Don't forget to set your draft order TONIGHT. By the time you wake up tomorrow, your team will be set. (Unless you're in Singapore. In that case, I have no fucking idea when you'll get a team. At some point in the next 12 hours. Whenever that is for you.)
Our draft is set!! It'll happen early morning on Thurs, Aug 28. We've opted for an auto-draft. So it'll happen automatically based on your draft rankings.
This week’s tax map shows the real value of $100 in each state. Because average prices for similar goods are much higher in California or New York than in Mississippi or South Dakota, the same amount of dollars will buy you comparatively less in the high-price states, or comparatively more in low-price states. Using data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis that we’ve written about previously, we adjust the value of $100 to reflect how prices are different in each state.
For example, Tennessee is a low-price state, where $100 will buy what would cost $110.25 in another state that is closer to the national average. You can think of this as meaning that Tennesseans are about ten percent richer than their nominal incomes suggest.
The states where $100 is worth the least are the District of Columbia ($84.60), Hawaii ($85.32), New York ($86.66), New Jersey ($87.64), and California ($88.57). That same money goes the furthest in Mississippi ($115.74), Arkansas ($114.16), Missouri ($113.51), Alabama (113.51), and South Dakota ($113.38).
Regional price differences are strikingly large, and have serious policy implications. The same amount of dollars are worth almost 40 percent more in Mississippi than in DC, and the differences become even larger if metro area prices are considered instead of statewide averages. A person who makes $40,000 a year after tax in Kentucky would need to have after-tax earnings of $53,000 in Washington, DC just in order to have an equal standard of living, let alone feel richer.
As it happens, states with high incomes tend to have high price levels. This is hardly surprising, as both high incomes and high prices can correlate with high levels of economic activity. However, this relationship isn’t strictly linear: for example, some states, like North Dakota, have high incomes without high prices. Adjusting for prices can substantially change our perceptions of which states are truly poor or rich.
As we showed in an example in our recent paper on income data, adjusting for prices reveals average real incomes in Kansas to be higher than in New York, despite New York having much higher incomes as measured in dollars.
The tax policy consequences of this data are significant. For example, because taxes must be calculated based on nominal income, the average New York resident pays significantly more in taxes than the average Kansas resident. But the Kansas resident actually has higher purchasing power, meaning that they get to pay lower taxes despite getting to have a richer amount of consumption.
Furthermore, this affects means-tested federal welfare programs. A poor person in a high cost area – like Brooklyn or Queens - may be artificially boosted out of the range of income where they are eligible for welfare programs, despite still being very poor. At the same time, many people in low-price states may be eligible for welfare programs despite actually being much richer than they appear. If the same dollar value program is offered in New York City and rural South Dakota, it may be too small to help anyone in New York City, and yet so big it discourages work in South Dakota.
We’ve explained elsewhere how taxes have a role to play in urban gentrification, which in turn increases the cost of living and the local price level. As we also pointed out when the BEA data was first released, adjusting state incomes for price levels helps solve several statistical problems related to taxes and migration as well.
A group of Sunnyside residents have formed a book club and meet at the Courtyard Ale House once a month.
The club was formed in July and the members meet the first Monday of the month at the bar, located at 40-18 Queens Blvd.
At the first meeting 16 people attended and the group decided to read “The Night Circus” by Erin Morgenstern.
Sinead Curran, a bartender at the Courtyard, formed the club after she discovered that many of her customers enjoy reading and talking about books. She said Pat Burke, an owner, supported the idea.
“People are always discussing books—debating whether they are good or bad—as well as their favorite authors,” Curran said.
Curran said that it made sense to have a club where people could spend an hour to discuss a book and enjoy a drink. She said many people, however, go home when the meeting ends, since it’s a Monday night and people have to work the next day.
“It’s a good way for people to get to know each other a little better,” Curran said, adding that “Sunnyside brings people together from all walks of life.”
