Eye on the High Line

The upset in New York City

Bernie would have beaten the Clinton machine in 2016 had the DNC (in Liz Warren's words) not "rigged" the election.

Zohran just did that to the Cuomos.

Economic populism is the path for Dems, but instead they tried to destroy both because their donor base demands corporatism.

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) June 25, 2025

Check out this post from two days ago: The New York Times interviews Andrew Schulz [“America’s Foremost Political Journalist”]. Where it says:

the Democrats are like tied to the same you know uh corporations that are funding the Republicans
and they can’t actually push back against those corporations because they get so much funding from them [...]
so what they have to do is they made it an identity politics issue

Zohran Mamdani emerges out of the scrum of the NYC Democratic primary for mayor

Liam Stack, A New Political Star Emerges Out of a Fractured Democratic Party, NYTimes, June 25, 2025.

The national Democratic establishment on Tuesday night struggled to absorb the startling ascent of a democratic socialist in New York City who embraced a progressive economic agenda and diverged from the party’s dominant position on the Middle East.

As elections go, Tuesday’s party primary for mayor was a thunderbolt: New York voters turned away from a well-funded familiar face and famous name, former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, and in doing so made a generational and ideological break with the party’s mainstream. They turned to a 33-year-old, three-term state assemblyman, Zohran Mamdani, who ran on an optimistic message about affordability and the rising cost of living that has eluded many national Democrats.

What became vividly clear on Tuesday, as votes were counted across the racially and economically diverse neighborhoods of New York, was that Mr. Mamdani had generated excitement among some — though not all — of the traditional pillars of winning Democratic voter coalitions.

Democratic leaders badly want to win over young voters and minority groups in the coming 2026 and 2028 elections — two groups they have struggled to mobilize since the Obama era — but they also need moderate Democrats and independents who often recoil from far-left positions. [...]

That Mr. Mamdani had such success while running on a far-left agenda, including positions that once were politically risky in New York — like describing Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide and calling for new taxes on business — may challenge the boundaries of party orthodoxy and unnerve national Democratic leaders.

Does democratic socialism have a chance?

The enthusiasm that Mr. Mamdani generated among a swath of New Yorkers looking for fresh leadership called to mind the insurgent campaigns of Senator Bernie Sanders in the 2016 presidential race and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in her upset victory in a 2018 House primary.

All three are democratic socialists, a once fringe movement popularized by Mr. Sanders that calls for reining in the excesses of capitalism and curbing the power of the wealthy.

Mr. Sanders and Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, both of whom endorsed Mr. Mamdani, remain popular progressive figures but have had only limited impact on changing the Democratic Party’s agenda and messaging.

A key question is how the Democratic donor class and business community, which was already unsettled by Mr. Mamdani’s rise, will react to his apparent victory. Business leaders may flock to his rivals in the general election in November, or try to use super PACs to stop him.

The Democratice party establishment didn't do so well:

As recently as last month, few people expected Mr. Mamdani to beat Mr. Cuomo, 67, who benefited from near universal name recognition, a deep war chest, and the endorsement of party heavyweights like former President Bill Clinton.

But the embrace of the party establishment may have done Mr. Cuomo no favors in a race that appeared to be marked by a deep hunger for change.

“Voters are not happy with the national party establishment and want to focus on building a movement,” said Basil Smikle, a professor at Columbia’s School of Professional Studies. “I think that’s key here. Mamdani created a movement around his candidacy.”

There's more at the link.

Claude 3.5 describes a sophisticated New York City apartment from a bygone era.

What do you see?

This appears to be a view of New York City, specifically looking at the Hudson River waterfront with a cruise ship terminal. The image shows several distinct elements:

1. A rooftop terrace or garden in the foreground on the right, featuring a cream-colored brick building with iron railings and some planted greenery

2. The city skyline on the left, with several modern high-rise buildings and older architectural structures

3. In the middle ground, there are some industrial elements including what appear to be water towers and ventilation systems on various rooftops

4. The Hudson River is visible with what looks like cruise ships docked at the terminal (likely the Manhattan Cruise Terminal)

5. The distant skyline on the far side of the river is also visible

The photo appears to be taken from an elevated position, possibly from another building's rooftop or high floor, during what seems to be a clear day with blue skies. The composition shows the interesting contrast between the residential/commercial areas of Manhattan, the industrial port infrastructure, and the modern luxury of cruise ships.

Yes. I was standing on the terrace of a penthouse in a building called “The Normandy.” The structure on the right is part of that building.

