Susan Burger

Behavior

Unwelcomed Donations?

My son’s PUBLIC school had been very diverse, accepting about 50% of the students from outside the catchment area.

We have attended the annual auction at his school since 2004. Each year the number of auction items and the amount bid on auction items increased. Last year, some of the kindergarten projects sold for over $1000. Bill Telepan offered to cook a dinner for six that went for $7,000 and then offered two more dinners that sold for the same amount.

My husband has solicited auction donations for many years, but this year he was finding that many businesses on his contact list had gone bankrupt. A few months before the auction, the committee sent out a panicky notice about the lack of donations. Thus, you can imagine our surprise when more items were available and more people attended this year’s auction than in any previous year. The three Bill Telepan dinners went for $9,000 each.

The most plausible explanation is that more families who would have sent their children to private schools are attending this school. There is no longer enough room for all the children who live IN the catchment area to attend to attend my son’s school.

PS87, 160 West 78th St.

John Haggerty

Behavior

Darkness

It is darker in the bedroom now.
Our bedroom window looks out on a luxury rental at the other end of the block which has a gym on the top floor. We leave the shade up all the time (to see the sunrise). Lately when we go to bed the room is much darker than usual. The lights in the gym are off. I don't know if you pay extra for its use so residents are opting out or they are out of work and can exercise during the day?

Upper West Side, 96th St.

Vevette Cundari

Housing

Yonkers: The City of Vision is a little unsightly

The new construction in my neighborhood which began in 2005 has grinded to a halt due to the fact that the developers have run out of money. This has left giant holes and the now abandoned construction sites are causing hazardous conditions in our once beautiful and safe river front neighborhood. I know that the stories pertain mainly to NYC but Yonkers is close by and thought you might be interested in your neighbor.

1116 Warburton Avenue, Yonkers NY

Claire

Behavior

Uncommon indicator in White Plains, NY

There's a large painting & decorating store in my neighborhood that I visit fairly regularly. I am having my apartment painted soon and yesterday I entered the store to pick up manufacturer brochures showing paint color combinations. These are usually stacked in various display racks, so I was surprised to see that the racks were all empty. I asked the store clerk and he had to go behind the counter to pull them out. He explained that they are cutting cost by ordering fewer display items, so these "givaways" are now being controlled.

White Plains NY

Trent Williams

Behavior

Gato Negro

This evening I stopped by my local wine store. As I was the only customer they were glad to help. I wanted the cheapest. Unfortunately, they didn't have any Gato Negro. All sold out. Apparently, this is what everybody's buying.

7th Ave. Park Slope

Dashiell Eaves

Employment

The Little Show That Couldn't

I was lucky enough to join the cast of the hit Off-Broadway show "Becky Shaw" at Second Stage Theater in February. Every performance was full, and audiences generally loved the show. The Times theater critic Charles Isherwood even went out of his way to write a follow up to his initial rave review, an article about how good "Becky Shaw" was (along with MTC's "An American Plan"), which screamed "worthy of Broadway!!" During any other theater season I've been a part of, this sort of buzz would have been enough to bring the money people forward. This year though, not a peep from Broadway producers. The show closed to a sold-out audience, making room for the next Second Stage production, the only hit I've ever been in that died before tickets stopped selling.

307 w. 43rd street, NY, NY 10036

Mikaela Beardsley

Commerce

Pilates Duets

One of my indulgences is a weekly private Pilates session at Sixth Street Pilates. It may be $70/hour, but it has cured me of back pain, so really I'll pay anything. But thanks to the downturn I may be able to save some money. The studio is now offering (as a recession special) Duets, $40/person for the 60 minute session.

525 East 6th Street NY NY 10009

E.W.

Commerce

Headlights

Have you noticed how many car headlights are out--I never remember seeing so many cars with a headlight or taillight out.

421 South Lexington Avenue , White Plains, Ny 10606

Ian Lyn

Commerce

I saw this a few months ago

I guess oxymorons are oxymorons when time are good.

Dan

Employment

Where have all the hostess(hostesses?) gone?

Went to the Washington Square Diner and the hostess was gone. Her little station was pushed to the side and her cash register had been moved to the eating counter. I swear she was there three weeks ago! Now the waiters have to point you to a table and give you a menu. One has to run over to the register when you want to pay. They're nice enough but the hostess is part of the diner experience! What will she do? Where will she go? Is this part of a trend? Is anyone keeping track? Will there be a stimulus package to insure full hostess employment? I hope so!

4th Street near 6th Avenue

Dorene Internicola

Commerce

The New Yorker comes on Tuesday

For years I got my New Yorker magazine with my Monday mail, but lately delivery has been pushed back to Tuesday. I asked the mailman about this delay and he said the Post Office will not pay for the overtime anymore, and so on Monday--the heaviest mail day--magazines remain "stacked up at headquarters."

