Results tagged “inauguration”

If you were one of the 150,000 New Yorkers who tried and failed to nab one of the golden tickets to the Obama Inauguration distributed by Senator Chuck Schumer, consider yourself lucky. Schumer is now calling for an investigation into last Tuesday's utterly predictable clusterfuck, which left thousands languishing in lines far from the area where President Obama took his mangled oath of office. (Some were reduced to calling family at home and listening to Obama's address on TV via cell phone!) The Daily News obtained an e-mail sent to Schumer from one bitter ticket winner named Cathy Shannon, who writes, "I'm sorry I was a winner, as now I am a big loser. After waiting on line for 3-1/2 hours... I actually got to miss the event. It was disgraceful... The most disorganized event I ever attended in my life. Schumer says he "feels terrible" and promises he'll make it up to everyone in 2012!

         

Productivity plummeted across New York City today as people dropped everything to witness the inauguration of President Obama. Damn, it feels good to say that. Here are some photos taken by readers of some of the Obamarama action around town.

Mayor Bloomberg issued a statement about President Obama's inaugural speech: "In President Obama's stirring words, we heard not only notes of hope and history, but a tone of pragmatism that has the power to bring the country together, and move us forward, together. His call for ‘a new era of responsibility' was music to the ears of Americans across the country who recognize that the change we need begins with fulfilling our duties - to our families, our countrymen, and our world. On behalf of all New Yorkers, I offer my congratulations to President Obama, and I look forward to working with him and his Administration to achieve the ambitious vision he laid out today."

       

While the folks in DC have the real front row seat to history today, New Yorkers were once at the center of the Inaugural events. Our own Joe Schumacher looks back to April 30th, 1789 when George Washington took the oath of office at Federal Hall on Wall Street; his address from that day can be seen here (transcript). By giving an address he began a tradition that's been followed by every elected president after him (four years later he delivered the 2nd one, which still holds the record for the shortest at 135 words). This morning New Yorkers gathered on the steps of the historic address for a special ringing of the NYSE bell.

It's almost time for the Presidential torch to be passed, and, in keeping with tradition, President-elect Barack Obama and Michelle Obama met with President George Bush and First Lady Laura Bush for the pre-Inauguration coffee at the White House. Michelle Obama, who is wearing a yellow Isabel Toldeo dress and coat with teal pumps (ooh), gave Laura Bush a gift—the NBC commentators did not recall seeing an incoming Presidential family giving the outgoing family a gift before.

Everyone is getting ready today's inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States, least of all the residents and visitors in Washington D.C. The Swearing In begins at 11:30 a.m.: Vice President-elect Joseph Biden will be sworn in around 11:46 a.m. and Obama will be sworn in ten minutes later, according to the NY Times' cool interactive graphic showing the events—and schedule—happening tomorrow.

Continued after the jump...

All nine Manhattan locations of Oren's Daily Roast will be offering free cups of their special Inauguration blend tomorrow from 10:44 a.m. to 12:44 p.m. The new roast is called "Blend 44: Beans You Can Believe In," and we're told it's inspired by Obama’s Kenyan and Hawaiian (Kona) roots, "while paying homage to his lively years at Harvard Law (Ethiopian Harrar beans) and his full-bodied years at Occidental College in Los Angeles (La Minita, Spanish for “Little Gold Mine”)." Whatever, point is it's free. Oren's will also be broadcasting the Inauguration on the radio, which is sort of romantic, but it's worth noting that select Starbucks locations will be have MSNBC's simulcast on one of those newfangled Tee-Vees, according to the Times. (We'll update later with the Starbucks locations; in the meantime here's the list of Oren's locations, for all the caffeine and politics junkies out there.)

The cold masses in DC for Barack Obama's inauguration will get a little treat from NYC tomorrow. The Daily News reports that a fifth-generation East Village bagel maker has been hard at work preparing 1 million bagels to hand out to folks, free of charge. Adam Rosner of Bagel Boss and 200 of his employees began the dough-making process last Thursday "at their 14 shops in Manhattan and on Long Island." Today they begin their journey to the nation's capital, riding down on 14 trucks, and tomorrow 50 employees and Young Dems will pass out the...day old bagels (beggars can't be choosers!), which will come in a variety ranging from honey whole wheat to sesame. As for the total bill, Rosner spent tens of thousands on the delicious donation, and told the paper that while he backs Obama now, he actually voted for McCain!