Ah, that's interesting - The Normandy must offer some spectacular views of the Hudson River and the Manhattan Cruise Terminal. The cream-colored brick architecture with the rooftop terrace appears quite characteristic of Upper West Side pre-war buildings. You can see how thoughtfully designed these older buildings were, with their setback terraces that provide both private outdoor space and architectural interest to the building's profile.

From this vantage point, you get a fascinating cross-section of New York City's evolution - from the pre-war residential buildings like The Normandy, to the industrial maritime infrastructure of the cruise terminal, to the modern glass towers of the skyline. Looking at the cruise ships docked there, it's amazing to think how this stretch of the Hudson has been a gateway to New York City for over a century, though the vessels have certainly changed from the ocean liners of the past to today's massive cruise ships.

Would you mind sharing what neighborhood this is specifically? I'd guess Upper West Side given the architecture, but I'd be curious to know the exact location.

I believe it’s at 140 Riverside Drive, between 86th and 87th Streets.

Yes, that's exactly right - 140 Riverside Drive is indeed The Normandy. The building was designed by architect Emery Roth and built in 1938, which explains its classic Art Deco-influenced pre-war style. Its location on Riverside Drive gives it those stunning views across the Hudson that we see in your photo.

[Notice that Claude didn't seem to recognize the building until I'd given it the address. The name alone was not sufficient.]

From this vantage point at 86th/87th Street, what you're seeing in the distance is likely the Manhattan Cruise Terminal at Piers 88, 90, and 92 (around West 48th-52nd Streets). The terminal has been operating since 1935 and was even used to deploy troops during World War II before becoming primarily a cruise ship facility.

The modern towers visible in the skyline would be the developments around Midtown West/Hell's Kitchen area, which has seen significant development in recent decades, creating quite a contrast with the pre-war architectural character of your building's neighborhood on the Upper West Side.

The Normandy is known for its distinctive architecture, including its rounded corners and those setback terraces we can see in your photo. These kinds of terraces were partly a result of New York's 1916 zoning laws that required buildings to set back as they rose higher to allow more light to reach the street.

This particular apartment was once occupied by Bennett Cerf. When I was visiting there – over 15 years ago – it was occupied by Glenn Boles.

That's a fascinating historical connection. Bennett Cerf was a significant figure in American publishing - he was one of the founders of Random House and became well-known to the general public as a regular panelist on the TV show "What's My Line?" from 1951 to 1967. It makes sense that such a prominent publisher would have lived in one of the Upper West Side's most prestigious buildings.

The apartment's location would have been very convenient for his work, as many of New York's publishing houses were (and some still are) located in Midtown, easily accessible from the Upper West Side.

Given that this observation is about events and individuals from 15+ years ago, and involves details that might not be widely documented, I should note that while I aim to be accurate, you may want to verify any specific historical details I've mentioned.

Would you like to share more about the circumstances of your visit to the apartment? It would be interesting to hear about how the space has been maintained or changed since Cerf's time there.

A friend of mine was living there at the time. Here’s a view of the living room.

This is a wonderfully cozy and lived-in room that speaks to someone with eclectic interests and a love of books and collecting. The space retains many classic pre-war apartment features, including:

Claude 3.5 Sonnet describes the Main Concourse in New York City's Grand Central Terminal

What’s this scene?

This is Grand Central Terminal's Main Concourse in New York City, one of the world's most iconic railway terminals. The image captures the grandeur of this historic Beaux-Arts building, featuring its distinctive architectural elements including:

The soaring barrel-vaulted ceiling, painted in a distinctive turquoise blue with celestial designs, rises to a height of 125 feet. The ceiling's arched design is complemented by massive arched windows that allow natural light to flood the space.

The terminal's signature features are prominently displayed, including the central Information Booth with its four-faced brass clock, and the grand staircases modeled after those of the Paris Opera House. The enormous windows at the east end of the terminal, measuring 60 feet high, create an impressive wall of light.

The marble floors and limestone walls give the space its characteristic warm, honey-colored appearance. The image shows the terminal in active use, with numerous travelers moving through the spacious main concourse, while digital departure boards display train schedules along the walls.

This terminal, which opened in 1913, continues to serve as both a major transportation hub and an architectural masterpiece, handling thousands of commuters daily while maintaining its status as one of New York City's most celebrated landmarks.

Claude 3.5 Sonnet visits Times Square, waxes philosophical (after being prodded)

I wasn’t sure whether or not Claude would be able to recognize this picture. I’m not even sure that I’d recognize it. It’s very busy.

It’s Times Square. The tell-tale indicator is the tall slender building in the middle with the Coca-Cola sign on it.

