Scaffold Art, Empty Storefronts and Oversized Strollers

Scaffolding chic - Is it graffiti or is it street art - those newly painted supports holding up some scaffolding structures along the city'streets? The sheds are unsightly and can surely use the glamming up - but the bigger picture, if you will, is about making scaffolding safer and getting the work done so that the scaffolding doesn't stay up forever. I have no doubt that, when the work is done and the painted poles/supports have to come down, there will be protests to preserve the artwork, and the ensuing NIMBY, YIMBY arguments will rage on, and our term-limited legislators will be proposing bills pro and con. And so it goes.

Monday mourning - After a too-long delay, I decided to get a mani-pedi late in the day on Sunday. And it's good that I did because on Monday morning, my go-to salon, Emily's Nails, on Third Ave between 89th and 90th Sts., was out of business. Gone, and leaving a sign on the door saying goodbye and thanks. A young business owner, Emily took over the salon about five years ago from Lee, who, with her sister, went on to other salons on the UES. With other businesses on the Third Ave block vacating rapidly, Emily held out little hope for staying on. And now another empty storefront. Emily's joins the growing list of vacant storefronts along the block, including the Parlour Steakhouse, a dry cleaner, a Thai restaurant, and a short-lived coffee shop. Still remaining are two newbies, Maison Reed hair salon and Jacques Torres Chocolate shoppe, and a smoke shop, and the locksmith who's been there forever. And last but not least, is Naruto ramen restaurant, which is busy throughout the day and night. It looks like it's assembly time for the buildings on the block, but I think there are several building owners. Whatever, it doesn't bode well for the empty storefront epidemic that's taken over our city.

Planned parenthood - Maclaren and other baby transport manufacturers may want to reconsider the structure of their strollers. A British manufacturer, Maclaren, and perhaps others, whether in England or elsewhere, may not understand that the city streets and store aisles are hard put to accommodate strollers or prams or buggies that seat two- and three- across. Sounds like a good subject for a focus group of prospective parents and product planners.

Cash clash - Some businesses won't take cash, only credit cards. Some people don't have credit cards. Only cash. A while back, Sweetgreen, a fast casual food chain which doesn't take cash, experienced a snafu with its credit card machine and had a sign in its window announcing that - at least for that day - they would be accepting cash only. No credit cards. So what's a hungry, cashless Sweetgreen loyalist cardholder to do?