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The cops drove by and paid no mind...
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"For years -- back when the laws in New York were a little less rigidly enforced -- a block resident named Mattie made sculpture installations there, and he'd let neighborhood kids in to play basketball. Since Mattie's death, the rat population has exploded and the pavement is riddled with burrows. The only purposes it serves these days are to skeeve block residents and to horrify the block's restaurant patrons (which might be amusing, but their horrified screams are obnoxiously loud). First Street Green (a group that includes block residents, artists, and others) has tried going through the proper channels to develop the lot into a simple sculpture park, with no success: Parks funds are nonexistent (Parks leaves rat poison once a month, and that's about it); the City isn't interested in setting aside money to develop it into a park because of its low profile; it can't become a resident-run Greenthumb garden because it's owned by the Department of Parks and Recreation. So we have two choices: It can stay like this forever, or we can raise the money ourselves to develop it."
Although we reporters are usually loath to admit this sort of thing, the release got my attention. It heralded a “barbershop and lounge mash-up,” casting the enterprise as “the ultimate experience in multitasking.”
“Not enough hours in the day for that much needed haircut?” it asked. “Has yet another social obligation cut into your grooming time?” Enter the Blind Barber, where you can socialize and groom simultaneously, or at least in rapid succession, under one roof. Get buzzed while getting buzzed. Combine hygiene with high jinks.