Half Windsor Full Throttle: Hot & Filthy

This week, another tropical heatwave hit New England. (Doesn't that sound absurd? Yet, nobody believes in greenhouse gases). With temperatures at 99-degrees, and the heat index exceeding 110, it was mortifying that my apartment lacked the ability to retain cool air. Having lived here for 8 years--paying higher rent, every year--I know that my apartment quickly becomes hot again, as soon as my air-conditioner is off. Ridiculous! Its because the greedy money-making landlords (who operate 16 buildings) never insulated the apartment building, nor did they install insulated windows. So, 50% of our expensive cooling is lost, making tenants' electricity bills higher... for no reason. You might expect them to have done such improvements, since the prewar building is made of brick. They don't care. Those bricks become hot when the sun starts to heat them up. Heat is stored in the bricks and radiates into homes at sundown. With uninsulated walls, there is no protection.

It is one of the miseries of living in New York City. Do you know what the "heat island effect" is? (Manhattan is literally an island, so it makes it apropos!) An urban area with 1 million inhabitants raises the average air temperature by 2-5 degrees Fahrenheit; at night, it rises 22-degrees! NYC has 8.5 million people! Its greedy-yet-outdated power plants surround us, adding "fuel to the fire": air pollution, water pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions (that NYC's never-fixed traffic jams make worse--day-and-night).

Furthermore, I have no guarantee that my electricity will stay on in the summers, if I operate my living room and bedroom air-conditioners at the same time. In the past, it blew the fuse, leaving me without power in my overheated apartment... unit the Superintendent could be summoned. This year, my Superintendent fled in the middle of the night. We don't know why, but I suspect Immigration issues. Thus, I cannot run two AC's. Instead, I hang curtains between my doorways, to help keep the cool air contained. How crazy is that? In my pricey apartment building, managed by a mega-landlord, in a first-world metropolis, I can't run two air-conditioners at the same time to relieve 95-degree heat. Does that seem "first-world" to you? I pay enormous taxes (45% of my income) to government that doesn't make landlords upkeep their buildings (while those landlords raise the rent, each year). If a tenant gets fed up and moves out, some other gullible person will move it. That’s due to NYC’s false advertising, drawing crowds to its filthy city. Basically, nothing has changed in 100+ years. Just like our hot, outdated, filthy, neglected, evermore pricey, shithole of a subway, which had temperatures exceeding 100-degrees!

Here's why. The MTA uncaringly never installed vents in its subway stations, nor has it added fans to any underground station except 42nd Street. The second reason is that NYC's uncaring power supplier, Con Edison, still operates 6 Steam Heating Stations, opened in 1882. 60% of buildings still use that antiquated heating system. Making more money than any other utility in America, they greedily horde their profits and refuse to adapt to eco-friendly ideas. However, all of that hot steam underground affects the subway tunnels and stations! I'm sure you've seen the year-round never-ending "steam vents", as excess boiling steam escapes the streets.

In 2017, in Astoria, I was startled to hear a roaring sound outside--coming from the Upper East Side of Manhattan, one mile away! One of Consolidated Edison's steam valves malfunctioned in their powerhouse on East 74th Street (built in 1902) and emitted a deafening sound that caused people to call 911 and alert the media.

With better infrastructure, New Yorkers wouldn't still have 100-year-old powerhouses/smokestacks amidst their homes.

Last night, Lewis and I walked up Madison Avenue, and the "upscale" street was punctuated with unsightly steam pipes spewing hot gas. Despite the temperature being at 88 degrees, the steam was still billowing in white clouds.

Imagine how hot things are below street-level! Well, that is what roasts the subways--making temperatures exceed 100-degrees in summer. Torture! Especially when trains are 20 minutes late! Especially when you remember the crappy condition of the subway, to begin with (on a good day).

These are some of the pathetically-designed seats you must deal with.

... if you even get a seat... or a place to stand.

Even under Lexington Avenue, City Hall, or Rockefeller Center, look at what New Yorkers must deal with, each day.

That regular absence of overpaid police enables panhandlers.

Tourist often doubt why they came here, yet NYC's powerful "media machine" lures thousands more. More potential donors for the panhandlers to scream at.

All of those invasive law-breakers seem to think the public transportation is their own personal space.

You'd be surprised how many parents let their children touch those seats, put their mouths on the poles, and then rub their eyes and put fingers in their mouths afterwards!

The poles are used by dancers, who want to be "in your face" to ask for money. They never care about falling and hurting someone, or if their childish antics disrupt anyone's ride.

Let me describe a recent weekday commute home. The decrepit subway arrived 20 minutes late, forcing everyone to accumulate in a stifling hot station (they never installed air vents, since 1910). The crowd grew so large, that the first train couldn’t take everyone, so folks were forced to wait even longer! Those who got on experienced a further insult when the train emerged aboveground from the city, entered a borough, and told everyone to get out--so it could skip the next 4 stations (and regain lost time)! That happens too often. With clothes already drenched with sweat, the paying passengers got out onto a station platform and waited for the next train. However, it was full of people. Their tiresome commute homeward finally resumed when a third train (built in 1976) rumbled into the station. Then, they were held at the station, due to “train traffic ahead”… of which there clearly was none. During that unnecessarily long ride home—which the MTA never refunds you for—riders could not enjoy their mobile devices because high-priced cellular carriers fail to give adequate signal strength near the subways. Year after year.

"Out of Service" stations are so prevalent, people make professional satirical images about them!

Yet, the grossly overpaid MTA does little about caring to fix things.

Seeing those images, do you think the MTA's subway improved much from the 1970s? (like below)

Yet, the idiots keep coming to live in NYC... floating the bloated city on their money and sweat.

I notice how few German, Dutch, Canadian, French, Danish, or Japanese people are in New York City. Instead, there are a multitude from El Salvador, Mexico, India, Pakistan, Dominican Republic, and villages of mainland China. I suppose, if you previously lived in places like this...

then, you won't mind this inferior, substandard, embarrassingly corrupt, uncaring city.

(and it's probably why such mothers allow children to put shoes, greasy food, and sticky fingers inside laundry carts where paying customers go to clean their clothes.

NYC brags that it is the Fashion Capital of the world. Where is the style? Why is it so filthy in most places and full of ugly infrastructure? The city also boasts about being the Finance Capital of the world. So, why is it so run-down and outdated? Where are the resources going within the wealthy city? Park Avenue might have the highest real estate prices, but it looks sad in comparison to other cities. The city's claims to fame are preposterous.

Let other gullible people fight to get in, but Lewis and I will happy "take the road less travelled".