WHEN in the course of human Events, it becomes necessary….
New York New York What a Wonderful Town!
byVanderleunonDecember 9, 2020
An old friend is fond of referring to New York City as,“Hell with good restaurants.” Well, I think we can delete the “with good restaurants” part.
NYC Chipotle besieged by rats feasting on avocado, employeesAfter a closure of a few days for cleaning, the store reopened, but workers were still afraid of the rats, which had apparently grown fat off the constant supply of food. “The whole situation seemed crazy to us, we definitely felt it was incorrect to keep the store open while all of this was happening,” Paulino Ruiz said.
About a week later, the ordering system went down and the store was forced to close indefinitely, the workers said.
“A company as big as Chipotle shouldn’t be worried only about the amount of money they’re making, and leave their employees to keep working under dangerous conditions,” Paulino Ruiz said.
Under a new proposed bill, New York City residents would be required to pay a $3 surcharge on packages they ordered online, with the exception for medicine and food.
Assemblyman Robert Carroll, who proposed the bill, says the online shopping fee would raise more than $1 billion a year “to fund the operating costs of buses and subways in the city of New York.”
“the online shopping fee would raise more than $1 billion a year “to fund the operating costs of buses and subways in the city of New York.”
The MTA expects a budget shortfall of $8billion, so a measly $1Billion isn’t going to cut it.
MTA is spending $6billion over the next two years to replace 6000 subway cars; that’s in addition to the annual operating costs shortfall.
“…workers were still afraid of the rats, which had apparently grown fat off the constant supply of food.”
So how long did these sloppy lazy-asses work at the restaurant and allow it to become a friggin’ rat smorgasbord?
And don’t give me some sad thumbsucker story about leftover food going into the trash at the end of the day. A good kitchen manager would control the amount of prep to minimize daily waste, and a clever restaurant manager would handle the end-of-day leftovers New Orleans Style, distributing to-go meal packages to the local down-and-outers. (I saw this trick myself a few years back in Jackson Square; a (white) hostess handed a big bundle of food to an old (black) man, saying “Sorry, but there wasn’t any etouffee left over today.”)
Of course, trash collection in NYC can be iffy. Makes for an entire ecosystem of rats, from the mayor on down.
AnneDecember 10, 2020, 7:05 AM
Chipotle opened a place close by. We went in about a month later. Those kids staffing the steam table were very poorly trained. One of the newest “great investments” that was made by our local small university was an investment in a cooking school. It was intended to generate new enrollment revenue. In the beginning they had a man in his mid 50’s heading up the training program–he was a well known faculty with good reputation. HOWEVER, immediately after his 2 year contract was up he was replaced with the standard version of leadership: single middle aged mom “trying very hard” , which of course does not strive to meet industry standards! The Chipotle staff was from that program and within a few months the Chipotle store was closed down for health reasons, re-opened, and closed down again for health reasons. It is open now, but I have serious doubts as to it’s life expectancy. It seems that there is some science involved and ‘everyone knows’ that science isn’t really necessary, etc.,etc.,etc.
PA CatDecember 10, 2020, 8:03 AM
Boy, Ol’ Blue Eyes was still a skinny kid in 1949, wasn’t he? And at least the sailors in On the Town were looking for dames rather than other guys.
EX-Californian PeteDecember 10, 2020, 10:56 AM
New York City is one of the USA’s best examples of high crime and murder rates skyrocketing with the help of hyper-restrictive gun laws.
Ever meet a New Yorker with a gun permit that was NOT a politician or a cop?
Me neither.
Casey KlahnDecember 10, 2020, 2:13 PM
The kind readers are used to me personalizing these blog posts. I see the world through my comparative experiences, but I hesitate to make things “about me”. So, forgive me while I go down memory lane on this post.
NY, NY is a helluva town! Early this year, I had my finger hovering directly over the hotel reservations button, and I was due in Manhattan to teach an art workshop at the venerable old National Arts Club. Something held me back from touching that button, and the very next day it was either NYC, or WA where I live, that went into lockdown. That would’ve been my, I don’t even know, maybe my sixth time to The Big Apple?