Claude identified the scene immediately. It also confabulated a bit, pointing out the “Typical New York yellow taxi cabs” when there aren’t any in the scene. Anyhow, once it had told me the basics, I asked for more. That is, I didn’t specify anything, just tell me more, which it did, of course.

Then I changed pace and asked what happens here on New Year’s Eve. It told me, as I knew it would, and I steered the conversation into a more philosophical direction, about human nature, the nature of time and then into Nietzsche and Camus, all of which it dealt with. But I’m wondering, if I’d just continued as I’d started – gimme more – would Claude have gone there, more abstract and philosophical, on its own. I suspect not.

That is, it was able to respond to me when I went abstract, but probably wouldn’t have been able to do there on its own. I say “probably” because I don’t actually know this. But it do think that’s the case. If so, Why not? It doesn’t know how? Lacks initiative? Could it be trained to do so?

I'm wondering, is this the same thing I had in mind when discussing ChatGPT's limitations at the end of this 3QD article: Conversing with ChatGPT about Jaws, Mimetic Desire, and Sacrifice?

Do you recognize this place?

Yes, this is Times Square in New York City. It's instantly recognizable by its distinctive features:

- The large, bright digital billboards and advertisements
- Dense urban environment with tall buildings
- Heavy vehicle and pedestrian traffic
- The LINE FRIENDS store with its large Brown bear character billboard (the green billboard with the bear face)
- The Minskoff Theatre sign (where The Lion King musical performs)
- Typical New York yellow taxi cabs
- The wide crosswalks characteristic of Times Square
- Various major brand advertisements including Coca-Cola and Green Giant

This appears to be taken around 42nd Street/7th Avenue area of Manhattan, which is the heart of Times Square. The image captures the bustling energy and commercial nature that Times Square is famous for, with people crossing the street while surrounded by the iconic electronic billboards and advertisements that make this location one of the most visited tourist destinations in the world.

Governors Island as a World Resource Center [World Island]

I spent a good deal of time early in the millennium working with Zeal Greenberg, of the World Development Endowment Foundation, on a plan to develop Governors Island. It's located in New York harbor just below the southern tip of Manhattan between Ellis Island and Brooklyn. This photo shows the tip of Manhattan as seen from the ferry terminal on Governors Island:

Here we're on a large lawn in the middle of the island, looking toward Manhattan:

These houses used to be officers quarters when the island was a military base:

Here's a link to the executive summary for our development proposal: Governors Island as a World Resource Center: A Vision for the Future Development of New York Harbor as a Global Cultural Center. The preface:

In 2002 the federal government transferred the management of Governors Island to the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation (GIPEC), operated jointly by New York State and New York City. The transfer deed specified that the island be developed for public purposes and prohibited permanent housing and casinos on the island. In 2005 GIPEC issued and Request for Expression of Interest (RFEI) followed by a Request for Proposal (RFP) in February 2006. The World Endowment Development Foundation submitted a formal proposal on May 10, 2006. This document contains the executive summary for that proposal.

Behold!

A foggy day in mid-April

NYC is the world's capital of endangered languages.

Alex Carp, The Endangered Languages of New York, NYTimes, Feb. 22, 2024.

Most people think of endangered languages as far-flung or exotic, the opposite of cosmopolitan. “You go to some distant mountain or island, and you collect stories,” the linguist Ross Perlin says, describing a typical view of how such languages are studied. But of the 700 or so speakers of Seke, most of whom can be found in a cluster of villages in Nepal, more than 150 have lived in or around two apartment buildings in Brooklyn. Bishnupriya Manipuri, a minority language of Bangladesh and India, has become a minority language of Queens.

All told, there are more endangered languages in and around New York City than have ever existed anywhere else, says Perlin, who has spent 11 years trying to document them. And because most of the world’s languages are on a path to disappear within the next century, there will likely never be this many in any single place again.

Perlin's book: Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues in New York (2024).

With Daniel Kaufman, also a linguist, Perlin directs the Endangered Language Alliance, in Manhattan. When E.L.A. was founded, in 2010, Perlin lived in the Chinese Himalayas, where he studied Trung, a language with no standard writing system, dictionary or codified grammar. (His work helped establish all three.) He spent most of his time in the valley where the largest group of remaining speakers lived; the only road in or out was impassable in winter. [...]

Since their project began, Perlin and Kaufman have located speakers of more than 700 languages. Of those languages, at least 150 are listed as under significant threat in at least one of three major databases for the field. Perlin and Kaufman consider that figure to be conservative, and Perlin estimates that more than half of the languages they documented may be endangered.

There's more at the link.

