new york city related discussion itt

driving is a lot like being an asshole pedestrian in grand central, except sometimes you get to kill people

^pretty sure i saw this on the wall at Bubba Gump's Shrimp in Times Square

anyway, the cardinal sin is ppl walking 3 to 7 abreast on a midtown street. Go to Paree if you wanna fucking "boulevard."

people who walk three abreast, people who stop--stop!--at the top of the subway stairs, people who walk slowly: all will see the guillotine blade when i am made premiere

i do like tourists, without them how would you be able to think of yourself as a new yorker

by living off the coast of America for 20 years

that's true of people in nassau county too tho

hmmm, Nassau is existentially on the mainland.

the 1% in NYC has 34% of the income, compared to 19% in USA:

http://lbo-news.com/2011/12/12/nyc-more-unequal-than-brazil/

someone in the comments mentions that the middle class are in the suburbs, which is true to some degree and doing it w/ the metro area would prob even it out a tad, though it would also include westchester, connecticut, rich parts of jersey while also newark etc on the other side

The New York subway, for example, is an extraordinary resource for beggars. A homeless man who collects 50 cents per car panhandling on an eight-car subway train can make $4 in an hour–enough for a meal at McDonalds....

Disclaimer: No, I am not touting entrepreneurial panhandling as a solution to the problem of homelessness. I support ruinous taxation of the rich and a guaranteed income for all. Equality is better than inequality. I’m just saying.

fwiw I have never lived somewhere that didn't have a large homeless population and I'm always surprised at how generous nyers are on the subway, esp if you're willing to pick up a musical instrument.

I like tourists like in august walking through soho and it's all people speaking euro, it's like wow, makes u think

tbf I think panhandlers on the subway make a lot more than $4/hr, ESPECIALLY the ones with instruments. I usually see half-decent ones get what looks like $4-5/car and it doesnt' take an hour to cover a train.

I sort of gaved up on the speechmakers and stopped giving - they always seem to have such absurdly contrived spiels that they can't be true ("My wife died in a fire, I lost my job, AND I have this inexplicable limp, and also I talk like I had a stroke even though I didn't mention one.") I hate to think I might be wrong about that, and also sometimes I think that they must be hard up enough anyway that it doesn't matter. Other times I also wonder if they're unfortunate patsies of some crime ring, the way it turned out the *deaf* people with those sign language cards were. For a while I noticed that the kids who sold candy always gave nearly verbatim the exact same speech ("I am not doing this for a basketball team" etc.) which to my paranoiac mind seemed like a sign, combined with the fact that they have candy in wholesale boxes. Anyway.

lol @ the universal affectless speechifying style agreed upon by the hard luck subway storytellers union

If someone just has a sign that says "homeless vet" or something like that, I'm apt to believe them. Cuz there are a lot of those.

all beggars are drug addicted welfare cheats who live in mansions, everyone knows

the basketball team stuff is clearly bullshit but I like how they're kinda entrepreneurial

I guess I'm assuming they are not part of a crime ring and just some kid who bought a box of peanut m&ms?

lol one time I talked to one of those kids for a while all like 150 thats a lot for a jersey he had this whole spiel like yeah its embroidered we play in such and such league im a point guard until finally i just bought some of his candy, had to respect the prep work

instead of making individual decisions on every panhandler I just give money to City Harvest and never give to anyone on the street or in the subway ever.

I guess I'm assuming they are not part of a crime ring and just some kid who bought a box of peanut m&ms?

nah they def. get the candy from some central location I think. don't they?

I'd give it like 50% it's a ring, 50% they just share tips and go to costco

There was a guy I used to always see on the PATH who had this elaborate spiel about collecting for a homeless organization that had a shelter. He had a laminated card and whatnot. I guess I was young back then and i just never thought about it until one day this woman next to me says to me "Listen, I work for a homeless outreach organization and there is no way ANY legitimate homeless organization would ever send someone on the train to ask for money." Which seemed sort of obvious once she said it.

i ate at pearl oyster bar tonight and the chowda and crabcake combo is what that shit is about

It certainly isn't about the lobster roll. Luke's 4 lyphe.

how hard is it to get a bulk box of m&ms?

I don't deny that there's a possibility of a central location tho for some reason I always assumed it was just some kids who wanted to make pocket money

I mean I didn't think anything until I noticed that I had heard like 7 different kids use virtually the same speech word-for-word, which made me think someone was training them.

I just figured they sorta figured out 'what worked'

yeah I could see either way, it could be like a paper route

come to think of it tho, outside of peanut m&ms there is definitely a regularity of snacks offered

im thinking theres some adult hanging out in a grungy apt who picks up the boxes wholesale and fronts them to the kids

thats what my paper route was like at least

yeah it doesn't necessarily have to be a huge organized crime syndicates

unplural

I don't deny that there's a possibility of a central location tho for some reason I always assumed it was just some kids who wanted to make pocket money

No, dude.

what about the breakdancing kids

are they also working for the mob

That old secret platform at the edge of Grand Central that was built for FDR? Filled with peanut M&Ms.

Haha

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=5213468&page=1

One of the groups I investigated gave the children 40 cents for each $2.50 candy they sold. The bars wholesaled for 35 cents, so the crew leaders made a tasty profit.

They sell sweets, but bite in deep enough and you will taste the truth.

REAL NEW YORKERS DONT BUY CANDY FROM KIDS MWA AH AHA AH

http://www.elisabethleamy.com/images/custom/B4S_Leamy030610_111003d.jpg

Breakdancing kids IDK -- they seem much more ragtag and there's nothing standardized that I notice.

the mob copyrights certain breakdancing moves, such as the flip the hat from your shoe onto your head

the mob also runs a ring of overly earnest hippieish 20-somethings with belt-clip amps covering dylan

one time (in the bay area) I heard 3 different buskers do 'knocking on heavens door' in one day

I think people like that one cause you don't have to remember very many lyrics, also cause if you want to 'take it to the next level' you can knock on your guitar when you say 'knock knock knocking'

favorite subway denizen is this african preacher with a long spiel about the perils of hell should one not accept jesus christ as one's lord and savior. he has fantastic intonation.

you WILL go to hell

part of the jesus mob, i guess

one time i saw this crazy subway preacher mid sermon get all offend and say 'you all dont listen to me anyway fine then im just not gonna share the lords word w/you anymore' and sit down in a huff as if we were gonna feel bad and ask him keep preaching again, it was v funny

hahaha