At the second meeting in August, 12 people attended—with some being away for summer.
The group selected “The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, by David Wroblewski.
Is it still leaving the scene of an "accident" if you deliberately run someone over? Or is that just casually leaving the murder scene?
Police are searching for a driver who left the scene of an accident, apparently after deliberately striking a pedestrian in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx yesterday. [ more › ]
Studio Arthur Casas have designed Casa AL, located in the hills near Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Project description
The owner have a very clear goal: enjoy the astounding views of Rio’s mountains and sea. A long time client of Studio Arthur Casas, the businessman was a bachelor that wished to leave his apartment and conceive a
house right from the beginning with the architects, starting with choosing the right plot.
Located in the hills near São Conrado beach, the plot intrigued the client, as it had no direct view to the sea nor would be the best choice to contemplate the landscape. “For me it was clear we would be able to reach the view. I assured him that all the social areas would be intertwined with the landscape” affirmed Arthur Casas. The solution was to raise the entrance, the social areas and the pool to the second floor, above the guestrooms and service quarters surrounded by a garden. The spectacular views are present in all the living areas. Large glass panels slide and hide behind the walls in order to erase the borders between inside and outside. Great spans amplify spaces that have the same dimensions of a conventional construction. A third floor, with smaller proportions, houses private dependencies such as the master suite and the home office, both oriented to the horizon.
The materials employed are inspired by the landscape, with local stone and cumaru wood. The interior design project favors comfort and casualness, with Brazilian furniture blended with foreign items.
Architect: Studio Arthur Casas | Arthur Casas, Marina Werfel, Regiane Khristian and Renata Adoni.
Contractor: CMN
Consultants: Renata Tilli (landscape); Maneco Quinderé (lighting); Projest (structure); Noise (automation); PanoramAH (frames)
@Ivy, maybe we should buy a country home on City Island
Welcome back to Camera Obscura, Curbed's series of photo essays by Nathan Kensinger. This week, as part of a series on changing neighborhoods, Kensinger visits City Island.
[On City Island, a nautical village in the Bronx, a tight-knit community has faced several recent challenges. All photos by Nathan Kensinger.]
City Island, the charming and remote nautical community located in the northeast corner of the Bronx, has been a popular tourist destination for years. Crowds throng to its seafood restaurants to feast on crabs, shrimp, fried smelts, and Piña Coladas, while admiring its historic Victorian architecture and small-town vibe. Some locals have lived here for generations, earning the name "clam diggers," while all of the island's residents, including recently arrived "mussel suckers," have embraced the surrounding sea. Nearly every street here dead-ends in a private beach, a marina, or a yacht club, and at high tide, children swim in the ocean while fish swim in driveways. Taken in its entirety, City Island feels like a village of its own, unattached to New York City.
Hidden behind shuttered storefronts and down side streets, though, a different story is unfolding, as the island fights to maintain its unique identity while recovering from recent calamitous events. "The economy has been rough on us," said Gerard "Skip" Giacco, owner of the Lickety Split Ice Cream shop and president of City Island's Chamber of Commerce. His vice president, Paul Klein, agrees, estimating that there are 18 to 20 shuttered businesses along the community's main street out of a total of 220 active businesses on the 1.5-mile-long island. Some storefronts have "been empty for as long as I can remember," says Paul. During Hurricane Sandy, many of the marinas and yacht clubs suffered serious damage, with piers destroyed and boats jumbled onshore. "I think City Island is a pretty safe piece of land," Paul says, but "it seems like the weather is getting predictably worse."
Skip and Paul are not giving up on the island, though, and have a plan to revitalize its main street by luring in a new crowd of artists, including ones displaced by rising rents in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. They'd like these newcomers to establish an artists' colony where they will live and work year-round in storefronts, paying full rent and selling art. "I need to get one or two landlords on board, and then it will all fall in place," says Skip. "I think it's down the road a couple years." It's not exactly clear what courting Brooklyn artists might mean for the identity of this seaside community, especially given recent examples of gentrification transforming similar neighborhoods in the Rockaways. Skip acknowledges that he might be courting a culture clash, describing the island's current flavor as "much more hippy than hipster."
