Results tagged “michaelwilson”

For just 25 cents, you finally can experience the steel-and-glass splendor of the city's first new public toilet. City officials gathered in Madison Square Park for the ceremonial first flush of the Automatic Public Toilet (APT). Almost a year after the location was announced and almost 2 years after the toilets were first previewed, Department of Transportation Commissioner Jeannette Sadik-Khan said she was "flushed with excitement in this new era...New Yorkers had their fingers and legs crossed for this special day." And so it goes.

As health-code inspections in bars and restaurants continue apace in the wake of The Great Rat Rodeo of Aught Seven, strange, unheard of violations are coming to light: a bartender at Red Hook’s Moonshine bar was recently cited for “having bare-hand contact with one slice of ready-to-eat lime while placing on top of beer bottle for patron in bar.” In other words, every time you see your bartender poke a wedge of lime into your...

Oh, coffee, oh, lifeblood of our city: Washington State coffee company, Political Grounds, best known from their humorous coffees, like "Say Howdy Saudi," "Roast the French," and "Infidels R Us," have added an NYPD styled coffee to their roster: "New York's Finest." The bag reads:

Ethiopian Harrar Mexican blend from our finest premium coffee region. You won't find Batman and Robin fighting crime here. But you will find Gotham's real heroes, protecting the worlds greatest city against the rodents of crime.

Newsday says that Political Grounds owner, Michael Wilson "suggested a Batman and Robin theme in which the two veteran detectives are seen preparing to strip away their clothing in order to battle crime like the dynamic duo." Um, it seems more Ace and Gary than Batman and Robin, but maybe Gothamist is splitting hairs. And are the criminal rodents coming from or fleeing to Brooklyn? What kind of a dis is this? The actual NYPD detectives, Bob Mattera, of Queens Homicide, and Marc Alvarez of Manhattan South Narcotics, actually chose the Ethiopian Harrar blend themselves, and $1 from each $8 bag goes to the Detectives Endowment Association fund for children and widows.

Ha ha ha - the NY Times reporter Michael Wilson investigates those crazy processions of police cars, sirens a-blazing we've been seeing lately, writing:

Since its debut about a month ago, it has quickly become one of New York City's hottest acts for those lucky enough to catch a free, unannounced performance. Call it "The Police Drive Fast! And Park!"

The police DO drive fast! And they do park! But in droves and droves and droves. More:

It goes something like this: On a typical block in, say, Midtown Manhattan, as many as 80 police cars quickly stream in out of nowhere, in neat rows, their lights and sirens going. The drills seem to take place on blocks with restricted parking, and each car executes a fast back-in parking job against the curb. Sometimes, depending on the block, they park perpendicular to the curb; sometimes at a slant. The officers - scores of them - get out of the cars. They do not rush into a building. They do not draw their guns. They pretty much just stand around for half an hour or so. Then, officers pile back into their cars and, again in perfect formation, the cars pull away from the curb and drive off.

The NYPD says it's part of counterterrorism efforts, timed with the Republican National Convention in a month, but the NYPD won't say anymore because it's super secret. Gothamist wonders how long squad car training is for police officers, because their parking skills during these drills, which are called "critical response surges," are exquisite.

There is a great brandchannel article about the counterfeit purse business, which reports that two 18year–olds who held a counterfeit purse party (the new black of Tupperware parties, we guess) were arrested.