alternatively, you could lower the individual share price and increase the number of shares – in other words, split the stock.  At one time corporations wanting retail investors to own their stock would evaluate when to split their shares, effectively making a round lot more affordable.  But for whatever reason, splits are sharply down as share prices have risen aggressively.  

But splits do something other than make  a company’s stock more affordable; a split reduces the number of price points, a backdoor way of implementing a tick size pilot if you will.  When a stock splits its shares and the stock that was trading at $100 now trades at $50, then there also has been a reduction of round lot price points from 10,000 to 5,000.  Think about what that would mean for a stock trading over $ 1,000 a share!  Liquidity automatically would be condensed into those reduced-price points.

And what might be the logical result of that action?   A good guess would be an increase in volume, which for an Exchange means increased transaction fees and market data revenue.  But here’s the funny thing: Exchanges today charge their corporate clients for splits, which are nominally intended to cover the costs of adjusting databases at the Exchange, Clearing Corporation and Transfer Agents.  But the fee can be as high as $ 150,000 for one split, which may deter issuers from using this straightforward tool.  Wouldn’t it make sense to encourage splits by reducing or eliminating those fees?  Listed companies would certainly benefit by a broader base of investors, firms would benefit by higher turnover, as would Exchanges.  I’d certainly be willing to split the difference!

[laser-things]

Fuggeraboutit!!!!

The recently married mermaid gave me a gift not long ago that I got to use this past week: a NYC Gangster Mob Tour! And let me tell you it was loads of fun, a lot of walking (which I love) and nobody got whacked (which is too bad!). The tour was attended by about twelve people, almost all from out of town, and so the senior mermaid and I and two friends were the only native New Yorkers on the tour. But we didn’t care as this is the greatest city in the world, so why not be a tourist every now and again.

The tour began at Petrosino Park between Kenmare and Lafayette Streets, just up the block from the old Police Headquarters on Centre Street. It started with a talk about the Sicilian who ultimately became one of NYC’s best early detectives, and the story ended with New York’s finest traveling to Palermo to track down a bad guy but instead being murdered there because of a slip of the tongue here in the U.S. by the commissioner.

We walked down Kenmare Street which is a broken down three blocks of a street west of the Bowery coming down from the Williamsburg Bridge. You would never know it, but our tour guide described how over 300 people were murdered on that tiny strip literally four blocks from the Police station. The street was lined with gin-mills, brothels, and gambling establishments all owned and run by not only Italian mobsters, but their Jewish partners too.

As we made a left on to Mulberry Street and walked toward old St. Pat’s Cathedral, we heard names that we are all familiar with like: Meyer Lansky, Lucky Luciano, Arnold Rothstein, Frank Costello, Albert Anastasia and Joe Colombo. The stories are all the same, the old guard gets a little too comfortable, and the young rambunctious guys want to take over the turf. We’ve seen it in the Godfather, but these are the streets where it actually happened. As we got up further into what is now known as Nolita (North Little Italy) we got into John Gotti’s neighborhood and his club. And other names popped up, like, Paulie Costellano, who got whacked outside of Sparks Steak House in mid-town; and Joey Gallo, who got it at Umberto’s right where we were standing. Interestingly, Umberto’s is no longer in the same location as when Joey took a few to the head, it’s now in the middle of the block on Mulberry.

We also covered names like Vito Genovese, Carlo Gambino and Vincent “the chin” Gigante. All these guys have graced the front pages of the News and the Post over the years, but we forget that they lived and worked right here in New York. There was also a discussion of Murder Inc. One of that crew was Bugsy Goldstein, hey wait a minute we have a Bugsy here in Rockaway too. If you want to talk Summer Classics, he’ll make you an offer you can’t refuse!

The tour wandered south across Canal Street on Mulberry into Chinatown and included an overview of the Tong Wars, the Chinese version of the mob. We didn’t walk over to the Bloody Angle on Doyers Street, but I highly recommend reading about it and walking that street.

