drinking liberally williamsburg/greenpoint

2009-06-20T12:46:00.001-04:00

Our Obligation

2005-11-20T19:33:00.000-05:00

Last week, as Congressman Jack Murtha prepared to end his press conference calling for withdrawal from Iraq, a reporter eager to squeeze in one last quote blurted, "[Senators Warner and Stevens] said they have yet to meet a single soldier in Iraq, or at the hospitals here, who thought it was time to pull out of Iraq." Murtha replied "What do you think they’re going to tell you? We’re here to talk for them! We’re here to measure the success. The soldiers aren’t going to tell you that! I told you what the soldiers say. They’re proud of their service! They’re looking at their friends!" He paused before exclaiming "We are here—we have an obligation to speak for them."

I don't necessarily agree with Congressman Murtha on a withdrawal. But I respect his opinions. Unlike the young reporter (and our President and Vice-President), Murtha is a decorated former Marine who served in the military during two wars, volunteering to fight in Vietnam. A frequent visitor to wounded troops and an advocate for veteran’s rights, he is considered the military’s closest friend in Congress. His experience losing friends on the battlefield inoculates him to the administration’s worn-out refrain that we cannot let those who have been killed die in vain. Going by that perverse logic, the bigger the military blunder, the less we would be able to extricate ourselves.

Despite the grandstanding of the politically-engineered vote on withdrawal last Friday, I second the hope of this newspaper’s editors that Murtha's statements will stimulate what needs to be an ongoing debate about the nature of our involvement in Iraq. Our troops ought to know that we will support them regardless of what we decide to do. But it is up to us, the citizens of this country (most of who are not soldiers) to decide what to do. Born in authoritarian China, I have only been a citizen of this country for a few years, but I understand all too well the seriousness of this responsibility.

The best way to support our troops is not with token displays of yellow stickers, but by being educated and vigilant against not only our foreign foes, but those within our government with the authority to send them off to war. It is our obligation.

Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black once wrote that it is the paramount duty of the free press to "to prevent any part of the government from deceiving the people and sending them off to distant lands to die of foreign fevers and foreign shot and shell." That is true of us, the readers, as well.

-RX

Letter to the LA Times

2005-08-25T13:00:00.000-04:00

Dan still needs to get back to me with comments, but Im planning to send this off by 2pm PST. Let me know if you have comments:

By Randy Xu
Proofed by Daniel Berdichevsky

The fact that the intelligent design movement has gained such traction speaks highly of their PR-saavy campaign. Unfortunately, it also speaks lowly of our nation's level of education, both in scientific specifics and philosophical fundamentals. While the state of the former is a perennial subject of newspapers articles and studies, few seem to wonder about the latter: whether Americans know the difference between ontology and teology, or spend time pondering free will and the limits of human knowledge. That such metaphysical questions never enter the public consciousness is disappointing, because they help us to understand
understanding itself.

In the case of evolution, the distinction between normative and positive
propositions is crucial to understanding why scientists reject
intelligent design. A normative statement cannot be disproved. It is
often an opinion or a belief: "Social Security ought to be privatized."
In contrast, a positive statement is falsifiable. That is, it has the
potential to be disproved: "The Social Security trust fund will run out
by 2020."

Academics work in the world of positive statements, those that can be
verified through new discovery or application of existing rules.
Ironically, creationism and intelligent design are rejected by academics
because they are simply too perfect; they can neither be tested nor
disproved. Hence, their conclusions can only be their premise.

Science is very limited in its scope and methods. Science cannot
provide answers to normative questions such as "What is our purpose in
life?" but religion can. Scientists can only tackle the unknown with
tools cured from the known, but the religious can answer anything with
faith alone. An omnipotent being can even nullify all the laws we have
labored so assiduously to divine.

Science fills our need for positive knowledge and can never disprove
God's existence. Religion can give us a normative foundation but can
never prove God's existence. Since they occupy such different spheres,
it is baffling why there is any controversy at all.

Randy Xu graduated from Harvard College in 2004 with a B.A. in Science Technology and Public Policy. He is a managing editor in economics for DemiDec Resources.

