Hell's Kitchen Life

Port Authority PD Inspector Now Highest Ranking Woman in the Department

2011-04-24T15:07:00.000-04:00

PAPD Inspector Norma Hardy

Photo: PA NEWS

Hell’s Kitchen Life has learned that Norma Hardy, a 19 year veteran of the Port Authority Police Department, was promoted to the rank of Inspector and received her shield in a private ceremony at PAPD Headquarters in Jersey City, on March 14, 2011. Hardy becomes the highest ranking woman in the PAPD, and one of the highest ranking African American women in New York City law enforcement (Note: The PAPD is a joint NY/NJ Agency). Hardy is only the third female Inspector in PAPD history, and the first African American female.

Currently the only female out of six inspectors in the PAPD (the highest rank below Chief), Hardy will command the PAPD’s Northern Zone, which includes; The Lincoln Tunnel, The George Washington Bridge, and The Port Authority Bus Terminal.

In her most recent role as Captain, Hardy was in charge of the Lincoln Tunnel, and prior to that the Holland Tunnel. Prior to her promotion to Captain, she worked as a supervisor of the Ground Zero site from 2002 - 2008, where she began as a Sergeant and ended her tenure there as the Lieutenant in charge of the site for the PAPD.

Hardy was also the recipient of the PAPD’s prestigious Medal of Valor for Individual Acts, the agency’s highest honor, for her role in the February, 1993 World Trade Center bombing. She was working below ground that day when a truck bomb exploded underneath the North Tower in the parking garage, killing six people and injuring over a thousand.

As recently reported in the New York Post (Read it HERE), the PAPD is currently suffering from a shortage of Captains due to a recent overhaul in its Senior command, amongst which the promotions of Hardy and Richard Brazicki from Captain to Inspector have left only four active Captains to supervise approximately 1,700 officers.

How can we stop a Dictator when we can't even spell his name?

2011-03-09T02:00:00.055-05:00

Fox News spells it: "Qaddafi"

CNN spells it: "Gadhafi"

MSNBC spells it: "Khaddafy"

So am I the only one catching this? How exactly is it that one very important Dictators name (whose been in power for 41 years) is spelled three different ways by three of the largest news organizations in the world ? (See photos above)

Best I can tell the only major news organization that has picked up on this factoid is New York Magazine, in this weeks issue in their Intelligencer column in a small (and as usual) odd little sideways chart which shows the Google search results for each of the various spellings. Interestingly, the number of search results for the spelling "Gaddafi", is the highest of all, yet its not used by any of the the aforementioned major news organizations, though the Washington Post does use this spelling (See it HERE), as well as a few European news agencies and Wikipedia. Of course the chart is not on the New York Magazine website so click on the image of the chart below to see.

For the record, for those that believe the New York Times is the news bible of the universe, they spell it the same as Fox News, "Qaddafi" (See it HERE).

Don't even get me started on the fact that they all spell his first name differently as well, but at least there are only two variations of that, not counting of course the "El" and "Al" prefixes; CNN and MSNBC spell it, "Moammar", while Fox News goes for the more old-school, "Muammar", as does the New York Times and Wikipedia.

So, ladies and gentlemen of the esteemed mainstream press, can you all please figure out how to spell this delusional maniacs name so we can find him and get rid of him? Its hard to find his address when you don't know how to spell his name!

Time Warner Doesn’t Care About Disabled People (or anyone else from what I can tell)

2010-12-08T10:34:00.001-05:00

I haven’t written an article since September 22^nd and I feel guilty. The primary reason is that I’ve been tied up with other projects, and the secondary reason is that quite frankly I have not had the motivation.

Thanks to Time Warner Cable, I found the motivation this week.

While I am a very private person and I generally don't share much of what I do, even with friends, I thought this was important and worth revealing, as perhaps it would help others.

I recently began volunteering several days a week helping a disabled person; his name is Barry and he lives in my building. Barry also goes to the same dog run as I do so I have seen him frequently over the years in the elevator, around the neighborhood and at the dog run. Recently Barry’s condition has worsened, and he has been in and out of the hospital. He has substantial difficulty with his speech, as well as with walking, motor skills, and balance.

A little over a month ago I saw Barry in a neighborhood store. Actually, it was his dog that I saw and he was roaming freely around the store. I had not seen him for a while, and I had heard that he had been in the hospital and his condition had worsened. I immediately recognizing the dog (it’s a very distinct looking dog) and grabbed the leash.

I found Barry at the register, unaware the dog had wandered off as he was having difficulty keeping his balance and paying for his things; he had inadvertently dropped the leash and not realized it. I offered my help to him and took both he and the dog up to his apartment.

Shortly thereafter I left a note for Barry with the doorman that had my name and telephone number and I offered to help him should he need it, telling him to call me anytime. I was not expecting to hear from him as Barry is very proud, and in the past he has refused simple assistance such as picking up after his dog at the dog-run, as he would prefer to try and do it himself. To my surprise, about a week later he called me and said he needed help. Since that day I have been helping him as much as I can.

A few nights ago he called me at 10pm and told me he needed help and asked me to come to his apartment. I had left him only a few hours before after having walked his dog. On a good day it is difficult to understand him because of his speech disability, though I am starting to be able to figure it out and can usually get the gist of what he is trying to tell me.

The building Barry and I live in is a very nice (and fairly new) modern high-rise in Manhattan. Like most new high-rise apartment buildings built in the last decade, our building offers a percentage (usually 20% under the '80/20' program for developers) of their apartments to Low Income or Middle income qualified individuals and families in exchange for zoning breaks (which may allow them the right to build where they may not have been able to build otherwise, and/or to build out the building larger or higher than may be allowed under normal regulations), as well as low interest bond financing, tax credits and other benefits which make the program beneficial for the developer. In the case of Section 8 housing, a federally subsidized program, the developer receives the balance of ‘fair market rent’ versus the discounted amount the tenant pays, which is 30% of the tenant’s income. Low Income housing is generally for people who are on fixed/government income, while Section 8 and Middle income are for people who are able bodied and working, and meet various income requirements.

I spent 30 minutes sitting in Barry’s apartment speaking with him the other night and as we spoke he told me that his mind was racing and he was upset and didn’t know what to do. As I began to survey the apartment closer, I began to understand why; the walls were closing in on him.

Other than a brother in California and a friend who lives in another borough whom I have met once briefly, Barry has nobody to help him or to turn to. He has an aid from a city agency that comes five days a week from 2:30pm – 5:30pm, but as well intentioned as she may be, for the most part (I have seen her there many times), she sits and reads a book and makes sure he does not fall, and cleans up after him, which though I am uncertain, may be all that she is allowed to do.

The point of all this is that Barry has no Cable TV or Internet Service. This might sound funny to you, almost trivial - poor Barry - living in his government subsidized $3,000 dollar a month luxury high-rise apartment and he has no cable and no internet service , boo-hoo. There are so many bigger problems in the world. Well, let me tell you something, until you sit there with Barry (or any other disabled person who is dependent on government assistance) and experience it yourself, you are in no position to judge. And if you are disabled, this is a very big problem - for you. It is truly heartbreaking.

If you’re thinking, ‘Why doesn’t he just get one of the free digital converter boxes so he can get broadcast TV?”, well, he already has one, and if you have one, good luck to you, as you either need to live on Mount Everest or be a Ham Radio Operator to get a signal. They work only under optimal circumstances, and in New York City the architectural topography is less than optimal.

While Cable TV and Internet service may not be considered ‘necessary services’ such as heat and telephone, I assure you that to a disabled person who is either homebound, has limited mobility, or limited speech or hearing, it is essential, and it is their only link to the outside world.

Imagine for a moment that you are disabled – permanently. You have no wife, no family in the area, and you have restricted mobility, walk with a cane, it takes you 5-10 minutes to walk a city block and you frequently fall down with nobody there to help you up. Now imagine that this scenario causes you to not want to leave the house, primarily because you are afraid of falling but also because you have nowhere to go, and even if you did, you can’t afford to do many things because you are on a fixed income, which in Barry’s case is a little less than $1,200 a month, from which his rent and utilities must be paid. Thus, you sit in the house twenty four hours a day, awake eighteen or more of those hours. What would you do? I can tell you from my experience with Barry that you would sit and stare at the walls – literally. Why? Because though you have a television and a computer that were given to you, you cannot afford Cable TV or Internet service, because there are no discount or subsidized programs for disabled people (or for low income or senior citizens for that matter). Since you are disabled, you have a working home telephone from Lifeline, which is a subsidized and nearly free and you might qualify for a subsidized energy program.

According my conversation with Time Warner today, the cheapest services for Basic Cable (which is Channels 1,2,4,5 and 7) and Basic Internet (Not Dial up, but not high-speed) is approximately $53 a month ($19 for cable, box, remote, taxes and fees + $20 for Internet, taxes and fees). If you want Standard Basic Cable (channels 1 – 82), this is an additional $41 a month ($59 a month), bringing to total monthly bill to approximately $85 a month with taxes and fees. Bear in mind, this is not a fancy setup; no DVR, no HD box, no sports , movie or premium channels, minimum internet speeds of 768k up and 128k down, it’s just the most basic services, which on the $53 dollar a month plan means just channels 1,2,4,5 and 7. This is not exactly luxury by 2010 standards.

