Transcripts For CSPAN3 Josh 20240704

Josh saipan is a veteran Media Executive and author. As past ceo of amc networks. Hes credited and with some of my favorite credited with building some of televisions most iconic shows, including mad men breaking portlandia, killing eve. Okay, listen, husband binge watched, killing i dont know, four way too long. It was like crazy i almost got him a therapist, but it was good. It was really good. He also oversaw the spinoff of amc network from cable vision to become a publicly traded company on nasdaq, most recently, he published the third act, a book that celebrates aging in all its accomplishments and grace. And tonight he is selling all these books outside and hes donating proceeds to the green space. So after the program, if you have purchased a book, please go and get a signed copy. Hell be signing copies and giving us this money, which we need to support. Third are journalism and media that sparks change. Ladies and gentlemen, join in welcoming the incredible josh. Thank you guys all for coming out. Thanks to christina. She is you heard. Whats up here . Its actually pretty i think the curation and the sort of audacious innovation she and her group do is really quite remarkable. I think its theres nothing done like it anywhere that i know of. Kate schlesinger, jennifer, sandro, amber. Right. Work together. And they are responsible for the crazy, wild unrestricted stuff that occurs here that i think occurs almost nowhere. Theres crew from cspan here recording for booktv. So thank you coming down and i thanks thank eden eli im especially for helping me put all this. And there is a new president at wnyc whose is la fontaine, oliver and he is just a spectacular human being. And he joined rather and everybody, when theres a human in the house, illuminates everybody. It just spreads interest and motivation and intrigue and, the desire to do more. And that is la fontaine. So thank you for being the new guy in. Its really a thrill to. Have you so christina mentioned what well tonight were having three new yorkers who have had i think i should give this away as my thank you so much and were having a real positive impact on new york city in their multiple acts. Im going to introduce individually, if i may, and then we can have conversation. So ill start with a woman named hope harley. She worked at verizon for decades. So she was a career corporate career and she grew up in brooklyn and liked the brooklyn museum. She didnt like that. The bronx, the only borough that didnt have a museum. So shes indefatigable and out to open the bronx Childrens Museum and began just with a sketch and paper and then there was a touring bus. And then finally i know if you read about a big article in the times a few months ago the bronx Childrens Museum opened in the south bronx, 13,000 square feet that does look magnificent. And she of willed it into existence just amazing and im. And i just want to say this by way you know i was like oh, a minute, hang on. Theres a line. Wait a minute ill say, what are the things . Okay, so, you know, ive been out talking about this book and doing all this stuff and so she and i were on a tv show together on morning. And so we do the whole thing. Then we go to the green room and i thought, god that womans awfully good on television know. And i work in tv and i sort of thought she seems like a bit of a ringer and i said you seemed extraordinarily comfortable on television sort of how did you get that way . And she said, well when i retired from verizon i took acting classes. Im shes, you know, the exact same age. So i was counting. So would put her in her sixties and so shes doing now summer stock every i went home and asked said told this to my wife and she said yeah shes on the commercial and heavy rotation and its the amtrak spot so so hope harley a third, fourth and fifth act. Id like to ask to come out hope harley. Oh, take third one. Thank you so much. So i dont know. You guys know the name david rothenberg. Yeah. I think new york legend. So, you know, this is a wild story. Was a theatrical agent and a broadway producer and was a social related with the original production of hair. And then Richard Burton and hamlet and some 200 other plays. Forgive my back being you and this is just its such a cool story. He then did a play by a man named john herbert who had been incarcerated and wrote a play afterwards and it was called the fortune in eyes and. It was about people who were previously imprisoned and that play from a play, a piece of fiction to the founding under davids leadership 55 years ago to the Fortune Society. And if you dont know what Fortune Society is for some of you just im going to mention two things about it. I think its mentioning fortune provides, housing and a range of services for men, women who are previously incarcerated. I was introduced it by gordon edelstein. My friend, the director whos here. We went to the castle, the facility in harlem, and i was blown away. And then through the good offices of ashley otto, i to know the queens facility. And theres a man here named leonard tao. Just have to say it. Who . Im so thrilled to see who, by the way, is in the book. And lens over there and. Among a few other len does extraordinary work with people who in prison and with moms who have who are incarcerated and who have kids are outside of prison and with theater programing in prison, i wont go on too long. So, david has a weekly show on wbay david has written books david is writing short stories right now. Id like to welcome david rothenberg. Okay so joe lo to pave the way for him to be the first in his family to go to college at georgetown university. And