This too is Yonkers–by Eric Schoen
Plastic Bag Ban
So friends, the Plastic Bag Ban has begun. I’m having dinner in New York City at Katz’s on Houston Street, $22 for a brisket sandwich which I shared with a friend. Trust me, you don’t have to be Jewish to eat a Pastrami, Corned Beef or Brisket sandwich and $8 pound of French Fries and a Cel Ray soda at Katz’s.
So I could only eat half of my half sandwich. I wrapped up the portion I could not eat (including the pickles) and asked the guy behind the counter for a bag to take my sandwich and pickles home in. Mind you, at Katz’s deli counter counter when you order a sandwich, before the counter man starts cutting the meat for your sandwich they put a couple of slices of meat on a little plate to try. You like it, there is a tip jar which you toss a dollar into and the size of your sandwich goes from huge to gargantuan!
I didn’t know what Type of bag I was going to get to tote my leftover (key word leftover) sandwich and yes, I got a plastic bag. I was having such a great night downtown in SoHo that frankly (no pun intended) I didn’t care. I must admit, however that it’s nice to have a plastic bad with the Katz label as a reusable bag for people out there to know I have good taste in dining.
I leave Katz’s, and needed to drop in to a CVS a couple of doors down to pick something up. No, not Alka Seltzer or Rolaids after my sandwich! A guy comes to the self scan checkout with 4 boxes of cereal. He scans them, pays, and he went looking for a plastic or paper bag to put his 4 boxes of cereal in.
There are no bags in sight. He asks the cashier who monitors the self checkout stations for a bag. The cashier says he doesn’t have a bag. He tells the cashier to find one. He comes back with a paper bag that wouldn’t even fit 1 box of the cereal. The guys goes nuts at the cashier, He removes the liner from the garbage basket next to the self-checkout register, empties the garbage in the bag into another garbage basket, turns the bag inside out and puts his cereal boxes in to tote away. Sanitary? Only in New York!
I’m at the gym. After I swim I put my bathing suit through the water extractor machine and then I put it in a gym supplied plastic bag used for wet items and soiled clothes. Is the gym breaking the law providing me with a plastic bag. They aren’t forcing me to take it. The bags are on a roll, and if you need one you take one.
And so, the New York State plastic bag ban has begun. We get so much mail from the politicians who represent us, filled with their pictures doling out our taxpayer dollars to charitable groups. Can’t one of them in their mailings print the definitive guide to the plastic bags ban? Or is this like the jail bond legislation ,passed without thought? Governor Cuomo has said publicly that if the bond legislation is not amended he will not sign the budget presented later this year.
Are Senior Citizens and the handicapped exempt from the plastic bag ban? New York City can charge for paper bags. Is there any size that they must be to charge for them, or can they charge my friend 10 cents for a bad too small for his cereal. Can couples getting married send their guests home from a catering hall with a paper bag filled with commemoratives without being charged a 10 cent bag fee?
Was the counterman at Katz’s right for sending me home with my ‘leftovers’ in a plastic bag? At $22 a sandwich you know I am going home with my leftovers! A pharmacist I know bought thick plastic bags to get around the plastic bag ban. Is this the way stores will have to go.
Sadly like everything else the ban screws the poor, seniors, all those that can least afford it. And prices on all items will go up if merchants have to buy the thick plastic bags. In the interim, can we get some clarification as to what’s going on here? By the way, I have never had as many calls on my radio show as I had last Thursday complaining about the plastic bag ban!
Yonkers Straw Ban
March 1 Yonkers’ plastic straw ban went into effect. So what will I be drinking my four shots of espresso over ice in a venti cup, ice first with? Whether it was done intentionally, as a result of my ADA concerns expressed last week or who know why, my Starbucks had the usual container of small and large straws out on the condiment bar. I didn’t have to have a reason for why I wanted a straw.
Thankfully as of earlier this week paper straws have not reached Starbucks on Bronx River Road in Yonkers!
Coronavirus
Sometimes people go nuts. When I heard that people were not eating Asian food and staying away from Chinatown in New York City over worries about contracting the Coronavirus, I was shocked. There is no way to get the Coronavirus from Chinese food. Chances are the nice man preparing your food hasn’t been out of our country in ages.
Then I heard that people weren’t drinking Corona Beer because of fears of contracting the corona virus. A health expert recommending Ireland cancelling its St. Patrick’s Day Parade out of fear of spreading the Coronavirus.
Right now your chances of dying are much worse if you catch the flu vs. Coronavirus. Wash your hands with soap and water, stay home if you are sick, stay away from people who are coughing and sneezing and you will be just fine! Don’t go crazy America!
The Presidency
Explain to me how candidates for President can go after their opponents one day and make friends with them the next day and support their candidacy. Is this a little game they are playing?
Parking Meters in Effect in Yonkers on President’s Day
Even though President’s Day is a federal holiday and we get no mail, the stock market is closed and schools are closed, parking meters are in effect in Yonkers, Bronxville and many other communities. The average person would think hey, it’s a Federal holiday, I don’t have to put money in the meters. Little do you know that days like a President’s Day and Martin Luther
King Day are cash cows for municipalities looking to write tickets for motorists who have not fed the meter.
I post this information on Facebook not even mentioning Yonkers. Some wisenheimer who works in Yonkers City Hall claims ‘I am always stirring the pot.’ Believe me you’ll know when I’m stirring the pot!
I know the Spano administration supports getting correct information out to the public and the wisenheimers comments are not representative of City Hall policies and procedures. In Bronxville they have little stickers telling you the dates meters are NOT in effect. Yonkers. Give it a try!
Correction: Rushing to delight you with my column last week, I referred to Joyce Kilmer as a lady. We all know that Alfred Joyce Kilmer is a man.
Reach Eric Schoen at thistooisyonkers@aol.com. Follow him on Twitter @ericyonkers. Listen to Eric Schoen and Dan Murphy on the Westchester Rising Radio Show Thursday’s from 10-11 a.m. On WVOX 1460 AM, go to WVOX.com and click the arrow to listen to the live stream or download the WVOX app from the App Store free of charge.