In the meantime, residents of the island seem firmly tied to keeping things the way they are, as evidenced by their recent, successful fight against the city's plans for an oversized new bridge. But change is coming to the island whether locals like it or not. Developers have been snatching up the last few open parcels of land to build new housing complexes. The largest project now underway will create 43 new condos in a gated community on a remediated brownfield, with waterfront views out to nearby Hart Island, where Rikers Island prisoners bury the city's unclaimed dead. "Most of those are going to be $600, 000, $700,000 houses," says Paul. "Typically with waterfront views, you have to calculate a million."
Work has now begun on City Island's new bridge, due to be completed in 2016. It will be a modest affair, after residents complained about an earlier 160-foot-high version.
The backstreets of City Island are lined with both simple bungalows and Victorian mansions dating back to the 1800s, most in great shape.
Scattered throughout the island, though, are a number of abandoned or seemingly vacant properties, including this waterfront home dotted with warning signs.
Along City Island Avenue, the island's main street, several empty storefronts are listed for sale or for rent. "There are a number of places that are in flux, so it's hard to get ahold of the owners," said Paul Klein, who owns the Kaleidoscope Gallery on the avenue.
Businesses that are open on the main strip are often maritime in theme, including this salvage shop which was crammed with a horde of boating ephemera.
Tony's Pier Restaurant, located at the end of City Island Avenue, burned to the ground during Hurricane Sandy. It reopened one year after the storm, rebuilt atop five-foot pilings.
At high tide, water and fish filled the end of this street near City Island's wetlands. During Hurricane Sandy, there was a mandatory evacuation in place for the island, which sits in Zone 1.
Further into the wetlands, a footbridge leads to a hidden hangout, complete with fire pit. This verdant marsh is a reminder of what the area would look like without human intervention.
With sea levels rising, City Island may be increasingly cut off. The main access road to the island is prone to flooding, though much of the island is well above sea level.
Many of the streets on the island end in man-made private beaches, protected by lock and key. Homeowners own the rights to the shoreline behind their houses, even at low tide, unlike other waterfront communities in NYC.
The largest empty plot of land on the island is now being developed into a collection of condominiums, after going through a brownfield remediation process.
The development site sits next to the ferry to Hart Island, which transports prisoners out to the potters field located there. Over one million dead are buried on Hart Island.
The ruins of Hart Island will provide a scenic backdrop for new homeowners. This island once housed a prison, a lunatic asylum, and a Nike missile site. Some City Island residents hope Hart Island will be turned over to the Parks Department.
Several other relatively new housing developments have already been built on the island's waterfront. This one looks out at Rat Island, which was bought in 2011 by a City Island resident for $160,000.
Rat Island, as seen from shore, is largely a rock. The new owner has so far only installed a picnic table and two flags. "I believe it should be conserved, kept as is," he told the Post, in true City Island spirit.
· Nathan Kensinger [Official]
· City Island coverage [Curbed]
· Camera Obscura archive [Curbed]
Smart Bedding solves the age-old problem of bunching sheets and making your bed. A few simple innovations work together to achieve this. Watch our fancy video to learn more.
Neither the 7 train thundering overhead nor the rising bourgie Brooklyn overflow into Sunnyside and Woodside have robbed these bordering neighborhoods of their charm. This may be the most diverse corner of the city's most diverse borough, and the area's annual St. Pat's for All Parade -- which, unlike Manhattan's version, embraces LGBT participants -- is emblematic of its inclusiveness. Restaurant-wise, your options span the globe, from Irish pubs to taquerias to Filipino fast food, and almost all are uniformly affordable. Here are the 10 best in the neighborhood.