then he went to harvard and after graduating he worked wall street and Corporate Finance where we met. And i came to know joe and to his skill and actually to particularly his ethics. Its hard track, his career in many in Public Service. He deputy mayor of new york he was head of the mta i think two times hes current work as the vice dean and ceo of nyu langone hospital, not to mention he ran for republican mayor. And this is an interesting and amazing was endorsed every daily newspaper in new york including the new times so i dont know if youll recognize joe, but theres a documentary on Rudy Giuliani ive seen several times. And when 911 happened, rudy Rudy Giulianis on the phone. And the first thing he says is 911s all occurring. He says, get me to because joe was the man really the city. And wisely closed the new york city and then elevated some of the subway before Hurricane Sandy and he was affectionately and it goes to show his wonderful sense of humor and he embraced it known as the rats are because was the guy to get rid of rats in new york you cannot beat that man so welcome loaded. All right so i have some questions for these esteemed panelists and. Im going to start out with a question for everyone because this is sort of about a little bit about act and a little bit about new york. Oh, thank you so much. Thank you very much. And you its a question about what you do with your lives. And when you change your lives and what makes you want change your life and when you think im to do something different. So each you worked in private enterprise verizon theater, wall street wall street and cablevision right and went to work in Public Service and thats a bit of a big change generally lower compensated a bit. But i just would like to, if you dont mind, because its been on my mind way. I first with the book what made you and what it like to make the decision to do what you did in case with the museum. Well in my case its no compensation i mean because i though i do a lot of work for the museum. I did it as a volunteer, wasnt i . I never held the position. I serve on the board and was board president a number of years and. It wasnt a conscious. I i had gotten with the idea of the museum even before i left verizon, because it was part i had gotten, because it was part of my work i was in affairs and i managed the philanthropy budget that you know the bronx in supporting organizations in the bronx and was invited to a meeting about creating a Childrens Museum in the bronx. So it was kind of a activity. And then when i, i got involved and i retired, they automatically said, oh, now youre retired so were you know we have to create a board. Were getting our 523. Youll be the president. Okay. I didnt know what that meant so no, ive actually paid money to. Do this. Yeah, yeah, i really have. Its called reverse compensation. Its reversed. But ive been. A million times over. Im. Im just over. You know, with what weve created and the fact that that creation will outlive me, certainly. Its wonderful. So great. And david. Well, i never Fortune Society evolved was i had a Theater Office and the play was after a performance the play that i said we have the nucleus of an organization because a lot of formerly incarcerated people were coming after performance and so my office was, my Theater Office and guys who had done time were hanging there and as it grew, because the need was great, i, i often said id like drama more than i like theater. And i opted to go with fortune and i had to there was a period when i had two careers at once. One was paying me and, the other wasnt. And for three years, Fortune Society was, a volunteer organization and but need was so great and attica happened and we were the only game in town to do that. I mentioned it because you were a civilian observer of that. And one of the observers that went into the yard doing that, which i which is not part of theater preparation. So finding yourself in the yard at attica was know was all part of it and fortune grew dramatically. The need was so overwhelming. So what was never i never stopped at one point, said, this is what im going to what evolved. Can i just can i ask you because i you can ask me whatever you one. I was going to ask you who your Favorite Sports Team of all time was but i thought i should off on that my favorite whatever sports team of all time giants 51 beat the dodgers. But probably thompson hit a home run off branca. I asked him that question because didnt followed baseball until 1962. And i remember bobby was the second baseman to get ready for this in 1962. And he said, you mean, dr. Bobby richardson is what do you hell, youre talking about . He said he became a doctor after. He was a baseball player. So any kid knows that its a danger man. David rothenberg zidane jurist man, stay away from them. But can i just ask you because you you know, ive been to a fortune now at the castle with gordon and then i you know with in queens it no small little thing no huge its huge so and i walk through and im overwhelmed and. Its its incredible its incredible. But so if i may, how you watch you watch people reclaim their lives before your eyes. Theres nothing more exciting. Yeah, yeah. Okay, so, joe, so you were 15 years in Corporate Finance. You went to Harvard Business. That means you can make a lot of money. You worked at private enterprise with me. So swirled the hallways and there was a lot money around. And then suddenly you were in full on Public Service. So josh, it goes back to when i was really a little i always thought that i would be in both the private sector and the public sector. I mean, as a like an eight year old, you thought private