Here are 15 facts about New York, to which I have added a few select lines of commentary....
1. Dutch explorer Peter Minuit purchased the island of Manhattan (really its southern tip) from the Algonquin tribe for trinkets and tools worth about $24.
...and now with inflation, and a good real estate agent, Bloomberg could sell it and
make about... $27 - and buy himself a 7 Day Metro Card, since that's his chosen mode of transport.
2. The first known name for Manhattan was New Amsterdam.
...which explains why New York is where women started insisting on splitting the check on dates.
3. New York City was the U.S. capital from 1789 to 1790
...and to some Americans who never graduated high school, it still is.
4. New Yorkers travel an average of 40 minutes to work each day.
...the time is given as an average, not because of the many people traveling, but because of the huge margin for error in the New York City Subway trains getting them to work on time.
5. More than 47 percent of New York City's residents over the age of 5 speak a language other than English at home.
...and to lots of people at once in one room.
6. New York's Central Park is larger than the principality of Monaco.
...and thanks to Guiliani, now has 4 less prostitutes.
7. Broadway, originating from Lower Manhattan at Bowling Green and ending in Albany, is one of the world's longest streets at 150 mi (241 km). The official name of this street is Highway 9.
...What an achievement: Bloomberg put deck chairs on a highway.
8. According to Crain's New York Business, the average sale price of an apartment in Manhattan during the 4th quarter of 2007 was a whopping $1.49 million.
...another statistic showed that the average percentage of foreclosures on these properties owned by finance workers in the city last year was 98%
9. New York's Yellow Cabs are yellow because John Hertz, the company's founder, learned from a study that yellow was the easiest color for the eye to spot. He was right.
...and black is the hardest to spot from the inside of a cab.
10. In 2007, 46 million international and domestic visitors came to New York City. They spent approximately $28 billion while there.
....having never left midtown.
11. The average daily room rate in New York hotels in 2006 (the most recent year surveyed) was $267.
...'Extra services' are no longer available, thanks to Giuliani.
12. More than 250 feature films are shot on location in New York City each year.
...and 4,567 episodes of Law and Order.
13. An average of 4.9 million people ride the New York City subway each weekday.
...of which .6 million know how to properly apply deodorant.
14. The New York City subway system runs 26 routes with 6,200 subway cars that stop at 468 different subway stations.
...yeah, on weekdays.
15. More than 18,600 restaurants and eating establishments do business in New York City, and the average cost of a dinner in 2006, according to the Zagat Survey, was $39.43. That includes a drink, tax and the tip.
...Tourists will be unable to take advantage of this since the Red Lobster, Oliver Garden, Ruby Tuesdays and Appleby's in Times Sqaure charge $39.43 for a simple burger. Fries additional.
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