Neighbor wants to start a group that discusses investments, markets, etc.

The below is from a block resident named Lauren. I think we could get in-person discussions and a group chat going here:

Hey folks, I'm a resident of the block that's interested in investing in the stock market and wanted to reach out and see if there were others in the community who would also be interested in having a lively discussion over coffee, breakfast, brunch, lunch, snacks, dinner or second dinner, comparing notes and ideas about the general market outlook, industries and companies that folks are investing into. Maybe we could also dabble into a risky conversation about cryptocurrency as well if there's any interest in that area!

If any interest, please direct all communications to Brian! :) [Ed. note: You can text me at 585-200-2535 if you’re interested]

Should we just go ahead and solve NYC’s rat problem?

This new block association has started out with some rather ambitious projects, including trying to build a community garden out of the vacant lot on 29th Street and 10th Avenue. We need to continue raising the bar here, and so our next project will be to just go ahead and get rid of all the rats in New York City.

Not really, though perhaps we can play a small part in helping with the problem. I imagine most residents would agree that 28th Street between 9th and 10th Avenues is particularly bad with rats. I raised this issue with Susan Numeroff, the leader of the West 400 Street Block Association, and last week she sent an email to a contact at the NYC Health Department notifying them that the area, along with a few other Chelsea areas, is problematic.

Also, Susan has organized a Rat Academy Training for next Tuesday from 5-7pm that will teach us about rat prevention methods. It will be put on by the NYC Health Department. You can click the image above to register for the training, which will take place over video. I will be in attendance.

What happened to the city that never sleeps?

Marquee asking the important questions.

It’s been a while since I’ve been rhetorically challenged by a sign outside of a nightclub, but I’m generally up for a challenge no matter who or what is serving it. What really did happen to the city that never sleeps? Our investigation continues, though as far as my high-powered team of consultants and lawyers can tell so far, everyone just started staying in their apartments or leaving this place altogether about a year ago now.

The more important question is, I think, what are we going to do about it? I’m not going to say something bland and corporate like “we need to come together as a community,” but I can tell you that some of my recent days have been significantly improved by just randomly bumping into a few people I’ve met through this block association on the street. That experience can be yours as well. Stay tuned.

Season 3 of the HBO Series “Succession” is currently filming at The Shed.

Season 3 of “Succession” is currently shooting at The Shed, which is the reason for all those trucks on 28th Street. I haven’t seen the show myself, but I have definitely heard of it and it has a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes. I gather that it’s about a family which owns a major media company where the family members are all vying to take over for the aging family patriarch. The trailer for the first season looks really good, and it features gratuitous shots of NYC, which I am always, always a sucker for: Succession: Season 1 | Official Teaser | HBO - YouTube.

Interestingly, the little yellow signs outside the trailer doors correspond to the names of the characters in the show, not the names of the actors in real life. So, for example, one of the signs is for “Shiv,” and “Shiv Roy” is the daughter of the family patriarch (Shiv Roy | Succession Wiki | Fandom). The actress who plays “Shiv” is named Sarah Snook. I probably would have thought that Sarah Snook’s dressing room would say “Sarah” on it, but what do I know. I suppose this is where they get into character after all.

Spring comes to the block.

When I was in college I walked past a group of trees in full pink bloom and thought to myself—I should really take a picture of that. But I didn’t.

Two days later I walked past that same group of trees and they had already transitioned into their full summer green. I thought I had more time left to take a picture, but I didn’t.

I’m going to resist the urge here to go into a full-scale discourse on the momentariness of Spring and life; the metaphor is a little too on the nose for my liking. All I’ll say is that the fact that you don’t know how many more times you’ll get to see a tree in full pink bloom—is it 5 more times? 20? 40?—doesn’t mean it’s infinite.

So delete a few of the screenshots you’re never really going to look at again, free up some space on your phone, and take a picture of the pink tree. Start a block association. Post it to your website. Ramble about it on the home page. That tree will be green before you know it.

Winston will teach you how to pose.

Either I am coming into my own as a dog photographer or Winston is coming into his own as a male model. Or maybe Winston was just born this way—I haven’t known him long enough to tell. Whatever the recipe, last night Winston turned an elevator bank in 507 West Chelsea into his own personal catwalk/dogwalk and hit me with poses that I honestly haven’t seen since Kim Kardashian last tried to shut down the internet. Have you ever caught yourself in a mirror or a picture at a bad angle and thought—good lord, I don’t actually look like that do I? My friends, Winston can’t relate. He doesn’t have a bad angle.

I forgot to ask his owner, Charlotte, what kind of dog he is. Some type of little collie maybe? Let me know in the comments. In the meantime we’ll try to keep making steady progress for Winston on the dog park or community garden.

Did you guys know there’s an hourly-rate hotel on 10th Avenue & 14th Street?

