my 2 cents

The world's conversation place

Down the street from my office is the world's living room, where nations can come together to talk through issues, problems and concerns. It's far from perfect, but the United Nations is a great concept that encourages dialogue. Many times over the past 60+ years, those diplomatic conversations have helped avoid war and tragedy all around the world.

We're at the start of UN Week here in New York, when the General Assembly is in session and dignitaries from every corner of the globe converge on Manhattan's East Side. For those of us who live and work here, UN Week is a real headache – causing snarled traffic, closed streets, constant wailing of sirens as one dignitary-transporting motorcade after another whizzes by. 

My office is a block from the UN, so we really feel it here. My friend Sam who has the coffee cart on the corner is out of business this week. The police commandeered his spot as a checkpoint. Down the block, there's a roadblock where every car or truck passing through gets inspected by cops, agents and bomb-sniffing dogs. The mailbox where I usually drop my letters has disappeared for the week, to have one less place where a bomb can be hidden. Crossing some streets can take a while.

On all other weeks, unless you work at or visit the UN, it's easy for most New Yorkers to almost forget the UN is there, tucked away along the East River. But come UN Week, you can't help but feel its presence if you're anywhere in midtown. You can't miss it when there are crowds of cops on almost every corner, seemingly limitless numbers of black SUVs with darkened windows carrying Secret Service agents in black suits and little earpieces with curly wires running down their collars. Entire streets are sealed off for hours or even days at a time.

Yes, UN Week is a real inconvenience for many New Yorkers. But it's part of the price we pay to have our city serve as the world's conversation place. It's a small price to pay for the prestige, employment and tourism that the United Nations brings to this City that I love.

Note:  This post is adapted from a post I wrote a year ago during UN Week in New York.

Never forget

.

September 11th - New York City

It's good PR -- and good business -- to say Thank You

My mother taught me as a child to always say thank you when someone does something for me or gives me something.  My parents had a retail store -- children's clothing -- and they trained me to say thank you whenever a customer paid me.  To this day, the habit sticks and when a cashier or store clerk gives me change, I still say Thank You.

Showing your appreciation by saying thank you is more than common courtesy.  It's good business, good customer relations and, in some cases, good public relations.

Stuart Elliott, in his weekly New York Times e-column, writes about one example of saying thanks.  The N.Y. City Mayor's Office of Film and Broadcasting earlier this month unveiled a public service campaign to thank New Yorkers for hosting film and TV production in their neighborhoods.  "Hosting" is a polite way to put it, because in many ways we New Yorkers "tolerate" the inconvenience of having streets or sidewalks closed off while location shooting takes place. 

I must admit -- I often used to get an attitude when some kid with a walkie-talkie would politely ask me to wait or cross the street while a scene was being filmed.  I used to feel, "who the hell are these people to take over an area and inconvenience all the rest of us working people."

And then, several years ago, a film crew took over my neighborhood at home as Penny Marshall was filming the Drew Barrymore-Brittany Murphy feature "Riding in Cars with Boys."  The crew people were so nice and polite and genuinely thankful for being allowed to come into our neighborhood to film.  My neighbor, whose house was used for several exterior and interior shots, got more than $30,000 for the inconvenience, along with new shrubs and wallpaper.  We let them use our home as a "green room," so we got $2,500 along with an open invitation to eat at the craft truck.  We also got to meet a nice bunch of crew people and actress Brittany Murphy, who fell in love with our dog, who was just a puppy then.  They even hired our son to assist with traffic control.

Our son later got a degree in filmmaking from Emerson College and now directs music videos.  We've seen him doing location shoots, and it reinforced our realization that the film crews are, for the most part, a nice group of (mainly) young people trying to earn a living from their craft.  They don't assume that because they have  a film permit they can run rampant through people's neighborhoods.  The vast majority of the crews are very appreciative of the public's tolerance.

So it's a smart move -- both good public relations and good business -- for the New York City Film & TV Office to run a campaign that thanks New Yorkers for their  understanding and, in the process, makes them aware of the amount of revenue film and TV bring to the city.

