Students Scalp Graduation Tickets To Pay Down Massive Tuition Debt

Not really*, but NYU and Columbia students are scalping their graduation tickets for items like bicycle pumps:

Because each student gets a limited number of tickets, graduates with big families are willing to pay for extra ducats.

And enterprising classmates who don’t need their tickets are hoping to make a quick buck on craigslist and other Web sites.

“My dad just broke two ribs and they aren’t going to be able to come to the city,” said Gary Miller, 21, an NYU journalism major who was asking $100 for each ticket to today’s exercises in Washington Square Park.

“I’m not too keen on sitting in the park for four hours myself.”

As of last night, Miller had no takers, but other grads with lower prices were finding buyers.

Alexis Caldwell thought she graduated from NYU four years ago, but she didn’t complete one course. Now that she has, she’s eligible for tickets again. She requested her allotment of two seats in the park and two in a TV viewing area so she could sell them.

“I need a new pump for my bicycle,” she said.

*Now that would have made the wire services!

Double Negative Of The Day

From CBGB owner Hilly Kristal, whose company continues to do brisk business selling CBGB merchandise:

After 33 years of running the club, he didn’t want to change its mission.

“I’m not out for them not to make money,” Kristal said. “They’ll have the T-shirts.”

Those Things Eventually Expire You Know

New Yorkers’ wallets are bulging but it’s not a sign of a more robust economy:

The city distributed 5 million free condoms in the month after it unveiled a new subway-themed wrapper earlier this year.

That was triple the number of condoms the city gave away in the month before the Valentine’s Day launch of the brightly colored package.

“The NYC Condom is a sensation,” the city’s health commissioner, Dr. Thomas Frieden said yesterday.

According the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, 800 establishments, including bars, theaters, and restaurants requested the free condoms between February 14 and March 14.

Look for the Department to partner with the Parks Department to determine how many of these have actually been used.

Meanwhile, the New York Post’s Carl Campanile must be publicly rebuked for composing this lede:

The city’s free subway-themed condoms have rubbed New Yorkers the right way — a staggering 5 million have been handed out since Valentine’s Day, the Health Department said yesterday.

Earlier: Next Up, The Newark Condom.

Location Scout: The Ramble.

The Eli Lily Mental Ward At Bellevue Hospital Presents: Your City-Run Health Care

But it won’t be a total sell-out until Atria begins advertising there:

The city’s public hospital system is considering putting the names of big-bucks donors on some of its facilities in exchange for cash — which means Bellevue could soon be home to the Bloomberg Trauma Center and Elmhurst the P&G Pampers Pavilion.

“We are exploring that,” said Frank Cirillo, vice president of operations at the Health and Hospital Corp., of the advertising scheme.

HHC — which oversees 11 hospitals, four nursing facilities and 80 clinics — also is looking at selling ad space on outdoor billboards and building and campus signs, as well as through digital media and TV flat panels.

Give Them The Tories Of Queens County While You’re At It — After All, JFK Is There

On account of a single tea shop and one lousy chipper Community Board 2 is being pressured into giving the British their own Little:

In an effort to join the city’s pantheon of ethnic neighbourhoods such as Chinatown and Little Brazil, the Campaign for Little Britain — a coalition of Virgin Airways and local businesses such as Tea and Sympathy and A Salt and Battery — announced its plans yesterday to officially rename the area between West 13th Street and Greenwich Avenue “Little Britain” to honour one of America’s closest and politest allies.

“Officially recognising cultural communities throughout the borough has been a constant throughout the decades,” said Sean Kavanagh-Dowsett, who with his wife Nicky Perry, owner of Tea and Sympathy, created the campaign more than a year ago. “But despite the number of British residents in New York City, and the large number of travellers between here and the U.K., there is no Little Britain.

. . .

With slogans such as “Sir Michael Bloomberg. Know What We Mean, Bloomie?” and “What’s One More Queen in the Village?” the campaign will rely on a very British sense of humour to make its argument heard.

The initial stages of the plan include an online petition and viral advertising campaign. Then, it’s off to Community Board 2 and, if approved, City Hall.