But the tour wasn’t over yet. We walked to the far south end of Columbus Park, where old Chinese guys play one-stringed guitars (thought I saw Peg there) and banjos (originally from China). This last part was about the Five Points. The park itself is sitting on the northern end of what once was the Collect Pond, the largest fresh-water pond in New York, and the main water supply until completely polluted and filled in. Only to be polluted by the residents of the Five Points original mobsters, the likes of the Dead Rabbits and other gangs of New York. But that’s story is for another day.

The tour is organized by Metro NYC Tours, www.metronyctours.com, and was truly worth it. Take a walk in New York, you never know what you will find!

[laser-things]

Oh Brooklyn, Oh Brooklyn!

Do you remember the Central Park Schaeffer Festival? If you do, you are probably old enough to remember that Schaeffer was a beer brewed in Williamsburg. The festival was held at the Wollman skating rink, and at the time the $ 5 tickets were too expensive so everyone I knew sat out on the big rock outside and listened for free. The experience of being in Central Park after dark was exciting, and a little scary in the 1970’s, but it was fun.

The festival eventually changed sponsors, Schaeffer left New York, the festival moved to a West Side pier, and as they say, that was that. I never went to the pier, as I guess the main attraction was really Central Park. I loved the music and went to hundreds of shows (ok, the mermaid will tell you that I exaggerate, and I didn’t go to “hundreds” of shows, and she’s probably right). But at some point, I got a job, I started to like certain bands and music, I was able to afford tickets, better seats, and became choosy.

So about 15 years ago when a friend asked if I’d like to go see Levon Helm in Central Park, I said sure. And that was my initial introduction to Summer Stage. I had no idea that this area in Central Park existed right off 72nd street and nestled behind the clam shell at the end of the Mall. We sat down for the beginning of the show in an open area but were free to walk about and enjoy the show. I thought it was a one-time event, but later found out it was part of a summer series. It was like I was let in on a secret New York experience, and every year after I looked for shows that I might go to. But living in Rockaway made for a long trip in, so I didn’t just go to any show, it had to be a musician I really wanted to see.

About four years ago the mermaid and I wandered in for a free show and it was lightly attended, proving my tastes are not mainstream and seldom appreciated. But as we walked by a special seating area one of the attendants asked if we would like to sit there, and we nonchalantly said sure. There was a bar in this section, so being Rockawayites, I went and got the mermaid and me some libations. When I tried to pay, they told me that people in this section don’t pay. I thought, really! Then I went to the bathroom, and this experience was definitely one of Call-Aheads top of the line powder rooms. I asked afterwards “how does one do this all the time”, and the reply was become a member of Summer Stage.

Well the following year I became a member, got the schedule and was happily surprised to see many shows that my kids and friends would like and decided to invite them to various shows. Needless to say, free alcohol and nice bathrooms go really well with great music outdoors in Central Park after dark. Each year I upped the level of the membership and with it came increased benefits, like free shirts, early ticket opportunities, extra tickets for friends. I was sold.

This past year the City Parks Foundation, the 1989 not-for-profit created to run the concert series in Central Park and all the other boroughs in addition to all sorts of cultural experiences for park goers, significantly upgraded the Central Park facility. Quite honestly, I liked the old design, but as the mermaid likes to point out, I am getting cranky in my old age. When the 2019 schedule came out, I got more cranky because I was looking for those musicians that I really wanted to see, but I just couldn’t find them.

But one of the amazing things about the people who work for the Foundation and run the concert series is that they are very high touch. By that, I mean they are humans! Not machines, not social media obsessed, not a computer or voice mails. They respond, they reach out, they ask how you are doing, can they do better. So, a recent rainy Monday night found me at the ancient Arsenal in Central Park to participate in a focus group on how 2020 could be better. Running membership organizations can be a thankless job, trust me, I ran a very large one in lower Manhattan populated by about 3,000 maniacal members. Members are never satisfied. But this focus group was different. The staff truly cared, and surprisingly so did all the members participating. There was a terrific dialogue, and I truly believe changes will be implemented as a result.

