Dear Commons Community,

One hundred years ago, on Feb. 2, 1913, the doors to Grand Central Terminal officially opened to the public, after 10 years of construction and at a cost of more than $2 billion in today’s dollars. The terminal was a product of local politics, bold architecture, brutal flexing of corporate muscle and visionary engineering. No other building embodies New York’s ascent as vividly as Grand Central.  In today’s New York Times is the tale of its birth, excerpted from Grand Central: How a Train Station Transformed America, by Sam Roberts,  to be published later this month by Grand Central Publishing.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

This past week we have seen the president, a number of state governors and hundreds of mayors come out in support of gun control.  Most of us are proud that our elected officials are taking these steps.  Former President Bill Clinton while supporting these measures also had a word of caution for President Obama.

“Appearing before Obama’s National Finance Committee and various business leaders, Clinton stressed that guns present different cultural complexities than other political issues.

“Do not patronize the passionate supporters of your opponents by looking down your nose at them,” he said, according to Politico.

Clinton’s comments echoed similar thoughts from April 2012, when he advised Obama to not bother with gun-control legislation for cultural reasons.”

Tony