Daniel Berdichevsky graduate from Stanford University in 2002 with a
B.A. in Science, Technology and Society and a M.A. in History. He
graduated in 2005 with a M.P.P. from Harvard's Kennedy School of
Government. He founded DemiDec Resources.

The Levee (in Panorama)

2005-07-28T15:46:00.000-04:00

(get Quicktime VR if you don't have it)

2005-06-29T04:07:00.000-04:00

enough is Enough is ENOUGH! it's TIME to STOP THIS WAR!

2005-06-05T03:46:00.000-04:00

(cross posted at Daily Kos.)

There's a criminal who may be a tad mad in the White House. He's waging an atrocious war halfway across the globe and his administration tells nothing but lies about its progress and its real costs. Young Americans are getting killed and maimed to back up his bullshit. They are stuck in a war in a faraway place where they can't tell friend from foe. The war is costing us a fortune in blood, treasure and prestige.

His VP is demonstrably corrupt and beholden to powerful, monied interests. Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld stalk the corridors of power. The FBI regularly infiltrates and intimidates those who wish to bring this war to an end.

The US Army is coming apart in spectacular fashion halfway across the globe.

Quick!

Is it 1969, 1972 or 2005?

The answer of course is that couldn't possibly matter less. There is an evil, pointless and hopeless war being waged in our names halfway across the globe and, once again, people of conscience are being called upon to end it.

It's time.

We are now entering our THIRD summer of combat in Iraq, a war that was supposedly over in the spring of 2003. If the two previous summers of conflict are any indication, it will be hot, bloody and utterly fucking pointless. It will be another summer of more dead GIs, more dead Iraqis, "shrinking insurgencies" and corners turned, of bogus body counts, of more loss, of more graft and corruption, of digging ourselves further in to the bloody sands of Mesopotamia. It will be a summer when far too many Iraqis are blown to fucking bits while trying to go about their daily business, where far too many stateside spouses, parents, sons and daughters will have to answer the door to two men in uniform accompanied by a chaplain. It will be a summer when the American people will be lied to some more about how things are "getting better" in Iraq.

Enough.

It's time to make a full on assault on the senses of the American people, the ones so callously lied to in the run up to the war, the ones played for suckers by these murderous bastards in the White House and Pentagon. They, the ones who believed that we had finally "learned the lessons of Vietnam", need to be made fully aware of the fact that apparently these idiots learned nothing from that awful conflict save how to control information. A good portion of the American people already know that they were suckered in to this quagmire. It's time to go after the rest of them. There is a tipping point in there somewhere and we damned sure need to find it and find it soon.

The American people need to know that, much like Vietnam, that Americans are indeed engaged in a war in which they have no chance of winning. Just like the NVA and VC of that past conflict, the Iraqi insurgency has all the time in the world, while we most certainly do not. The insurgents, and the healthy portion of the Iraqi population that supports, them aren't going anywhere. WE are the ones that have to maintain a 10,000 mile supply line seemingly forever. They will continue to fight us and our hand (s)elected Iraqi government as long as it takes. There's something on the order of 25 million Iraqis and they live there. Much like 35 years ago, our foes know that we can't keep this up for forever. Much like 35 years ago, our foes are correct.

The American people need to be made fully aware that their sons and daughters and fathers and mothers are being asked to perform a task that is utterly fucking futile as long as the administration continues to deny them the personnel and equipment they need to do the job. They also neeed to know why this is. They need to know that the "support the troops" administration has no one left throw into this mess and that, even if they did, they wouldn't do it for fear of pissing off too much of the electorate. They need to know that this administration does not have the political will or the tactical smarts to win this thing. It's really that simple.

They thought they could pull this off on the cheap and they were wrong. DEAD WRONG.

And, apparently, there ain't no plan B.

We now find ourselves in a situation where we really have no true "allies", no "friends" other than the goons we've allowed to assume "sovereignty" of a country we apparently know precious little about. And, folks, they're dropping like flies. The Iraqi security forces are infiltrated from top to bottom. Hell, apparently some of those Iraqis who have joined the Iraqi security forces are now refusing to be trained by the Americans because of the (well founded) fear that they and their families will be killed for doing so. Just being seen to assist us in any way is a now a death warrant in today's Iraq. Hopefully, this should tell folks just how lost this particular cause is.

