"Octoberfest"

This pathetic street fair was billed as Octoberfest.  I knew it wouldn't have anything to do with Octoberfest, but, glutton for punishment that I am, I walked the length of it anyway.  Not a single Octoberfest, or even German, item the entire length. 

The city's street fairs are known to be terrible, but this is one of the worst I've seen.  As I understand it the fairs are a fund-raising tool for neighborhood charities and non-profits.  This one ran from 57th to 42nd on Lexington, which is almost entirely commercial.  It was not clear what neighborhood group was going to benefit as there was no group present at the fair.  I saw Jackie Mason but no community group.

The city will have about 376 street fairs this year, which will generate about 1.5 million dollars, or about $4000 per fair (info from Center for an Urban Future, "Rethinking New York's Street Fairs" (pdf document).  Dividing by number of blocks that works out to raising about $267 per block.  Wouldn't it be easier to ask every business along the fair route to pony up ten or twenty dollars?  I'm sure the Waldorf-Astoria and Citigroup, among other companies along the fair, could afford it.

After the fair, I headed east on 42nd Street to 1st Ave and then south to 14th Street.  That stretch along 1st Ave is not the most interesting part of town...