The Times they aren't a changing

A Mayor for President?

The possibility of two New York City mayors running for president in 2008 has led many longtime dwellers of the five boroughs wondering if they have gotten off the subway in Bizarro World.

Mayor Bloomberg has not committed to run, but he appears to be inching in that direction. From today's Times:

Bloomberg Moves Closer to Running for President

By SAM ROBERTS

Buoyed by the still unsettled field, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is growing increasingly enchanted with the idea of an independent presidential bid, and his aides are aggressively laying the groundwork for him to run.

While it may seem that the city is the last place on earth to look for someone electable to leader of the free world. the idea has been broached before.

In 1904, political bosses at Tammany Hall were so frightened of the consequences of Teddy Roosevelt being re-elected to the White House that they tried to convince the mayor to join the race.

January 15, 1904
TAMMANY HOPES TO NOMINATE M'CLELLAN
PLAN TO RUN HIM AGAINST ROOSEVELT FOR PRESIDENT

ALBANY, Jan. 14--From an authority high in the confidence of those who control Tammany Hall at present it is learned that if Theodore Roosevelt should be the Republican nominee for President the choice of the New York Democrats at the St. Louis Convention, if Tammany has its way, will be Mayor George B. McClellan of New York City.

What may be even more surprising is that four years later Roosevelt was floated as a possible candidate for mayor.

December 22, 1908
ROOSEVELT AND MAYORALTY

Dr. Lyman Abbott was told yesterday that a minister in Brooklyn intended to preach a sermon suggesting that a movement be started in this city to have President Roosevelt run for Mayor next year, and asked whether he thought Mr. Roosevelt would accept.

"Mr. Roosevelt, in my opinion, would not accept such a nomination," said Dr. Abbott. "It is unreasonable to assume that he would even think of it, in view of his announced plans. He is to sail for Africa soon after March 4, and will be gone fifteen months. Therefore he will not be here at the all during the Mayoralty campaign."

Woe is money

They say money can't buy love or happiness or health or success. And the rest of of roll our eyes. But given that this lament has been voiced for a century, perhaps there is something to it.

First, from today's Times:

Instant Fortunes, and Sudden Headaches

By CAITLIN KELLY

So what would you do if you got your wish and suddenly came into a lot of money — by winning the lottery, perhaps, or getting a six-figure insurance settlement or a long-awaited inheritance? Financial freedom, right?

Ken Jennings, a 33-year-old former software engineer who earned more than $2.5 million by winning 74 consecutive games on “Jeopardy” in 2004, says it is not that simple.

But coming into a lot of money has always brought its share of headaches:

July 16, 1877
THE ANNOYANCES OF WEALTH
TROUBLES OF JOHN H. LICK AFTER INHERITING A PORTION OF HIS FATHER'S FORTUNE

The San Francisco Call, having learned that a new suit has been instituted against the estate of John H. Lick for information.. The account proceeds: "Mr. Lick passed into an inner room and returned shortly with a formidable bundle of letters. They were divided into two packages. Handling the smaller parcel to the reporter, he said: 'Two years ago I thought I knew all of my father's relatives by name at least, but here is a batch of 30 or so who have suddenly discovered that they are his next of kin..."

Even the wealthiest men and women alive seem to be miserable:

July 31, 1911
RICHES IRK ROCKEFELLER
HE TELLS PREACHER WHO TALKS OF WEALTH'S BURDENS HE'S RIGHT

CLEVELAND, Ohio, July 30.--His great wealth was often a burden that drove peace from his heart, John D. Rockefeller admitted to-day after listening to a sermon by a visiting preacher at his favorite church, the Euclid Avenue Baptist. The Rev. Carter Helm Jones of Oklahoma was acting for the pastor, who is on his vacation, and he referred to the "crown of wealth and its incident anxieties and tortures which banish peace from the heart."

Deli Cat, Deli Cat, it's not your fault

The health department has long fought to upset the ecosystem of NYC restaurants, which depend on unpaid feline employees to handle the invading rodent population.

