Tuesday, December 21, 2021

Urbanish parasite

Anna Doré and Isaac Goldberg have lived in three of the eight apartments on the fifth floor of their building. “I still catch myself making a right out of the elevator when I need to be making a left,” Mr. Goldberg said. 

NY Times

Isaac Goldberg was working on the 2014 re-election campaign of Representative Steve Israel, Democrat of Huntington, N.Y., when he decided to have a party in his Astoria, Queens, apartment. He sent out a mass invite to everyone working on campaigns for Democrats on Long Island.

Anna Doré didn’t know Mr. Goldberg, but she was helping out with another campaign, heard about the party and decided to go. Ms. Doré, who works in public relations, has spent only five months of the last seven years working in politics. But that short window of time just happened to coincide with Mr. Goldberg’s party. “It was very much kismet,” she said.

It was also 90 degrees when she arrived, and most of the partygoers were circled around the air-conditioning unit, nursing Jell-O shots to keep cool. Campaign posters, an American flag and a 1996 Yankees championship poster adorned the walls. “The décor was definitely in need of some love and affection,” Ms. Doré said.

Surrounded by a mix of memorabilia, election talk and spiked refreshment, she and Mr. Goldberg found each other. One spark led to another and, seven years later, they are married and living in the same building where they met.

“We joke that Anna came to a party at my apartment and hasn’t left since,” Mr. Goldberg said. The joke is only partially true: While the couple has stayed in the building, they are living in their third apartment there — all on the same floor.

It was just a few months into their relationship when Ms. Doré moved in with Mr. Goldberg. She had been living on the Upper East Side, but fate forced her hand when a 4 a.m. fire broke out in her building. “Isaac raced over and came to the rescue,” she said, “even though we were just newly dating.”

She stayed with him that night, and the next day her building was condemned. Sharing the one-bedroom with Mr. Goldberg quickly evolved from a short-term fix to a long-term commitment.

“I didn’t want to be burned into living together,” Ms. Doré said. “But it worked out.”

In 2019, after the couple married at the Queens Museum, they envisioned themselves remaining in the second apartment for years to come. But then, Covid.

With both of them working from home, Ms. Doré set up a makeshift office in the bedroom. “I was sharing a wall with Isaac in his office,” she said. “As a political consultant, Isaac tends to talk on the phone all day.”

Investing in noise-canceling headphones helped “preserve our sanity,” she said, but it soon became clear that they needed a more permanent fix.

They thought the day had finally come when they would move into another building. Over a couple of months, they looked at 10 apartments in 10 buildings, sticking to Astoria for their search.

They are, by Mr. Goldberg’s admission, “Astoria obsessed.” For more than two years, Ms. Doré ran a locally focused Instagram account, WeHeartAstoria.

“I started to love the neighborhood through that lens,” she said. “We knew we didn’t want to leave.”

For his part, Mr. Goldberg is attracted to Astoria’s livability and working-class feel: “There’s the joke that the two hardest things to find in Astoria are doormen and dishwashers.”

 Might as well leave this here. Mr. Goldberg happens to work for Berlin Rosen, the consultant lobby that donated robustly to Bill de Blasio's campaign and his illegal 501c4 PAC "Campaign for One New York" as "agents of the city"

 

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is this another anti Israel article?

NPC_translator said...

Who cares. By the way, Steve Israel of Long Island is so stupid that it's hard to imagine he can even feed himself.

Chester the Dog said...

...aannddd?

Anonymous said...

@"Mr. Goldberg happens to work for Berlin Rosen, the consultant lobby that donated robustly to Bill de Blasio's campaign and his illegal 501c4 PAC"

Well, you may as well include any New Yorker who works for a corporation. They're all crooked, dishonest and give lots of $$$$ to other crooks. The whole concept of a corporation is crooked.



Anonymous said...

Always thought that 'We Heart Astoria' was never 'We Are Astoria'.