I Love Paraguay via Facebook
10. I Love Paraguay (43-16 Greenpoint Avenue, 718-786-5534)
This cozy and colorful shop is one of the only Paraguayan spots in the city, so you'll be forgiven if you're not more familiar with the South American nation's cuisine. Staff here are happy to explain the menu to you, which includes some of the best empanadas we've had: crispy and grease-free, encasing fillings like oozy ham and cheese and yucca. Try a few of the traditional Paraguayan dishes, like chipa guazu, which tastes like a cross between a soufflé and cornbread, with a rich fluffiness that likely comes from a generous amount of lard. Vori vori de pollo is another Paraguayan mainstay, a chicken soup with little balls bound together with corn flour and cheese, and a generous amount of cilantro -- it would be especially comforting in winter.
9. Papa's Kitchen (65-40 Woodside Avenue, 347-724-9586)
Woodside's Little Manila enclave comprises a number of Filipino restaurants, shops, and groceries, but Papa's Kitchen is the only place where you can belt out your best rendition of "Purple Rain" while waiting for your meal. Karaoke is taken seriously in the Philippines, but the mood is relaxed in this teeny, family-owned spot. Filipino cuisine's roots come from culinary traditions of Southeast Asia, Spain, and the U.S., and that makes for bold and complex flavors, evident in the items here. Laing reminds a bit of Indian saag in appearance, but is in fact made with taro leaves, coconut milk, and crab. Dynamite lumpia are spring rolls filled with pork and jalapeño, and chicken adobo, likely the best-known Filipino food, is braised in vinegar, soy sauce, and garlic -- its resulting sauce is a singularly delicious byproduct.
8. Mangal Kabob (46-20 Queens Boulevard, 718-706-0605)
This Turkish halal spot is popular with cabbies, often a good indicator of affordability and authenticity. The eggplant salad, with its strong smoky flavor, makes for a sumptuous start, and the cheese pide, though simple, is also compulsively edible. Falafel have a pleasing crunch and taste fresh and green from the parsley on the inside. On the carnivorous end of things, there's the usual round up of kebabs, with the charcoal-grilled lamb adana as a standout; a chicken gyro also stands up well to the spit, retaining its juiciness along with a nice char.
7. Natural Tofu (40-06 Queens Boulevard, 718-706-0899)
You could get your Korean fix in K-Town, but then you're dealing with streets mobbed with folks commuting from Penn Station or the PATH train. So instead consider Natural Tofu, which offers soondubu, spicy Korean stews bubbling over in cast iron pots in the heart of Sunnyside. Tofu is fresh and silky, soaking up the burn of kimchi or the brine of shellfish. (If you're feel feeling a bit edgy, go for the beef intestine stew.) The seafood pajeon unites green onions with shrimp and squid in a pancake that's crisp outside and chewy inside, and goes perfectly with a bottle of soju.
Bradley Hawks
6. Venturo Osteria & Wine Bar (44-07 Queens Boulevard, 718-406-9363)
A recent addition to Sunnyside, Venturo comes from the team behind Astoria heavyweights Pachanga Patterson and Vesta. The small menu hinges on seasonal ingredients, as in a summery, vegan white gazpacho soup, made with almonds, grapes, and lovage and thickened with bread for a little heft. On the richer end, caciocavallo cheese comes fried to a golden brown and served with speck and arugula; the house white wine is a good counterpoint to the dish's lushness. Green and black lasagna, made with eggplant, béchamel, and kale, is a comforting variation on eggplant parmesan. Pizzas also incorporate fresh greenery -- try the one with gorgonzola, spring onion, and a peppery pile of arugula atop a thin crust. And fans of Vesta will be happy to see that restaurant's "baby Jesus cake" dessert makes an appearance here, as well.
