NBA - Owner's Loss and Player's Gain Not Anymore

Tired and sour-faced owners and players sit with NBA Commissioner David Stern after reaching an agreement to end the lockout.

This year’s NBA lockout, overlapping briefly with that of the NFL brought to light the fact that the inherent differences between ordinary US citizens and professional athletes, exists not only in natural ability but also in compensation for said ability.

The lockout originated when NBA owners stopped work after the expiration of the existing collective bargaining agreement established in order to avoid a lockout in 2005. The existing agreement granted the players 57% of all basketball-related income, it also included new age minimums for rookies (resulting in many top high-school athletes to attend college for a single year in order to continue playing until they were eligible for the NBA draft). The 2005 agreement was scheduled to expire on June 30, 2011, at which time having been unable to reach an agreement with players, the NBA owners ceased work.

Derek Fisher of the Los Angeles Lakers is the head of the NBA Player's Union and represented the players in negotiations.

The major issue driving owners to such an agreement stemmed from the enormous financial discrepancy between large and small market teams. Last season alone, the NBA reports that 22 of 30 teams lost money, amounting to a grand total of $300 million lost in a single season. As the owners sought to recompense those loses, they attempted to reduce the percent of income granted to players universally. The players refused to concede their salaries. This created the major sticking point in negotiations causing the NBA to cancel almost half of this season’s games.

The owners desired to so-called level the playing field by imposing a salary cap, reducing the overall spending potential of large-market teams namely those in New York, Los Angeles, Miami and Chicago. They also sought to create a 50-50% split between players and owners for all basketball-related income.

Michael Jordan, famous as one of the greatest basketball players the NBA has ever seen, and present owner of the Charlotte Bobcats lead NBA owners in demanding money from players' salaries.

Players immediately balked at such a suggestion. Their refusal to accept any deal granting them less than 51% of said income caused negotiations to drag out over months, with the NBA canceling the entire preseason, then the first half of November, then all of November. Negotiations remained stagnant until Thanksgiving weekend at which point a tentative agreement was reached granting the players as much as 51% of basketball-related income and as little as 49$, entirely based on performance.

While the players argued they were the league’s primary attraction, they seemed to neglect the role played by owners in league management and their enormous losses seemed irrelevant, establishing the question, when did they forget that they were at their core, entertainers?

Newtown Creek, Still Disgusting Now Has Hope

Newtown Creek, the infamous waterway dividing Queens from Brooklyn was designated in September of 2006 as a Superfund sight.

According to the EPA, the Superfund is “the Federal Government’s program to clean up the nation’s uncontrolled hazardous waste sites.”

Newtown Creek has long been rated by the EPA as one of the most polluted waters in the United States. Due to its convenient location, it has been utilized long before the 19^th century as a major thoroughfare for industry in and around Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan. However, lacking any natural waterflow – meaning that the water entering the stream has no natural paths of egress, creating within it an enormous backlog of filth stemming from general pollution due to water traffic as well as from the unregulated dumping of hazardous materials before any sort of organization existed for such regulation.

The Creek’s geographical location made it an obvious place for industry to establish itself several centuries ago, and to this day it remains as such. In 1870, Newtown Creek counted over 50 petroleum-processing plants along its banks while currently the Long Island Railroad maintains a freight line along the northern bank of the creek, while a liquid natural gas port is under construction along the south bank.

However the greatest source of pollution to the creek to this day came from the Greenpoint Oil Spill – one of the largest oil spills recorded in the history of the United States. According to Riverkeepers, the organization advocating clean-ups along all of New York’s waterways, the spill took places slowly yet consistently over the past century, in which between 17 and 30 million gallons of oil seeped from the ExxonMobile refinery along the creek across 50 acres of undeveloped land.

The spill itself wasn’t discovered until 1978 when a helicopter patrol discovered a massive plume of oil “flowing out of the banks of the creek” according to Riverkeepers. It was then that researchers discovered the full extent of the spill. And with the nature of the creek as lacking of any natural waterflow, the toxic sludge has seeped into the Creek, permeating the surrounding area with such a degree of filth that the very water is in a constant visible state of pollution.

