Open Thread Wednesday 3/26/14

By on March 26, 2014 8:40 am in Brooklyn Heights

What’s on your mind? Comment away!

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  • MonroeOrange

    I answered it a million times already….but you seem to need a little help…..

    They raised $41m (m stands for millions) from sponsorship with citibank. They had 100,000 annual memberships at $100 a pop, thats another $10m, plus daily ridership, which probably added another $5m…so lets do the math, ill help you….that’s a min of $56 MILLION in less than a year. Thats a min of $7,000 per bike! Now they need more money to continue the program.

    There is your proof!

  • DIBS

    As big of a jerk as he is, I think he’s got you there Eddyde!!!!!! The math isn’t that hard.

  • MonroeOrange

    ill take that as a compliment…thanks!

  • David on Middagh

    Ah, I’m sorry to hear about the tree. I’m a tree-hugger myself, for all the reasons you mention. Trees make all the difference.

    Years ago, my father had a great birch in his backyard taken down, much to the consternation of his children. It was leaning toward the roof, and he was afraid it was near the end of its ability to stay upright in a storm.

    The tree in the courtyard of 145 Hicks, which was just wonderful, came crashing through a brick wall and into the renovation across the street from it after a soaking rain followed by a windstorm. I wonder if someone here was trying to preserve fence/porch/etc. I don’t think that would be enough for *me* to want the tree down, but it’s hard to tell some things from one picture.

    (Don’t pay attention to DIBS; he’s been kicked off other boards, but the moderator here has too soft a heart to do that.)

  • Eddyde

    As I said above; Without a financial report you cannot make any valid judgement that Citibike “wasted” funds. All you have is hyperbole.
    Your figure of $7k per bike is meaningless, as it does not account for any of Citibikes other expenses. To name a few: docking stations, spare parts, trucks, maintenance facilities, management offices, customer service facilities, staff, legal fees, insurance, consulting fees, etcetera…
    The start-up costs must have been enormous and they did suffer a huge loss of equipment from Hurricane Sandy.
    Also, I seriously doubt Citibank would have donated that much money with out complete financial disclosure from Citibike.

  • Eddyde

    He’s got nothing, see above.
    Besides, I really don’t give a rat’s-ass what MO “thinks”. I counter his hyperbolic, bias attacks on Citibike with logic and facts, for the sake of reason.

  • David on Middagh

    I’ve taken the stairs. It’s doable. It’s good exercise. But if you’re squeamish or easily spooked by homeless people escaping the cold, take a friend.

  • PistachioPony

    Thank you for your kind words David. Yeah I like to think it was a danger or sick and had to come down.
    It just made such an impression on me to realize how a tree could impact so much around it. It made me sad that I would no longer sit on my sill with a coffee and be amazed by a woodpecker or cardinal. I mean for a city girl that was so wonderful and special. And I thought of all the folks that now had a view of the neighbor instead of a big tree. And of all the animals..it was sad to see the squirrel today sitting on top looking like, “What the hell happened here!?” I am certain its demise lowered the value of all the homes around it. The area lost some of that Brooklyn Heights charm that we all cherish and I felt compelled to reach out to my neighbors just to share my feelings and maybe also to remind us how important the flora is to Brooklyn Heights. And how when a neighbor’s tree dies, it affects us all.

  • Karl Junkersfeld

    Buckwheat Blueberry pancakes with bacon

  • Eddyde

    The rumor on those elevators is: they are Navy surplus that were supposed to be used in an aircraft carrier for transporting the flight crew from the briefing room to the flight deck. Specific spare parts are nonexistent, so they must be custom made and thus repairs can take longer than usual.

  • Eddyde

    You forgot to mention the stench of stale urine. bo and feces.

  • Davidsoul

    Ha, uh, sure. I’ve been here for 13 years now, which is long enough to work in offices and live in apartments with elevators that don’t take 3 weeks to fix. I think by all metrics, that’s a little excessive.

    But thanks for the condescending and useless comment. Eddyde, below, offered some insight so I’m glad I bothered to bring it up.

  • Davidsoul

    Ah, well, that explains it! Thanks for the elucidation.

  • mac

    I have to ask if Armando’s is under new management or am I just late to the party of people who know what a disappointment this place has become. Delivery portions are a complete joke, literally half of what they were in the past…while the prices have gone up. Have complained to the manager both times, and will no longer order from them…sorry to lose another option in the neighborhood.

  • MonroeOrange

    anytime David..anytime!

  • MonroeOrange

    you do not such thing…my reasoning was sound…even DIBS agreed, who has no vested interest in seeing my point validated…but you clearly lack any basic understanding of building and maintaining a successful business.

  • Eddyde

    As I expected, You failed to implement the overhead into your silly financial analyses. as asked below.

  • MonroeOrange

    silly financial analysis? please tell me where the money went…the articles all state how the bikes and stations are poorly maintained, money certainly isn’t going to upkeep…

    you seem to question valid points….Why do they need more money!

    arguing with you is futile…have a nice day.. and good luck on doing your taxes, I can already tell, based on your lack of understanding even basic financial analysis, you will most likely be audited.

  • Eddyde

    Here you go again:

    Your figure of $7k per bike is meaningless, as it does not account for any of Citibikes other expenses. To name a few: docking stations, spare parts, trucks, maintenance facilities, management offices, customer service facilities, staff, legal fees, insurance, consulting fees, software development, website maintenance, etcetera…
    The start-up costs must have been enormous and they did suffer a huge loss of equipment from Hurricane Sandy.
    So please, calculate all those costs into your “proof”.

  • MonroeOrange

    “The simple presence of the Citibike logo is hardly considered advertising”

    The fact that you wrote the above, says all i need to know about your intelligence…its pointless to debate you bc you can’t comprehend anything logical or that has any thread of common sense.

  • Eddyde

    What a pathetic baby you are, you cannot make a valid counter point, so you resort to changing the topic.
    Again, please see above list of obvious overhead expenses Citibike must incur for the answer to where the money goes.

  • MonroeOrange

    i made many valid counter points…Another reader even said i made tons of valid points…just bc you chose to ignore those points is beyond me…

    I’m bored with you now.

  • Eddyde

    I didn’t ignore your points, I made stronger points against them, points you obviously cannot counter, an argument you cannot win. So you concede, wonderful.

  • Andrew Porter

    I was told that they were originally based on aircraft carrier technology, but in the most recent upgrades, the machinery was replaced with normal elevator guts.

  • Andrew Porter

    Wasn’t that tree—in the front garden of Mansion House—one of the rare Dutch Elms that had not succumbed to disease? The building’s management wanted to remove it, but residents fought them off, only to lose the battle when nature took its course.

  • Johnny Cakes

    Ditto.

  • Kit

    Last I knew the daughter of the original owner was running it. I’ve eaten there twice since it’s return (both times of which are now some time past) and will likely not return as the service we received both times was very poor.

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