Got home from one of my periodic trips to Buffalo and as I came to our block, I noticed a couple of squad cars at the corner. Uh-oh. Our neighborhood is one of continuing clashes. The upper west side is traditionally a left-wing bulwark, and perhaps as a result, the city has located a number of homeless shelters and hospices in apartment buildings near ours. Given that this has attracted an increase in crime (or at least seemingly so), this places upper westsiders in the difficult position of trying to protect their investments and families while remaining true to their interests for an equitable society. While pressed from “below,” at the same time the skyrocketing property values means that new projects move in just the opposite direction. On one of the street corners opposite from us is a shelter, on another they are building the pair of Ariel Towers which run from $1.5 million to about $7 million (not including the penthouses). All this to explain that it’s not that strange to find patrol cars blocking off streets.
But as I round the corner, I notice that there are a bunch of Panaflex trucks outside our building. Oh, yeah–we had seen the call: Law & Order is filming their season finale in our building. I don’t know the details–except that involves kids and a shot from outside a window out on Broadway. Law & Order is a serious production: my wife tells me that they had people out late last night putting cones down to save parking around our entire block. The lobby is lined with people and equipment—it is almost like a tiny city. It’s kind of fun to think that the world’s view of New York City comes from apartments in our building look like. Can’t wait to see whether we’re cast as a squat, a posh criminal’s retreat, or somewhere in between.
Home is where the cops are
Got home from one of my periodic trips to Buffalo and as I came to our block, I noticed a couple of squad cars at the corner. Uh-oh. Our neighborhood is one of continuing clashes. The upper west side is traditionally a left-wing bulwark, and perhaps as a result, the city has located a number of homeless shelters and hospices in apartment buildings near ours. Given that this has attracted an increase in crime (or at least seemingly so), this places upper westsiders in the difficult position of trying to protect their investments and families while remaining true to their interests for an equitable society. While pressed from “below,” at the same time the skyrocketing property values means that new projects move in just the opposite direction. On one of the street corners opposite from us is a shelter, on another they are building the pair of Ariel Towers which run from $1.5 million to about $7 million (not including the penthouses). All this to explain that it’s not that strange to find patrol cars blocking off streets.
But as I round the corner, I notice that there are a bunch of Panaflex trucks outside our building. Oh, yeah–we had seen the call: Law & Order is filming their season finale in our building. I don’t know the details–except that involves kids and a shot from outside a window out on Broadway. Law & Order is a serious production: my wife tells me that they had people out late last night putting cones down to save parking around our entire block. The lobby is lined with people and equipment—it is almost like a tiny city. It’s kind of fun to think that the world’s view of New York City comes from apartments in our building look like. Can’t wait to see whether we’re cast as a squat, a posh criminal’s retreat, or somewhere in between.
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