However that is all hopefully about to change. According to the EPA, in 2010 $443 million was spent of appropriated funds to clean up currently existing Superfund sites, and their stated goal is to continue to raise that number in the future. With the new Superfund site, Newtown Creek can begin to expect substantial sums of money being spent on its renewal efforts.

Little Skips, Bushwick

Little Skips was the name Linda Thatch and her roommates or as she puts it, her “crazy bunch of soul mates all living under one roof” used to refer to themselves. Now it is the name of the restaurant, café and “fun house” that she co-owns with Henry Gluckroft in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

The block itself is random, across the street is a large Family Dollar store and a block down is a KFC, otherwise there is a church with a misspelled Alcoholics Anonymous sign constantly out front, a tae kwon do/zumba dance studio and some busted-sign bodegas.

However, on the corner of Myrtle and Willoughby Avenues sits Little Skips. The artwork both inside and outside is provided (and for sale) by Abel Macias, a half-Mexican artist from Atlanta. Abel painted the bunnies along the outside over a year ago and feels it’s time to touch them up again. Typical with his minimal, borderline cryptic responses was, “I just like painting bunnies” when asked why he felt the furry creatures were a suitable exterior decoration for the café.

Inside the café has dark wood floors and an assortment of tables and chairs. There are several of Abel’s art pieces on the walls, a series of faces on one side and across from it is a two-part painting titled “Blue Bull”.

The menu itself is influenced by Thatch’s Asian heritage. The sandwiches are all interesting combinations of ingredients, such as the Norwegian, which is an open facing sandwich with smoked salmon on toasted wheat bread with goat cheese, spinach, red onion, avocado, tomatoes and lemon vinaigrette.

Thatch had originally wanted to have a café/bar type environment where people could get “large frothy beers and pretty cocktails”, however after complications with licenses and costs, the liquor permit was never acquired and instead they focus on their espresso drinks.

“I wanted a place with something for everyone that was eco-conscious and environmentally friendly,” Thatch says about her Skips inspiration, “we got as many recycled materials as we could, the wood had a previous life, the paper was mostly recycled, I didn’t want straws…[not being green] is no longer an option in my opinion.”

Little Skips is constantly busy, providing a work and study space for many local students as well as the quality only coffee shop in the area. Opened in 2009, skips has added employees, branching beyond Thatch’s immediate group of friends and continues to exist as a Bushwick neighborhood staple.

The Mayor's Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting

The New York City Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting doesn’t want to make any money. On their website, the only item that has any sort of cost to it is a NYC Filming Permit, which carries a rather low price of $300 considering the array of features and benefits the city of New York heaps upon filmmakers.

The office’s major selling point is their “Made in NY” incentive program in which film and television productions are given a variety of assistance in various forms. The program offers productions potential exemption from New York City and State tax requirements. It also provides a discount card with an encompassing range of included vendors including hotels, airlines, car rentals and banking services. Additionally, if a production completes %75 of their filming within New York City, the city agency provides free minor marketing exposure, mostly in the form of bus-stop posters and the like.

Not only does the agency provide banking services to New York Film and Television productions, it also offers a concierge service which assists with every conceivable aspect of filming, or as their website states, “expanded service supports the entire production cycle.” The described features include, “story development and tie-ins to NYC agencies, scouting assistance and budget analysis, locations access to premium sites…assistance with global premieres and launches. Basically if you’re willing to shoot in New York City, The Mayor’s Office will do everything necessary to make that happen from – going off of their own list of benefits – financing the piece, writing and casting it through story development support and the ties to NYC agencies, provide discounted living accommodations, and then help launch the film world-wide.

All such services, however, come at a price. In August 2010, New York State passed an item its budget renewing the money allocated to supporting state tax breaks for films. The number decided upon was $2.1 billion dollars over five years, or $420 million a year. This vote closely followed several ongoing film and television productions decision to leave New York City due to uncertainty with New York tax credits. The greatest example of this move was the Fox television show Fringe who moved to Vancouver suddenly after filming their first season in NYC.