From today's Times:

To Dismay of Inspectors, Prowling Cats Keep Rodents on the Run at City Delis
By KATE HAMMER

Across the city, delis and bodegas are a familiar and vital part of the streetscape, modest places where customers can pick up necessities, a container of milk, a can of soup, a loaf of bread.

Amid the goods found in the stores, there is one thing that many owners and employees say they cannot do without: their cats. And it goes beyond cuddly companionship. These cats are workers, tireless and enthusiastic hunters of unwanted vermin, and they typically do a far better job than exterminators and poisons.

Cats have long had to straddle this balance between food industry savior and pariah.

September 11, 1946
44 RESTAURANT OWNERS FINED $4,955 HERE; ONE HAD 20 CATS ROAMING ABOUT IN KITCHEN

Magistrate Edgar Bromberger and Edward Thompson imposed fines totaling $4,955 yesterday on forty-four restaurant proprietors summoned to Municipal Term Court in the Health Department’s campaign to improve sanitation in New York’s food industry.

The number of fines imposed since the restaurant drive began on June 12 now stands at 863. Adding the day’s penalties to the previous levies brought the total to $83,105 to date. Health Department inspectors have made 5,321 examinations among the city’s 22,000 eating places in the last three months, serving 938 court summonses. Only six defendants have won suspended sentences, and none have been acquitted.

Fines yesterday ranged from $25 to $50. One of the best known restaurants penalized was Poliacoff’s Kosher Restaurant at 121 West Forty-fifth Street, which had 21 allegations against it.

The most unusual of these was that the kitchen was overrun with twenty cats. Hanan Poliacoff, the proprietor, pleaded he kept the cats to prevent rats, but Magistrate Bromberger ruled one cat was enough.

Even some of the city's most famous eateries have sworn by the contribution cats play.

May 28, 1974
ELAINE’S AND 19 OTHER FOOD OUTLETS FLUNK 2D SANITARY INSPECTION

By ROBERT McG. THOMAS Jr.

Elaine's, the popular East Side Restaurant that serves as a club for many of the city’s best-known writers and a showcase for many of its most famous celebrities has been cited by the Department of Health for uncorrected vilations and given until Friday to comply with the department regulations or be closed...

As for the cat citations:

Cat Odor  Explained

As for charges of “cats in the cellar” and “odor of cats throughout cellar,” Mr. Spagnolo, citing the recommendation of the restaurant’s exterminator, insisted it was the cats, particularly the odor of cats, that kept away the rats that had descended on Second Avenue when the old Rupper Brewery was torn down.

Searching for those who can't do

Educators have long had this sense that the quality of teaching has been on the decline along with student performance. Much like the people of the Middle Ages, who comparing themselves to the civilizations of classical antiquity, concluded man must be getting dumber, many believe schools must strive to return to their glory days.

Of course, finding "better teachers" is not easy, given the low salary and various indignities of the job. Today's Times tells of the latest effort to recruit better educators.

Foundation Hopes to Lure Top Students to Teaching

By KAREN W. ARENSON

Taking the prestigious Rhodes Scholarships as a model, the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation in Princeton is creating a fellowship program that it hopes will lure top students into teaching and transform teacher education in the United States.

“Research shows that providing excellent teachers is the single most important way to improve student achievement,” said Arthur E. Levine, president of the foundation, which coordinates a variety of academic fellowship programs. “But the quality of our teaching force today is not as strong as it needs to be, and our teacher preparation programs are too weak. We hope this program will produce significant improvement in both and provide models that the rest of the country will follow.”

But the quality of teachers is not a new concern:

July 18, 1931
ASKS FOR BETTER TEACHERS
Dr. Newlon Blames Administrators for Lack of Scholarship

American school teachers lack scholarship and are “little more than automatons, little better than employees in the factory sense of the word,” Dr. Jesse H. Newlon, director of the Lincoln School, told educators at the Columbia Summer Session in the Horace Mann auditorium.

