The local paper for the Upper East Side
WEEK OF JULY A SLICE, A CEL-RAY AND A SCOWL < P. 16
6-12 2017
Governor Andrew Cuomo boards an E train at Chambers Street for the ride to Penn Station in September 2014. Photo: Marc A. Hermann / MTA, via Wikimedia Commons
‘SOMETHING DID NOT GO WELL’ TRANSIT WOES How the MTA uses jargon to camouflage what the real problems are. A guide to subwayspeak BY DOUGLAS FEIDEN
Derailment. Track fires. Signal failure. Power outages. Inoperable switches. Hourly breakdowns. Sardine-like overcrowding. Meaningless, crackling, inaudible messages about “train traffic ahead.” Unannounced, unexplained, multi-minute, mid-tunnel stops between stations. And the blowing of swamp-like air from airconditioning ducts. Those are the 10 plagues afflicting the city’s subway system, and absent locusts, pestilence and wild beasts — at least so far — it still sounds positively biblical. But there is an 11th plague, under the radar, largely unexamined, just
as toxic, which also must be addressed: Obscurantism. This is the deliberate use of language to mask or obscure facts from becoming known. It’s the practice of evading clarity in communications and suppressing or inhibiting the dissemination of knowledge. It is actually one of the rare things at which the MTA excels. And no, it doesn’t cause cascading delays. But it camouflages them. It’s not the source of ineptitude, human error or mechanical failure. But it conceals them. As Joseph Lhota reprises his role as MTA chairman, he must curtail the jargon and bureaucratese that bars a fuller understanding of the history, causation and nature of a dysfunctional system. Start with a single overused word. “Disinvestment.” Yes, cash for capital projects has been withheld for decades. But when MTA Communications Director Beth DeFalco claims the subways are hobbled
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A new study from Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer catalogs the borough’s supermarkets and makes recommendations for ensuring their viability. Photo: size4riggerboots, via flickr
BREWER TAKES STOCK OF MANHATTAN SUPERMARKETS COMMUNITY Some neighborhoods underserved by affordable food stores, study says BY MICHAEL GAROFALO
The importance of access to healthy food options in affordable supermarkets needs little additional explanation. How to ensure that all Manhattan residents can easily access such stores, however, is a more complicated matter. A study released last week by
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Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer catalogs the borough’s existing grocery stores and prescribe solutions for maintaining and expanding the supermarket options available to Manhattan residents. “We need to make sure we do not have food deserts,” Brewer said in a telephone interview. “In Manhattan we don’t drive — we take public transportation — and we need to have the ability to get to a supermarket in our neighborhood. As the population gets older it’s even more important.” The study, titled “Manhattan Supermarkets: How to Keep them Alive,”
features a comprehensive survey of 229 Manhattan supermarkets, organized by community board, and reports the senior-friendly features available at each store, including
CONTINUED ON PAGE 15 Jewish women and girls light up the world by lighting the Shabbat candles every Friday evening 18 minutes before sunset. Friday, July 7 – 8:12 pm. For more information visit www.chabaduppereastside.com
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