Yesterday, American Airlines grounded hundreds of planes so that they could make some changes in wiring configuration to comply with FAA regulations. They started grounding planes mid-day, all of them from the McDonnell-Douglas Super 80 series, a descendant of the DC-9. According to the admittedly mixed reports, they have grounded all or nearly all of the MD-80s, which number 300 planes in American’s fleet. American flies many of these planes through La Guardia, mainly because the planes serve short and mid-range destinations from there (no cross-country flights). A quick glance at their flight schedules (and the frightening amount of knowledge I have compiled from flying upwards of 400,000 miles on American in the past 3 years alone) tells me that the bulk of their flights operated through La Guardia are MD-80s. They also operate several routes with MD-80s from Newark. This midday grounding has left thousands of passengers stranded around the country, many of them in La Guardia or trying to get home to La Guardia. This will likely continue to affect New York area airports for days since many connecting flights into and out of the New York area on American are served by MD-80s or are connecting through Chicago or Dallas, which are AA’s two hubs and are being heavily affected by the cancellations as well. Update: They have canceled 850 flights today.

American has not stated how long the groundings will last. They’ve said that there was no immediate safety concern, and that they were grounding the planes to comply with FAA regulations. The issue is with the bundling of wires that are located in the aircraft’s rear wheel well. In the MD-80, the engine and wing are located near the rear of the aircraft, and the engines and fuel tanks are very close to the rear wheels. The FAA’s concern is that improperly bundled wires could spark and ignite a fire from fuel or fuel fumes, leading to loss of control of the aircraft from a fire or electrical failure. Sounds like a safety concern to me.
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Photo of Round Valley from landbigfish.com

Today I received two bits of news that depressed me greatly – the failure of the congestion pricing plan and NJ’s proposed budget plan to close a number of state parks. Both legislative proposals relate to the environment and quality of life in this area.

The first issue – the congestion tax – has caused considerable debate, even among New Yorkers. Just take a look at the post below. I supported the plan for environmental reasons and I think its death shows a selfish lack of concern for the issue. I enjoyed hearing this quote from Bloomberg, “It takes a special type of cowardice for elected officials to refuse to stand up and vote their conscience on an issue that has been debated, and amended significantly to resolve many outstanding issues, for more than a year” (from www.ny1.com).

At the same time, I just heard the sad news that NJ budget cuts will result in the closure of a number of NJ state parks – including High Point and Round Valley. Environmentalists have suggested a number of alternative solutions to the park closings, including increasing the camping fees, but so far these suggestions have been ignored. These parks serve as campgrounds, swimming holes, fishing spots, and hiking trails for so many people! I’ve been a frequent visitor since childhood and, even now, try to get to one of these spots for a summer camping trip. Not far from the city, they act as some of the closest campsites and natural escapes for New Yorkers. They represent a natural and beautiful side of New Jersey so many people forget – a side Corzine doesn’t seem to think is that important to keep.

And today is just two weeks away from Earth Day!

In what is a very symbolic blow to NYC, the congestion pricing plan was laid to rest even before it was brought to life. The honour for that misdeed goes to “Scumbag Silver” a.k.a. Sheldon Silver the speaker of the NY State Assembly.

The proposal would have brought much needed relief to Manhattan’s chaotic traffic during weekdays.

Mr. Bloomberg and his supporters — including a vast array of civic environmental organizations, as well as key city officials like the City Council speaker, Christine C. Quinn, and other elected officials — viewed the proposal as a farsighted and essential step toward the city’s future growth. [link]

Even though I live in Brooklyn, I was for the congestion pricing plan and was pretty sure that it would go through. Of course I did not factor in the dumb-ass politicians from my own borough and others from Queens, Bronx and Staten Island.

…the plan was strongly opposed by a broad array of politicians from Queens, Brooklyn, and New York’s suburbs, who viewed the proposed congestion fee as regressive and Manhattan-centric.

This is not the first time that Scumbag Silver has derailed major environmental plans for NYC.

…The plan, which would have charged drivers $8 to enter parts of Manhattan during peak hours, was a huge blow to Mr. Bloomberg’s environmental agenda and political legacy, and his second major defeat at the hands of Mr. Silver and the state Assembly, which in 2005 blocked the mayor’s plan to redevelop the West Side railyards and allow a big sports stadium to be built there.

Seriously, if such nonsense continues for political gains, NYC is fast on its way to become a second tier world city lagging behind places like London, Tokyo and Paris. Why do smart people get stupid politicians ?

This afternoon while walking by the Whitney my beard was on the radio! My beard truly likes being on the radio, or in any spotlight type situation for that matter. A woman in a wheelchair who was sitting in a storefront with a microphone stopped me and asked me if my beard would answer some questions. (At least that’s what it heard!) She asked some generic “how long did it take to get to that length”, and “how do you eat” questions. My beard loves the attention and it was very nice to speak to someone nicely and respectfully. I often have people come up to me on the street and give me weird looks before asking with a sneer how long it took to grow that thing. Pleasant conversation is what a healthy beard desires.

Yes, I live on the Upper East Side, but it’s rare to find me out and about in my own ‘hood and hitting a local bar on Saturday reminded me why.

At 11pm, a friend called to let me know that she was at Mustang Grill (on 85th & 2nd) drinking a margarita and convinced me to meet up with her and a friend. I would normally say no, but I figured it would be easy enough to ignore the crowd and focus on my friends. Wrong!

