we all know that it’s a bad economy and the media has done a great job at keeping us on the edge of our seats. every time a new report comes out from the economists or from wall street, a barrage of coverage ensues. we’ve heard it all when it comes to the mortgage crisis, the credit crunch or unemployment rates.

maybe it’s me, but one thing that i have not seen or heard covered in the local new york news is the rising homeless rate. now i don’t have any real numbers to back this up, just casual observation. i’ve been in this city for 37 years and i’ve pretty much seen it all. i can definitely tell you that in the 80’s and early/mid 90’s the homeless problem was rampant. and although i was not a huge guiliani fan, he did at least clean up the visible aspect of the homeless (no, bussing them to the outer boroughs does not count as help). anyone remember the tent cities under the manhattan bridge (which just turned 100 years old) or in thompkins square park?

well, in the last year - probably due to the economy and the lack of funds for public services - the homeless are everywhere and it’s definitely a saddening sight. you don’t have to look too hard to see them in the street, but the one thing that really got to me was seeing the amount of people sleeping in penn station. the weather is getting colder and people need to be indoors, but it was really shocking to see all hallways lined with sleeping bodies. where are the human services professionals? where are the city agencies to help these people? surely the police know that they’re out on the street. are there no reports filed?

as for our newly re-elected mayor who personally spent $100 million on his campaign and has risen to be one the wealthiest men in the world during his last two terms in new york, where is his compassion in all of this? mr mayor, if you love your city so much i’m sure you could find some way to help these poor people. it doesn’t take billions to be a philanthropist. and in case you don’t see them from your limo, take a walk with me on my route to work, they’re impossible to miss.

new MTA advertising

this appeared at one of my heavily commuted subway stations early this past monday. as i and the rest of the new york masses were deftly trying to avoid each other (especially the ones who come in the opposite direction not in their lane, and you know who you are) we were all surprised. each one of us did a split second stutter step as if in a bizarrely choreographed flashmob.

i understand the advertising dollars, as subway advertising properties have increased, but two things i have to say to the MTA:

#1, red means stop. i know h&m’s colors are red, but even in that split second the mind registers don’t go and danger. new yorkers want to avoid subways as much as possible. i won’t go into the myriad of reasons, you can the read the post for that. but you don’t have to bathe the turnstiles in red to make us think that there’s something wrong. we already think there is.

#2, i can see these new plastic sleeves on the metal turnstiles breaking and causing problems to the turnstiles; requiring closing them down to repair. unless you had the samsonite gorilla testing them… c’mon this is new york. i’ve seen the homeless shove entire shopping carts through there. that’s the other thing we don’t need, delays (of any sort) trying to get in/out of places we don’t want to be in anyway - especially with the fares going up.

just one more reason for MTA #fail.

i love ny

huh? yes you read right: $17,000,000 - that’s seventeen million dollars. for what? to re-design milton glaser’s world famous i love ny logo. who? saatchi&saatchi.

well first the question is why? this is an iconic symbol known worldwide. i understand that the idea is that ny (not only nyc) is a year round great place. but silhouettes of a butterfly, a squirrel and some snow does not warrant the price tag - especially from tax dollars in a slow economy. basically, WTF?

and personally i think the visual mercenary group or our friends at 4corners could have come up with much better design. but hey, we still ♥ ny.