If you have never been to a Summer Stage show, I highly recommend you go. The crowds are friendly, and almost like a small community. The staff is super friendly and helpful. Central Park after dark is beautiful. Most shows are free. If you want the free alcohol and nice bathroom experience that also come with free tickets to benefit shows, then dip your toe in the water and get a membership. The more expensive ones come with the benefits above, but you can a less expensive one that give you upgrades. Plus, it includes all five boroughs, including Coney Island. If you remember the Schaeffer festivals, then by now you probably have the cash to do it, and you probably love music, and you probably would love reliving the sitting on the rock experience, but only this time being a little more pampered. Trust me, it is well worth it and a quintessential New York insider thing to do.  

[laser-things]

Summer Stage 2020

Do you remember the Central Park Schaeffer Festival? If you do, you are probably old enough to remember that Schaeffer was a beer brewed in Williamsburg. The festival was held at the Wollman skating rink, and at the time the $ 5 tickets were too expensive so everyone I knew sat out on the big rock outside and listened for free. The experience of being in Central Park after dark was exciting, and a little scary in the 1970’s, but it was fun.

The festival eventually changed sponsors, Schaeffer left New York, the festival moved to a West Side pier, and as they say, that was that. I never went to the pier, as I guess the main attraction was really Central Park. I loved the music and went to hundreds of shows (ok, the mermaid will tell you that I exaggerate, and I didn’t go to “hundreds” of shows, and she’s probably right). But at some point, I got a job, I started to like certain bands and music, I was able to afford tickets, better seats, and became choosy.

So about 15 years ago when a friend asked if I’d like to go see Levon Helm in Central Park, I said sure. And that was my initial introduction to Summer Stage. I had no idea that this area in Central Park existed right off 72nd street and nestled behind the clam shell at the end of the Mall. We sat down for the beginning of the show in an open area but were free to walk about and enjoy the show. I thought it was a one-time event, but later found out it was part of a summer series. It was like I was let in on a secret New York experience, and every year after I looked for shows that I might go to. But living in Rockaway made for a long trip in, so I didn’t just go to any show, it had to be a musician I really wanted to see.

About four years ago the mermaid and I wandered in for a free show and it was lightly attended, proving my tastes are not mainstream and seldom appreciated. But as we walked by a special seating area one of the attendants asked if we would like to sit there, and we nonchalantly said sure. There was a bar in this section, so being Rockawayites, I went and got the mermaid and me some libations. When I tried to pay, they told me that people in this section don’t pay. I thought, really! Then I went to the bathroom, and this experience was definitely one of Call-Aheads top of the line powder rooms. I asked afterwards “how does one do this all the time”, and the reply was become a member of Summer Stage.

Well the following year I became a member, got the schedule and was happily surprised to see many shows that my kids and friends would like and decided to invite them to various shows. Needless to say, free alcohol and nice bathrooms go really well with great music outdoors in Central Park after dark. Each year I upped the level of the membership and with it came increased benefits, like free shirts, early ticket opportunities, extra tickets for friends. I was sold.

This past year the City Parks Foundation, the 1989 not-for-profit created to run the concert series in Central Park and all the other boroughs in addition to all sorts of cultural experiences for park goers, significantly upgraded the Central Park facility. Quite honestly, I liked the old design, but as the mermaid likes to point out, I am getting cranky in my old age. When the 2019 schedule came out, I got more cranky because I was looking for those musicians that I really wanted to see, but I just couldn’t find them.

But one of the amazing things about the people who work for the Foundation and run the concert series is that they are very high touch. By that, I mean they are humans! Not machines, not social media obsessed, not a computer or voice mails. They respond, they reach out, they ask how you are doing, can they do better. So, a recent rainy Monday night found me at the ancient Arsenal in Central Park to participate in a focus group on how 2020 could be better. Running membership organizations can be a thankless job, trust me, I ran a very large one in lower Manhattan populated by about 3,000 maniacal members. Members are never satisfied. But this focus group was different. The staff truly cared, and surprisingly so did all the members participating. There was a terrific dialogue, and I truly believe changes will be implemented as a result.

If you have never been to a Summer Stage show, I highly recommend you go. The crowds are friendly, and almost like a small community. The staff is super friendly and helpful. Central Park after dark is beautiful. Most shows are free. If you want the free alcohol and nice bathroom experience that also come with free tickets to benefit shows, then dip your toe in the water and get a membership. The more expensive ones come with the benefits above, but you can a less expensive one that give you upgrades. Plus, it includes all five boroughs, including Coney Island. If you remember the Schaeffer festivals, then by now you probably have the cash to do it, and you probably love music, and you probably would love reliving the sitting on the rock experience, but only this time being a little more pampered. Trust me, it is well worth it and a quintessential New York insider thing to do.  