'nuf said.

Anonymous said...

Great story.

One question, did they fix the door?

Anonymous said...

He looks like your typical douchebro in NYC politics.

Anonymous said...

Is this another anti Israel article?

Try harder shill.

Anonymous said...

Not that interesting, just a bunch of nitwits. They will be divorced in 3 years.

Anonymous said...

How parasites multiply whilst feeding off of 'OTHER' people's money. The corruption, graft and monstrous greed are never-ending. The system cannot be fixed by the system!

I Heart Astoria . . . Not said...

That photo shows a "spacious" kitchen?

Anonymous said...

Before I read the comments I thought this was a story everyone would like. Politics aside.

JQ LLC said...

@Chester re:and

I'm just saying who his employer is and what that lobby has done. Not accusing the person of anything nefarious at all, Berlin is a big company.

And I wouldn't have to say this if de Blasio didn't hide the public record from people.

https://nypost.com/2016/11/29/de-blasio-turned-to-private-consultants-about-their-clients/

Scott said...

mr Goldberg speaks of the “working class feel” of Astoria. People like him don’t have a clue what working class feels like

Anonymous said...

The wonders of reading before you react...

JQ LLC said...

@Anonymous re: react

You should see Crappy's tweet about this.

Adriatic Hillbilly said...

Hopefully this pair of ass gaskets will NOT reproduce...

Anonymous said...

@Is this another anti Israel article?

How did you come up with this gem?
Did not know Astoria was in Israel, better yet who is criticizing what exactly?

Anonymous said...

To the last two Wage Slave Drones, who insist on abusing this site, with impunity.

Attention, QUEENS Crap Administrator JQ

Hadn't we already discussed online bullying and abuse recently? How many more times will you continue to ignore the open hostility before this matter gets really ugly and out of control? Your administrative obligations are failing you, and you are willfully allowing uneducated, opinionated, keyboard warrior style terrorists to overtake this site, with your blessing. If I hear that derogatory term once more, then I will use my free press credentials to take this matter publicly by spotlighting your blogsite to be reviewed by more credible (and accountable) sources of public scrutiny and investigation. I remind you, once again, that you have the power to stop this relentless abuse. If these anonymous fools wish to vent, then let them stay on topic, and to reply directly to their publicly elected officials, and to excoriate THEM, not I. This is not a forum to create online harassment toward other users (EMPHASIS ADDED)!

JQ LLC said...

@Anon

Fine. I'll ban them.

Anonymous said...

It's far easier for me to ban you, JQ, now that your blog has lost almost all of its credibility!

Nevertheless, according to you, you'll endeavor to take action to ban independent, public watchdog journalists whose job it is to impart fairness and transparency, while weeding out waste, incompetence and gross mismanagement——but not the brazen, mob rule of megalomaniacs whose bullying tactics you freely condone? Hardly the commendable actions of a mature and responsible administrator. Frankly, your repeated complicity has turned you into an even bigger hypocrite, disappointment, embarrassment and public nuisance than the invisible dray of bullies, losers and overtly hostile misfits over whom you've extended total protection, all of whom have been apparently running the show here for way too long——with your blessing!

Truly, it's a great tragedy that you've turned out to be yet another spineless shill who doesn't have the stones to exert control over your own weakened and usurped blog that is now tantamount to a tale told by an idiot: Filled with sound and fury——and, signifying nothing.

It's truly the end of an era, JQ. Just one more day left to 2022, to which I will leave behind ALL previous QUEENS Crap in the rear view mirror of my brand new AUDI allroad——and strenuously exhale a sigh of relief that my senses will no longer be assaulted by the nonstop noise pollution of your protected Psych Ward of 'Useful Idiots,' and their malignant, ego driven psychobabble of self-importance that has completely stripped away your once grand, online achievement, now diminished to an endless loop of 'Noise and Sight' pollution.

You coulda been a CONTENDER ...