Open Thread

By Biff Champion on August 19, 2010 1:34 PM

“I used to cross the street, to avoid flying beer bottles.”

Was that a variation on the Thai striptease act that involves flying ping pong balls and darts?

No, it was part of my commute. Clark Street #2,3 to my place around the corner. North Heights was a pretty uneven place. There was also a homeless guy named Mike.
Does anybody remember him? He used to sleep on a couch under the marquee at the St. George (before the renovation and before the fire) I have so many Mike stories. He was such a jackass. I used to tell him that too – but he got his act together (quit drugs) and after some time, I got a phone call from him. He somehow found out my last name (knew where I lived) and called to tell me he went into a program and got a job working as a legal assistant. And thanked me! For harassing him, worse than he harrassed me.
“What do you think I am, a walking dollar bill??????” His couch was right near the door of Club Wildfyre.

There was another homeless guy, Robert. Unlike Mike that guy, who lived and worked for many years in BH as a bartender, completely fell apart with booze. But he and Mike were part of the local scene. There’s more. A lot more.

Hi folks;

I’m back, briefly. Anyone miss me? (you don’t have to answer that…). I was on vacation last week, and am traveling this week.

I saw all the brouhaha yesterday about “the” mosque. I felt like the debate missed the whole point. Allow me to state my position (which I think is in sync with the majority of Americans).

-it is beyond question that this group has the legal right to build at the site. As such, I think every politician should take Chris Christie’s advice and just shut up. This is not a political issue, but a social one.

-there are probably 100’s of existing mosques in NYC. I have no issue with them, and I daresay that the vast majority of New Yorkers don’t have an issue with them. I DO have an issue with the proposed Ground Zero mosque.

-my issue with them is the proposed location – a needless provocation- AND their behaviour since this controversy started. With regard to the latter, my issue is their refusal to address people’s authentic sensitivities (particularly the victims’ families) and their refusal to disallow funding from nations that are hostile to the US, particularly Iran.

-so, while I affirm their right to build the mosque at that sight, I also assert my right to call them a bad neighbor. Some folks on this site think that developers who put up “Fedders” buildings are bad neighbors. I assert that putting up a 13 story provocation where 3000 people were killed is far worse, and they have failed in their ostensible purpose of building a “community” center.

See you in a week or so. On the road again.

“I used to cross the street, to avoid flying beer bottles.”

Was that a variation on the Thai striptease act that involves flying ping pong balls and darts?

But seriously, I can see JTH not being able to stay open too late. Unlike the bars on Atlantic, Henry and Montague, JTH is smack dab in the middle of a very quiet, residential section of BH, surrounded by brownstones and not many other stores.