2aguy
Diamond Member
- Jul 19, 2014
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This is great....the wife of Ron Wyden runs a famous bookstore in New York...now, the socialist want to declare the building a Historical Land Mark......increasing he costs and red tape to run her business..... this is just justice in action....
https://www.americanthinker.com/art...a_liberal_senator_gets_mugged_by_reality.html
And, as everything else in our harried age, it’s in danger of going under; but, thankfully, not for lack of business. Rather, it’s meddlesome government regulators who are threatening the Strand’s financial viability.
The city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission is considering whether or not to designate the Strand a city landmark, protecting the store from financial marauders who want to scoop up its valuable real estate. But, in a bit of Shakespearean irony, the iconic bookstore is threatened by those charged with its preservation.
Strand’s current owner, Nancy Bass Wyden, wife of Oregon senator Ron Wyden, is not letting her liberalism balance the books. “By landmarking the Strand, you can also destroy a piece of New York history. We’re operating on very thin margins here, and this would just cost us a lot more, with this landmarking, and be a lot more hassle,” Wyden told the Commission during a public hearing.
Wyden also took a shot at Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, owner of the great scourge of brick-and-mortar bookstores everywhere. “The richest man in America, who’s a direct competitor, has just been handed $3 billion in subsidies. I’m not asking for money or a tax rebate,” she explained, appealing not to the Commission’s egalitarian instincts, but to the principle of privacy. “Just leave me alone,” Wyden beseeched her would-be viceroys.
Her reluctance to accept preservation status must have come as a surprise to the Commission, which has the closest thing to god-like power of establishing permanence this side of heaven and Fifth Avenue. Making the Strand a historical landmark would prevent it from becoming a yoga studios for toy dogs, a craft cidery, or some other inane commercial activity exclusive to our time.
Wyden’s desire to keep Strand not just a business but the business her father and grandfather worked painstakingly to create, and not just sell it off to Barnes & Noble or cede the reins to NYC’s historical designators, is admirable. It’s also revealing: As liberal as Wyden presumably is, she’s been mugged by reality, in the great Kristolian phrase. Accepting the government’s protection means accepting the government’s terms, which would interfere with her ability to keep Strand financially viable. The much-coveted preservation status suddenly doesn’t sound so appealing.
https://www.americanthinker.com/art...a_liberal_senator_gets_mugged_by_reality.html
And, as everything else in our harried age, it’s in danger of going under; but, thankfully, not for lack of business. Rather, it’s meddlesome government regulators who are threatening the Strand’s financial viability.
The city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission is considering whether or not to designate the Strand a city landmark, protecting the store from financial marauders who want to scoop up its valuable real estate. But, in a bit of Shakespearean irony, the iconic bookstore is threatened by those charged with its preservation.
Strand’s current owner, Nancy Bass Wyden, wife of Oregon senator Ron Wyden, is not letting her liberalism balance the books. “By landmarking the Strand, you can also destroy a piece of New York history. We’re operating on very thin margins here, and this would just cost us a lot more, with this landmarking, and be a lot more hassle,” Wyden told the Commission during a public hearing.
Wyden also took a shot at Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, owner of the great scourge of brick-and-mortar bookstores everywhere. “The richest man in America, who’s a direct competitor, has just been handed $3 billion in subsidies. I’m not asking for money or a tax rebate,” she explained, appealing not to the Commission’s egalitarian instincts, but to the principle of privacy. “Just leave me alone,” Wyden beseeched her would-be viceroys.
Her reluctance to accept preservation status must have come as a surprise to the Commission, which has the closest thing to god-like power of establishing permanence this side of heaven and Fifth Avenue. Making the Strand a historical landmark would prevent it from becoming a yoga studios for toy dogs, a craft cidery, or some other inane commercial activity exclusive to our time.
Wyden’s desire to keep Strand not just a business but the business her father and grandfather worked painstakingly to create, and not just sell it off to Barnes & Noble or cede the reins to NYC’s historical designators, is admirable. It’s also revealing: As liberal as Wyden presumably is, she’s been mugged by reality, in the great Kristolian phrase. Accepting the government’s protection means accepting the government’s terms, which would interfere with her ability to keep Strand financially viable. The much-coveted preservation status suddenly doesn’t sound so appealing.
