Homeless Man Wants $1 Million

Coon

A New York panhandler, often seen around Union Square, is on a unique mission, The Local East Village reports today. Chris Coon, 29, who has two kids and is homeless, wants to ask a million people for a dollar. He describes the project on his website, AskAMillion,com (a woman heard about his idea and gave him a laptop), as “A Social Experiment to both Help me to get out of Homelessness, take care of my two daughters and to take care of my daily living.” Coon has asked 3,462 people for a handout since the beginning of May and at this rate, City Room calculates he will reach his goal in about February 2054. When approaching people, clipboard in hand, Coon describes the concept behind his experiment, asks for some money and then records their gender and ethnicity.

Similar Posts

  • All’ Onda Opens on 13th St.

    From the Times: “Venice was Chris Jaeckle’s inspiration for this duplex restaurant. “It has always had the most global outlook of any place in Italy,” said Mr. Jaeckle, the chef and a partner. “And that goes back 800 years.” But Venice is only a starting point. He also applies a touch of Japanese flavor to the typical Venetian rice, noodles and seafood. “With these ingredients, Japanese food has a lot in common with Venetian,” he said. Sardines with typical sweet-and-sour “in saor” flavors are artistically arranged Japanese-style. A touch of miso brightens razor clams. He interprets Venetian liver and onions with monkfish liver and adds a touch of curry to spaghetti with clams. Chris Cannon, the manager and consultant, has created a list with more than 36 Italian sparkling wines (white, rosé, red and even orange varieties) to pair with the food. The upstairs dining room is relaxed and understated; the ground floor is the bar. (Opens Monday): 22 East 13th Street, 212-231-2236, allondanyc.com.”

  • The Annual Union Square Partnership Commercial Update

    Union Square is bustling, with robust foot traffic recovery, a strong roster of new retail and office tenants, and new mixed-use residential developments in the pipeline.

    Key data points from the last 12 months highlight the district’s strengths:

    1.1M SF of office
    space leased in the
    last 12 months

    58K+ average daily
    riders at Union Square
    -14th Street Station

    13% higher visitor
    activity on Greenmarket
    days in USQ

    370K average daily
    weekday trips to the
    Union Square area

    78K+ SF of ground floor
    retail space leased in
    the last 12 months

    Visitor traffic reached
    a high of 109% recovery
    over January 2020

    DISTRICT TRENDS

    USQ IS THRIVING
    ∫ Union Square’s residents have strong spending power,
    with average household incomes nearly 75% higher than the
    Manhattan average.
    ∫ By the end of 2023, visitor traffic hit 109% of January 2020
    levels, driven by Union Square’s vibrant mix of uses and the
    steady return of office workers.
    ∫ Leading employers choose Union Square, and the biggest
    new leases represent finance, technology, hospitality, and
    fin-tech.
    ∫ Union Square grew as a job center, with its workforce
    increasing by 12% since 2023 to reach 168K employees.
    The tech and innovation sector remains strong, with over 45
    companies located in the area.
    ∫ 43 new businesses opened in the past year, 60% of which
    are food and beverage establishments. Indicating a return to
    in-person dining, the number of new sit-down restaurants in
    the district increased by 25% over the number that opened in
    the previous year.

  • The New School Site Used to Be Thomas Edison’s Lab

    Some fun history about 65 5th Ave.

    “The New School has been a presence at 65 Fifth Avenue, the site of the University Center, since 1967, when the university converted a Lane’s department store building for student use. But long before the address became associated with educational innovation, it was renown for innovation of another kind. In 1881, inventor Thomas Edison installed at the address (which was then occupied by a handsome brownstone) a permanent exhibition of his electrical discoveries. The biography Edison: His Life and Inventions reports that “the house was thrown open to the public until late at night, never closing before ten o’clock, so as to give everybody who wished an opportunity to see that great novelty of the time—the incandescent light—whose fame had meanwhile been spreading all over the globe.” It is a fitting legacy for the University Center, which upon opening in Fall 2013 will itself serve as a living teaching tool, with exposed energy and water management systems to provide working demonstrations of sustainable design.”