It’s Broke . . . And Do We Really Have To Fix It?

Maybe you were wondering how toll takers got into real estate . . . and why this makes any sense . . . and how no one can do anything about it . . . and then The Times’ Joe Nocera really poops in the punchbowl in the weeks leading up to the tenth anniversary of 9/11:

But despite the shroud of patriotism that its supporters have always cloaked it in, it’s really just a big, fancy office building. An office building with such poor economics that it will soak New Jersey and New York commuters for decades to come. An office building only the government could love.

Lately, supporters of the project have begun saying that its economics have improved. They point to the fact that Condé Nast, the publishing giant, has agreed to be the anchor tenant. What they fail to point out is that Condé Nast’s rent is less than half the break-even cost of the 1 million square feet it will occupy. In other words, a company that publishes high-end magazines aimed at rich people will be getting an enormous government subsidy for the foreseeable future.

And who will be paying for that subsidy? The mailroom attendants who use the Lincoln Tunnel to get to work. The middle-class New Jersey-ites who use the George Washington Bridge. The firefighters and police officers who live in Staten Island. Thus, in the name of 9/11, does New York and New Jersey place another economic burden on the already overburdened middle class. How sad.

Misses Dash?

Queens address dashes aren’t a pain because the post office needs them (they don’t — their machines ignore them) or call center people from outside the area misunderstand you (I think they generally get what you’re trying to say) but rather because hardware stores don’t stock them:

But the real problem comes when you want to replace the dash, said [a Middle Village resident]. Recently, [she] arrived at her home and the dash was missing from her front door.

“I ran to two hardware stores and they don’t carry it anymore,” she said, noting that a Home Depot vendor saved the day when he custom-made one for her.

“If you want to buy a dash in Queens you really have to put some elbow grease into finding one,” she added.

You Might Not Keep Them Around Once They Have Children And Realize How Shitty The Schools Are Around Bushwick, But They’ll Always Remember That Foolish Summer When They Tried To Grow A Mustache

The city’s quasi-public/quasi-private tourism arm is marketing T-shirts to a demographic roughly defined as “the actors who you see spray painting in that new Converse ad”:

Earlier this month, the city’s tourism arm, NYC & Company, reintroduced its staid online store with a line of T-shirts printed with neon colors and bubblegum fonts and advertised on models wearing mustaches posing before brick walls.

. . .

In a departure for municipal merchandise, five of the shirts name-check the individual boroughs. A sixth shows the familiar Bloomberg-era boxy “NYC” logo dissolving into transgressive spray-paint drips, above dripping maps of the boroughs.

. . .

The decision to devote shirts to specific boroughs, [NYC & Company’s creative director] said, followed a trend and fit the city’s mission to promote tourism beyond Manhattan. [The creative director of the company that designed the T-shirts] said young people make up a significant population of the outer boroughs. “You go to Sunnyside or Astoria in Queens, and there’s people in their 20s now sort of mixed together with everyone,” she said.

Which Union Jobs Are They Talking About?

Maybe you found it annoying to hear union members back the Port Authority’s proposed toll hikes, arguing that more toll revenue would lead to more construction jobs on PA capital projects:

The union members, mostly from Labor International Union North America (LiUNA) were in favor of the hike, saying the capital work it will fund will mean safer bridges and good middle-class jobs for the people in their unions.

. . .

The morning meeting was held in a tricky-to-find building at the New York Container Terminal, a spot on a lonely, industrial road marked by a few signs that said “public hearing” and a police car’s flashing lights. The room had about 80 seats, more than half of them taken by union members who had arrived early decked out in bright orange shirts that said “Port Authority = Jobs.”

The last time I remember union members advocating for some controversial plan, it didn’t end so well.

And as for jobs, now there’s this:

APL Limited has opted out of renewing its lease and will vacate the New York Container Terminal in Mariners Harbor next July over space considerations and the prospect of ongoing toll hikes on PA bridges, Terminal CEO Jim Devine said.

. . .

He said current bridge tolls and the threat of hikes were “a contributing factor.” Devine said doing business here, as opposed to in New Jersey, runs an average truck $100 more per trip to Mariners Harbor, depending on the number of axles, which are factored into the toll cost.

Tolls was the sole reason Turkon America Line left NYCT in 2009, Devine said. Turkon, which relocated to New Jersey, “continually brought up the toll,” he added.

The Day Everything Changed

For most people before 9/11, the salient storyline about the FDNY was probably something along the lines of racist floats — not necessarily because people assume the worst about firefighters but rather because that was just what was in the news about firefighters. So it’s a nice reminder that even in the traumatic aftermath of 9/11 people still found ways to stay stupid, as one captain reminisced during the federal discrimination trial about recruiting practices that is happening now:

The New York Fire Department is so racism-riddled that just weeks after Sept. 11, 2001, someone defaced a flyer honoring the black Bravest who died, an FDNY captain testified Monday.