[laser-things]

Roger Ready!

By now you know that the old theater on 116th Street is down, and that the talented Maribel has opened a new restaurant on 116th Street because you read the Rockaway Times, or at least look at the front-page photos. But did you know that the inside of Rogers is going through a huge renovation?

A few years ago, Rogers and the entire building that houses the bar was purchased by Mike McMahon, and he fixed up the inside to make it presentable, and added music every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. That didn’t seem to bother the old regulars, who I’m not quite sure recognized that their surroundings had changed. But with the addition of super-good and friendly bartenders, and the addition of all things Irish (especially football), things started to pick up in the old place.

So, when the country-pickin’ Graytrippers waltzed in for their quarterly gig at Rogers this past Friday night, they were surprised to see that the place was going through another transformation. I don’t know how they did it, but seemingly overnight the place got bigger. They ripped out the men’s room, which now makes room for a dancing area, and ripped the walls back to the exposed brick. The men’s room was moved to the back hall; and, is for sure, the nicest bathroom on all of 116th Street!

Apparently two or three Irish carpenters were working at night and literally overnight put in woodwork all over the bar, added a recessed ceiling and lights, and trimmed out all the details. And they are not done by any stretch. They also added big screens all around, but the good news is that the beer, especially the Guinness is still great, and the servers are the same great guys.

Now everything else I’m about to say is based not upon what I know, but about what I hear. And what I hear is that the owner is adding 22 rooms upstairs and plans to open as a hotel next spring. And from what I saw briefly looking up the side stairs, that work is proceeding. Now I have to say, given all the other changes on 116th Street this is absolutely brilliant on his part.

My only complaint is that the stage is still smallish, but what other venue in Rockaway has a stage!

The other charming aspect about Rogers is the clientele, which are pure Rockaway originals. By that, and I mean no disrespect, there aren’t any phonies here. And Rogers always attracts a late-night group that decide, “you know what, before I go home, let me stop in and have one more”. When we play there it’s a blast to have a conversation with someone who has made that decision, because the conversations are memorable. Take for instance the one I had this past Friday. A friend who stopped in for “one last one”, told me that Rockaway has some all-star musicians, but that the Riders are probably a cut below that level. Or the group that came in just as we finished, asking could they play one song? Sure, I said, what could happen? One song turned into a four-song mini set! You just can’t get entertainment like this on Netflix or Amazon, trust me!

So, I would give it a little time, but if you are heading home one night this winter and have a little fuel still left in the tank, poke your head in to Rogers for one last one and check out the transformation, it’s gonna be awesome!

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Choose Love

Sunglasses, bearded, oxford shirt, epitome of cool. He was commissioned to paint the wall by the City. As an artist he had jumped into the public eye with his spray-painted murals on the walls of some vacant lots in Williamsburg. Soho had been the home of all his hero’s as artists but had long ago been abandoned because they got priced out. The lofts were the perfect breeding grounds for the artists in the early 1970’s, cheap, large and nobody cared.

His path was different. He never was the struggling artist. He graduated from the Parson School of Design, got a job as graphic artist for a large publishing house and was making six figures before he was twenty-five. He spent twelve-hour days working for the various magazines the publishing company owned, making a name for himself. He seldom had time for a girlfriend, or boyfriend. He didn’t care in that regard. He did care about his accounts at several financial institutions and checked on them daily, sometimes hourly. He was supremely gifted though, and people thought his messages represented some quasi-mystical mantra.

When he accepted the Soho commission, he wanted something bold, something big, with a message that would connect. And he had succeeded. Splashes of color attracted good-looking women and guys from the trendy neighborhood. The message attracted those who saw deeper meanings. Choose Love, had conveyed such an elemental truth. Everyone thought that he was so deep, so in tune with the hearts of everyday people.

