Comments on: Dreaming for Los Angeles – 10 Wishes for L.A. for 2008

By: Randy Paul

Randy Paul — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 21:26:02 +0000

Fair enough. I’ve been keeping my wallet in my front pocket since before I moved to New York. the most popular items to steal these days are Ipod’s and cellphones.

When I first arrived in NYC, I hated the subway. If you were lucky, you were able to take the E or F train, which at that time, were the only ones that had air conditioning.

All of them do, now. The graffiti is gone (something which still plagues some of Rome’s lines) and I’ll gladly concede that the tracks are probably like a Petri dish. They have made some major improvements. 72nd & Broadway used to be a horrible station. It’s much better now. Times Square and Union Square are easily navigable.

As for cab drivers, if you own your own medallion, it’s practically a license to print money. If not, it’s one of the worst jobs in the city.

By: WBC

WBC — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 21:07:14 +0000

OK, I’ll grant you that the subway is a lot safer, cleaner and less grim than in the 70’s and 80’s, when it was a popular movie metaphor for urban decay and Dante’s inferno… And i like the HopStop and Trip123 sites, which let you plug in your destination and starting pt and get the best routes and exact lines, subway and above-ground, incl. parking options. That’s something other cities should adopt. And yes, as i said there are times when you have no choice but the subway — getting into Grand Central at rush hour and having to get to a meeting there’s no sense in coming up aboveground to the street to look for a taxi. (Which deserves its own chapter of ignominy, why many of us prefer a private car service to wait for us.) But every cop will tell you, when you’re taking NYMetro, watch your wallets and purses, especially at night when it’s less crowded and you’re alone. Now bon voyage…

By: Randy Paul

Randy Paul — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 19:28:13 +0000

Randy, you sound like exactly the kind of denizen of Queens who thinks New Yorkâ€™s subways are a thing of beauty, and are the kind of grungy character the rest of us avoid eye (and preferably any) contact with

WBC,

Nothing like a little clueless ad hominem to move the subject away from the facts.

I never said that the subway in general was a “thing of beauty.” I merely pointed out that some stations are quite lovely.

I also pointed out with, unlike you, support for my statement, that last year ridership was up while crime was down, two facts that can only collide in opposition with your unsupported statement that “Yes, NYCâ€™s subways are filthy and gloomy, places where people warily avoid eye contact and rush in and out” and, compounded with your proud claim that you don’t ride the subway should let any reader judge for themselves who knows what they are talking about.

So, please feel free to insult me if it gives you a sense of superiority. I honestly could care less. It speaks volumes that you have to resort to insults rather than fact to bolster your argument.

Warm regards.

By: WBC

WBC — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 19:13:47 +0000

Randy, you sound like exactly the kind of denizen of Queens who thinks New York’s subways are a thing of beauty, and are the kind of grungy character the rest of us avoid eye (and preferably any) contact with. Not likely you’re the kind to see straggling in out of the rain into the Harvard or yacht club, fresh from your aesthetic subway ride… Anyway, you stuck your soot-stained nose into a thread about L A’s subway system which is beautiful but unused for reasons described… Which you know less than nothing about, your point of reference being those habitats of NYC the rest of us avoid. (Asking if Jackson hts is in ny is rhetorical/sacrastic, by the way, as it’s about as likely a destination to me and people i know in manhattan as are the burbs of Beirut — no, I take that back, i was in Beirut some years ago and am curious to see it again.) Actually, Woody’s uninformed comments about L A’s mass transit put yours to shame.

By: Randy Paul

Randy Paul — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 16:43:39 +0000

In this hemisphere, the hot air comes from the South.

By: Woody

Woody — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 16:22:09 +0000

But not hot air.

By: Randy Paul

Randy Paul — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 12:41:46 +0000

enjoy your subway if thatâ€™s your thing.

I’ll just do my part to keep traffic congestion and air pollution down.

By: Randy Paul

Randy Paul — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 12:29:55 +0000

Sorry to sound like a snob, but I guess you will call me one anyway â€” but I donâ€™t go to Queens.

Well I guess that says it all. If you’re not certain that Jackson Heights is in Queens and despite the evidence that subway crime is at its lowest while ridership is at its highest, yet you persist in trashing the subway, well of course you don’t know what you’re talking about. In other words, if “[you] donâ€™t take the subway because itâ€™s as I described,” then on what basis do you make your claims? Omniscience? Clairvoyance? Rumour? And you wonder why I say you don’t know what you’re talking about?

The mayor takes the subway every day, btw. The dirtiest subway I’ve ever been on? After NYC was improved, I would have to say Rome’s’

By: WBC

WBC — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 07:25:19 +0000

I don’t take the subway because it’s as I described — typical of you to tell me I don’t know what I’m talking about. I’ve taken it enough to know I want to avoid it when possible — and maybe there are people on it all night, but like I said, people I know avoid it; it’s especially depressing and menacing at night, and cars and taxis move more quickly. Anyway, isn’t Jackson Hts in Queens? Sorry to sound like a snob, but I guess you will call me one anyway — but I don’t go to Queens. If I did, I’m sure the subway’s the best option because it’s so out of the way by car. That’s another world. Ditto with people who go to places like Brooklyn Hts/ Park Slope, unless it’s night. The subway is faster and more extensive, especially when going to different buroughs, avoiding tunnels, etc.
–Anyway, enough of this, enjoy your subway if that’s your thing.

By: Randy Paul

Randy Paul — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 04:39:42 +0000

Anyone who can afford it in NYC takes car services and when they/ we catch the subway (especially coming in from Conn. by train) feel like I described. No one takes it at night if at all possible, just taxis or even limos for a group. No one I know or work with, but different strokesâ€¦

Well, I actually live here and everyone I know takes the subway whenever possible. It is routinely filled on weekend nights and more often filled than empty on weeknights. Moreover, if you work downtown near Wall Street as I do, you’re a masochist if you take a car service. Traffic is hell throughout Manhattan.

I took a subway home from my employer’s Christmas party at Bowery and Spring arriving home in Jackson Heights door to door within an hour, which involved two blocks of walking, two subways and a bus.

As you acknowledged, you don’t take the subway, so I have no idea on what basis you make your claims. The only time I take a cab is when I have something far too heavy to take the subway. When I fly into and out of LaGuardia, unless I have a lot of luggage I walk three blocks to catch the Q33 bus which drops me right at my terminal. If I’m going from JFK, I take the E to the AirTrain. Feel free to thank me next time you breath some fresh air here.

Nearly 28 years taking the subway and I have never been a victim of a crime. I’m even much less likely to be a victim these days:

Crime in the subway system in 2007 fell 13 percent below the record low numbers recorded last year, despite subway ridership that’s at an all-time high.

Not different strokes – just the truth.