But my first trip was unforgettable! It was 1977, I was a Spec5 in the national guard, and the training money was spent for me to go for the entire summer. In the khaki uniform of the army, in large groups of young soldiers, we rode the Staten Island Ferry to downtown every evening after duty ended about 1700 hrs. We saw Peggy Fleming, in Holiday on Ice, at MSG, and for free. We’d stop at the MacArthur USO (was it 42nd and Broadway?), see what tickets they had, eat some cheap chow, and hit the city. I saw Yul Brenner on Broadway in The King & I. I saw the Rockettes 5 times…we got back to the fort every morning about 3, and I woke the soldiers at 5:30 to clean barracks. I was 19.
This was one of my first assignments with women (WACs), because up till then I had been in infantry jobs. HFS, that was fine. Lots of pretty and fun-loving soldiers of the female persuasion, and at the same time the city was overrun with pretty “dames” who all competed to be the most made-up or gorgeous gal you could meet. All head-turners. The sea wall on the Staten Island post was off limits, and so we had it all to ourselves and the view of Brooklyn and Manhattan and Jersey City was off-the-hook with maybe a million or more bright-jewel twinkling lights, all reflected in the harbor.
So, this film of the sailors doing the town has some personal meaning to me. My experience was more of a “shit the Vietnam War was a fuck-fest and now we all feel like shit in uniform” experience instead of a WW II support the troops kind of feeling. Anyway, we were young.
Yes, the mice, the smog, the garbage. The traffic. I hope to go back to NYC some day but wonder really what will remain of it. I wonder if Escape From New York wasn’t more of a prophecy film than a fantasy?
OK. Take care.
Casey KlahnDecember 10, 2020, 9:07 PM
I hope you can tell by my age given and the dates of my story that I was not in Vietnam and don’t want that misunderstood. It was post-Vietnam. At my first couple of duty stations, the veterans of Vietnam had thousand yard stares, and you almost could smell the cordite on their uniforms. I joined in ’75.
M. MurcekDecember 11, 2020, 7:10 AM
People who eat Shipotle exemplify the “Tell me what you eat and I’ll tell you who you are” ethos…
Real World Address for Donations, Mash Notes and Hate Mail
Gerard Van der Leun
1692 MANGROVE AVE
APT 379
Chico, Ca 95926
Green Pants Interior by Klahn
Who Am I? by Carl Sandburg
My head knocks against the stars.
My feet are on the hilltops.
My finger-tips are in the valleys and shores of universal life.
Down in the sounding foam of primal things I reach my hands and play with pebbles of destiny.
I have been to hell and back many times.
I know all about heaven, for I have talked with God.
I dabble in the blood and guts of the terrible.
I know the passionate seizure of beauty
And the marvelous rebellion of man at all signs reading “Keep Off.”
My name is Truth and I am the most elusive captive in the universe.
Duty, Beauty, Liberty, Country, Honor, Family, Faith — Plus a few simple easy to follow rules for guys
Men saw the stars at the edge of the sea
They thought great thoughts about liberty
Poets wrote down words that did fit
Writers wrote books
Thinkers thought about it
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
Many’s the road I have walked upon
Many’s the hour between dusk and dawn
Many’s the time
Many’s the mile
I see it all now
Through the eyes of a child
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
[Chorus]
Lost dreams and found dreams
In America
In America
In America
Lost dreams and found dreams
In America
In America
In America
And close your eyes
Leave it all for a while
Leave the world
And your worries behind
You will build on whatever is real
And wake up each day
To a new waking dream
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
[Chorus]
Change, change come over
Change come over
Talkin’ about a change
Change, change
Change come over, now
Change, change, change come over
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I see my light
See my light
See my shining light
I see my light
See my light
See my shining light
Gerard Van der Leun
Comments on this entry are closed.
“the online shopping fee would raise more than $1 billion a year “to fund the operating costs of buses and subways in the city of New York.”
The MTA expects a budget shortfall of $8billion, so a measly $1Billion isn’t going to cut it.
MTA is spending $6billion over the next two years to replace 6000 subway cars; that’s in addition to the annual operating costs shortfall.
https://woodpilereports.blogspot.com
“…workers were still afraid of the rats, which had apparently grown fat off the constant supply of food.”
So how long did these sloppy lazy-asses work at the restaurant and allow it to become a friggin’ rat smorgasbord?
