If only

Over the years, I have had the privilege of meeting and seeing those not given the opportunities that most people I know have grown up with. There is not a time that I have not walked away in awe.

Years ago, I remember going to Carnegie Hall where, a non-profit organization that brings string instruments, mostly violins, into underserved communities in NYC and brings the kids they touch on the stage. These kids were brilliant. It speaks to the human spirit and how empowering someone can change their life.

I saw a photo this past week of an incarcerated person graduating from Yale. Yale is not the only university that works to educate people in prisons. Looking at those tears, one can’t help but wonder where this person grew up, what led this person to commit a crime, and the trauma of being locked up yet still being able to find something within themselves to graduate from one of the most prestigious universities in the world. Perhaps it was the first time they were given any lifeline.

How can we not say to ourselves damn, how can we make sure that more people/children get the opportunity to be the best they can be regardless of the terrible decisions their parents made that they had to grow up on.  It’s an endless cycle.  I’m old enough to witness the cycle. The question we ask ourselves is how do we or can we ever break the cycle?  

Instead of spending so much time taking money out of these communities, doesn’t it make more sense to put capital into them, giving kids a beacon of hope? If every kid was handed a violin or given the opportunity to get to Yale regardless of the circumstances they were born into, wouldn’t that be the right thing to do, the way to break a cycle?

The chances for success are slim as these programs get funded and cut depending on the budget and disregard of each administration. If every kid had the opportunity to have the education and support system our kids have had, what a different world we would live in. There would be less hate, more happiness, and a better economic impact. Why is that so difficult to see? More importantly, why is it so difficult not to have empathy and want that for those not as fortunate as yourself?

Happy International Women’s Day

Today is International Women’s Day, perhaps a Hallmark activity, but I bristled after seeing Katie Britt of Alabama deliver the “rebuttal” speech to Biden’s State of the Union speech. At first, I thought she wasn’t real and that it was all AI. This is a woman vying to be Trump’s running mate who seems okay with giving her speech from a kitchen with her large gold cross hanging from her neck. What message is the GOP trying to get across here?

What is frightening is that this woman and I gather others, are okay with women remaining in the kitchen, having no protection over their bodies, not being allowed to have IVF or perhaps birth control, and god knows what else.

Supposedly, Oklahoma wants a database of every woman who has ever had an abortion, a new low for the red states that can’t function without Federal money but seem content with having the worst schools, highest murder rates, and lack of healthcare. And why is Katie okay with this?

After all these years of Mitch McConnell, he could have retired and not supported Trump when he left, but no, he had to put his support behind Trump. The GOP is defending a man convicted and charged with rape, how lovely. How can any sane female get behind a political party that appears hellbent on bringing women back to the kitchen with zero rights over his body?

International Women’s Day is the day to remember women leaders and women’s rights activists who advocated for gender equality and gender justice. Let’s highlight the word equality for Katie Britt and all the other women supporting the GOP.

I understand that the Republican mantra is something that almost 50% of the country believes in. Still, perhaps when it comes to their policies and women’s empowerment, women should begin to vote on this one issue and this one issue alone. Otherwise, I fear that if the Republican dream comes true, we will have a woman abuser in the white house and more women looking like Katie, who appears to be fully medicated, following the speech written for her while cooking in the kitchen with zero rights of her own. I wonder if she is barefoot?

180 Days

If you spend less than 180 days in a state, you are not considered a permanent resident, so you do not have to pay the state and local taxes on your income. Countless people own apartments in NYC and work extraordinarily hard to ensure they do not stay in NY for more than 180 days, making their permanent resident status in places like Florida, where the taxes are much lower. It infuriates me.

Many of these people came to NY to make their fame and fortune, growing their careers from their early 20s. They also raised their families here, but once the kids flew the coop, so did the entire family to keep from paying their taxes. Yet they still return to NY to enjoy all the cultural pleasures available.

We raised our kids in NY, and there is still not a day that I cannot thank my lucky stars for being able to enjoy everything NYC has to offer. We also give back to our city-building businesses and involve ourselves in organizations that impact underserved communities. We feel a responsibility to NY.