Now let’s assume that you, like Barry, are on a fixed income of Social Security/Disability, Medicaid and other government aid and unable to work. Since you are struggling to pay for groceries and basic necessities, $85, or even $52 a month is just not in the cards for you; it’s simply out of reach.

With all of the people out there suffering, starving and who have other problems which are equally or more severe, this may not seem like a priority or a tragedy, however, I can tell you from my own privileged experience, if you think it’s not, please come over with me one day and sit for 15 minutes in Barry’s apartment and speak with him, and then tell me it’s not one of the most important things in the world… to HIM.

Shame on Time Warner, whose 2010, 3^rd Quarter profits were up 34% to $360 Million dollars, and whose revenue for that same quarter was up 5.2% to $4.73 Billion. That’s correct; those numbers were for the quarter, NOT the year.

I am not a proponent of forcing private companies (meaning non-governmental) to provide free or discounted services to anyone, even if they are publicly owned, and while Time Warner Cable is technically not a utility such as Con-Edison, they serve the public and provide what in my opinion in 2010 is now considered to be an essential service. And while I also do not advocate Time Warner or any other company being legislatively forced into doing something, I would like to think that perhaps with their over a billion dollar profit in 2010, as well as their approximately 3 corporate jets (Time Warner Inc. owns those), they can have a heart and created a program for the disabled that will provide discounted service, for which I am certain Time Warner would also be offered generous City, State, and Federal Tax Breaks and incentives, as well as millions of dollars in good will and free publicity. Though perhaps the ability to sleep at night might be the least thought of but most significant benefit of all.

Please email Time Warner and tell them to, ‘Have a heart and help the disabled and provide discounted services’:

TIME WARNER CABLE

Jeff Simmermon
Director, Digital Communications
jeff.simmermon@twcable.com
Twitter: @jeffTWC

PS. Apologies to Jeff Simmermon for putting his info here, but from my research he is the ONLY Time Warner Cable Exec to have the balls to put his contact information out there online (props to Jeff for that), so I had no choice. From what I have read about Jeff it also appears that he may be the only TWC Exec who has a heart. I guess we shall see…

The Nielsen Ratings Scam: The joke is on us

2010-09-22T10:53:00.000-04:00

I am not the first person to question, actually to be outraged, at the fact that the monstrous $49.6 Billion dollar annual television advertising market (according to Magna, a company that tracks advertising trends) is controlled by Nielsen, a private company who uses .02% of the viewing households (yes, that’s just two-tenths of one percent) which equates to approximately 25,000 out of the total 114 million viewing households to determine the entire television advertising market. Even with its long ago plans (2007) to increase the size of its sample to 37,000 households in 2011, the increase and the sample size are still insignificant and meaningless. Now I didn’t do well in my statistics class in college, however, I think you need only an 8^th grade education to realize this is not a reliable sample. Period. End of discussion.

But wait, the larger question is this; why are these monster networks and cable companies at the mercy of (and relying on and paying) this ridiculous company, who with its antiquated measurement sample controls television, when the answers are right in front them? The solution is obvious; the top 25 cable companies in America (see the list HERE). These 25 companies have 96.4 million subscribers between them, and as there are 114 million viewing households, this is 83% of all households. Now that’s a reasonable sample.

Since most cable boxes in America are now two-way digital boxes that can send and receive information, my cable company not only knows what I watch and when I watch it, they know when I change channels, pause the show, what I record, when I turn my box off, and even when I unplug it. They probably know what I had for breakfast too.

This is one of the problems in America, we don’t question enough things, and we have a habit of believing and trusting someone (be it a company or a person) who we in reality know nothing about. It’s called naïve.

So can someone tell me why in the hell we need Nielsen and their ludicrous guesstimates when the precise total viewership (and household information) is available? Answer; we don’t need them at all. Dump Nielsen and let’s get some accurate information straight from the source so that we can finally find out who the 15 million people are who are watching Two and Half Men, because I refuse to believe that there are that many idiots in America.

Vote....or Shut Up

2010-09-13T17:21:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow as many of you may not know is primary day here in New York State and there are a lot of very important elections for us, such as deciding who the candidates will be for Governor, Senator, Congress, and many State Senate and Assembly seats.

Voter apathy is pretty high here in New York City with perhaps the exception of the 2008 Presidential Election. In 2009, a big year for New York City voters as it was a Mayoral election year, there were only 1.1 million people who voted in the mayoral election citywide. Now that may sound like a lot, but not when you consider that it was a hair under 25% of the total number of registered voters, 4.5 million, who voted in that election (See it HERE), which is pathetic and sad. And by the way, yes, I voted in that election.

I would love to tell you who to go and vote for, but I'm not going to, and frankly that isn't the point, its simply that you need to go out and vote for someone, and hopefully spend a little time on Google reading up on who exactly you will be voting for if you haven't already. If you don't vote then you need to keep your pie-hole shut as you have no business complaining. Period.

DON'T BE AN IDIOT. VOTE. TOMORROW. DO IT.

Thanks...

Rest in Peace

2010-09-11T08:38:00.000-04:00

John Dennis Levi, Port Authority Police Officer

On this day let us remember all of those who gave their lives for the freedom we breath, the words that we speak, and the soil that we stand on.

Rest in peace my dear friend

The U.S. Unemployment Rate is 22%....really

2010-09-10T13:29:00.000-04:00

Yes, it’s true; the total percentage of unemployed workers in the U.S. is 22%. Before you laugh this off and dismiss it as a joke or the ranting of a radical lunatic, let me be clear; I am neither joking nor am I a radical lunatic, so take a look at the chart above and the facts below.

The U.S. markets have been swinging wildly for the last few months every time a new unemployment figure comes out, and the problem with this is that the reported numbers are NOT accurate and do NOT reflect the actual number of people who are unemployed in this country. This is not an opinion; it is a well documented fact.

The "official" unemployment rate should be a single statistic/percentage that reflects the total number of people who are unemployed in the United States each month, but if it were it would not allow any opportunity for our plutocrats and bureaucrats to manipulate the figure, because you can’t interpret or manipulate a single number, you need multiple numbers in order to do that so you can create a little confusion, thus, our present system, with SIX different figures, U1 – U6. And before you all start throwing facts at me, I am well aware that there are “voluntary” and “involuntary” unemployed, and I am also aware that there are “cyclical”, “structural”, “hidden” and “discouraged” unemployed. These terms were made up to allow the government to drastically reduce the “official” unemployment figure.

Imagine if tomorrow morning the SEC decided that it would suddenly change the way the U.S. financial markets calculated the value of stocks without any of the underlying facts of those companies’ values changing. This is effectively what happened to the “official” unemployment statistics in 1994; one day they just decided to change how they calculated it.

Since 1994, the hidden, discouraged, and long term unemployed have not been counted in the “Official U3 Unemployment Rate”, the official rate that you see in the news. This much is clear to me from the aforementioned; the official U3 number has nothing to do with the real total number of people in America who are unemployed.

We the citizens of this country need to know what the actual number of people in the workforce who are unemployed is. You can break it down anyway you want after that, but you cannot report a number as official when it is absolute fantasy (the U3 number) as well as being deliberately misleading and having no basis fact. The really worrisome part is that it is the official number that makes the cover of the major papers, which in turn is what powers or shrinks our financial markets as well as our economy.

The change in the Bureau of Labor Statistics calculating methodology that was put in place in 1994, is when “discouraged worker” became part of our vocabulary, and sadly it is also when he/she (the discouraged or long term unemployed person) was summarily dropped from the “official” rate that is widely publicized. This means that if you can’t or won’t find work, or you are unemployed for too long, you no longer exist as part of the official percentage of unemployed workers in America. Simply put, this is a ludicrous concept and the height of idiocracy. Is anyone else getting this?

The 1994 change also explains why unemployment so quickly and steadily dropped (nearly 50% percent) between 1993 and 2000, from 7.9% to 3.9% (Read it HERE), which is quite an impressive feat. That is, it’s impressive until you realize that it’s pretty easy to accomplish that if you just stop counting a large part of the population and pretend they don’t exist, which is exactly what happened, and what continues to happen today. Its simple; if you have been unemployed for too long you are one of those people who doesn’t exist in the eyes of the government.

The current (August, 2010) U6 unemployment number (which is not the official number) from the government, which is the total percentage of people unemployed according to the post-Clinton Bureau of Labor Statistics methodology is 16.7%, which is a 2% increase in unemployment since July (See it HERE). And incidentally, the U6 number is 72% higher than the “official” U3 August, 2010, number of 9.6% (See it HERE) which is what you see on the front page of the paper. This should frighten the hell out of you, and the one month increase should frighten you even more. Ironically, when referencing the official August 2010, numbers, the Bureau of Labor Statistics says in its monthly press release (See it HERE) that, “The number of unemployed persons and the unemployment rate were little changed in August”. Huh? Obviously they are referring to their fantasy U3 number of 9.6%. Its nice to have fantasies, and apparently they make people with government jobs and pensions sleep better.

