The New Yorkers may be used to it (though a dozen or so discussed, if it was just to show the NYPD's strength or for a film), but I've never seen 34 patrol cars (all besides two with fashing lights), three unmarked cars, two policmen driven limousines, one police bus and one command bus.
Since they parked quite unphotogetic on Lexington Av/E42th, and since they didn't seem to like being photographed, this is the only pic I could take
I was so fascinated by that view that I nearly missed another one
Oh, cool! What a great shot with the blimp!
Walter, that sounds like a so-called "critical response surge". Here's an article about them from the July 29, 2004 edition of The New York Times. (I'm pasting in the whole article, rather than providing a link, because the article is so old you have to be a subscriber to have online access to it.)
80 Sirens Wailing, But Do Not Panic: This Is Only a Drill
By MICHAEL WILSON
Since its debut about a month ago, it has quickly become one of New York City's hottest acts for those lucky enough to catch a free, unannounced performance. Call it ''The Police Drive Fast! And Park!''
It goes something like this: On a typical block in, say, Midtown Manhattan, as many as 80 police cars quickly stream in out of nowhere, in neat rows, their lights and sirens going. The drills seem to take place on blocks with restricted parking, and each car executes a fast back-in parking job against the curb.
Sometimes, depending on the block, they park perpendicular to the curb; sometimes at a slant. The officers -- scores of them -- get out of the cars. They do not rush into a building. They do not draw their guns. They pretty much just stand around for half an hour or so. Then, officers pile back into their cars and, again in perfect formation, the cars pull away from the curb and drive off.
The drills, held almost daily and coming just weeks before the Republican National Convention, are alternately impressive, alarming and even amusing, but within the Police Department, they are deadly serious -- so serious that Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly refused to divulge details.
''It's part of a counterterrorism overlay that is tweaked from time to time, based on conditions and intelligence,'' said a police spokesman, Paul J. Browne. Suffice it to say that police vehicles are practicing moving quickly through the city en masse.
It is unclear whether the drills are part of the department's much-publicized counterterrorism operations, including Hercules, Samson and Atlas.
Yesterday's drill began at 10:30 a.m. along two blocks of 59th Street that are usually the turf of horse-drawn carriages and the uniformed doormen of the Plaza Hotel. Suddenly, a flying column of squad cars quickly filled the entire north curb, their trunks facing Central Park. It clearly rattled some pedestrians. ''What is going on here?'' Atle Holm, an avionics engineer visiting from Norway, asked no one in particular. ''I would like to know.''
Wouldn't we all, Mr. Holm. Wouldn't we all.
The strange, oddly balletic exercises in motion and stillness have their own sort-of-cool name: critical response surges. Mr. Browne would not say how many vehicles participated in a surge, or how often (''frequently,'' he said), or whether the surges were in preparation for the Republican National Convention (''not exclusively'') or if they would continue after it was over (''they may'').
''I'm being purposely circumspect,'' Mr. Browne said. He allowed that different locations call for different kinds of surges, and that sometimes there are surges within surges, when a small group of cars within the larger group splits off.
Moving several dozen cars from one place to another quickly in Manhattan takes work. ''It's the fifth or sixth time they've done it,'' said Ryan Rzepecki, 25, a carriage driver, referring to the 59th Street activity yesterday.
Earlier yesterday, there was a drill on the Upper East Side outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art. On Monday, police cars mysteriously appeared outside several news organizations, including the New York Times building.
Outside Central Park yesterday, there were almost as many theories as parked police cars.
''We thought it was dignitaries being transported in and out,'' said Georgia Staab, visiting from Santa Barbara, Calif.
''I thought maybe some Democrats got lost,'' said her companion, Chip Oxton.
A woman hurried past officers from the heavily armed Emergency Services Unit, talking into her cellphone: ''I don't know. They have machine guns ''
Indeed, what must a surge look like to a tourist? Do the police turn out like this for every little thing? Is there really any place safer than New York? Roger and Ann Wright, visiting the city for the first time with their children, asked one of the officers what was up.
''He said they all gather at one point and then swarm an area,'' Mrs. Wright said the officer told her. ''See if there's any terrorist activity going on.''
