Is this the end for Occupy Wall Street?

According to Slate, “Brookfield Properties, which owns the downtown Manhattan park that has become the home base of the Occupy Wall Street protests, announced on Thursday that it wants all protesters off its property starting at 7 a.m. Friday so it can tidy up the park grounds. It said the demonstrators can come back after the cleaning—as long as they abide by park rules. Those rules prohibit tents, tarps, sleeping bags, and the storage of any personal property. That would effectively end the demonstration, in which activists have camped out in Zuccotti Park for the past three-and-a-half weeks to protest wealth inequality.”

Demonstrators are concerned that this is an attempt to silence them and effectively end the protest. Slate reports, “Mayor Michael Bloomberg said recently that they could stay indefinitely as long as they obey the law. Brookfield’s decision to step in, however, would make it difficult to maintain the occupation. The protesters are already vowing not to comply. Gothamist printed a statement from the group’s organizers on Thursday, saying, ‘We won’t allow Bloomberg and the NYPD to foreclose our occupation. This is an occupation, not a permitted picnic.’” Continue reading »

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What are your kids wearing back to school?

Babble’s deputy editor, Mira Jacob, was interviewed on WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show this morning about kids’ fall fashion just in time for Fashion’s Night Out tonight.  JC Penney’s recent foibles were of course mentioned, as well as all of the padded bras and bikini tops being sold to elementary aged girls.  Jacob noted that skinny jeans are still a big hit with the kids, and a Bronx mom named Vicki called up to say that “sparkling, glittering shoes” are still trending for the 3- and 4-year-old set.  In her opinion, “princess mania” is driving a lot of pre-schooler fashion, and she says when it comes to footwear for that age group, “The presence of heels, even if they’re relatively low, is controversial in my opinion.”  I totally agree.

I’m definitely interested in what kids are wearing to school these days, not just in terms of fashion trends, but in relation to the recession.  One dad wrote on the Brain Lehrer Facebook page, “Grunge, it’s back!,” which makes me wonder if a more slovenly look is easier or cheaper to maintain in this economy. Continue reading »

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This meter is excited to bring you ticket art!

One of my favorite things about New York City is that it is chock full of street art.  From De La Vega to Improv Everywhere, New Yorkers love leaving their mark on the sidewalk.  So today I was overjoyed when I read about The Parking Ticket Emotional Reclamation Project, which fosters “the guerilla placement of art alongside issued parking tickets” in order to “help restore emotional balance to New York, The World, The Universe.”  Ha!  Brilliant.

Both professional artists and children alike contribute drawings to the PTERP – a fitting acronym, since every time I get a parking ticket, I feel pretty pterpd.  Two weeks ago I got a parking ticket because the meter expired while I was at the pediatrician’s office as my daughter was getting the shots she needed for school.  If only we’d emerged to art like this, I might not have felt so bad: Continue reading »

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Tell us your preschool admissions horror story for a chance to win the ultimate documentary on the subject

I moved to Colorado from Manhattan seven years ago, and while there are many things I miss about New York, now that I have a kid, I can’t remember what most of them were. Especially now that my toddler is starting preschool in just a few months.

On the advice of people who know about these things, when I was six weeks pregnant I got on the waiting lists of a few preschools in the area. At the time I was horrified, thinking that was such a New York-type thing to do. But it was no sweat off my back and it has ultimately meant that my husband and I will be sending our daughter to the preschool of our choice. Which is why when I hear stories of nursery school nightmares in places like New York City — particularly this time of year when the acceptance and rejections letters are in the mail — I am reminded that one of the main reasons I left the East Coast was in search of a simpler, less competitive life.

Last month I wrote about a mom who sued her daughter’s tony nursery school on the Upper East Side of Manhattan for not properly preparing her for the rigors of a kindergarten entrance exam (within the first few weeks of the school year), which, she said, meant her child was then at a disadvantage for admittance into an Ivy League college. While that mom has been greatly ridiculed in the press for her lawsuit, her sentiments are shared by countless others nonetheless. Getting into the right preschool is big business and more families than not believe the implications are far-reaching.

Continue reading »

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This is the most dangerous city in America?

One of the reasons I am inclined to believe in something akin to reincarnation is because I can remember being 6 years old and wanting to live in New York City, even though I had no idea what New York City was.  I’d never been there, never really seen pictures of it, but I knew that was going to be the place for me.  I’m from a small town upstate, so when I actually moved to New York City as planned, my parents weren’t exactly thrilled.  My Dad used to say stuff like, “I don’t know how you can stand livin’ in that crime-infested, rape-filled, rat-hole of a concrete jungle hell.”  (And that’s the edited version.)  I tried to explain to him that New York is much safer than most people think, but he refused to come visit, so he was much more comfortable with the vision of the city that cemented in his mind during the 70′s, when New York actually was a kind of scary place to be.  But thanks to Mickey Mouse and Rudolph Giuliani, parts of New York City these days are down-right quaint.

That’s right – on a list of the most dangerous places to live in the USA based on crime statistics published by the FBI, NYC ranked 269th out of 400.  Impressive!  But listen up New Yorkers, before you get too excited.  The crimes considered in the rankings include murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, and motor vehicle theft.  If the rent being too damn high and robbing kids of a quality education were included, Gotham might be much closer to the top of the list.

So what are the most dangerous cities in America? Continue reading »

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Five miles apart on Staten Island in New York sit two hospitals serving similar populations. One hospital has the highest c-section rate in New York City, the other boasts the fourth lowest.

In 2008, Richmond University Medical Center had a 48.3 percent c-section rate. At Staten Island University Hospital, the rate was  around 23 percent. The rate was 36 percent overall in NYC between 2000 and 2007.

That’s a huge difference. How is it possible?

For one, Dr. Mitchell A. Maiman at SIUH doesn’t necessarily listen to his patients — or the doctors. Continue reading »

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Recently, in response to a story about a British judge who wanted Sikh boys to be able to bring a knife — the kirpan, an important article of faith for Sikhs — to school, a commenter asked “Do you ever worry about kids grabbing other kid’s pencils and stabbing each other?”  Given that I still have a black scar on my arm from when I was stabbed with a pencil (admittedly, by a sister rather than a classmate), I would have to say yes.  And now there is even more reason to be concerned about implements of literary and physical torture: an 11-year-old boy from New Hartford, NY has been charged with, among other things, criminal possession of a weapon — a pencil.

Continue reading »

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