But wait; go get your adult diapers, because this statistic will really scare the crap out of you. It’s from, Shadow Government Statistic (SGS), which performs a widely respected statistical measurement of unemployment each month using pre-Clinton era methodologies to correctly measure the actual percentage of people who are unemployed each month in our country. Sadly, as well respected as the methodology is, the number is not widely reported and you won’t see it on the front page of your paper or at the top of your Google Business News feed.

So here is the really scary part; according to SGS, the current (August, 2010) unemployment rate for the U.S. is 22% (See it HERE). If that doesn’t scare you, I don’t know what will. Oh, wait, there’s one more thing; the unemployment rate during the height of the Great Depression in 1933 was 24.9% (See it HERE), just 2.9% more than the current SGS number. And by the way, the SGS number is calculated using the same methodology that was used to calculate the rate during the depression.

I just can’t for the life of me understand why people aren’t screaming from the rafters about this. So folks, perhaps it’s time to start asking some serious questions very loudly because we can’t fix a damn thing until we have all the facts laid out.

One thing is for sure from all of this; manipulating data and trying to fool the people of this great country (read: lying) is not going to help anything, it’s only going to make it worse.

NEW Gypsy Caravan Photos

2010-09-02T20:03:00.002-04:00

A close up of one of the caravan carts

A closer view

The Full Caravan: 10th Avenue between
42nd & 43rd Streets

On the sidewalk @ 42nd St. & 10th Ave

Since I know my original picture sucked, and because I know that as wonderful a narrator as I am, and as spectacularly as I articulated the scene to give you all a crystal clear mental picture, sadly, that just didn't cut it. So, I searched the city high and low today in the scorching 95 degree heat (actually I just accidentally saw them while I getting dinner a few blocks away) and found them. I managed to snap a few decent pictures to complete the story and give all of you non-city people and nay sayers a glimpse of the caravan.

Strangely, once again, the whole clan was nowhere to be found and the same lone woman I saw several nights ago was once again slowly moving each cart in the caravan down the avenue.

The NY State/City Cigarette Tax Debate: Government Nannyism

2010-09-02T17:16:00.000-04:00

A pack of Cigarettes from N.J.

Receipt for said pack(s) of Cigarettes from N.J

Yes, the photo on the left is of a pack of cigarettes, and yes I smoke. So before we get started and everyone gets their panties in a bunch let me make a few things clear;

I have been smoking for 30 years, since I was 12
Smoking is bad for you and can kill you - not a secret
I am an idiot for doing it
YOU obviously shouldn't smoke either
I am over 18, its my choice, smoking is not illegal and its nobody's business but mine (until now)

Now that we have that out of the way, lets take a closer look at the photo's.

The photo on the left is of the bottom of a pack of cigarettes. On the bottom of every pack that's sold in American other than at a duty free shop or an Indian Reservation (at least for now with regard to the Indian Reservations) is taxed, therefore each pack must have a tax stamp from the state in which it is being sold. .

But wait, thats a New Jersey Tax stamp, not a New York State Tax Stamp, right? Yup. And do you know why I have a pack of cigarettes with a New Jersey Tax stamp? Well, let me tell you; its because ~~Mayor~~ Nanny Bloomberg has decided that since he can't control everything that he doesn't like, he'll find other ways to try and punish people for doing things that although they are legal, go against his personal moral code. Thus, since I am an adult and I am not doing anything illegal, I have decided that I will not pay his tyrannical tax, so I hop on out to N.J and viola, in 30 minutes round trip I have nearly half price cigarettes.

New York State has the highest cigarette tax in the United States ($3.75 a pack), PLUS, New York City has an additional Tax of $1.50 a pack making the total tax on a pack in NYC $5.25. Our cigarettes are now the most expensive in the United States, averaging about $12 - $13 dollars a pack in Manhattan. I have read in a few news outlet that the price in NYC averages $11 a pack, but clearly these people don't smoke in Manhattan, as you can't get them legally for that price here, period. The cheapest pack I have bought, and I believe it is close to the minimum price that can be charged (yes, there is a state regulated minimum) is $11.75. On average I pay about $13, however, the price gouging scum bags at the Mobil Station in the Meat Packing District on 14th Street & 10th Avenue charge $15 a pack, which is borderline criminal, but they do it mostly because they can, and because drunken dopey hipster kids who don't want to walk to the next nearest place will pay it.

The photo on the right is the receipt from the store that I bought said cigarettes at in N.J., and yes, I confess, I did buy some Velcro and some Mink Oil, I hope they don't come after me for that too. And by the way, I blacked out all the store information so I don't have a battalion of Bloomberg's Secret Police show up at my door.

As you can see, I paid $7.35 a pack, saving me approximately $57 a carton, which is roughly 40% less than in NYC. I now go out to N.J. every two weeks and stock up

So, what have Nanny Bloomberg and Governor Bozo accomplished? Hmmm, let's see; this past July (2010), according to a New York Post article on August 12th (Read it HERE), New York State barely gained any addition tax revenue over the same month in 2009 ($125M in July 2010 vs. $119M in 2009), which is because Cigarette sales dropped by 33% in New York State (28.7M packs sold in July, 2010 vs 28.7M packs in July, 2010), and border state locations (those towns near the borders of NJ, CT and PA) have reported sales down as much as 45%. SO, what did we learn here? Well, we learned that the state and city don't really have a net gain in tax revenue from raising the tax and retailers are losing revenue. Wait, how can this be? A significant tax hike should equal an equivalent increase in tax revenue, right? So, hundreds of thousands of people must have all of sudden in one day on June 30th, all quit smoking, right? Wrong. People are simply traveling the few short miles to neighboring states (its less than 3 miles from Hell's Kitchen to the nearest Gas Station in N.J.) to buy their cigarettes, and nobody is quitting in significant numbers, the state is just losing the revenue to bordering states. Why is this? Because you can't tell people what to do when something is legal, even if you are the Mayor and you have $18B dollars. This is no different than Governor Bozo's Sugar Tax proposal (Read it HERE), which is equally if not perhaps even more idiotic. You would think that guy as smart as Mike Bloomberg would know this, and make no mistake, he is smart - more like brilliant. You don't get $18B from being stupid. Our Governor on the other hand, well, he's never had a real job. Following law school he failed the bar exam, and had to quit his very brief stint at the Queens D.A. office (because you kind of have to pass the bar in order to work there as an Assistant District Attorney), never became an Attorney at law, and became a career politician (Read it HERE).

Oh, and one more little thing about that cigarette tax; Terrorism. Oops! I guess our Mayor forgot about that. Neither he nor anyone is going to stop people from smoking or doing anything else, particularly something that is legal everywhere in the United States. However, by making the cost so prohibitive it will force people to go somewhere else to get that item cheaper, legally, and spend their money elsewhere, AND, you will also create a black market for those who are willing to get it even cheaper and illegally, which endangers peoples lives in a variety of ways from truck drivers bringing in illegal shipments of cigarettes to overseas products that may contain illegal ingredients that could potentially make someone sick or kill them a whole lot faster than smoking the legal cigarettes. Is this really a surprise?

Didn't we learn this lesson from 1920 to 1933 after they passed the 18th Amendment? Remember it? It was called Prohibition, and we all know how well that worked out, which is why it was repealed, however, the damage from that period was far reaching and helped to create and empower the crime syndicates that are still around today. And here is another important thing to remember; terrorists are now the ones who are benefiting, because this is one of the ways they make money.

And while I am not a fan of the guy that wrote this article (Read it HERE), Deroy Murdock, a reporter for the NY Post, I do agree with the substance of it, and that is; drop the tax, because you are feeding terrorism and smuggling. I personally believe that the state is simply giving away tax revenue to other states.

And one last thing, leave the damn American Indians in our state alone! Federally recognized tribes are Sovereign States, and there is a reason for that. Clearly the Mayor needs a hobby, as he is now picking on the American Indians and trying to tax their cigarettes too, which by the way are not even sold in New York City, so I am not sure what business that is of his. These are one of the most persecuted people of any race, ethnicity, or creed in the history of the United States, so can't the Mayor and Governor Bozo find someone better to pick on. I have plenty of suggestions if they are interested.

Yesterday, as reported by the NY Post, a New York State appellate court judge, who apparently has some common sense, restored an order prohibiting the State of New York from collecting tax on cigarettes from tribal cigarette vendors (Read it HERE). Ha!

SO to sum it up, I will be buying my cigarettes from N.J (or PA & CT, depending where I am) from now on, and I encourage you to do the same, and there ain't a DAMN THING the Mayor or the Governor can do about it as long as they are for personal use.

See you on the other side of the Bridge....

Actor & Hell's Kitchen Resident survives 40 story fall (or was it a jump?)...

