“When the Action Moves On” is the title of a rather silly
article in today’s NY Times. It starts out with
“This week, the eyes of the world will be on Washington as perhaps two million people descend to bask in the Obama glow. City officials expect more than 10,000 tour buses to roll into the area. Hotels 150 miles away have been booked for months. Even campsites are booked.”
Later it states
“Even Portland, Ore., seems to have borrowed New York’s smugness. Recently, one civic group’s television spot was picked up and circulated as a You Tube video portraying blissful bicyclists pedaling past tree-lined streets and frame houses behind a graphic reading, ‘Is Portland the most European city, or is Europe the most Portlandian continent?’
Isn’t that supposed to be New York’s line?”
It also puts in a dig at Detroit.
The article details some of the city’s losses during the recent economic downturn, as if this hadn’t been happening in cities all across the country.
Here is the letter I sent. (They never publish my letters. I guess they don’t publish humorous letters, or maybe they do but they just don’t think mine are funny.)
Whadda you mean, "New York is losing its swagger and sense of pre-eminence"? Hasn't Washington, D.C. been the capital for quite some time? Since when has New York been considered a European city? New York has always been New York. Washington, on the other hand, was built on a swamp, to look like Paris. Well, it is certainly no Paris, though it still may be a swamp.
As for the inauguration, look how it is paralyzing the D.C. area. For New Yorkers, it would be a mere walk in (maybe Central) Park. So get over it! I'm sure that, before long, the Obama's will be spending weekends in New York.