Many factors have “conspired to produce this condition,” he explained pointing to low salaries, insecurity of tenure, large turnover, and lack of recognition by the public of the fundamental importance of education. The real fault, however, rests with the administrators, he declared

Read two more examples after the jump:

Hath not a juvenile eyes?

Ever since the angst-ridden psychology of the teenager was deemed distinct from that of adults -- sometime after World War II -- parents and scientists have puzzled over what makes these maniacs tick.

Based on an article in today's Times by Jane Brody, under the headline Teenage Risks, and How to Avoid Them, we are no closer to  solving this mystery.

It is an all too familiar tale, prompting parents and school officials alike to wonder why risky behavior is so common among teenagers and what might be done to curtail it. Is it that teenagers think that they are immortal or invulnerable, immune to the hazards adults see so clearly? Or do they not appreciate the risks involved and need repeated reminders of the dangers inherent in activities like driving too fast, driving drunk, having unprotected sex, experimenting with drugs, binge drinking, jumping into unknown waters, you name it?

It was clear as early as the 1940s that the teenage brain's version of rational behavior was entirely unlike that of their parents and teachers. Perhaps they should all be quarantined.

October 3, 1949
‘TEEN-AGE’ DRIVERS STUDIED AS A PERIL

By BERT PIERCE

JACKSON’S MILL, W. Va, Oct 2—Reckless and careless complexes of youthful drivers were emphasized today as the chief factor for the increasing highway accident rate attributed to the teen-age bracket.

The ego and thoughtlessness of youngsters came under close scrutiny and their mental trends and twists were weighed at the opening session of the National Conference on High School Driver Education here.

An innovation in death dealing “pranks” was presented with a description of the “bumper-bump-bumper” tag game on the road. Participants gamble with their lives by chasing another vehicle and crashing into it.

Already this so-called pastime has caused many fatalities and injuries to teen-age drivers and others on the highways of the Mid-West.

The rich on steroids

President Bush contends the quickening pace of the concentration of wealth among the wealthy is a trend of the past 25 years. It would appear to have been going on a tad longer.

First, from today's Times:

Report Says That the Rich Are Getting Richer Faster, Much Faster

By DAVID CAY JOHNSTON

The increase in incomes of the top 1 percent of Americans from 2003 to 2005 exceeded the total income of the poorest 20 percent of Americans, data in a new report by the Congressional Budget Office shows.

The poorest fifth of households had total income of $383.4 billion in 2005, while just the increase in income for the top 1 percent came to $524.8 billion, a figure 37 percent higher.

Just after the Civil War, the IRS noticed a similar phenomenon:

February 24, 1869
OUR WORKING CLASSES

How the Poor are Growing Poorer—The Wages of To-day Compared with those of Former Years—Comparative Prices of Food

“The rich become richer, the poor poorer,” by which expression Commissioner Wells, of the Internal Revenue Service, graphically pictured the condition of the American people generally, has a special application to New York. In no part of the country has wealth more rapidly accumulated and concentrated in the hands of the few – in the manner which we have shown in a former paper—or poverty become so general and extended, as in this City. Nowhere are the poor becoming more rapidly poorer than in the wealthiest City of the Union.

This is, as some argue, undoubtedly due to the fact that against all reason and their own interests the laboring classes insist on adopting mechanical rather than agricultural pursuits, and in search of occupation in these branches crowd into large cities instead of remaining in the rural districts, where, if wages are less, the cost of living is also proportionally less. The labor market of many mechanical branches in this City is often glutted—there is no denying that, and at this time of numerous strikes in various branches of industry, this oversupply of labor is a principal source of trouble, and the cause of non-success of many strikes,

Millions and Billions

Despite our current economic volatility, billionaires are in no danger of winding up on the endangered species list. For all the world’s problems, they are cropping up everywhere – even in once impoverished nations.

