Julie Kardachi

Behavior

WNYC Pledge matches

During the last 2 WNYC pledge drives (winter & spring), I did not hear of any "2 for one" matching campaigns. I think there were a couple of "dollar for dollar" matches, and noticed there is a new category of "1 for 2" . I found that an interesting sign of the times. Did you notice that?

JoAnne Alter

Bright

Business in Bayside mall seems to be picking up

I get my hair colored and cut at a salon in Bayside, even though I live in Nassau. A few months ago, the parking lot was eerily empty on Saturday morning. The last time I went, a couple of weeks ago, I once again had to drive around a bit to find a parking spot. It's not as crowded as it had been, but people are definitely reappearing at the shopping center on Saturdays.

213-15 26th Ave. Bay Terrace, NY 11360

Paul Bourdius

Commerce

"I am sorry to inform you that The Metropolitan Museum of Art Store at The Mall at Short Hills closed its doors on May 31, 2009." From a letter I received June 11, 2009, from the National Manager Satellite Stores, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Mall at Short Hills, Short Hills, NJ

Eli Sadownick

Behavior

Fewer Tickets By Local Area Cops

Last week my wife and two friends had dinner at a Port Chester restaurant. After returning to her friend's car, the driver made an illegal U-turn and was stopped by a policeman. As she tried to explain her way out of a ticket, the cop interrupted and said, "Don't worry. I saw you come out of that restaurant. I won't give you a ticket because we want to encourage eating in local restaurants. If you have a bad experience here, you won't want to come back."

The next day, a friend at work told my wife this story. She was in Mamaroneck and crossed the mid-line to get into a parking spot (a violation my wife had received a ticket for years ago). The cop stopped her as she was maneuvering to get better positioned in the space and asked, "Where are you going?" The driver was puzzled at first by this question, but after the policeman elaborated, "Are you coming or going?" She explained she was bringing clothes to Tommy the Tailor, down the street. The policeman then said he would let her go without a ticket because she was using a local merchant and, "We want to support our local merchants."

35-1/2 North Main St, Port Chester, NY

Lori

Housing

From Owning to Renting

My husband and I and our two tween-aged kids have been in our three bedroom, one bath co-op apartment for five years. We put a lot of work into it hopefully gaining sweat-equity. A couple years ago, we felt like we needed something slightly larger and casually looked around, hoping to put our equity into a down payment on something with two bathrooms. We got busy with school and work and lost the thread on our search. This Spring we finally got on the ball and put our co-op on the market at the price our neighbors sold their similar unit for two years ago. We ended up going under contract after around 40 days for around 35,000 less but felt like if we wanted to keep any equity, we should go with the deal.
At this point we are signing a lease on an equally sized apartment in "rental" condition up the street, renting again for the first time since just out of college. We've decided we are lucky to have any equity at all and are going to hold onto it until the housing market feels less jangly.
It's a mental leap that feels wrong but could be right.

415 9th Street

Jeffrey

Bright

Pigeons

I'm no expert, but it seems there is a better quality of Pigeon on the sidewalks these days. Brightly colored, slim, athletic looking birds. Have the Pigeon hobbyists released their flocks in the face of hard times?

Nan Rubin

Behavior

2 short stories

1) I have been seeing a sole practitioner as my primary physician for several years. 2 years ago, he enrolled to get his MBA because he was tired of all the paperwork being a doctor and thought it would be more reliable. When I saw him a few months ago, he had graduated but was planning to stay in practice because there were no positions for new MBA!

2) I ride along the west side hiway almost daily to and from Dyckman St. and midtown. This year, there appears to be many fewer boats in the water at the 79th st marina. Lots of open mooring spots, which in the past have been full up.

Upper West Side, 79th St. Boat Basin

Millie Niss

Behavior

WNYC pledge drive premium arrives too quickly

From my blog http://sporkworld.tumblr.com:
WNYC, New York Public Radio asked listeners to give examples of “Uncommon Economic Indicators,” i.e. subtle concrete observations that are signs of the poor economy. WNYC itself provided Spork with a UEI: Spork donated to the membership drive which ended a week ago, and she has already received her thank-you gift, a WNYC Umbrella. In previous pledge drives, the premiums took many weeks to arrive. (In one instance, Spork was annoyed not to have received her tote bag when the next pledge drive began.) Spork surmises that this time there were many fewer people donating due to the recession, and therefore it didn’t take the station long to mail out the thank-you gifts. (Of course, had the premium taken an extra long time to arrive, Spork might have concluded that the station had to lay off some staff who process the donations…)

1037 Sweeney Street, North Tonawanda, NY

Thomas Keefe

Behavior

Downturn Upturn

A man in a suit finds a discarded Super 8mm film camera and sees New York City through a new lens.