Every time we kick in a door and drag folks off in the night, every time we shoot first and ask questions later, every time we level a city of 300,000 people in order to "pacify" it, the insurgency grows. It really is "Vietnam on crack" and the American people need to know this. It's fucking quicksand and we just keep kickin'.

ENOUGH!

This war must be brought to an end and that process needs to begin in earnest RIGHT FUCKING NOW.

A couple of generations ago, folks in this country were faced with a very similar dilemma. They had a crooked nutjob in the White House, a thoroughly corrupt Executive Branch and a horrible, un-winnable, bloody fucking war on their hands that was eating up their youth, their money and their standing in the world. The odds were most definitely stacked against them. Their ranks were infiltrated by soulless ghouls. They were arrested and beaten mercilessly in some cases. Many fled the country because they had no other option. Some just lost their fucking minds.

We now find ourselves at a very similar place in history. Do we stand by and watch this shameful legacy repeat itself or do we, as many before us did, make this thing personal and shut this fucking evil down?

We need to make the case in no uncertain terms that these greedy, murderous bastards who were supposed to have learned all those "lessons" from vietnam have now gotten us into one hell of a debacle, one of their own making through rank incompetence and arrogance. Do you really think that those same folks who have mismanaged this war to the point of failure can salvage it?

Much like it was for those who stood against this war a generation or two ago, there are absolutely no guarantees of success and the certainty of much hardship, intimidation and coercion ahead. No one told those folks that it would be easy to stop the warmongers and we shouldn't think that it will be easy this time either. There is king-hell evil afoot in this world being done in our names. Like generations previous, it falls to us, by Fate or Fortune to bring this madness to an end.

Got guts?

Ask yourself this: What will the Iraq war Memorial look like? How many names will be inscribed upon it? When your children or grandchildren ask you about this war and your part in it, what will you have to say?

It's time.

State Supreme Court Judge sides with Bloomberg/MTA in Stadium Suit.

2005-06-02T20:21:00.000-04:00

(cross posted at Daily Gotham)

Score a big win for Bloomberg and the Jets. State Supreme Court Justice Herman Cahn ruled today that there were "no irregularities" in the MTA's bidding process that, amazingly enough, awarded the West Side rail yards to the Jets, the lowest bidder. OK....

From the Times

In Victory for Bloomberg, Judge Dismisses Stadium Site Suit

The contentious $2 billion stadium proposal, the key to New York's Olympic hopes in 2012, scored a major victory Thursday when a Manhattan judge ruled there were no irregularities in the bidding process that awarded the West Side rail yards to the New York Jets.
The decision by state Supreme Court Justice Herman Cahn came at a key juncture for New York's Olympic organizers, since members of the International Olympic Committee will receive an evaluation of the city's bid on Monday. Without the stadium, the city's chances of winning the bid on July 6 would be slim.
"We are extremely pleased with today's court decision regarding the Olympic Stadium," said Jay Kriegel, executive director of the NYC2012 organizing group. "The court has ruled in favor of the stadium, and totally rejected all of the bogus arguments intended to stop the project."
Madison Square Garden, owned by Cablevision Systems Corp., had charged the Metropolitan Transportation Authority with conducting "a sham bidding process" in making its decision. Cablevision had submitted a higher bid for the property than the Jets. But a judge sided with the NFL team and the MTA.
"An analysis of the MSG arguments and the MTA powers leads to the conclusion that the MTA did not act in an arbitrary and capricious manner," Cahn ruled. His decision also dismissed three other lawsuits brought against the stadium plan by politicians and watchdog groups.

(-- emphasis mine)

OK...

