Wednesday, February 2, 2011

*Everyday Chatter

First they came for Gennaro, now they're going after St. Paddy. The St. Patrick's Day parade will be cut short this year--Bloomie doesn't want to pay for police and sanitation. Maybe this is one issue the Irish and Italians can finally get together on? [IC]

Astor Place before Starbucks. [P&W]

Sheepshead Bay's oldest church is about to have its steeples torn down. [SB]

Will 35 Cooper Square become another NYU dorm? [EVG]

...and what is meant by "mixed use project"? [BB]

A 30-year New Yorker goes back to Iowa, squeezed out by gentrification. [NYT]

Rooting for Little Wisco (and the Packers) in Greenwich Village:

Eater

8 comments:

  1. The Iowa story makes me sad, as I can also feel the squeeze. How long can the middle class hang on? Is it even possible to live here any more and be an artist, working a day job just to cover the bills?

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  2. "In 2006, the Bloomberg administration conducted a kind of exit poll of former New Yorkers that found that those who left had lived here for an average of 26.5 years. A major reason for 64 percent of those who left was housing costs."

    This is pretty interesting. And its hard to conclude from this anything other than that the city's middle class is being squeezed out.

    I tell friends from other places that unless they have and can keep a really good job here, they should go home, otherwise the housing costs will kill them and what attracted them to the city is disappearing anyway. My family is here, but if I lose my job I will probably try my luck elsewhere, again essentially because of the ocst of living.

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  3. The one issue that the Irish and Italians can agree on? No, that would be sex. I went to a Brooklyn Catholic high school, and the Irish girls dated Italian boys and vice versa. And most eventually married that way. Different enough to be intriguing, but still in the Church.

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  4. good point, Baha. of course, do they agree on much after the sex? eh...there's a lot of flying plates.

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  5. Flying plates lead make for interesting mates...

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  6. I meant "make for," no lead. That's what happens when you have Pinot Noir with dinner.

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  7. The NYT picked an awful example if they were trying to write a story about the plight of the middle class. Squeezed out by gentrification? Dude, if you can't pay your taxes or your $670 rent on a $50K salary, gentrification is NOT your issue.

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