2010-09-01T12:10:00.001-04:00

Normally I don't repost or cover someone else's story, however, today I am working on a fairly long (and pretty good, if I don't say so myself) story, so until I get that wrapped up, check this story out, which is hot off the presses from the NY Post website:

A 22 year old actor and Hell's Kitchen resident survived a 40 Story fall/jump at 10:45am this morning with relatively minor injuries (thats 400 feet) from the top of one of the West End Towers buildings, where he had previously lived, on West 63rd Street. Amazingly, a car is what broke his fall and saved his life; a 2008 Dodge Charger.

Check out the full story and photo in the NY Post article HERE. Its pretty amazing....

CORRECTION: This incident happened yesterday morning and was reported in todays NY Post

The 10th Avenue Gypsies

2010-08-31T14:30:00.001-04:00

The Gypsy Cart Caravan on 10th Avenue & 39th Street, NYC
11:10pm, August 30, 2010

Well, one thing is for sure, I am not going to win any photo-journalism awards, but I will explain that shortly.

Above is a photo of something I have been seeing for quite a few years around Hell's Kitchen, and quite a bit more frequently over the last year, so I began to get curious. What I believe it is, for lack of a more eloquent or more verifiable term, is a modern day Gypsy Caravan. The photo is of a series of large laundry carts that are stuffed with what appear to be personal belongings and other miscellanea and junk that are each massive, stacked up 5 - 6 feet high and bulging at the sides. On this particular night there were 6 carts in the caravan, which is usually about how many I see together.

I watched for approximately 40 minutes as a lone slight woman, perhaps five feet tall and ninety pounds, pulled each of the six carts, one at a time, and slowly relocated each one across a tenth avenue intersection approximately 100 feet away.

I usually see this particular group all together with their carts, and there are normally 4 or 5 people, men and women ranging in ages from what looks to be about late thirties to late fifties, though on occasion I have seen a child or two with them. They are usually filthy and and covered in heavy layers of clothing that are in tatters, even during the summer.

They appear to be Eastern European, though I have no way of knowing that for sure, its just a guess. The accents are hard to place, but the facial features suggest that perhaps they are perhaps Albanian, Russian, Serbian, Czech, Croatian, Romanian or Ukrainian.

They move ever so slowly down each block, always keeping the caravan together, often stopping in the middle of the sidewalk for long periods to rest or pick through the garbage and other road side deposits. Their presence tends to cause a stir and makes people stare and mutter under their breath. Embarrassingly, I am guilty of this as well. They seem to be in their own world and not notice the people on the sidewalk trying to navigate their way around them, or the snide comments people often not so quietly make to them.

I honestly don't know who they are, where they are from or why they never seem to move on outside of Hell's Kitchen, though perhaps they do and I just haven't seen them. To me it appears that they simply go back and forth up the avenues minding their own business, day in and day out. I assume they are homeless, though I don't know that for sure either.

Last night I wanted to find out who they were, so on my late evening walk I approached the lone woman as she completed her relocation of all six carts to the Northwest corner of 39th Street on 10th Avenue, though I was unsure if she could speak English. She apparently had not seen me coming, and her expression turned to fear and she immediately put her arms up as if she thought I was going to hurt her. I put up my empty hands and in a friendly voice I said, "I'm not going to hurt you, I'm a writer and I just want to talk to you and take a few pictures." Her expression quickly changed from fear to anger and she covered her face and yelled, "NO, NO, somebody wants to kill me, no take my picture, no picture, they want to kill me", which she repeated several times in moderately accented English. She was now very upset, so I said, "I won't take your picture, just the carts, I'm just a writer, nobody is going to hurt you". She continued yelling about someone wanting to kill her, so I snapped one quick picture and left, thus the poor quality, as I was unsure who else might be nearby, and I didn't want to have a confrontation with 4 or 5 angry gypsies.

So, the mystery of the 10th Avenue Gypsies continues...more on this soon.

Fox News....apparently reads their emails

2010-08-30T22:41:00.002-04:00

Fox NY News Website as updated at 9:45pm

Well, that didn't take long; chalk up one for the little guy. After my not so nice email to the newsroom at Fox NY News (and my not so nice Blog article at 8pm calling them out, oh, and the emails to The NY Daily News and NBC), Fox NY News has decided to unceremoniously update their website (Read it HERE), though not back to the original article. It still has a fact or two incorrect (I do not say that the homeless population went up 50% since last year, I stated that it went up 34%, which is according the NYC DHS), though it does credit Hell's Kitchen Life Correctly (see Screen shot of Article above), which is really all we care about. Fair is fair.

So, all's well that ends well, though perhaps I have now made enemies with Rupert's Raiders, so I will be keeping my eyes wide open while walking around HK and elsewhere.

Regardless, I am still going to be watching Fox NY News in the morning and reading the NY Post afterwards....

Apology accepted, Fox. Friends?

Fox News Plagiarizes my story today on the Homeless and all I got was...NOTHING!

2010-08-30T20:03:00.003-04:00

VIDEO: 4:35pm, August 30th, 2010, Westside of 9th Avenue

between 40th & 41st Streets, Manhattan

Apparently someone at Fox News NY is doing more than just reading Hell's Kitchen Life, they also decided to co-opt (read: take or assume for their own use) my story, which is fantastic, and I am thrilled to be mentioned. As you can see below, when I searched for my blog on Google I found the story (see screenshot below). Great! I can see that Hell's Kitchen Life is mentioned as the source in the first line of the story!

Google Search for "Hell's Kitchen Life"

Wait, not so great. When I click the Google link to the Fox News story (Read it HERE), the story which is still there and about the same subject no longer mentions Hell's Kitchen Life as the source. What?

According to the article, they published their story at 10:54am and I sent them a link to my story, which was written and published this morning at 2:38am (I sent them a link to my story through their website at 10:45am, which conveniently for them leaves no email trail). The problem is that the story was updated at 3:54pm, and the story remains the same (about the homeless problem in the city getting worse), the reference to my article on Hell's Kitchen Life (which you can see in the screenshot) is mysteriously gone. Coincidence? Me thinks not...

Now, let me be clear; I am not a trained journalist and I don't claim to be, I am a writer and I have been writing for 20 years recreationally with one professional gig as Co-creator and Executive Producer of a failed television show that made it to a Casting Tape/Pilot, however, I am pretty thorough, and though its possible I may have made an error on one or two on the facts, I did reference all of their sources, and even if I did make an error, Fox could have noted that fact. But they didn't. Its also worth noting that in the opening line of the story except on Google, they state, "Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen Life Blog says 9th Avenue on the West Side is filled with the homeless congregating, sitting and sleeping on the... ." As you will note from reading the story I wrote (Read it HERE), I did not use the word "filled", which implies that the street is or was teeming with homeless people. As you can see, I simply state, "...You will see them congregating, sitting, and sleeping on the sidewalk... ." I also do not say that its all of 9th Avenue on the Westside, which they incorrectly imply, I state very clearly that it is on 9th Avenue between 40th & 41st Streets.

So, this got me thinking. Actually, it got me running (and praying), so I ran the few blocks up to 9th Avenue & 41st Street. As I ran up there I wondered, could they not be there today? Did I make a mistake? I've seen them everyday for as long as I can remember, but could someone have called the police or the Mayors office and cleared them away?

Well, guess what, they were there, same as they always are, every day and every night, and they are doing exactly what I said they do. Check out the video above.

So, Fox NY News, though I have watched you every day for more than a decade, and you are were my favorite news channel, you get an "F" for journalism, and an FU for plagiarizing my story and not giving Hell's Kitchen Life and myself proper credit.

10th Avenue Reality: The bad old days

2010-08-30T02:38:00.010-04:00

10th Avenue & W40th Street @ 10:22pm, Sunday, August 29th, 2010.

I used to get angry when I saw homeless people sleeping on the street. Angry at them. But after nearly a quarter century of working and playing here beginning in the early 80's, as well as living here for nearly a decade, I no longer do. I just can't blame them.

My philosophy is this; if you aren't bothering, harassing or hurting anyone, and you have nowhere safe to go (sorry, many of the shelters are NOT safe), well, you don't really have much of a choice, do you? Is it bothersome and sometimes disturbing to see them as we walk to our air-conditioned apartments? Yes. Is it sometimes frightening when someone is lying sprawled out on a sidewalk on a desolate street at night? Yes. Is it disgusting and infuriating to see someone openly urinating in the middle of the sidewalk on a busy street (I have seen this twice in the last month on 10th Avenue) as women and children walk past? Yes.

So, whose fault is it? Well, I don't know if "fault" is the right word, but the burden of this problem lies squarely with the City of New York, and pardon my French, they are doing a really shitty job of dealing with it.

If you want to know what the problem looks like, walk down 9th Avenue on the Westside of the street between 40th & 41st Street (though you should be careful and not do this at night) any day of the week and you will see them congregating, sitting, and sleeping on the sidewalk near the homeless shelter and the soup kitchen. These are the faces of homelessness. Funny, I never see our Mayor over there.