While the copy on the Mayor’s Office’s website may sound like it’s begging people to shoot in New York, there are legitimate reasons for such a push. Productions customarily spread money around the Neighborhoods they film in. In 2010, the film Premium Rush with Joseph Gordon-Levitt shot on the Upper West Side and Columbia Pictures donated $7,500 to the neighborhood, which they stated they would used to hire more workers to pick up trash. In an interview with a Manhattan local news source, DNA Info, Gina Liu – a location scout and assistant set manager for Disney, Warner Brothers and Columbia Pictures – said Disney gave out $5,000 in donations to neighborhood groups in Chinatown when they filmed Sorcerer’s Apprentice in 2009.

When Premium Rush filmed at Columbia University, the institution did not ask for a donation, but rather requested that the production hire several student filmmakers to work as production assistants. And so while the measurable benefits to location film shoots in New York are minor but better than nothing, the immeasurable benefits – such as city exposure, positive portrayals and the general sense that everything does indeed happen in New York – are great enough that New York continues to apply energy and resources to keep film productions coming to the city.

Basketball in Brooklyn

Last spring the largely unknown Long Island University men’s basketball team went an impressive 27-3 in league play to enter the NCAA tournament as the 15^th seed.

Long Island University, spread over two primary campuses, is a private institution with approximately 10,000 undergraduate students. While the largest and administratively focused campus is in Brookville, on Long Island’s North Shore; their smaller, more diverse campus is located in the center of Downtown Brooklyn, at the corner of Dekalb and Flatbush.

Basketball at LIU has a long and mostly ignored history; the Blackbirds won the National Invitation Tournament in 1939 and 1941. In their 1935-6 season they accumulated 32 consecutive wins, making them the clear favorite to represent the United States in the 1936 Berlin Olympics – however the largely Jewish team chose to boycott the games.

Then following the CCNY Point Shaving Scandal, in which a total of seven teams were implicated, four were from the Greater New York City Area, including LIU, the Blackbirds suspended their athletic program from 1951 to 1957 – also involved was the University of Kentucky, the winningest team in the history of college basketball.

The surrounding New York Area is fairly saturated with quality college basketball. With teams such as Syracuse, Cornell, Hofstra and St. Johns all playing relatively close to New York City, LIU basketball goes largely unnoticed. Syracuse University basketball plays in their famous Carrier Dome, which houses the largest collegiate crowds of up to 33,000 people, and has even set national collegiate attendance record at 34,616 people. St. Johns University, fourth in college basketball attendance, consistently plays 8 games in the universally known Madison Square Garden (capacity 19,000), whose website declares them “New York’s Team”. Meanwhile, the LIU Blackbirds play in their recently completed Wellness, Recreation and Athletics Center, which can hold 2,500 people. Tickets to see St. Johns basketball as MSG stretch from $25-155, while at LIU’s WRAC ticket prices stretch from student tickets at $3 to $8 for General Admission and then $15 for reserved seating.

The 112,000 square foot Wellness, Recreation and Athletics Center stands as the largest building project in the 78 years LIU has occupied their Brooklyn Campus. Completed in January 2006, the WRAC cost LIU $45 million. On a side note, previously their home gym had been inside the Paramount Theater, established by Paramount Pictures in 1928 as the first theater specifically for Talking Pictures. LIU acquired the property in the ‘60’s, converting it to space for classrooms and a gym.

Under their coach, Jim Ferry and with WRAC as their home gym, the Blackbirds completed last years regular season with 14 home wins. Combined with a nation-high 13 road wins, the Blackbirds finished their regular season with a record of 27-3, solidifying a spot for themselves as the 15 seed in the tournament for the National Championship (where they were defeated in the first round by University of North Carolina).

This season they have started off strong, going 2-0 in league play so far and 5-5 overall, putting them in first place for the North East division. On December 1^st the Blackbirds played Wagner for their home opener, they posted an unimpressive 78-73 victory over the Wagner Seahawks. Even following an injury to LIU’s close-second top-scorer and foul trouble for their two other leaders, Wagner still struggled to put points on the board. Though a close final score, Wagner never adjusted to a full-court press or intentional fouling, allowing LIU to coast to a marginal but definitive victory.

Occupy Anywhere, Just Not Here.

