Nation’s Kids Prefer Big Apple Sheepskin

Applications are arriving at record rates from high school seniors around the country who wish to attend New York City’s colleges and universities. That’s not surprising. How are you going to keep them down on the farm, after they’ve seen New York on cable TV?

Yankees & Mets Tickets Spike For 2008 At Record Levels

I applaud Major League Baseball for making an attempt to clean up the game by bringing the HGH and steroid problem to light with the Mitchell Report. It’s long overdue. Recommendations to enforce tougher testing procedures and suggestions to increase penalties for abuse need to be applied quickly. In truth though, I think the Mitchell Report only scratched the surface of the problem. MLB needs to do much, much more to get drugs out of baseball. I hope they do because it’s a great game. On a somewhat similar note, whoever can get steroids out of 2008’s bulked up ticket prices may be doing an even greater service for New York City baseball fans!

Local Baseball History For Sale … In The Future

The end of the 2008 major league baseball season brings a close to our two cherished baseball parks; Yankee Stadium and Shea … unless of course the teams make it to the Playoffs! Whether the dreams of Yankee or Mets fans end in September or October, new baseball dreams will begin soon after.

The Department of Parks and Recreation owns both facilities. Soon after the last out is made, you can own something from each MLB ball field too. The city plans to sell everything it possibly can to interested fans, collectors and investors who want to own a piece of nostalgia. Best of luck to all fans that plan to buy something. “Everything” is being sold so your chances of getting “something” are good. What’s not for sale are all of the great memories. No matter anyway. Real fans know they’re truly priceless and guaranteed to increase in value in the years to come.

Westminster Dog Show Vs. Knicks Dog Show

Madison Square Garden welcomed a new set of dogs this week. However, this group of championship hounds performed at a level that far exceeded any we’ve seen in recent years by our Knicks. Kind of makes one dream of Rin Tin Tin, Lassie and Old Yeller up front with Eddie (Frasier) and Benji in the backcourt. We should only be so lucky.

Jacob Javits Convention Center Can’t Compete Without Change

New York City surely doesn’t have the same lure it once had for business expositions and conventioneers. Other cities have responded far better than the Big Apple. They’ve dropped us way down on the list of places for successful meetings and commerce. As a result, the city and local businesses have lost hundreds of millions of dollars in sales and taxes.

Roughly 21 years after it first opened, the Javits Center, seemingly still sits apart from the rest of Manhattan. Worse still, it’s now in dire need of major structural repairs. From the entire roof which must be replaced, to the black glass panels which will be swapped for clear ones, much renovation is required. Foolishly perhaps, plans for major expansion of this facility and to create significant commercial development for the West side have all but been killed by Governor Spitzer in Albany. To become America’s Convention Center once again, NYC needs a great building to house promoters and a surrounding neighborhood that complements and properly supports a convention center. We’ll also need a visionary leader to step forward and make things happen. We can’t wait another 21 years.

Cameras For Crooks And Honest Citizens Alike

Officials from both the NYPD and the Parks Department concur that pretty soon, security cameras will be as common as squirrels in New York City’s parks. They say this technology will be used to increase successful prosecutions of those arrested for criminal acts. They also believe these high-tech electronics are effective deterrents of crime. As one who’s read George Orwell’s 1984 (a recommended read in 2008), I’m leery about their concept and conclusions.

It’s a known fact that most inmates released from prison wind up committing crimes again. Sadly, too few are rehabilitated to live respectably within our society. Has a study ever been conducted to determine if crime might drop if sentences for convicted criminals were longer? Or, might the fear of longer sentencing be a more effective deterrent than hidden cameras? Maybe it’s time we got the answers to these questions. I suggest we examine all of our personal safety options before we’re all examined (on camera) ourselves.

The Intent Tenant of 54th Street

Horace Tumbell, a Manhattan resident of a rent-stabilized building at 261 West 54th Street for the last 23 years plans on staying just a bit longer. Despite the fact that a 39 story skyscraper is underway around him, he is not underway himself. That’s because Mr. Tumbell, the last of the building’s residents, is holding out for enough cash to buy a one bedroom midtown apartment (estimated to be $600,000-$900,000), hopefully on a more stable block. So far, a buyout settlement has been impossible for the two sides to agree on. The builder plans to refuse to renew his lease come October. Mr. Tumbell threatens to delay the project in court for years if they do. I wonder. In a few months, won’t the book and movie rights enable Mr. Tumbell to buy the new 39 story building?