Word: wreckers
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...abandoned: a rusting abode of cats and pigeons, whose damp silence was occasionally broken by film units; Orson Welles and Bernardo Bertolucci are among the directors who have sought evocative locations in its Piranesian gloom. Meanwhile developers covetously eyed it, dreaming of the slow-motion arc of the wrecker's ball. In 1971 the French government, under President Georges Pompidou, issued a demolition order...
...Jacob K. Javits Federal Building and the U.S. Court of International Trade, Federal Plaza in lower Manhattan is one of the ugliest public spaces in America. Everything, from its coarse buildings -- which look the way institutional disinfectant smells -- to its dry, littered fountain, begs for prolonged shiatsu with a wrecker's ball. But since no one is going to do that, would the next best thing be to put a Major Sculpture by a Major American Artist there...
...Dole had promised New York's Alfonse D'Amato and Florida's Paula Hawkins, both Republicans, that he would offer an amendment knocking out any limitations on cost of living (COLA) increases for Social Security recipients. Warned Colorado Republican William Armstrong: "It's a killer amendment . . . a wrecker amendment. It sets the stage for unraveling the whole package." Dole offered the amendment even though he opposed it; he knew that Democrats were poised to introduce the same vote-getting measure and preferred to let Republicans take the credit. The COLA restoration carried, 65 to 34, with eleven...
When he is out bowling in the first reel, Harry's vision suddenly blurs and his arm goes numb. And so do one's expectations for the movie. For grim experience warns that when otherwise hearty middle-aged males (Harry happily wields the wrecker's ball on construction sites) suffer alarming physical symptoms right after the opening credits, more than unemployment and a heart attack are sure to follow. The crisis will be the occasion for lugubrious but ultimately uplifting reflections on a number of important matters: aging and mortality, the relationship between men and women...
...Post Office not only was neglected, it nearly fell to the wrecker's ball. In 1899, the building's flossy exterior blended well with the theaters, taverns and whorehouses that enlivened the 1 ½-mile esplanade. The atrium design permitted postal inspectors to prowl catwalks, checking up on mail sorters below. But as Government grew more dignified, its architects demanded cool, neoclassic superblocks on the Avenue of the Presidents. To them, the Post Office seemed as out of place as flamboyant Diamond Jim Brady at a state dinner. Abandoned in 1934 by the Post Office Department, the building...