The Town Hall Meeting in the Kellen Gallery ended in a manner consistent to other discussions on the New School Occupation – lacking resolve.

Amidst the freshly-painted walls covering the defacement performed over Thanksgiving, the University Student Senate, President and Provost met with members of the student body, faculty and staff in order to find a solution to the New School Occupation.

In the meeting, a variety of New School students, faculty and staff members all echoed sentiments similar to those of the frustrated Financial District residents who wanted the occupiers cleared out, in that it isn’t the entire movement they were against, but they way some were conducting it and how that was negatively effecting them. Others however countered with opinions in full support, almost claiming the progressive nature of the school made it their (our) prerogative to produce aggressive, “political” art.

Ultimately, the meeting ended having accomplished little, if anything at all.

A Brief Look at the Iconography of Occupy Wall Street

First, in attempting to convey a classic, “All-American” theme, it comes off looking like a Civil War recruitment poster or a bourbon advertisement.

Content wise, this poster should probably be split into to separate banners. As it stands both the top and bottom half have the weight, removing any clear and natural direction for the eye to follow. The result of this is it seems jumbled – the framing doesn’t even really match from top to bottom, with the bottom corners wider than the top, as well as being different stylistically.

The top half in itself is a fairly effective poster; its message is clear and consistently worded. The bottom half however is a mess. As it is, the three levels (WE, ARE, 99) are in limbo. Through the size and spacing, our eyes are drawn immediately to the large “99”, which, as the focal point should be centered with even spacing and clear lines up both sides or should be a dramatically different size. Of those three levels, either one needs to be demonstrated as the most important and set out dramatically, or they should all be given equal weight and the focus should be consistent.

A well-designed graphic should effectively utilize the negative space (basically blank space), where this designer simply inserted small graphics and increased the size to almost entirely eliminate any negative space, which is why it feels cluttered and disjointed.

Also, the font and design appear to be trying to convey an “All-American” sentiment, however it ends up feeling more like a civil war recruitment poster or a bourbon ad.

As an image, this is framed nicely. Content-wise, it isn’t exactly clear. As this isn’t necessarily an advertisement, its message doesn’t have to be obviously understood, however some clarity (or at least something standing) would be nice and effective. The poster needs some oomph to it. Perhaps changing the white lettering to a bold, fiery red would go well with the serenity of the general image – also, increasing the font size would draw more focus to the purpose behind the image and it would seem less like just a pretty picture.

This is a well-created poster. The message is clear and it is an effective take-off of the British, “Keep Calm and Carry On” posters from World War II. Technically the distance between both the camera and “#occupy*” and the letters should be reduced, thereby moving them further away from the outer borders (even the crown in the original poster is rather close to the words and not way off towards the top). However, it works perfectly fine as is.

This poster could have been very good. Utilizing old propaganda-type formats works very well with a movement of this type and could be incredibly effective, however this poster needs to work on its negative space and special movement. Reducing the size of the “1%” man and moving him further into the corner while increasing the amount of people, tightening the gaps between them and spreading them further into the main focal space of the poster would effectively demonstrate the percentages they are attempting to convey. The entire piece could also be centered, demonstrating a sense of isolation, as one man stands alone with a mass of people before him. Also, the text box is unnecessary and aesthetically, should be removed. The text inside doesn’t say anything that visual itself isn’t already saying and so removing it wouldn’t take anything away from the message.

Graphically, this poster has major spacing issues, but aesthetics are probably not its primary focus. While the message can be understood, reducing the space between lines and pulling the letters in and away from the edges could simplify it. Using multiple fonts is fine, however it is an awkward transition between the two which could be remedied through spacing adjustments. Also, the line beneath “WE ARE” is redundant; the largest writing on a poster will inherently have the greatest focus, and by using such strong lettering the designer has given it all the emphasis it needs.