His meaning was something different however. He had chosen love, his love, and it was sitting right there at the curb. A red BMW paid for by the commission from the mural. He was so cool.

[laser-things]

The Appointment

His mother had told him his father was dead. Said that he was killed in the war. He was young at the time, no more than 3 or 4, so he never really knew his dad. Now 25 years later thanks to DNA testing he found out that was all a lie. His mom and dad had divorced, it had been nasty, and his father lost all rights to his only son. His mom, recently passed, found that the man who came back from the war was not the man she had married. She feared for her son and fought hard for him. And unbelievably she won, but at a steep cost. A son had lost a father.

The son had a knack for math. Could always do numbers in his head, even at a young age. When the Gnome project was awarded to his University, he signed up to be an assistant. He was able to see the algorithms that would change his life, and many, many others. He built the software to sequence DNA and to connect people to their long-lost relatives. Unknowingly, he did the same for himself.

His father’s DNA was in the database. A decorated war hero, he had gone into business for himself and built his own software company. Apparently, the DNA they shared had an aptitude for math. His father was very successful but was acutely aware of a void in his life. He realized when he returned from the war that something wasn’t right with himself. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but it scared him. And he knew it scared his wife too, so much that she had to walk away from the love of her life. He didn’t fight too hard; he knew he needed help and he had to find it on his own. So, he let her go, but he also had to let his son go too. He knew it was the right thing to do, but it hurt like hell. When he got himself right in the head again, he was able to focus on things that helped the world be a better place. But he sure wished he knew what happened to his love and son.

The son tracked him down first through the DNA and then through the databases that he knew how to ply. It was easy really. He read about his life. He had never remarried, dedicated his life to helping others, was open about his issues after the war and helping vets like himself.

He stuck is hands deep into his pockets and drew in a deep breath as the door opened and in entered his father.

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Sisters

She just couldn’t believe it; how could she feel that way. They turned their backs to one another, right there at the Fulton Street station, the same station that they had been traveling for over 50 years together. They grew up here, went to school here, raised their families here, and now she was leaving. And for what? Their great grandparents had moved north over a century ago, settling in Brooklyn and struggling to make a living, make a life. But each preceding generation saw an advance, small, slow but a movement ahead. And it all came through education. They both had completed their doctorates here, taught here, sent their kids to college here. And now she was moving back down south? It just didn’t make sense.

They both had slipped on their sunglasses to hide the tears. Her sister just never found the right time to tell her. And then it just came out, blurting forth so inarticulately that neither one of them understood what had just happened. But isn’t life like that?

The south still hated people like them, and she was afraid for her sister. But once her husband had passed and the kids moved out, she just couldn’t take the snowy winters anymore and decide to sell the brownstone and move to South Carolina. She finally turned around and hugged her sister, kissed her and told her she understood, that they would stay close despite the distance. That they would never become perfect strangers, and no truer words were ever spoken. They held hands as they entered the train that just pulled in.

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Predators

The fish stared through the window and wondered what those things were on the other side. As sharks they understood their function very well. They swam, they ate, they reproduced. It was a perfect life. When God had made them, he gave them all the essentials: teeth, fins, gills, tails. They were machines really, they could travel the entire world, every sea and ocean, without ever a need for anything.

But they could also think too. They knew when bigger predators were in the area; for instance, they would never fight a whale. They didn’t really know right from wrong, because that’s not what their world was about. It was about being the top of the food chain and doing whatever they wanted, unless something bigger came along, then they knew enough to back off.

But these things looking at them seemed to be out of water, not bigger than them, but somehow inaccessible. Of course, ever since that huge metal thing had plucked them out of the ocean and deposited them into this very small world they now existed in, things had been different. Now food appeared in their view without them having to kill it, which was not as much fun, but still satisfying. There was certainly less life in this small tank than they had known previously, and they couldn’t figure out why.

Mary looked up at her older sister Kathy and said to her “I would like to have shark tonight”. Kathy grabbed her hand and said ok, “I’ll tell the chef”.