Michael Fanuzzi

Bright

The new "Axis of Evil"

This stencil has been up for the past few months on a vacant house on my block in Clinton Hill. The house itself has been vacant since a fire a decade ago (it's a landmark block and it's speculated that the owner is letting it collapse), but the stencil is a new and apropos addition, given that these are some of the faces who, as Jon Stewart recently said, "burned the f'ing house down."

Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, NY

Mitchel Chalek

Swindlers

Bogus Parking Tickets

I live in Manhattan but drive the reverse commute to work in NJ everyday. In spite of less tunnel traffic it is harder to find a space on the street. I could never afford a garage space and apparently there are more people now who are dropping to my economic status. In addition to this, I have noticed an increase in bogus parking tickets. I have challenged three parking tickets in the past 6 months that were clearly wrong and I won all three cases (one I had to appeal to win after first having to pay the fine -- the city returned my money). I suspect that the city is pushing parking agents to write more tickets even if they're unjustified. It seems that instead of raising taxes on the rich they are trying to squeeze a few more dollars out of those who can't afford a garage space.

West Soho in Manhattan

Monroe Denton

Commerce

no-count restaurants?

Two nights in a row, visits to medium price restaurants, met at door with apology: "Computer is down. Do you have cash?" Only a couple of days later, when I realized the checks were written on old pads rather than any way a record could be kept did I realize that these receipts were going to be ditched and the cash kept away from accountability.

DUMBO, Lincoln Center area

Michael

Commerce

Anything to Get 'em in the Door

A new restaurant in Forest Hills is offering "bring a friend for free" on one day a week, and on another day. "Pay what you think is fair".

Also, we received an email from Mohonk Resort offering a four-course dinner along with a Cousin Brucie appearance for $50. Their website says the Cuz is a yearly tradition, but we've never heard of it and $50 seems like a lower price than one would expect.

11375

community-based professional

Behavior

NYC DOHMH surcharges

Public Health Solutions - HIV Care Services (healthsolutions.org)manages (for NYC DOHMH) the contracts that local not-for-profits receive to provide HIV services in the community. The money originates from the federal Ryan White Care Act. This month, community-based contract agency representatives were invited to a meeting to review crucial year-end contract close-out procedures for performance-based contracts. We were charged $75 a head to attend a meeting that was dubbed a "training" but was really part of the ordinary Public Health Solutions responsibility to its contract agencies. The community organizations were informed that NYC DOHMH no longer allows PHS to offer "trainings" to its contract agencies. The trainer told us it is because each contract manager has too big a case load to properly oversee and respond to each agency. Maybe Beth Fertig or Bob Henley can look into this mess. Thanks.

Hannah

Commerce

Stiles farmer market

I've gone to Stiles farmers market on 52nd St between 8th and 9th Ave for years. We used to jokingly refer to it as the "Rotten Fruit Market", since pretty much everything was old and squishy or would go bad after only a couple days. But what could I do? The prices were unbelievable!

Now, not only is it regularly busier than ever, but the fruit is much fresher. While waiting in line, another woman commented on how the economy seemed to be doing our cheap little fruit market a lot of good! But it's also good for me. They just can't keep the produce and fresh bread on the shelf. So my fruits and vegetables remain cheap and now they're fresh too! As long as I get there early, that is!

52nd st, 8th avenue

Elyse Singer

Commerce

Closing Our Doors After 109 Years

In the past three months, I have seen many shops in the 2-block radius from my Upper West Side building shutter their doors. These include a wine shop, comic book store and furniture shop. The signs in Schneider's Framing's window, though, break the heart...(note: the store is closing at the end of March.)

673 Amsterdam Avenue

Andrew Unger

Commerce

De-stress for Less

Brian, long time listener, first time ... uh, writer.

By the way, I was the program director of the Ghetto Film School before my current gig, and I was so happy to hear them on the air this morning.

So ... spas and salons throughout the city are offering massages and other beauty and health treatments for up to half off the regular prices.

Our website, lifebooker.com, has been receiving a huge upswing in high end spas and salons that are looking to work with us to offer New Yorker's big discounts at off-peak hours since the economy has taken a dive.

That's my uncommon economic indicator.

Kenny Ye

Employment

Kids back to Daycare

My kids go to a daycare in which most of parents are busy professionals with full time employment.
One of my daughter's best friends and her baby brother stopped coming to the daycare after their mother lost her jobs more than half year ago. But last week they are back! My daughter is happy to see her friend back and I am happy to see their mother is back to work. This is a very positive indicator of the economy.

Huntington, New York