Heh heh, I thought of the thread title even before I figured out these people were just a block off Broadway.
The city of New York has this crazy idea. They want to protect some people from a damaged crane (you may have read some stories over the past couple of years about how cranes have been collapsing all over the city). This particular crane was damaged by the high winds of Hurricane Sandy, and for safety reasons the city building inspectors and a building developer decided that the boom (which is like a thousand feet up) should be replaced.
And also for safety, the people who live directly below it will have to vacate their homes or businesses – for 48 hours, over a weekend. New York Times story here.
But these aren’t just ANY people. These are rich fucks with lawyers. And the fact that residents are being offered $1500 compensation to leave for a couple of days, well, that won’t even cover the costs of talking to their lawyers about NOT leaving for a couple of days.
Me, I could go spend a week in Cancun sipping margaritas with that money, so I’m having a lot of trouble sympathizing with their plight.
Of course, the real reason for the thread is the first ever completely legitimate use of the term “Broadway Babies” without sexism involved.
To be fair, the article to which you linked mentioned that some residents have pets. A lot of hotels have no-pet clauses. So they may have legitimate concerns.
To be fair, these are old people–the ones quoted in the story were 62 and 69. They have their routines. They were already kicked out of their homes for a week last fall, which is inconvenient. They’ve got pets. It’s a hassle to make arrangements to leave, pack, find a place to put your pets, and all that stuff. They’re doing it on Mother’s Day weekend–what if some of those people had family members coming into town for the occasion?
What if some of the residents have agoraphobia? Medical devices like oxygen and hospital beds?
I didn’t even like leaving my place for four hours while the realtor had an open house even though I routinely leave my place for many more hours, quite willingly, but on my own schedule. (Although the worst part of that was attempting to eliminate all evidence that pets lived there, including removal of said pets. If you thought I was pissed you should have heard my cats.)
Face it, it’s gonna mess up their weekend, and they’re OLD. How many weekends do they have left?
I assume these developers are also going to heartily compensate the restaurant that has to be closed ALL WEEKEND, which is undoubtedly its most profitable time.
I really don’t see why this is a problem. After all, it’s not like the funds are coming from the city. It’s a New York construction company - by definition, a criminal organization - giving people money. I say, the more the merrier.
This really ticks me off. Last April when my building was forcibly evacuated because the structure was unsafe their solution was to bring the fucking red cross with them and offer those people without family close by the ability to live in a shelter. They still haven’t started work on that building and many people there were not lucky enough to have family to stay with while they found another place to live the way we did and a few of them are still living in the red cross shelter waiting for them to eventually fix that building. And these people are so upset that they went to the New York Times to complain that they are being given enough money to stay at the Waldorf-Astoria for three days while this company actually repairs the damage so they can be safe? Fuck them right in their ears! Stupid rich assholes bitching about being slightly inconvenienced for a couple of days.
Dang, I’m 59 - I had no idea I was so close to death!!! :rolleyes:
Heck, I’d take $1500 to leave home for a weekend. The fish and the cats would do OK for a couple of days, and the dog is small and portable. As long as I had enough warning that I could plan, I don’t see how it’s such a big deal.
Sorry, but if your crane malfunctioned and you want me to leave the comfort of MY home for a weekend so you can fix it so you can continue to build apartments that you intend to sell for $90 million EACH, you are not going to hustle me out the door for $1,500.00.
And damned straight I’m having a lawyer represent me. They would be a fool not to.
On the one hand, these people pay more for their monthly mortgage then most of us make in an entire year. This crane is building $90,000,000 condos. (Though I’m unclear if the crane is on their building or a nearby one). So I can see why they would sneeze at $1500, and it is a private matter at this point.
On the other hand, I wonder if they can say “Well, how about this, either you take the $1500 and move out for 24 hours OR stay put but sign a waiver that says we’re not responsible if the boom swings into your living room and takes your legs off”. I imagine most people would sign the waiver (and then sue if they get hit with the crane).
It didn’t ‘malfunction’. It was damaged in a hurricane, and it was determined the repairs were necessary for safety. You’re right about the fifteen hundred though. It’s a pittance. For instance your family could get a thousand times that in the negligence lawsuit that would follow if the crane fell on you and crushed you to death.
Why would people unwilling to take the first offer be willing to accept the second? If it were me, the issue wouldn’t be that I just really really want to stay there regardless of the risk, it would be that $1500 isn’t enough to offset the inconvenience.
It’s NOT me, of course, but I can at least in theory understand what’s going on in their heads.