This poster is awkward. While it utilizes the bold, fiery red text missing in the other bull poster, it also opens up several additional issues. The lines framing “What is our one demand?” seem unnecessary and could be removed without detracting from the overall message, however, so could those words. They carry significance relating to many of the critical responses of the movement, however, “JOIN US” itself sort of does that on its own. On the “JOIN U.S.”, the periods abbreviating U and S are aesthetically detracting, and as far as the message goes, this doesn’t come off as a natural or effective place for wordplay and therefore appears unnecessary as well. Then, as with the other posters, the white text is very close to the bottom edge, which could be remedied by moving it up, however they could also just delete “Bring Tent” as it seems like an after-thought – or a joke. “JOIN US. September 17^th. Bring Tent.”

Stuyvesant Town - Peter Cooper Village

Covering 80 acres along the east side of Manhattan, Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village stretches from 1st Avenue and 14th Street over to Avenue C and up to 23rd St and the FDR. It houses over 25,000 people in over 11,000 apartments.

Construction spanned from year 1942 to 1947, with the complex opening its doors in 1947.

The first few years following its initial opening, the complex had strict rules preventing racial and ethnic diversity amongst its tenants.

Much of the 80 acres comprising Stuyvesant Town - Peter Cooper Village is devoted to green space and parks with playgrounds and basketball courts. Additionally among all of the walkways connecting the buildings are small grass-covered areas.

The complex has for its center a large lawn surrounding a notable fountain.

Stuyvesant Town - Peter Cooper Village contains an enormous amount of real-estate along East Manhattan.

Town Hall Meeting

The Town Hall Meeting, conducted by New School University administrators on Wednesday, October 27th was notable for its unique transparency. As one university employee stated during the question-and-answer period, the meeting was the best they had seen in the "22 years" of their New School tenure.

University officials began by explaining the various administrative improvements made of late, including the introduction of direct deposits for university reimbursements, the transition to Gmail for student and soon faculty email services and campus dorm improvements. The meeting then transitioned into academic developments, lauding the new bell schedule and the further potential it brings to the university academically, and then moving on to the creation of a integrated course catalog and its benefits.

After laying-out plans and timelines for the under-construction, 5th Avenue building, the administration discussed enrollment issues and their effects on the university as well as their comparable statistics relative to similar universities around the country.

Notably however, the stand-out issue during the question-and-answer section was that of diversity within the institution. With a separate faculty member standing to point-out each individual aspect of diversity they feel the university is lacking, it appeared as though the faculty felt a general, all-encompassing comment would not be strong enough and instead focused on every individual issue. However, after several of such comments, it would be difficult to believe the topic went un-noticed by university administrators.

Organized Occupation?

Many of the protestors at Occupy Wall Street are working to appear focused and organized but the group’s general appearance says otherwise.

Zuccotti Park looks like a mess. The center of the park is littered with sleeping bags, tarps, and duffel bags and backpacks. Above that there are booths and tables spread about, filled in with a few dozen people. Police officers stand in pairs surrounding the protestors.

And yet some structure can be found amongst the seeming chaos that is Zuccotti Park. Signs point out key gathering points for those eager to assist. Protestors are collected around tables distributing the “Occupied Wall Street Journal”, gathering stacks and taking them throughout the park to hand out to anyone around. Others have gathered around a woman being interviewed by a network television news station. At the top of the park a large group had collected around a set of drummers, holding signs and posing for pictures.

But nowhere can be found a central leader. The gatherings are arbitrary, one passionate young woman being interviewed has garnered quite a crowd around her as she yells about debt relief and student loans, yet no one around seemed to know why she in particular had been singled out.

When asked if they had seen any signs of central organization, two police officers standing nearby said there was none. “It’s a shanty town” one of the officers said, both of whom wished to remain unnamed, “do you see anything that looks like order?”

Four City Subway Stations Are Now Online

“For too long the subway system has been an information black hole in our lives,” said MTA Chairman Jay H. Walder in an October press release through Transit Wireless, the company formed specially to “provide a shared wireless infrastructure to enable commercial wireless services for the New York City Transit Authority. But now for AT&T and TMobile wireless customers, four subway stations are freed from that technological void as the first round of cell service connectivity is launched.

