Posted on 08/02/2013 3:44:57 PM PDT by grundle
Every urbanite’s worst nightmare came true for one New Yorker this week: Jennifer Rosoff, leaning against the railing on the balcony of her Upper East Side apartment, suddenly fell 17 stories to her death after the railing gave way. This is obviously horrifying and tragic. Rosoff was a media executive with stints at The New Yorker and Cosmopolitan on her resume. It’s outrageous that the owners of her building were so remiss in their balcony inspection duties. But if you skimmed the beginning of the Associated Press’s account of Rosoff’s accidental death, you wouldn’t get much information about Rosoff’s promising career or about the structural inadequacies of her balcony. Here are the first two paragraphs of the AP’s article about Rosoff:
"A 35-year-old media executive on a first date plunged to her death Thursday after the railing on her 17th-floor New York City balcony gave way, police said."
"Jennifer Rosoff went outside for a cigarette around 12:50 a.m. when she either sat on the railing or leaned on it. Her date told her that she probably shouldn't do it, and then moments later, she apparently fell backward and landed on construction scaffolding at the first floor, authorities said. Police spoke to the man and no foul play was suspected."
Let’s break this down. According to the AP, the crucial facts you need to know about Rosoff right off the bat are that:
1. She was 35 and single.
2. She was a smoker.
3. She invited a man back to her apartment late at night on a first date.
4. The man warned her not to lean against the balcony, but she did it anyway.
The implication being that this smoking slut totally had it coming...
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
She worked for the New Yorker and Cosmopolitan???
Well then, OF COURSE she deserved to fall off a 17th story balcony.
Let me guess, they built the Building when Bush was President, right?
Is there such a thing as “Big Railing”, and did they meet privately with Darth Cheney at the White House?
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What the hell are you talking about?
I simply posited ta guess that the railing may have given way due to naughty time on the balcony. I never said that sex outside marriage or sex outside on a balcony should be a capital offense. Now did I ever say that if the woman was having sex that makes her any less a victim.
It's you who is being a bit quick to judge here, not me.
Oh, yes. Sorry. They are different parts of Manhattan. Roughly, though there are specific (and to the north, different) streets bordering them, the UES, for example, is the area to the east of Central Park and the UWS, that to the west. It is 59th St. that is the southern border to all three, and this building is two blocks south, on 57th.
The next little chunk of the City to the south is ‘Midtown’, and on the eastern side of the island, it is Midtown East. Though there are also some smaller neighborhoods within those larger areas, and this building is also in a smaller neighborhood called Sutton Place.
Manhattan is only one of the five larger ‘boroughs’ of the City overall.
What the heck are you talking about? I said if they want it, that’s fine—and that applies to landlords too.
Hello—if you’re that allergic to raw seafood, you can not work in a fish market.
The theory, right or wrong, is that second-hand smoke is bad for everyone, where of course exposure to raw shrimp in the rare environment of a fish market isn’t bad for the majority of people.
Again, right or wrong, the theory is that second-hand smoke is bad for everyone, not just some rare few.
I can understand that view, but local governments can also determine if they think something is a public health hazard and place limits thereof.
That is so funny, but I totally understand. I've gotten much better over the years, but still not a fan of heights. Went on Oh My God Road near Idaho Springs, Colorado a few years back. Was totally freaked out because it was this kinda narrow dirt road. It didn't help that there was remnants of a car or two that had went over. Can't remember when the 2nd time happened, but I was much better at dealing with it then.
The main attraction was their waterfall :) ....and Beau Joes mountain pies.
Yes, public health hazards like salt, trans-fats, >16 oz. sodas, and firearms.
Are you being sarcastic or are you being serious? I hope you are being sarcastic. If not you might want to reconsider your tag line.
First off, I don’t know where you are getting that her date was a black man. I’ve not seen his race reported in any article nor could I find any pictures of him. His name is Stephen Close and while that name doesn’t preclude him from being black, it doesn’t sound at least “stereotypically” like a black name. He is reported to be in real estate and while he does not live in the same building as Rosoff, he does live nearby. I found what I think is his profile on Linkedin but there is no picture and I don’t have a Linkedin account to view his full profile. But I seriously don’t think that even if Close is a black man, that this says anything negative about her “character” especially if he was like her, an educated professional. I would point out that Clarence Thomas and Dr. Thomas Sowell are married to white women. FWIW, I’ve never dated a black man - I’m not particularly attracted to black men, but as a single white woman, if I met an intelligent, educated, successful, politically conservative and morally upstanding black man with whom I shared common interests, that I would rule him out merely because of his race.
