Distracted by my Great Migration to Brooklyn this month, I haven't had time to put together the list I'd hoped to write, enumerating Reasons Why I'm Glad to Be Leaving the Upper East Side. Fortunately, today's New York Times has done most of the work for me, with this charming piece about a Madison Avenue antiques dealer who's suing the homeless people who congregate outside his shop:
A Madison Avenue antiques dealer is suing a group of unidentified homeless people for $1 million, saying that the group has taken up residence outside his posh Upper East Side business, using the sidewalk in front of the shop as a urinal, spittoon and occasional dressing room, according to court papers and a lawyer for the businessman...
... The suit contends that a large percentage of the shop’s business comes from shoppers who admire its wares from a large storefront window that has been maligned by the presence of the homeless people and their lackluster sense of fashion.
“They dress in what appears to be old, worn and unsanitary clothing,” according to the suit, filed in State Supreme Court on Jan. 16.
OK, the "lackluster sense of fashion" quip is a bit unsubtle on the NYT's part. But glancing at the linty, rumpled woolens I've been reduced to wearing after boxing up most of my wardrobe, I'm thinking I'd better get across the bridge soon ...
Ack! Do my eyes deceive me? Does the story really quote the shop owner as saying he's concerned about the health of the homeless man he's suing? I have no words ...
Posted by: Em | January 17, 2007 at 05:31 PM
yes, such a concerned citizen he is ... get that law degree soon, Ms. Em -- you're our only hope!
Posted by: cm | January 17, 2007 at 05:46 PM
Furthermore -- and maybe I'm just being feebleminded here -- I don't understand why a guy would sue for $1 million when the whole reason for the suit is that the defendants are destitute. I feel like I'm reading the paper in Bizarro-World!
Posted by: Em | January 19, 2007 at 12:10 PM