I am organizing a film festival to take place on September 19th, 2009 about the current economic recession. We are encouraging emerging filmmakers to make films about the recession and submit them by August 15th.

4 South Street, New York, NY 10004

Rachel Abrams

Bright

GO4: A "Go Bag" for NY's New Jobless

GO4: A GO BAG FOR NY'S NEW JOBLESS
Untangling the red tape that follows a pink slip,
a suite of services to help New York's recently laid-off
http://itp.nyu.edu/sdps/2009/06/09/sdps_final_assignment/

Our inspiration? The Go Bag, promoted by NYC OEM's post911/Katrina Ready New York campaign. Likewise, our GO4 'contains our concerns', responding to a different man-made crisis: The downturn.

The students
Karla Calderon, Angela Chen, Derek Chung, Cynthia Hilmoe,
Sara Huong, Madeline Jannotta, Ari Joseph, Gloria Kim,
Sonaar Luthra, Jeehyun Moon, Nobuyuki Nakaguchi,
Kristin OFriel, Nahanaeli Schelling, Jonathan Ystad

Interactive Telecommunications Program, New York University, NY NY

Nina Dinoff

Commerce

Gold

I am a jewelry designer. Today I went to my supplier on 47th street and they are out of many of the forms of gold that i need. They say it is because the manufacturers do not have enough orders to create the materials in bulk as they need to so they have to wait until there is enough demand before they can create the supply.

25 west 47th street, new york, ny

John Crowley

Commerce

Wall St. Hoards Oil

Wall st. speculators such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are back at it again...They are buying oil with almost no money down and storing it in their own facilities to drive the price higher. The way to stop it is to charge 50% margin for any purchase for immediate delivery, which only the refiners are prepared to do, and you'll see gasoline price hovering at $2/ gallon again, in a hurry.

The Northeast US

nina

Commerce

Ebay deals going unbid

i have been buying vintage clothes and shoes on Ebay for years. it can be really competitive for items that are in good shape and in style, with prices shooting up in the final moments of an auction. but these days, i am winning everything i want, usually as the only bidder, or against one other person. I just bought michael kors platforms for $10.

Amit Sethi

Commerce

Cabanamania

My wife and I joined a Long Island beach club this year in order to have a weekend summer activity for our 1.5 yo daughter. It was a bit of an extravagance for us, but much more than a country or Hampton house. We were talked into getting the last of the "Ocean Front" cabanas, which were a little more expensive than the other cabanas that surround the pool or sand court. Of course, it turns out that there are actually 6 or 7 empty ocean front cabanas this year (which cost about $10,000 for the summer, usually shared by two couples and kids).

The uncommon economic indicator: Up until this year, there has always been a three or four year waiting list for ocean front cabanas! Apparently renters, who come mostly from Brooklyn, Manhattan and the North Shore of LI, are a scarcer breed now and more reluctant/undable to plop down the dough for such a luxury.

Here's a picture of my daughter playing in an empty cabana:

Atlantic Beach, Nassau County

Andrew Goebel

Housing

Deniro where's my denero?

Read the "De Niro's fall from Grace" By Candace Taylor, it's fairly on point.

warm regards,

Andrew Goebel

50 Lexington ave, 20 D, 374 Bleeker st.

Penny Craig

Behavior

The Family that Sweats Together

My daughter and I share a pair of running shoes. I run early in the morning and she runs in the evening.

Bill Craig

Behavior

Economy Donuts

I buy pastries and breakfast sandwiches at Duncan Donuts, put them in a plain brown paper bag, take them to Starbucks and have them with my Starbucks coffee.

Mary

Behavior

Loose Change=Coffee

I've been bringing the loose change we have in multiple containers around the house to Coinstar machines and exchanging that $ for Starbucks gift cards, which means 1) I don't notice the expense so much -- and my too-expensive-for-a-recession coffee feels "free", 2) I get rid of the change, for free, without sorting or counting myself, 3) I teach my 3 year old a small lesson in saving (he enjoys the chocolate milk Sbux offers AND he likes the counting machine).

14th street and 1st avenue

Sara Peluso

Behavior

Parks & Rec Summer Programs

are full in Yonkers!!! I take this to mean that people you have previously sent their children to pricey local day camps are looking to the much less expensive option of the Yonkers Parks & Recreation Summer Programs. I have never seen the camps full by the 1st week in June...

ericf

Bright

Sidewalk repair on Newark Ave, Jersey City

Newark Ave & Jersey Ave, Jersey City, NJ 07302