London in New York

“You say you want a revolution. Well, you know. We all want to change the world … But when you talk about destruction. Don’t you know that you can count me out.”   -Lennon/McCartney (1968)

Barbarians at the Gate

The Occupy Wall Street Movement has placed some new ‘Barbarians at the Gate’ of the financial elite; that is if you can refer to peaceful protesters as “barbarians.” As many will recall, President Obama in early 2009 in a meeting at the White House with Bankers whose institutions received TARP Funds famously stated that “My administration is the only thing between you and the pitchforks.”  The President no longer stands between the bankers and the “pitchforks”, and perhaps I mean that metaphorically speaking because it does not  seem that the protestors have come with pitchforks or weapons of any kind.  As the Occupy Wall Street anti-greed protests spread on the eve of the Rebuild The American Dream march on Washington, DC which is scheduled for the week of October 10-16 it is important to recognize and understand it for what it is.  Our people, the conscience of a nation is speaking to us in a rather uncomfortable way, reminding us that in this system we live in and under, we are all connected in some way.

The painful growing inequality in America is more than a transactional externality that can be ignored, dismissed or otherwise managed safely.   This is true whether you stand in support of these movements or think that these folks are seriously misguided and their mission unclear or disingenuous. The simple reality is that it is happening. You cannot ignore that. We simply just can’t lock everyone up and think that things will be ok. Capische?

One need be careful in misinterpreting the undercurrent in this wave formation before another false narrative develops. Whether you believe that the protestors are misguided, clueless, or even silly as does Nicholas Kristof (see: The Bankers and the Revolutionaries by Nicholas Kristof in the NY Times) because they have a less than clear or perfect understanding of how our capitalist system operates and who or what are to blame does not really matter. For I am sure that at these demonstrations you can find those who literally don’t have a clue about what truly got America into this mess and the solutions necessary for us to climb out of it. But why should that surprise anyone?

America: The Age of Disenlightement

We have created a culture of distraction feeding our citizens a steady diet of misinformation to baffle, confuse, fill and otherwise pollute the heads of our befuddled masses. Our media assists in creating false narratives, pseudo news and Reality TV programming. As a result our citizens are so drugged up on bad art and culture that as consuming automatons wide swaths cannot distinguish between a Chocolate Soufflé and manure. Many of our citizens are thus cajoled into voting against their own best interests and more importantly, the interests of our nation because they literally have no comprehension of what is truly happening here in America or around the world.

In a piece on the Daily Beast discussing Obama’s strategy to go after some traditionally Republican states in 2012, the GOP Strategy for 2012 (as summed up by the Daily Beast) is as follows: “Republicans, meanwhile, are looking to states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin in the hope of capitalizing on Obama’s low support among lower-income, less-educated white voters.”

Does this not tell you all you need to know about the cynicism and the disingenuous posture of our political leaders? The people are seen as prey. If our elections have devolved into feeding red meat to the stupid unenlightened masses, that itself will be what brings about the end of our nation. And those dark forces that foster an un-enlightenment movement should be exposed in broad daylight by more than Lawrence O’Donnell and Jon Stewart. Is not our greatest challenge then in lifting all boats to make sure that all of us have the actual ability to drive the boat or at least have a basic understanding of how it is being driven? If we continue to allow for wide swaths of this country to decay structurally and intellectually, especially in places like Appalachia, we will reap what we sow. And whether you are a Democrat (Progressive or Centrist) or Republican (Right Wing or Moderate) you should keep that in mind. Our system is frayed and corrupted and those that protect the corrupt will perish peacefully or they will die in pain in the street. Pick your poison. Or stated more eloquently  by President John F. Kennedy in a speech at the White House in 1962: “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable. “

Zeitgeist Turning

The Zeitgeist may be turning. What is happening on Wall Street is an awakening that will have profound ramifications not just for the ruling classes but the future of America. It is grassroots.  It is Liberty. It is not Anarchy. It is Democracy in Action much in the same way that Ron Paul’s Revolution of ideas is.

