New York in stock

This story on stock footage and the images of New York we see in movies is a great read. Romanticized images of New York permeate so many great movies. How that get there is almost as fascinating as the context in which the rest of the country — and world — views this fair city.

New York City, now with 17.2 fewer square miles

New York City is shrinking, reports Sam Roberts in The Times today. Well, maybe it’s not shrinking, but city planners have calculated that the landmass of our fair city is actually 17.2 square miles smaller than it used to be. No longer a robust 322 square-mile city, the Somewhat Smaller Apple is now down to 304.8 square miles.

And what can you do with 17.2 square miles? Roberts tells us:

¶17 square miles could accommodate 13 more Central Parks, nearly a third of Washington, D.C., about three dozen versions of Vatican City and nearly two dozen replicas of Monaco.

¶If 17 square miles were populated at Manhattan’s density, New York might be home to as many as 1.1 million more people.

¶At the price of an acre in Midtown, as recently computed by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 17 square miles could be worth $1 trillion.

Brooklyn, my current home borough, emerged the biggest loser. Kings County finds itself 10 square miles smaller than it was yesterday. Mabye it’s time to invade New Jersey to reclaim those 28 square miles the feds took from us when they award Ellis Island to the Garden State.

Editing street signs with stickers

The scene: A lamp pole at the southeast corner of 7th Ave. and Carroll St. in Brooklyn.

The strategically-placed sticker actually makes the sign more accurate than it would be with the “D” uncovered. How many people in New York City are honking out of actual danger and how many honk out of anger? It’s not even close.