Happy Monday — and welcome to a new week. I’m a lover of Winston Churchill quotes. One of my favorites is: “If I had more time, I’d have written you a shorter letter.” However, on a closer check, it appears it’s been attributed to many others including Mark Twain, George Bernard Shaw, Voltaire, Blaise Pascal, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Cato, Cicero, and Benjamin Franklin.
Yesterday, I headed over to Times Square to listen to Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and a group of local Business Improvement District leaders talk about the crisis in midtown. “People are shooting up and shooting each other,” said Times Square President Tom Harris. More details here…
Afterward, I was given a copy of the obligatory letter that had been sent to various officials. There’s a lot of letter writing in this town.
In response to our article about Walgreens closing a Hell’s Kitchen pharmacy, local elected officials wrote a letter in support of Steve Kaufman, Enza Santoro and staff at Duane Reade on 9th Avenue.
Interestingly, when checking the responses to the publication of the letter on Twitter by Senator Brad Hoylman, many pointed to shoplifting as the cause. However, a quick check showed that the source of this was a New York Times story about shoplifting in San Francisco — which has since been criticized for appearing to be a public relations ploy by Walgreens to cover up for massive layoffs. Here’s an analysis of that story.
Anyway, enough of the pains of reporting on local news — and reading all those letters… Did you see yesterday’s rainbow? If not, feast your eyes on these amazing images below from Ryan Sullivan of the circular double rainbow from the 47th Floor of Silver Towers and Michael Miller on the corner of W52nd Street and 9th Avenue.
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What we’ve been reading
“2, 4, 6, 8, we just want to urinate!” — “Old Jewish Men” protest for more public restrooms (and cheaper lox). (New York Post)
More high-rise construction is planned for 11th Avenue. (New York Yimby)
The hotel scam that took the city for $400k during COVID. (Curbed)
One in five C trains are not hitting the tracks. (amNY)
Timothée Chalamet profile — “to wear your heart on your sleeve is OK.” (Time)
Freeze Frame
Sting’s favorite New York corner looks a little different today. At 57th and 9th (the name of the singer’s 2016 album) Justino’s Pizza has taken over from the Morning Star Diner that permanently closed last December.
Staff were preparing at the weekend to open for the first time today at 10am. We are told that for now, they will continue to operate out of their 10th Avenue location too. Thanks to Juli Oliver for the tip!
Belated birthday greetings to Jeremy Kaplan and Kristin West — and happy birthday today to Tony Mayes.