Who Loves Bush Tax Cuts? This Guy!

Who are these people, what do they do and are they that un-self aware that they’re willing to be quoted in the paper about how great the Bush tax cuts were? Dogs — no, seriously, dogs:

The pampered pooches of Manhattan have an increasingly popular way of dealing with the stress, and expanded girth, of apartment living — their own personal trainers.

The city now has at least two companies that specialize in taking dogs running for up to 45 minutes at a stretch, helping them to burn off fat that can result from too little exercise.

“Sometimes when you come home from the office and you’re exhausted, you just don’t want to bring your dog to the dog run,” said Therese Virserius, 33, who pays Manhattan-based Running Paws $35 a session to propel her 81-pound Rhodesian Ridgeback, Maya, up and down the East River.

After a typical 45-minute jog with her doggie drill sergeant, Maya immediately plops down on the couch for a well-earned nap, she said.

When Hair Salons Are Like Crack

Isn’t this how dealers reel in their customers? It sounds like an after-school special:

Yet, even as many Manhattan women cringe as prices at their longtime salons rise, they are loath to move on. Switching stylists can be an emotional experience, akin to a breakup. And just as in romance, a clean break is not always easy.

Merle Rubine, an adjunct professor of media and film studies and a former network television producer, said she doesn’t want to leave her longtime stylist at Vidal Sassoon. But as the price of her partial highlights has climbed to $190, she has been freer about expressing her unhappiness.

“My stylist feels terrible,” Ms. Rubine said. “I feel terrible. Everyone feels terrible. Does that mean that he’s going to open his own place and do a partial for $50? Probably not.” So her solution is to live with longer hair, and take longer between appointments.

As Long As We’re Making An Average Of $2,500 A Week!

The good news is that the average weekly pay for people in Manhattan is $2,500 a week. The bad news is that this is largely due to the fact that the average pay in the financial sector is $8,300 a week:

The average weekly pay for finance jobs in Manhattan was about $8,300 in the first quarter of 2006, up more than $3,000 per week in just three years, new federal data show. And with another year’s bounty from Wall Street about to be paid out in annual bonuses, that number is expected to jump again.

The 280,000 workers in the finance industry collect more than half of all the wages paid in Manhattan, although they hold fewer than one of every six jobs in the borough. The pay gap between them and the 1.5 million other workers in Manhattan continues to widen, causing some economists to worry about the city’s growing dependence on their extraordinary incomes.

Despite their recent success, the financial companies that have long formed the economic engine of New York City have not created many more jobs. More of the job growth in the city is occurring in lower-paying service jobs in restaurants, stores and home health care, but the pay for those jobs has been lagging, said Michael L. Dolfman, regional commissioner of the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

. . .

For all of the 1.8 million jobs in Manhattan, the average weekly salary in the first quarter of this year was slightly more than $2,500, a rise of about 35 percent from the first quarter of 2003, the federal data show. But the raises are not spread evenly across Manhattan’s job market, economists said.

The average is skewed by the large number of high-paying jobs at investment banks, brokerage firms and hedge funds, they said.

. . .

Mr. Dolfman, whose report is included in the bureau’s Monthly Labor Review, said one negative consequence of the unequal distribution of income gains is that “the middle class is being squeezed out of the city because of the tremendous purchasing power of the people in the global sectors of the economy.”

[Snaps Fingers] “Garcon, More Green Bean Casserole!”

It’s the wrong day to heap scorn on those lame enough to go to a restaurant on Thanksgiving. With a few exceptions, that is:

Well-heeled diners should be prepared to fork over $833 to join the city’s most expensive Thanksgiving celebration.

The all day stuff-a-thon at the Time Warner Center restaurant features dishes like roasted organic lemon thyme turkey, and lobster and crabmeat gratin.

Fat cats willing to fork over the dough for the meal will be seated at the private chef’s table in the kitchen alcove.

The table for twelve is in a secluded area and has an unobstructed view of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

In between courses, diners can watch football games on flat-screen TVs and get dizzy on unlimited champagne and wine from the open bar.

“It’s like having Thanksgiving at your rich uncle’s penthouse,” said the restaurant’s director of special events, Maureen Schilling.

“People do come. A family booked the room last year. The total for 12 seats is $10,000.”

We had no idea candied yams could taste so good:

These big spenders will eat endive and quince salad, truffled butternut squash potage, roasted turkey with Chardonnay gravy, orange and anise glazed cranberries, candied yams and cornbread stuffing.

And it’s not over yet.

The dessert menu is a sweet-tooth fantasy –caramelized key lime pie, pumpkin and nutmeg pie, apple crumble pie and cookies are all on the list.

Kids wash it all down with hot apple cider and eggnog, while adults have fine wines and champagne chosen by the chef.

Other posh eateries across the city are offering Thanksgiving meals for customers not named Gates or Rockefeller.

At Daniel on East 65th Street, the $135 three-course, prix fixe menu includes roasted organic turkey with giblet stuffing and stuffed breast with foie gras. For kids 12 and under it’s $65 per plate.

And at Alain Ducasse on Central Park South, $150 buys a five-course dinner including turkey with foie gras stuffing, butter-poached Maine lobster, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce and a “sweet tray” of candied chestnuts and chocolate pralines.

Wow, pumpkin pie with nutmeg! So inventive! (Foie gras stuffing and lobster, on the other hand, would probably make for a pretty beautiful experience.)

And When The Revolution Comes My Comrades And I Will Turn It Into The Biggest, Smelliest Dog Run In All Of Manhattan

For some reason the word “hordes” may come to mind. It’s not your imagination — they actually use that word:

This was not the first time in recent months that Ms. [Sallie] Scripter had noticed the wrought-iron gate [of Gramercy Park] ajar. In August, Ian Schrager reopened the Gramercy Park Hotel, equipped with Italian linen, art by Andy Warhol, and keys to the park. Ever since then, local residents, who also possess keys to the park, have occasionally remarked that the gate had been left open.

An open gate may not seem a terribly pressing issue, but keys to this kingdom are highly prized. The hotel keeps its six keys for guest use on giant silver rings, each about the diameter of a Frisbee and decorated with a showy gold tassel.

Arlene Harrison, a park trustee, says she thought that hotel guests occasionally left the gate open because it was too heavy to close, or simply because they didn’t realize that according to park rules, it must be closed and locked even when visitors are inside.

And anxiety about the open gate may have less to do with the presence of guests at the hotel, where prices start at $525 a night, than of other people. “The terrible threat,” Ms. Harrison said, “is that with the gate wide open, hordes of people may come in.”

All of which precipitated some of the most stringent procedures ever applied to a park:

According to Ellis O’Connor, the hotel’s general manager, park-bound guests will be escorted there by a hotel worker, then educated about the park’s history and rules, including its bans on alcohol, pets, and groups larger than six. The worker will open the gate, close it behind the guests, and give them a key to let themselves out.

Still, Ms. Harrison intends to keep close tabs on it. “I speak to the managers there once or twice daily,” she said. “And I talk to Ian Schrager at least twice a week.”