Once More, with Aplomb

New York, New York, a helluva town/ The Bronx is up but the Battery's down. And so it seemed last Wednesday, when the battery ran down again in Manhattan. This time the lights went out from the Battery to Wall Street through Greenwich Village and as far north as 42nd Street. The blackout came just before rush hour when a substation transformer exploded. On Wall Street, the looting was lighter than usual; the stock exchanges had to close early. The streets around Macy's and Gimbels were packed with evicted shoppers. Only the dead tired knew Brooklyn, as thousands of stranded straphangers hoofed across the bridge. Power was restored before the sun set over the Hudson. "It was an act of God," pronounced Mayor Ed Koch, adding hastily, "Of course, anything God does is O.K. with me."

Oh, yes, that same day the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed a lower-court ruling halting New York's mayoral primary, which was set to begin the next morning. The city had not received proper clearance from the Justice Department for a redistricting plan that is likely to reduce the percentage of minorities on the city council.

The following day, an unemployed former Green Beret named John Carta dropped from a small plane, popped open a parachute, and landed safely amid startled tourists on top of the 110-story World Trade Center. The city was back to normal.

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