By Any Means Necessary?

Mr. Zimmerman, who was a film producer in New York when he wrote this article, is how a writer and historian, speicializing in science and the history of space exploration. No further reproduction of this article is allowed without written permission of the author. Though most of my adult life has been spent in the [...]

A Level Playing Field

Mr. Zimmerman who was a film producer in New York when he wrote this article, is now a writer and historian, specializing in science and the history of space exploration. No further reproduction of this article is allowed without written permission of the aurthor. I am far from a wealthy individual. Despite the wonderful stories [...]

Saying Yes

It is the winter of 1992 in New York City, and everyone is talking economic doom and gloom. Macy’s has just declared bankruptcy, Citicorp has lost almost a billion and a half dollars in the last six months, local unemployment has topped 10 percent, and shuttered storefronts dot local shopping districts.

Into the midst of this dismal situation comes yours truly, trying to find (of all things) a location for a film shoot. I am representing Weekend at Bernie’s II, a Hollywood feature film with a week’s shooting in middle May. One of the locations I am searching for is a high-level corporate boardroom with a spectacular view of the New York skyline.

New York’s War Against the Vans

In 1981, New York City had a transit strike. Only the Staten Island Ferry was running. A1 Manti, a fireman living in Brooklyn, decided to help some of his local friends by driving them to the ferry so they could get to work in lower Manhattan. “We did it for fun,” says Manti. It worked so well that he decided, once the strike ended, to buy a 15-passenger van and go into business. He contacted city and state agencies, filled out the appropriate forms, and received a license to provide transportation from Brooklyn to Manhattan.