As I heard one anonymous commentator state: “Real revolutions are always sad things. In the beginning the aristocrats laugh and the police arrest as many as they can. In the end the aristocrats lose their property and their heads? and the police become the hunted.”

Sure as the famed street remains the symbol of American power and American Greed, truth told the institution we know as Wall Street has been dispersed from downtown to midtown to Hedge Fund Row in Greenwich, Connecticut to the Upper East Side of Manhattan to Denver, Colorado.  Wall Street or the idea of it still represents many things to many people, but in the post 9/11 world, it is also an increasingly residential community. Nevertheless the symbolism of those marching in Lower Manhattan and occupying Wall Street can not and should not be lost on anyone. The opportunity lays in rebuilding the foundation of American commerce, not in destroying it. Let the dialogue begin. To read Part II, click here.

HELPFUL LINKS

Occupy Wall Street Movement

-Occupy Wall Street
-Occupy Together
-Occupy Youtoube: Anonymous documents what the media blacks out.
-AnonOps Communicati0ns
-Anonymous Occupy Youtoube blog
-Global Revolution
-Adbusters
-OWS on Facebook
-OWS Livestream
-WaVe Movement (Facebook Page)
-Think Progress: The 99 Percent Movement
-Fair News & Opinion Portals: Truthout, Truthdig, Common Dreams, Think Progress, Mother Jones, The Nation, Media Watch, Media Matters, Countdown with Keith Olberman, The Young Turks, Cenk Uygur
-Paul Krugman: Panic of the Plutocrats, Fear the Oligarchs, not the Protesters, The Social Contract
-Cenk Uygur: “Washington is infested”
-Glenn Greenwald, “With Liberty & Justice for Some”

Key Editorial Perspective
-CBS News Coverage
-Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize Winning Economist with the NY Times
-Naomi Klein:  ”This is not the time  to be looking for ways to dismiss a nascent movement against the power of capital, but to do the opposite: find ways to embrace it, support it and help it grow into its enormous potential. With so much at stake, cynicism is a luxury we simply cannot afford.” read more about what the author of “The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism” had to say at Moveon.org, Rachel Maddow Show and on Huffington Post
-NY Times, Protesters Against Wall Street: “It is not the job of the protesters to draft legislation. That’s the job of the nation’s leaders, and if they had been doing it all along there might not be a need for these marches and rallies. Because they have not, the public airing of grievances is a legitimate and important end in itself. It is also the first line of defense against a return to the Wall Street ways that plunged the nation into an economic crisis from which it has yet to emerge.”
-‘A New Shift in Power’: Documentary entitled “Nobody Can Predict the Moment of Revolution”Offers an Intimate Look at Occupy Wall Street
-Elizabeth Warren: “The People on Wall Street Broke this Country”: Elizabeth Warren is a Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. She served as Assistant to the President and Special Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. She is running for the U.S. Senate against Scott Brown. See also the Brad Blog for Elizabeth Warren’s commentary on ‘Debt Crisis’ & ‘Class Warfare’ and Vanity Fair: The Woman Who Knew Too Much.
-Chris Hedges, Truthdig: Why the Elites Are in Trouble / Truthout: Why the Elites are in Trouble
-Truthout News Analysis (Dean Baker): When Being Rich Makes Us Poor, People Should Occupy Wall Street
-New York Observer: Jesse LaGreca Continues to Destroy Media Bias of Occupy Wall Street on ABC’s This Week.
-Firedoglake, Kevin Gosztola: Why Establishment Media & Power Elite Loathe Occupy Wall Street
-Raw Story (Kate Wickman): WATCH: ‘I Am Not Moving’ compares Arab Spring to Occupy Wall Street
-The Guardian, Occupy Wall Street: if banks are too big to fail, are people too small to matter?

Rebuild America: The Solution? Or one of them?

