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"How Much Are Construction Deaths Worth?"
Filed under: Personal Tagged: architecture, in memoriam, labor, Michael Bloomberg, politics
In a column in the New York Post, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer compared the accident to the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, a bellwether of the last century the brought on sweeping changes in corrupt citywide labor laws. He invoked the disaster as a way of indicating that vast changes at the DOB are called for in the wake of the crane accident. Will such changes occur? Sadly, tragically, criminally, another crane accident is probably more likely.
About us
Hello! We're a small band of media enthusiasts, culture addicts, and journalists based in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Emdashes, formerly a New Yorker fan site, is our collection of conversations—mostly civilized—about magazines, movies, politics, design, punctuation, and other things that stir us.
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Tell me more
Dashes, some say, “are particularly useful in a sentence that is long and complex.” Emdashes—like an em dash itself—provides a thoughtful pause amid the hubbub.
Emdashes, founded in 2004, is written and drawn by Emily Gordon, Martin Schneider, Pollux, Jonathan Taylor, and Benjamin Chambers, as well as occasional guest contributors. All posts before October 2008 are by Emily Gordon.
The site was designed by House of Pretty with illustrations by Jesse R. Ewing.
Additional drawings are by Carolita Johnson and Pollux (author of our web comic, "The Wavy Rule"). The Emdashes pencil logo is by Jennifer Hadley, based on a 1943 Dorothy Gray ad.
Other writing by Emily Gordon
- Writing on theater: reviews (for Time Out Chicago; imperfect but workable search results)
- Profile: Valerie Casey, Designers Accord founder, is spearheading the design of sustainability (for SXSW World)
- Feature: Rea Irvin: visionary art director, bon vivant, New Yorker founding father (for Print)
- Slide show: the Coney Island Mermaid Parade (for NYCgo.com)
- Feature: Muslim immigration iconography in the Netherlands, and an interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali (for Print)
- Review: King's Gambit: A Son, a Father, and the World's Most Dangerous Game by Paul Hoffman (for Newsday)
- Homage: Celebrating lindy-hop legend Frankie Manning (for NYCgo.com)
- Inquiry: Does a New Republic redesign mean a change of tune? (for Print)
- Interview: James Surowiecki on what's next for the wisdom of crowds (for Assignment Zero)
- Interviews: four up-and-coming designers under 30 (for Print)
- Profile: novelist and dance critic Laura Jacobs (for Newsday)
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- Jonathan Taylor
- Carolita Johnson
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Comments
I’d like to point out this article, which momentarily had me feeling moved by the construction workers’ solidarity and solemnity during the wait to retrieve the final three bodies. They formed human chains to shield the wife of one of the construction workers from the public as she made her way from Starbucks to the site, and tipped their hats and bowed their heads solemnly, etc, whenever one of their own was found. But when the body of the one non-construction worker victim was finally found — the one innocent bystander, and possibly the one victim of their own negligence on the worksite — they had nothing for her or her loved ones, and simply went their way (“…no fanfare from the construction workers, who were drifting away from the site.”).
I lost all my admiration and compassion for them in that instant. Pathetic!
It was a sad day all around, that’s for sure.
I tried to post two comments on your blog, but as you know, your comments are closed! A pox on the evil spammers preventing the free flow of friendly discourse! What I was going to say is that I dug your elegant ballot box illustration, and that you should write music reviews. Your Madame Butterfly review made me giggle, but it’s also an excellent theater critique. You should write modern updates of various opera libretti, seriously!