Audrey Gelman is opening a hotel.
I texted her for some exclusive details about the loading girlboss empire.
This is the selfie you get today because I’m writing this in the gym. My party yesterday sold out in 18 minutes, but I have good news: there will be a late-night Feed Me SUMMER MONDAYS party on 6/17. Stay tuned for details, please bring your hot friends.
NEWS:
Gov. Kathy Hochul halted the congestion pricing plan just 25 days before — and a half-billion dollars after — it was set to start. I don’t know what we did to deserve her or Eric Adams for that matter. “After careful consideration I have come to the difficult decision that implementing the planned congestion pricing system risks too many unintended consequences,” Ms. Hochul said, adding: “I have directed the M.T.A. to indefinitely pause the program.” The congestion pricing plan, the first of its kind in the nation, was slated to start June 30. Drivers using E-ZPass would have paid as much as $15 to enter Manhattan south of 60th Street. The governor said she feared that instituting a toll to drive into the borough would “create another obstacle to our economic recovery.” Proponents argued that it would reduce gridlock and pollution in Manhattan, while raising an estimated $1 billion a year for the city’s buses and subways. This might be annoying to read about for Feed Me readers not in New York City, but it’s on the homepage of every major magazine right now. So, I called in my New York transit expert best friend, who is quite angry about the situation, for a guest take:
“The flip is the most New York Democrat thing possibly ever. Plan for years. Navigate the labyrinth of state agencies, city agencies, recruit allies at the federal level, procure the contacts (the money’s already spent)… get it approved! Make it a banner issue! Roll out the messaging. And roll over at the eleventh hour because you’re scared of what rich dicks from New Jersey, the Hudson Valley, Long Island and Connecticut will think of having to spend FIFTEEN more dollars on their commutes in PRIVATE CARS. Roll over with NO PLAN on how you’re going to unwind the contracts, or fix the hole you blew (for the nth time) in the MTA’s budget. Couch it all in “cost of living” hand-waving. I’ve driven on Manhattan south of the park more than I’d like. It’s not enjoyable. It’s not pleasurable. It’s hell and some of the worst traffic on the eastern seaboard. In the YEARS I’ve commuted on the trains almost EVERY DAY, early mornings, late nights, 4 in the morning I’ve not been subjected to HALF the horrors I’ve seen on the George Washington bridge merge or the Lincoln Tunnel Friday rush or the FDR.
Couch it all in cost of living bullshit to save the pockets of people who SHOULD be paying more for the privilege of taking up outsized parts of shared public space. The economic arguments have been done to death and it’s a testament to NY Dems’ total fucking ineptitude that they lost on messaging based on “but the money” and campaigns designed to scare Staten Islanders and Queens residents into thinking they’d have to pay $15 to start their car in an outer borough. If you perform the exercise of pricing undeveloped NYC land at $75/sf, land inventory dedicated to FREE parking alone comes on the napkin to $72 BILLION locked up in asphalt jails that could hold more green space, CANS for the fucking GARBAGE ALL OVER THE SIDEWALK, food vendors, citibike racks - with a billion square feet at your disposal the city is really your oyster. Instead we commit to regression where the half of New Yorkers who don’t own cars subsidize those (richer, on balance) New Yorkers who do, and the (much richer, on balance) out of town commuters.
It’s not paying your transit fare. You don’t get a choice in paying this subsidy. The city and state governments have deemed motorists, again and again, as more important than those without a vehicle. And what do you, the person on the sidewalk, get in return for your massive subsidy? Pedestrians run over, cyclists crushed, horns honked, engines gunned, fumes spewed. Avenues choked by tens of thousands of SUV’s. Generally operating a private car here, especially on Manhattan, is doing a burnout on the seal of the city.
Driving in from your home with lawn in New Jersey, you can inconvenience and thousands of people between Central Park and the Battery, with license to be completely ignorant to every single one. After all you’ve already paid for the privilege. Insurance is expensive. Your car payment (financed, what would the neighbors think if you drove a beater?) is expensive. The bridge costs $10. The people on the street should get the hell out of your way, because you didn’t get where you should have to wait at a crosswalk like everyone else.
When I remember the subsidy I provide to the Connecticut hedge fund managers and their drivers, and the mayors from New Jersey, and the Long Island moms petrified of taking the LIRR for 30 minutes because their televisions have convinced them they’re going to get mugged 6 times and thrown on the track , I feel like a fucking chump for paying my $2.90 to sweat on the F train. Am I not as deserving as the motorist? Does my city not value me? What am I worth? The answer to Governor Hochul, it seems, has always been no more than $15. City residents will enjoy the further payroll tax the state, from its seat far away in Albany, mandates to plug the MTA. City residents should support their city services after all, it’s only fair, and don’t you dare talk about all the tax revenue sent upstate. Remember who blew this plan up when it’s time again to vote, and remember who they’ve chosen to subsidize at your expense. The camel is a robust animal, and could never be burdened by something so light as a straw. Or two. Or ten.”
Apparently Olaplex is launching skincare. At the time of its 2021 I.P.O., Olaplex was valued close to $14B. Now, Olaplex’s market cap is just shy of $1.2B. Net sales plummeted by nearly 35% in 2023, with a 50% dip in the U.S. By December of last year, C.E.O. JuE Wong was out, and Amanda Baldwin, the former C.E.O. of the sun care brand Supergoop, was installed in Wong’s place. Puck’s Rachel Strugatz reported that a skincare launch might be on the horizon, despite some anonymous beauty founders saying they would never put that on their face.
Remember when Charli XCX was talking about Dasha Nekrasova being an inspiration? This is what we got.