According to Transit Wireless, the original plan was to establish wireless capability in all of New York City’s 277 underground subway stations by 2016, however according to reporting done by CBS news, now Transit Wireless and the MTA hope to have total subway coverage finished over the next four years with a total projected cost of 100 to 200 million dollars. The two current service providers, AT&T and TMobile both have 10-year contracts with four additional 5-year renewal options. Transit Wireless stated in their October press release that receiving support from these two major carriers will benefit riders beyond just providing wireless service, but also by providing revenue to the MTA. Currently only the two carriers will be available, however in a press conference, Carmen Bianco, a senior vice president of subway operations for the MTA said they are still in talks with both Verizon and Spring, but that he couldn’t say when the carriers would be available.

Yet individual rider reactions are mixed. “It’s one of the last places you can’t use your cell phone,” Soule Golden, a 28-year old New Yorker said in an interview with the Daily News, “it’s annoying to have to listen to people talking on their cell phones all the time.” Others find it helpful for both simple connectivity and more practically for ensuring accurate directions within subway tunnels. “When I’m going from point A to point B, it’ll be nice to make sure I’m going the right way, since I’m not from the city,” Jessica Beuffkin, a recent New York addition told CBS news. While Bill Bayne, the CEO of Transit Wireless in a press conference said that the additional connectivity will help dramatically with transit safety, “For those of you who see something, down here we can enable you to say something” he said, playing off of the New York subway “see something, say something” theme.

Meanwhile, subway cell phone thefts are at an all-time high, prompting further questions as to what effect wireless connectivity on trains will have on this issue. “It will encourage people to bring [cell phones] out,” subway riders advocate Bill Henderson told Metro New York news in response to connectivity and thefts.

Ultimately, it appears that full-scale subway connectivity is on its way to becoming a reality but its effects on city transportation are still yet to be seen.

Bushwick CB4

Bushwick sits in Brooklyn’s 4^th community board, or CB4. “The areas now called Williamsburg, Greenpoint and Bushwick were originally one Dutch settlement, the Town of Bushwick.” Since separated, the Bushwick boundaries are now defined by Flushing Avenue to the west, down along the “odd-numbered side” of Broadway until the Eastern Parkway extension. Then the Brooklyn/Queens borough line provides the final side.

Bushwick is still remembered for the destruction that took place within its borders during the 1977 blackouts, with hundreds of stores burned and looted while other shop owners protected their businesses violently. An arson fire – reportedly the second worst fire in New York history – also spread destroying four block and forty-five homes. Since then the population diminished drastically. Figures show that in 1970 there were approximately 138,000 people living in Bushwick, in ’75 that number had decreased to 122,000 and the dropped further to 93,000 by 1980. However, by 2007 the population had increased to 129,980, still less than the population’s original strength.

With 38.9 percent of the Bushwick population foreign born, the neighborhood struggles financially. The seventh most impoverished neighborhood in the city, the approximate household income is around $28,800. In 2007 Bushwick averaged 25 felonies per 1000 persons, making it the 25^th most felonious community district in New York City.

However, in the past ten years steps have been made towards restoring Bushwick in the form of government-funded revitalization projects. Between housing improvements as well as revitalization projects within the neighborhood parks, and the comparatively low rent, Bushwick has seen a recent upsurge in population. Commercial development incentives have recently brought in new stores and restaurants and a recent population increase to support them. Thus Bushwick residents have high hopes for a full-scale resurgence.

New York City Sports Teams

New York is the only city in the United States to have at least two teams in each major sports league – for the sake of simplicity for interviewees, major being defined as Baseball, Basketball, Football and Hockey – and yet on a given day many residents have no idea a home game may be taking place mere miles away.

“I always like being in a bar and finding out the Yankees are playing because the drinks are way cheaper” says James Driscoll, a 23 year-old actor living in Manhattan. He claims to have never been “too sports focused”, even growing up in New England surrounded by Boston fans he still feels no real pull towards any team in particular. When asked to name two players from both the New England Patriots and the Boston Red Sox, he struggled. While he successfully remembered Pedroia and Ortiz from the Red Sox, the Patriots proved to be more difficult; he rapidly listed off Tom Brady but was disappointed to learn that Randy Moss was no longer on the roster.