sector like you always thought to have a job. And the other one. Look, my father was a cop. My my one grandfather was a firefighter. The one was a new york city taxicab driver. It was all in the you know, concept of Public Service, of some sort, another and in the process of it, i always thought that i would be doing something to help the city, new york. And so its been its in my blood. Its in the dna. Yeah, i believe as time went on, as you mentioned, i went to harvard. I went to Harvard Business school. I actually believe in the revolving door. A lot of people dont between the government and the private, neither one of them understand each other. And i really believe that, you know, the more the government understands the private sector and the more that the private sector understands, how the government operates, the better off the country is going to be because a whole lot where theyre in conflict with each other and its unnecessary. And so, you know, ive enjoyed the ability to be able to go back and forth and yes during a period of time making money and during a period of time not making so much money. My wife is here, she explained how that happened. And so, yeah, i think its important but i do think, you know, thats all of this, you know, part of this American Dream you got to give something back. How wonderful. Hey, just i cant help but ask you, between deputy mayor during 911 where you really were the ground and the central person arguably or a central person and, the mta, which seems to be a sort of quasi impossible task, what were have you found the greatest satisfaction in Public Service . Oh, you know. Theyre both quite unique. I mean, i seem to be a magnet for disaster. So whenever, whenever things tend to happen, including pandemic so being in a hospital at the same time should never happen. So i think the sad the, you know, the greatest satisfaction i get is to seeing a job done and being done right. I think the the storm sandy was by far i think the thing that was the best in that most people tend to forget this but you mentioned it in the introduction the subways you know we were able to get the subway system out of it, out of the way of the water that came into the Lower Manhattan. Does that mean. I dont really. You said that back there. The subway system out of the way of the what we what we you know, a couple of things. We all knew the water was coming. We all knew that we needed to protect system as much as possible. We took the switches in Lower Manhattan out one at a time put them on the last train, tagged them, put them on the last train, took the switches are basically the control mechanism. So know where the trains are. That helps with the speed, etc. Put them on the list train and then took the trains, put them on higher ground. Either put them the bronx away from the water, high up as possible, or in queens as high as possible. So when the water came in, it made you remember to see the pictures that flooded Lower Manhattan. Once we got the water out, we put the switches in and turned it on. Most people remember, it happened on a tuesday. The subway system back up and running on thursday. The city of new york is a its a miracle how things operate here. But you plan accordingly. It can it can work. Yeah, it is amazing, by the way, by the way, theres one other part of that that story i think is critically important. And it says something about how the operates. The person who told me how to do that was a union worker. Yeah, we had a we a tabletop exercise as to what would happen if there was Something Like you know sandy what happened and the did come up because we knew what Climate Change this was going to happen so we went to this tabletop exercise the very first one that we had, there were no union at the table with all these white and management there and i basically said, guys, whos going to do the work right . We need to have labor here at the table and you know, management like that. But we eventually had another tabletop exercise and in the process of it one of these labor who was a union member, member of the local 100, basically shaking his head, saying, if we dont take the switches, were not going to get the system back up and, running for at least 6 to 7 months. The reality was he described to me exactly what needs what needed to happen if we went down to a station. He me exactly how to do it. And we followed it step by step. Well, we what he said and because of him the system came back up again. So you got to listen to the guys street and thats sort of amazing. Its for the story. It is. It is quite a story. Hey, can i ask you guys just because its sort of were talking third act, but third act, new york and third act new york. Civil orientations, civic im sorry, orientation im just going to ask you because it feels of interest what you think ill. Say it this way. You think the priorities of new york are if you were the mayor, what would be at the top of your to do list. And it was after school we reintroduce afterschool programs in the schools. That would be my first affordable housing. We had talked about that earlier, but i think after afterschool programs. A lot of the young people i meet have did not have what i had school which which were things got you involved in care because nobody gets excited about geometry biology. Well not many but you stay around school because of some of the the singing and the the programs that afterschool and then education has a fuller impact. Yeah, you can go on with affordable housing. Well, i said, you know, since i now in new jersey, i was born and raised in brooklyn, lived in she lives in my hometown. He went to teaneck high school, class