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Entries in Who Gives A Shit (184)

Tuesday
Dec282010

Who Gives A Shit: Has Your Brooklyn Street Been Plowed?

snow plows *were* making their way up and down Union Street at around 11am todayCause judging from the deluge of emails, tweets, and angry missives that have been sent in to both myself and Aaron Brashear of Concerned Citizens of Greenwood Heights, the answer for most of your asses is a big fat NO.

Not sure if anyone wants to be identified, so I'm keepin it all anon:

I'm on President Street between 7th and 8th Avenues.  Our block and Carroll Street have not been plowed" as of 10:27am this morn.

And here's another one:

It's now almost 11 AM on Tuesday the 28th. The last plow to come up this street (16th) was on Sunday the 26th at about 2PM. Almost 48 hours.

Add to that that yesterday was garbage and Recycle pick up and after a holiday with added recyclables. So the street is now 4 feet deep in snow and garbage.

I filed 4 complaints yesterday. One online (which will not give you a complaint number but assures that the issue will be resolved (?)) and 3 of which I waited on the line for about 2 hours to speak to an agent. Those complaints were directly related to the sanitation department's lack of attention to the issues at hand.

As for Dentons rosy explaination that "the plows can't get up the street if cars are stuck, luv ya Denton but: if the plows (and salters) had come up the street in the first place, then the cars would not be stuck to begin with.

Basically the City has failed to do it's duty and, in doing so, has created a VERY dangerous situation. The resulting excuses for their lack of proper management of our tax dollars does not change the fact that we are in a bad situation that should have never been allowed to happen. Especially since this storm was not a surprise, and we have already been billed for it.

and one more from this morn:

It appears that they haven't plowed any side streets. I walked around today in the late teens and they were all untouched except for 17th (probably because of the expressway). There are some businesses between 3rd and 4th Avenues in the late teens and early 20s, so it seems extra odd.

Just to make us all even more mad:

One thing that many people are unaware of is how rudimentary the NYC snow removal process is compared to some other places. In Montreal, for example, the City cleans not only the streets but the sidewalks. I was amazed to see hwo they do it last time I was in Montreal during the winter. I posted the below in another forum...
"If you want to see real snow removal, go to Montreal.

They don't just hang some stinkin' plow on some stinkin' garbage truck.

No, they have a whole system. There will be a crew of different vehicles and people. They'll clear the street with big equipment, then they'll have tow trucks pull the cars away from the curb, have a small backhoe remove snow, then put the cars back. Meanwhile big honking bulldozer picks up snow and puts it in dump trucks, where it gets hauled off and dumped in the river. Here are some pix.

Someone also claimed alternate side will be in effect tomorrow.  Not showing on nyc.gov, but someone's asking for a revolution...

Ok, so where are you? And has your street been plowed yet? Enquiring minds wanna know.

UPDATE: Thx to Brownstoner, we found this handy map that someone has set up to track snow removal. Click on over to add your street if you feel like ranting some more.

Wednesday
Dec222010

WHO GIVES A SHIT: What's Going On in the Slope for NYE? [PRE-WHASSUP]

Fireworks and Mexican food fiestas and ditching your kids, oh my!

Because I lurve your sweet asses so much, Imma put together a New Year's Even IN THE SLOPE WHASSUP for you kiddies in the next couple of days. I obviously pride myself on my in-depth research skills and neighborhood blog journalistic integrity, so before I throw this thing together, I wanna know ALL of WHASSUP.

Please be kind enough to leave me a comment letting me know the NYE haps around the Slope and bordering areas. I'm all for the avoid-Manhattan/Williamsburg/anythingthatthinksitsWilliamsburg-at-all-costs thing, so clue me in on your Better BK New Year's Eve plans, and I shall pimp accordingly.

Friday
Dec172010

Who Gives A Shit: Hiring a Christmas Tree Stylist?

Oh for fuck's sake! Seriously?

Well, I actually had a jump start on this breaking news story from the NY Times because I WAS AT THEIR PAGE ONE 4PM EDITOR'S MEETING YESTERDAY!!!!! When I'm not being dissed or ignored by you BALLER people, I'm running another newsroom: my kid's middle school virtual newspaper. Pulitzer worthy, I tell you! 

And yesterday, we went on a field trip to the paper of record, which I had kind of broken up with after their lamentable Judy Miller debacle but all is forgiven.... Because I love this article and its reception at the conference table of the world's journalistic elites who ever-so wryly and understatedly let fly just how obscene they think this trend is.