Just before noon today, President-elect Obama boarded a vintage train at the 30th Street Station in Philadelphia on a whistle-stop tour of cities along the mid-Atlantic seaboard with a final destination of Washington DC, where he will remain until his inauguration takes place this Tuesday. Obama then picked up his VP-to-be Joe Biden in Wilmington, Delaware on the "two-hour journey stretched into more than seven, as other invited guests boarded along the way—the final pickup being in "O"-Baltimore. The Times called the mood "more serious one than it was on most days of the presidential campaign." Just today in his weekly address, Obama said, "There will be false starts and setbacks, frustrations and disappointments. And we will be called to show patience even as we act with fierce urgency.” The train recalled Lincoln's initial inaugural trip to DC by rail and even followed some of the same route, but Obama never referred to the 16th president by name.

Since the Betty people haven't come out with a patriotic themed hair-down-there dye, some New York spas are suggesting you start fresh! From the inbox: "Get ready for next week's inauguration parties with change inspiring spa and salon deals...In the West Village, Boom Boom Beauty Bar is joining in the spirit with their 'Say Goodbye to Bush' special: 40% off all bikini waxing services from now till inauguration day." Not to get all servicey, but both Townhouse Spa (UWS) and Acqua Beauty Bar (Union Square) are offering 40% off all bikini waxes during Inauguration week as well. Never has a president inspired such a specific type of feminine grooming!

Were you one of the 150,000 New Yorkers who came up on the short end of the stick in the statewide lottery drawing to determine who would get tickets to the inauguration next week? Well, Senator Schumer is giving you a second chance. Schumer is giving out another 100 tickets to President-elect Obama's swearing in on the 20th. Thus far, 128 winners have been selected from the city and another 91 from the surrounding areas—including one adorable 4-year-old girl. And for everyone who still can't find a way down to DC to celebrate in all of the festivities, we're still crossing our fingers for Central Park Jumbotrons.

Is the Grey Lady is preparing for another sell-out at the newsstands this January 21st? Following Barack Obama's win on November 4th, the paper was practically saved by sales of its print edition on November 5th, when a line even formed outside of their HQ that afternoon. Eventually the paper ended up offering up commemorative prints of the front page for $15. Now MediaBistro points out that the paper has their own ad campaign running which will put the fear in you (you do not want to miss out on the Malia and Sasha get a puppy cover story!); they say: "Seems that the Times wants you to subscribe to the paper based on the idea that every day of the next eight years will be as historic as November 4." Well, maybe not every day, but expect another record day in sales after Obama's inauguration on January 20th—the site notes that whoever designs that front page "will be sure that it looks good in a frame."

In mid-December, the Times reported on a DUMBO company with 65 employees working around the clock to fill a very special order: one million gold-and-black engraved invitations for the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama on January 20th. Yesterday the Staten Island Advance revealed that Brooklyn isn't the only NYC borough with a role to play in getting the invitations out; workers for Prompt Mailers Inc. on Staten Island are now scrambling to get the precious invites in the mail. Every hour, four machines individually collate, insert and seal 3,100 to 3,500 envelopes each. Floor manager Carlos Oliveras, a U.S. Marine veteran, is particularly excited: "I was a junkie for all things Obama. I couldn't be happier to be a part of this history—indirectly." The company is working overtime to make a January 7th deadline, so if you haven't gotten your invite in the mail yet, you know which borough to blame.