of 51. I wasnt born yet yet. I was so was i. But im just sort of asked this question in the back and. So, you know, im answering as an expatriate, so to speak. But coming here today, were writing down fourth avenue. I still call west side highway in the west side highway 12 avenue. And you see all these buildings know things have been you know, we tear down everything old in the city. We dont respect old or historical or anything like and and we like us. So, you know, theres vested interest here so that and we put up and i said oh theres something going on that corner and this is residential. And i said, whos going to live there . Who can afford it . You know, it just seems to me that what makes a city a city is, is diversity. And, and especially manhattan and i know brooklyn as well is becoming everything is becoming unaffordable. So youre going to have just rich people and, you know, nothing against being rich but you know the not always the nicest. I know. You know, jane jane jacobs, who is one of our great and so jane jacobs who one of our great hero said, yeah, yeah, yeah, keep the neighborhoods. Dont lose your neighborhoods. When the projects turn up. She said, the neighborhoods, thats the the heart and the pulse of the city. Joshua, it makes this a difficult question. Me is that you asked whats it like for you whether you did get 25 of the vote . So have a little bit more luck. 26 but not much more. In any event, i thought those are pretty good. So i thought were at the time a republican right lets put things change in any event mayors have deputy mayor so my my answer to my question is going to be a little bit longer and a little bit more complicated, but they have deputy mayors and we all wonder what the hell with deputy mayors do. Heres what i would have them. Do you have five deputy mayors . Each one of them is going to need to have five different projects that they need to be working on. Some of those projects will be done in a day, will be done in a week. Its only done over months to a year. Each one of them will be working on some strategy. Thats either going to be working housing or going to be working on jobs and creating of jobs afterschool programs. All different types of things, and not not being done in secret. People are going to need to know about it, you know . You know, the reporters need to know about it. The public needs to know about. So you know the direction that its going in. There are certain to be some projects that are going to be important to me. The things that i care about, whether its cleanliness of the city, which i think is important, i think city since the pandemic has continued to get dirty and theres no reason for it. This is a beautiful city. It needs to stay beautiful. And the people, you know, we need to find a way to to maintain it. Jobs important, the creation of jobs, the the jobs with the housing, the to you know when as crime reduced and then people started you know all of a sudden people started be able to move into all different other of the city and you get the gentrification and then people who lived in those communities were moving out. The problem is, you need to create jobs and thats an important of it as well. And the other thing going, back to the mta, we now have a subway system that is very manhattan centric. Well, guess what the city is no longer manhattan centric city. The city lives in the bronx, it lives in brooklyn. Thats where activity is. They ask anybody who moves to new york now coming out of college or moving back to new york. Where are they looking . Theyre not looking to live in manhattan. They want to live in brooklyn. No, bedstuy is the hardest of the city and so, i mean, its you know, thats where you need to put the focus and allow the city, you know, to sprinkle the the feeds necessary, allow it to continue to grow. Thats all good mayors have done in this city. So why not to make sure again, joe, again, wheres my wife. I dont to run again. We all have dreams. I dont want true dreams can come true. Yeah. So just staying on new york, if i may, just for fun are there. I know quite how to frame this, but are there which new yorkers of . Our era. They could be living or deceased but in our era which new of note do admire when you think of new yorkers who lead the city or have led the city . Well. Well, i said jane jacobs before she was one of my great heroes. Also david dinkins, do you want the opposite end of the spectrum . Im sure roy cohn and robert moses. Robert, definitely at the bottom definitely and david dinkins, who i still my mayor, even though hes passed on and but was a man of elegance and grace and was classy he was classy. He really a class act and i think that you i think that he tried to please everyone and you cant please everyone of the time. But i think that he was a good person at heart and i think that he was good for city. Yeah. You carry a governor in the seventies who i think you know there are a lot of parts of you kerry who people thought was kind of weird coloring his hair and having girlfriends and things like that, but he he individually put put together a team that saved the city of new york. He really the fiscal crisis allowing ravitch to become head of the mta who was able to clean up the subway system and put it back on track again. He put felix rhoden with the Municipal Assistance Corporation to get us back on track. He is the one who selected all of these people, gave him the opportunity to put the city back on, you know, the financial control board. All of those things were developed. He was governor and he had the vision and the belief and a good kid from he was a good kid from brooklyn who understood that the