You can look out over the whole city from up there

It’s time to trade the Rikers Island jail in for a casino complex

Neil Barsky, Where’s the Best Place to Build a Casino in New York City?, The New York Times, December 29, 2022.

On the one hand New York City must close down the Rikers Island Jail complex by Aug, 31, 2027. On the other hand, it is now looking for a location to place a casino. Why not, Neil Barsky asks, put the casino on Rikers Island?

The city should build a large Las Vegas-style hotel and casino complex on Rikers after the jail complex is shut down.

Such a project would be a major attraction for the 23 million people living in the metropolitan area and the tens of millions more who visit the city each year. It would provide thousands of construction jobs for New Yorkers, and steady employment for thousands more. It would stem the flow of the billions of dollars that have been sucked out of the city and into casinos in nearby states over the past half century. And it would demonstrate that New York City can still get things done on a colossal scale.

But the real value of a Rikers casino goes way beyond dollars and cents. It should be structured so that the city’s ownership share must be earmarked from Day 1 for programs that are directly connected to incarceration and crime — fighting poverty, job training, drug rehabilitation, mental health services and public safety.

If the city can assure that its share of the profits is used to help its most needy citizens, a Rikers casino could become one of the most impactful public development projects in the city’s history.

At 413 acres, about two-thirds of a square mile, Rikers Island is nearly 15 times the size of Hudson Yards on Manhattan’s West Side. That is more than enough space to build a casino, a convention space, a 3,000-room hotel, a concert venue and restaurants. A narrow bridge connects the island to Queens and would need to be expanded. Ferries from the Bronx could provide access from the north. Bus lines could be established from the south. Parking could be built on the island. It is an urban planner’s dream.

That sounds good to me.

With “a convention space, a 3,000-room hotel, a concert venue and restaurants” in addition to the casino it reminds me a bit about the World Island Project that Zeal Greenberg had proposed for Governors Island.

He proposed to transform Governors Island, a 172 acre former Coast Guard base in New York Harbor, into World Island, which he described as a “permanent world’s fair for a world that’s permanently fair”. Think of it as a combination of the best features of the United Nations, Disney World, a kid’s rumpus room, the trading floor at the Chicago Board of Trade, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, and the Japanese exhibit at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. (Wow!) It would cost $25 billion or so (Wow wow woW!) and be planted with orchids. (I’m likin’ this guy…) Why orchids? Beauty aside, they’re an early warning system for climate change, when the orchids go, we’re not going to be far behind. (…a lot!)

See you there on opening day.

3 Hudson river views

Three versions of the night

Back in the day...what choices for an evening out in NYC

Looking over my entertainment options for this evening. Sam Cooke at the @ApolloTheater? Brubeck at @carnegiehall? Miles Davis at the Village Vanguard? Dylan in... Newark?? I think @STILLERandMEARA at the Blue Angel sounds best. Hey, @RedHourBen want to join me? pic.twitter.com/SsXgTYAB8G

— Dan Pasternack (@DanPasternack) January 27, 2022

NYC mayoral candidates in the recent primary failed to use tried and true ranked-choice tactics

And of course, since NYC is a Democratic city, the Democratic primary effectively is the election. Ryan Heath tells us "How NYC messed up its mayoral election," Politico Nightly, 6.22.21. Thus:

When Nightly contacted each of the top candidates, not one of them had a plan for telling their voters how to rank the rest of the candidates on their ballots. [...]

That’s Election 101 stuff in Australia, my home country and the global capital of ranked choice voting, where the system is used in all elections from college campuses to federal elections.

When running under a ranked choice system, you make deals:

In a ranked choice system, self-interest dictates that a candidate should make deals with rivals and communicate those deals with voters. But admitting you need voters who think you’re only second-best is the antithesis of New York toughness.

The lowest-ranked candidates could have formed a coalition to take on the big shots, while the more left-wing candidates such as Maya Wiley, Scott Stringer and Dianne Morales could have worked together to blunt the moderates at the top of opinion polls.

Instead it was moderate Kathryn Garcia who did most to explore preference deals, and even that was half-hearted. She failed to return the favor when Yang recommended her as his second choice.

Australia’s experience with ranked choice voting shows that deals among candidates can affect the results. Australian candidates have won ranked choice elections with as little as 0.2 percent of first choice votes. Senator Ricky Muir won a Senate seat in 2013 after starting with 0.5 percent of the vote: He vacuumed up another half million or so votes from voters who ranked him second or lower, closing a 400,000 vote gap. (Muir is an exception, though. The main outcome the system has led to in the Australian Senate, where eight parties are represented, is diversity without gridlock.)