Even though she's 14 years away from being able to vote, little Lou Cubberly gets to head to D.C. to see President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration. The Daily News reports that the 4-year-old's father Craig entered his daughter's name (plus his own and his wife's) into the lottery for tickets: "I saw the rules, you had to be a New York resident and had to have an e-mail address, but there was no age restriction." Craig Cubberly, who gets to accompany his daughter to the festivities, told the Post, "It will be a great father-daughter moment watching history." The Post also spoke to another ecstatic inauguration ticket lottery winner Patty James, a longtime Republican-turned-Obama supporter. Her husband confirmed she was thrilled, "When she screamed out she won the lottery, I thought it was Mega Millions. I was a little disappointed."

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting on Elliot Ave. in Queens, a pedestrian struck on West 86th St. and Amsterdam Ave. in Manhattan, and a stabbing on Cozine Ave. in Brooklyn.
• The brother of murdered Councilman James Davis decried the threats of assassination against another councilman from Charles Barron's chief of staff.
• A man robbed a sunbathing woman in Central Park of her iPod and wallet, then also demanded a kiss before departing.
• The Times looks at a New York multi-millionaire who's shelling out a lot of cash for stimulating dinner conversation.
• After leaving office Mayor Bloomberg will 1) Attend his successor's inauguration 2) Go visit his Mom 3) Play a week's worth of golf.
• Council Speaker Christine Quinn wants to limit the amount of money individuals and organizations doing business with the city can give to politicians.
• Summer is officially upon us as New York experiences its first power outage of the season.
• New York magazine has a piece on where New York's top chefs shop for their food.

When NJ Governor Jon Corzine was critically injured in a car accident two weeks ago, a commenter wrote, "Obviously, God wants Codey to be governor," referring to Richard Codey, the NJ Senate majority leader (pictured) who has served as acting governor under the three past NJ governors. And, apparently, so does Corzine himself: The NY Times has an article about how Corzine was often not in NJ before being injured.:

In the 450 days between his inauguration and his accident, Mr. Corzine notified Mr. Codey that he would be away for all or part of 111 days, and would sleep out of state on 77 nights...

Continue reading "Corzine Just Not In NJ So Much"

A new wrinkle to the Rudy Giuliani presidential campaign that doesn't involve the words "anti-" (like anti-gun, anti-abortion, and anti-straight-only marriage) or "marrying his cousin." Yesterday, the NY Times revealed that Andrew Giuliani had been estranged from Rudy Giuliani, because of problems with his dad's new wife.

We couldn't even get through Governor Spitzer's first month before a "showdown with Assembly Speaker Silver." State Democrats have been saying they feel betrayed - or, in the words of Manhattan Assemblyman Keith Wright to NY1, "totally, totally disrespected" - because the panel formed by Spitzer to select State Comptroller candidates didn't select any of their choices. State Democrats claim the panel was supposed to pick five candidates, including a Democratic Assemblyman interested in the job, but when the panel recommended three non-lawmaker candidates, all hell has broken loose. Spitzer claims the panel would choose up to five candidates, but now it looks like the Democrats will reject those Spitzer-approved candidates. We bet Alan Hevesi is smiling somewhere over this.

Texas is thawing, the Northeast is freezing, and a sort of natural order seems almost restored to the Ist-A-Verse. Almost.

- And New York magazine looks at why viewers OD'd on The O.C., but let's face it, we all wanted Marissa to die.

At midnight, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer was sworn in as the 54th Governor of New York. The NY Times reports that during the private ceremony (the public inauguration will be today at 1PM, pushed back an hour because of the weather) that federal judge Robert W. Sweet swore in his former clerk, that guests cheered, "Go get 'em, Eliot!" after he took the oath, and that a 12-liter bottle of Veuve-Clicquot was very difficult to open.

A look at some noteworthy programs this week:

This has been a rough week for your -ist pals, though you wouldn't know it from the great posts all over the network. Plagued with server problems, our tech team (led by the great Neil Epstein) toiled around the clock to solve the glitches as they arose. Seriously, we've said, typed, and thought the phrase "server problems" more in the past week than we have for the last 35 years combined. Why not say it a few more times, just for fun? For example, SFist is sure the San Francisco Chronicle wishes they could blame server problems for this error. But this San Francisco man that appeared on "The Daily Show" is, sadly, no glitch in the system.

