Charlie Rose

SharkswithfrikingLazers  03/07/2013 01:28 AM Report

The 75th year anniversary--not so good.

"Though functional, in 1989 Grand Central Terminal remained in dismal shape. Its roof leaked and its chandeliers wore a coat of tobacco grime so thick workers who removed them for cleaning in Utah did not know what sort of metal would emerge when cleaned. (It was gold plate, not the anticipated brass).

A massive Kodak Colorama billboard and a Chemical Bank branch –important revenue sources for the MTA –overwhelmed and detracted from the concourse. They were not the only distractions: Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith installed a brokerage kiosk, Trans World Airlines put up a clock, and Pan Am mounted a sign.

“Panhandlers worked the ticket lines and garbage bags full of belongings were stashed beside a photo exhibit celebrating ‘A New Life for Grand Central.’” (HA, HA!)

“You had to see it to believe it had become that bad” says Peter Stangl, then President of the Metro-North Commuter Railroad (MNR), the MTA’s subsidiary.

http://www.hks.harvard.edu/var/ezp_site/storage/fckeditor/file/pdfs/degree-programs/oca/Sullivan_Rail %20Station%20Renovation%20Studies.pdf

SharkswithfrikingLazers  03/07/2013 01:08 AM Report

"In 1989, MNR took down the 18 by 60 foot Kodak Colorama advertisement. The Colorama had filled the eastern end of the terminal’s main concourse since 1949 and became iconic in its own right. Its removal, however, allowed sunshine to pour into the concourse through windows it had obscured."

(Prophetic for Kodak.)

http://www.hks.harvard.edu/var/ezp_site/storage/fckeditor/file/pdfs/degree-programs/oca/Sullivan_Rail %20Station%20Renovation%20Studies.pdf

SharkswithfrikingLazers  03/06/2013 11:41 PM Report

YES, fantastic form and fantastic function: train, subway and vehicles all connected to a Grand building.

Architecture at its best, so great it stars in many movies.

Now guys, how will they take it to the next level--flying cars? Yes, that airspace above it.

finalfantasytown  03/05/2013 11:30 PM Report

How far the heart of soldiers went hundreds of years ago? surfing

Americans, I think it is the time to learn the language in Ming dynasty.

Gelles  03/05/2013 06:17 AM Report

correction to below:

..... IF we do not cut spending soon enough we will saddle our children and their children with DEBT that strangles them the day they are born.

http://www.amazon.com/forum/politics/ref=cm_cd_et_md_pl?_encoding=UTF8&cdForum=Fx1S3QSZRUL93V8&cdMsgI D=Mx22Z8BQ7SHNDN4&cdMsgNo=1&cdPage=1&cdSort=oldest&cdThread=Tx3HP30ZOVE6TJ8#Mx22Z8BQ7SHNDN4

Gelles  03/05/2013 05:55 AM Report

[Tonight the Debate between Krugman and opponents took aim at RECOVERY now and DEBT in the future. This debate would be monumental in relation to sequester, dysfunction, stalemate and American DECLINE, if it were not a total disaster as a talk show. Please allow me to say something now, because it will not be archived for several days.]

--------------------------------------

DEBATE: Recovery Now versus Medicare -- IF Retirees Outnumber Workers

======================================================

At midnight between March 4th and 5th, Krugman and TV's Morning Joe debated Recovery-Now versus Debt-Burdening our Children and Theirs.

Charlie Rose played host. Krugman made sense. Joe Scarborough and Charlie Rose made noise.

NOW is the time both the American and global economies need more DEMAND and higher SALES and EARNINGS (especially WAGE-EARNINGS for workers and struggling families who cannot pay their bills).

Krugman tried to get Joe and Charlie to admit this. These two in essence refused: they did not deny it; but they kept crying--

..... IF we do not cut spending soon enough we will saddle our children and their children with DEBT that strangle them the day they are born.

The two-some, Joe and Charlie, and most of the rest of Western World, are cock-sure the numbers do not add up--in X many years, when retirees outnumber workers, no matter how many robots and productivity systems we have, out children's children will be be born to be poor.

What IDIOTS Joe and Charlie are! What can Krugman do?

.... These two guys, who claim the ARITHMETIC supports their ignorance, have no clue at all that our children's children will be alive, we will be dead, and our living posterity will run the economy so that they are all rich (if they inherit our technology).

..... Of course they will be doomed IF we have destroyed their environment and all understanding of macroeconomics before we die.

CarolJ  03/04/2013 12:50 PM Report

R.E Mant, they all love New York City, that's not being chauvinism. Charlie's from North Carolina and he thinks NYC

is terrific. He is entitled to his opinion. I have none since I have never been to NYC.

REMant  03/04/2013 11:35 AM Report

They should be compared to today's airports, but it should be remembered that all these rail terminals were the product of private corps, generally in concert or union (hence the frequently used name Union Station), not city or county authorities, railways being private enterprises in this country. They were not designed, like the subways, for commuters alone.

One really does get tired of this New York chauvinism.

There are or were similar stations in Kansas City, LA, Indianapolis, Chicago, Washington, Portland, Salt Lake City, New Orleans, Denver, Hartford, Cincinnati, Phoenix, San Diego, Tampa, Des Moines, Louisville, Baltimore, Portland, Detroit, Saint Paul, Jackson, St Louis, Raleigh, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Providence, Nashville, Burlington, Seattle, and many other places, like Grand Central, put in final form in the first two decades of the last century. Most, if not all, are in the center of their cities.

The fellow who said European rail terminals are on the periphery is probably thinking of Paris, but Stuttgart's, Frankfurt's and Munich's, for instance, are right downtown. It all depended on whether they wanted to tear up and tunnel. NYC really had no choice.

The rail boom in the US was capitalized by foreign investors, mostly British, resulting, when it collapsed, in the biggest depression the country had known, which played no little part in bringing on the Civil War, BTW.

I'm sure we'll see a revival of trains or something very like them eventually, as in Europe, China and Japan, but it will depend on economics. It is really preposterous to suggest a national rail system funded by the Federal govt at this time unless we expect to return to 19th century needs and technology. Transportation systems don't create population centers, and they won't sustain failing ones.