Destination GCT

If you face 42nd Street and look up, slightly, while you wait for the NY Airport Service bus in Pershing Square, this is your view — the impressive 48 foot high sculpture  “Transportation” by French artist Jules-Alexis Coutan, with a clock at its center containing the world's largest example of Tiffany glass. This sculptural group, unveiled in 1914, depicts Mercury (god of speed) flanked by Minerva (goddess of wisdom) and the mighty Hercules — a fitting ornament for the facade of a magnificent structure which would serve as the hub for Cornelius Vanderbilt’s network of rail lines and provide a link to New York City’s new subway system. 

Grand Central Terminal is one of my favorite man-made destinations. On a recent evening as I admired its facade, I found myself reflecting on the marvelous beauty of this intricate building and also upon just how fortunate we are that Grand Central Terminal is still here to admire. After all, a large piece of “being Green” is appreciating and preserving what we already have.

Grand Central Terminal’s glory days were once nearly numbered. In 1964, Pennsylvania Station was demolished, despite a public outcry, and replaced with an office building and the new Madison Square Garden.  The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, formed In response to this demolition, designated Grand Central Terminal as a landmark in 1967, making the terminal subject to the protection of law. Grand Central Terminal was seemingly safe, but a new threat arose the very next year.

As a result of bankruptcies and mergers of the railroads operating in New York, Penn Central had become the new owner of Grand Central Terminal. Penn Central then leased the property to a developer who proposed constructing a 55-story tower above Grand Central Terminal. The building’s facade would have been preserved, but rendered insignificant; the entire Main Waiting Room and part of the Main Concourse would have been demolished. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, joined by other prominent preservationists, rallied New Yorkers in opposition to Penn Central’s plans, asking, "Is it not cruel to let our city die by degrees, stripped of all her proud monuments, until there will be nothing left of all her history and beauty to inspire our children? If they are not inspired by the past of our city, where will they find the strength to fight for her future? Americans care about their past, but for short term gain they ignore it and tear down everything that matters. Maybe… this is the time to take a stand, to reverse the tide, so that we won't all end up in a uniform world of steel and glass boxes."

New York City filed a suit to stop the construction. The resulting case, Penn Central Transportation Co. v. New York City (1978), eventually reached the Supreme Court. The Court, in its first-ever decision on a matter of historic preservation, ruled that New York City's Landmarks Preservation Act did not constitute a "taking" of Penn Central's property under the Fifth Amendment and was a reasonable use of government land-use regulatory power.

Grand Central Terminal was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1976. It suffered years of decline, but its “extreme makeover” began when Metro-North took over operation of Grand Central Terminal in 1983. Since then Grand Central Terminal has been renovated inside and out. The interior shines. On a sunny day shafts of light illuminate the voluminous space with a sublime golden glow. People still meet at the information booth with the four-faced clock. And tourists marvel at the elaborate astronomical ceiling, which is the backdrop for a music and light show during the winter holidays.

The NYC Architecture site has many images of Grand Central Terminal through the ages, including the Cold War period when a Redstone missile was prominently displayed in the Main Concourse. The Grand Central site contains links to a self-guided walking tour, to information on the free guided tours offered on Wednesdays and Fridays at 12:30, and to a guide listing the terminal’s many shopping and dining opportunities.

Grand Central Terminal is an inexpensive destination for a day trip, with a low carbon footprint. There are several off-peak Metro-North trains from New Haven that arrive well before the tour. After the tour there should be ample time to shop and dine at a leisurely pace before your off-peak train back. Lovers of Penzey’s, be sure to look for their stall in the Grand Central Market. It will save you a drive to Norwalk. The cost for your Metro-North ticket Round Trip/Off Peak is $28.00 — $18.50, if you are a senior.  That’s a bargain for a very Green day.

Haiti Rising

Once the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon hit the front page, the plight of the people of Haiti, living in the aftermath of the devastating January 12 earthquake, faded from my mind. But last week I had an experience that got me thinking about Haiti once more.

I attended the opening reception of Haiti Rising, a fundraiser at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music to benefit ongoing Haiti earthquake relief efforts. This extraordinary exhibition of painting and sculptures by Haitian artists has put Haiti back on my front burner. These 50 works of art, by some 30 artists, have been carefully selected from the extensive Stanley Popiel and Ingrid Feddersen collection of Haitian art at Eastern Connecticut State University (ECSU). Some are realistic, some abstract, some whimsical — my particular favorite is a steamroller fashioned from a Bayer cockroach poison tin. (Above: Haiti Rising, 1986. Joseph Marcellus, oil on canvas.)