As soon as I arrived, I found my friends being chatted up by a group of boys in their 20’s. OK, if they’re fun I’ll play along. Not quite. This one kid approached me and his line was… so, let’s figure out a cool drinking game to play. Ha! Drinking game? Seriously? I didn’t play them in college and I wasn’t about to start now. Of course, I mentioned this, along with some other remarks that he didn’t like so instead of giving up he thought it would be cute to try and insult me. Oh yes, THIS is what works. Calling him a “prick” didn’t get him to walk away either, so he thought he’d push me. Last straw kiddo. He finally walked away after I threatened him. Too bad someone broke up my verbal assault. I was hoping to get him to cry.

Even if you took that experience away, I can’t hang where I have to yell to hear my friends talk, where people are trying so damn hard to hook up, where boys have no respect for women that just want to be left alone, and where girls dance on the bar. Actually, if these girls could actually dance, then I probably wouldn’t mind so much.

If you happen to be in your 30’s and can’t deal with the “college like” bar scene… stay away from my ‘hood. Unless you’re up for wine. If that’s the case, I suggest you stop by Caffe Notte, Bar Vespa and my absolute FAVORITE, Pudding Stones.

Today was the first Sunday of the Brooklyn Flea for the year 2008. Brooklyn Flea is a flea market that meets every Sunday at Lafayette Avenue at the corner of Cleremont in Clinton Hill. From the pictures below you will see that the fair was packed today, the gusty winds not withstanding.

This is Brooklyn’s largest flea market in its hippest neighborhood. Its definitely worth a trip for all the non-brooklynites.

Check out more pics at Clintonhill

Photo from Wikipages.com

I enjoyed the first true day of spring outside in Manhattan. In this perfect weather, I gave a little tour for metroboxtv of some parks in the Financial District – Trinity Cemetary, the Elevated Acre, Vietnam Veterans Plaza, and Zuccotti Park. The day could not have been better for the filming.

After that, I decided to spend the rest of the day outdoors. I went to Central Park for a long walk and some reading by the pond. With the daffodils just starting to bloom and the trees ready to burst into flowers, everyone came out to enjoy spring. I just hope this weather isn’t a tease and we’re back to winter next week!

I’ve always been a fan of Donald Trump’s devil-may-care attitude, lies about his bald head, several failed marriages and 2 successful television seasons of a reality show. What I’m not fond of are the ugly monstrosities that Trump shoots up within a few months’ time and then calls them buildings.

What I’m especially not fond of are the buildings he puts up that destroy everything in its path. During my brief stint with the U.N. I knew a lot of colleagues that were upset about the ugly tall tower that sits right besides the Secretariat. He’s also run Conan O’Brien out of his own apartment by stealing its view. And the latest chronicle in his assault on the New York City skyline involves the death of a construction worker, tweaking city zoning guidelines and a lot of overall b.s.

I’m not sure where there’s a form available to have Trump stop, but someone needs to take charge of this campaign.

We all know them, we all watch them, and worst of all, we all remember them! After all, isn’t that the point? Especially the ones where they repeat a phone number [who can forget the Sheraton commercial decades ago -800-325-3535?]
OK here are my nominees
1) All the Bob’s Furniture ads [the "Bob-o-Pedic" mattress, or the modular sofa bigger than an entire NYC studio apt, with chaise and 2,4, or even 6 cup holders]

2) The Stanley Steemer spot with Toby the dog’s “new trick” [which is cleaning his butt on the new carpet-- hey lady, check out the dog's food!], and the horriffic cry of “Oh God, make him stop—–T-O-B-Y!!]

3) US Window Factory
a) the British guy who says “I don’t even live here, but I’m gonna move here……..”
b) the woman with the white lips outlined in red, 70s-style big disco hair, and the Lawn Guylind twang
“so cawl us; we’ll instawl yaw windahs…”
4) Empire Today 800-588-2300…… see?

5) The Grand Prospect Hall — elaborate violin music, grand staircase, huge crystal chandeliers, so far so good, then the music crescendos, abruptly stops, fade to couple on the spiral steps proclaiming
“We Mek-a Your Drims Kem Troo” in an accent that sounds like a mixture of Eastern European, Russian, and newly-arrived Sicilian”

and finally, who can forget:

6) Optimum Triple Play, complete with bongos, bling, mermaids, and rates to call Puerto Rico, and a number that tattoos on the brain —- 877-393-4-4-4-8!

7) Time Warner’s response — man eating his daily “colon-blow” cereal, when the doorbell rings;
man looks through peephole to see nerd with a comb-over, and murmurs “this should be fun”,
man opens door, and nerd says “Good Morning. [while making elaborate rainbow-colored arc-shaped sweep of his hand] Have you heard about [pause] THE FIBER??”
Man holds up cereal bowl, and says “I think I’m taken care of in that area” uh-LOL?
8) ___________________________________ write in your own

The winning ad agency gets the “noodgie” award, which is a download of a fingernail scratching a chalkboard!

The other day I was riding my bike through Central Park and decided to stop at the edge of the reservoir for a breather. A calm wind swept out over the reservoir and the sun shone brightly. I used a Kodak V570 with in camera panorama stitch to make this 180 degree shot. Spring is one of my favorite times in New York City. I look forward to many more days of calm reflection in Central Park.