4th of July: A Divided Territory For The Haves & Have Not!

Gone are the days when revelers eager to celebrate the birthday of America with picnic chairs and hampers sat along the coastal fronts of the Hudson River in New York City. I was rather sick to see it fast becoming a commercial monopoly where the uber rich individuals and mega corporations like Macy’s bride their way into the city pockets by pushing back tax payers to the streets while they set up fancy tents and white chairs on the coastal fronts for prime view of the fireworks! Whatever happened to when this used to be fun FOR THE MASSES? A time when families gathered themselves to take in the event on grass lawns along the edge of the water. Now moneyed and well connected denizens take out permits from the city to lock out an entire area of public park all to themselves while utilizing city cops to hold off “trespassers.”

The only area mere mortals where allowed to sit and watch the fireworks –on the highway!

If I wasn’t a fan of Macy’s before, now I am even more turned off from the brand/store all together because they were the ring leader of this fiasco that made seeing the fireworks a nightmare. It didn’t matter if you got there 8 hours to show start. You were told to move and redirected to a far away “nose bleed” area if you could not come up with a Macy’s issued tickets! So much for 4th of July being for the people. It’s now a corporate commercial monopoly game! What’s next? Bergdorf, Saks, Barneys to set up exclusive invite only firework shop along the coastal lines too? Sigh…

Heavily guarded area for VIPs by the waterfront, prime view of the fireworks

Needless to say, while on my way out, forgoing the fireworks altogether, I couldn’t resist capturing some of the memorable images of mere mortals less connected than the VIPS on the coastal lines. They camped out there, slept & ate there, networked with each other to while away the time. All races, religion and age brackets…waited eagerly for hours in the scotching heat of 90 degree plus!

Well, I hope you like the images. As usual folks, all rights reserved πŸ™‚

A public park by the water closed for a "private party" coming much later to see the fireworks

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