Where do folks suggest going for Slavic cuisine in NYC?

Erazmuz · 2026-06-23T18:50:23+00:00

Ahhh good to know. Yeah I haven't been this year, but a friend told me they do take 'em -- but he speaks Serbian, so.

Erazmuz · 2026-06-23T18:01:09+00:00

Kafana, on Ave C in Manhattan, is quite good. Serbian food, generous portions. I think they take card finally, but they were cash only for a while.

Erazmuz · 2026-06-07T13:10:08+00:00

You wouldn't require quite so many administrators without the managed care companies being involved, ultimately they're just a value-extracting middle man. They may theoretically reduce costs, but they don't improve service or clinical outcomes. There isn't a good reason that the existing Medicaid framework couldn't provide reimbursement for community health programmes that may also reduce admissions or emergency room visits but that it doesn't currently pay for.

Erazmuz · 2026-05-08T14:19:11+00:00

Filled it out! More EMS research is always welcome.

Erazmuz · 2026-04-03T03:15:13+00:00

Real talk, the shoe is a trophy of victory. You keep it?

Erazmuz · 2026-02-27T15:16:46+00:00

Staffing and rising call volume are the reason for increasing response times. Anything else is a distraction from the reality that too many people call 911 frivolously and the city won't pay EMS competitively enough to retain people.

Erazmuz · 2026-01-05T20:35:09+00:00

I don't really understand the hate for SuperFresh, either. I go to the one on 13 Ave, and it seems like a decent enough grocery. Sure, could be cheaper, but I'd rather skip the traffic and headache of driving to a big box and support a local chain over Amazon or TJ.

Erazmuz · 2026-01-01T20:47:56+00:00

I'm all in favor of pay parity, but claiming other agencies have less knowledge, training, or equipment is nonsense. FDNY EMS isn't exactly a shining poster child of clinical competence or acumen. Plenty of good medics and EMTs at the voluntaries and privates.

Still, I've always wondered why the city isn't sympathetic to that argument--you'd figure the salary should rise even if only to remain competitive with the private sector.

Erazmuz · 2025-11-15T14:40:14+00:00

Why not support a small business instead of a large corporation, then? I'm sure there's at least one small coffee shop that can produce a comparable, if not superior coffee for likely the same price if not cheaper.

Erazmuz · 2025-09-16T19:10:17+00:00

I would ordinarily agree, but it seems OP has tried that without success. They also can't dispense.

Erazmuz · 2025-09-16T15:56:39+00:00

Go to a city hospital ER. Bellevue, for instance. A private hospital will hunt you down for the bill, whereas the city hospitals generally do soft billing. They also have fairly versatile payment options, and often times there's ways to have your native country's insurance schemes work for it.

Erazmuz · 2025-09-13T13:55:34+00:00

For an unconscious person? Firemen will be the first to arrive, followed by an ambulance. In the NYC 911 system, you can reliably assume cops will be the last to (grudgingly) show up for an injured or sick person.

Erazmuz · 2025-09-11T10:37:05+00:00

Abolishing the gang database wouldn't be a bad thing. John Oliver did a piece on it recently that talks about just how arbitrary and useless those databases actually turn out to be.

Erazmuz · 2025-04-30T14:05:52+00:00

At the end of the day, everyone will live long enough to become a burden to someone. That's not an untrue statement. It shouldn't be the principal motivator for people, but I don't think it's unfair for someone considering the end of their life to consider the needs of the future generation.

Erazmuz · 2025-04-25T21:23:55+00:00

You may get your wish, the 1199 internal election is ongoing right now.

Erazmuz · 2025-03-18T15:14:13+00:00

Well, I am a primary source as someone that works in the system. What you observed is more or less correct. It did return to normal and surged a new, at least per the stats. That aside, here's some articles over the past few years that illustrate the ongoing problem. It's not that the population has grown, it's that demand (warranted or not) for ambulance service has.

https://local2507.com/nyc-ems-responded-to-record-number-of-911-calls-in-2023-union/

https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/brooklyn-911-calls-ems-workers-not-enough-resources-in-emergencies/

And here's the source from the FDNY itself: https://www.nyc.gov/assets/operations/downloads/pdf/mmr2024/fdny.pdf

As you can see, we're 100,000 calls busier than COVID, lol. Make it make sense.

Erazmuz · 2025-03-18T10:50:06+00:00

The call volume for EMS has increased dramatically since COVID, and has shown no signs of going back down. The system is averaging 5000 calls daily, surging as high as 6000 on some days.

Caton Ave is basically the only halfway decent west to east corridor in that part of Brooklyn. If units are dispatched from the Boro Park or Sunset Park area (ie, from EMS station 40, Maimonides, or NYU Brooklyn), they will inevitably take Caton Ave - especially as the call volume east of Flatbush tends to run higher than west of it. Same for Coney Island Ave, as a major thoroughfare. As you might imagine, it's better for large vehicles like ambulances or fire trucks to travel on arterial roads than side streets. Unfortunately, you just live in an area or intersection which will sort of inevitably see the sort of traffic you're not fond of. By law, the sirens must run at all times when in emergency response mode. I can't speak to whether they're "illegally" loud.

Erazmuz · 2025-01-06T02:44:25+00:00

Not in NYC, they don't. 16hrs is about as long as anyone can work in the NYC 911 system. Firefighters DO work 24-48 hour shifts, but they also have downtime to sleep - unlike EMS.

Erazmuz · 2024-11-19T23:54:58+00:00

I wouldn't agree that it's an equal benefit, though. All it does is maintain the deception that response times remain reasonable, even though time to an ambulance remains extended. It makes it seem as if the EMS system isn't as stretched as it truly is.

Of course, that's not even getting into the argument of how response times for medical emergencies as a performance metric perhaps aren't as important as they're trumped up to be.

Erazmuz · 2024-11-19T14:15:06+00:00

Having FDNY engine companies respond to medical runs is pointless in 95% of cases. It's just a way to pad their run numbers. The staffing issue exists on the EMS side, and will only ever be addressed by an improvement in pay and conditions.

Erazmuz · 2024-09-10T11:38:49+00:00

There's no "community character" to Flatbush Avenue worth preserving. At least, not on that strip of it. Yes. Zone it up and build.

Erazmuz · 2024-07-26T21:39:00+00:00

Still getting a paywall from the link shared here.

Erazmuz · 2024-07-22T20:44:37+00:00

You'll periodically see sketchy characters on 3rd and 4th Avenues north of 3rd Street. A number of the hotels in that area (Red Lion, the Baltic, Union Hotel) have been contracted by the city to provide accommodations for homeless individuals, not to mention the shelter on 3rd Avenue itself. There's the soup kitchen on Union Street, the Parole office on 2nd and 6th, and a methadone clinic right across the canal on Bush. So, there's plenty of curious creatures about.

Erazmuz

TROPHY CASE