The Delta Business Journal Online

From the Publisher:
24 hours in New York City

As I write my column in this issue of the DBJ, I’m returning from New York on business. I flew up to New York last night (Thursday, Nov. 18) on the 6:30 Northwest flight from Memphis. Before my trip to the Big Apple, I got up at 4:30 am and drove to Jackson to work in our new office there and also to attend a meeting with Governor Barbour’s new economic development task force, Momentum Mississippi. The Governor selected me to serve on this board and I’m over the Delta region for this new entity which brings great hope to the future of Mississippi. Serving on this board is an honor.

After my board meeting, I jump in the car at the last possible moment and drive to the Memphis International Airport where I am joined by Chip Mabry who is running our ad agency office, Coopwood Communications (www.coopwood.net) in Jackson who caught the shuttle flight up. Flying at night is very calming - the cabin is darkly lit with only the small reading lights on overhead. Everyone around me is either reading, watching movies on their laptops, or sleeping.

We land at LaGuardia at 9:45 pm where we hook up with Dr. Robert Elliott, a Delta native and a cancer specialist from Baton Rouge who was featured on the cover of the last issue of the DBJ. We also meet up with my good friend from Washington, Van Hipp. A car is waiting to take us to the Buckingham Hotel at 101 West 57th Street - just a few feet west of Sixth Avenue, and two blocks south of Central Park. As we cross over the East River from the airport and go down FDR Drive, we get a great view of Brooklyn smartly lit up. We soon take a right and head into Manhattan around 57th Street and moving bumper to bumper at five miles per hour, I look out of the window and watch how lively all of the people are at the many sidewalk restaurants we pass on this Thursday night.

After we arrive and check-in at the Buckingham - a trendy, European style hotel with chairs in the lobby that have red crushed velvet on them and red lights coming out of the floor, we cross the street and have a quick dinner at a local restaurant. By the time we get back to our rooms, it’s almost 12:15 am and to my horror, my room is located on the fourth floor overlooking the street. If you have ever stayed at a hotel in New York, you know that you must try to get a room high up in order to avoid the street noise. Lucky for me, I remember that in my shaving kit, I have some ear plugs.

I first visited New York in the Summer of '84 just after graduating from Ole Miss. I flew in to visit one of my fraternity bothers, Andrew Moak from Oxford, who had just moved there. On that trip, I stopped by the Mississippi in Central Park Picnic. Ironically, 20 years later, this past summer our ad agency was tapped to help produce the web site, public relations, and musical talent, for the 25th Anniversary of this wonderful event.

During the eighties, when I was engaged in the music business, I traveled to New York many times each year and developed an in-depth knowledge of this great city. Although New York was great back then, it became even greater during Mayor Giuliani’s administration after he cleaned up the crime and the homelessness.

Back to my trip. The next morning, Dr. Elliott and I walk around the corner and have breakfast. Van must be back at the hotel by 9:00 am to be picked up by a car sent over by Fox network so he can make an appearance on the network at 10:00. Van is one of Fox’s main commentators on the War on Terrorism since he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Reserve Forces and Mobilization during the Gulf War. Van’s comments and observations during his appearance on Fox this morning are excellent and I joke with him after he gets back to the hotel that he mispronounced some names and places during his appearance. He looks at me with extreme panic. I quickly tell him that I am joking, much to his relief. After all, with 300 appearances on Fox since 2001, Van has become razor sharp when he appears on Fox.

While I have a couple of hours before several meetings, I take a walk around Central Park heading to the Mayflower Hotel where my family and I stayed this past summer during the Central Park Picnic. I quickly find that this old landmark on the lower west side of Central Park is closed. I’ve been calling the hotel for several days trying to make reservations for this trip, but the line has been busy - now I know why. I walk from there back to Central Park South and decide to sit down for a few minutes on a bench right next to Sixth Avenue and 59th. It is interesting, sitting there, just watching people come and go - who are they, what do they do, where do they come from? After a short time, I walk east on 59th and I take a right on 5th Avenue next to the historic Plaza Hotel heading south. Just before I reach Donald Trump’s gigantic, copper coated building and right before Tiffany’s, I take a right on 57th and head back to my hotel. As I walk on this beautiful day, I think about all of the wonderful times I’ve had in New York and about all of the many friends I have made up here through the years. I also think how hard it would be to live here and to survive in business here.

At 11:30, we check out of the hotel and head over to MSNBC that is located across the Hudson River in New Jersey - the reason for my 24 hour trip to New York. Shortly after arriving, we get a full tour of the MSNBC studios which are impressive. After the tour, we begin our meetings with several producers and at 3:00 we are finished and a car takes us to the airport. Of all things, I run into our Delta Magazine consultant in the airport, Dr. Samir Husni from Ole Miss. We sit in the Northwest Club and talk. Ole Miss is super lucky to have Samir on board as he is one of if not the authority on magazine publishing in the U.S. In fact, this past week, Samir was mentioned extensively in an article in Time Magazine. He is often mentioned in the national press which brings great attention to Ole Miss. We land in Memphis at 6:30 pm, exactly 24 hours after I departed for New York.

Although a long way from Mississippi, a ton of Mississippian's are helping to run that great city as corporate heads and decision makers even within the New York City government.

New York in 24 hours: What and experience. DBJ

Scott Coopwood
Publisher