I went in to an eco-store off the park and saw a mini-Mike Bloomberg wannabe...a developer-- land lord or should I say a megalomanic that images himself" lord of the land"of the East Village oh and activist and so is Donald Trump. I was smiling at a child on the floor and my smile and eyes lifted like a musical note only to see the mini-Mike Bloomberg wannabe...he moved like Jim Powers minus the beautiful mosaic and the loving Jesse Jane to the back of the store and perched on his little throne and left me alone.
Oh NYC is Oligcarch Central, with so many mini-Mike wannabees...ho hum....scary but I like Mike Bloomberg better than them and I don't like Mike Bloomberg anymore...This third term made me admit to myself he is ruthless. The tsunami of community crushing development -- ruthless and there was no way it could and is being policed...many people died and so many are living with the mayhem mired in corruption or living next door to it...some busted with signs no work allowed but they work illegally knowing the city is not watching...so may permits were passed out, too many to monitor and the ones that got the green lights were built below standards....no one is saying this building was made in America with pride...No one..not the rich, middle class or the poor because all these buildings are in awful shape all part of Mike's new New York. The new new York buildings are soulless, mirrored and built like crap...everyone knows it. Many of the developers and contractors have bad track records and the City of New York was not about to stop anyone them...all Bloomberg saw was stimulating the economy at least for anyone that would profit and when Mike Bloomberg says "progress" we know it means get your moving vans.
Bloomberg hires people to do the dirty work but he it is him....I don't like Mike Bloomberg but I dislike the wanabees even more. I never imagined how ruthless people can be, so corrupt...welcome to the new hideous New York...oligarch central. Mike is so crafty that he keeps the worst city planner in history mega millionaire socialite Amanda the peoples Burden around so he won't be the most hated person in NYC except by her rich friends and people she employees...anyone with big bucks, the rest of NY despises her more than Mike.
Getting back to shoes....
I got new shoes and gave me old ones away because of back pain and had some physical therapy in the East Village with a wonderful woman "who got me". She asked me about my health and I gave her the updates starting back more than two years ago -- the traumatic series of events that would take a toll on my health up to the present...it is funny how this all relates to development -- ruthless corrupt wheelings and dealings you have all read about...she got it...
got me....
I got some treatment, new shoes....saw some characters, got updated on the rest....
My sober friend...not sober not my friend and I discussed Karl. I asked him ... Do you think Karl is alive....? He said yes. Karl drank extremely hard core. He used to work for the MTA and he was one of the few homeless that got a check that he would cash. He would sit on the bench or on the street and drink himself in to oblivion and wake up with no money... Karl would always wish the NYPD a safe tour when they stopped by to check in with him and that included officers that had busted him many times including NYPD officer "Robocop". When Robocop was in Tompkins you knew you were safe. That park is alternate realites co-existing from mom and dads pushing strollers to drug dealers pushing drugs....sometimes angry fights would combust and still do for no apparent reason...
We both hoped Karl was warm and safe in a program uptown where we heard he was last.
The recipient of my shoes once changed Karl's urine stained pants on the street because Karl was too incapacitated to do so. He even put up cardboard boards for modesty -- more for the passerby's modesty than for Karl's. My sometimes friends is a good soul sober but like Marlene when not look out. But he is a good soul. I am not sure that Mike Bloomberg or his mini-Mike's would change a full grown man's urine stained pants on the street, create a temporary wall for modesty. Yes the mikes do good deeds but not that kind.
One thing about NYC is the poorest of the poor can be surprisingly philanthropic and generous with what they have which is close to nothing so when they give it is everything....
memory...post 9-11 homeless men from Bowery Mission walk to Ladder 9 Engine 33 and they so desperately want to give the fire fighters something and they don't have material things so they give hymns....they stand outside the firehouse and sing....
they won't have their name put in marble some where fancy or be given an award....they won't demand I call them an activist or pretend they are something they are not but I am impressed by their giving.
All over Tompkins were signs posted about food being served to homeless.....the benches looked reminiscent of the old days with lost souls parked with clothing strewn on the benches...