From an article in today’s Times under the headline "A New Breed of Billionaire,"

The global wealth boom has created a new breed of billionaire in once-destitute countries like Turkey, India, Mexico and Russia. Propelled by their rising economies, robust currencies and globally competitive companies, they have ridden a surge in local stock markets that have reached previously untouchable heights in a short five-year time frame. Now, a number of them are using their wealth to bolster their standing and push for social changes.

In 1963, the Times marveled at a similar development – the rapidly growing fraternity of millionaires. But these new rich weren’t international so much as invisible. It seems people have been complaining for 44 years that being a millionaire isn’t what it used to be.

September 15, 1963
OUR 398 MILLIONAIRES – A NEW BREED

BY ALVIN SHUSTER

WASHINGTON—It was easy in the old days to tell the millionaire from the rest of us.

He had that private railroad car, courted Lillian Russell and assorted French actresses, imported chefs from Paris to prepare 20-course meals to be served on gold plates, swam in pools of white Venetian tile or Carrara marble, built “cottages” with 110 rooms and 45 baths and owned a Nile steamer just in case he went to Egypt.

Not so of the millionaires of today. They live well, but for the most part, quietly, without the flamboyance of their predecessors. A few even live in the house with the 100-foot lot they bought 15 years ago before they hit it big. With a few exceptions, most are a little shy about it all. And even though one of their kind reached the White House by popular demand, many still feel ill at ease when publicly identified as “a millionaire.”

The article goes on to note that many of the nation's 398 millionaires somehow manage to pay zero taxes, but they do pay an average alimony of $24,000 a year. Like the international billionaires in today’s story, many are philanthropic – giving 15 percent of their incomes to charity, however some gave fewer than $100.

Out elderly for good behavior

It seems there is no prison for old men. Apparently if you can survive into your 80s or 90s in the pen, your chances of getting freed dramatically increase.

From today's Times:

New York Frees Oldest Inmate

By SAM ROBERTS

Charles E. Friedgood, who at 89 had been the oldest inmate in a New York State prison, was released on Tuesday and granted permission to live with a sister in Florida, where a daughter also lives, the State Parole Board said on Wednesday.

Granted, Friedgood -- who has the perfect name for this story -- is terminally ill. But there seems to be a long tradition of kicking the aged out on the street.

June 24, 1916
SING SING’S OLDEST INMATE FREE

OSSINING, N.Y., June 23.—Joel C. Rundle, who is 75 years old and the oldest inmate of Sing Sing Prison, was pardoned today by Governor Whitman. Rundle had served eighteen years for killing a neighbor in Orange County and his pardon was sought by ex-Alderman A.H. Tompkins of Yonkers, who was a G.A.R. comrade of the old man. Governor Whitman also pardoned John E. Anhut, once lawyer for Harry Thaw, who was convicted of having tried to bribe officials to let Thaw escape from Matteawan. Anhut was paroled some time ago.

This next story reminded me of the film "The Shawshank redemption," when the character Brooks is released in old age but finds he has no place in the outside world.

May 30, 1924
PAROLED AT 80 IN VAIN

Warrant served on Sing Sing’s oldest Inmate—40 years behind bars

OSSINING, May 29.—Just after a a parole was ordered this afternoon for William De Witt, 80-year-old negro, Sing Sing’s oldest prisoner, a warrant for his arrest was lodged with the prison authorities by the Westchester County Court.

During the last sixty years De Witt has served twenty terms in various penal institutions in New York State for larceny. Since he was first sentenced in 1863 to the House of Refuge, New York City, he has spent more than forty years behind bars.

He now faces a charge of grand larceny in connection with a poor-box robbery in White Plains.

Logan's Runway

Pilots have been fighting mandatory retirement at age 60 since the measure was approved in 1960. But in a boost for grayer skies, the House of Representatives yesterday voted to raise the age at which all aviators will be grounded to 65. From today's Times:

House Votes to Raise Pilot Retirement Age
By AP

The House voted unanimously to extend the retirement age for commercial pilots to 65, changing a 1960 Federal Aviation Administration regulation forcing pilots to leave the cockpit at age 60. The bill, if approved by the Senate, would put the retirement age in line with international standards. The International Civil Aviation Organization adopted a retirement age of 65 in November 2006. The House measure would require pilots ages 60 and above to have a medical certificate renewed every six months and to take a flight test known as a line check every six months.

