Rich versus the filthy, stinking rich

New York Post

Rich versus the filthy, stinking rich

By Andrea Peyser

October 10, 2013 | 4:09am

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Photo: Shutterstock

Call it the battle of the rich — versus the filthy, stinking rich.

In the tony enclave of Riverdale, a nabe that sits uneasily atop The Bronx, a borough not typically associated with snobbery and extreme wealth, a skirmish is brewing between super-rich residents and the prosperous kids who attend the area’s three top-tier private schools.
The first shots were fired at the beginning of the school year.

That’s when barricades, adorned with signs reading, “STREET CLOSED. PRIVATE PROPERTY’’ went up at intersections around town, snarling traffic all the way to the Henry Hudson Parkway.

The roadblocks prevented school buses and other undesirable vehicles from passing through Riverdale’s ultra-snooty Fieldston enclave. And the blocks prevented cars from getting to the area’s three, wickedly expensive private schools. Some neighbors and parents are livid.
“It’s rich people harassing schoolchildren to keep property values up,’’ one mom of private-school kids complained to me.

Todd Rubinstein, who is at times trapped on his street by barricades, told me the barriers have created a kind of “moat’’ around Riverdale, forcing kids and even shoppers to go far, very far, out of the way.
In this city, where the merely rich presumably have the same civil rights as the wildly rich, how can this go on?

Riverdale is unlike other urban enclaves, containing some of the finest single-family houses within city limits. It is also home to three of New York’s priciest private schools — Fieldston Ethical Culture, Riverdale Country School and Horace Mann.

All that exclusivity costs an arm and two legs. Tuition and fees for preschool through high school runs an eye-popping $41,150 at Mann this year, and $41,400 at Fieldston. It takes a positively loony $43,600 to park a young one at Riverdale Country.

Yet this year, wealthy denizens of Riverdale’s swanky Fieldston neighborhood got fed up with the well-to-do interlopers who march through their property on weekdays.

During the first two days of school last month, streets were blocked by signs and manned security vehicles. The blockade forced buses and private cars en route to the three private schools to take “stupid loops’’ around the neighborhood, said one angry parent.

After two days, most passenger vehicles were waved through checkpoints. But not buses.

Rubinstein, 60, a lawyer who lives between the Fieldston and Horace Mann schools, told me the barricades now come up randomly — and at times are unmanned.

“Sometimes, they forget to take them down at night,” he said. “They’re in the middle of the street!’’

Just driving his 2009 Chevy Malibu hybrid to synagogue requires military planning.

But Rubinstein, who says he’s not as wealthy as some neighbors — his kids attended public school! — fears for his safety.

“One day, Sanitation had to move the barricades manually to get their trucks through. If a firetruck has to manually move a barricade to get to my house, doesn’t that slow them down?’’

Fieldston, with just 225 homes, is a private community, and property owners evidently get what they want. And they don’t want outsiders passing through their streets.

“The simple answer to your question is our streets are owned by the Fieldston Property Owners Association and are recognized to be private, as is the sewer system that lies beneath,’’ Brendan Contant, president of the association, told me via e-mail.

The barricades remain, he said, “as reminders that the streets are private and commercial thru traffic is prohibited.’’

In the City of New York, how can a community, no matter how wealthy, turn into a barricaded camp?

In response to my inquiries, the city Department of Transportation is looking into it. “We are reviewing the situation in consultation with the community and other city agencies,’’ said a spokesman.

I hate seeing the wealthy inconvenienced by the super-wealthy.
Take down those blasted barricades.

Louts’ ladies must move on

With the Primary of Pervs now in the rear view, a ticklish question remains: What to do about Anthony Weiner?

The compulsive sexter and mayoral primary loser’s suffering wife, Huma Abedin, has received an ultimatum from her boss, Hillary Rodham Clinton, now mulling a 2016 presidential bid: Leave the embarrassment behind or forget about a top role in Hillary’s campaign and administration, The Post has reported. (A Clinton rep denies this).

But the couple has a kid, and Huma has, so far, resisted fleeing.
She might cry in her white wine with Silda Spitzer, spouse of hooker-happy comptroller-primary loser and disgraced ex-Love Gov. Eliot. She was reportedly set to dash after the primary, but hasn’t — yet.
Ladies, do it for yourselves, if not for the empowerment of all women. Stop enabling these creeps.

Pedicabs take license

Eric Piga may legally operate a pedicab in Manhattan — even though his driver’s license is from Burkina Faso. Driving a rickshaw in New York, Piga said, is “much harder.’’

That’s because back home in West Africa, motorists bear to the left side of the road, not the right. Yet Piga and his brethren in foot-pumping are not required to pass New York road tests nor obtain local driver’s licenses. Any foreign license will do.

This illustrates everything wrong with an industry that caters to clueless tourists, while causing traffic chaos. Get these menaces off the streets!

Clearly not NY’s Finest

This man is a disgrace to the uniform.

Off-duty undercover NYPD Detective Wojciech Braszczok, 32, a guy who outdid Anthony Weiner by posting shirtless selfies to troll for young ladies online, was identified by police brass as one of the motorcycle riders who terrorized a family as they rode off the West Side Highway — smashing the rear window of the SUV holding Alexian Lien, his wife and 2-year-old daughter.

The alleged road-rager was arrested and is accused of lying, telling investigators he had nothing to do with Lien’s Sept. 29 beating. But video shows Braszczok shattered the SUV’s window with his gloved hand, cops say.

The 10-year NYPD veteran could face up to 25 years behind bars if convicted of charges including gang assault and criminal mischief. A rogue cop does a disservice to the many fine men and women who risk their lives daily to save yours. If guilty, I hope this guy does serious time.

A dumb study

Americans are dumb?

So said an international study that compared the brain power of a minuscule 166,000 people, 16 to 65, in more than 20 countries. No surprise — the survey found that US adults scored below folks in places like Japan, Canada, Australia and Finland in math, reading and problem-solving with technology. We also had trouble calculating mileage, reimbursement due a salesman, sorting e-mail, and comparing food expiration dates on grocery tags.

I haven’t a clue how to sort e-mail, or why. But this study seems designed to make us fail.

Finland? I’ll take America.