Tunnel to another dimension.

Neighbors, friends, 28th Street residents, I’m here to tell you today that there are more creative ways to get from 28th Street to 27th Street than 10th Avenue. The risk is that one of those other ways may transport you to another dimension.

On the south side of 28th Street between 10th & 11th Avenues is an arched brick tunnel with lights that says “Jardim” on the top, which evidently means “garden” in Portuguese. The tunnel connects two fancy apartment buildings that were completed in 2019 called “Jardim Sul” (meaning “south,” i.e., on 27th Street) and “Jardim Norte” (meaning, you guessed it, “north” on 28th Street). The architect is a Brazilian named Isay Weinfeld, who has a modernist, minimalist, contemporary style and who has an extensive portfolio of residential and commercial buildings in his native country. You can see him in motion sort of hilariously beckoning you to follow him to the right side of your screen on the Jardim homepage: https://jardim.nyc/ (update: apparently you only get to see Isay in motion if you click the link from a computer, not from mobile).

Take me to the promised land, Isay, if not 27th Street.

A tree grows in Chelsea.

Spotted on 10th Avenue between 28th & 29th Streets.

We’ve written before about trying to spruce up some of the sad and sparse tree pits on our block. Well, based on the green tag I just spotted on the west side of 10th Avenue between 28th & 29th Streets, it looks like the NYC Parks Department is answering our call and is about to plant a tree on our block. I’m not sure what the lesson is here—if you wait around long enough and don’t get around to doing what you said you were going to do, eventually the government will come in and solve your problems? I’m really trying to be nonpartisan here and make that joke equally aggravating to Democrats and Republicans.

Also, I visited the Parks Department website, and apparently there is a way to both request that the Parks Department plant a tree in your neighborhood and apply for a permit to plant your own tree (https://www.nycgovparks.org/trees/street-tree-planting). Email or text me if you want to do either.

Optometrist on our block.

I recently had to go for my annual eye exam, and in scrolling through the optometrists that are accepted by my insurer, I stumbled across Dr. Jennifer Tsai. Dr. Tsai’s optometry studio is called Line of Sight and is on the south side of 29th Street between 10th & 11th Avenues (pictures courtesy of https://www.drjennifertsai.com/ and https://www.lineofsightvision.com/). You’ve walked by it a thousand times if you live on this block.

My visit was great—Dr. Tsai seems very thorough and careful in her approach; her and her staff are approachable and easy to talk to; the equipment seems brand new; the office is pristine; and they have a nice selection of eyeglasses along with some staff members who will helpfully tell you whether you look good or ridiculous in certain frames. Would highly recommend.

(Guard) Dog in De Vera, the art gallery on 28th Street between 10th & 11th Avenues.

De Vera is an antique art gallery on the south side of 28th Street between 10th & 11th Avenues. I’ve been meaning to do a post about it but haven’t yet gotten around to it (this doesn’t count).

The dog above resides at least from time to time in the window. Seemed important enough to warrant its own post—will update to the extent further information becomes available.

There is a thrift store on 26th Street & 10th Avenue called City Opera.

Somehow I’ve walked by a thrift store called City Opera on 26th Street & 10th Avenue a thousand times and never noticed it. Well I noticed it last weekend, and can now confirm that it is a thrift store with furniture, paintings, home accessories, vintage clothes, jewelry, etc. You can see the website here: City Opera Thrift Shop (note the “Shop Online” page if you want to see what they have) and the Yelp page here: CITY OPERA THRIFT SHOP.

I don’t pretend to be a thrifter, but this strikes me as a very nice, high-end thrift shop with items that look essentially brand new. And as a bonus, profits are used to support the New York City Opera. You should probably check it out.

Side note: The New York City Opera is currently putting on some “Picnic Performances” in Bryant Park: Home - New York City Opera (nycopera.com). Very cool.

A predator drone is now overlooking us on 30th Street & 10th Avenue.

We’ve written before about the spot on the High Line that overlooks 30th Street & 10th Avenue—it was previously occupied by a sculpture called “Brick House” by artist Simone Leigh.