[laser-things]

The Weight

Walking down Broadway Harry hadn’t thought it went well. I mean it was years since he made a pitch like that. The idea was sound he was sure, the math worked, but would people buy in to it? But hey this is America right, land of the free, home of the brave and if capitalism didn’t work here, then what was the sense. The idea was simple enough, get municipal governments to back bonds to help rebuild the infrastructure of a crumbling technology. It had a social good attached to it that added merit. The backing was simple, allow the bonds to pay tax-free interest, and if they went belly up, stand in and pay off the bond holders. But what was the chance of that happening? He calculated about zero, so it was risk free. And what did the city get out of it? Well he thought that was obvious. Ever since the machines had taken over, no humans worked downtown anymore. They had all been replaced with the banner that claimed now humans had time to enjoy their lives. But it turned out work gave humans things they had long forgotten. Things like pride, self-worth, a reason to get up every morning and try to make things better. It didn’t matter that they could never do as good a job as a machine, “trying” made them human, and being human was different than everything else.

His shoulders slumped slightly as he turned the corner of Wall Street, that place where normally sane people used to yell and scream at each other in their efforts to represent clients in buying and selling, the most ancient of human arts. Computers could do that better than humans it turned out, and once all humans were eliminated then the process was frictionless. The new found freedom faded quickly for individuals previously employed in the game. They became listless, soulless really, with no focus, no direction. The machines made money for some of them, the others could find no work that they could do better than a machine.

Harry realized his pitch was a bit of a Hail Mary play, I mean the idea that you could raise money by selling bonds that would be used to teach people how to do things again, how to be productive, how to have a sense of self-worth, how to make a living, how to add value again, probably was far-fetched to begin with.

As he passed the spotlight in front of the huge red cube that represented the last vestiges of 20th century art before a computer decided what art would be going forward, he realized that the blinking lights to which he made the pitch gave him no indication of success. His shoulders drooped even further, as if the weight of the world were firmly on his shoulders, and he realized all was lost.

[laser-things]

Duck Soup

I ride by the empty lot on Beach Channel Drive and 106th Street several times during the course of the week and am amazed by the bucolic setting that I see: reeds jutting up from rain-created ponds with all sorts of water fowl about. Inside the two and half block barbed wired fence sits empty city blocks filled with all sorts of birds. They include the various types of scavenger seagulls from the bay and ocean: laughing gulls, herring gulls, and terns. In addition, there are the swallows that fly over the bay and sewerage plant at dusk swooping into this nestled watery place for birds. Butterflies float freely across the lot too. It is a wonderful sight to see through the cyclone fences. But that’s as far as one can get, because that area is polluted.

Yes, it’s off limits for humans. The electrical grid at the southwest corner belies the nature of this peaceful looking setting. Although a part of it was carved out for parking for the ferry at the 108th Street end, no humans are allowed in the other end. Hard to believe that so much land can lie vacant and unused on a peninsula that is bereft of parking in the summer. But so it is. And it is so because that land contains some sort of contaminants that are harmful to us. What those contaminants are, I am uncertain of, because I generally don’t pay close attention to details. Which explains why I park there sometimes.

I read recently that Russia just admitted the explosion 250 miles outside of Moscow was a nuclear plant and that radiation had escaped during the explosion and fire. This comes on the heels of the HBO show about Chernobyl and how screwed up that was. Now I am not suggesting that the previous owners of the lot on Beach Channel Drive had any nuclear material on the premises, but what is so unsafe for humans that birds and insects can fly in and out of there carrying whatever they picked up and distribute it about the neighborhood? Imagine if those birds contaminated by some weird chemical/electrical experiments gone awry have mutated and are flying about endangering small dogs and children?

Yes, I know what you‘re thinking, Lazer has lost it again. But wouldn’t that make a great horror movie? Think of it! An errant oystercatcher flies into the man-made marsh and gets infected with a strain of who-knows what and turns into a pterodactyl type raptor terrorizing the neighborhood. That would certainly cut down on the ferry traffic, dontcha’ think!

If it isn’t so bad in there, then why didn’t they just pave paradise and put up a parking lot? Probably could fit a bunch of cars in there, and on weekends people would be happy for the spots, even at ten bucks a day. But that’s not possible because it’s not environmentally safe, right. A little like Chernobyl, no?