Look, the Jets were shamed into raising their bid for the rail yards after MSG made a substantially higher bid, and were still awarded the property even though their new bid was still lower than MSG's. The final price is less than a third of its appraised value and not the highest bid. Now a judge says that there were "no irregularities" in the process. Sweet.
This deal has stunk to high heaven since before it was announced and now the stench is just that much greater. The MTA, who has enacted two fare increases in the past couple of years and claims that they have no money to improve L train service in my neighborhood, apparently can let its most valuable assets go for pennies on the dollar to friends of the Bloomberg/Doctoroff machine. And now a State Supreme Court Justice concludes that there's nothing odd going on here. Peachy.
I bet this judge works cheap too. I betcha Bloomberg and Pataki didn't have to spend anywhere near the $800 million they dropped into Sheldon Silver's district last week to get this judge to debase himself in favor a $2 billion dollar boondoggle that most New Yorker's don't want.

whatever bloomie wants...

2005-05-26T16:16:00.000-04:00

...bloomie gets.

except he's now buying favors with your money.

from the times:

$800 Million to Be Spent Downtown

Gov. George E. Pataki and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced $800 million worth of projects for Lower Manhattan yesterday, including cobblestone streets around the New York Stock Exchange, a new elementary school on Beekman Street and improvements in Chinatown.

Many of the projects are intended to bring further life to a neighborhood still recovering from the Sept. 11 attack, after a protracted period of wrangling over how the money should be spent. But they are also dear to the heart of Sheldon Silver, the State Assembly speaker, who represents the area and has been pushing for more government money and attention downtown. Next week, he will be a crucial voice in the debate over the proposed West Side stadium.

....

But the spending list was also the bluntest example yet of the link between the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan and the fate of the stadium. The state Public Authorities Control Board, on which Mr. Silver controls the Assembly's vote, could take up the stadium question as early as next week, and in the days leading up to the vote, stadium supporters have made an all-out effort to win over Mr. Silver.

In one demonstration, a majority of the City Council yesterday signed a letter encouraging him and the leader of the State Senate, Joseph L. Bruno, to give the stadium their blessing. The 28 council members specifically backed the mayor's plan to spend $300 million in city money on the project, which will make it difficult for Council Speaker Gifford Miller, a stadium opponent, to block the spending.

The letter was a blow to Mr. Miller, who has used his opposition to the stadium as the cornerstone of his mayoral campaign. But he said he was unfazed.

"When they actually have to vote to take $300 million out of schools, senior centers and subways in their district and put it toward a football team," he said, "I know they'll vote in favor of their constituents and against the stadium."

Two stadium supporters and one member of Mr. Bruno's staff said Mr. Bruno received a call last week from Andrew H. Card Jr., the White House chief of staff, urging him to support the stadium. But Mr. Bruno did not seem to have budged from his ambivalence, saying yesterday that he still had many questions about the project.

Mr. Silver also declined to change his public position of serious doubt about the wisdom of the stadium, even after yesterday's announcement about the downtown projects. He said he did not regard the announcement as having anything to do with proposals he unveiled last week for revitalizing commercial life downtown using tax credits and incentives for moving jobs to Lower Manhattan.

no, i'm sure the decision to dump $800 million bucks into silver's district had nothing to do with the stadium. nothing at all.

wonder what bruno is gonna get....

Marty Needelman for Civil Court Judge

2005-05-18T01:06:00.000-04:00

Marty Needelman: community activist, founding member of Mobilization Against Displacement and head of Brooklyn Legal Services (the help out people who can't afford lawyers) and guy who looks good in a Williamsburg Warriors headband is running for Civil Court Judge in our district.
Expect a real article soon.

we're in Mother Jones!

2005-05-18T01:04:00.000-04:00

check it out!

Hey we were written up in Mother Jones magazine back in Feb.
I am quoted near the bottom of the article and my name is spelled wrong but hey..

fuck diane cardwell.

2005-05-05T20:32:00.000-04:00

diane cardwell's truly awful article about the rezoning vote on monday pissed me off so much, i couldn't even write about it. it was long fucking pro-developer blowjob without a single quote, not a fucking one, from someone less than exuberant about the city's plan. it was atrocious.

well, Kate Yourke has written an eloquent and beautiful reply that most certainly won't be published by the times.

we ain't the times. the letter in full:

reply to "City Backs Makeover for Decaying Brooklyn Waterfront" May 3,
2005

The rezoning of the Williamsburg and Greenpoint waterfront will reshape
one of the City’s most unique and spirited neighborhoods into a bedroom
community for those whose backs are to the working class borough of
Brooklyn, their sights fixed on the dazzling lights of Manhattan.