That law needs to be changed. The taxes should be pro-rata based on the time you live there and if you own property. Taxes keep our cities running; to think otherwise, you are fooling yourself. Reagonomics and “no new taxes” has taken our nation to a place where we are no longer as strong as we used to be. Our airports, our roads, our military equipment, our schools, and so much more are no longer top in the world or cutting edge because of debt and tax structures. Unclear how we get back without cash, but we could begin with abolishing the 180-day rule and creating a proforma tax structure where you pay to play if you own your residence.

Macy’s

Macy’s has decided to close 150 underperforming stores to avoid a takeover and hedge its bets on high-end luxury. I am calling it here: high-end will not end well. Perhaps the middle class has shrunk, and what Macy’s calls luxury is questionable here, but we will soon find out what that means.

At the end of the 1980s, Macy’s bet on high-end luxury when they began to lose market share from the Gap and the Limited. It did not work well, considering most customers walking in the door were not looking for Balmain or Prada but a one-day sale or well-priced items for everyday wear.

What is worth noting is that in Europe, Department stores prevail. Why can’t they figure that out in the US? Is it because the singular brand stores compete with the department stores’ inventory? Is it the lack of originality from curation to customer interaction or store salespeople?

I have been espousing the end of department stores for a long time. Perhaps this is it? The department stores in the US have become dinosaurs. Sad but true.

IVF and more

So, in Missouri, you can’t get a divorce if you are pregnant, with no exceptions. Alabama is banning IVF. Abortion has been rolled back thanks to the Supreme Court. Birth control is undoubtedly on the docket.

Let’s call it what it is: it is about rolling back women’s rights so that their only role is to stay at home and take care of their children and husbands. Is there that much fear from white conservative men? What about the conservative women? Do strong women scare weak men?

One part of the country, that would be the majority of people, is evolving as people. Women hold 35% of the top-paying jobs, building businesses and significantly impacting the economy. Why do men believe they can not make decisions over their bodies?

IVF is a no-no, but passing legislation to help young children get educated or eat a proper meal every day is out of the question. Every one of these regulators is talking from two sides of their mouths.

I am so angry; every woman with a brain should be too. These crazy people, including the pastor who preached that women should not wear shorts because men are men, should not be given one dime of Federal funding. This behavior is reminiscent of the 1800’s.

If you do anything this year, do the most important thing and go out and vote every one of these assholes out of office. Biden might be old, and so is Trump, but what is happening is precisely what Trump and the band of right-wing lunatics have been plotting for decades.

Please look at how beautiful Iran used to be; we could live the handmaid tale sooner than we think. Get out there and support politicians who protect women’s rights with a nose to the future. Some states get it right, such as Colorado, which gives free birth control that, of course, reduces unwanted pregnancies. Why Republicans want to eliminate these programs and then not pay a dime for the children born into poverty is mind-boggling and entirely about control.

I am so angry at all of this; we all should be. The craziest thing is the GOP is out of step with the majority of the country wants by a long shot; that is what scares me the most.

Chinese Apps

Temu, SHEIN, TikTok, and CapCut are the top apps downloaded in the US, and TikTok is number one. Temu had a Super Bowl ad touting its low-cost products that are so low that there is no way that they are making money, especially when the products are being shipped from China. They are grabbing eyeballs and customers from American companies like Etsy, Instagram, and Amazon.

I have no idea what conversations are happening behind doors with the CEOs of top tech companies and the US Government, but these companies are not paying taxes. Still, then again, most American companies are not either. Regardless, American companies, which include Mom and Pop stores, are being hindered by these Chinese apps, and Amazon and Etsy are not allowed to operate in China.

Temu is the worst of them. No taxes are paid if the packages they send to the US cost less than $800. Also, they are losing billions a year just grabbing these customer’s loyalty. Over time, this will force some American companies to shut down and lose revenue flow.

Sure, people will be upset if the US says these Chinese apps/companies can not operate in the US anymore because how come they get to operate in our free economy and we can’t operate in theirs? But remember, Americans’ memories are short. After a few weeks, we will all get over TikTok closure and find other apps that keep us entertained and buying.