I read one article that she met him “on-line”, inferring perhaps that they met through an on-line dating site, but being that they were both professionals, they could have met through Linkedin or as he did live in her neighborhood, she could have met him at any of places prior to that evening. They were on a “first date” but that doesn’t necessarily imply that they had never met prior to that night.
Next, you say she was out “drinking” but all the articles state that they had gone out to dinner at a nearby Mexican restaurant – Maya. After their dinner, she invited Close back to see her apartment and have a nightcap and had a smoke on her balcony (oh the horrors – adults having an adult beverage and even more horrible – smoking a cigarette – I bet they also had salty Mexican food that night - has Mayor Bloomberg been informed yet?) And being that Close is in real estate, inviting him to see her apartment may not be as you imply, a purely sexual encounter. And the NYPD have stated that so far they do not believe that alcohol was a factor. I am guessing that the toxicology report will either confirm or refute that.
She fell to her death at approximately 12:30 AM and while that sounds very late to be out on a date on a weeknight, remember that this happened in Manhattan and she was an advertizing executive for a startup agency and he was a real estate professional. It is not at all unusual for folks like that to work until 8 or 9 PM or even later (heck I’ve been known to be at my office that late). And restaurants in NYC are open very late as most are very busy with long wait times so I don’t find it at all strange that one might not come home from a simple dinner date at around midnight. And so what if they had a drink or two during dinner?
I am sure that it was the apartment management's fault and the drinking alcohol and smoking who knows what had no effect on her judgment or balance and had nothing to do with her demise. Many drunk women who have just had sex with a stranger sit on weathered and partially rotted wooden railings 17 floors up while they smoke. If one checks I am sure that the same type of tragedy has played out many times even among Amish women.
Again, you are implying that she was at fault because she was drunk (facts not in evidence) and that this and smoking who knows what because yes of course they must have been smoking one of those “funny” cigarettes especially if she was out on a date with a black man because all black men are dope fiends (again, facts, his race and drug use, not in evidence) and that they had just had sex with a stranger (once again, facts not in evidence).
If you look at the pictures of the balcony railing, they don’t appear to be wooden to me. They appear to be a metal of some type, looks to me to be a hollow aluminum railing and it is being reported this morning that they were not up to code and that the building management had not had them inspected, had delayed the scheduled inspection so if that is the case, they are in part responsible.
Yes, her date was concerned about her sitting (or leaning) on the railing just before it gave way. Although she told him she’d done it many times before, was that bad judgment on her part? Yes. Does that mean she was some drunken floozy who invites strange men or strange black men back to her apartment to have sex with her? No.
(The Amish) I live and work in Amish country – central PA. Read up about Rumspringa sometime and I’m not talking about those “Breaking Amish” shows. While most Amish are morally upstanding and for most Amish youth, Rumspringa is pretty tame, there are some who experiment with alcohol, drugs and pre-marital sex. FWIW, you should know that many of the Amish here in Lancaster County grow tobacco as both a cash crop and for their personal use and many do smoke tobacco (pipes but not cigarettes, cigarettes being considered too “worldly”) and some distill and drink alcohol in moderation. Every once and a while I hear about an Amish youth being pulled over for DWI while driving a buggy.
While we're at it, I hope you'll answer my other question: New Yorkers refer to numbered street intersections, such as "3rd and 21st," without specifying which are Avenues and which are Streets. I'm assuming Avenues run in one direction and Streets in the other. The question is: what convention are they all using, which is unstated but universally understood? My assumption is that it's "Avenues, then Streets," because that's alphabetical.
Yes, when they use that shorthand, they are referring to streets in Manhattan, and if they’re First through 10th they are avenues. The avenues, plus Broadway and a couple of smaller fringe streets, run north to south. The streets go up to something like 244th, including part of the Bronx. They generally use the street (or avenue) that the address is actually on before giving the cross street. And you’re right, if simply referencing an intersection, the avenue comes first. They’ll slap an “Ave.” and/or a “St.” on if it’s open to confusion.
PING
Thanks for the clarity and generosity of your replies. I’ve now learned a couple of things I long wondered about but had no one to ask.
Thanks for that clarification and my sincere apology to you for thinking you were not being sarcastic.
You are correct in that news stories are often inaccurate and lacking in important details or are just plain sensationalist.
You’re welcome!
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