Category: Gotham

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Screenshot of a map showing the NYC area. A 35.5 mile route is superimposed over the map with numbered markers for each mile.

When I say walking around Manhattan, I really mean around, for the most part anyway. This was supposed to be a 32 mile journey, but we ended up clocking over 35. Believe me, I felt every step of those extra, three miles. I’m not even sure what motivated my friend Jonas and I to embark on such a trek, but we’ve been talking about it for a couple years.

I had some history with this. My previous Manhattan circumnavigation attempt several years ago ended unceremoniously around West 86th. My shoes weren’t up to the task causing some painful blisters and I hobbled off to the subway. My walking partner at the time forged ahead only to succumb to a mysterious and sharp foot pain in Inwood Hill Park.

I mention this only because the truly wise man learns from the mistakes of others. While my blisters healed quickly, the other guy limped around for the better part of two months. Thus, my one stipulation for agreeing to this at all was “I’m going to stop at the first sign of any blisters or sharp pains.”

However, on this journey, the blisters didn’t really kick in until about 2/3 of the way in. By that point, the thought of having to retread those miles at some future point helped propel me to the end. For those last few miles, I was a bundle of misery. My usual, brisk pace was reduced to a kind of shuffle. All but the slowest of tourists were passing me. It wasn’t just my feet—though, they were the worst—my whole body was protesting with minor pain and major fatigue.

This will paint the picture of how beat I was: A quarter fell out of my pocket when I was retrieving my apartment keys. I began to bend down to pick it up and almost immediately said, “screw it, I don’t need 25 cents that badly”. At the time, I don’t think even a crispy dollar bill would have motivated me. A five? Maybe.

Who’s the wise man now? Certainly not me. But, we accomplished something As I write this, I’m happy to report that I’m back to 100%. The body is a remarkable thing, even this one.

So, to answer the inevitable “Would you do it again?” question: Maybe. But, I’m going to stop at the first sign of any blisters or sharp pains.

By the way, I’ve included a few observations and lessons learned below, in no particular order…

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Lonely Last Days in the Suburban Office Park, and the insider followup

These articles and accompanying photos reminded me of my time spent in offices outside the city.

In my career, I’ve spent time in various office parks in the Boston area and Silicon Valley. Less so around New York, where I’ve been fortunate enough to stay mostly within the five boroughs. My last suburban office experience was just a short visit; it was a reminder that this wasn’t the right environment for me.

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Screenshot of part of an email sent from NYC Mayor Eric Adams. There is a blue, thought bubble at the top with the text "HEAR FROM ERIC". Below that is the text from the begining of the email: "Good morning New Yorkers, As you may have heard, the U.S. Department of Justice directed that the case against me be dismissed. I addressed New Yorkers on Tuesday about our path forward and the future New Yorkers are relying on us to deliver that will make New York City the best place to raise a family."

This is the email many New Yorkers received from Mayor Eric Adams this morning. The subject was the same as this post: “Time to move forward”. The email, by the way, goes on to list some of the ways he’s continue to make the city safer and more affordable.

I agree, it’s time to move forward: Adams should resign immediately.

At the time of writing this post, every person the Department of Justice has ordered to dismiss the charges has responded by submitting their resignation. So, he still has charges pending. Although, that will change very soon. It’s only a matter of time before the DOJ finds some toady to do the their dirty work so Trump can have someone who owes him in City Hall.

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Time series line graph. The y-axis is the number of entries into Manhattan's Congestion Relief Zone (CRZ), labels have a minimum of 0 and maximum of 5,000. The x-axis represents the Time of Day, the labels start with 0 and increase to the right, with a maximum of 21. There are two shaded areas in the morning and evening time. There are also two dotted, vertical lines at 5AM and 9PM. A single blue line plots the number of vehicles per 10 minute increment. Two red arrows point out distinct changes in the number of vehicles just before 5AM and at 9PM.
Congestion Relief Zone Entries by Time of Day (emphasis mine). Credit: MTA

Details about the the number of vehicles entering the Congestion Relief Zone (CRZ) are available on the MTA’s Metrics Page and New York State’s Open Data site. I can’t wait to see the sorts of interesting data visualizations people will create with this data.

In The most detailed view of NYC traffic (so far), the MTA Data Analytics team describes how this data is collected, and points out some of the emerging patterns. One of those patterns is very clear in the chart above with notable spikes before and after peak pricing time.

I can understand that some people will enter the CRZ a little earlier or later to reduce their toll. However, it’s interesting how steep the spikes are, especially in the evening. Are there people lined up just before 9PM, waiting to cross into the zone? I also wonder if people are speeding to get in under that wire at 4:59AM.

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Screenshot of a New York Times headline "Hocheul Halts Congestion Pricing in a Stunning 11th-Hour Shift" and photo of Gov. Kathy Hochul in front of an American flag.

Just two weeks ago, the governor told attendees at the Global Economic Summit in Ireland that implementing congestion pricing was critical to “making cities more livable.”

Grace Ashford – NY Times

So, Hochul is actively working to make our city less livable. Really well done, Governor. We were so close too. I fooled myself into thinking this might actually happen. Will we need to wait another 10 or 15 years for leadership that has the political backbone to pass this legislation?

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