As the lone JS employee who lives and works in New York City, I thought my first JS blog post should be a collection of a few random thoughts about NYC life, media, PR and basically anything even remotely related to the city that never sleeps. So here goes…
Eric O'Brien in snow on terrace
- It snowed about two feet in NYC last week. Two feet! Here I am on the terrace of JS NYC. Bottom line: I think Mother Nature needs a PR firm. She’s getting hammered for global warming, hurricanes, earthquakes, too much/little rain or snow and anything else even remotely tied to the Earth and its climate. I’ll keep an eye out for that RFP.
- The Wall Street Journal just announced that it’s starting a NYC metro section to better compete with the New York Times. This comes on the heels of it also adding more sports, fashion and cultural articles. Pretty soon, I think the WSJ will be a tabloid and start cannibalizing readers from that other News Corp bastion of pure journalism, The New York Post. Page Six, coming to a WSJ near you soon.
- For a city of about 8 million people, NYC is incredibly efficient. And, with a foot in the travel industry via our client Delta Air Lines, I occasionally marvel at the various transportation options available for local, domestic or international travel. Three major airports, at least two major regional train stations, an incredible subway/bus system and a highway/road system that isn’t great but is made better by good communication and well-planned synchronization. The other day, it took me about the same time to drive from 1st St to 65th St on 1st Ave in NYC as it did to go a few blocks on Piedmont Ave in Atlanta. Seriously?
- You need thick skin to be a politician in New York (a moral compass or even just some common sense would help too). Actually, you need thick skin just to follow the exploits of NY-area politicians. You can’t make this stuff up. Really. Spitzer, Paterson, Rangel and Monserrate. If you don’t know, just Google. It’s amazing that the Bloomberg train keeps rolling along. You have to give him credit for that.
That’s my take for now. Gotta go so I can grab a couple newspapers for my upcoming flight to a city with no earthquake worries, limited media/entertainment options, zero transportation issues and the best politicians around…Los Angeles. Kidding. Thoughts on the above or anything else going on in NYC? Do tell.
