Jackson Heights Life

The London fire has got me thinking about fire safety. I have some questions.

Does your board:

1. hold fire drills and, if so, how often?
2. supply instructions on what to do on your specific floor/section of floor in the event of fire? If so, how often are these instructions sent to you and are they ever updated?
3. hold information sessions, preferably attended by NYFD reps, on fire safety? If so, how often?
4. made recent investments in fire prevention/control? If so, what investments?
5. in the event of a fire, have a plan to ensure that all residents are notified immediately?

I'm raising these questions because the answers, in the case of the building in which I live, are not encouraging.

Would like to know what is happening elsewhere.

P.S. Today the NY Times published a detailed analysis of what went wrong in London. While high rises differ markedly from the buildings in Jackson Heights, the article sure prompts one to think about fire safety: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/24/world/europe/grenfell-tower-london-fire.html

After a long vacancy, there are lights on tonight and one can see in enough to see retail shelving.

There will be a Memorial Service for Rochelle on Saturday morning. Details here: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?n=rochelle-mancini&pid=174476960

Rochelle was both the editor of the American Jewish Congress Quarterly, an organisation and publication of significant importance in progressive politics, and an accomplished musician.

The AJC Quarterly tended to publish important authors on important issues. I was honoured to co-author a piece for her, with a Jackson Heights friend, about the relatively lighthearted subject of Israeli wine. It happened because she said, one day, while chatting in the Fillmore courtyard, "We can be a bit stuffy, let's try something simple and unstuffy".

Rochelle was a wonderful person, a wonderful editor, and on every occasion that I met her at her home, a gracious and extraordinary host. I learned much from her, was struck by her love of life, and will miss her.

As you may know, on January 1, 2016, the minimum wage in New York State for service staff who receive tips will go from $5.00 per hour to $7.50. If the state legislature agrees, New York City may increase the wage from $5.00 to $8.50.

New York City restauranteurs (restaurateurs for this who prefer) are considering a number of options, including ending tipping in their restaurants. There are two ways to end tipping:

1. Increase prices by 18% to 20% to take into account the wage increase, or

2. Add 18% to 20% to each table's bill as an "administrative fee".

As you may also know, it is legal in New York State for servers to pool tips, but illegal for kitchen staff (from dishwashers to line cooks) to participate in the pool. In other words, servers can receive tips, but kitchen staff can receive only an hourly wage or salary. The result is that there is a large disparity, which has existed for decades, between what people who work in the kitchen make, and what servers make.

One result of doing away with tipping is that the 18% - 20% increase in the price of a meal, whether the result of an increase in menu prices or an "administrative fee", would make it possible to increase the wages paid to kitchen staff.

But these options may be unacceptable to customers, and indeed to many servers.

Views? And I should clarify, in asking for views, that I am talking about full service restaurants with good food and service.

P.S. Some restaurants in NY are already doing this. So far, they have gone for an 18% to 20% administrative fee because they are doubtful that the public will accept, as a matter of psychology, an 18% to 20% increase in prices.

Hi,

Does anyone know where I might be able to see photographs of 37th Avenue, especially from roughly the Post Office to 86th Street? I want to see how the storefronts were originally designed and how they looked over the first few decades.

Thanks.