5. Donovan's Pub (57-24 Roosevelt Avenue, 718-429-9339)
The first major wave of immigrants to Woodside hailed from Ireland, and inside Donovan's, a Queens landmark open (and mostly unaltered) since 1966, it feels like old times. This Irish pub is utterly immune to fads, as it should be -- why tamper with the homey vibe that the fireplaces, stained glass windows, and affable service deliver? Or change the thick, juicy burger with steak fries? Ownership recently changed hands, but the new management thus far has maintained Donovan's familial warmth, not to mention its solid brunch deal -- an Irish breakfast with unlimited mimosas for under $15.
Taqueria Santa Fe via Facebook
4. Taqueria Santa Fe (47-08 47th Avenue, 718-269-9946)
Nachos, despite their seeming simplicity, can be destroyed in so many ways: made damp and soggy by misplaced beans, for instance, or rendered inedible by flirtations with oddball ingredients. Happily, Taqueria Santa Fe, a newish, mostly takeout spot (there's also outdoor counter seating), serves outstanding vegetarian nachos that manage to maintain their crunch beneath fresh veggies, guacamole, and sour cream. Tacos, too, are the real deal: al pastor sees pork cooked on a spit and sweetened by a pineapple marinade, chorizo marries spicy and sweet for a few, rich bites, and chicken tinga is tender and savory, thanks to a house-made chipotle sauce.
La Flor
3. La Flor Bakery and Cafe (53-02 Roosevelt Avenue, 718-426-8023)
A noisy corner beneath the 52nd Street station is not where you'd expect to encounter charm, but La Flor, with its mosaic-covered tables and sun-filled space, has tons. Owned by Puebla-born Viko Ortega, who got his start as a pastry chef, the café has an enticing display case of baked goods, which helps make it the best brunch in the area. The menu leans toward Mexican but also dabbles in European cuisines -- as with a chickpea spinach salad with Manchego, for instance -- and quesadillas are a highlight, made with fresh masa tortillas and topped with artful swirls of green and red salsa. Come at dinnertime for heftier fusion entrees like salmon with pico de gallo, guacamole, and Poblano pickles.
2. SriPraPhai (64-13 39th Avenue, 718-899-9599)
There's been plenty of debate over whether SriPraPhai is, in fact, the best Thai in NYC -- there are a number of worthy rivals in Queens alone -- but the restaurant, which expanded from a hole-in-the-wall to a food world darling, remains a star of the neighborhood. Get lost in the 100+ item menu, with items like a crispy watercress salad, which embodies the blend of salty, sweet, sour, and spicy that quality Thai food is meant to deliver, with the added sensation of crunch. Curries, with ingredients like duck and bamboo shoots bobbing within, are well-balanced, though you may need to insist you can handle the heat if you want yours Thai spicy. Our favorite plates include the fried red snapper, served whole with a tart green mango sauce, and the sautéed Chinese broccoli, gussied up with bites of crispy fried pork belly.
1. Salt & Fat (41-16 Queens Boulevard, 718-433-3702)
Salt & Fat feels like a microcosm of a changing Queens, with a cross-cultural menu from first-generation American chef, Daniel Yi, who grew up in the neighborhood, and a minimalist interior that will pass muster with the yuppies. True to the restaurant's name, dinner starts with complimentary popcorn cooked in bacon fat, followed by a succession of small plates that broach Manhattan-fancy, minus the pretensions. There are in-vogue ingredients, like uni, served here on brioche and uplifted with the citrus kick of yuzu; Long Island duck breast is paired with lychees for a natural meeting of the domestic and the distant. The menu can be playful, too, as with a dessert of Rice Krispies and house-made marshmallow ice cream, a dish that tastes like it was devised by a genius child.
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The rumors were true: the skybridge connecting the two parts of the Madison Square Park-facing Toy Building is almost surely set for demolition. Scouting NY has photos of the traverse, which spans 24th Street just west of Fifth Avenue, showing that it is now shrouded in telltale scaffolding. The Witkoff Group is turning the Toy Building's southern half into luxury condos, and that pretty much means there's no need to go back and forth between the two buildings aboveground. Scout, a.k.a. film-location guru Nick Carr, uses the premature eulogy as a chance to dive into a photo tour of the city's few extant skybridges, which include the one at the old Metropolitan Life insurance building across Madison Square Park, the one at the old Gimbel's location near Herald Square, and the picturesque one that crosses Staple Street in Tribeca. Most are unused today.