For the record, while the homeless population is down 29% from 2005, its up 34% in 2010 over 2009 (See it HERE). And according to the NYC Dept. of Homeless Services daily homeless census, there are currently 35,337 homeless individuals (adults and children) in New York City (Read it HERE). I have no idea why the city references a drop from 2005 in its statistics. Its almost as if they think that's going to fool people instead of being more concerned with the enormous percentage increase from the preceding year (34% is a BIG one year increase), 2009, which is what is relevant and what they need to be concerned about.

Well, here's a newsflash people...things are getting worse, not better. I saw a squeegie guy on two separate occasions this past May at the corner of 42nd Street and 9th Avenue, something I have not seen since the early to mid 90's right before Giuliani became mayor, and as everyone who lives here knows all too well, crime is up double digits from last year in the two worst categories, Rape and Murder, according to the most recent NYPD statistics (Read it HERE).

And as most of us who live in reality know, it isn't just a problem in Hell's Kitchen. This past week on two different nights I walked down a heavily congested West 13th Street near Lower 9th Avenue in the Meat Packing District, within a one block stretch I was on one occasion solicited twice (openly) and asked if I wanted to buy cocaine, and on the other occasion I was asked once, though I specifically try to avoid and ignore them (I can tell who they are and I see them often), so its likely I was asked a few other times that I didn't hear, and I spotted at least four drug dealers on the block. This is going on every day, and it isn't at 4am in some back alley, this happened before midnight in one of the most heavily trafficked (and expensive) neighborhoods in the city.

If our Mayor would spend less time worrying about whether or not I eat trans fats or salt and pay more attention to the social and crime problems that are plaguing our city perhaps we would be in slightly better shape around here.

Our mayor grew up in an Upper Middle Class home outside of Boston, went to Johns Hopkins University, and in 1981 at age 39, he became a multi-millionaire from his first career at Solomon Brothers (a $10 million dollar severance package), before Bloomberg the company existed. He has never lived a day of his life in New York City as a Middle Class person (starting banking and trading jobs at Solomon Brothers, even in the 60's & 70's made at least Upper Middle Class money, and usually you weren't Upper Middle Class very long). Taking the subway to work everyday with four large heavily armed NYPD Detectives does not make you a regular guy anymore than living in an eight figure townhouse on the Upper East Side does.

I don't know about you, but I often feel like the Mayor is telling us what to do and also telling us that if we don't like it, tough, which seems to come in the form of his often arrogant and dismissive tone. I don't think thats my imagination, and I am not interested in being "told" what to do. But therein lies the problem; a man who is that wealthy (According to the 2010, Forbes 400, he is the 8th wealthiest man in America, and 23rd wealthiest man in the world) is beholden to no one, which can apparently be a bad thing. An example of that would be that you can afford to spend $90 million dollars for a mayoral election and outshout and virtually drown out any other opposing voice. Once elected, it apparently also gives you enough muscle to instill a sufficient amount of fear in the City Council to get them to go along with you and change the term limits law in 2008, which by the way was put in place in 1993 with a public vote, and again in 1996 a public vote kept it in place. I cannot for the life of me figure out how we all let this happen, and without a without a public vote. Well, we didn't let it happen, our Mayor decided that we didn't need Term limits anymore (can you say illegal?), and that it didn't matter what the citizens of New York City thought, or that they had voted on the issue and decided that they were needed, twice, so he and the New York City Council passed it through, giving himself a 3rd term. Following his victory he actually tried to change the law back to make sure nobody else could be a mayor for 3 terms after him, and he is still trying to do it. Is anybody else outraged by any of this?

And before you start typing up angry emails about how much our dear Mayor gives to charity (and he does) AND specifically how much he gives to support homeless causes, read this very recent article from the New York Times (Read it HERE) about the Doe Fund, a large homeless charity here in NYC, and the money they apparently received (millions) from the mayor in exchange for supporting and apparently being dumb enough to actually testify (The head of the charity as well as 20 other staffers testified) in support of the Mayors bid to overturn term limits without disclosing the slight multi-million dollar conflict of interest not just from his personal donations, but from the tens of millions of dollars in city contracts they receive that the mayor ultimately controls. Ooops.

Its simple, we want cops and fireman on our streets, we want teachers in our schools, we want hospitals that aren't sitting empty, and we want these people to be paid a living wage so they afford to live in the damn city they serve and in many cases protect day in and day out, most of them doing so for between 20-30 years of their lives, and frequently giving up their lives in the process. We want housing for the poor and the homeless, and services to help make them self sufficient. We don't want to hear whining and bitching about salt in the food or any other unimportant nonsense until this city pulls out of its current decline and is cleaned up.

And yes, you are going to have to do it yourself Mr. Mayor, as our loggerheaded unelected Governor is as useless as tits on a bull, and has more problems than you will ever have, so you ain't getting any help from him, as he's too busy bankrupting our state government and trying to avoid being indicted over Yankees tickets - sorry, what a moron.

So much for not being political. Oops.

Bedbugs: At the movies

2010-08-29T19:09:00.004-04:00

You go out with your significant other on a steamy August evening to escape the heat and you pay $13 each (not included are the ridiculously large and overpriced soda and popcorn, so add $10) to have a few laughs relax, AND..... you also get BED BUGS at no extra charge! Bedbugs? At the movie theater? WTF?

Yes, you heard it correctly. A friend had told me about this a few days ago and I finally looked it up and there it was as plain as day (Read the article HERE); a few weeks ago bedbugs were found inside of the Times Square AMC Empire 25 Theater. Gross.

As if my seeing a giant foot long rat climb out of a garbage can and jump at me on 10th Avenue on my way home last night wasn't bad enough (yes, this really did happen), now I can't even go to the movies without a can of RAID and a Hazmat suit!

Thankfully there is the gargantuan Regal E-Walk 13 Stadium Theater across the street, and to the best of my knowledge, you don't get a free flea circus performance over there with admission.

The AMC Empire gets an F, as in...well, you know... for being F nasty. And the Regal E-Walk gets a C for being across the street and being lucky.

And my friends wonder why I never go to the movie theater....

AMC Empire 25 Theater
234 West 42nd Street (Between Broadway & 8th Avenue)
NY, NY 10036
888.262.4386
www.amcentertainment.com

Regal E-Walk 13 Stadium Theater
247 West 42nd Street (Between Broadway & 8th Avenue)
NY, NY 10036
212.840.7761
www.regmovies.com

Manganaro Grosseria Italiana: Bitch Inside

2010-08-28T18:41:00.002-04:00

So, I am walking past Manganaro Grosseria Italiana minding my own business this afternoon and I come across this sign (see photo) out in front of the store. Perhaps they read my Post about them recently (Read it HERE).

At least they're honest, and it is kind of funny, but if I want funny I'll go to a comedy club or talk to myself. What I'd really like is less crotchety attitude with my very expensive sandwich.

Thanks ladies...

Schnippers Quality Kitchen

2010-08-27T20:23:00.122-04:00

I am a little disappointed in myself as I have no idea how I could have possibly missed this place. I was particularly disturbed by the fact that it is but a few blocks away from where I live and that upon asking I was told that it had been open for 18 months. If you've ever seen it, you'll know its really hard to miss.

The place is Schnippers Quality Kitchen (Southeast corner of 41st Street & 8th Avenue), yeah, its a pretty long and terrible name, but what's in a name anyway? A lot actually, but I'm willing to overlook it in this case.

Schnippers is NOT in a good location. Actually, let me clarify that, its in a good location if you use Port Authority (its directly across the street from the main entrance) and you go there during daylight hours. Try as they may to spruce up the area in front of Port Authority as well as the several block long stretch it covers, it is still home to chicken hawks, drug dealers, and skells, day and night. Granted, its literally Disney World compared to the bad old days of Koch and Dinkins in the 80's and early 90's, but its not a place you ought to be walking around late at night unless you're packing a Glock.

With that said, this place is big, and BRIGHT. You simply can't miss it with its giant neon signs and semi post modern glass and steel facade. Schnippers is a.... well, I'm not sure exactly what it is, but what its trying to be is an All-American fast food place that serves quality food.

I popped in for a quick bite today and I have to say, I was surprised. The place is big, really big, probably about 2,500 square feet with 18 - 20 foot high ceilings which makes it feel even bigger. And boy is it bright in there, did I mention that already? Like the sun.

The tables are set far enough apart and there is enough room for a convention in this place, and everything is nice, new, neat, and shiny. Part of the reason I thought it was new is simply because everything looks brand new. It is spotless.

The first thing you notice (after you put your sunglasses on) is how many people are working in this place, which when I was there was about 15 people just in the front of the house. That's a lot of people, especially since there were only 4 other customers in there at 4:30pm on a Thursday. And while I can't say all the employees looked like they were giddy with joy to be there, I can say that they watch the place like hawks, including what appeared to be a Manger standing on the floor surveying the room and looking for any sign of a problem.

The menu here is pretty basic, but there are plenty of choices; Hot Dogs, Mac & Cheese, Sandwiches, Burgers, Salads and the like. The service is fast and the counter people friendly neat and no-nonsense. The food prep is pretty quick, and they deliver your food to your table after you've paid using numbers placed on stands which you bring to your table.