-Building America’s Future
-Our Future
-Rebuild the American Dream
-RAI
-Fareed’s Take: Obama should declare a jobs emergency
-Van Jones on Rebuilding the American Dream (see also: Van Jones)

Inequality in America: Basis for Revolt

-Inequality.org: The Program on Inequality and the Common Good focuses on the dangers that growing inequality pose for U.S. democracy, economic health and civic life. It is a project of the Institute for Policy Studies and based in Boston, MA
-The United States of Inequality
-Who Rules America?
-Vanity Fair by Joseph E. Stiglitz: Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%
-The Economist: The rich, the poor and the growing gap between them
-PBS, In Perspective: Tricia Rose on America’s growing inequality
-Robert Reich: Growing Inequality Is The Central Problem Of Our Age
-The Nation magazine:  Inequality in America
-The Nation Magazine by Robert Reich: Unjust Spoils
-Mother Jones: It’s the Inequality, Stupid

The American  System

-Nouriel Roubini: Marx was right about self-destruction of capitalism
-Vice Chairman of China’s CIC Says It’s Become Harder to Defend the U.S. Model
-Inside Job (trailer)
-Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer (trailer)

The Danger

-The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot (book) by Naomi Wolf
-The End of America (Trailer)
-“The End of America” Full Length HQ Film
-Bloomberg: Jobs crisis could spark riots here
-Kent State Massacre (Video): Could this happen in NYC? Will history repeat itself?

The Uprising

-Occupy Wall Street
-Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan: must-see site of the demonstrations
-In Protest the Power of Place (NY Times): As stated by Joe Mercurio on Facebook: “Just for background. Zuccotti Park, ironically formerly called Liberty Plaza Park was equally ironically renamed after John Zuccotti (Weil Gotshal & Manges) who was a deputy mayor under a Republican mayor of New York and company chairman of the owners Brookfield Office Properties on whose board the girlfriend of the current Republican mayor serves.”
-Global mass protests 15th October 2011
-Chris Hedges: [The Criminal Class that has seized power is scared but the]  Occupy Wall Street is ‘where the hope of America lies’
-My Great Depression (video)
-Nader, Ron Paul, Kucinich Speak to Occupy Wall Street
-The Huffington Post – Occupy Wall Street: NYPD Arrests 700 Protesters On Brooklyn Bridge
-The Guardian: Occupy Wall Street rediscovers the radical imagination: The young people protesting in Wall Street and beyond reject this vain economic order. They have come to reclaim the future
-Truthout: Wall Street Occupation Live Stream
-Occupy Wall St, SlutWalk, Hot Chicks, Van Jones by Zennie Abraham
-RT: Open-ended Wall Street occupation
-NPR by Joel Rose:  Wall Street Protests Stretch On, Reasons Vary
-Gothamist: Anonymous’s Occupation Of Wall Street
-UPI: Wall Street protesters morale ‘high’
-Michael Moore: The media ignores Wall Street occupation
-The Guardian, Occupy Wall Street: inquiries launched as new pepper-spray video emerges: NYPD officer Anthony Bologna faces two investigations as video emerges of a second pepper-spray incident
-NY Daily News: Pepper-spray videos spark furor as NYPD launches probe of Wall Street protest incidents
-Salon: Jon Stewart on the Wall Street pepper-spray attack
-Occupy Wall Street: ‘Pepper-spray’ officer named in Bush protest claim
-The Huffington Post: Anthony Bologna, NYPD Officer Who Pepper-Sprayed Protester, Had Role In 2004 Incidents
-JP Morgan gave NYPD $4.6 million to strengthen security
-Truthout: Got Class Warfare? Occupy Wall Street Now!
-Greg Palast | Uber-Vultures: The Billionaires Who Would Pick Our President
-Trumka: AFL-CIO Will Support Occupy Wall St. Protest ‘In Every Way’ It Can

POLICE ACTION vs. OCCUPY WALL STREET: Evidence of Police Brutality: Premeditated and Orchestrated Assaults on Peaceful Protesters