[A shot of the skybridge in 2012, via Google Street View.]
The villa is located at the end of the site next to the existing barn. Through a long cut in the landscape the house is anchored on large surrounding. Under the ground level the bedrooms are located at this long sectional patio. The large living with dining area, kitchen, study area and playing area are located at the ground level and the 1st floor. Through voids, roof lights and high passages a tremendous spaciousness is created. The spaces which are located in the axe of the landscape are used for the sublime experience of the landscape.
UBER’S NYC headquarters on Jackson Ave. Get this guy to chauffeur you to Jora
It’s time to pisco everybody! Jora, the Peruvian Restaurant on 11th Street at the foot of the Pulaski Bridge, has officially opened. They are currently serving dinner every day of the week starting at 5:30pm. But as any self-respecting South American knows, who eats dinner before 9? Thus they will be open until late.
According to the owner, Alejandro Rojas, “We are pretty close to full service, minus a few dessert options.” More importantly, they have a full liquor license and are standing ready to serve the neighborhood much needed (and deserved) alcoholic beverages. Because as anyone with four kids and three wives knows, sometimes beer and wine doesn’t cut it.
Not only is the long wait for Jora finally over, but UBER, the ride-sharing service whose NYC headquarters is here in LIC, is offering a hometown special to mitigate the G-train suspension: get one free ride anywhere between Nassau Avenue in Greenpoint and Court Square until August 31. Check out the link below.
Brooklyn has hipsters. Queens has Hip-to-Hip. This theater company, which specializes in family-friendly productions, performs Shakespeare classics for free in various public spaces throughout the borough each summer. This year, Hip-to-Hip will put on the Bard of Avon’s Two Gentlemen of Verona, an early slapstick comedy about love, friendship, betrayal, forgiveness…and a dog, and Cymbeline, a late romance/fairy tale about a king, his only daughter, an evil stepmother, and a forbidden love. The professional actors will perform in repertory, and 30 minutes before each performance, they will host “Kids & The Classics,” an interactive workshop for children of all ages.
Details after the jump.
Details: Free Shakespeare in the Park, 19 shows in Bayside, Flushing, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Fresh Meadows, Long Island City, Rego Park, St. Albans, Sunnyside and two New Jersey sites — from July 23rd through August 17th at varying times, click here for schedule and venues, free.
Photos: Hip to… Read More
Been using this for a long time. Great site for finding menswear deals on ebay.
Haberdashboard, is more than just a website with a catchy name. It’s a new, innovative way to search for menswear on eBay.
Over the last several months, I noticed an increasing number of “hits” on my web traffic reports from a site I never heard of before. I followed the links a few times, but never really investigated what it was. A few weeks ago, a fellow Styleforum member introduced himself as the guy who runs the site. I found his tumblr and began following it, but it wasn’t until last night that I really went to Haberdashboard.com and actually spent some time testing it out.
While the site may appear a little sparse at first glance, it is really quite clever. Upon arrival, you are greeted by a landing page with an automatically updated galley of recently listed popular menswear items. The banner at the top of the page provides links to search by category (e.g., shoes, outerwear, suits, etc.) The star of the show is the “advanced search” link, which takes you to an all-inclusive search engine (pictured above). Here you input all of your sizing information at one time and search accordingly, narrowing by keyword, price range, and listing format. I went back and forth to the site a few times today and the advanced search remembered all of my size info, nice! The search results are arranged in gallery style with nice large photos.