I was walking with a friend around Chelsea a few weeks ago, and she pointed out to me a squat little brick building on the west side of 10th Avenue and 14th Street that seemed extremely out of place. It is called the Liberty Inn, and I’ll let a New York Times article from 2011 take it away:

Inside the lobby, the concierge sits behind a pane of bulletproof glass. A vending machine displays boxes of condoms and bottles of lubricant beside packs of Oreos and Skittles. Every so often, luggageless couples inquire about a room.

This is the Liberty Inn, the last of the meatpacking district’s hourly-rate hotels; in 2008, New York magazine called it “unabashedly the place to go for some afternoon delight.” Robert Boyd, who has managed the establishment since 1977, prefers the term “romance hotel.”

“We take in your everyday business and travel clientele,” he said. “But we focus on couples looking for a romantic moment, if you will.”

Liberty Inn Focuses on Romantic Moments, by the Hour - The New York Times (nytimes.com). At first I was surprised that a place like this still exists around here. But at second I wasn’t the least bit surprised—when it comes right down to it, humans are gonna human. And you might as well make it convenient for them, right along the West Side Highway.

I like New York Burger Co. on the southeast side of 23rd and 10th.

Those who know me best know that when it comes to food, I am a quantity guy and not a quality guy. It’s the opposite when it comes to people, which is why this whole block association is a little out of character, but I digress.

What I mean by that is that I would rather go to a restaurant that gives a ton of pretty good food rather than one that gives a little bit of amazing food. (And so that in turns means the following: (i) I am often looking at the menu simply to try to figure out which entree will give me the most food; (ii) I do not care about how the food is presented; (iii) I may order something again after the entree comes out; (iv) I may turn you down on principle if you try to invite me to tapas or sushi).

But enough about me, and onto New York Burger Co. at 23rd Street and 10th Avenue. I am a regular at this place. That is because they nail both quality and quantity, i.e., they give you a lot of food; it is very good; and as a bonus, it comes out very fast.

Also, they cook their burgers on an actual grill rack, which makes you feel or at least taste like you’re at an outdoor cookout. I would strongly suggest the cheeseburger and grilled chicken sandwich (pictured) as well as the chili. They also have some type of happy hour from like 6-9pm where they give you two of those little Montauk beer cans for $8. It is perfect for taking yourself or someone you’re just moderately into out on a date.

Bonus: this place stayed open for us during much of the pandemic. Can’t forget that.

If you’re considering re-signing your lease, you should ask your landlord for the same deal they’re giving new tenants.

I just decided to re-sign my lease for another year, and so the show goes on. I want to share with you a quick tip that I picked up from a block resident named Lauren (Ed. note—this is the same Lauren who made an off-handed comment that caused me to set fire to the bylaws): If you’re renting, you should ask your landlord for the same deal they’re offering new tenants. That is because it’s a tenant’s market in NYC right now, and both new and existing tenants should be able to benefit from it.

To illustrate, 507 West Chelsea currently has a studio listed for $3,025/month on its website (see Apartment 7J). But the same studio is being offered for an effective or “net” rent of $2,268/month on StreetEasy. In other words, the landlord is currently knocking off a whole three months of rent for new tenants who are shopping for apartments on StreetEasy.

So if you’re sitting in the apartment neighboring 7J right now, don’t just sign whatever is put in front of you. You have a little leverage.

An article about Manhattan changing forever that I didn’t appreciate.

One of the reasons why I decided to form this block association in the first place was because of a nauseating uncertainty about all manner of things, including whether the pandemic has changed the city forever. Well I’m here to tell you today that the New York Times has answered my nightmares and posited that, yes, Manhattan may never be the same. From the article:

In recent weeks, major corporations, including Ford in Michigan and Target in Minnesota, have said they are giving up significant office space because of their changing workplace practices, while Salesforce, whose headquarters occupies the tallest building in San Francisco, said only a small fraction of its employees will be in the office full time.

But no city in the United States, and perhaps the world, must reckon with this transformation more than New York, and in particular Manhattan, an island whose economy has been sustained, from the corner hot dog vendor to Broadway theaters, by more than 1.6 million commuters every day.

Remote Work Is Here to Stay. Manhattan May Never Be the Same. So the basic idea is that because daily commuters are keeping the city’s economic ecosystem alive, and because they’re just going to Zoom it in from Westchester or Long Island or wherever from now on, the rest of us won’t ever be able to go to a coffee shop again. Ok.

That brings to mind an E.B. White quote about the three New Yorks:

There are roughly three New Yorks. There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born here, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size and its turbulence as natural and inevitable. Second, there is the New York of the commuter — the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night. Third, there is the New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something.

…Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness; natives give it solidity and continuity; but the settlers give it passion.

Who couldn’t use a little less tidal restlessness anyway?

I’ve mangled this quote before and I’ll mangle it again: the eulogy of New York has been written many times before, and it’s always been wrong.