-MSNBC on NYPD: Police Brutality during Occupy Wall Street Lawrence O’Donnell with “The Last Word”
-Keith Olbermann: “Police brutality” at Occupy Wall Street
-Shameful Police Action & Brutality at Occupy Wall Street
-BRAVE Occupy Wall Street Protester Speaks Out
-NYPD Violently Elbow Peaceful Female OccupyWallStreet Protestor Knocking Her To The Ground
-NYPD Caught On Camera Punching OccupyWallStreet Protestor In The Face
-NYPD officers give peaceful protester a concussion during OCCUPY WALL STREET
-Cops turn Violent: NYPD drag girl across the street at OccupyWallStreet
-Anonymous WARNING to NYPD
-Police Brutality? Like 100 NYPD Cops Slam Some 100 Year-Old Asian Man To The Concrete And Arrest
-Occupy Wall Street Brutality
-“I CAN’T BREATHE!” – Police Shoving at 10:30AM at Liberty Plaza Occupy Wall Street
-Police Arrest Protester for Drawing with Sidewalk Chalk @ Occupy Wall Street 9/19/11
-‘Occupy Wall Street’ – Young man brutally knocked down and arrested for talking to an officer
-NYC Citibank Occupation Arrests Customers for Closing their accounts.

SILENCING THE TRUTH

-THE SILENCING OF BANK WHISTLEBLOWERS:  Occupy Wall Street Sept 17: Protester speaks out
-Florida Congressman Alan Grayson on Occupy Wall Street
-Florida congressman Alan Grayson laughs in Ben Bernanke’s face
-Eliot Spitzer on Occupy Wall Street and fraudulent banking activities (on Olbermann’s show)
-OccupyWallStreet talks to Fox News & Crushes Them
-CNN Wants This Video Banned SEE WHY
-Nader, Ron Paul, Kucinich Speak to Occupy Wall Street – Original

Freedom to Fascism

-OccupyWallStreet George Carlin - Spreading The Truth!
-Charlie Chaplin
The Whole World Is Watching – Charlie Chaplin on Occupy Wall Street: Let Us All Unite!
Charlie Chaplin Speech – Occupy Wall Street! (Inception Soundtrack); see also United We Rise
-Aaron Russo: See Aaron Russo Memorial and Freedom to Fascism (Aaron’s last film)
-Anonymous Group: “We are Anonymous.  We are Legion.  We do not forgive.  We do not forget.  Expect us.” Yale Law refers to the group as an ‘Internet Subculture’. See: AnonNews.org, Why We Protest, AnonOps Communicati0ns
-Anonymous Educational Series: Freedom to Fascism (part 1)
-Anonymous Educational Series: Freedom to Fascism (part 2)
-Anonymous: Message to Ron Paul

The Monster of the Upper East Side who Un-Lit Many Lives Turns Out the Lights on Himself

According to Reuters – “Joseph Brooks, the Oscar-winning composer of the hit “You Light Up My Life” and who was awaiting trial on rape charges, was found dead in his New York apartment on Sunday having apparently killed himself, police said.”

The Academy Award winning composer, a suspected serial pervert, rapist and all around predator did the taxpayers of New York a great service.  Joseph Brooks, the monster of the Upper East Side, was an abomination to man kind –for writing the songs “You Light Up My Life” and “If I ever See You Again” and producing the films of the same name; both of which if examined closely resemble stalkers anthems, especially the latter which truly belongs in the stalkers hall of fame.  In My Life –a Broadway musical, however, Flopped on Broadway.  Brooks literally unlit the lives, hopes and dreams of so many aspiring young artists to feed his demented desires so you will forgive me if I am less than saddened by whatever pain he may have been in prior to killing himself and only wish that his demise had come sooner.

By turning off the lights on his less than noble existence and closing the curtain on this horror show before being convicted and sentenced to years behind bars, which the taxpayers of this state would in effect have to fund, and having his estate or what remains of it left completely bankrupt,  Brooks did the one decent thing he could do.  Brooks committed suicide and spared society the cost of maintenace for keeping yet another monster alive spending what likely would have been the remainder of his days behind bars. In addition, on a weekend where the world did not come to an end, the rapture not yet begun, it seems that a societal colonic of sorts has begun with some of its toxins being flushed into the great beyond.

