Up, Up And Away

The Times elevates expectations about the Mayor’s State of the City address to possibly unattainable heights:

In recent weeks, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has been mocked as a Manhattan elitist on “Saturday Night Live,” booed for his educational policies and accused of ignoring far-flung corners of New York City paralyzed by snow.

But Mr. Bloomberg will take one step toward rebuilding a strained relationship with the city’s other boroughs on Wednesday when he announces a plan to make it easier for New Yorkers to hail a cab outside of Manhattan. The mayor’s proposal, part of his 10th State of the City address, would make it legal to hail livery cabs.

Ashes To Ashes To The Heads Of Possibly Thousands Of Unsuspecting IRT Passengers

Yikes . . . it’s not like it’s a remote mountain top, outer space or even the East River — on a typical Saturday (you can see for yourself), well over 100,000 people use that subway station you just dumped human ashes into:

Friends and family of the Portuguese journalist who was castrated in a Times Square hotel dumped his ashes down a subway grate Saturday just steps away from the scene of his gruesome murder.

. . .

Some of the ashes scattered into the wind at “The Crossroads of the World.”

Location Scout: Times Square Subway Station.

A Good Schools Chancellor Sets A Tone, And This One Intends To Excite A Child’s Literary Senses, And Reach Out To Parents With Tenuous Analogies

It’s not the birth control comment that was so funny:

Following the 35-minute listening session, Black’s one-minute response was tempered with warnings of “tough sledding ahead” in anticipation of an austere state budget due Feb. 1 and a reminder that she has had similar “conversations” with parents all around the city.

“I don’t mean this in any flip way. It is many Sophie’s choices,” she said, in a reference to the book and film in which a mother in Auschwitz must decide which of her two children will die.

Her Name Was Written On Her Coat, Her Life Was A Miserable Anecdote

Why it’s a growler from the chainstore:

One corner of the Duane Reade store on Bedford Avenue in the Williamsburg neighborhood has Fire Island Lighthouse Ale and eight other beers on tap, with growlers — refillable glass bottles — lining the walls. Uniformed clerks-cum-beer-experts fill the growlers and conduct tastings only — sorry, no pints served. Behind a bar, a large walk-in refrigerator stocks common national brands as well as local, craft and imported beers. “We knew we would have a little bit of a battle to try to bring Duane Reade into this community, because they really don’t like a chain store,” said Paul Tiberio, senior vice president for merchandising and marketing at the company.

The Williamsburg beer bar is part of a larger effort by Duane Reade to recognize — and capitalize — on the fierce identity and local needs of many New York City neighborhoods.

One More Innocuous Pastime Brooklyn Will Eventually Make Annoying

Quizzo:

“There are a lot of young professionals in Brooklyn, and those are the main people you see at a trivia night — people with a lot of education who still like to go out and have drinks,” [a participant] said, laughing.