Skunks In Central Park Is Good News

Every time I see a story about raccoons or opossums or hawks or now skunks carving out a life in our city it puts a smile on my face. 

Skunks are great critters. Don't harass them and you will never be sprayed. When I lived in suburbia I heard a noise out on the detached garage and went out with a baseball bat to investigate. I flipped on the light and there was a skunk. We peacefully went our separate ways. 

My grandmother trained skunks to eat out of her hand. They would come up to the patio after dinner and tap on the glass. Very bright animals. 

So let's not have any panic stories, please.

Skunks Love Central Park Now

Central Park is becoming a little less pleasant as a dog-walking destination now that skunks have moved in — a new twist, according to the neighbors and park workers whom the New York Post talked to.

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/01/skunks-love-central-park-now.html

Typos courtesy of my iPhone

Another Dispatch From Galt's Gulch, West Virginia

After Freedom Industries fouled the water, American Water (the privatized utility) helped out by delivering … their own tainted water as a substitute.

Late Stage Capitalism … tastes like licorice!

Almost Hidden, West Virginia

Water company in West Virginia sent out tankers for residents, who have had no water or tainted water for a week (with much illness still reported)--and turns out they filled the tankers with their own tainted water!

http://gregmitchellwriter.blogspot.com/2014/01/almost-hidden-west-virginia.html

Our National Failure Of Introspection And Accountability

One of the best analyses I've seen anywhere: "When we blithely declare that they did not die in vain, we deface their honor by using it to wipe the blood from our hands."

Did U.S. Soldiers Die in Vain?

Over the last decade, our top leaders have wasted the lives of our sons, daughters, and comrades with their incompetence and hubris. After each failure, our citizens have failed to hold them accountable, instead underwriting new failed strategies as quickly as their predecessors with our apathy and sense of detachment. And then we use the tired paeans of "never forget" and "honor the fallen" to distract ourselves from our guilt in the affair. When we blithely declare that they did not die in vain, we deface their honor by using it to wipe the blood from our hands.

http://gregmitchellwriter.blogspot.com/2014/01/did-us-soldiers-die-in-vain.html

Who Is John Galt?

Freedom!

Water Contaminating Chemical Company Has Violations at a Second Site

"The spill has revealed the total lack of oversight involved in the chemical storage business — for example, the Elk facility where the spill occurred hadn't been inspected since 2001, when it was a refinery owned by another company subjected to more stringent regulations."

http://gawker.com/water-contaminating-chemical-company-has-violations-at-1502412689?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+gawker%2Ffull+%28Gawker%29

Typos courtesy of my iPhone

Vision Zero: Change I Can Believe In

The deBlasio administration isn't wasting any time getting started on street safety policy - a good thing since it is literally a matter of life and death.

Mayor de Blasio and Police Commissioner Bill Bratton emphasized that
additional and more rigorous enforcement against dangerous
violations—like speeding and failure to yield to pedestrians—would be
central to their efforts—representing a significant new undertaking
for the NYPD.

“Our job is to save lives. We will be just as aggressive in preventing
a deadly crash on our streets as we are in preventing a deadly
shooting. Our police are going to enforce the laws on our streets
consistently and effectively. This is going to be central to our workto keep New Yorkers safe. We will put the personnel and resources in
place to protect New Yorkers,” said Police Commissioner Bill Bratton.

“This is our top priority. It is our job to get ahead of this epidemic
on our streets. We know what the tools are, and we are going to
immediately set to work on the concrete plans to put them into action.
We are going to build on what’s working, fix what’s broken, and make
sure that nothing is held back as we make our streets safer,” said
Under Secretary for Policy at the US Department of Transportation and
incoming NYC DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg.

Last year when I was trying to whip some votes at CB6 for the 4th Avenue safety improvements, one of my fellow Board members asked why it was so personal for me.  And the fact is, a good friend of mine was doored and nearly killed by a car.  My wife's cousin was doored and almost killed since.  A few years ago the sister of one of my friends was killed while crossing the street.  But none of those anecdotes are the reason.  Safer streets improve the quality of life for everybody.  That we can accept the carnage on our streets week in and week out is not just baffling but maddening to me.  It doesn't have to be this way, and it's in our power to change it.  So let's get to work.

Greenwich Village Water Main Break Floods Street, Messes Up Subways

Two things. One, I'd like to sarcastically thank the MTA for announcing the detouring of my train AFTER we left Broadway-Lafayette, where I could have switched to the 6 train. I gave them the benefit of the doubt, but after reading this it's clear they either knowingly screwed us to prevent a mad rush for the 6 train, or just were indifferent to peoples needs. 

Two: if only there were some shovel-ready infrastructure projects, so the Federal government could help put the legions of unplowed to work and take advantage of practically zero interest rates on federal borrowing. 

But that's crazy talk.

Photos, Video: Greenwich Village Water Main Break Floods Street, Messes Up Subways

Just after midnight, a water main broke in downtown Manhattan—leaving a huge mess for commuters this morning. There are changes to the B, C, D, F, M and Q subway lines . [ more › ]

http://gothamist.com/2014/01/15/photos_video_greenwich_village_wate.php

In any event, the commute this morning was a debacle, and there will be many more preventable debacles in the future because, as a country, we can't get policy right thanks to the Republican party and their erstwhile allies, the "centrist" Democrats*.

* To be clear - this is not a "both sides do it!", "pox on both their houses" statement.  I detest that line of defeatist non-thinking.  Rather it's one party, and probably 40% of the other that are at fault.  Big difference.

Blood In The Water: Christie Cronies In Trouble

This bunch of assholes should never have been allowed near the levers of power.  The blame for that ultimately lies with Corzine for being a lousy governor, which opened the door to this lout and his whole vicious crew.  The blame for being Christie, and hiring these thugs, lies squarely with Christie.

The Time Chris Christie Shut Down a Public Television Station That Did a Tough Story on Him

There's a fair amount of Schadenfreude this week among the New Jersey press corps, as they wait for the other shoe to drop in Chris Christie's Bridgegate scandal and wonder if it's Michael Drewniak, Christie's press secretary and his "id," as one official calls him. Drewniak is on the hot seat after it emerged last week that he got dinner with former Port Authority official and Christie friend David Wildstein two days before Wildstein resigned. "If Drewniak can't explain what he did at dinner with David, he's going to be gone, because the press corps in New Jersey hates him with a passion," says a Democratic strategist. "If you put him on the train to D.C. this week and turned the lights off it would be like Midnight on the Orient Express — he'd have 50 slashes in him. You can only be a jackass for so long before everyone wants to knife you."

Lately I've been wondering if there was something untoward going on with the Great Easter Traffic Jam of Aught Eleven, because I was stuck in it for 4.5 hours with two kids and a pregnant wife and I'll never forget that wonderful, enriching experience.  Probably not, but now I'll always wonder.