city had all the raw potential to become what had allowed it to become. And you know, hes just i know the cory family really well. Yesterday was would have been his birthday you carry his birthday he needs one of the most forgotten people in new york. And just the opposite of both african and robert moses, can i ask you a question that i asked back . Do you remember what happened to rudy. I honestly dont know. You were there, you know, right well, it yeah. Youre in theater. There are two after. I dont know exactly why its different, but two different types. Two different people. The person who i knew as mayor and the person who i see now on television and are really two different people. They dont appear. They dont seem be. What have did i dont i dont know. Ive not stayed in touch with them to know exactly what happened but obviously something has clearly changed. I mean how he reacts to, you know, the fbi and things that he said not out respect out of you. Yeah. God almighty. So youre you are three people worthy of admiration and youre three people who really take i could call them organic, but theyre sort of sharp turns, transitions that were pretty dramatic in terms of starting here and doing that even though you may have been invited. Hope your job and david you came upon incarceration through a script or a play and joe, you said there is people move between it but i if its of interest i would ask what would you give people who are in or late middle age who are considering doing something very different with their lives . Because i think its not so easy, even though youve all done and maybe they dont have to be in later middle age, just how do you deal with that and what do you reflect on it . How do you make it manifest . Wow, thats a tough question. I think that staying involved and engaged and and pursuing your interest and in doing good you just never know whats going to be presented to you. I did not grow up with the goal of of helping to create a childrens even at the time when i doing it i mean of that was our goal but it wasnt like this this lifelong yearning. This is what i want to do with my life. It it found me. This vision found me and and then i couldnt leave it. I couldnt, i couldnt leave it until it was done. I mean, i still havent left it. I mean, its never to be done, but but its its i always say that is the thing that i am most proud of in my life. Other my children. Oh, it is, i mean, because i it dawned on me when we opened what we when we opened officially last year. Yes, but but the year before when the space almost complete and i realized that long after im gone this entity is going to be there and that is overwhelming me. And it wasnt something that i decided it wasnt something it was something that found me and was open to it. Then it it found in me that, that i could not give up. And so i would say to people to be open to everything, to try. You just never know it might not be wasnt qualified. Nobody is qualified. Its hundreds of people will Work Together to this a reality. But yeah. I just be open and, be curious and and try new things. So how can i just ask you a question . Because that sounds right. And i understand that you were introduced to it in your job. But then you actually just, you know, whatever age you were, you started to take acting classes. Mm. Well see now that was a, that was a passion. I, i had wanted to, to be an actor since i was a child that was if someone had asked me, you know, but you certainly did it, thats what you did it. Know later. Much later. Yeah, but, but thats all the more me if i may. Thats it, at least to me rather you say the other one was sort of organic. It found you, but acting didnt find you. They didnt come and say, we want for the amtrak spot. No. Well, my, my, my son actually my son is response table for it. My son had had a dream at one point of being screenwriter and. He found a class. It was at the Frederick Douglass community center. Do you know it was on 96th street and Upper West Side and. He found the class there to a screenwriting class and called me and he said, i just signed up for this screenwriting class. They have acting classes. They are two. You keep saying you want to be an actor. Why dont you do something . So how long ago . This. Im sorry. This was. 20 years ago or so. And, you know, i kind of took the dare. Yeah. And i started taking classes there and i loved it. I really loved it. And i took class is there for i took classes with the same acting teacher paley if you ever see im showing you out which is a wonderful at herself and a wonderful teacher so are there four or five other things that you started that you didnt pursue that youre not telling us about hope . Well, i still want to write a book. You know, or write a play. And i started writing a play, i dont know if that will ever get done. I have a wonderful partner in my husband who is also very creative person and i call him a hobbyist because. Everything that he he gets interested in things. He dives deep into that and then hell move on to the next thing. Yeah, right. But its wonderful being around a person like that because theres everything there. Its yeah, you know, you can try anything. Lets do that. So, so david, how about you . What what is. Well, i had the same question. What i just thought david, how about you . I broadly in response to something i dont give advice to people, you know, i can tell you what i did. And if you can pick something from that. But everybodys everybodys and ingredients and dna so different that it would be presumptuous of me to say this is what you should do. I retired. I was working on play with lauren bacall. That could make anyone. At