Wow, has NYC ever changed!

So, earlier today, I was standing outside of Columbus park, holding my cousin's 18 month old daughter in my arms and thinking: "Wow! They took out all the wooden play sets and put in metal ones!" She liked to watch and hear traffic go by rather than play on the swing sets. I think she is already on her way to becoming a manhattanite. And she's already exhibiting vegetarian tendencies.

I don't know how long ago the play sets were replaced, since I hadn't been there in a few years and when I had last been inside Columbus park, I was the tender age of eight or nine (with the occasional visit in my early teenage years). I didn't spend much time in the area, especially since the start of Bloomberg's term, so walking around came very much like a rude awakening of what's gone on in the past four years.

The police presence is nearly overwhelming. Mayor Mike was serious about there being security in numbers. I've never seen so many patrol cars in one small area. Besides that, to see how much the traffic pattern has gotten disrupted in the city's attempts to "terror-proof" the area. The Bowery goes from three lanes of traffic to one lane when all traffic is diverted to the right onto Worth St. I used to park in that parking lot over by the Brooklyn Bridge and the police hq that is now barricaded up with a manned booth and concrete barriers. Ah well. Part of the price we must pay to be free of terror's dark and fearful grip.

It was also amusing to see the excessive LOHO realty marketing while getting off the Williamsburg bridge and going down Allen St. It took me a few moments to connect LES with lower east side. The main reason being that I was wondering who the heck is Les and what is he doing painting the buildings with his name? Yeah, I guess you have to live there to catch on quicker. It could have been worse, I suppose. I could have flagged someone down and asked them this dumb question.

I can easily imagine that this new emphasis on the L.E.S. means that the crowds from Chelsea and the village will start edging over. It will be interesting (in every meaning of the word) to see how things turn out. I admit it will be very wierd for me to see the hip and trendy walking down the south end of Allen St. What the heck, why should I care, I don't have to live there. At least as far as I know.