This one might not bring a tear to your eye, but hopefully you'll be amused by Mitch Weinstein's sad plight. I know I was. You see, perched 15 stories above Seward Park, Mitch (our food contributor) might be losing something very precious.
By Mitch Weinstein/tastytravails.blogspot.com
New Yorkers are fairly fond of their views. At least those who have
some. But views in New York can be fleeting. And they're certainly
always changing. That's why when I'd heard that Gouverneur Healthcare Services was getting ready to undertake a rather massive expansion program, I started to get nervous about one of our four teensie views of the East River.You
see, Significant Eater and I live on the 15th floor of our building. We
fell in love with our apartment when we first walked into it six years
ago, because of the views and "the light." SE and I can see four slivers of the
river from our bedroom window. Slivers, mind you, with the Manhattan
Bridge just visible in the background. This is a view that
over time is likely to change, just as the skyline all around the lower
east side is changing. Tall buildings, Blue building, Gertel's building, every time I hear of a new project, I wonder how our "light" is gonna change.
So, after looking at the renderings for the new expansion, I started to get really worried. I mean, take a look see…
That
thing is huge. So, I got out my protractor (yeah, like
anyone uses one of those), and started calculating vectors and shit,
just to figure out if one of (maybe my favorite) slivers was going
to disappear. And for a
year, all they were doing was foundation work. But then, it started to
grow up…and here's a diary of photos…
August 24, 2009 –
called my doctor and asked for a refill of my Xanax prescription. Note
2 of our 4 slivers – see, I told you they were slivers.
September
1, 2009 – noted the appearance of girders intruding into river view –
started to think about using Gouveneur's mental health services. Glad
to be thinking about an apartment in DC; helps take my mind off this
project, if only for minutes.
September
18, 2009 – after returning home from one of our round-trips to DC, lo
and behold it looks like the sliver view might be retained after all.
Very happy…called doc for prescription for Ritalin.
September
21, 2009 – And so it goes. Building topped off, and for now our sliver
remains. It's good to be zen about these things.
September
22, 2009 – Oh, how do I know it's topped off? Well, they plant one of
these on the roof when a building is topped off. I think it's called,
ummm, a topping off ceremony, and it's done for practically every
construction project in the city.
But
really, do you think I was that worried about losing a precious bit of
view? Nah, not me. I like to think about how health care services will
improve in our neighborhood. Especially for people who can't afford
quality health care. I'm not getting started on politics here, though.
And the project will eventually bring lots of jobs and increased
revenue to the neighborhood as well, which is a good thing.
I've
also learned a thing or two regarding complaining about things you have
no control over, thanks to SE. Whether or not it'll change how I react
to things remains to be seen – or at least until the next large
construction project starts taking place outside our windows.
You can read Mitch's musings about food and life on the LES at tastytravails.blogspot.com.