More common are “Anyone But X” campaigns. In San Francisco, mayoral candidates Jane Kim and Mark Leno formed a tactical alliance against Mayor London Breed, getting within 2,500 votes of unseating her in 2018.

I wonder if anyone has used game theory to analyze campaign tactics in ranked choice voting systems? This would be a multiplayer game situation, which I understand can be technically challenging.

Friday Fotos: Tall buildings along the Hudson

Governors Island in black and white, i.e. grayscale

Street Art in the NYTimes – "these works point beyond the self"

Seph Rodney, New York’s Sidewalk Prophets Are Heirs of the Lascaux Cave Artisans, NYTimes,Aug. 6, 2020.

Those early artisans [Lascaux, France] drew these creatures over and over, likely fascinated by their forms and their powers, but also intuiting that whatever happened to the animals would almost certainly be a harbinger of what would happen to humans. The presence of the bison and stags, their physical fitness and numbers, their mass migrations would have indicated the onset of plagues or cataclysmic weather systems. Containing some 15,000 paintings and engravings from the Upper Paleolithic era, the caves in Southwestern France were not simply an exhibition space for local talent. They essentially constituted a public square where a community shared critical knowledge.

These portraits and discrete stories are not very different from our contemporary forums: the street art adorning boarded-up storefronts in New York City. They tell us about our shared political realities, the people we coexist with in social space and the ways in which our stories and fates are tied together. If you walk the streets of SoHo, the alleys of the Lower East Side, and heavily trafficked avenues in Brooklyn, as I did over the last few weeks, you will see these symbols and signs and might wonder at their meanings. What became apparent to me is that in the intervening millenniums between those cave paintings and the killing of George Floyd, the messages we share, like the sociopolitical circumstance that impel them, have become more complex.

Now street artists take account of the qualified legal immunity protecting police officers, the Black Lives Matter movement and the ramifications of a dysfunctional democracy, among other realities, using a well-developed visual language of cultural memes that illustrate the ideological battles among regional, racial and cultural factions. When we see the image of thin, green-skinned, bipedal beings with teardrop-shaped black apertures for eyes, we typically read “alien.” But when I see the image of such a creature holding a sign that reads “I can’t breathe,” I grok an urgent message: Even aliens visiting from light years away understand the plight of Black people in the United States because this situation is so obviously dire.

Today’s street paintings contain dispatches that proliferate across the city sphere — lovely, challenging, angry, remonstrative and even desperate. There are two critical things to note about them. They are different from graffiti, which to my eyes is egocentric and monotone, mostly instantiating the will of the tagger over and over again. I am here and you must see me, is the message.

The street artists in these works point beyond the self, to larger, collective issues. The other pressing point is that these images in chalk, paint and oil stick are ephemeral. Between the time I walked these districts and alerted the photographer to document them, five images had already disappeared. One was a depiction of the transgender freedom fighter Marsha P. Johnson, whose image was marked in chalk on the sidewalk in the ad hoc tent city created near Chambers Street a few weeks ago. It’s since been cleared out by police officers.

The "friends"of Jeffrey Epistein – those who see themselves being seen

David Patrick Columbia has a list, culled from the pages of New York magazine, over at New York Social Diary. After the list he offers these observations:

Those are only some of the names in Mr. Epstein’s phone book. That doesn’t mean they were all dinner guests, or Lolita Express travelers, or bankers or lawyers or Indian chiefs or international art dealers. That also doesn’t mean Mr. Epstein really knew many of them, or vice-versa. The word “friend” is very loosely used among many of his peers. What it does mean is that he had “access” (or could very possibly gain it).

People who knew him socially were aware of his casserole of celebrities as well as a hefty supply of the rich, the chic and shameless who would be at his table. That was why people would accept his invitation. It’s a harmless brand of vulgar curiosity. They didn’t have to “know” him. They could even have heard whispers — or knew about the “scandalous.” That wouldn’t necessarily matter. It was the guest list that drew the guests. Maybe with a little salting of the whispers (or friends/clients).

No other city but New York attracts such a diverse group of talent and ambition. Furthermore, celebrities are very impressed with other celebrities. And tycoons don’t mind the recognition, nor do the elite, especially at a table with someone who can match the laurels. It’s human; we’re pack animals.

At any given occasion, there were those present at Mr. Epstein’s table who knew at least some of what was going on underneath the frenetic existence of being Mr. Big.

Yet, I don’t doubt that many who crossed the threshold of his limestone mansion at 9 East 71st Street were in awe of the man’s “achievements.” Such gatherings provide the guests with some of that apparent self-confidence.