The city presented renderings of the future Kosciuszko Bridge in a series of public meetings, which kicked off the reconstruction project of the well-worn bridge. The new bridge, which spans Newtown Creek to connect Brooklyn and Queens on the BQE, will be a cable-stayed bridge with nine vehicle lanes and a bike and pedestrian path. The city will build it right next to the existing bridge, which city officials say only has a lifespan of three more years.
DNAinfo attended one of the meetings, reporting back that the state Department of Transportation already awarded a $555,000,000 contract for the first phase of construction. But, as the report says, “With a new bridge in the works, locals said they are worried that officials will abandon the old one, which will continue to be used until its planned demolition in 2017.” They also expressed concerns about the construction process, noise, and potential… Read More
The space is most likely going to be taken over by a fast-food franchise, according to a well-placed source. “It’s a franchise everyone will be happy with,” the source said.
Please, God, let it be a Chipotle.
July 8, By Christian Murray
A long-serving Sunnyside eatery has gone out of business.
New Post Coffee Shop, which has been located on the corner of 40th Street and Queens Blvd for more than 50 years, closed yesterday. Several workers were outside the store carting away food items and pots & pans.
The space is most likely going to be taken over by a fast-food franchise, according to a well-placed source. “It’s a franchise everyone will be happy with,” the source said.
New Post Coffee Shop has had many problems with the health department in recent times. In the past two years, the eatery has been closed twice after racking up a lengthy list of violations.
The coffee shop gained a great deal of attention about 10 years ago, when a man was shot and killed inside the eatery in front of several customers (see article). The victim had been in a dispute with a man about a block away from the shop and ran inside to seek refuge.
"For decades, John had a routine: Get up. Get dressed. Look for someone to sexually abuse on the way to work."
James Keivom/New York Daily News Subway riders on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line at Grand Central-42nd St. Station on Wednesday, May. 28, 2014 in New York, N.Y. Grand Central-42nd St. has by far the most sex crimes in the system with 377 — almost entirely during the morning rush hour. A five-year analysis of reported sex crimes in the subway revealed there were 3,074 felony and misdemeanor sex crimes reported between July 2008 and July 2013.
For decades, John had a routine: Get up. Get dressed. Look for someone to sexually abuse on the way to work.
“I’d go into the subway thinking, ‘I’m going to find someone to touch’ and invariably I would,” John said. “If I didn’t, I just didn’t. But I usually had some kind of opportunity.”
A Daily News analysis of subway crime last month revealed women reported being victims of subway perverts more than 3,000 times during a five-year period ended in July 2013.
The NYPD Transit Bureau made an arrest in a majority — 67% — of those cases, Chief Joseph Fox said.
James Keivom/New York Daily News A five-year analysis of reported sex crimes in the subway revealed that there were 1,322 incidents of forcible touching, 1,050 incidents of public lewdness, 584 incidents of misdemeanor sex abuse, and 20 rapes.
Unfortunately, John never felt the cold steel of handcuffs. He never spent time in a concrete jail cell with a bunch of bigger and bolder predators who would knock his teeth out just to pass the time.
“I never got arrested,” he said. “I only had a few really bad incidents. The worst was one in which a woman glared at me and said, ‘You should be ashamed of yourself.’ ”
John started slithering through crowded trains looking for “targets” when he got his first job making deliveries by subway, he said. He was 16. He continued while commuting to a white-collar job, and then into retirement, he said.
Smith, Bryan, Freelance NYDN
Surveillance camera helped the NYPD Transit Bureau make an arrest in a majority — 67% — of 3,000 cases, Chief Joseph Fox said.
Occasionally, you read about sex-crime victims being blamed for the atrocities inflicted upon them.
A religion teacher in India last year called a woman who was gang-raped and killed “as guilty as her rapists.” An off-duty police officer busted last year for attempting to rape a 16-year-old on Staten Island told authorities, “She came on to me. She told me she was 17,” according to court papers.
And a 2010 survey of London women, called “Wake Up to Rape,” found one-third thought rape victims who dressed provocatively, or who returned to a man’s home for a drink, shared some of the blame .