And don’t give me some sad thumbsucker story about leftover food going into the trash at the end of the day. A good kitchen manager would control the amount of prep to minimize daily waste, and a clever restaurant manager would handle the end-of-day leftovers New Orleans Style, distributing to-go meal packages to the local down-and-outers. (I saw this trick myself a few years back in Jackson Square; a (white) hostess handed a big bundle of food to an old (black) man, saying “Sorry, but there wasn’t any etouffee left over today.”)
Of course, trash collection in NYC can be iffy. Makes for an entire ecosystem of rats, from the mayor on down.
Chipotle opened a place close by. We went in about a month later. Those kids staffing the steam table were very poorly trained. One of the newest “great investments” that was made by our local small university was an investment in a cooking school. It was intended to generate new enrollment revenue. In the beginning they had a man in his mid 50’s heading up the training program–he was a well known faculty with good reputation. HOWEVER, immediately after his 2 year contract was up he was replaced with the standard version of leadership: single middle aged mom “trying very hard” , which of course does not strive to meet industry standards! The Chipotle staff was from that program and within a few months the Chipotle store was closed down for health reasons, re-opened, and closed down again for health reasons. It is open now, but I have serious doubts as to it’s life expectancy. It seems that there is some science involved and ‘everyone knows’ that science isn’t really necessary, etc.,etc.,etc.
Boy, Ol’ Blue Eyes was still a skinny kid in 1949, wasn’t he? And at least the sailors in On the Town were looking for dames rather than other guys.
New York City is one of the USA’s best examples of high crime and murder rates skyrocketing with the help of hyper-restrictive gun laws.
Ever meet a New Yorker with a gun permit that was NOT a politician or a cop?
Me neither.
The kind readers are used to me personalizing these blog posts. I see the world through my comparative experiences, but I hesitate to make things “about me”. So, forgive me while I go down memory lane on this post.
NY, NY is a helluva town! Early this year, I had my finger hovering directly over the hotel reservations button, and I was due in Manhattan to teach an art workshop at the venerable old National Arts Club. Something held me back from touching that button, and the very next day it was either NYC, or WA where I live, that went into lockdown. That would’ve been my, I don’t even know, maybe my sixth time to The Big Apple?
But my first trip was unforgettable! It was 1977, I was a Spec5 in the national guard, and the training money was spent for me to go for the entire summer. In the khaki uniform of the army, in large groups of young soldiers, we rode the Staten Island Ferry to downtown every evening after duty ended about 1700 hrs. We saw Peggy Fleming, in Holiday on Ice, at MSG, and for free. We’d stop at the MacArthur USO (was it 42nd and Broadway?), see what tickets they had, eat some cheap chow, and hit the city. I saw Yul Brenner on Broadway in The King & I. I saw the Rockettes 5 times…we got back to the fort every morning about 3, and I woke the soldiers at 5:30 to clean barracks. I was 19.
This was one of my first assignments with women (WACs), because up till then I had been in infantry jobs. HFS, that was fine. Lots of pretty and fun-loving soldiers of the female persuasion, and at the same time the city was overrun with pretty “dames” who all competed to be the most made-up or gorgeous gal you could meet. All head-turners. The sea wall on the Staten Island post was off limits, and so we had it all to ourselves and the view of Brooklyn and Manhattan and Jersey City was off-the-hook with maybe a million or more bright-jewel twinkling lights, all reflected in the harbor.
So, this film of the sailors doing the town has some personal meaning to me. My experience was more of a “shit the Vietnam War was a fuck-fest and now we all feel like shit in uniform” experience instead of a WW II support the troops kind of feeling. Anyway, we were young.
Yes, the mice, the smog, the garbage. The traffic. I hope to go back to NYC some day but wonder really what will remain of it. I wonder if Escape From New York wasn’t more of a prophecy film than a fantasy?
OK. Take care.
I hope you can tell by my age given and the dates of my story that I was not in Vietnam and don’t want that misunderstood. It was post-Vietnam. At my first couple of duty stations, the veterans of Vietnam had thousand yard stares, and you almost could smell the cordite on their uniforms. I joined in ’75.
People who eat Shipotle exemplify the “Tell me what you eat and I’ll tell you who you are” ethos…