Ralf Borchardt, a tourist from Germany, puffed a cigarette while his 6-year-old son, Garth, stared at an officer's automatic rifle. ''He just wanted to know how far they can shoot,'' Mr. Borchardt said. ''They said 300 yards, maybe 600. That's quite a lot.''
In typical fashion, New Yorkers were less impressed. Several marched quickly by, seemingly oblivious to the surge. A 16-year-old from White Plains, Omega Spikes, studied the precinct numbers on the cars. ''They're from the 20th Precinct to the 76th,'' he said conspiratorially. (Actually, a full-sized surge can have cars from all 76 precincts.)
His girlfriend, Daniqua Gallier, 17, said she had the creeps. ''I felt weird, like something was really going wrong. Like there were terrorists around,'' she said.
Mark Luehrs, 50, a sanitation worker, went right on sweeping the streets around the surge. ''You know,'' he said, ''if you're going to have a drill, you better have it on clean streets, right?''
At the edge of the park, Mohammed A. Hossain, a food vendor, sold pretzels and hot dogs from his cart, with no idea what was going on. ''I ask one time,'' Mr. Hossain recalled. ''He say, 'I don't know.' Policeman!'' Mr. Hossain offered his impression of a surge with hand motions. ''Just moving -- 'This way! This way!'''
The surge was not good for the sightseeing bus tours that leave from 59th Street, but Juan Caceres, who passes out fliers and sells tickets, did not seem to mind, sitting back to watch his fifth or sixth surge. The first one, he remembered, lasted 90 minutes.
''They're getting a little faster,'' he said.
You never stop learning, even after school and even if it is horse betting or ...
(Sawn at Barnes & Noble, Union Square)
What purpose do blimps serve?
Farmerman, Blimps? They can fly a lot lower than planes. They are quiet. And, they look like fun.
farmerman wrote:What purpose do blimps serve?
They can fly slow. They can fly low. You can write on them. Oh, I don't know, they just look cool.
Farmerman, Great to see ya again...
Well, I think helicopters can fly lower and slower than blimps any day of the year...... But, maybe not for so long - drats.....
A helicopter advertising Goodyear Tires just wouldn't have the same panache.
Yeah, but, a Huey advertising Michelin tires would fit right in - good old Vietnamese rubber.
edit
And, now maybe Firestone or the other "old" American brand, Goodyear, or whatever, bought out by Michelin....... edit = I just looked and BOTH are overseas now.
Hey, that's business.
Nothing personal.
Besides, on my van I have Michelin tires. I like them.
And, plan to have them on my "Chrysler" automobile within a few weeks.
Now, that's business in the global sense.
:wink:
both the Empress and I had a bit of a mutter that we didn't really get into New York street food on this trip
and then New York Mag publishes
The Concrete EliteQuote:New York's twenty best food carts ranked, in order.
We'll be back. We've got work to do!
That's a nice article. Gives me the wanderlust.
These vagabond shoes.....
One of my co-workers came back from New York yesterday - after hearing about her weekend of adventures ... I wanna go baaaaaaack
EhBeth--
Perhaps in September? I'm also having withdrawal pangs.
So, how did you survive today's power blackout?
Beth, I ordered in from the Chirping Chicken. The chicken was supoib. The ribs ok, not great. We made a mistake ordering the cole slaw. The potato salad was out of this world. Baby potatoes (not cut up big potatoes) in a creamy dressing to die for.
Thought you'd wanna know for your next trip to the Big Apple.
Anyone hear from Lola and blatham lately ? They seem to have disappeared into the wilds of the Pacific Northwest.
I don't know what I am going to do this summer. I had had a scare this spring, and saw a local oncologist. (Everything was fine.......just my neuroticism getting the best of me).
I stilll want to see my doctor in NY (What I really want to do is GO to NY) but there has been so much happening in my life, that I don't know what I am going to do. I think that inertia has taken hold.
I haven't even been keeping up much with this thread, because I'm afraid that I would drool over my keyboard.
Hey Phoenix, wear a bib and drool. Wish you could visit. I hope your life gets less complicated.