I could not resist trying the Hot Dog, and against my better judgement I ordered a Sloppy Joe Dog, which is also smothered with a layer of melted cheese, kind of like a cheese wiz clone. It looks pretty big when it comes (see above) and at $5.99 its pretty reasonable, especially considering you are technically on the edge of Times Square. The verdict? It was good, very good. The dog was great, and appears to be grilled and/or fried (some places finish them off in a fryer, which I like), and the Sloppy Joe sauce was delicious, I ate every drop, something I don't do very often. My only complaint is that buried under that giant pile of Sloppy Joe and Cheese I was hoping for a bigger dog. I didn't get that wish, its a little on the small side, and had I known that I would have ordered two. I also ordered a Chocolate Shake, which is one of my favorite things, and it was also excellent, though perhaps a little small for $5.99, but as I always say, you get what you pay for.

Not that you need to know the details, but I have a very sensitive stomach, and it knows when I am eating crap and/or the food isn't fresh, and I am happy to report that my stomach says that this is good stuff.

This is the kind of reliable place you can eat at once or twice a week, or perhaps even more often, and I likely will.

They also do delivery, with a pretty wide delivery range (12th Ave to 5th Ave, and 31st Street to 51st Street), which is pretty unusual for a place this big, let alone for a place near Times Square. I will be testing out their delivery soon enough and report back on it.

So, for food, I give Schnippers a B+ for being very good and well above average (though final judgement is reserved for after I have had more menu items), and I give them an A- all the way around for cleanliness, staff, store layout and design.

I will most certainly be back to try the burgers, fries, mac & cheese, and the sandwiches (not all at once), and I will let you know. Also, as a final note, they open at 7am for breakfast Monday thru Friday, and the breakfast menu looks tempting.

Schnippers Quality Kitchen
620 8th Avenue (Southeast corner of 41st Street)
New York, NY 10018
212.921.2400
www.schnippers.com

Senator Tom Duane: Finally, a Politician who gives a ....

2010-08-26T16:12:00.009-04:00

Though I try to remain non-partisan for the purposes of this Blog, I wanted to mention a particular Politician who much to my surprise helped me out this Spring. That Politician is Tom Duane, and for those of you who don't know, Mr. Duane (Senator Duane) is the New York State Senator (Democrat) representing Hell's Kitchen.

The short of the story without getting into the personal particulars is that I had a problem with a State Agency, and after two and half months of frustration, fax's, dozens of phone calls where more often than not the line was either busy or I was put on "death hold", and being near wits end, I emailed Senator Duane's office asking, actually begging, for help.

To my amazement 24 hours later I received an email from a staffer at Mr. Duane's office, John Bartos, whose sole job it is to deal with problems such as mine amongst those in Senator Duane's district. The real shock is that exactly 7 days later, with only two more emails, my problem was magically solved.

I'm not a fan or politics, and I am especially not a fan of politicians, however, this was my first experience reaching out for help, and it was a nice surprise to find someone who not only cared, but who actually did something. And while this doesn't change my opinion of politics or politicians, it does change my opinion of one particular State Senator.

If you need some help with a relevant issue, give them a shout.

Thanks Tom....and John.

John Bartos
Constituent Liaison
New York State Senator Thomas K. Duane
322 Eighth Avenue, Suite 1700
New York, NY 10001
(212) 633-8052
(212) 633-8096 [Fax]
www.tomduane.com

INK 48: The Hotel

2010-08-25T11:33:00.004-04:00

Ink 48: 1BR Suite Bed

Ink 48: 1BR Suite Bathroom

Ok, so we pulled an all-nighter to write about the trifecta at INK 48; the hotel, restaurant, and lounge on 11th Avenue & West 48th Street.

This final installment about the hotel itself is going to be a little different, as I can't be everywhere, so I thought I would give this a shot and see how it goes for circumstances where I am not able to or likely to check something out first hand.

Luckily for me my very reliable friend "C" who also lives in Hell's Kitchen, just had a birthday, and her incredibly generous husband, "S" took her to INK 48 for the night (you wouldn't even believe what he got her for her birthday if I told you), so I asked her to give me the facts of her evening there so that I could share them with you, as alas, I will have no occasion anytime soon to stay at the hotel. Yeah, I know, I can feel your tears for me.

The following are excerpts and quotes from my friend C's stay at INK 48 last week. I asked her to write this up for me, and I verified all of the details as best I could, though I trust that C's description of her stay there with her husband is accurate.

So, onto to the details. C and her husband stayed on then 14th floor in a one bedroom suite which had floor to ceiling windows overlooking the Hudson River.The suite was about 500 square feet although they thought it seemed larger than that. The bathroom was so large that C stated, "I could have put a queen size mattress on the floor of the bathroom without coming close to touching the tub". Now that is a big bathroom - nice. She continues, "The living room area has a beautiful desk ,lounge chair, sofa, coffee table and a 40 inch flat screen TV, all decorated in shades of green and brown. The floor was carpeted, and the suite was very modern and elegant. It also had two large closets equipped with two leopard print terrycloth (very exotic) robes that you can use during your stay or purchase them for $120 each."

She goes on to say, "The bathroom was stunning with a huge bathtub and separate shower that had four shower heads, one overhead and three shooting water from the sides. Its awesome! The bedroom had a king size bed and also had floor to ceiling windows with a another 40 inch flat screen TV, in addition to the one in the living area. The bed was VERY comfortable with a white down comforter, and it was heavenly -- the bed and the comforter. There was a night stand on both sides of the bed and the flat screen TV sat on top of a large brown dresser.You could lay in bed and enjoy the view of the river or close all the blackout shades and just relax and watch TV.There was no kitchen or bar in the room but there is a beautiful roof deck lounge with a bar on the 16th floor, which is called Press. The room was very quiet and there is a gym and spa in the hotel but unfortunately we didn't have the chance to check either out, though hopefully we will be back again so I can do that."

For breakfast the birthday girl decided to get room service and put in the order the night before and asked to have it delivered at 10am. When they woke up at 9am they called to ask if they could have their breakfast earlier, and C goes on to tell me that, "They were so friendly and accommodating, and our breakfast was there within 15 minutes of us calling. The gentleman who delivered it couldn't have been any nicer, more polite or more professional. He brought our breakfast into the room, opened it all up and showed it to us to make sure everything was correct. Excellent service." C tells me that she had, "Scrambled eggs, potatoes, toast and coffee, with her husband having a bagel with lox, and all were excellent."

The one downside, apparently, is that its VERY expensive. C closes by saying, "Although the food and service was good it was way overpriced, as the breakfast was $85, and the room itself was only $295 for the night. We had an overall great experience and we will definitely recommend this hotel to others."

So, from my experience this sounds like all of the good things about a boutique hotel; quiet, great service, great amenities but with much larger rooms than similar hotels like The Standard or The Gansevoort, both of whose rooms I am told are very small. The room price here is pretty good for a high end boutique hotel during the summer as you should expect to pay $300 - $400 a night at any of the comparable boutique hotels in Soho or The Meat Packing District for a very small standard room, and this one was a suite for $295. Not bad at all.

As to the over the top cost of breakfast, well, its New York City and its a boutique hotel, and a high end boutique at that, which also happens to have a top notch farm-to-table restaurant inside, so for those of you that have gone to any really great hotel here in NYC, though the price sounds ridiculous, you will know that this is pretty much on the money for a full breakfast for two adults. However, if you want to have the same hotel experience minus the $85 breakfast, you can walk 5 short blocks South to the recently renovated Market Diner and have the same breakfast in a pretty cool spot (or outside in the cafe), for less than 25% of the price.

SO, for the first time we are handing out a grade second hand, but we are pretty confident on this one, as we have been in the hotel, been to the restaurant, AND been to the rooftop lounge (so I don't wanna hear any bitching), and we trust our old friend C and her husband.

I give INK 48 an A- for the rooms and their amenities, and an A+ for the views. We give the hotel design, service, cleanliness and appearance a solid A. I give the room pricing a B+, as I think the prices are more than competitive. Lastly, I give the room service an A for quality and service, but a B- for being priced the same as the Four Seasons.

INK 48 Hotel

653 11th Avenue (@ West 48th Street)

NY, NY 10036

212.757.0088

www.ink48.com

INK 48: Press Rooftop Lounge

2010-08-25T06:00:00.004-04:00

Following my dinner at Print Restaurant in the lobby, and though my companion and I weren't planning on it, on our way out the door the Maitre d' asked us if we would like to head up to the Press Rooftop Lounge, which is on the 16th Floor, and escorted us to the front of the short line for the express elevator to the roof.

Now I am not a club guy, or a fancy velvet rope kind of guy, but I love a great view, and hands down, in my opinion, this is the best view on the West Side, as well being a HUGE and extremely tastefully and well decorated outdoor lounge. Perhaps the rooftop lounge/club on top of the ~~Nightmare~~ Standard Hotel is close, however, I have not, nor am I likely to ever be up there, so odds are I'm never gonna find out.The nearest comparison that comes to mind is the Gansevoort Hotel Rooftop, which unfortunately I have been to several times, and I am NOT a fan of it, and you probably aren't either unless you are a creepy 50 something male banker who likes to ogle 22 year old women that are never going to go home with you, or you are one of the aforementioned 22 year old women who likes free drinks from aging creepy bankers.

