Saturday, June 29, 2013

Does Santa Claus still Live in Chelsea?


So I'm walking down 24th Street to see how the Citybench in front of the Hampton's Inn is doing.  The bench is fine but the garden is now covered by a sidewalk shed. Then I walk down the street as I pass Zen Bicycles I am looking at a Tandem bike with a green sign, $2200, reduced to $800. Then Macky,  one of the stores salespeople comes out to take the bike inside the store,  as he takes the bike in I hear an amazing story.

Guy comes into the store to buy a tandem bicycle,  but it's not for himself,  it's to be an anonymous  gift to a couple in East Harlem, one of whom is blind. Seems someone stole their tandem bike.

I'm not sure if Santa still lives in Chelsea but if he doesn't he sure as heck comes to visit from time to time.





NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — An Upper East Side couple was stunned to find that a tandem bike that they rely on for transportation was stolen. The bare stoop outside of their East Harlem apartment is now a painful reminder of the crime perpetrated by a heartless thief.
“It was like being kicked in the stomach,” Alexandra Catherine told CBS 2′s Don Champion on Thursday.
Catherine said she stepped outside on Wednesday morning to find that her cherished tandem bike had been stolen.
“It’s like you built something so beautiful and someone comes along and smashes it to pieces,” she said.
It wasn’t the two seater’s charm or it’s green color that made the bike so important; instead it was the experience of riding the bike with her blind husband that Catherine loved so much.
Charles Catherine has been dealing with a serious eye disease for his entire life. Two years ago, shortly after marrying Alexandra, his condition worsened.
Riding the tandem bike in Central Park gave the couple hope. read more