Not so the crowd over at Brownstoner. I'm in a comments war over this very topic because I CANNOT BELIEVE how many of my neighbors think the soulless practice of hiring an interior designer to deck out your tree and holiday home is A-OK.

BSD: It's as lame as hiring anyone to do something you don't want to or have the time for. Sound kinda cranky for the holiday season.

Butterfly: it is no lamer than hiring a nanny to take care of your kids for you, hiring a maid to pick up after you, going to a restaurant and having someone cook for you, etc etc etc. some people just SUCK at decorating, and in end this provides jobs for people i guess.

duckumu: i agree with BSD. nothing wrong with admitting something is beyond your capability and hiring someone to do it for you. if you can afford it and it makes you happy, why not? and is it surprising that people with a lot of money would lack creativity? :)

urbancamper: Butterfly Rob, it's SOOOO much lamer, I can't even believe you are playing devil's advocate here.

crimsonson: Agree with Rob. Some of you need face it. Some have more money and have the ability to do things you can't. Who the hell cares if they can afford nannies, chefs, decorators, drivers, etc. You go out and pay for food right?

Montrose Morris: The interior decorator I do work for sometimes is booked this time of year to do exactly that for his best clients. He usually does it as a gift for them for their considerable contributions to his standard of living.

urbancamper: Even my acquisitive, entitled offspring know that Christmas is supposed to be about "sharing and caring" and putting up your own GD ornaments, preferably homemade ones.

Butterfly: homemade ornaments are a total turn off tho. if i walk into your home and see popcorn on your tree, i turn right back out!

Tiptoe: Some of the homeowners in Dyker Heights hire decorators to deck their homes in lights and Christmas figures...looks great, who cares.

It's shit like this that makes me want to move to a wind farm somewhere far, far away from Park Slope. 

Just walked the beast and came across my favorite tacky holiday mansion people. They have a different garish scene for each and every holiday save Ramadan. Now, THIS is how it's done. They have a mansion on PPW but they don't hire some decorator to do their tacky display. THEY do it themselves.

So, what do you think? I care about your opinion (as long as it coincides with mine).

Thursday
Dec162010

Who Gives A Shit: Bike Shop Love/Hate

image: Wallyg via FlickrOk, so I don't ride a bike...and I don't wanna ride a bike. I've got my hands full trying to keep myself from not getting killed on foot. HOWEVER, I've noticed this thing amongst people who do ride bikes that's kind of entertaining: there is some pretty extreme love/hate for the various bike shops around the nabe. Like ppl feel VERY strongly about their faves/least faves.

Dixon's for instance. Everyone HATES THE SHIT out of this bike shop. It's amazing...mention Dixon's to any Park Slope bike rider and you are likely to see any one of the following reactions:

  • spitting
  • eye rolling
  • expletive screaming ("DOUCHEBAGS!" "ASSHOLES!" "MOTHERFUCKERS!")
  • simulated air punching
  • simulated suicide attempts

I've honestly never seen anything like it. It almost makes me want to go to Dixon's just to hang out and see wtf is going on down there.

On the love side, I keep hearing about that bike shop on 9th, 9th Street Cycles (and I know Meredith is a fan). And @dkcholo loves Ride Brooklyn on Bergen.

So, wtf is up with the Dixon's hate? And which bike shop do you love? Can someone, once and for all, pls explain to me which bike shops suck and which rule (and why??).

Kthxbai.

Thursday
Dec022010

Who Gives A Shit: Tipping For The Holidays

This discussion goes on every year, and every year I still find it fascinating: how much do you tip your apt building workers/helpers/super at holiday time?

Brick Underground did a great 2010 Holiday Tipping Guide. Here's how they broke shit down:

Super, resident manager:  $100 -$175 avg (broad range: $75 - $500)
Doorman, concierge:  $75-$150 avg (broad range: $10 - $1,000)
Porter, handyman:  $20 - $30 avg (broad range: $10 - $75)
Garage attendant:  $50 - $75 avg (broad range $25-$100)

There's way more great scoop though, on when you should tip, how you should tip, and some common questions about tipping, so you should click on over there.

In the meantime, fill me in: do you tip? And if so, how much? And what do you do for housekeepers, dog walkers, nannies, etc?

This is a free country, so if you wanna go anon, DO IT.

(via Brick Underground)