| The
bird’s nest was removed last Tuesday, which
led to public protests. Mary Tyler Moore, through her husband,
has
made it known that she would have liked to see the bird’s
nest remain. Ms. Moore is by nature very discreet and reticent
about
public pronouncements, but she has been quoted as saying that
the board members "are not reversible type people," adding "They
just don't want the birds here." My sources tell me that
there are only two residents who really wanted the nest removed – Mr.
Cohen and Robert Belfer, a longtime resident
of the building who is chairman and CEO of Belco Oil and Gas
Corporation.
Until now, Mr. Belfer’s name has been prominent in the
news only because of his holdings in Enron. It has been said
that Mr. Belfer lost a very large part of his fortune (some estimates
were $1 billion) when Enron went belly up. Co-op boards, varying
with the buildings, can be notoriously difficult depending on
the personalities of the members. Some board members appear to
like the power that comes with the position – approving
or declining a potential (and therefore very wealthy) buyer
for any number of reasons from the important to the itsy-bitsy.
Mr.
Belfer has long had a reputation for not being so easy for
newcomers to please, and that he maintains very high standards
(some would
say impeccable) for this building. But it is possibly because
of that that many are privately blaming him for this public
relations debacle.
The main gripe of the board was said to be that Pale Male was
dropping carcasses of his prey on the street – his prey
being dead rats and pigeons, and that the bird droppings messed
up the canopy. Of course bird-droppings can be hazardous anywhere
you go in Manhattan, canopy or no canopy. I remember walking
along Lexington Avenue with JH one afternoon coming from an interview
when a pigeon dropped its surplus right on JH’s head. That
was not pretty, although JH was able to remove it quickly and
without public notice. It should also be said that neighbors
who have lived on the same block for decades claim they have
never seen anything unusual on the sidewalk in front of 927 Fifth.
Most of the neighbors I’ve spoken to are outraged by the
building’s board’s decision.
Because of it, the neighborhood, which always has a lot of
traffic is getting a lot more noisy traffic. One neighbor told
me the
honking goes on night and day, as does a lot of the protesting,
and he blames the building’s board and not the birds. Ironically,
the board’s decision has done just the opposite of what
co-op boards prefer, by drawing wide public attention to themselves
in a most unfavorable way.
JH went over to photograph the activity yesterday afternoon
and found lots of signs (“Honk for Hawks”) and
found lots of cars honking — Cabbies, Range Rovers,
new cars, old cars,
all honking, including some police cars sounding their sirens,
presumably in protest. There were about 150 protesters gathered
across the avenue from 927. People from all over town. Two
women dressed as hawks were frolicking freely down Fifth. A
petition
for bringing back the nest was being passed around.
Meanwhile, Pale Male himself was watching (like a hawk) from
his perch atop the building next door on the northeast corner
of 74th Street. Many people who know the principals involved
are not optimistic although we must remember that this is the
time of the year immortalized by Dickens in his character Ebenezer
Scrooge, and as we all know, even old Scrooge eventually saw
the light (or the ghost of Marley as was his case) and came
around, so it’s not a bad idea to remain optimistic.
Evening vigils: Monday, Dec 13, Tuesday Dec 14, 4:30 PM.
Visit www.nycaudubon.org for actions you can take.
|