Notably, Brooks is survived by his son, the accused “Soho Strangler”, Nicholas Brooks who is facing conviction for the murder of his former girlfriend, the promising young designer Sylvie Cachay at Soho House. This dynamic duo from the Upper East Side has literally reaked more havoc than any father/son team in recent memory.  Hey Nick, any interest in following in your father’s footsteps? If not, the positive is at least you will have some cigarette money in the joint now. And that may come in handy to keep folks from literally climbing all over your back, catch my drift?   If I [Never] see  you or your father again, it won’t be too soon.

This is not exactly what John Lennon & Yoko Ono imagined. ‘You may say I’m a dreamer but I’m not the only one.’  Consider the possibility, in Bloomberg’s New York, of the following  NY 1 report. ‘It’s easy if you try.’

NEWS ALERT: Police called to Central Park when a Crime in Progress was spotted by a local citizen. Entering the park, the Police witnessed a smoker, called a SWAT Team and had the smoker stand down and drop his cigarette. The woman screaming on the other side of the park while being mugged was left unattended. The suspect was wearing a Brooks Brothers suit, had just left a benefit at The Guggenheim Museum, had a couple of Martini’s and simply said he “felt the need to light up before calling it an evening.”  The young philanthropist, an associate at a major midtown law firm, is expected to plead guilty due to the overwhelming evidence (stench) of nicotine and a video of him captured by a vigilant citizen showing clearly that it was him smoking. He is  being held at the 61st Precinct awaiting arraignment and sentencing. Fox News  reporter Giovanna Drpic attempted to interview the stylish and forthright Charvet wearing, New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly who offered only: “we believe the suspect to be a Marlboro Man but the cigarette in question appeared to be a female cigarette, a Virginia Slims to be exact, likely bummed from an accomplice at the Guggenheim Gala. The investigation is ongoing.”

Editor’s Note:  I am a non-smoker yet I have concerns with the breadth of this ban, given that cigarettes are not illegal.

Reuters reported yesterday that: “New York City on Wednesday moved a step closer to ban smoking in parks, beaches and other outdoor public spaces, amid grumbling that the city government may have gone too far in its war on salt, fat and smoke. The city council voted 36 to 12 in favor of the smoking restrictions, extending an existing ban on smoking in restaurants and bars.”

Mayor Mike Bloomberg has been committed to ridding the city of second hand smoke virtually since his elevation to the mayoralty from his perch atop Bloomberg LP.  In 2002, on the heals of the tragedy of 9/11 that destroyed the Twin Towers, the local economy and the lives of countless Americans and their families, Mike Bloomberg signed the Smoke Free Air Act of 2002, which banned smoking in indoor workplaces.  Not surprisingly, critics of the legislation included the local entrepreneurs and patrons in the restaurant, tavern and nightlife industries, or those hardest hit by this legislation in a crippled post 9/11 economy. Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s campaign did not end there. In 2010 Bloomberg, and the leadership of the NY City Council called for a ban smoking in New York City in public places, parks and beaches. The move was backed by the American Cancer Society.

The NYC Smoking Ban was met with shock and anger in many quarters of the city and beyond.  One might understand and suspect that  the New York City Nightlife Association and the Empire State Restaurant & Taverns Association and their respective membership may have become concerned if not consumed with how the livelihoods of their membership has been derailed more by the second hand smoke emanating from the Health Police at City Hall.

