Well I hope they do at the Delamar!

Some hotels don’t change sheets between guests.

Here we go again

23 Riverside Lane (NoPo), still under construction, is under contract. Asking price is $1.695 million. That’s what this street fetched back in 2007 (45 Riverside Lane, $1.655) and in fact the record was set in 2006 when someone paid $1.897, full price, for #40. These do not seem to me to be sensible prices for 2011, but we are probably entering another spiral upward as the demand for new housing meets lack of inventory. Still and all, $1.7 for Riverside Lane? The mind boggled back in ’06 and  ’07 and it remains boggled today.

The world according to China

Pakistani forces kill Osama, U.S. shows up to recover the body.  Fine with me – let the crazies spend their hatred on Pakistan.

Contract on Pecksland

88 Pecksland, an old farmhouse (pictures aren’t loading today, for complicated reasons) started off in June, 2009 priced at $3.2 million. The sellers dumped that broker a year later and dropped the price to $2.495 in August of 2010 and today, they finally have a contract. I’m just guessing, but given the long wait to find a buyer even at the lower price, I wouldn’t be surprised if the house is selling for a full million dollars less than its first price, and possibly lower. If the seller set that price, then fine – their choice. But if it was the broker’s suggestion, then shame on her.

Rajamataz out of court with a foot injury, jury still deliberates

Poor Raj has an infected foot, perhaps from inserting it into one of his ex-friend’s backside?  So he’s at home while the jury continues its work.

As an aside, some readers took me to task for my opinion that insider trading should be decriminalized. I have yet to see a “victim” of insider trading: show me the dollar damages for someone who voluntarily trades his stocks. If the “inside information” were public knowledge, the stock’s price would reflect that by the time Joe investor called his broker. Same result.

Worse still, by occasionally whacking someone trading on insider information, our government creates the illusion that  the small investor is on a level playing field. Nothing could be further from the truth, so who’s duping the small guy, Raj or the Feds?

The Showboat’s back!

Police bust prostitutes and Johns at the Delamar.  Ah, it’s as though Frank Keating never left us. By the way, while I assume getting arrested is a fairly common occurrence in a prostitute’s life, it must be – er, awkward to be one of the Johns and have to explain to a wife or girlfriend why your name is in Greenwich Time. Ouch. And as another by the way, why did this bust take place in the first place? I know that I wasn’t harmed by the private activities of two consenting adults and I doubt anyone else in town was either.

Makes for fun reading, though.

UPDATE: Ha! I had missed this until a reader pointed it out:

Police began to probe the illicit activities after narcotics officers received a tip from the Stamford Police Department’s Narcotics and Organized Crime Squad regarding a prostitution organization operating within upscale hotels in Greenwich, including the Delamar Hotel and the Hyatt Regency Greenwich.

In fairness to our cops, perhaps they, unlike Stamford cops, don’t hang out at the Delamar.

God bless, and God help, our fighting men

I’ve been reading Matterhorn, a novel about fighting in Viet Nam, and while it’s an excellent novel, written by someone who was there, I cringe over the petty interference inflicted on those doing the actual fighting by ambitious colonels and the like who want to paper their record and get the hell out. The troops blame their radios because, since their introduction, the rear rankers can reach them and tell them what to do, even though, of course, they aren’t there and have no idea what’s going on.

This was all brought back to me reading of yesterday’s raid on Bin Laden. Those SEALs had the President of the United States watching them live, the head of the CIA in direct command, and someone in Afghanistan is secondary command. It’s a wonder they succeeded but I’m delighted they did. Those poor grunts in Viet Nam never knew how lucky they were to only be tethered by primitive radios.

Thank you, President Bush

Gitmo detainees coughed up the identity of Osama’s courier, information that led to locating the bad man himself. No wonder Obama refuses to shut that place down – there’s good stuff in there!

UPDATE:  According to the article linked to, it was Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, the monster who cut off Daniel Pearlstein’s head, who was the Gitmo detainee who ratted. Does this mean that he gets the $25 million reward we’ve offered for information leading to Bin Laden’s apprehension? Did the information have to be divulged voluntarily or does a bit of waterboarding disqualify him? Inquiring minds want to know.

A Riverside sale

34 Hendrie Avenue, newish (26) construction across from Eastern, originally asked for $3.895, sold for $3.078. Still a lot of money.

A REMF for our next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff?

Never seen a day of combat but he’s great at politics, they say.  How reassuring.

1038 Lake Avenue foreclosure auction

This has been scheduled before, but I’m guessing May 14th may finally see this property go, either back to Patriot or to a third party. As the owner, Steven Braverman, owes $6,250,000 on the place, I’m guessing it winds up back at Patriot. Unique decorating, though – maybe someone will fall in love with it.