This is what the Federal government should be working on versus the blame game going inside the walls of Washington without any light at the end of the tunnel to pass bills that make sense for the American economy.

Underinvesting in Infrastructure

As a country, our Government is defensive vs offensive regarding most things. Insurance companies appear to be more interested in fixing illnesses than being proactive before the illnesses roost. I can’t imagine that the numbers make sense, but that is how insurance operates, and it always has.

We also love the future and are happy to erase the past. Because public education is state-run, each state has a different curriculum. One state might be aware of the horrifying Japanese relocation camps during WW2. In contrast, others never have any Black history in their curriculum, telling the real injustices that have happened and continue to happen.

Over the years, I have seen how the Government has failed so many. Is it just how capitalism works? Is it Federal disinvestment? Or is it a systemic failure by the people running agencies? Who is to blame?

NYCHA is an organization with 13,000 employees. HUDD is responsible for 1/3 of the costs, the state is responsible for 1/3, and the tenant rents cover the other 1/3. Two weeks ago, 70 NYCHA employees were arrested on bribery and extortion charges. Was anybody shocked? This organization oversees people’s housing and needs almost $80 billion to fully restore and renovate all the buildings, proving that NYCHA has been underfunded for decades, so it is not shocking that corruption is taking place.

Although very different, Puerto Rico was finally given capital to rebuild after getting hammered by storms. The first thing that probably popped into anybody’s head after hearing that is how much corruption we think there will be and how much will go into rebuilding.

All of this is decades of underinvestment coming home. The worst part is these are people’s homes. People who live in NYCHA are the backbone of our cities. 17% of NYers live in public housing, which equals hundreds of thousands of people, bigger than Atlanta or Boston.

I am all for foreign investment, but investing at home impacts everything else. Unclear what will happen next at NYCHA, but it would be worth bringing in a separate agency to do a full-on audit to understand the need for 13,000 employees, to look at every single contract to see if the price is competitive and if that work is actually getting done inside the buildings as it is supposed to. Does it make sense that NYCHA is overseen by one group? Should there be divisions by borough and then one group over that?

So many questions should be asked, yet NYCHA woes might be budget-related, but the system is broken, and all sides are accountable, mainly for how NYCHA is expected to be managed. The saying is, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” NYCHA is seriously broken, and it is time to take a look from the bottom up with investment from the Government while rethinking how NYCHA should be managed. Getting HUDD out of it would be a first step in the right direction.

Obviously, I am looking at my own backyard. I would assume that the same could be said in every state with public housing. The same goes for any infrastructure that our country has ignored for years. If you buy a house and do not maintain it, one day, the roof implodes. It doesn’t take much to understand how the lack of capital from the Government has created the problems that exist today.

The Aman

This past week, I went on a girl’s outing for my sister’s birthday. I can’t remember the last time I have taken a vacation like that where I didn’t really work. I realized I needed more of that.  Recharging batteries at my age needs to happen more often.

So we went all out. We went to the Aman at Turks and Caicos.  I have wanted to go there for easily a decade. The last Aman we went to was in Utah, and we could see how new ownership was changing things up.  Lots of old-timers were moving on. 

Turks and Caicos beaches are stunning. Should the properties have a bit of a facelift?  For sure, but it isn’t saggy yet.  I hope they do not let things get to that stage. The people who work there are wonderful, but the staff is not as deep, so the service can not be up to the price you are paying. It is not humanly possible. 

We talked about brands on our trip. What happens to the Aman, who a Russian oligarch owns?  All of his properties are frequented by Americans, which is amusing at some level.

Yet, it will be interesting to see how they build out the brand. The Aman can not operate at the level it used to operate at because they are growing, and it is unclear that there are that many humans in the world that can keep all of them afloat at that cost. They will cut corners and become more like a high end Hyatt which is fine, these places are stunning.  The food sucks, and that must be fixed.  

I am curious to see where the Aman ends up and then, of course, who replaces it. There is still an audience for that experience and price, but unfortunately, it is no longer the Aman.

