i was more than happy to oblige my friends, allowing my zeal for honesty and transparency to lead the way forward.

- – - – - – - – - – - – -

dear members of the board,

i am writing to express my unconditional support for roxanne denali-sampson and gabriel blomqvist regarding their prospective purchase of an apartment in your building.

for three years now, it has been a pleasure to call roxanne and gabriel my dear friends, during which time my wife and i have travelled with them on numerous occasions.

blessed with a remarkable curiosity and creative spirit, i am reminded on an almost daily basis of how lucky i am to have them not only as friends, but also as mentors and role models.

both roxanne and gabriel have impeccable taste, as evidenced by their outstanding collection of found objects that occupy virtually every inch of surface space in their home. no matter which way one looks, there’s always a visual indulgence that’s waiting to be discovered. there’s a stack of match books by the front door that reaches from the floor to the ceiling; while there’s also an immense sculpture made of plastic cafeteria forks. one of the lampshades has been fashioned out of previously-owned cling film food wrap. i love their collection of tall boy beer cans almost as much as i adore their collection of blue new york times newspaper bags.

yet it is gabriel who is truly the more entrepreneurial of the two. never one to turn down an opportunity to revive or repurpose those seemingly hopeless pieces of furniture that gabriel routinely picks up from the streets of the east village, he hauls them into their home, so that they can be lovingly restored. it is true that some of these revived objects are sold, often for a token amount, but gabriel so frequently falls in love with the results of his work that he and roxanne more often elect to keep their restoration projects, adding even more charm and distinction to their already unique home.

one example that springs to mind is the once-tattered couch that was rescued in freemans alley from a pack of stray dogs that were using it as their bed. i don’t know how long that couch was in that dank and forlorn alley, but let’s just say that it harboured a certain musky aroma that is truly difficult to describe, which suggests that the couch had been there for eons. now, months later, it looks almost as good as new, and it hardly ever smells of dog urine.

i should point out that this very couch has become our seat of honor whenever we visit them. we’ve become quite attached to it.

i’ve seen gabriel enthusiastically discover abandoned mattresses, and, bedbugs be damned, i’ve found several occasions to lend him a hand to bring them back to their apartment. at one point, they had so many mattresses in need of their tender loving care that they were compelled to temporarily stack them in the hallway outside their door – but gabriel worked night and day to painstakingly bring them back to life – and some six weeks later, he was finally done. he gave several of the mattresses away to his friends.

while gabriel’s generosity never fails to impress, it is roxanne’s creative spirit that sets her apart.

an avid fan of rhythmic music, we are frequently invited to participate in their elaborately choreographed drum circles that are hosted twice-weekly by roxanne. sometimes, we’ll play until four in the morning! i feel like i learn so much during these drumming sessions, as roxanne encourages all of her friends to really express themselves. sometimes, she leads by example through her use of unconventional objects to strike the drum. i recall an episode where, in a fit of creative genius, she suddenly grabbed the flower vase from the top of the bookshelf and smashed it over the conga, adding quite a yell for extra emphasis. i’ve ever heard such a tremendous sound. it was truly inspiring.

the source of her creativity is a subject that i’ve often speculated over, and i have concluded that it must have something to do with her being québécoise.

her creative energy extends to the kitchen. she really enjoys making home-made kombucha for themselves and all of their house guests, and so, whenever one enters the kitchen, the first thing one takes notice of are all of the oversized vats which contain what looks like liquid compost in various stages of fermentation. the yeasts and assorted bacteria that are cultivated in the vats generate quite a staunch aroma, but it really does add to the experience, and i wouldn’t want it any other way.

since roxanne and gabriel are so fond of collecting things, including friends (some of whom are such frequent guests that they should practically be paying rent, but roxie and gabes would never dream of asking them to do that), it should come as no surprise than they enjoy sharing their home with a wide variety of rescue animals. normally, they prefer to limit their merry coterie of critters to four or five dogs and no more than six or seven cats. they’ve also hosted a raccoon, a semi-paralyzed skunk, and three black squirrels (which gabriel encountered in nearby tompkins square park). as for the cats and dogs, sometimes, there are more, but this has a way of self-correcting as some of the animals simply wander off, never to be seen again. their loss! the animals, i mean, because who would want to leave a home that is so fantastic as theirs?

as there is such an abundance of adorable furry little friends which bring so much joy to their home, it is not unusual for some of them to partake in the drum circle. not only do some of the dogs enjoy a robust wail along with the humans who are doing their own drumming and shouting, but there was once a time when roxanne and gabriel babysat a proboscis monkey who brought the evening session to a stirring climax through his persistent shrieking and plant thrashing. yes, the proboscis monkey grabbed their ficus tree and used it as an improvised drumstick, employing the walls of the apartment as the drum’s surface!! i was amazed that the monkey was given the creative freedom to express himself like that, but that just shows you how remarkable roxanne and gabriel really are.