and that was 2000. It was waiting in the wings and i retired and i wanted to stay involved with the Fortune Society and started go empareg who was had been my successor as ceo should come and run a group with the teenagers. Thats the biggest challenge and that was very exciting and then i wrote a book about my life and then called its called fortune in mens eyes. Its called fortune in my eyes. I think thats my title somebody had it Still Available on amazon and i. And then the castle opened and we did a play and i coauthored play and directed it with the four of the people and that was kind of exciting and and i swim every morning and that gets me going for the day. Yeah. If i assume six mornings a week and i, and i, i dont say that glibly. I think its very important, its the discipline that i get up and at 6 00 every morning im at the wine and swim because i can continue that discipline. Then i will have the energy to do other things today wrote a short story. I you you mentioned so you might just what its about yeah what happened now to write a short story today just boom you just sat down and wrote a short story. I didnt just sit down. Ive been walking for days because written several during the pandemic, i wrote a lot of i wrote a lot of stories, gave them to my agent. And she said, theres no market for it. So i started reading on the radio, calling it stories, which there is no market and and, and i read one last week and a english professor me and said this story. So i called my original editor. He said hell look at the stories, but dont. I only had 16 and that may not be enough. So i said, i have to i have to have some other story. And i walked around for what, eight . When i write, i walk around first and i know what im going to write. And then run really and sit down and in longhand because that machine that you will use the computer is my enemy. So and so. And you and robert gottlieb, who writes all those books, those people i saw the movie. Yeah, you saw the movie, right . Thank. And i saw the movie. Thats where i learned. So i dont know any that helps anybody, but it helps me. So, you know, pick and choose. I think people talk to other people about what theyve done and find out whats a plot, what applies to them. Yeah, of course. I can presume to go to someone and say this is what i did and therefore you should do it. All right. All right, joe. So im not going to ask what you should tell someone else or what everyone said. Yeah, please. So the enemy, the computer. Oh, theres something to be said for that. Well, no, something can be said for that because you know, the amount of time that were spending because of social media is preventing us to do the other things that allow us to take acting classes, allow us to take it, to start writing. Its just, you know, theres only, you know, for whatever reason and for those who are religious are not religious. Excuse what im about to say, but god only gave us 24 hours in a day and. Its been that way for quite a long period of time and if we start filling up with twitter and any other social media, its going to prevent us from being creative and theyre going to prevent us from doing what we need to do. And its a problem and we need to be able to figure it out. We need to get at 6 00 in the morning and, go swimming and do Something Like so that we can get our creative juices going. Im not doing that we are going to become something so i want, you know, young people walking the street. Im for im not for incarceration, except if you. If youre reading your phone while walking up the subway steps. Oh, its just life in prison. Then. That one, when walk down the street reading, their phone, theyre missing. Whats going on . The people, dogs, the children that are all around. What joy that you can get. I stop all dogs on the street. If and chat im ive lived new york my entire life and i still walk around like a tourist to i mean i look up new york neighborhood theres a lot to see and it changes but if youre a face on a phone its going to pass you. I love i look i you know i havent i have i have you saw it before. Wondered what it was on my iphone. I mean, i have one. I smell, you know, but it is, you know, you to limit you really have to limit it. If were going to grow as a society as a human last living american without a cell phone, seriously, a teen, a phone. Yes. And anybody whos not dont have a cell phone. Right. You dont have. A cell phone . No. An internet fortune said, how do how do i read your and i and i said, well, i dont have a so she said, whats your cell phone number . And i said, dont have one. She said, well, how do you your messages . And i said, when i get home, theres another machine. And she and she looked at me and she i think she thought i was on the cutting edge of a new wave and she said, you know, i could just hear her going back to remember those pink you were out pads these one show im sorry pink while. You were out pink. Yes i do remember that he has a box of. All right. So i just its just a thought because your phone i would ask the question is what you least about new york . Best about new york. Dont think about it too carefully because youre a very person. Shes a very careful. Oh, okay. There are there are people. Who would or joe you can answer the question and hope can think it. No i mean i can answer. Oh good theater. Theater. Is that the least of the best . Thats thats thats the best food. Yeah, well, thats food. Food before theater. Food after theater. Yeah, food with no theater. Theater. Im also a walker and i love Walking Around in a neighborhood and when did this happen to the bowery . You know, i changed it very exciting city when always