Critics including civil libertarians and other ‘fringe radicals’ (i.e., citizens) questioned the wisdom of sweeping totalitarianism of City Hall and the NY City Council. The administration’s unusual focus on nanny issues while a large percentage of the local population remains out of work or underemployed in a stagnant economy; one where local entrepreneurs and businesses struggle to remain afloat and barely turn a profit, is somewhat mind boggling. It is a veritable illusion of governance. Then I thought to myself what if the Mayor and exalted members of the New York City Council were to hold a straight forward and honest press conference(s)  or otherwise level with the citizens of the metropolis with earnest statements. Might it go something like this:

In a press conference at City Hall today celebrating passage of his PPC Initiative ( Progressive Programs for Citizens who can’t think or do for themselves),  the  mayor derided his critics for not looking at the ‘totality’ of his totalitarian tactics.  Bloomberg stated further, that in terms of his critics:  “they will live longer and being out of work they will  thus have more time to espouse their utterly irrelevant and inconsequential dissent.”  Besides which he continued, “anyone unemployed should not be spending $11 for a pack of cigarettes.”  As reporter Azi Paybarah of the WNYC Public Radio raised his hand to ask Mayor Bloomberg a follow up question about Bloomberg Beach, the Mayor said “you’re a disgrace .”

The Mayor, however, does have his supporters. Standing outside Gray’s Papaya (not Papaya King) on the Upper West Side, I recognized a homeless banker who used to workout at Equinox. Asked what he thought about all the recent legislation, he stated:

You know, on a cold winter day it is truly refreshing that I can enjoy the “Recession Special” without having to inhale the second hand smoke from the homeless guy standing next to me;  although we have been pals since our days together at Bear Stearns and then later when he was the lawyer who documented some of my transactions, before his law firm folded.  Now we are roommates in  a box over on Tenth Avenue.  The absence of second hand smoke makes me feel like when I bite into a York Peppermint Pattie, I get the sensation of sitting on a mountain top with cool breeze running down my spine.

The homeless banker acknowledged that the first time he felt that cool breeze, it was actually more a tingling sensation when he woke to being tasered after falling asleep on a bench in Central Park one night when he could not find his way back to his box.

We then had a brief discussion which resulted in our agreement that it was good to see that the Mayor and City Council have really kept their eye on the ball focusing first and foremost on issues most critical to New Yorkers, my homeless friend offered an interesting anecdote:

The Mayor is a good guy.  Bloomberg drove up in his SUV one day, the window opened, he asked me if that was a trans fat free hot dog I was about to eat. I said yes. He smiled and then offered me  some Grey Poupon for my remaining “Recession Special” hot dog. You know something? I never had a hot dog that tasted that good.  Gray’s Papaya only has  Gulden’s Mustard. The Mayor deserves a fourth term.

Critics of NYC Smoking ban who have been vocal caught the attention of  NY City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. In an effort to quell the growing civil unrest over the pending legislation and other PPC Initiatives, Ms. Quinn issued the following statement:

In these times, passionate dissent among the citizenry can lead to heated rhetoric that results in motivating others to challenge existing authority and thus undermining our ability to govern the people, maintain order and continuity pursuant to the mandates manufactured by we the duly elected representatives of the people. Given the riots in the streets of Egypt, the recent shooting in Tucson and Sarah Palin’s big mouth, the City Council believes it is imperative that we take up the measure to ban contentious and uncivil discourse, in public and private spaces. Mayor Bloomberg has agreed to sign any such legislation passed by this body.

In subservience,

the Emperor’s duly own owned subjects in the New York City Council.

The Mayor,  addressing the declining tax revenue from all the restaurants and taverns closing due to a lack of patrons who actually have money in their pockets to spend, issued the following statement:

The City Council’s continuing capitulation (support) has been critical not just to my third term and keeping alive the illusion of my own Presidential aspirations but given me the opportunity to foster the illusion of governance on issues of import to New Yorkers. The ban on smoking, trans fats and the ban on uncivil discourse, do not, however, go far enough. As smoking as declined among New Yorkers so has the tax revenue on cigarettes, so we must consider alternative sources of revenue to fund the PPC Initiative . Under consideration is an Oxygen Tax. The Oxygen Tax will attach a levy to anyone over 200 pounds. Those over 200 pounds or in general ‘fat people’ who consume more than is necessary to sustain themselves and who have not followed the ban on trans fats are not paying their fair share of taxes. We should not be penalizing the skinny people, vegetarians and vegans who consume less air while rewarding the consumers of trans fats, meat eaters, and others who have a larger carbon footprint, consume more air and let loose more gaseous emissions into the atmosphere.  Fact is upon leaving Smith & Wollensky or Club Macanudo, men have been known to fart, sometimes rather prolifically. We as a society bear the brunt of these noxious fumes. Taxing farts is a societal imperative.”