So, when the Fall finally comes, and unfortunately it will come, and this beautiful August will end, the migrating birds will all stop over and hang out in this primordial duck soup of a pond that exists in this otherwise beautiful setting. How long does it take for those containments to soak into the sand so that it is safe to go in there? Good question you say, all good questions Lazer. Insightful reporting! Not really, just lazy observations really. Hoping someone will find real answers, real truths. Oh, you want the truth Lazer, you can’t handle the truth Alright already, I ordered the code red, geez! Enjoy the view and the birds, its actually very nice!!!

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Latency, Order Protection, Co-Location and Fair Market Access in the Cloud

Latency, Order Protection, Co-Location and Fair Market Access in the Cloud

One of Reg NMS’ major tenets of Regulation NMS (Reg. NMS) is the Order Protection Rule (“OPR”), known as Rule 611. In essence, it requires that  market participants adopt, maintain and enforce policies and procedures reasonably designed to avoid trading through a better priced quote published by another market center.  As a practical matter, the rule requires the  routing of orders to access the best price available in the market place.  The rule also requires that market centers wishing to have their quotes respected and routed to must be automated. This was a direct shot across the bow at the NYSE when enacted because it forced the NYSE to prioritize electronic order flow over its traditional manual auction market traders.

When the rule was enacted it had the unintended consequence of rewarding speed over all other aspects of execution quality, as market participants competing for trade executions deployed ever-faster routing and execution systems to access better-priced away quotes. As a result of the emphasis on speed, in the mid to late 2000’s with the introduction of Reg NMS into the national market system, the trading eco-system became transfixed with latency. Latency determined how quickly an order could access a quote and therefore liquidity, how quickly a quote or order could be canceled, and therefore influenced risk management and exposure, and how up- to- date one’s technology was.

Those that entered the fray with older technology such as main frame computers or older network technologies found themselves continually unable to access liquidity before competitors did or, worse, unable to cancel quotes with the speed necessary and therefore left unprotected in the market.

Eventually, most market participants upgraded their technologies and the game was equalized among competitors and latency arbitrage became less of an issue. But before that, firms drilled holes through the mountains of Pennsylvania or invested in microwave technology or looked to buy the fastest chip available in order to be the fastest. Those technologies have since become commoditized.

Market centers realizing the need to have their market makers be available for the long term offered the ultimate in latency advantaged access – co-location of their servers in the market centers’ data center. The major equity market data centers have been stabilized for over a decade and are all located in a 250-mile radiance in the northeast. Therefore, the latency calculus is well understood among players. Co-location offered those firms, market makers and others willing to pay, the opportunity to be as close to the “front door” as possible. Regulators, realizing the advantageous nature of co-location, required market centers to emulate a delay equal to the difference between the front door of a market center and the matching engines and data publishers within the market centers, so as not to provide a microsecond advantage to co-location customers. Market centers were able to accomplish that and thereby achieve an equalization effect.

The goal was to create a market that was fair to all that were willing to invest in the technology necessary to reach the best prices for customers. And to create a market that rewarded displayed limit orders.

The Cloud

Cloud technology decentralizes, democratizes and potentially disrupts the eco-system that currently exists by changing the narrative in regard to latency. The very nature of cloud deployments has at its center multiple large data centers that are geographically diversified. Latency, if nothing else, is a measure of how fast light can travel through “glass” over specific distances, so at its heart is about geography and distance.

One of the many positives about cloud implementations is that data can be easily replicated, and fully redundant and so disaster recovery becomes less of an issue in a cloud environment. In some cloud instances the data necessary to run programs, and the programs themselves, might run in different locations from time to time.

One of the key things that electronic traders are focused on is consistency of experience. So, if it takes 5 microseconds to access a market or cancel a quote, they rely on that knowledge to implement their strategies. Without that certainty, the strategy becomes less reliable and potentially less profitable.

Therefore, cloud implementation of market centers potentially increases latency to reach the market center and best prices, potentially changing the consistency of latency, which would be anathema to high speed traders.

But market centers looking to get out of the expensive data center business may find that a cloud implementation provides cost savings compared to those incurred  in running a data center, having a disaster recovery center and in certain failover and fallback scenarios.