Thankfully Press is in another category all together from style, crowd, view, space and just about everything else.

The crowd here is young and fresh, from early/mid twenties to late 30's and casually but stylishly dressed. The view is drop dead and 360 degrees, as the lounge covers the entire roof, which also includes a small decorative pool and lots of seating with comfortable chairs and couches.

The interior lounge is surprisingly nice, modern, and quite large with massive floor to ceiling windows, so that even in bad weather you can sit and enjoy the view. The bar is decent sized with about 10 stools or so, and a dramatic wall behind it with a fairly well stocked bar. The room has plenty of stand-up tables, stools and seating.

On my visit here it was pretty subdued, with a decent crowd of people, but well spread out and making it appear that there were far fewer people than there actually were.

Drinks ain't cheap here folks, as one would expect (or at least as I expected) so bring your Gold or Platinum card; each glass of Prosecco ran me about $14 each, which is up there for Hell's Kitchen, but considering what you are getting in exchange and comparing it to other similar rooftop venues, its actually on the moderate to average side.

Press gets an A for the view, the design and the layout, as well as for (so far) NOT having the requisite rooftop lounge douchey crowd., and a B for drink prices. So, for the view alone (as well as for not being douchey), Press makes it onto our Best of HKL list.

Press Rooftop Lounge (@ INK 48)

653 11th Avenue (@48th Street)

16th Floor

NY, NY 10036

212.757.2224

http://www.ink48.com/new-york-dining/index.html

INK 48: Print Restaurant

2010-08-25T02:00:00.024-04:00

It ain't easy to do 3 things at the same time and do any of them well, let alone all of them, so its a rare and pleasant surprise to find a place where that is exactly whats going on, and that place is INK 48; Hotel, Restaurant, and Rooftop Lounge (Westside of 11th Avenue @ 48th Street).

Lets start with the obvious for those familiar with the are, and particularly for those not familiar with the area. This is a flat out weird spot for a hotel or a restaurant, though perhaps a good one for a lounge or a club. Its on a pretty desolate stretch of 11th Avenue that is dead as a doornail at night once the car dealers close up, save for the Penthouse Club (we'll save that for another post) and down a bit in the 50s the Hustler Club (and this one too), Pacha on the West Side Highway, and Terminal 5.

The focus today is the Hotels restaurant, Print, which is a European inspired farm-to-table restaurant, which means that everything comes in fresh daily from New York State farms and vendors. Its located off the lobby on the first floor, and if you like subdued modern design, this is your spot. The colors are right out of West Elm, very contemporary, and right up my alley as far as modern design goes, but not over the top just tastefully done, and certainly not cheaply (trust me, there is nothing here from West Elm).

The restaurant opened in February of this year, and on my mid week visit on a blisteringly hot night at the end of June it was busy, but not overly crowded. I used Open Table, as I usually do when I go anywhere that has table cloths, and I had no trouble getting a reservation.

The layout is well done, with the bar seperated from the restaurant, and the tables far enough apart to quell my Xenophobically induced Claustrophobia. There are a series of tables, some with large couches on one side and chairs on the other, as well as banquette seating along the wall, and a large communal table with standing stools next to the bar, which by the way is farily small with only six stools, but for some reason it looks bigger.

To get right to the point, as one would expect (or at least I did), the food was spectacular. My dinner companion and I shared the Oysters, which I normally don't eat, and they were quite tasty, but according to my companion who eats them frequently, they were delicious. The Market Green Salad looked and tasted as it had just come from the market, which in this case is a good thing - fresh, crisp, and delicious.The Skirt Steak was perfectly prepared (which is not always the case in my experience) and a pleasure to eat - truly. Desert was no different with an orgasm inducing Frozen Hazelnut Parfait with a side of what I believe was homemade ice cream. Desert was accompanied by a fresh brewed mini pot of coffee, which was also excellent.

It wasn't cheap, however, considering what it is, how good it is, and how nice the physical restaurant is, I consider it to be moderately priced. The total tab (not including tip) for two people and more drinks than I care to count (my companion does not drink, so they were all mine), was $163, all in all, pretty good.

So, for food I give Print a solid A, as this is clearly one of the best restaurants on the West Side of Manhattan, if not in the city. For decor and service, they also get an A. Location, which on one hand I love for being way out of the way, gets a C+ overall for being a very sketchy walk at night to anywhere (don't do it - take a cab), especially if you are with a lady.

So, this one is a no-brainer...Best of HKL all they way.

In my next Post, INK 48's rooftop lounge, Press.

Print Restaurant @ INK 48

653 11th Avenue (@ 48th Street)

NY, NY 10036

212.757.2224

www.printrestaurant.com

Hell's Kitchen Syndicate

2010-08-24T23:30:00.017-04:00

Hell's Kitchen Syndicate

t-shirt, circa 2002

Hell's Kitchen Syndicate

Label

Hell's Kitchen Syndicate

t-shirt, circa 2010

Hell's Kitchen Syndicate

t-shirt, circa 2006

Hell's Kitchen Syndicate

t-shirt, circa 2010

Today's little gem is about two things, cool sh*t (which by the way there isn't a lot of these days), and a veteran Hell's Kitchen business, the last of a breed that I hope will stick around.

So, first things first, the cool sh*t; Hell's Kitchen Syndicate (no website) clothing, or at least that's what it was called about 7 or 8 years ago when a friend turned me on to it

I hate to blow up my spots, especially the ones with cool stuff, but unfortunately for me that's the whole purpose of HKL, so occasionally I have to take one for the team for the greater good of the hood.

I'm not sure what the company/clothing line is called anymore, as the labels and shirts don't say Hell's Kitchen Syndicate anymore (see old label above), and there is no website, however, I do know it's the same guy still making the shirts as it was in 2002. Regardless of the company name, as far as I'm concerned they are pretty damn hot, original and different from anything else out there. Its also the only real branded clothing that I have seen featuring "Hell's Kitchen" on it, other than the crap t-shirts you get for $5 at the 9th Avenue street fair.

Here's the catch; the shirts are only sold at one store, and they ain't easy to get, especially if you wear a regular guy size like Medium or Large, as I do. The deliveries are not on a schedule, and you never know what he is going to bring in or when he's gonna bring it, so its hit or miss, which is what keeps me going back to the store every 2 or 3 weeks to try and catch a fresh batch. Where is the store you ask? Its Video Cafe (West side of 9th Avenue between 45th & 46th Streets). This store is one of the last, if not THE last Video/DVD rental store left in Hell's Kitchen. The shirts bring in a decent business, however, I would hate to see this store leave the neighborhood, so I encourage everyone to stop in and check it out. They couldn't be any nicer in the store and it has that old neighborhood feel that is sadly very hard to find these days.

The shirts aren't cheap, but they are reasonable ($20-$25), and there is a good variety including long-sleeves, short-sleeves, sleeve-less, and sweatshirts and hats, all with different designs depending on what comes in that week. You just gotta catch em on the right day.

So, Hell's Kitchen Syndicate gets our Best of HKL for making cool sh*t, and Video Cafe gets our Best of HKL award for surviving in a tough neighborhood in an even tougher economy. Rock on...

Video Cafe (Featuring Hell's Kitchen Syndicate Clothing)

649 9th Avenue (Between 45th & 46th Streets)

NY, NY 10036

212.765.6165

www.video-cafe.net

The Real Thing: 44 & X

2010-08-23T17:25:00.000-04:00

I have mentioned this several times in previous Posts; there are not enough great restaurants in Hell's Kitchen. I don't think too many people will argue this point, which in my mind borders on fact.

I don't like Restaurant Row (which is not a secret), and in my opinion, there are only a few really good restaurants there anyway. Beyond that, I can count the really good and/or great restaurants on my hands and have fingers left over. 44 & X (Northeast corner of 10th Avenue & 44th Street) is thankfully NOT on Restaurant Row and thankfully it IS one of those rare places that I can count on my fingers, as well as being a place that every time I dine there I can count on (for nearly 12 years) it being the same, which in this case means thats its excellent every time.

Its hard to be good all the time (trust me on this), and its even harder to be great all the time, even most of the time, and thats part of what makes 44 & X so appealing, its always good, and almost always great.

For the record, my most recent visit was about 10 days ago for dinner with my lawyer (he paid, thankfully).

So, lets get on with it.

The owners of of 44 & X, Scott Hart and Bruce Horowytz, first opened up Xth Avenue Lounge (formerly on 10th Avenue between 45th & 46th Streets - now Closed) in the mid 90's. They followed that up with 44 & X, which is a Modern American restaurant not long after. In the years following, they opened 44 1/2, a Bistro/Cafe next door, which I will cover in a future Post.

44 & X is modern in every sense, though its decor is virtually unchanged since I first visited in the late 90's. For many years this was considered to be the only good restaurant in Hell's Kitchen outside of Restaurant Row, and has always garnered stellar reviews, so what I am about to say is not really original or breaking news, however, I think it may have gotten lost in the shuffle and boom over the last 10 years.