However, James stands at one end of the spectrum. The majority of people interviewed felt some loyalty to hometown teams. Jason Burgouin, a 28 year-old chef from Miami says that while he supported them growing up, his interest in the Dolphins increased after moving to New York. “It’s like a connection to home,” Burgouin says, and while he’ll never move back to Florida, he enjoys keeping that connection open.

Out of twenty people questioned, Jason also was one of only four who could name all nine teams without further assistance. Additionally, two people were able to name the Islanders after learning the ninth unnamed team lay within the NHL – no great surprise seeing as the Islanders consistently average the lowest attendance rate in the National Hockey League. Nine people got the eight major teams, one knew 7 and the rest of the results were sprinkled between the 3 and 6 range.

However, New York teams (with the exception of the Islanders) don’t seem to suffer. According to ESPN, the 2010 season saw both the Giants and the Jets respectively averaging 3^rd and 4^th highest attendance rates. The New York Knicks’ average consistently lands them in the top-ten and the Yankees have been flip-flopping between the 1and 2 spot for the past ten years – the Mets’ position seems to be more performance-based. Hockey seems to be New York’s weakest sport; the Rangers have sat comfortably below the top ten for several years now while the Devils are a good deal below that. And then of course there are the unfortunate Islanders bringing up the rear.

In a city as wide and diverse as New York, interests are obviously going to be varied within a spectrum of entertainment options, and that seems to be the case specifically within athletics as well. Unless you’re near a bar or a stadium, you may not even know there is a home game. However, that ultimately doesn’t seem to take much of a toll on the teams themselves. Evidently enough New Yorkers do care about for them to continue garnering top support around the nation.

Links

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/18/nyregion/rays-pizza-the-first-of-many-counts-down-to-last-slice.html?pagewanted=1&ref=nyregion

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/19/nyregion/uprooting-the-old-familiar-parking-meter.html?ref=nyregion

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/17/wall-street-protest-begins-with-demonstrators-blocked/?ref=nyregion&gwh=B80635A06E475D1B6EF06251526931F6

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Massive-Toll-Hikes-Go-into-Effect-130064458.html

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Pumpkin-Shortage-Warnings-in-Northeast-130065363.html

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Park51-Islamic-Center-Opens-Community-Space-130071553.html

Arion Place

The block along Arion Place is lined with houses with mostly gated sidewalks where the inhabitants line up their lawn chairs, open the gates and sit throughout the day, communicating with the variety of people walking past.  Some of the homes are single-unit, single-family residences while others are divided into multiple units, but everyone shares a sort of communal back patio – communal in that the general sentiment is if you’re having a party, despite the walls and fences apportioning off sections to each respective home, anyone in the surrounding area is considered welcome.

            On the corner there is large, chain-link-fenced off area resembling a scrap yard if it weren’t for the above average condition of all of the vehicles parked within; including an antique New York City Fire Truck.  A group of men prop the gate open forty-five degrees and sit inside under a large tent and barbecue and drink twenty-four ounce cans of Coors and plastic cups of Evan Williams bourbon and smoke weed all day every day.

            Every Saturday around mid morning the music begins. The house isn’t always consistent but the quality and the volume are and it will last – depending on what kind of weekend they are having – for anywhere from three to six hours, and it can be heard from virtually anywhere within the surrounding area, including interior rooms with all the windows shut.

            Around the northeast corner is a Laundromat who charges fifty-five cents per pound for drop-off laundry next to a bodega with a mediocre beer selection but a proprietor willing to negotiate. Besides these two storefronts and a few small apartment buildings with large metal exterior doors, that side of the block is empty.

            To the southwest the block is packed. There are two bodegas, one on each corner but only one of which sells beer (one is owned by a religious family) at which you can also buy most anything, including a rabbit from a few fellow patrons for the price of a cigar wrap.  Between lie a nail salon, a bar with two-dollar pint cans, a Mexican grocery and a mobile phone store.  The street lies in a patched shadow cast by the overhead subway line running its length.

            The side streets are quiet – except when the music is playing – and friendly, neighbors smile and nod and then continue along with their days.  A few homes have a car parked within their gates but mostly only walkways to the doors are behind them and all of the buildings, with the exception of two are only two stories tall.