I hate to admit it, but that tee-shirt is actually kind of clever. It's verbatim dialogue from "Mean Streets." But in the film, the context was certainly different from that of the current day boutique owners. Because when you live in an area like that, you do get tired of those events. But when you're part of the gentrification, like the shop owners, you really shouldn't push your luck.

I grew up on 187th and Hoffman Streets in the Belmont section of the Bronx, which was a mirror image of the old Mulberry Street back then. We had two major Feasts every summer (St. Anthony and Our Lady of Mount Carmel), plus a couple of smaller ones. Back then the big Feasts stretched out from Fordham Road to Third Avenue, and from Southern Boulevard all the way to Bathgate Avenue. That is a lot of ground, and yes, the Feasts did get on our nerves. But we weren't outsiders like the shop owners down on Mulberry Street, looking to end a 100 year tradition in New York City.

Thank God that Mayor Blomberg, in a rare moment of mental clarity, sided with the Feast. Old New York City is gone for good. When barely renovated, one bedroom, cold-water flats are renting for $2,500 a month in SoHo, it's nice that the working stiff can still walk on Mulberry Street and eat a sausage and pepper sandwich for one week a year.

Sorry for the rant, but watching the New York City that I grew up in disappear breaks my heart .