changing up. Not always for the best. Well, i will tell you, after moving of the city into the quote suburbs, you know, suburban new jersey, whatever, teaneck, teaneck. Exactly. Its not that you can actually walk to it. You didnt cross the bridge. And, you know, its you know, its a nice long walk, but its overwhelming to come into the city. Certain parts of the city sometimes when you come from there and to not teaneck is not, you know, a little quiet hamlet know theres a lot of people there and a lot of cars and their high rises and Everything Else but its overwhelming when you come into the city and theyre just yeah oh were all these people coming from there and you know, theyre kind of attacking me and i love the city. I do. I, i the most exciting thing to me is when you flying in from someplace and you see, you know, youre on the plane and you look at the skyline or coming across the bridge and look at that. Its so beautiful. Yeah, i never get tired of it. Its the one constant love of my little road. You never get tired of. Of this genderless joy. Yeah yeah. What do so. Oh, theyre on my hate list yet, but, you know, coming across the bridge and seeing the skyline of new york is it just makes feel absolutely great. Yes. You know, the one thing that lately drives me crazy in new york is, people driving their bikes wrong way on a one way street. Yeah. I dont know why when ive seen people and people get in the process and motorbikes and how about and thats a no no. The sidewalk is completely unacceptable then completely on bicycles. No, seriously, i it terrible. It is illegal. But you know and i keep writing to my councilman about good luck with that and take the name. So we have we have about 10 minutes left and i just thought id ask if anyone had any comments or, please. Yes, questions i work with you back in the early eighties and show time. Yes. So. Oh there you are. Gloria, how are you . Good. I want to say, as i approach my third chapter right now, im to rereading and listening on audible to the power. Yeah. So i would say that right now its just so illuminating to me that whole story of robert moses but told through the eyes of robert caro who hes still on his third, fourth, fifth act writing lyndon johnson. Yeah. So my question, you know about the power broker, how many of you on the panel have even thought about that story or. We listened to it on audible and. You mentioned jane jacobs, but i see the city in completely different outlook now. Yeah, you know, on every bridge, every road, every new housing project, etc. , you could anybody comment on the power broker. Well, what did to the south bronx is without conscience. I think and i read the book years ago and moses. He, he he a vision. But it was it was very he didnt think through. I know if it was inherently evil, but think that the result of many of the choices he made thank god that they stopped the thruway through Greenwich Village that he wanted. But the south bronx divided. The bronx was divided. And i think that yeah, yeah. But its in some ways its an example of of absolute power and the that he had, there was no accountability from him to anyone he might know more about that than when you talk about absolute power. But remember robert moses was a parks commissioner. He had these jobs that were sub level. Where was the mayor . Where was the governor . Why didnt they do job . Where where then why didnt do their job . And these were not weak people. You know, they had the names like rose lehman, you know, laguardia, what what were they doing and why did they let him what he did, they, you know, he lost all his power with Nelson Rockefeller and quite honestly, and john lindsay and the deal that was made just so you know i understand what happened and its quite its quite interesting story while he was out of town literally with you know on vacation out of country the deal was made that the triborough bridge and Tunnel Authority was the core of his power was ripped away, given it to the mta and thats how the mta was created. And for that the subway system was taken away from. New york city, with John Lindsays permission because lindsay didnt have the money to maintain subway system. So thats how the whole thing was put together. So by the time moses came back, he didnt have a job and he had nothing. He could do about it. And it was Nelson Rockefeller with john lindsay who was able to get that done but had to do it when he was out town. So finally somebody said enough of this. Weve, you know, deal with it. We have sent him out of town earlier. God and thank god they didnt have cell phones because somebody would have called him up. Thats the point. You know i didnt read the power broker, but id seen the the effects of his work in the bronx especially because i lived in the bronx for a number of years and even conjunction with the museum him the placement of the museum where were we going to put this museum that would be accessible to the majority of people who lived in the bronx and really there is no place theres no place we could have put that building that everybody in the bronx would easily be able to reach it so you have to make a compromise. We had the space it was a city owned and you know it was that because of the divine because the divide. I mean, its its its the highway to the the bronx expressway expressway. Its the bane. Everybodys existence, if theyve ever driven on it. But, you know, now, i mean, we we had a museum bus, a big purple bus. And one of the reasons for that bus was that we could travel to parts of the borough that people not only the south bronx, all of the bronx, frogs neck and dreams, they couldnt get there. Exactly they would