i can only offer them the very highest recommendation possible, and hope that the members of the co-op board will find them as delightful and resourceful as we do. perhaps you’ll have an opportunity to sample their kombucha. it’s simply delicious!

sincerely,

chance bliss

this morning, adriana and i discovered that we have very different approaches to coping with alternate side of the street parking rules here in new york city. anyone who parks their car on the street in this city knows that it is necessary to move the car at least once a week, to allow for street cleaning. some people have to move the car twice or three times a week.

though it is a routine aspect of living in new york, moving the car, or reparking (to identify this behaviour more accurately), can be quite a disruption, and considering that the first parking ticket is now upwards of $100, the consequences of neglecting this responsibility can even be quite severe.

since the car that we have is going to be used very infrequently, the question is: what is the best strategy to cope with the street parking rules?

after contemplating our differences on the matter, i decided to consult the oracles on the internet to see what i could learn.

two hours were invested into the research of different coping mechanisms with the experience of owning and parking a car in brooklyn, yet, in short, i failed to find much information that immediately addressed our simmering debate. i did, however, find valuable pieces of good sense, which i shall share further down below.

but now, i’d like to unveil the two competing philosophies of the day, as put forth by myself and by adriana, with the hopes that this might open up a useful discussion that can help us decide which tactic is best for us.

our approaches to street parking differ in the following ways:

since street cleaning only occurs twice a week on our street – and only once per side – i would rather move the car during the period in which the street is actually cleaned – with the idea that the car would only need to be moved once a week – and so i would plan an errand involving use of the car during the window in which one is not permitted to park on that side of the street, then return after the completion of the errand to find an available parking spot on the same block and same side of the street where the car was parked before (i.e. the home zone). with that, i would be done with having to worry about parking the car until the next street cleaning cycle, that is, until another 6 days and 22 hours. the advantage of this approach is that it is predictable and can be factored into one’s calendar as part of a regular weekly routine. the disadvantage is that it involves at least two hours of a weekday morning during working hours, which have to be dedicated to either running errands, or sitting in the car while conducting other kinds of business. another disadvantage is that one is each time dependent upon finding a parking spot in the home zone (the same general area, on the same side of the street), in order to stick with the routine.

adriana’s approach means parking the car wherever there is an available spot, regardless of whether or not she parks in the home zone, though presumably within a half-dozen blocks of the apartment, then moving the car each time it is necessary to accommodate the street cleaning rules. the advantage with this philosophy is that she parks wherever there is a spot available, and, in theory, there should be more spots available to suit her needs so she would spend less time looking for parking spaces. the disadvantage is that the car will have to be moved more times during the course of the week – because it will likely be parked in zones that have different “no parking” hours than the home zone on our street. using this approach will require greater awareness of the street cleaning times, in order to avoid tickets and towing, and because of that, it will most likely involve more frequent re-parking of the car and a higher likelihood of parking tickets.

with regards to those two hours of research spent online, perusing forums and blogs, i did find other nuggets of wisdom as it relates to parking and owning a car in the fair city of brooklyn. here is what i have distilled:

* primo spot is a website service that will help you find street parking as it becomes available in your neighborhood, provided that you live in new york city; http://primospot.com/

* it seems like a fair amount of people in brooklyn heights / cobble hill have not had issues with car theft or property damage to their car.

* that said, a common refrain is that it is a good idea to have a vehicle recovery system (lo-jack or similar) in the car, “even if it’s in a garage in the city, since many insurance companies take that into account in determining any discounts. it might be worth the investment since it would pay for itself in the reduced premium increase you will have in keeping the car in the city.”

* “the city is very harsh on cars, even if they’re just sitting parked. invariably you come out to find it with a new dent, trash on it, even someone living in it.”

* “if you don’t really have to drive in new york, don’t. get the professionals to do it for you – a cab, a car service – or at the very least, a friend or relative who is a local.”

* “free curb side parking in brooklyn is not the best thing. i’ve been broken into twice in the last 4 years. and if you live in a neighborhood like cobble hill, you will NEVER find a spot unless you come home from work EARLY and not move your car until the next day.”

* “If you leave it on the streets you will end up having to move it constantly with alternate side of the street parking, you may end up paying more in tickets than you would for a garage, i GUARANTEE it will get dinged up very quickly, and then there is always the risk of theft and vandalism.”

* a couple in their early 40s, living in brooklyn, with perfect driving records, excellent credit, and a ‘boring’ vehicle will pay a minimum of about $1700 per year in car insurance, based on what i’ve deciphered. paying upwards of $2000-$3000 per year is not unusual.

* technology is currently being developed that will allow parking meters to enforce themselves. parking meters of the future will be able to automatically generate parking tickets; recognize when a vehicle has left a parking space so that the meter time can be reset to zero; recognize when a vehicle has exceeded the time limit so that the meter cannot be fed. that is pretty intimidating.

