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JOURNAL
June 2005
BILLIONAIRE BIG-MOUTHS TELL US WHAT WE WANT
During this prolonged fight, I wanted to ask the mayor if he had ever taken a bus ride down Ninth Avenue from midtown to Chelsea. During extended rush hours, this two-mile ride can take 45-minutes. I often choose to walk it! I also wanted to know if he has enjoyed the sublime Hudson River Park along the river, started by his predecessor Giuliani, and, if so, why he would want to add more noise and traffic to that oasis by the water.
A stadium in overcrowded Manhattan is the last thing we needed. Local residents would have needed to buy a weekend home just to escape when big games came to town. (I realize that's not a problem for out-of-touch Bloomberg.) Most of us don't want a bunch of beer-swilling Jerseyites noisily stampeding through our neighborhoods every Sunday. You don't see us going over there to party, right? (OK, maybe to Giants Stadium, but that's not in a residential neighborhood.) We have enough with our endless parade of parades from March to October, which celebrate partying more than anything else.
As for the Olympics, we don't need them either. Don't get me wrong: I'm a big fan and watch them every time they come around. But New York is already the greatest city in the world. What do we need to prove by having them here? There's something oddly insecure about a mayor and populace that constantly need to keep getting in the world's face to say "We're #1!" Please. The Olympics are for cities like Atlanta and Salt Lake City and Calgary — places that need the exposure and the growth. As for Atlanta, if you visited before '96 and after — as I did — you may have been shocked to see how the once-charming jewel of the south had become a metropolis of clogged five-lane highways, unattractive new highrises and strip malls. "Because of the Olympics," a local proudly told me. I guess he thought bigger trumped ugly.
And speaking of "trumping," that brings me to our other overexposed billionaire. Donald Trump. Trump, who stands for nothing but size and wealth and pleasure as far as I can see (an apprentice on his show suggested building low-income housing and was told my Trump's sidekick, "Mr. Trump would never build low-income housing") — and for such values some silly group recently crowned him "Father of the Year"! — also recently opened his big fat yap.
Trump had the audacity, after another design had been picked and planned for over two years, to unveil his idea for a new World Trade Center. He insulted the winning designer ("The worst piece of bullshit architecture I've ever seen") and then unveiled his own unique design: an exact replica of the original two towers, except one story higher! It's not enough for Trump to have one phallic symbol stretching up to the sky, he needs to have two. Nothing like causing friction in a city that is still trying to come to terms with 9/11, right Trump? When the local papers dubbed it "World Trump Center", Trump probably didn't seen the joke and thought that that would, indeed, be a great name for the creation. The only way I would agree with Trump's plan is if he personally put his residence and office on the top floor. Who else does he think is going to go up there? Completely out of touch.
It's a shame that so many of us are won over by the pronouncements of people with big money and big mouths but little other qualification. At least Bloomberg earned his, I think, although it's been too long since he's come down to the little people. Trump got Daddy's help but likes to imagine himself "self-made." Meanwhile, someone like our senior senator, Chuck Schumer, is still middle-class and has been untouched by corruption and is working hard for the people of New York. When's the last time you saw him in the paper or on TV?
The real New York is in the grit of its hardworking people, its colorful neighborhoods, its workers' hands all grabbing at the pole in the middle of the subway train to hold on during rush hour. They don't need the likes of Bloomberg and Trump, gazing down from their ivory towers, telling them what they want in their city.
What's Your Opinion?
KevScoHall@Verizon.net