More than 100,000 New Yorkers, including many of my son's friends and classmates who now work in film here, are employed by the industry.  More than $5 billion is pumped into the New York City economy every year by film and TV.

So the city is trying to remind us with a PSA campaign.  Hopefully, it will make more of us a bit more understanding the next time we're inconvenienced by a location shoot.

We New Yorkers benefit in many ways.  Film and TV work helps the city's economy.  And it's fun to see neighborhoods we know on TV or the big screen.  It makes us appreciate and love our city even more.

 

Put the seat down

My friend C.B. Whittemore, who writes at Flooring the Consumer, invited me to participate in Bathroom Blogfest '08.  I responded in the affirmative before I knew exactly what this blogfest is.

Bathroom Blogfest, in its second year, invites us to write about our customer experiences and the bathroom.

I checked to see what some were writing.  I saw posts about "The Clean Look of a White Bathroom," by Jo Brown (she's an expert -- she works for Kohler),  or "Sit or Squat" by David Polinchock, or Sandra Renshaw's post complete with pictures of the bathroom at a Panera restaurant in Sioux Falls, SD.  She was quite excited that the bathroom had a little shelf next to the sink, and recommended all businesses should think of that critical amenity.  (In the building where my office is, we're lucky if we have soap in the men's room, let alone a little shelf.)

I quickly realized I am way out of my league when it comes to Bathroom Blogfest.  While I've spent probably more than my share of time in the bathroom, I don't consider myself expert enough to look for little shelves or all-white decor, or to make recommendations about bathrooms.  Just give me a place to stand or sit and some toilet paper and I'm happy.  If it doesn't smell bad, so much the better.

But as I gave the subject more thought, I realize I do have something to offer -- not a recommendation, but an observation.  I've seen a big change in New York City.  It's become much more of a user-friendly city when it comes to public bathrooms.  Some 20 years ago, just about the only public restrooms in midtown were in Grand Central Terminal or the Port Authority Bus Terminal.  Neither were places you'd want to enter unless you had absolutely no other choice.  Back then, I'd rather risk getting busted for public urination than use the Grand Central men's room in the evening while waiting for my train home.

But that has all changed.  The bathrooms at Grand Central are clean and well-kept.  If you want to go a bit upscale, travel two blocks west on 42nd Street and use the bathrooms in Bryant Park, right behind the Public Library.   Bryant Park used to be a dangerous place, even in the daytime -- populated by drug dealers, drug users and all sorts of derelicts and low-life.  Now it's a beautiful urban oasis, and the bathrooms are spectacular.  Fancy fixtures, very clean and they even have an impressive arrangement of fresh cut flowers.  Even Times Square has clean public restrooms at the Times Square welcome center on 7th Avenue around 47th Street.

Yes, New York has become user-friendly when you have to go.

The only advice I feel qualified to offer for Bathroom Blogfest '08, however, isn't about decor or handy amenities.  It comes from being married for a long time and constantly hearing the same thing over and over...

When you're done, put the seat down.

(I wonder if I'll be invited back for Bathroom Blogfest '09.)

The world's conversation place

Down the street from my office is the world's living room, where nations can come together to talk through issues, problems and concerns.  It's far from perfect, but the United Nations is a great concept that encourages dialogue.  Many times over the past 60+ years, those diplomatic conversations have helped avoid war and tragedy all around the world.

 
We're in the middle of UN Week here in New York, when the General Assembly is in session and dignitaries from every corner of the globe converge on Manhattan's East Side.  For those of us who live and work here, UN Week is a real headache – causing snarled traffic, closed streets, constant wailing of sirens as one dignitary-transporting motorcade after another whizzes by.

