Hope For Knicks Hoops?

Rumors are flying below the basket now that New York Knickerbocker fans may soon be nearing the end of their long, dark drive through the Isiah Thomas Tunnel-Vision Tunnel. According to inside sources, team owner Jim Dolan is talking with retiring Indiana Pacer executive Donnie Walsh. Hopefully, Dolan is also chatting with the very best GM & coaches around the game. To the basketball gods in the heavens, we beseech you … deliver us Knick fans from this dark and dreadful place we're in!

All Hail The Kings Of Kings And Queens

Congratulations to the renowned chess team of Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn. For the ninth year in a row, they won the New York state championship; this time, in dramatic comeback fashion. The team has already had a book written about them entitled “The Kings of New York.” Maybe Hollywood can figure out how to make a chess team as engrossing as a football squad.

Raise The Loew’s

In Flatbush, Brooklyn at 1025-35 Flatbush Avenue, a 79-year-old desperately needs your help. The formerly grand, 3,195 seat Loew’s Kings Theater is in dire need of a multi-million dollar renovation. Closed since 1978, it’s in a serious state of disrepair. For many, many years, things looked grim for the building’s recovery. However, there are exciting plans being discussed to revive both it and the surrounding area. All ideas and proposals should be carefully reviewed now. Once approved, they should be acted on immediately. This neighborhood needs to be rehabbed for the people living there now. The ex-vaudeville house deserves to be restored to it’s former glory for Brooklynites and visitors to enjoy as an historical keepsake. Borough President Marty Markowitz is staunchly behind the effort to get this done. We all should be. Viewing a movie or live performance in a refurbished theater from a bygone era is an experience nobody should miss.

Parking Permit Abuse Must Be Curbed

A recent yearlong study found that 9% of all vehicle permits in lower Manhattan were phony, 1 in 8 vehicles with permits were parked illegally and 42% of vehicles with “Official Business” permits were parked outside their designated spaces and in excess of the time permitted. On an average day between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., over 3,300 vehicles displayed law enforcement placards. 18% of available parking meters and 22% of loading-zone spaces were used by vehicles with permits. And the revolting numbers go on and on. New Yorkers don’t need more studies. Local business owners and ordinary citizen/drivers need action. I realize most of these reported violations were on government vehicles, but why not ticket, tow and impound these illegally parked cars? How about punishing the registered placard owners by withdrawing permit privileges for repeated offenses? Those who break the law with counterfeit placards should be severely punished and maybe even jailed. Those who we entrust to enforce the law should not be above it; or permitted to get away with it.

MTA Urging “Nay” If You’re Not O.K.

The New York City Transit Authority wants to discourage ill passengers from riding the trains. According to their findings, in 2007, over 6,000 train delays resulted from riders who had medical emergencies on board. The MTA is posting signs that read, “Feeling under the weather today? Best thing to do is not get on the train.” Other messages of “concern,” too. However, no mention is made of passengers made sick by subway service in general. Perhaps their next rate increase might be easier justified by subsidizing health care for all riders.

Stairway From Heaven?

It's known as the "Survivor's Staircase." Whether kept intact by miracle from up above, or an escape route that may have saved 100’s, perhaps 1,000’s from death on September 11th, nobody can say for sure. The 37-step staircase that survived the destruction of the Towers in Manhattan will now be permanently embedded at the main entrance to the future WTC Memorial. In a transient world such as ours, tangible reminders of things that need to be remembered can be of great importance. This staircase is that powerful kind of mental poke. We all must be reminded from time to time what happened on 9/11 ... at the World Trade Center, and at the Pentagon and in a Pennsylvania field. Lord knows that New Yorkers and those who stand as our allies don't need to wake up to another morning like that. However, this staircase should serve as a visible reminder that we must all remain awake and on guard now. The world we knew nearly seven years ago is gone. The steps we take now must be deliberate. The steps we take now must be forward and upward as well.

Cash In Our Trash

Scavengers are stealing our garbage! So say city officials who claim that in 2007, New York City lost $150,000 in recyclable metals. We’ve prosecuted and fined those who were caught in our cans and impounded over 100 vehicles yet refuse robbery continues. Apparently, "one man’s garbage is another man’s gold (or other valuable scrap metal)." The City Council has raised fines from $100 to $2,000 to protect New York’s rubbish. Hopefully, this will slam the lid down hard on this sanitation problem.