NBC’s Olympics coverage has generated an awful lot of laughably awkward prose – my favorite was the gymnastics commentator (not sure who – don’t think it was Al Trautwig) who remarked that “If the Chinese spell ‘history’ with a capital … Continue reading
A look at the burning issue of the day, if you’re a Yankee fan without a taste for ballpark prices: Will the team try to level a ban on bringing in outside food when they move to their new city-financed … Continue reading
Just like last year, Astroland is again weeks away from the end of its season with no lease in place for next summer. Dire headlines to the contrary, though, the fabled Coney Island amusement park may be more likely to … Continue reading
Because you can’t have too much of a good thing, I report for the Village Voice today on New York’s experiment with shutting Manhattan streets to traffic: After trial runs in the hinterlands of Brooklyn’s Bedford Avenue and Montague Street, … Continue reading
Just got back from filming/taping a half-hour appearance on the TV/radio show Democracy Now! about the new Yankees stadium – U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich and Good Jobs New York director Bettina Damiani were on hand as well, but I got … Continue reading
When the New York City Department of Education announced last fall that it would start admitting schoolkids to gifted and talented classes solely on the basis of standardized tests, it said the new system would be fairer to all. Initial … Continue reading
What do ocean trawling and mass transit have in common? unintended consequences. There’s a word for it in the fishing world: “bycatch.” That’s the unfortunate tendency, when you’re trying to net one type of seafood — say, shrimp — to … Continue reading
There’s nothing more exciting than a new formula for calculating the poverty rate! Or at least so says New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who last week became the latest to put forth his own ideas (okay, actually those of Mark … Continue reading
More on the great Brooklyn supermarket showdown, this time with more thoughts on what the conflict means for hopes of a livable city: The scene on Fort Greene’s Myrtle Avenue on Thursday was certainly bursting with cheap irony: John Catsimatidis, … Continue reading
A flurry of recent media appearances for me, none of it, oddly, connected with this past week’s Yankee Stadium All-Star Game media frenzy: Mark Yost, author of the NFL business history Tailgating, Sacks, and Salary Caps, quotes me on the … Continue reading