My office is a block from the UN, so we really feel it here.  My friend Sam who has the coffee cart on the corner is out of business this week.  The police commandeered his spot as a checkpoint.  Down the block, there's a roadblock where every car or truck passing through gets inspected by cops, agents and bomb-sniffing dogs.  The mailbox where I usually drop my letters has disappeared for the week, to have one less place where a bomb can be hidden.  Crossing some streets can take a while.  One woman in my office was stuck on the wrong side of 42nd Street for almost half an hour this morning, as police blocked the street awaiting a motorcade.

On all other weeks, unless you work at or visit the UN, it's easy for most New Yorkers to almost forget the UN is there, tucked away along the East River.  But come UN Week, you can't help but feel its presence if you're anywhere in midtown.  You can't miss it when there are crowds of cops on almost every corner, seemingly limitless numbers of black SUVs with darkened windows carrying Secret Service agents in black suits and little earpieces with curly wires running down their collars.  Entire streets are sealed off for hours or even days at a time.

It seems like it's been especially hectic so far this week, as we had President Bush and Iran's nutcase leader addressing the General Assembly, while Gov. Palin went from photo op to photo op with world leaders in order to become an instant expert on foreign affairs.  On that day, added to the din of the police sirens was the constant roar of police helicopters hovering overhead to keep an eye on things.

Yes, UN Week is a real inconvenience for many New Yorkers.  But it's part of the price we pay to have our city serve as the world's conversation place.  It's a small price to pay for the prestige, employment and tourism that the United Nations brings to this City that I love.
   

Other Voices: Memories and The Last Hurrah

I give this space over, from time to time, to non-bloggers.  The idea is to bring other voices into the mix and, possibly, get others hooked on the joys of blogging.

I've known and worked with Judd Cohen for more than 25 years.  We worked together at a mid-size p.r. agency back in the early 1980s, and we've shared office space and, occasionally, clients since the early 1990s.

Judd is a baseball fanatic.  For several years, he and his family made their summer vacation a pilgrimage to visit and see a ballgame in every Major  League park in the U.S. and Canada.  He may write a book about it some day.

Next season, he'll have two new ballparks to visit -- right here in New York.  I know which will be first on the list.

....

I was at Yankee Stadium last night; my final visit after 56 years attending Yankee games.

The final night at The Stadium was a tribute to, as everyone called it, an "iconic" ballpark that  some of the greatest teams and players called home and where some of the greatest games were played.  But, what most of us were celebrating were memories and the passage of time.  For me, it started with my first game and my father buying me a hot dog (25 cents, sold from wicker baskets) when I was eight.  They tasted so great back then.  I took my son to his first game at age six on a cool, sunny September Sunday during the Yankees skein of losing seasons in the late '80s and bought him almost every item in the souvenir store.

Everyone last night had memories.  That's what we were really cheering, the memories and the players who helped make them and brought them back to life last night.  After the game, as the Yankees paraded around the field, I looked around the stadium at the great seats behind home plate that my father used to get, to the last row of the upper deck in right field (they called it the Grandstand then, and admission was $1.25), where I used to sit in high school, to the seat where we sat when Jim Abbott pitched his no-hitter (my younger son's second game), to all the other seats on Opening Day, the World Series, playoffs, dull games.  The ballpark was alive with memories.  I felt emotional, but held it back and put my arm around my son.  In a way, he had grown up at Yankee Stadium.  He is now 25, a broadcaster who covered many games there in the past several years.  He interviews players whose autographs he sought as a kid and is friendly with journalists and broadcasters he looked up to.  He has his memories.

A baseball game is a great bonding experience for fathers and sons, perhaps the best, and in talking about baseball we usually say much more.  I also learned something years ago.  In the relaxed environment of a baseball game, kids probably tell their parents more about their lives than they normally do.

So the old ballpark is no more, the games will move across the street to the Xanadu by the East River, but the memories remain.  We'll have new ones starting next year and some day my son will go to a game with his kids and tell them about his memories of the old stadium, and the last game there.

-- Judd Cohen

Blogger Social: Real New Yorker's Visitors Guide

Coming to New York for Blogger Social, April 4 - 6?