Spencer Platt/Getty Images “I never got arrested,” Hohn (not pictured) said. “I only had a few really bad incidents. The worst was one in which a woman glared at me and said, ‘You should be ashamed of yourself.’ ”
It’s even more shocking and chilling to hear such views directly from a predator like John who rides the same trains as you do.
“I’d go down to the subway station near my home and start looking for what I would consider my target,” John said. “I almost felt like I had an antenna to look for the right person.”
For starters, the right person would be a woman dressed “immodestly,” he said. That is a “trigger,” he said.
Susan Watts/New York Daily News Mayor Bill de Blasio seen here with Transit Police Chief Joseph Fox. Fox says arrests are made in two-thirds of the 3,000 cases.
“Dr. Phil says perception is reality,” John said. “My perception, or reality, was women were inviting it and were involved in it, and part of the game was they not show me any sign they were enjoying it. To a large extent I believed it.”
This subway sicko claimed he stopped three years ago.
That’s when the Metropolitan Transportation Authority began broadcasting announcements urging riders to tell a transit worker or cop if they were a sex abuse victim or a witness to a sex crime. The fear of getting caught and exposed in a police crackdown became too great to continue, John said.
So let the crackdown begin. Put cameras in trains, triple undercover sting operations, post photos of repeat offenders in stations.
Whatever it takes.
In the meantime, I’m signing my two young girls up for boxing lessons.
Jimmy Fallon has announced that tickets to the August tapings of his Tonight Show will be up for grabs starting tomorrow, July 8th, at 11:30 a.m. No guests have been announced yet, but at the very least you'll witness a viral video attempt, something that Fallon has been pretty successful at since sitting behind the desk. [ more › ]
Probably. So how do you break it? How do you burst that tight bubble of perfection that can often ruin a performance?
You have some fun. Some risky, silly, fun.
You do what Nick Kyrgios did yesterday while playing against Nadal. Was it showboating? Maybe insulting to Nadal? Depends on how you look at it. I see it as a direct attack on the pressure of performance, that seriousness that settles in like a fog, threatening to suck the life out of something we’re trying to achieve.
Don’t take yourself too seriously. Chasing a dream should be fun.
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A yellow cab erupted in flames just after 4 p.m. today on the upper level of the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge. [ more › ]
Police are searching for a driver who left the scene of an accident, apparently after deliberately striking a pedestrian in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx yesterday. [ more › ]
James Keivom/New York Daily News Subway riders on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line at Grand Central-42nd St. Station on Wednesday, May. 28, 2014 in New York, N.Y. Grand Central-42nd St. has by far the most sex crimes in the system with 377 — almost entirely during the morning rush hour. A five-year analysis of reported sex crimes in the subway revealed there were 3,074 felony and misdemeanor sex crimes reported between July 2008 and July 2013. 
James Keivom/New York Daily News A five-year analysis of reported sex crimes in the subway revealed that there were 1,322 incidents of forcible touching, 1,050 incidents of public lewdness, 584 incidents of misdemeanor sex abuse, and 20 rapes. 
Spencer Platt/Getty Images “I never got arrested,” Hohn (not pictured) said. “I only had a few really bad incidents. The worst was one in which a woman glared at me and said, ‘You should be ashamed of yourself.’ ” 
Susan Watts/New York Daily News Mayor Bill de Blasio seen here with Transit Police Chief Joseph Fox. Fox says arrests are made in two-thirds of the 3,000 cases. 
Smith, Bryan, Freelance NYDN 
Spencer Platt/Getty Images 
Jimmy Fallon has announced that tickets to the August tapings of his Tonight Show will be up for grabs starting tomorrow, July 8th, at 11:30 a.m. No guests have been announced yet, but at the very least you'll witness a viral video attempt, something that Fallon has been pretty successful at since sitting behind the desk. [ more › ]