But pilots and the FAA, acknowledging that not everyone ages equally, had considered a similar extension back in 1962. Mandatory medical testing would be required, just as it is under the current legislation.

March 11, 1962
STUDY MAY EASE REQUIREMENT THAT AIRLINE PILOTS RETIRE AT 60

Some airline pilots may be able to keep their jobs beyond the current mandatory retirement age of 60 because of a Federal Aviation Agency medical research program.

“This program is specially designed to study man’s aging process and develop individual standards based on each pilot’s physical condition,” according to Najeeb E. Halaby, the F.A.A. Administrator.

“When these criteria are established,” he went on, “the agency will be able to tailor a retirement standard for each pilot instead of requiring all to quit flying at the age of 70 when present medical statistics indicate it is generally prudent.”

The endless jam

The war on traffic has been raging for the better part of a century to no avail. But rather than resign ourselves to perpetual gridlock, city officials press on.

Congestion pricing, whereby drivers are charged a premium to enter Manhattan, is the panacea of the moment. But according to today's Times there are a slew of wacky ideas brewing to supplement the charge, ranging from prohibiting taxis from picking up street hails to jacking up the cost of parking, which is said to be too cheap.

Ways to Cut City Traffic? Well, Maybe

By WILLIAM NEUMAN

You wouldn’t be able to hail a cab in Manhattan below 86th Street, where cabs would be allowed to pick up passengers only at taxi stands scattered throughout the area.

You wouldn’t be able to drive in Manhattan on the 5th, the 15th or the 25th of every month if your license plate ends in a 5. And parking on the street would cost you as much as parking in a garage.

These are some of the proposals under consideration by the state commission evaluating how best to combat traffic in Manhattan. The ideas may seem fanciful, futuristic or simply far-fetched.

But as long as automobiles have been trolling the streets there has been traffic -- and no shortage of ideas for ending it. In 1929, there were too many, too costly ideas.

January 10,1929
ASKS TRAFFIC BOARD TO BAR COSTLY IDEAS

Banham says 200 proposals already received would involve $2,000,000,000

Warns city lacks funds

Using streets more at night and removing obstructions would help, he tells trade board

The work of the citizens’ traffic committee should be limited to an improvement of present traffic facilities and should not be concerned with solutions requiring additional facilities, declared W.J.L. Banham, president of the New York Board of Trade, Inc., yesterday at the monthly meeting of the organization at 15 Park Row. He outlined some of the suggestions he will lay before the committee on plan and scope today.

Mr. Banham, who is head of the citizens’ traffic committee, said that the committee had 200 plans for street traffic solution which would cost at least $2,000,000,000 to put into effect. Since the city has no money available to carry out the proposals, he urged that those things be done which involve no expenditure of large sums. In this connection, he mentioned garbage and ash removal at night, of obstructions from sidewalks, and reducing the number of street openings.

A couple of years later, the doom and gloom traffic experts made an argument that could be used verbatim today.

January 20, 1931
M’ANENY ASKS SPEED ON SOUND CITY PLAN

“Creeping Paralysis” can be avoided only if city acts at once, he declares.

Cost of traffic jams and other present conditions put at $1,000,000 a day.

Unless New York City adopts quickly a fundamental, scientific plan providing for a growth which will give the metropolitan area a population of 21,000,000 within thirty-five years, “creeping paralysis” will overtake it, George McAneny, president of the Regional Plan Association, told a meeting of the New York Credit Men’s Association at the Commodore last night.

Parking and its relationship to traffic was and still is of utmost concern. After the jump, read about two attempts to improve congestion by making it harder to park which are not unlike those currently on the table...