Talk about compounding insult with injury. It's torture enough getting up at 5AM to go to the gym. But yesterday really hit a new low when some cop had nothing better to do than to slap us with parking tickets while we slaved away inside Koko. I couldn't believe it.
It turns out there is no curbside parking on Park Avenue before 8AM - not that there is a sign saying so. The only sign in proximity restricts parking to 2 hours between 8AM and 5PM. So not only are we being held responsible for an unposted law, we have to take time off from work for traffic court if we want to fight it.
Besides the unfairness of it all, the idea of penalizing local residents for frequenting local businesses is sheer madness in this economy. Long Beach is in danger of losing its anchor tenant - Waldbaum's - so you would think the city would be doing everything it could possibly do to help other businesses stay strong. Making it impossible for Koko members to use the club during certain hours of the day is just plain senseless.
Welcome to the mad, mad, mad world of Long Beach. Where reality often defies logic.
Monday, September 17, 2012
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Music to Whose Ears?
The new guy on the beach is going to get lynched if he doesn't lose his radio.What planet do people like this live on? The 1980s called and they want their boombox back. Why in the world doesn't this guy use an iPod like all the other people destined for permanent hearing loss, especially since he comes to the beach alone? The ironic thing is that I actually have the same taste in music. But if I wanted to listen on the beach I would be plugged into my own iPod. The blue-shirt rent-a-cop told me it is entirely legal for him to play music on the beach, so long as it is not overly loud. And I do have to concede that he did lower the volume without (audible) objection when asked by us, the people next us, the people next to them... Long Beach should take a lesson from the LIRR, that model of sensitive service, which recently introduced quiet cars. Quiet beach has a nice ring to it... music to my ears.
Monday, April 2, 2012
Parents Beware, Choose Doctors with Care
I have decided to post for all to see the letter I recently wrote to orthodontist Dr. Seth Kleinrock, regarding his misguided professional testimony on behalf of Dr. Scott Amer, a pediatric dentist whom we successfully sued for his appalling treatment of my son. The letter alerts Dr. Kleinrock to the subsequent findings of the professional review board, which severely penalized Dr. Amer for said treatment.
Parents, make sure you check the OPD website before engaging with any doctor for your children or yourself (http://www.op.nysed.gov/opd/).
Doctors, make sure you know for whom you are advocating, before putting your own professional reputation on the line.
Parents, make sure you check the OPD website before engaging with any doctor for your children or yourself (http://www.op.nysed.gov/opd/).
Doctors, make sure you know for whom you are advocating, before putting your own professional reputation on the line.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
It Must Be Spring
The annual spring ritual in Long Beach has begun. The boardwalk is once again under repair and construction. Why in the world we continue to patch and re-patch the wooden boardwalk with more wooden boards, instead of the synthetic boards used in the boardwalk benches, I cannot understand. I imagine the man-made stuff is more costly, but since the boardwalk is patched one section at a time as needed, the total cost would be amortized over several years. And since the synthetic material does not disintegrate, it would eliminate the annual replace-and-refurbish routine and the associated labor costs (not to mention the disruption to boardwalk traffic).
If give is the issue for knees and ankles, a wooden lane could certainly be maintained for runners.
Could it be that maintaining the wooden boardwalk is a jobs guarantee for city workers? It wouldn't be the first time.
Could it be that maintaining the wooden boardwalk is a jobs guarantee for city workers? It wouldn't be the first time.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Grow Up Already
I am so tired of the pass-the-blame finger-pointing that passes for leadership in Long Beach. Today it's Jim Hennessey's turn (see his letter in this week's LB Herald - not available on the publication's website, as of this posting).
For the record: the Democratic City Council may have declared a fiscal emergency. But it was the independent auditor hired by the previous (Republican) administration whom the Wall Street Journal says "described a slow-moving tsunami of deficits." And it was Moody’s Investors Service who downgraded Long Beach’s $48.3 million general obligation debt to its lowest investment grade.
It's time to face facts, no matter which party is in control. We have a problem, and it's going to take talented management, steely resolve and extreme optimism to solve it. Let's hope our current City Council and City Manager have what it takes.
For the record: the Democratic City Council may have declared a fiscal emergency. But it was the independent auditor hired by the previous (Republican) administration whom the Wall Street Journal says "described a slow-moving tsunami of deficits." And it was Moody’s Investors Service who downgraded Long Beach’s $48.3 million general obligation debt to its lowest investment grade.
It's time to face facts, no matter which party is in control. We have a problem, and it's going to take talented management, steely resolve and extreme optimism to solve it. Let's hope our current City Council and City Manager have what it takes.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Is it just me?
Monday, January 9, 2012
The Court is Out
The lay-offs taking place across the Nassau County payroll have put several hundred people in serious economic jeopardy. The necessity of the curtailments should put all workers on notice. If ever there were a time to make ourselves indispensible -- to do our jobs as well as they can possibly be done -- this is it.
Someone forgot to tell the woman at the front desk at the Long Beach City Court office.
This entitled worker obviously thinks she is immune not only from job insecurity, but also from common courtesy and plain old I give a shit customer service. For a minute there, I almost thought I was standing at the DMV.
I recognized her as she took a full 30 seconds to saunter all the way from her desk, a full 10 feet to the customer service window. The attitude clearly belonged to the same person who conveyed barely intelligible information on the phone when I called to confirm the hours of operation. Not understanding how to handle something I completed on my form, she turned on her heel and headed with the speed of a glacier to consult her supervisor -- without saying a single word to me and leaving me hanging to see what would come next.
The supervisor came out himself and to his credit was very professional, courteous and helpful (how sad that this bears special commendation).
But the biggest surprise of all was that no one in the office of approximately 10 people was aware of the Long Beach business I was inquiring about. How could they not know a storefront business in LB? There is only one logical answer: they don't live or shop here.
They do, however, work here. And maybe they should value that fact enough to put a little extra effort into doing their jobs well, into showing that they do in fact give a shit. There are undoubtedly many unemployed local residents who would gladly take those jobs and do them better than the people who are currently lucky enough to have them.
Someone forgot to tell the woman at the front desk at the Long Beach City Court office.
This entitled worker obviously thinks she is immune not only from job insecurity, but also from common courtesy and plain old I give a shit customer service. For a minute there, I almost thought I was standing at the DMV.
I recognized her as she took a full 30 seconds to saunter all the way from her desk, a full 10 feet to the customer service window. The attitude clearly belonged to the same person who conveyed barely intelligible information on the phone when I called to confirm the hours of operation. Not understanding how to handle something I completed on my form, she turned on her heel and headed with the speed of a glacier to consult her supervisor -- without saying a single word to me and leaving me hanging to see what would come next.
The supervisor came out himself and to his credit was very professional, courteous and helpful (how sad that this bears special commendation).
But the biggest surprise of all was that no one in the office of approximately 10 people was aware of the Long Beach business I was inquiring about. How could they not know a storefront business in LB? There is only one logical answer: they don't live or shop here.
They do, however, work here. And maybe they should value that fact enough to put a little extra effort into doing their jobs well, into showing that they do in fact give a shit. There are undoubtedly many unemployed local residents who would gladly take those jobs and do them better than the people who are currently lucky enough to have them.
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