New Places to Hang

When I was a kid, we hung out at the Montgomery Mall. The mall opened in 1968, and we moved to that area in 1971. I remember first going to the mall and how unbelievable it was that so many stores were under one roof. Sears, Garfinkels and Woodroth and Lothrop were the anchor tenants. Two of these three stores do not exist anymore. Unclear what it was I would do all day, considering I did not have a credit card, but somehow dropping me off at the mall for hours on end appeared to be the thing to do. Perhaps built-in teenage babysitting.

Over the years, the mall evolved, eventually opening a food court, as all good malls do. At one point, cinemas entered, and new stores came and went. Finally, traffic slowly reached the point that the property was worth more than anything else.

1993 the mall was sold to a group, and Westfield took it over. The name has changed, of course, to the Westfield Montgomery. Spending that kind of money would make it seem that having your name on the wall is essential.

In 2018, the time came to completely renovate the place, as in knock it down and start again. Teens hanging out in the mall ceased, and so did endless shopping days at the mall, so the next generation needed to be built. Now, there is a hotel, housing, common areas, a vast complex, an ice skating rink, and tons of stores for food and other items. Having 717 residential units will be the ultimate key to their success.

If you have not been to Domino Sugar Factory, you are missing out on one of the best developments I have seen in a long time. Of course, there are no malls, thank god, but the stores are curated, and there is plenty of rental housing. 30% of that housing went to middle-income housing, and those people were awarded those places in an auction. There is an outstanding green area with plenty of different activities on the water.

We saw a film at 28 Liberty this past weekend that has been completely remodeled with pickleball courts inside, an art area, hanging areas, an Alamo Draft House, and plenty of new spaces to take over. It could eventually be an excellent spot for teenagers to hang out all day after a film.

How we interact and experience retail is changing. It is exciting to see developers begin to rethink their buildings and how people want to engage with them. Housing is also first and foremost, but having a supportive system for everyone living there is the right step towards building new communities, at least for now.

The Year in Movies

I love films. We have watched almost every film up for the Oscars this year, including foreign films. It was an excellent year for cinema. Perhaps one of the reasons we are seeing better films is the world of cinema is connected globally. Most of my favorite films these last few years have been made in other countries, and we can easily watch them. That was not as much the case a decade ago.

There are a few films that have stuck with me, so I am going to share. American Fiction and the Holdovers are entertaining films with underlying messages and excellent acting. Both are worthy of your time.

Anatomy of the Fall is a legal drama thriller set in France and keeps the viewer engaged from start to finish. The lead female lead character is in two top films this year. Past Lives is about two childhood friends who reconnect after two decades, having known each other as children. As one left to come to the US as a young child and the other grew up in Korea, their impact on each other speaks to everyone’s journey. The Zone of Interest refers to the restricted zone around Auschwitz. It is loosely based on Rudolph Hess, whose dream home is butted up against Auschwitz, where his wife lives raising their children. It is a stunning film that gives insight into the life of the elite Germans during WW2. Haunting. More foreign films are making it onto the list of the year’s top films.

Poor Things takes from Frankenstein and might be one of the most creative films I have seen in a long time. Emma Stone is phenomenal. Her character grows over the film and begins to find herself, which is complex and captivating. One scene might be one of the top scenes ever shot.

There are three foreign films nominated for best foreign film that I continue to think about. The Zone of Interest was nominated for Best Movie and Best Foreign Film, as I mentioned above. Society of the Snow is based on the true story of the Uruguayan rugby team that crashed in the Alps in 1972 and their survival. The other one is Perfect Days, which tells the story of a Tokyo toilet cleaner who goes about his days over two weeks. It is slow, repetitive, and subtle. No matter how simple one’s life appears, everyone has their complexities.

Although not nominated for the Oscars, my favorite film is The Taste of Things. It is a masterful slow crescendo about food, community, love, and culture. It is exquisite. The food scenes dominate the film, I only wish that the theater provided the aroma to what was happening in the films kitchen. I loved this film; it is food for the soul.

I am not providing much context because I am far from a “reviewer of films,” but being able to enjoy this many films in one year and have them all impact me that still resonates is powerful and one of the most amazing things about the movies. As they say, see you at the movies!