Snow being compared

 i took this photo in "the fall" with the intention of comparing with another seasonal shot.

NYC subway Tremont Ave

Glass stone and marble mosaic mural representing a rooftop view of the city from the local neighborhood. The viewer is invited to take a glimpse of the New York City of Hampton's childhood. Based on an actual rooftop vantage-point, one can see the vibrant community with laundry lines blowing in the wind, fire escapes with potted plants, and a distant cityscape with a blue sky in the background. Frank Leslie Hampton is a graduate of Lehman College, CUNY. He won the Puffin Foundation individual artist award for his solo exhibition "Black History Art Show" in Binghampton, New York, in 1998.

From the window

Every week on a Sunday depending on the weather we can see a number of folk heading home from what I presume is a religious gathering.

 Then depending on the weather we see others walking briskly avoiding wind or rain or snow

La Diagonal has got it's window displays back where we had dinner the other night

My Wanderlust Using our hands as a "frame" we were to express our life paths through symbols, poetry and painting. This workshop was to be a moment to reflect on past, present and future.

The book arrived

Cheryl's tribute book finally arrived. It took more than two weeks to arrive from North Carolina.
it was worth the wait though. Lovely to have all our pages about her in a book that we each have and the original has gone to Jon- Cheryl's brother and a copy to their parents.

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Red Fire Alarm Boxes

Today seemed to be a "red fire alarm box day so a little research ( I have posted ages ago about these but it seemed like a good time to repost).

Old style that appears to be functional

Throughout New York City, are these red fire alarm boxes that are supposed to summon the fire or police department in the event of an emergency.  Many of them have been in the streets for over a century and for more than a decade, several initiatives have emerged to reassess their utility in today’s cell phone age.

I'm not going to state the bleeding obvious about this one

The FDNY reports that only 2.6% of calls that they receive come from these boxes, which connect callers directly to their local fire dispatcher, as opposed to the 911 system which acts as a middle-man to the appropriate emergency services. However, 88% of calls from the City’s 15,000 fire boxes are false alarms.

This is the new one near the disused old one

The call boxes come in different shapes and sizes, representative of the decade during which they were installed. Most common are the stand alone rounded posts with a red torch on the top. Some are denoted by an orange bulb attached to a post above a box; these are some of the older ones, as the orange bulbs were used in the 1910s. According to The Works, by Kate Ascher, the oldest boxes date back to 1870:

“when the Fire Department installed fire alarm boxes on telegraph poles south of 14th Street. Though few boxes from that time have survived, a large number of those on the streets today still rely on the original technology: pulling a revolving coded-wheel mechanism sends a signal identifying the box number of the central office of the borough…and dispatchers there forward the alarm to the appropriate firehouse.”

Spotted in Harlem on the way home from dinner

The newer boxes are the ones with two buttons, specifying “Fire” or “Police,” and have a speaker system which the caller can use to speak with the emergency dispatcher. These were installed to lower the instances of false alarms, but pranksters still afflict the system even with these boxes. 

Since the mid-90s the City began to see the fire boxes as a nuisance and former Mayor Rudy Giuliani was the first to attempt to extinguish the problem. Mayor Bloomberg was a major proponent in favor of removing the City’s fire boxes as well (thousands of which are no longer working since Hurricane Sandy). But these removal attempts have received backlash from those who feel that they are crucial in the event of a power/telephone outage (like 9/11) or when servicing a deaf caller. “By removing this system, the city would be leaving our clients with no way to report emergencies from the street,” said Attorney Robert Stulberg, who represented the Civic Association of the Deaf of New York City in 2011 against the initiative. 

In 2011 it was estimated that the city would save $7 million a year in repair costs related to the fire boxes. 

(Source: Phillip Martin Chatelain- Architecture of New York)

Bill's birthday

Sheena and Margie had got together a slide show of photos that was on a loop. Bill was watching them all for the first time. We loved the photos of him as a kid and then the changing hair color.

 Maria and Bernadette are such good friends and now ex work mates. A bit of a mutual admiration society.

 Andrew and Lynne were here for the week and came to the party. We ventured out into the cold to look at the view from the community room of Sheena's building. It's on Roosevelt Island and there are glorious city views. 

