Uber, Roadrunner, The Anchor, and Little Pete’s So some time ago I staked my ground that I wouldn’t use Uber again until the company parted ways with EMIL MICHAEL, the executive who advocated doxxing journalists the company didn’t like. It dawned on me within 30 seconds that OF COURSE that guy was never going to get fired. Why would Uber take the risk of a lawsuit from him, or pay severance, or even care for a minute more than it took to write a press release when the alternative—ride out the tiny, spit-squall of twitter unrest—is absolutely free. But true to my word, I have stayed out of those Uber cars because I said A THING ON THE INTERNET. And what’s worse, I still believe that thing. And so I have walked and cabbed my way around, staring at the face of Sandy Kenyon on the TaxiTV, who reminds me with every good review of every terrible movie that in fact no one cares what you say on the internet, because what you say on the internet does not make any human or company in the world a single thin dime. There are a lot of injustices in the world, some of them very big and heartbreaking, and for whatever reason 2014 felt packed with both. On our streets, on our campuses, and in our government, 2014 seemed intent on telling us over and over again that holding power to account under ANY circumstances is a joke, a quaint story, a rube’s game. It was awful. But there are the small fights, too—the little, lopsided battles that were lost before they began—that remind you just how common it is that stupidity, venality, pettiness, and simple greed casually win, almost all the time, over good things and good ideas that weren’t doing anyone any harm. Here are a few that have gotten under my skin, and I am going to talk about them even though I know it will not do ANY GOOD AT ALL. Except maybe to express my hope that in 2015, this these small fights are the worst we have to deal with. That would make it a Happy New Year. ROADRUNNER—You all know I SUPPORT bit.ly/1BBy5qV Boston Mayor Marty Walsh in his effort to name Jonathan Richman’s “ROADRUNNER bit.ly/1ApsXaj as the official rock song of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Well so much for that. This was only the most harmless and perfect idea in the world until it was sideswiped by legislative weirdness and Aerosmith. The latter I can understand; the former mystifies me. If you can’t get a straight up/down vote on a SONG, how can you even run a WHOLE COMMONWEALTH? You can read all about it HERE bit.ly/14eBgdv courtesy Ryan Walsh. And thankfully there are people like JOYCE LINEHAN (@ashmont) who know how this stuff works. If you are a Commonwelathian of Massachusetts, please join her in calling/emailing House Speaker Robert DeLeo and ask him to bring H.3573 up for consideration before the legislative session expires TODAY OR TOMORROW. 1.usa.gov/1ytrcL4 THE ANCHOR—My favorite bar in New Haven closed last night without warning because Yale did not renew its lease. This is where I learned to write (and drink and talk) from Lee K Abbott and Donald Faulkner and Tom Perrotta. This is where Coulton and I schemed up many schemes, and later returned as grown men to drink grasshoppers after the Whiffenpoof reunion because we didn’t want to go to the naked party. It is a lovely, great, beautiful place, and for all those reasons always seemed doomed. This is not a call to action. I will sign no petition to “Save The Anchor.” Memories fade. Businesses fail (I think this one WANTS to). All good things fall. I only mention it so you can read THIS ARTICLE bit.ly/1tKjJWT about it. Read it one time, and then come back and tell me: QUICK: do you know who owns the bar? Do you know who the permittee is? Do you know WHAT a permittee is? Can you explain why the bar is closing? How would you save it if you could? Do you understand anything at all about how real estate and licensing in a city works? Do you would even know how to begin to foster ANY change in even a small city? I know the answer. Neither do I. And this is just a dumb bar. So next time, before I say something on the internet about some issue, I will remember to have more respect for the people in politics and public service and the on-the-ground organizers and activists who actually try to preserve the good and change the bad. Because that’s where it really happens. LITTLE PETE’S—So my favorite scrapple counter in the world, LITTLE PETE’S, on.fb.me/1rYRWAD is almost assuredly dead in greasy dishwater because SOME MEN WITH COMPANIES WANT A HOTEL THERE. bit.ly/13UdiE0 Little Petes Restaurant is in Philadelphia, on South 17th Street, right across the street from the old Radisson Blu Warwick Hotel, Philadelphia, where I exclusively stay when I travel to Philadelphia because it is across the street from Little Pete’s. Yes, that’s right. There is a hotel across the street from the place where they are going to put the hotel. And unless they plan to tear down the Warwick and put up a Little Pete’s, which would be a good O Henry story, this is just sad and dumb. Not in any special way, just sad and dumb in the way almost all city development is sad and dumb. And also purposeless. Because look. Unlike the Anchor, Little Pete’s wants to keep going. If I were putting up a luxury hotel over one of the last and busiest and most beautiful all night diners in a city, it would be JOB ONE to try to incorporate that authentically popular, authentically local business into my plan rather than pay buckets of money to some consultant in Elsewheretown to design a generic martini-and-small-plates-lounge to replace it, which bar no one will ever go to because it has been pasted together out of cliches and sadness. I guess there is SOME CHANCE bit.ly/1DbMZZi that the re-zoning law that will allow this to happen will be scuttle if enough CITIZENS OF PHILADELPHIA RISE UP AND SAY TO CITY COUNCIL PERSON KENYATTA JOHNSON “NO WE MUST SAVE OUR OLD FAVORITE PLACE.” bit.ly/1tKkgrz But that won’t work, right? This isn’t a Muppet Movie. This is city politics. The only consolation is that, unlike Roadrunner or The Anchor, I actually understand why this is happening: simple CORRUPTION. bit.ly/1Bs2077 And there is also the consolation that Little Pete’s is, for now, still open. Maybe I will take the train down soon and we can have Scrapple and eggs together. ONE FINAL THOUGHT BEFORE I LEAVE YOU AND GO STARE INTO THE EYES OF SANDY KENYON I should have said this before, but I didn’t. I have tremendous respect for all police officers. I know exactly where I would be without them: helpless. In seriousness, I cannot imagine the stress, terror, bravery, and sadness that police officers face every day, and especially those angry horrific days when they lose one of their own. I respect police officers because I believe in the rule of law. I believe you should not attack the police with garbage cans on the Brooklyn Bridge. And I also believe that no police officer should turn his or her back on their democratically elected mayor while wearing the uniform unless they are just planning to go ahead and stage a coup. This is America. With my best wishes to you all on January 5, 2015, I remain only a guy speaking on the internet named John Hodgman THAT IS ALL \|/ Reposted by: -H- Team /|\ Hodgmania
Posted on: Mon, 05 Jan 2015 23:00:01 +0000
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