The Dirty Little Secret About Trees

The mayor’s half-billion-dollar Million Trees initiative may be revenue-neutral after all:

A newly installed ‘no parking’ sign in front of the Tosca Marquis catering hall, located at 4034 E. Tremont Avenue, is difficult to see because a tree obscures it.

Many unwitting motorists are getting tickets because of the obscured sign in front of the hall designated as a no parking zone from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m., Monday through Saturday. There is no clear indication as to where this parking regulation ends on the street. The sign has only one arrow pointing north to the curb in front of the dining hall. The entire area is now designated for loading and unloading in what had formerly been two metered spots.

“The sign is obstructed by the tree, so I didn’t even notice it,” said a motorist named Milton, who was parking in front of the catering hall on Friday, October 9.

Is Bloomberg Using City Resources To Stage Campaign Appearances?

Robert Sietsema* asks:

NY1 reports this morning that 18-20 sanitation, anti-graffiti, and steam-cleaning trucks recently descended on Inwood in preparation for a campagin appearance by Mayor Bloomberg scheduled for that afternoon.

. . .

Don’t such over-the-top cleaning efforts, in neighborhoods normally neglected and left filthy by the Sanitation Department, for the sole purpose of creating a pristine stage for the mayor’s campaign appearances, constitute an expropriation of city resources for the mayor’s own uses?

*Didn’t realize he was blogging this kind of stuff in addition to food-related items.

No Complaining; Kate Hudson Can Afford It

Die-hard Yankees fans turn down opportunity to purchase $380 ALDS tickets:

Some diehard Yankee fans were on line for 14 hours early Wednesday, waiting and hoping there’d be tickets available for game one of the playoffs when the doors opened.

. . .

Paul was on the line since 7 p.m. Wednesday night to be there for his beloved team, and he’s on a budget.

But when the doors finally opened, there was disappointment bordering on outrage when dozens of fans found out the cheapest tickets sold cost $380.

“I live right here in the neighborhood. I attended 34 games in the stadium this season, and I am not exactly rich,” said Paul. “I can’t go on line and pay an extra $25 surcharge.”

“Absolutely, something should be done for people in the neighborhood who were giving whole new life to the Yankees, but this is capitalism,” said Sam Soghar.

Fred Negron was the only one of the group who chose to buy the $380 ticket, but that’s because he just sold his house and had the cash.

For comparison’s sake, Phillies NLDS tickets are between $35 and $75.

Location Scout: New Yankee Stadium.

Traffic Agents Thrown Under The Bus (Not Literally!)

Note that they wouldn’t need to sit down with merchants and “retrain” their agents if City Hall wasn’t trying to balance the budget on dubious double-parking tickets:

“New instructions have been given to our traffic agents. The way we issue summonses will be different and we ask our agents to be patient,” said Frank Sepulveda, the NYPD’s director of traffic enforcement for the city. “By the end of this month all our agents should have the new training. We will look at how we can handle difficult summons situations differently.”

. . .

On problems, businessman Dan Texeira led the complaint barrage. “I stopped my car to let off my son. Just then a traffic agent cut off in front of my car and gave me a ticket.

“That wasn’t right,” said Sepulveda.

I’ve Got This Thing And It’s Fucking Golden

Go, Wayne, go:

Rod Blagojevich, who was selling his just-published book in New York last week, has a lot to say about Bradley Tusk, the former Deputy Governor of Illinois now running Mike Bloomberg’s campaign.