The birthday boy blew out the candles before we all had time to sing happy birthday but I got the shot!

The journey to work continues

 The intersection of the Gand Concourse, East Tremont Avenue and 177th Street- part of the view as I travel from the subway then turn the corner into East Tremont and head to the school.

 Mailboxes for a series of apartments.

Richman Park- I do prefer the locals name for it- Echo Park

More kids art

The journey to school- East Tremont

 On days I go to certain schools I catch the D train and walk from Tremont Station along East Tremont Avenue and do the return walk in the afternoon.
 It's a bit of a hike, with a slight hill here and there but only takes about 15 minutes. There are others doing the walk in the morning and plenty more in the afternoon. When it is cold like it is now it's tempting to take the bus but the walk is far quicker than the not-in-sight-bus.

Today walking back up the street the continued theme from yesterday of backpacks that caught my eye.

The edge of this park is part of my journey along East Tremont. Richman Park (Echo Park)

"For almost one hundred years, local residents have called this site Echo Park, after the well-defined echo that can be heard between the two rock masses that dominate its dramatic topography. Its name was changed in 1973 to honor Julius J. Richman (1915-1972), chairman of the Twin Parks Association and the Urban Action Task Force, and Assistant Administrator of the City’s Finance Committee."

A walk in Harlem on Sunday afternoon

 The rats can often be seen scuttling around a certain part of the street especially late at night.

Some street art on 121st Street. There's more to it than this.

Why a small red lidded container should be so carefully perched on the stoop of the apartment building i have no idea.

The Sunday New York Times was still on the stoop mid Sunday afternoon.

The length and straightness of the streets always surprises.

The architectural features always inspire.

She came up the subway stairs carrying these flowers and headed out along 125th St to who knows where.

This little button was following her mother down into the subway.

This young woman was clambering all over the taxi and posing for her friends to take photos. i think there had been one too many champagnes drunk at brunch in one of the nearby restaurants.

Outside the Vinter on Fredrick Douglass Boulevard.

The Women's March 2018

"Tens of thousands of women turned out across the US on Saturday to mark the first anniversary of the Women’s March, when millions rallied to demonstrate their unhappiness with the election of Donald Trump. Chanting slogans including ‘This is what democracy looks like’ and ‘Donald Trump has got to go’ many attendees wore pink ‘pussy’ hats in what has become a symbol of the movement" The Guardian

In New York, thousands of people marched through Manhattan. The streets on the west side of Central Park were packed. One of the closest subway stations to the start of the march was Columbus Circle – right by the Trump International Hotel and Tower.

Hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers filled Manhattan streets Saturday to protest President Trump and his agenda on the one-year anniversary of his inauguration.

The marchers said they came to support universal healthcare,​ religious freedom, ​immigrants​ and ​ women. They also protested Trump’s proposed border wall.

Others said they marched simply to show their displeasure with Trump.

Mayor de Blasio’s office said roughly 120,000 people joined the march, while cops on the ground said as many as 200,000. At one point, the rally stretched more than 20 blocks along Central Park West. It was one of 200 women’s marches planned this weekend around the world.

Marchers sung and chanted in front of the Trump Hotel at Columbus Circle, calling it a “s***hole” – a reference to what the president allegedly called African countries during a recent Oval Office meeting.
“You can’t build the wall,” shouted Annabelle Sherman, a 7th grader, in front of the Trump Hotel. “Your hands are too small!”

Marchers wore knitted pink-eared “pussy” hats and held an eclectic mix of colorful handmade signs decrying the president and his administration’s policies. Some marchers chanted “Have we had enough?” and “Are you fed up?” followed by a loud chorus of “Yes!”

A new challenge

Today marks the start of a new 100 day challenge. This one is "what I saw while I was walking". So there will be fodder for both FaceBook and my blog.

The fruit and vege stall is near the 125th St Station on the corner of 124th St, Hancock Place, St Nicholas Avenue and Manhattan Avenue. They are there rain hail or shine and only shut down in severe weather like we had a couple of weeks ago.
The veges and fruit are really fresh, reasonably priced and the guys very pleasant and friendly.

The Starbucks folk have trouble with spelling names- at least she knew there were "C"s in it.