Dear Taylor,
Since you were named New York City’s “Global Welcome Ambassador,” you’ve been widely mocked, including by this paper. Sure, haters gonna hate. They say you’re not qualified for the job because you’ve only been in New York for a few months, you live in the luxury bubble of a $20 million penthouse and you don’t eat dirty-water hot dogs.
I disagree. For those reasons and more, you are absolutely qualified to welcome bright-eyed visitors to the new New York, a city that has been made over into a sterilized playground for suburbanites, tourists and oligarchs...
Please read the whole thing here
*Note: In the print edition, the News added a subhead saying I'm a native. I am not.
Update: The New York Post's editorial board responded quickly to the Swift backlash. They quote me as a snarky "snob":
"No sooner had Taylor Swift been named Global Welcome Ambassador for New York than the snobs opened fire. One complains she’s a 'whitebread out-of-towner' only recently moved here. Another snarks how the seven-time Grammy winner is the perfect choice for a city 'made over into a sterilized playground for suburbanites, tourists and oligarchs.'"
When it comes to small businesses in NYC you have Council Member Inez Dickens who sits on this committee and does NOTHING! Then you got Empire State Development's small business department and good luck getting an employee to have any knowledge of the pulse of small biz in the state of NY since no employee has even run a lemon aid stand. Duplications of organizations who don't advocate for business like chamber of commerce, how may of them are there in NYC, Business Improvement Districts, and the worst offender is NYCEDC.
ReplyDeleteI cannot think of anyone who better represents nyc in 2014 then this no talent bimbo.
ReplyDeleteJust awful..
Or, she could turn down the position and just leave. I'll take 1 out of 2, even.
ReplyDeleteFirst, congrats on the publishing of your letter. Second, you're the first person I thought about when I saw this news of Miss Swift being named ambassador of the city. I'm glad your response went beyond a blog post and was published in the local paper, as it will get an even wider reach.
ReplyDeleteMiss Swift is just another tourist, who has the unique benefit of planting down wherever she wants, and her celebrity guarantees many will hear her point of view. As you said, she is the perfect person to be in this role. How could a long time TAX PAYING, VOTING, LOCAL citizen actually represent the Fantasy Land NYC has become? Only the disposable personality and in-the-moment fame of someone like Miss Swift could fill this gratuitous position.
And if you want to hear a real song about New York City, pull out Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters, written by Bernie Taupin in 1972, inspired by a shooting outside his hotel. His interpretation of NY is even true today - the grit is gone, but it's still a tough place - because the people who run you through are doing so while looking for The Olive Garden.
Hard to believe that NYC had close to 50 million tourists in 2013, while London had 17 million. I doubt Swift will make much difference at all, in any direction, but what a dispiriting choice--if a choice needed to be made at all. At one point, NYers were the last to toot their own horns, not needed, but those horns now belong to others. Almost as deadening as the hordes can be--and I'd love to see Jeremiah find a way to detour busloads of them to a roti tour in East Flatbush or a picnic at Orchard Beach--are the huge tracts of super expensive condos and coops ion midtown that remain only partially or almost completely un-occupied by their foreign and non-NY mogul owners. This sets a real tone for this place, and the tone sucks.
ReplyDeleteArticle made many excellent points, eloquently, but I was disappointed that nothing was mentioned about the need to support local musicians and the arts, in general. In my mind, the mad exodus of true artists (in other words, not concerned about sell out, kitten turd gargaling pop divas leaving) is perhaps the singularly most damaging blow to NYC's soul. The least this mouth piece can do is attempt to address this blight, as Patti Smith and David Byrne have and really try to do something to encourage the tourists to support live music. This is perhaps - and it's still a stretch, I'm sure - the only topic she's even remotely qualified to speak on.
ReplyDeleteGreat piece, Jeremiah, reasoned, approachable and love the Bowles quote.
ReplyDeleteMORE tourists? Dear God, there are times I literally cannot see the sidewalks thanks to all the rubes dawdling down them, the buses and trains are now crammed rush hour-style 24/7, and every event is overrun with 'em to the point of massive unenjoyability. The LAST thing we need is MORE of these self-absorbed, witless wonders, we're drowning in them as it is.
ReplyDeleteReally? Taylor Swift? Rally? I'd rather the exhumed and taxidermied corpse of William S. Burroughs be the 'Global Welcome Ambassador'.
ReplyDeleteI suppose she does represent what Nuevo New York is in some sectors where safe, pre-packaged pap is king and anything even resembling risky has to be given the bum's rush.
In the publication "Ultimate Classic Rock, NYC locals like Dee Snider and others not thrilled to say the least.