In the words of exhibition curator Elizabeth H. Peterson, “This selection of work in this exhibition differs widely in style from primitive to abstract expressionist to the surreal, and in subject matter including the juxtaposition of Voodoo and Christianity, village or city life, poverty and wealth, or peace or destruction. Haiti Rising reflects the vibrancy of Haiti’s history, the depth of Haiti’s need particularly now as the nation rebuilds, and the wealth of its people in spirit to rise and emerge stronger.”

The reception coincided with the International Festival of Arts and Ideas and drew a good crowd to eat some Island food and to hear Haitian music played by Robert Lamothe, Yale ’77, trained in architecture and a professor at Norwalk Community College, who was born in Haiti and maintains strong ties to his country. Jordan Lorrius, a native of Haiti and a student at ECSU, also performed his soul-stirring song Haiti Kanpe (Haiti stand), composed in reaction to hearing the news of the Haitian disaster while he was in Serbia, far from his home.

Just yesterday, a college classmate who lives and teaches in Nicaragua reminded the ’75 listserv of the tropical storm season which has already begun, earlier than usual, in the Caribbean. Haiti has been hit hard with rain from the first of the storms, and a second one is on the way.

The people of Haiti truly are in dire straits. The groups for whom the contributions are being accepted at the exhibition and through the OMSC site will put the funds to good use, teaching Haitians to do the work of rebuilding the country now that the initial disaster response phase has ended.

I urge all of you who live in the area to make the short journey from the central campus, just past the Yale Farm, to 409 Prospect Street to see the art with your own eyes. Even without the live music, it will be a moving experience. A walk to the ISM is good exercise on a nice day; there is also free parking for those who need to drive.

Those of you who live too far away can see some of the art at the ISM site which has a link to the OSMC, and at the Akus Gallery at ECSU site which includes an image of the steamroller.

Haiti Rising is presented by Eastern Connecticut State University, the Overseas Ministries Study Center (OMSC), and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, with support from the Yale Divinity School. It will be on display weekdays from 9-4 through September 17.

Weekend Updates

It seems a good time for some blog updates, from oldest to most recent.

In response to my March 24 post, a couple salvaged some metal from their basement, turned it in at Alderman-Dow, and now have $24 they didn’t have before.

The Cove, the Academy Award winning documentary about the dolphin slaughter in Taiji, discussed on this blog on April 30, was deemed too controversial for showing by many theaters in Japan. It was banned on a U.S. military base in Japan as well. On June 9, over 600 people crammed into a public hall in Tokyo for the first public showing of the film in Japan since the Tokyo International Film Festival, sparking a nationwide debate over free speech.

It is now two months since the explosion and fire on the Deepwater Horizon rig off the Louisiana Coast. On May 6, I first posted the link for the Google Crisis Response to the oil spill in the Gulf. Matter of Trust is still collecting hair, but clearly no amount of hair boom by itself will get us out of this mess. There are widely differing points of views about who is to blame and how much progress is being made. You can check out the facts at PolitiFact.com, the 2009 Pulitzer Prize winning site of the St. Petersburg Times. The first dead whale has been reported in the Gulf, and concern about how far the spill will spread mounts in light of the May 27 prediction by NOAA of an “active to extremely active” hurricane season. In an article entitled “Gulf Oil Spill: A Hole in the World,” which appeared in yesterday’s Guardian, Naomi Klein compares the disaster to a violent wound inflicted upon the Earth. In this compelling piece, the author, trained in economics, writes, “It's one thing to be told by an incomprehensible chaos theorist that a butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil can set off a tornado in Texas. It's another to watch chaos theory unfold before your eyes.”

On a happier note, the trees planted on State Street (May 17) are being well cared for. I saw a water truck there today.

The wind turbine at Phoenix Press (June 5 blog) now has a name. Gus(t) was selected as the winning entry in a contest for New Haven schoolchildren. Runners-up include: Win(d)ston, MELVIN (Manufacturing Energy with a Large & Valuable Impact Now), PEG (Produces Greener Energy), Kilowally, and Urban Blossom.

My post on Marshmallow Fluff (June 8) resulted in a flurry of e-mails from native New Englanders who thanked me for the happy memories it evoked. I was told of readers who had to sneak the treat at the home of a friend since their mothers refused to buy it. I was also reminded that Fluff was an excellent topping for hot cocoa and was outstanding in a sundae when placed under the hot fudge. Those born outside the Northeast didn’t get the post at all.

Which brings me to the Woodchuck Wednesday post (June 16). The last I heard, Woody’s widow and children were still alive and well in Beaver Hills. There have been no woodchuck sightings in my yard. But we did have a very dirty non-avian bather in our birdbath one recent steamy evening. The prints it left behind lead me to think that it was a raccoon, but feel free to draw your own conclusion.