••• Check out the sign that was under Sunny One’s on Chambers (where Racines NY is going to be). Actually, it would be kind of awesome if they added “Racines NY” in groovy script across it.
••• Amanda alerts me to a show by photographer Nitin Vadukul at the newly opened New York Film Academy on Battery Place. RSVP at rsvp@nyfa.edu. Right: His portrait of Jay-Z.
••• I hear that the retail space at 95 Chambers—the back half of 77 Reade—will be a “European waxing salon.”
••• From Pen Parentis: “We have a wonderful Literary Salon planned for October, featuring celebrated author and New Yorker editor Ben Greenman, acclaimed novelist and The Morning News contributor Jessica Francis Kane, and emerging author Danielle Lazarin. The Salon takes pace on Tuesday, October 8, at the elegant Andaz Wall Street (75 Wall at Water Street) at 7 p.m.”
••• Hey, Smithers! Look what came in the email yesterday!
A GALA to honor Goldman Sachs & Novogratz? Riiiight. Seems appropriate. I guess I am going to have to tap into those funds I set aside for the Neighborhood Improvement District to buy some tickets and festive attire. I can’t wait to live-tweet and live-Instagram my experience (is that even possible?). I hope there is a martini dunk tank. Tribeca really should have more neighborhood galas so it can honor all of its underdogs.
Truth is stranger than fiction :)!
Smithers – Novogratz and GS are being honored for the very significant contributions they have made to support Hudson River Park over the years. Maybe we could convince you to channel some of that energy behind your world-class snarkitude toward a campaign that actually helps to raise money for the Park. Love to have you on the team!
Look forward to seeeing you at the Gala.
All Hail Goldman!
@Mr. Burns – I am sooooo sorry, my blinders weren’t properly adhered to my only-see-what-you-want-to-see eyeballs. Maybe I need to get Lasik or Lasek or glasses? What’s the difference again? Donating money is like going to confession – once you walk out – all is forgiven and forgotten. Don’t worry about the financial collapse of 2008-ish and how & why it occurred and who or what families were devastated. Go in peace, keep your mouth shut and enjoy the pretty park. I also didn’t realize that building and designing a park that is over-budget and under-funded is something you honor? Well, okay, yes, of course it is, which over or undeveloped pier do I drop off my blank check book, 401K, and ATM card (with PIN #)? I sooo look forward to seeing you a the Gala as well, Mr. Burns. I will be armed with my new gold iPhone 5s with 8 MP front & rear camera!!! It’s going to be off the hook, bitches! Seersucker is the new black! And if they are going to officially abandon the NID tax and figure out how to budget and fundraise within a middle-class reality, I will happily donate all of my snarkitude to those efforts. Who pays for the Gala? Oh wait, can you wear seersucker after Labor Day?
Thank you Smithers. Lets stop acting like entities that toss a few bucks to the community while reaping huge profits for themselves (at the expense of those less fortunate) in ways that are dubious (hey anyone need Aluminum?) are deserving of adoration. We make it easy for them to absolve their reprehensible professional tactics. Seersucker on.
Mr. Burns: I prefer to donate to an organization that will put my money to good use. Donating money, to HRPT just rewards incompetence. AS much as i find the park worthy of a donation, the HRPT mgmt is not. It is just a tax deductible waste of money.
Did anyone ever look at the credentials/experience (or lack thereof) of the management team of HRPT? Why have we heard nothing from the HRPT CFO, Daniel Kurtz. What exactly are his credentials for such a position? His bio doesn’t mention any position he may have held that makes him even remotely qualified. IMO, it is no surprise they are having financial difficulties.
“Investment banks such as Goldman Sachs were not simply market-makers, they were self interested promoters of risky and complicated financial schemes that helped trigger the crisis,” said Sen. Levin. “They bundled toxic mortgages into complex financial instruments, got the credit rating agencies to label them as AAA securities, and sold them to investors, magnifying and spreading risk throughout the financial system, and all too often betting against the instruments they sold and profiting at the expense of their clients.” The 2009 Goldman Sachs annual report stated that the firm “did not generate enormous net revenues by betting against residential related products.” Levin said, “These emails show that, in fact, Goldman made a lot of money by betting against the mortgage market.” The four exhibits released today are Goldman Sachs internal emails that address practices involving residential mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), financial instruments that were key in the financial crisis. Goldman Sachs Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein and other current and former company personnel are scheduled to testify at Tuesday’s hearing. In one of the emails released today, Mr. Blankfein stated that the firm came out ahead in the mortgage crisis by taking short positions. In an email exchange with other top Goldman Sachs executives, Mr. Blankfein wrote: “Of course we didn’t dodge the mortgage mess. We lost money, then made more than we lost because of shorts.”
http://documents.nytimes.com/goldman-sachs-internal-emails
Maybe Goldman & Novogratz could show HRPT how to be “creative” (wink wink) so they could make-up their annual budget shortfall?
“Using Goldman Sachs as a case study, the April 27 (2010) hearing will focus on the role of investment banks in contributing to the worst U.S. economic crisis since the 1930s, resulting in the foreclosure of millions of homes, the shuttering of businesses, and the loss of millions of American jobs.” Yes, Honor them.
XOXOXO to Smithers