Mendoza: ‘Vessel Climbathon’ soon?

NEW YORK CITY—The last time I was here in 2004, the Vessel at Hudson Yards in Manhattan, not far from the iconic Madison Square Garden, wasn’t even an iota of imagination. Today, the Vessel draws mammoth crowds daily that extends kilometers long—for a fee.

But there’s practically nothing to see at the Vessel but stairways.

Pardon my arrogance but to me, it’s just a frivolity wasting millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money.

“That’s where the Americans are good at,” said Kenneth Causon. “Build structures that sometimes cater practically to people with inventive, money-making minds.”

The structure, sitting by the famed Hudson River of Clint Eastwood film, “Sully,” about a plane’s true-to-life successful crash-landing at the Hudson, is actually a test of will for the human spirit.

It is not thoroughly a “work of art” but more a result of an idea hatched by a brain brave enough to peddle an idea that tickled the senses.

Boon to a dollar-decked eye.

Curse to the truly creative.

Construction began in 2017. When finally opened to the public on March 15 this year, unveiled was the Vessel’s 154 interconnecting flights of stairs, with almost 2,500 individual steps and 80 landings.

Who needs the Boston Marathon?

Joey Chanco, Kenneth Causon’s dear friend, just got back from the Berlin Marathon.

Why the hell did he still go to Berlin when his Manhattan flat is just a spitting distance away from the Vessel?

“It’s been Joey’s passion to run a marathon,” said Kenneth. “He’s been practically to all marathons in the world.”

But then again, the $150-million Vessel is there for the endurance freak.

You want flights of stairs to harden the knees, the Vessel provides.

Maybe in the future, the New York Marathon would give way to the Vessel “climbathon?”

Ah, the New York Marathon.

“It starts here at Verrazano Bridge, Uncle,” said to me by my nephew Gerard Causon of Staten Island. “With the bridge closed, a traffic gridlock bedevils our Sunday but then, it is what it is. It’s been a way of life here.”

The Vessel binge beckons?

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