Staying High for a Living

Next time you complain about your job, watch this video and read this guy’s firsthand account about climbing to the top of the Empire State Building for a paycheck. Then tell me how you feel.

Next time you complain about your job, watch this video and read this guy’s firsthand account about climbing to the top of the Empire State Building for a paycheck. Then tell me how you feel.
Last night, hundreds of misguided souls riled up by the Catholic League gathered in front of the Empire State Building to protest the skyscraper’s refusal to honor Mother Teresa on her 100th birthday. How dare they! What were the owners thinking by lighting up the building in red, white and blue instead? Oh, it was the 90th anniversary of woman’s suffrage? Read more »
A City Council subcommittee approved the construction of 15 Penn Plaza, a newly proposed skyscraper blocks from the Empire State Building reports NY1. Some argued it would radically alter the skyline, and in a bad way, but Mayor Bloomberg said that’s inevitable: “Anybody that builds a building in New York City changes its skyline.”
Had they only agreed to honor Mother Teresa, the owners of the Empire State Building might have been able to avoid some of their current problems suggests the Daily News. A small infestation of bedbugs and the proposed development of a skyscraper blocks away can only be explained by supernatural forces or as the tabloid calls it: the “Curse of the Mama.” |NYDN|
In the ongoing flap between the Empire State Building and the Catholic League, the latter says the people who decide which colors get lit for what haven’t been forthcoming about their reason for denying Mother Teresa. Well, NewYorkology obtained an official statement that explains their policy rather straightforwardly. Read more »
Despite numerous sharp-tongued statements and a plea from City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, the committee responsible for lighting the Empire State Building refused a request by the Catholic League to honor Mother Teresa and they won’t give a reason why. The over-the-top religious group is infuriated by the building’s decision to pay homage to communist China, but not the noted humanitarian. |NYDN|

The Empire State Building was lit up in tie dye colors to celebrate a Grateful Dead exhibition opening at the New York Historical Society next year.
Photo by Mudpig
Four men were arrested for allegedly plotting to bomb a synagogue in the Bronx and shooting down military planes at the New York Air National Guard Base at Stewart Airport in Newburgh, New York. The FBI, with the help of an “informant” apprehended them after providing the amateur terrorists with inert explosives” and “inactive” Stinger surface-to-air guided missiles. Unlike the suggestion of the photo on the FBI website, the Empire State Building was never in jeopardy. No reason to start bringing your executive parachutes to work again.
Today, former President Bill Clinton is appearing alongside Mayor Mike Bloomberg at a news conference touting the Empire State Building’s new $20 million green initiatives “which will reportedly include replacing windows and giving tenants web-based systems for managing their energy usage.” How about dimming the lights at night? |Grist|
Unless you’re participating in the Empire State Building’s “Annual Run Up” race this Tuesday, it’s advisable to avoid the iconic landmark at all costs. Between the hours of 9-11AM, hundreds of runners will take to the lobby as they race up 1,576 steps to the Observation deck on the 86th floor. Managers are asking tenants on the ground floor to lock their doors, warning that this “event will cause the corridor to become quite congested” and access will only be available at the 34th St. entrances. Great, so now where are the delivery guys supposed to wait? Full warning after the jump.