* finally, according to the new york times, several studies have found that cruising for curb parking generates about 30 percent of the traffic in central business districts. “in a recent survey conducted by bruce schaller in the soho district in manhattan, 28 percent of drivers interviewed while they were stopped at traffic lights said they were searching for curb parking. a similar study conducted by transportation alternatives in the park slope neighborhood in brooklyn found that 45 percent of drivers were cruising.

over the course of a year, the search for curb parking in this district created about 950,000 excess vehicle miles of travel — equivalent to 38 trips around the earth, or four trips to the moon. and here’s another inconvenient truth about under priced curb parking: cruising those 950,000 miles wastes 47,000 gallons of gas and produces 730 tons of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. if all this happens in one small business district, imagine the cumulative effect of all cruising in the united states.

what causes this astonishing waste? as is often the case, the prices are wrong. a national study of downtown parking found that the average price of curb parking is only 20 percent that of parking in a garage, giving drivers a strong incentive to cruise. as george costanza once said on “seinfeld”: “my father never paid for parking, my mother, my brother, nobody. … it’s like going to a prostitute. why should i pay when, if i apply myself, maybe i could get it for free?”

like george costanza, drivers often compare parking at the curb to parking in a garage and decide that the price of garage parking is too high. but the truth is that the price of curb parking is too low. under priced curb spaces are like rent-controlled apartments: hard to find and, once you do, crazy to give up. this increases the time costs (and therefore the congestion and pollution costs) of cruising.

and, like rent-controlled apartments, under priced curb spaces go to the lucky more often than they do to the deserving. while the car owner with good timing can enjoy his space free or cheaply for hours or days, others who are late for a meeting or a job interview are left to circle the block, making themselves — and other drivers — miserable. the solution is to set the right price for curb parking.”

- – - – -

and now, i’d like to open up the panel for discussion and your contribution.

i’ve come to detest good-byes and over the years and years, i’ve done my best to avoid them.

then again, considering my life that is divided between apartments in three cities (which means that i am often in transit, i am often saying hello, often saying good-bye), i am routinely confronted with a ritual that generates a lot of anxiety in me. i comfort myself, however, with the thought that no good-bye is permanent. the beautiful lie that i’ve purchased over the years is that most of my good-byes are “good-bye for now. i’ll see you soon.”

and so, it is with this thought i mind that i am now about to say “good-bye for now, los angeles. i will see you soon.” and i will also say “good-bye for now, san francisco. see you sometime soon.”

if you are reading this, then you are part of a limited audience who is among the first to know. i’m still getting around to telling my friends who live here in los angeles. i’m telling them face-to-face. not by phone, nor by email. when i’ve told my friends here in los angeles, then i will tell the rest of my friends by way of a more general announcement.

we’re moving to new york city. we’re moving back to new york city. it may be short term. it will likely be at least a year. it might be two.

the decision was made a few days ago, though it’s been in the works for well over two months. we’ve already given notice on our apartments. we’re leaving in a few weeks.

new york city is where it all began for me. the city was not my first love, but it was the first city that i lived in as an adult. it was the first city that quenched my thirst for the gorgeous cacophony of urban living.

i did not expect to return to new york right now, in this way, but when i left new york after my first stint (back in 1993), i had a feeling that i would be back.

i lived in the east village and alphabet city during the late eighties, moving up (geographically and socially) to the more central parts of the village by 1990. i went to university back then. i left new york city when i was done with school and could no longer enjoy living in the urban chaos.

but a part of me needed to return to prove myself. i was not done with new york.

ironically, this is similar to how i feel about los angeles.

i’m not done with los angeles. this city is meant to be my long-term home. i want to live in the shining slum by the sea – the venice that i have dreamed of, the dream that i have tasted and lived in, in fits and starts, bits and pieces, for the last two somewhat discordant years.

for all of its faults, i really adore venice. it is a wonderful city to wake up to. and los angeles still fascinates me. for all of its clamor, bluster, wasted space and clogged arteries, the city is filled with surprises, beauty, generosity, creative zeal, compassion and slow-burning humour.

the move to new york city is the right move. it brings into harmony several different streams that had been diverging for too long.

even though the last few years have been fulfilling and filled with adventure, by moving to new york, adriana and i will finally be able to reestablish a way of living that has been missing for many years.

taking into account the way that we live our lives today, the shortest explanation for why we are choosing new york is the belief that by moving there, we will move closer to returning to los angeles on a full-time basis. there are many compelling reasons for why and how this is the case.

the most difficult part is the leaving.

there’s a community of friends and colleagues in los angeles whose daily presence i will greatly miss. i find it hard to stomache the thought of leaving these people and their lives that i have enjoyed the privilege of sharing in.

over the last two months, i have slowly become increasingly aware of the limited numbers of days and hours that i have left to enjoy this city, during this particular time of my life.

i’ve been reminded of how nothing lasts, nothing really endures. time is always in such short supply, and i’ve wondered about the time lost to idle thoughts and inactivities. suddenly, i have a long list of unfulfilled tasks and pleasures that need to be experienced before turning east.

highest on the list is time to be spent with friends. so that’s where i’m going to be for the next few weeks. until then, i’ll see you later.