Damek.

Yesterday the NYC Council approved the Mayor’s waste plan which includes a highly-opposed marine transfer station here on the Upper East Side. Personally, I agree with this assessment. This will actually reduce the transit of garbage through the city’s streets by funneling Manhattan’s garbage to a couple of stations where they will be loaded onto barges and removed by water instead of by road. It’s not nice to the people living right next to the transfer stations, but they have to go somewhere. The garbage has to go somewhere. Until it gets reduced, of course. Conservation and waste reduction should be part of this plan, but I don’t see it yet. Still, I think this is a positive step forward towards communities taking responsibility for their waste. It might help even more if the garbage trucks going to the transfer station were routed up Park and Madison Avenues…

The new Greenmarket opened down the street from me today — we went to check it out and enjoy the literal fruits of Upper Green Side’s labor over the past few months. I took some photos of the event, which you can see in my post at Upper Green Side. Glenn also covered it at The Oil Drum NYC.

After that we’ve just been hanging out at home. We’re now on vacation, and although on Monday we’ll be checking into the Belvedere Hotel for our week-long “New York vacation,” this weekend we’re just trying to relax.

Later today we’ll be checking out a rum tasting at Vintage Grape, on 3rd Ave between 83rd & 84th. They’re doing Bacardi flavored rums (melon, raspberry, orange), from 4-7 pm.

But more importantly — oh no! Somebody’s peeking at you!

Why does this annoy me?

I’d always assumed they were legal, but apparently they’re not.

Temporary signage, whether on construction sidewalk sheds or on scrim that covers temporary work, must have a permit from the Department of Buildings and comply with the city’s zoning regulations on signage. Almost all oversized signs on buildings are illegal unless they are in Times Square or on Seventh Avenue at 34th Street. Houston Street is also by and large excepted from the regulations.

I wonder if 86th Street is largely excepted from the regs? In any case, I think I’ll heed their suggestion and start calling 311 “with the exact address of the building” when I see one.

We’re getting rid of our old dresser, now that we have a new one. We’re donating it to Salvation Army — admittedly because they’ll come pick it up.

Understandably, however, they won’t carry it down stairs from an apartment walkup. So we did that ourselves this morning. Not a problem, especially after we took out the drawers, cutting the weight in half…

But — what the fuck is wrong with people?

We leave it out for a minute while we go back up to get the drawers, and what do we find when we get back down? Some asshole has let their dog piss on it!

Seriously. What the fuck.

You can’t assume the world is your dog’s personal toilet, and you definitely can’t assume that everything left unattended on the sidewalk is trash. Especially a fucking dresser.

Whoever you are, thanks for giving us a great start to our day. Cretin.

ADDITIONAL: And within half an hour it was gone. No, not Salvation Army — somebody took it, despite the fact that we put a sign on it reading “No this isn’t for you, and it’s not for dogs to pee on.” Look, we have no problem with people taking furniture left out on the sidewalk; lots of furniture gets “recycled” that way in the city. But if you put something out and specifically say it’s not for people to take, why would they take it? I hope they’re happy; they stole from a charity.