The SEC has already  approved a delayed experience in the form of the Investors’ Exchange (IEX), where, under the  rubric of customer protection, the  exchange implemented a 350 micro-second delay for every message entering the system to “even the playing field” and diminish the advantage that more technology-advanced order routers may enjoy when accessing other market centers. IEX, to the best of my knowledge does not impose that delay on outbound messages to other market centers. But regulators are very focused on co-location services making sure that there are no intra-market advantages.

The Dilemma

If one market center was to move to the cloud without any other market center moving, it would automatically change the latency dynamic that exists today (e.g,   changing the distance a message would have to travel to or from a cloud data center in New Jersey  or Virginia or in a different zone ). [JB1] And since latency is defined as the time that a message traverses a certain distance, the further away the data resides, the more latent the market center will be. For high speed traders the experience may also be varied and therefore unpredictable, and unprofitable.

In terms of co-location, many high-speed traders are highly secretive about their technologies and sometimes hide their servers within cages at the markets data center. In addition, they may not allow market center personnel to do anything to their servers and may service their technology themselves. In a cloud co-location model, it is not clear that a high-speed trader co-locating in the cloud could ever achieve that level of control. In addition, if the cloud provider is constantly moving the data and the servers from location to location, then the latency experience will differ and so will the service needs.

From a market center perspective, while they may achieve cost savings related to a cloud implementation, they would have to consider the loss of latency for their own market center and their own routing to best prices on behalf of their customers. In addition, they would have to consider the impact on co-location revenues.

Possible Remedies

In the perfect world, every exchange would be required to move to the cloud and latency would be less of an issue. Unpredictability would still be an issue, unless the cloud providers hardened their market center instances, meaning: the data and applications would not move from location to location – they would be static. Disaster recovery would still be a net positive, but again the DR scenarios would have to be hardened too.

Cloud redundancy would be an issue and there would have to be some regulatory coordination and agreement on how many cloud companies could host exchanges and how they back each other up on business continuity and disaster recovery.  Today, the SEC requires that NYSE and Nasdaq back each other up, in effect forcing a de facto data center back up plan as well. I see no difference in the cloud scenario, that is, the SEC potentially requiring multiple cloud providers.  

Latency becomes less of an issue if the SEC removes the Order Protection Requirement from Reg NMS and puts in its place a best price rule with the responsibility on the shoulders of firms. This would alleviate the need for all the routing that takes place today among market centers and from firms to market centers. Many market prognosticators have called for this change as a   potential cure to today’s market structure ills, but it is unclear whether the SEC has the  willingness to make such a sweeping change. In addition, it is unclear what the unintended consequences of such a change will bring. So, building a cloud strategy with this potential change as a key component would seem to be less than optimal.

Could there be latency enhancing technology solutions not yet introduced into the marketplace that might resolve some of these issues? Possibly. Could cloud providers harden their offerings for specific customers like market centers and co-locators.  Possibly. Would the SEC require everyone to move to the cloud?  Improbable, and even if the SEC were to do so, the implementation of such a migration would be costly and time-consuming. The SEC would also be faced with the conundrum of how to implement such a migration, since the market participants that were the first to move to the cloud would be at a latency disadvantage to those that continued to function, however temporarily, under the current system.  Will the SEC replace the Order Protection Rule? Not without much debate. Market participants, having invested big bucks in developing order routing and execution technologies that are speed-driven, may be opposed to such a move, especially if it results in those firms that migrate to the cloud have any competitive disadvantage against non-migrating firms.  

Are there deep enough financial considerations for market centers to offset co-location revenues by moving to the cloud?  Possibly.

These issues are thorny and highly interconnected. Navigating them is done at one’s own peril. It is clear that a change at one end of the eco-system produces winners and losers. Better to know all the permutations prior to making a change, advocating for a change, or being the collateral damage of a change.

Global Markets Advisory Group is a financial markets advisory partnership focused on the intersection of compliance, technology and operations.

[JB1]Please review this edit to make sure I captured accurately the point that cloud data can move among dispersed zonal data centers and therefore potentially injects latency uncertainty.

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https://www.marketsmedia.com/dog-days-of-summer/