The Great Flood of Aught Seven

It's hard to be an Excellent Walker in August, particularly the hot August we've been having. But I had no choice but to hoof it to work today, since all the subways were shut down after the three-inches-in-an-hour of rain we had this morning. By the time I got to the office, sweaty and on my way to a sunburn, I was in no mood for the cheery greeting I got from the receptionist, who, on a normal day has a problem getting here as early as 10am, so who is she to be all "I'm at work before you" on me?

People are complaining that the MTA should be better prepared for these situations (apparently many of the water pumps date from the 1930s, though I can't find a source for that), and I guess they should be. I think it's unrealistic, though, to expect a fully modernized system when that system is over 100 years old, operates 24/7, and transports millions of people a day. If you've tried to take the subway on the weekend, you know that they are always working on it. There's only so much they can do, though, without shutting the whole thing down. With that kind of daily use, they might as well be bailing water out of a sinking ship with a teaspoon.

What I do think is possible is a better communications system, both in terms of the hardware in the stations and the updates on the website, and getting instructions to the MTA workers who are -- rightly -- interrogated by commuters when something is wrong. All of those things failed this morning, and are still in failure mode at 2:45pm. The best information I got was from the media, who had dispatched reporters to various sites to, you know, report what was happening. Considering how likely it is that we'll have a true emergency in the subway one of these days -- i.e., a terrorist attack -- and that it's been six years since we've put urban terrorism on the top of our "to worry about a lot" list, you'd think we'd have at least made some progress there. You would, however, be wrong.

Neighborhood Changes

A couple of months ago, I wondered what was happening at the demolition site at 100th and Columbus, and figured it would be more luxury condominiums.

I turned out to be right about the condos. No big surprise there; condos are the only thing being built these days. But what was a surprise was that the real estate developers responsible for them have signed Whole Foods to be their main retail tenant. Meaning that instead of being able to get paper towels and shower curtains at the dollar store formerly in that spot, the neighborhood will now have easier access to overpriced, out-of-season produce.

Obviously, I will be there every day.

Things move really fast

Until recently, there was a supermarket on this corner, 100th and Columbus. Recently meaning, oh, a few weeks ago. It wasn't a supermarket I shopped at; none of the stores that were part of this now-demolished complex were. But probably the people who live in the Frederick Douglas housing project catty-corner to it, and the people who live in the Mitchell-Lama building next to it, did. Its place will be taken, no doubt, by yet another high-rise condominium, which, really, do we need this?


Apparently we do, because the church around the corner from me whose charming bells I hear every half hour sold its own retail complex -- which included a rug store and a tae kwan do studio, neither of which I'll miss -- for the same purpose. They're still demolishing it.


I wonder how long it will take the church to sell this vacant lot? Are there really going to be enough people to buy all these condos? I don't want them -- the people -- in my neighborhood. I don't want them waiting with me on the subway platform, shoving me out of the way in the tiny produce section at Gourmet Garage, making my Chinese food delivery 15, instead of 10, minutes away, because they're ordering from the same restaurant.

I realize progress is still defined by growth, and if Mayor Bloomberg's prediction that our city will be bigger by 1 million people by 2030, those people are going to have to live somewhere. I hope they open another Chinese restaurant in my neighborhood by then.