Here is a discussion of the new Loft Law and its impact on artists living in the outer boroughs of New York. Comments here. My essay on the subject will appear in the summer 2010 issue of City Journal.
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New York
Dara writes:
Tonight, I will join other members of the National Arts Club's Literary Committee in reading short pieces on the theme of Waiting. It should be fun, and always a nice evening at the Club, especially when concluded by hot cider and warm M&M cookies in the parlor, as this event will be.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007, 8pm, National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South, New York. Free.
Dara writes:
I was about ten blocks north of the steam pipe explosion in midtown Manhattan yesterday. I was on a 23rd Street-bound city bus, which could go no further than 50th, where I got off.
Yes, the scene was 9/11-reminiscent, unfortunately. Billowing cloud of smoke, panicked people. When I got off the bus, I struck up a chat with a Verizon Wireless worker in a van. He was feeding me info from his wife, with whom he was on the phone. "It's a transformer," he said.
"Yay," I thought. "No terrorism. Do you have it from a reliable source?" I asked VW worker.
"She wants to know if I have it from a good source," he chuckled into the phone. "ABC News."
OK, I thought, and dialed on my cell phone the person I thought would want to know I was OK, my mother. Couldn't get through. Circuits jammed. "Dude, VW. I have no service," I averred, thrusting my cell at him.
"I use Cingular!" VW laughed hysterically, showing me his rival-fueled phone.
Would that be perfect for the New York Times' Metro Section's Monday Metro Diary, or what?