Well you may have noticed that as of May 2021, Brick House was replaced by what a layman (me) might recognize as a skinny white airplane with very long wings. It is not in fact a skinny white airplane with very long wings, and that is in fact the point: It is a predator drone entitled “(Untitled) drone” by artist Sam Durant, and the point is to put right in our public view something that is a pervasive, omnipresent aspect of life for those affected by drone warfare. You can read more about the piece and watch a video of Sam Durant talking about it on the High Line’s website: Untitled (drone) | The High Line.

The drone is mounted on top of a steel pole that allows it to point in the direction of the wind. And the title seems to reference the fundamental disconnect on drones—untitled for me, some random guy sitting comfortably in a Chelsea apartment; very much titled for someone else, whose daily life very well may revolve around whether a skinny white airplane is overlooking her block.

This block association project is temporarily on hold.

We will be back at some point.

Let’s try to plant some flowers in some of these sad and sparse tree pits on our block.

Some of you may recall a post on here a while back about a weekly newsletter put out by Chelsea resident Eric Marcus which reports on goings-on around the Chelsea neighborhood. One of Eric’s consistent features is the status of tree pits around Chelsea—some tree pits are very sad and sparse, which he doesn’t like so much; others are very happy and lush, which he likes quite a bit.

Well, ever since I started subscribing to Eric’s newsletter, I’ve taken a greater interest in tree pits around our block, and guys, it’s not always looking so good out there. The first three pictures above are sad tree pits on 10th Avenue between 28th & 29th Streets. The fourth picture is courtesy of one of Eric’s recent newsletters and of course is a happy tree pit somewhere in Chelsea. I think I’m going to adopt some of the sad tree pits on our block in the coming weeks and spruce them up a bit. It’s a little late in the planting season, so obviously I’ll have to research a plant or flower that will actually bloom this year if we plant in late June/early July.

Let me know if you want to join.

You should probably read this article on how the super wealthy are taxed in our country.

First hit on Google images when I searched for “money.”

I really don’t care what your politics are, and I could end this post right now with no buts whatsoever and it would be a fair and accurate portrayal of how I feel.

For present purposes, however, I really don’t care what your politics are, BUT you should probably read this article about how the super wealthy are taxed in the US.

Cliff’s notes: in the US you are taxed on “income,” not wealth. What that basically means is that you are only taxed on money flowing into (or “coming in”!) your bank account; you are not taxed on any stock or houses or art or whatever property you own until you sell it and the money from the sale flows in to your bank account. So you can own a share of stock or a house or a piece of art that skyrockets in value, and until you sell it, you don’t pay any tax on it. Fine so far.

But here’s the trick of the super wealthy like Jeff Bezos: he doesn’t really sell his Amazon stock as it skyrockets in value (thus basically avoiding any income tax as his wealth skyrockets), and then he takes out loans to pay for his living expenses using the Amazon stock as collateral. He gets a very good interest rate on the loan because Amazon stock is very good collateral. And thus unlike me, he doesn’t pay any taxes whatsoever on the money he uses to pay for iced coffee or sparkling water or other totally unnecessary extravagances that the rich and famous are blowing their money on, I assume.

Super cliff’s notes: They aren’t.

And so maybe the answer is implementing a wealth tax that taxes Jeff Bezos on his Amazon stock and rocket ships regardless of whether he sells them, and thus regardless of whether any money actually flows into his massive bank account. The problem there of course is how and who is going to estimate the value of Jeff Bezos’s rocket ship? I don’t have the answer. Feel free to enlighten this block association if you do.

Sunday night conversation with Erik Bottcher is on for tonight (bonus: basically unrelated picture of Juju and Olani I really like).

Picture I loved that was sent to me by and of block residents Juju (mom) and Olani (daughter).

Our Sunday night conversation with Erik Bottcher is on for tonight at the 507 West 28th Street rooftop at 6:30pm. You can give the doorman my name.

One thing I want to address given a few comments I’ve received in the last few weeks, some of them rather pointed (though still appreciated) about the perceived politicization of this nascent block association: we’re not endorsing anyone for the City Council race and there is no secret angle to anything we do. This entire block association initiative is simply meant to be a celebration of people and life, and I’ll be damned if after a year spent in isolation someone running for City Council challenges me to a free little celebration on a rooftop in the middle of summer in New York City and I turn it down on principle. Principles and ideology have their place, absolutely. But they can’t talk me down after a bad day at work and they didn’t call me once during the worst days of quarantine.

See you tonight.

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