Our entrepreneurial spirit

"In the biggest jump in a single month on record, New York City’s unemployment rate leapt to 8.1 percent from 6.9 percent in February, the State Labor Department reported on Thursday.

That rate matched the national unemployment rate for the month and reflected an unprecedented one-year rise from 4.4 percent a year earlier. The rapid deterioration of the city’s job market has erased the notion that the region could be insulated from the wave of job losses sweeping across America.

All told, there were about 335,000 unemployed people in the city, a number reached only once — briefly — in more than a decade. It is almost double the 175,000 city residents who were unemployed a year ago. Over the same period, the number of private-sector jobs in the city has dropped by almost 77,000, to 3.13 million, the report showed."

(The New York Times, March 26)

Today at 1:30 Tompkins Square Park hosts the Unemployment Olympics, which includes events such as Pin the Blame on the Bosses and the Fax Machine Toss.

Hmm, OK. The organizers seem to have good intentions here. Still, I'm not a big fan of "hey, it's a recession, let's have some fun"-type events and stories. And the Olympics seem a little -- this will get me in trouble with the EV Grieve HR Department -- youthful. And collegiate. And! It seems to weigh heavily toward the white collar, 9-to-5 crowd.

I know too many people -- particularly in the food-service industry and construction (the off-the-books types) -- who are reeling from the economy. I don't think they'll be in the mood to throw a fax machine.

Actually, everyone I know is suffering in some way. If these people I know didn't get laid off (such as someone in the EV Grieve household), their salary was cut. Or their hours/shifts/benefits were cut. You've all heard the horror stories.

In any event, throughout all this, I continue to see more and more fliers go up around the neighborhood in which people -- looking to supplement their incomes -- are offering their professional services. I appreciate the entrepreneurial spirit. At one point, I started noting all the different services that I saw being offered. But it just got to be too many. Yoga and pilates instruction. Personal trainer. Dog walker. Carpenter. Tax preparation. Photography. Break dancing(!). Magic. Apartment cleaning. Language lessons. Guitar lessons. (Mrs. Grieve swears that she saw an ad for Guitar Hero instructions.) Drum lessons. Piano lessons. Moving men with vans. Flier distribution. Home theater installation. Bicycle messenger. Personal safety. Gardening. Personal attendant. Etc., etc.

I could use some shelves in the apartment. And I'd like to improve my Spanish. And maybe learn to play the guitar. Of course, I can't afford it now.

Meanwhile, just a few of the fliers...(the chocolate and roses facial doesn't really count...I left it in for the hell of it...)

Why people move away

I've noticed a few more people than usual moving from the neighborhood. (Perhaps there's a reason for so many more men with vans signs.) Given the drop in some rentals, maybe these people are just moving a few blocks away to a building with better deals. Or maybe they lost everything and have to go bunk with a relative. Or maybe they came here during the heady days of, say, 2005 and figured to become the next Carrie Bradshaw. (Or at least have the chance to sit on her stoop!) I wish I could go up to these people and conduct exit interviews. Why are you moving? What will you miss about the neighborhood? What are you glad to be leaving behind? I'm always curious about this.

Luckily, I came across a blog written by a young professional living on the LES. After one year here, she is moving to another undisclosed neighborhood. Almost in answer to my questions, she provided a list of things she will miss and not miss about her apartment and the LES. Among the items:

Things I will miss:
--The gym. I hope I can still force myself to go to the gym when it isn’t in my building!
--My stainless steel stove
--Dry cleaning in the building
--The statue of Vladimir Lenin on top of the Red Square building. I can see him from my bed so I wake up to him with his right arm in the air every single morning.

Things I will not miss:
--The girls who scream, “Where’s my boyfriend!?” at 4 a.m. while leaving the Lower East Side bars on any given day
--The symphony of honking on Houston Street that forces me to sleep with earplugs
--The fresh vomit that I sometimes step over while leaving for [work] on any given day
--The smell of pickles from Katz Deli that I am forced to inhale when walking home every day
--The fact that there is not a close enough Starbucks
--The mural of Kiss on the brick wall on the bar across from my apartment

I guess that says it all.

Noted

Thanks to the tipster who pointed out an item that I had missed Friday: American Apparel is laying off hundreds of employees. We linked to a piece a few weeks back that claimed American Apparel was hiring.

Meanwhile! I didn't realize AA had vans. Do they deliver?

Ad of the day

On West Broadway. Just one of the four icons that Vans has chosen for this new campaign. Oh, and Motörhead's new album is out today.