MTA to UES: Excuse Us While We Lay Track Through Your ApartmentTo make an omelette, as they say, you’ve got to break some eggs. And to make a Second Avenue subway, it seems, you’ve got to break some leases. There’s news today about the East Side tenants who will eminent-domained out of their apartments, forced perpetually to stand clear of those closing doors. Some numbers to consider …
Number of Second Avenue apartments from which tenants will be removed so that the MTA can build entrances to the Second Avenue subway: 60
The original number of residential relocations requested by MTA: 127
Year these relocations will start: 2008
Number of blocks to be covered by first leg of Second Avenue subway: 33
When service is scheduled to begin on that leg: 2013
Maximum monthly subsidy available to a relocated tenant under eminent-domain law: $5,250
Number of months the subsidy will last: 42
Number of months from 2008 to 2013: 48
2nd Ave. Wary of Subway Plan [Newsday]
cultural capital
We Have Cheered Up Michel Gondry, or Else Maybe We Hurt His FeelingsThree weeks ago, we noted a somewhat well-duh piece in the Times “Metro” section about how Passaic, New Jersey, reacted to Michel Gondry’s shooting a movie there. We noted a quote from Gondry in the piece — “But I’m not going to fix their life. And that’s something that makes me a little sad” — and we commented that “it makes us sad, too.” Yesterday afternoon, inexplicably, this response (retort? explanation? existential musing?) arrived from Gondry, via his publicist:
Dear Mr. Intelligencer —
I am really sorry I’ve made you sad. To cheer you up, I decided to share with you some of the exciting things I did for my movie BE KIND, REWIND in the lovely city of Passaic, N.J., and how, in the process, I encountered a lot of unique and interesting people. I can imagine you wagging your tail in anticipation to read all the significant details of my story.