The first thing you notice about 44 & X when you walk up is there is a lot of white inside. A lot. The next thing you notice is that the staff appear to have all come out of a modeling "Look Book". Most of the servers are men here, and all are very professional and friendly. The interior is fairly large with a small/medium sized bar. The place is almost always full for dinner, though I have never had to wait much more than 10 minutes for a table, if at all. It would appear that the clientèle is primarily from Hell's Kitchen, though there is no way to know that for sure, its just a vibe, and its a good one as far as I am concerned. Very few tourists to be found here in my experience.

The inside seating is a just a little too tight for my taste - the tables are too close to together. As I have mentioned in previous Post's, its a pet peeve of mine as I have Xenophobicly induced Claustrophobia (I just made that up, but its supposed to mean fear of strangers being too close in tight spaces, which is actually something that really does freak me out). Though its really not that tight and its tolerable for most normal people, however, being that I am clearly not normal I prefer to eat outside, as I did on my last two visits (both in August). They have a nice outdoor cafe which isn't too tight and the location is past the traffic jams of 41st Street - 43rd Street, so its fairly quiet, at least as much as one can expect for 10th Avenue.

So onto my favorite part of any meal; the drinks. I am not a big liquor drinker, but I do love wine and sparkling wine, and they have a very good list, which includes some of my favorite things, such as Johannesburg Reisling, Cakebread Sauvignon Blanc, Veuve Clicquot, and Astoria Prosecco (my favorite for mass consumption). Markups and bottle prices are very reasonable here, something that is not usually the case with a place of this quality, and there is a decent selection by the glass as well.

Last and certainly not least, the food. Needless to say, as you probably figured out by this point, its superb. For some strange reason, in the last 12 years I have been going here I have only had dinner, which I am quite certain is my loss as I can only assume that the lunch and brunch here are equally as good as the dinner.

As we all know by now, I am creature of habit, thus I tend to find great things and eat them over and over, and the same applies here. The Buttermilk Fried Chicken (my most recent main course) is one of the best I have ever had, and is always perfect, served with collard greens and a chive waffle (I don't live Chives, but I still ate it, and it was great). I have also had the Lemon Pepper Chicken, Maine Lobster Salad, Grilled Sirloin Steak, and the Vermont Cheddar Macaroni and Cheese, which is absolutely spectacular and big enough for 2 or 3 normal sized humans. The Mashed Potato's and Fries are also noteworthy sides, particularly the Mashed.

Entrée prices ranges from $14 - $34, which is certainly reasonable and well in line with any other restaurant of the same quality, however, it may just be a little steep for many in the neighborhood for everyday dining, but in my opinion it's worth every penny, and easily a spot I could go to once a week, though I will likely need Open Heart Surgery if I do that.

I want to add this, though I'm pretty sure its not politically correct and I have not seen it commented on in any place other than in Gay oriented publications (which this clearly is not) however, I think its important. 44 & X is Gay friendly (though by no means should be labeled as a "Gay Restaurant" for those that like to label things). How do I know its Gay friendly? Well, I'm not Gay myself, and I can't qualify or quantify my statement, I can only tell you that its true, and that sadly every place is not, and I think its something that is very important and worth noting.

Tolerance and equality is paramount above everything else, including great food and great atmosphere.

So, as to the report card, 44 & X gets an A- for the space, an A- for service and atmosphere, a solid A for the food and wine list, and a B+ for the pricing, as its a little pricey for everyday dining in this neighborhood, but not outrageous, and as I say, you get what you pay for.

Thus, its a no-brainer that we reward 44 & X for their years of great food and great service with the Best of HKL designation.

44 & X

622 10th Avenue (Northeast Corner of 44th Street)NY, NY 10036
212.977.1170
www.44andX.com

Vacant Lots Worry Me: What's Next?

2010-08-21T12:46:00.031-04:00

The not so vacant lot on the Southwest
corner of 41st Street and 10th Avenue.

Vacant lots scare me. There aren't a lot of them left in Manhattan under 96th Street altogether, and in Hell's Kitchen they are pretty rare. The reason they scare me can be seen in the photo above, as in the last 10 years any vacant lot that looks like this one usually means that another giant obnoxious and unnecessary building is going up (more to come in future posts about that topic), and if you look around the Skyline of Western Hell's Kitchen you can see that the last thing we need here is another high-rise.

However, the strange thing about this vacant lot is that its on an odd island shaped block right next to the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel on the Southwest corner of 41st Street and 10th Avenue, and also adjacent to land owned and primarily occupied (half of the entire block) by the The Croatian Church of Sts. Cyril & Methodius, a spectacular and recently renovated 96 year old neo-gothic Croatian Church. I also presume that the Church owns this vacant lot, but I could not confirm that.

So heres the thing, the lot which up until a few years ago was the site of a van and truck rental business, was cleared about two years ago and thereafter became a semi-construction site. Whats odd about this is that the site is fenced off, loaded with construction equipment, active sometimes 18 hours a day, and it appears to have machinery working inside the lot, however, the lot still has had no construction done to it as you can see from the photo. In recent weeks the lot which was nearly full of construction equipment and supplies was emptied with a steady flow of trailer trucks hauling material and equipment out over the last several weeks.

My best guess is that this lot is a holding spot for one of the other massive construction sites, perhaps for the one diagonally across the street which is the embarrassing monstrosity that takes up an entire city block between Dyer Avenue and 10th Avenue to the East and West, and 42nd Street and 41st Street to the North and South.

I thought for a short time that this site might be part of the planned 41st Street/10th Avenue Subway Station for the 7 Line extension (Read about it HERE), however, it would appear that though there are murmurs and the usual overly optimistic political posturing by City Hall, that this is a fantasy as the city can barely afford to pay Teachers, Cops, and Fireman, and the State is nearly bankrupt and without a budget, so the likelihood of either the State or City coming up with $500 Million for this project is about the same as me coming up with $500 million to build my own private Subway line.

So, the mystery remains until further investigation or tips prove otherwise. Until then, we can only pray it won't be another high-rise.

Tips: For Tourists

2010-08-20T22:47:00.029-04:00

Most native New Yorkers don't like tourists, which is odd since our economy here is heavily dependent on them. Sadly, I am guilty of this as well.

I have only perhaps encountered a similar sentiment once in my travels in the last 25 years, but it wasn't anti-tourist, it was anti-American. But that is a story for another day.

With the aforementioned in mind, I thought it might be helpful to our foreign (foreign means anyone not living in NYC) friends to give them a little guide of sorts when visiting Hell's Kitchen and Times Square to make life both safer and easier for them as well as us. Thus, my ~~tips~~ Rules for Tourists...

RULES FOR TOURISTS:

1. Don't look up and/or point at skyscrapers, as when you do you just look silly and we (all of us who live here) just laugh at you and mutter "Stupid tourists" under our breath. You really do look stupid when you do this.

2. Don't stand in the middle of the sidewalk - period - EVER. This is really common sense even if you don't have sidewalks wherever you come from. This is also the number one irritant to us New Yorkers, and if you do this we are likely to push you or knock you over (on purpose of course), and if we don't, we are certainly thinking about it and we will at the very least curse at you instead and wish we had knocked you over.

3. Don't stand on the sidewalk with a giant map of NYC open looking like a lost bewildered lamb. This not only makes you look foolish, it also puts a giant target on your back that says "Hi, I'm a tourist, I am lost, please rob me".This goes ditto for walking around with a camera around your neck (which makes you look like an idiot in any city) or wearing a dopey fanny pack.

4. Do I really even need to say this? DON'T count your money out in the open, especially in the street, in the lobby of a hotel, or in a bar. This says, "Hi, I'm a moron, please rob me".

5. If you are going to ask for directions, ask someone who is walking a dog or has a baby stroller, as its likely they don't live too far away from where they are walking. Plus people with dogs and baby strollers are usually nicer and less likely to curse at you (or rob you), at least most of the time.

6. Don't walk alone at night after 11pm, especially down side streets between 10th Ave and 12th Ave (even with more than one person). The same goes for the subway after 11pm. Take a cab. Sh*t happens late at night here. Trust me.

7. When you go to restaurants and bars, regardless of what the custom is in your state or country is, TIP the bartenders and waiters/waitresses (15% - 20% is standard). Tips are NOT included in the price here and bartenders and waiters/waitresses make $4.65 an hour under the server wage so they are not working for fun or compliments, they work for tips.

8. We don't care where you are from or whether or not you can speak English, however, if you act like a d*ck, we will treat you like one.

9. If you go to restaurants in Times Square, expect to overpay for everything, wait far to long to be seated, and to get mediocre to bad food. Head to 9th or 10th Avenue for the real experience and patronize the local places that will be happy to have your business and in most cases have better food and better service (see my other postings for which are the best). Basically, stay away from Times Square - its a waste of time and money.

10. If you think something is wrong, it usually is, especially in Hell's Kitchen...RUN!