Leaderboard

Think the worse is over. The winds gusted to 50+ mph in Inwood park-----There were branches of trees the width of my arm that broke off. That seems to be only damage. Inwood is greenspace that goes up to the Ft. Tryon, many of the trees lost branches. We didn't lose power in Inwood, but 20,000 in Queens, 16,000 in Staten Island lost power. Most of Coney Island seems flooded. There are flooded out underpasses all over the city, where no traffic can get through. The Mayor reported, crime went down significantly in last 24 hours. How Irene measures up to Katrina or Ike, I don't know. I spent both Katrina and Rita in my house in Montrose. During Ike I was in Las Vegas. but it's hard to compare these things. I appreciated the proactive measures the city took. I think mostly NYC got lucky as far as Irene's damage potential is concerned----and I'm so relieved.

The pool area at the St. Francis back in '62. The lady at the right was the owner. (We knew their family quite well) A pre-school absinthe drinker sitting on the patio table with her granddaughter. I remember all the neon lights from those days, I can't bring myself to drive down there and see how it changed.