CONCLUSION

I am a non-smoker who has also steadily reduced my consumption of alcohol and unhealthy foods, but did so of my own free will and volition and under the guidance of Dr. Fred Vagnini, listening to folks at Health Corps and some lessons absorbed from Dr. Mehmet Oz.  As a native New Yorker who personally benefits from the Mayor’s health based initiatives, specifically a smoke free environment,  I nevertheless  found myself wondering about life  in Bloomberg’s Urban Utopia or Animal Farm of stressed out underemployed and unemployed citizens regularly fed NYC Media’s NYC Life cable programming. This programming professes to “bring New Yorkers interesting, entertaining and educational content that embraces the energy and diversity of the City that never sleeps” –from our resident leader and Citizen Kane (who already owns Bloomberg TV) and his minions, rather than the views of a diversity of citizens or diversity of media who may offer a diversity of perspective; the operative phrase being diversity.  Included in this definition is not the governing elite controlling the levers of media.  In the end of this Orwellian fantasy or nightmare, depending on your perspective,  I simply wonder whether will it be the Mayor or actually some of our engaged citizens uttering our own versions of ‘Rosebud’ as we reminisce of a time before; before we closed our eyes and choked on the smoke.

The Associated Press reported today that Donald Trump, having reached an agreement with the union that represents the Tavern’s former employees is now seeking a deal with New York City to reopen Tavern on the Green in Central Park.

Tavern on the Green was more than simply a restaurant­. It is a truly historical property. A restoration to its original grandeur is important, in my estimation, to the cultural vibrancy of New York City and Central Park itself.  The venue had attained mythical and iconic status before the shuttering of its doors broke many hearts in this city.  There is no better man not just to simply restore Tavern on the Green to its original grandeur but perhaps even elevate its prominence and iconic status into the stratosphere. Tavern on the Green, under Trump’s leadership, will undoubtedly become the place to go again.

If you are looking for evidence, one only need take a look at  Trump Wollman Rink today to recognize that the man is a visionary business man who is able to find profit making opportunities where others often do not.  Trump is  simply a man who gets things done and is especially civic minded when it comes to understanding what is essential to maintaining and elevating the character and vibrancy of New York City. Trump is a billionaire who has never lost touch with that which concerns the average working man nor the humble roots of and work ethic instilled by his father Fred Trump. You see the commitment, discipline and fierce determination instilled in him by his father, passed down by Donald Trump to his children. You may envy their lives or their lifestyles but his offspring have also worked hard to pave their own way.

Donald Trump is a controversial figure who certainly has his  detractors; many of whom perhaps resent that he does get his fair share of media attention, not all of it flattering. But those quick to marginalize him, his accomplishments and his import to New York City are truly,  in my estimation, clueless.  As a New Yorker you have to respect the man, his entrepreneurial skills and what he means to this metropolis­. Trump is good for business. Trump is good for New York. As far as I am concerned you can rename it Trump on the Green. (Update: thank you Curbed for running with my title, a day later)

EPILOGUE: There is an unspoken wrinkle to this story which the media has not focused on and that is simply that Trump projects get done because the man, although he is a capitalist, does not expend a tremendous amount of energy demonizing the American worker or attempting to paint organized workers or their leadership as criminal. He bargains in good faith with all the leverage he can bring to bear.  There will always be tension between labor and capital in America, as there ought to be, as each fights for a better deal for themselves. Trump understands the issues and that “Unions fight for pay; managers fight for less; consumers win.” In this new age, as we begin to move forward to compete in a more competitive global economy, my hope is that we advance our society through productive discussions and negotiations that empower both capitalists as well as the worker.  That is the only way we will ever increase and sustain productivity.