If you're new to the city, you can check the tour guidebooks and you'll find Times Square, Rock Center and The Empire State Building.  (You don't have to go out of your way to see the Statue of Liberty, because that's on the official Blogger Social schedule for Saturday afternoon -- a cruise down the Hudson and around Miss Liberty.)

But those things, great as they may be, are the "tourist New York."  Here's a New Yorker's quick guide to the real New York, if you have some time.

New York has an awesome music scene.  You don't have to go to Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall or The Beacon Theater to hear great music.  There are small music venues around town -- many in the what would seem to be the most unlikely places.

The Lower East Side, for example, has tons of good music -- much of it free or for the price of a drink or two.  Ludlow Street, just below Houston, has a wealth of small music clubs packed one next to the other.  The Living Room is one of my favorites, at 154 Ludlow.  Any night, you can find great singer-songwriters there.  (Before she hit it big, Norah Jones was a regular there.)

Next door to the right is The Cake Shop (for music, not cake), and Pianos is next door to the left.  Arlene's Grocery Store -- in what used to be a grocery store -- is another popular music venue, right around the corner on Stanton St.  And up the street on Houston (between Ludlow and Essex Sts.), is The Mercury Lounge, which often has bigger names and is a bit noisier in its choice of bands.

Where to eat?  Forget The Four Seasons, Nobu and all those pricey joints where it's often more about being seen than the food itself.  Want a great New York deli sandwich with meat stacked five inches high, and at a good price.  Not The Carnegie Deli or The Stage Deli in touristy Times Square.  Go to Sarge's, on Third Ave between 36th and 37th Streets in Murray Hill.  It's open all night.  Sunday mornings, the place is often full of young singles who live in the area.  The place is in the midst of renovations now, so the walls are bare, but the food is still excellent.

Want to pig out on sushi?  For $20, it's all-you-can-eat at Kinoko, on West 72nd St. just east of Broadway.  It's a small place and not fancy.  But the sushi is very good, and plentiful.  They also have other Japanese dishes on the menu,in case sushi isn't your thing. 

Great music and food... and good company at Blogger Social.  What more could you want in New York?

Have a good visit.

New York Treasure

New York is a city full of treasures.  There's a hidden treasure not even many New Yorkers know about, tucked away up in Harlem, a block from Grant's Tomb and in the shadow of Riverside Church.

It's Manhattan School of Music, at Broadway and 122nd St.

For many years, it was eclipsed by the more famous Julliard School, but MSM, celebrating its 90th anniversary, has become a world-class music conservatory breaking new ground in many areas -- especially jazz.  Manhattan School of Music is one of the few schools to have a full jazz arts program, thanks largely to the efforts of Justin DiCioccio, assistant dean and chair of the Jazz Arts Program.

I've been friends with Justin, who is recognized internationally as one today's  foremost jazz educators and is in the Jazz Education Hall of Fame, for nearly 20 years.  We worked together in the late 1980s, when I directed McDonald's PR and community relations and Justin ran the McDonald's High School Jazz Program. 

I was at the school tonight for one of dozens of free (yes, free!) concerts they present throughout the school year.  Tonight the MSM Concert Jazz Band -- 20-something pieces strong -- celebrated the 50th anniversary of Leonard Bernstein's music for West Side Story, with arrangements by masters like Dave Grusin, Don Sebesky, and Michael Abene.  (If you're a jazz fan, you'll definitely recognize these names from the liner notes of your favorite albums.)  Master trumpeter Jon Faddis, who Justin just brought onto the MSM faculty, was the featured soloist.  And did I mention the show was free?

If you're in New York or planning to visit, and if you love straight-ahead jazz , big band or Latin/Afro-Cuban jazz (or classical or opera), check out the concert schedule and come up to Harlem for some great music.  They're college students, but if you close your eyes, you could be in The Blue Note, The Village Vanguard or the late Village Gate.  Many will go on to become tomorrow's jazz stars.

Click here to see the concert calendar.

If you're planning to check out one of the MSM jazz concerts, let me know and I'll buy you a beer or a coffee after the show.  I'll be there.