theres just no way you cant get on a train. Then you think about mothers with strollers and you know three or four kids theres impossible. So you see the impact of it decades later. Im sorry did someone ever a comment there talking about putting the there people are looking sorry can you take the microphone if you dont mind mind trying to address that issue . And theyre talking about putting it underground and and reuniting bronx. So i can talk i can i can talk to this because you have the thing in brooklyn in the cobble hill Carroll Gardens area where you the bqe is just borrowed out. Its just in all of that when when the cross bronx was was built. They just dug down and it just one big you instead of you know making it a tunnel making it a promenade on top where could actually have grass going along that the decision was made to do that because youd have to build air airships and itd be more expensive to do that. It was it was an absolute mistake not to do that. You could build the way they you know, granted in boston where theyve done the big dig, it took them forever to do it. But that highway is underground and and their park theres parkland on top it could easily be done. It does take time. It does take more money. But in the long run, the quality of life would be a lot better. And the bronx be, you know, in a much different place and you wouldnt have, you know, either on side of the cross bronx expressway it was you know, it was burnt out. The pictures of mayor of the i guess it was mayor beame with president carter looking at these burned out buildings at the time. And it was and then remember, had the decals to convey the impression that, well, thats right. They would cover windows and make it look more like they live there. Right. Right. I think we have time for its just about 8 00. I think we have time for one more question or comment. If theres anyone in the room and yes, please, can i ask a question about the Second Opinion . So. On the east side, i know probably was a pain when you were the head of it, but why isnt the subway going down avenue . Ive been reading a lot about how connections have been made to connect them up with the the subway lines but theyre going uptown do you do you. I dont want to i do know i do know the answer. So there are so the obviously the first part has been built that goes from the sixties up to the 90, right up to what, 96th street . 96th street, part b that was part a. Part b is to then go up to 125th street, part c will go from the sixties down to 34th street, and after that its going to go from 34th street and be built all the way down to the lower east side, where it will terminate in the wall street area, right around hanover square. That was the decision. Why it was done like that to see charlie rangel. Going, oh, that they have like and theres no theres no reason the worse from rangel who is who i hope i know very well as chairman of ways and means the time had the Purse Strings and the money and all the more reason when you control the money, you can control whats a whats whats c and whats d and thats all. And thats really what it was. It will get and it will go down south, but that was a priority is that was the prioritization of the order the second issue is and its really important that the part the part thats being built now, the tunnel partially built. So its easier to continue building it. You know, that there was a tunnel built there or, you know, somewhere around the second world war. And i started to build the Second Avenue subway this things have been going even before were born it was sort of they started building a can i ask it since were on subway questions and i have and know rats no im going to give you a name a man a young man who came to fortune who for whom i had great affection named Darius Mccullum and he was the kid that stole he didnt steal. He went on he went on the and he drove them all over. And he had he had the key had asperger which aspergers and they continually lock him up. And he was hes a very gentle soul. And i said to him, why dont you get a job with the mta . And he said, they said, i embarrassed them because he he was 14 and he got on the train and he drove it all over the city. You may remember he hes a folk hero. Theyre going to up writing musicals that day. And there are hes hes still institutionalized and ive often said this young man didnt hurt anybody. He took a bus one and he taught it wasnt his and he gave tour of people all over the city. And i but he was so sweet and and and ive met you know, and my two tours of duty there, i have met numerous young men who are on different parts of spectrum, who know more about the subway system than people who work he knew mta how to drive it. They are so they just love the system. They know everything about it. Something about he had an ankle. They wouldnt let him. He couldnt ride the subway when when i know him. They an ankle bracelet. I, i want to get what i rooting for the wrong guys in the taking of the pelham all right. On that note, i got to say the first movie, the first one or the second. Okay, so the taking of pelham one, two, three has to be redone or there needs to be a third taking of pelham one, two, three, and i want to thank all you so much and hope and and joe and christina. Tim wilkins is here, the chair of the board makes everything happen and never says thank you. Josh. Of course. My pleasure. Its been my treat to be here. Thank you for. Tonight. We are thrilled to have alissa quart with for discussion of her new book bootstrapped, liberating ourselves from the American Dream alissa quart is the author of five acclaimed books of nonfiction, including bootstrappedee