New York based fashion designer Oleg Cassini died at age 92 last night. Best known for his work as Jackie Kennedy's "official wardrobe designer," he also dressed a number of Hollywood stars, including Gene Tierney (his second wife) and Joan Fontaine. He was also a playboy, dating Betty Grable, Lana Turner, Ursula Andress, and Grace Kelly. The AP reports that "fashion historians credit him with the sheath, the A-line, the little white collar and the military look for women," and the Times points out that Cassini took credit for introducing the Nehru jacket. Overall, Cassini was an American fashion institution, becoming the first designer to have licensed products; he was also a frequent clue in NY Times crossword puzzles ("American fashion designer Cassini").

There's a funny article in the NY Times about how many linguists believe Mayor Bloomberg has shed his Boston accent for a... well, it's hard to say whether or not he speaks New Yorkese, but it's definitely less Boston than before. There is a funny quote from Barry Popik, the administrative judge, former candidate for Manhattan Borough President, member of the American Dialect Society and Big Apple enthusiast:

"It appears to me that Bloomberg's been studying two new languages - Spanish and New York Jewish. He's not sounding like Fran Drescher's 'The Nanny' yet, but it appears to me that he's picked some of that up."

There is a lot of speculation about how Mayor Bloomberg will make good on his inauguration day promise to go after illegal guns. After his speech, the NRA and various pro-gun groups attacked the Mayor; for instance, the NY Sun had an NRA quote saying that "Mayor Bloomberg ought to focus on New York City, given that that's his area of responsibility. He has challenges over there because he has misplaced priorities." Misplaced priorities? To get illegal guns off the street? The NRA's argument is that criminals should be punished as harshly as possible, and are probably worried about the Mayor's lawsuit against gunmakers (the ol' "gun was initially legally purchased but then stolen and used in a crime" question). Yesterday, the Daily News suggests that he might use his personal fortune to get the message out there, stirring more fear. Yeah, gun-toting red staters hate liberals who become Republicans to win elections, even if they are rich. We liked this part of the News article best:

"Virginia is liberal in gun ownership, but our crime rate is very low," explained Jerry Thompson, 41, owner of Dominion Shooting Range Inc., a Richmond gun shop. "So we kind of thumb our nose at New York because gun laws are so restrictive there, but crime is higher."

Continue reading "Mayor Bloomberg Goes After Guns"

Mayor Bloomberg will not only have celebrity friends at his inaugural party, he'll have hot dogs too! On the menu, according to the Daily News, are tomato soup, mini sandwiches, hamburgers, grilled vegetables, popcorn and pretzels, cupcakes decorated in orange and blue (the city's colors), chocolate chip cookies, brownies, and "Hizzoner's favorite dish," hot dogs. Hot dogs are really his favorite food? Hmm, wonder if he prefers the Kobe Beef Hot Dog - or pigs in a blanket which are so yummy. We suppose it would have too predictable if the Mayor picked foie gras, filet mignon, truffles or ortolans for the menu - all part of his plan to seem more "Mike" than "The billionaire who paid $77 million to get reelected." But the Mayor will be paying for his shindig at the Emigrant Savings Bank on Chambers Street. The favors seeem chintzy, though - just a comemorative program and travel mug. The mug better be filled with gold, Bloomberg! And Gothamist wonders if the City Hall press corps gets these treats too?

Keeping in the electoral mood, Gothamist wants to point out the Museum of the City of New York's exhibit on former Mayor Ed Koch, who is the first mayor we remember (sorry, Abe Beame). The exhibit is called "New York Comes Back: The Mayoralty of Edward I. Koch," which coincides with the book with the same name by Daily News writer Michael Goodwin, and it promises to reveal "the accomplishments and the controversies of the Koch era, shedding new light on one of the great comebacks in urban history." Expect a lot of photographs from his term, 1978-1989. When we looked up Koch's bio on the city website, there's this quote from his inauguration:

These have been hard times. We have been drawn across the knife-edge of poverty. We have been shaken by troubles that would have destroyed any other city. But we are not any other city. We are the city of New York and New York in adversity towers above any other city in the world.