When Hollywood steals our storied streets and anti-Semitic carnival barkers it validates the feeling that we New Yorkers live in The Only Place That Matters. Besides, our tax dollars pay for that cachet. But how many times can you forgive the craft services table from blocking the entrance to your favorite bodega? According to the Post, the number of movie shoots in New York has increased by 15% in the last 15 months, and the army of well-dressed people holding clipboards and walkie-talkies are beginning to feel our wrath.
“We can see that there are great benefits, but this can also take a real serious toll,” Councilmember Jimmy Van Bremer said of recent complaints in Long Island City about intrusive movie lights that keep people awake and car crash scenes that close streets and apartment entrances for hours.
“It was almost like a solar eclipse at night coming through,” one resident told the Post of the movie lights, which hopefully were for a production of a documentary explaining what the nature of a solar eclipse entails.
Van Bremer says he's meeting with Cynthia López, the head of the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment to discuss the matter. Given the number of Bourne movies likely in gestation, we should all prepare for the worst.