'The Daily News asked why homegrown artists like Jay Z or Nicki Minaj weren’t picked instead. The answer is obvious, the paper notes: “Jay Z once dealt drugs. And Nicki Minaj sings about her butt.”
Dealing drugs and singing about her butt? That's not a New York sorta thing at all! How shocking! I'm so frustrated I'm giving serious thought to yanking out my liver and spleen and having them do a knife-fight against each other to the death.
The city that held the standard for street credibility...just lost it's street credibility.
ReplyDeleteAnother disturbing aspect about the relentless pursuit of tourism (initiated by the Bloomberg Administration) is that the tourism sector is now at a point where it has "taken over" NYC. It is no longer about tourists coming to see NYC - it is now about real estate and corporations "developing" and "creating" NYC for tourists.
ReplyDeleteFor example, Macy's was renovated for tourists, bus routes like the M7 were changed to accommodate the tourist pedestrian mall, NYC residents are forced out of housing which gets converted to hotel space....
What about Miley Cyrus?
ReplyDeleteThe Staten Island Ferry fails to connect properly with the bus routes that go across the island due to the insane influx of tourists now. The boat is off-schedule the majority of the time due to the long lengths of time it takes for commuters/tourists to both embark and disembark. With a lack of inadequate public transportation to begin with, a great number of people, especially those on poorer bus routes, are made to stand 15-30 minutes after the ferry has dropped them off before they can get on a bus to take them home. A simple journey from Lower Manhattan to a neighborhood a few miles in can commonly take up to 2 hours if both a ferry has just been missed and the connecting bus has departed on time while the ferry has come in a few minutes late. The tourists don't care. They just want to run to catch the returning ferry. A lot of them seem confused that people actually live on Staten Island.
ReplyDeleteGreat letter, Jeremiah! I was struck by this quote of Taylor Swift's that I read:
ReplyDelete"Sometimes what I like to do is pick a neighborhood, not necessarily pick a destination in that neighborhood. I'll just say, 'Today I want to walk around the West Village' or 'Today, I think I want to walk around the Lower East Side' and you just find places, these little kind of secret treasure places that you love, and the day kind of just happens in New York."
She needs to understand that those "secret treasure places" are disappearing fast, only to be replaced by chain stores and luxury condos.
Congratulations on the publication of your letter.
ReplyDeleteI listened to a snippet of Miss Swift's 'Welcome to New York' and it was... a strange experience.
As someone who loves opera, jazz, big band, cabaret, punk, industrial, Kraftwerk and heavy metal, it wasn't my cup of tea. That said, I do really like "Empire State of Mind".
As a former resident of New York City, I found it easier to take when I changed the lyric, "Welcome to New York--it's been waiting for you!"
to:
"Welcome to New York--it's been waiting for you(r lease to expire!)"
I understand the song isn't targeting me, but I am sure I will have to hear it in a shop or taxi or on television or someone's ringtone....
Great letter!
ReplyDeleteAnd be sure to check out page 28 of today's Post for their little rebuttal to your letter, entitled "Haters Gonna Hate". It so completely misses the point that it becomes absolutely brilliant unintended comedy.
The whole article is good, but the point about Bloomberg deliberately planning for 50 million tourists to visit New York annually is jaw dropping.
ReplyDeleteTourism helps support an economy, but too many literally crowds out the residents (and non-tourism related businesses), as has been happening in New York.
Fifty million to eight million is over a 6 to 1 tourist to resident ratio, which you only get in tourist trap hellholes. I was going to write that Bloomberg set out to turn a city of eight million people into a Caribbean resort -just tourists and wealthy people in vacation homes- and actually succeeded, but it may be worst than that.
thanks JAZ, I saw that. Will add it here. The back and forth on this is kind of hilarious.
ReplyDeleteThis is all I could think of when I saw Tay-Tay's new job:
ReplyDeletehttp://24.media.tumblr.com/6dd8c1d37ee3e5e3828649453ea6e0b8/tumblr_mqhmm3F7FA1s8scfko1_500.gif
jeremiah, i want to see more of your articals. good read as usual. jayz should be the spokesman. perfect! his song new york state of mind says it all. he from the projects, now lives in tribeca next to de niro. btw, he did denounce drugdealing in one of his interviews. after jayz YOU would make a great welcome person!
ReplyDeleteFor those who might not know it, here's a MUCH better "Welcome To New York," by deeply soulful jazz singer Leon Thomas with Oliver Nelson's Orchestra and Johnny Hodges--
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzRlsWN19XQ
"New York City without rent control would be like a beast stealing from the blind."