While containing some concessions to community concerns, this rezoning
allows developers to reap tremendous profits on formerly industrial
property purchased cheap and allowed to crumble while awaiting the
City’s gift of this rezoning. Rewarding these developers for their
speculation troubles none in the City Council as they celebrate
themselves for approving this "historic"plan, historic for attempting
in some small way to respond to the real needs of their constituents with
affordable housing incentives and funds to retain manufacturing and
industrial jobs.

Displacement is rampant in Williamsburg and Greenpoint, as it is in
many
parts of this city. Backhoes clog the streets of Williamsburg as
developers smell a new demographic on its way. This ethnically diverse,
tight knit community has seen these forces massing for decades. We
organized and tried to prepare even as we fought redlining, firehouse
closings, incinerators, superfund sites, transfer stations, the largest
urban oil spill in the world, the largest sewage treatment plant in the
Northeast, power plants, and a radioactive waste transfer and storage
facility which doubles as a toxic, hazardous and flammable waste
storage
site. We are still fighting, as the land under our feet is sold for
luxury living.

Mayor Bloomberg is quoted in your article as saying "This rezoning will
insure that the reuse of this priceless but derelict waterfront will be
for the purposes of housing and recreation and not for such
inappropriate uses as waste transfer stations and power plants." This
is
the rock opposing our hard place, between which our community squeezes
its previously modest existence. Gentrification is seen as a natural
and
appropriate solution for our environmental problems. We are
manipulated,
threatened with further environmental degradation if we oppose the
market forces of residential real estate.

15 years ago we began a community based planning process, hosting
hands-on planning workshops throughout this diverse neighborhood. I
fondly remember long afternoons spent discussing the present and
planning the future with factory workers, recent immigrants, civil
servants, students, artists, seniors, professors, activists,
housewives,
PWA’s, Polish, Hasid, Hipster, Latino, Italian, the tremendous surprise
was the prevailing consensus. The character of the neighborhood must
extend to the waterfront. The mixed-use quality must be preserved;
people must be able to work within their community. The waterfront must
be accessible. And the neighborhood must be a beacon, a catalyst, an
incubator for the development of technology and services to address the
kind of environmental problems we suffer from.

The material from these workshops was refined and processed into the
City Council-approved (and award-winning) Williamsburg and Greenpoint
197(a) plans, which were supposed to govern future development in these
communities. They do speak for this community. They do not include
hi-rise luxury developments, or power plants, on our waterfront.

When someone in the Big City flushes their toilet, it comes here. When
they throw something in the garbage, diesel trucks will drive it here,
and drive it around, and drive it somewhere else. When they turn on
their air conditioner or the bright lights of Broadway, the power
plants
here spew. We have been the service entrance, the back door, the
noxious
underside of Big City glamour. Now that glamour is all around us,
filling in all the empty spaces, crowding out the sky. Will we need to
make the sewage treatment plant even larger? More power plants to run
all these new air conditioners? More cars, more garbage, not to mention
life in a construction site for a decade or more? (And how about that
fire station?)

Development in New York City must address the environmental impacts of
building materials, processes, and practices. There are no more
communities available to burden and underserve. Expansion has its cost,
and if in the neighborhoods of Williamsburg and Greenpoint we cannot
resolve this rock with this hard place we will be crushed. Development
in a community already overburdened with severe environmental problems
requires thoughtful solutions and real planning, not just rezoning and
the brutality of market forces. Starting here, especially here, let us
look to the future when building; employing state-of-the-art energy
efficiency technology, intelligent waste water systems, reused and
recycled materials, alternative heating and cooling technologies like
geothermal and wind ventilation, etc. The utilities savings will give
new depth to the term affordable housing. The factories for producing
specialized materials could be nurtured here in our mixed-use
neighborhood, eliminating the environmental impact of long haul
trucking
while providing environmentally sound jobs for the good people of
Brooklyn. Here is the chance to leverage out from between the rock and
the hard place and to gather the momentum of this moment, rather than
allowing blind market forces to create yet more environmental problems
along with their unforgivable tidal wave of gentrification and
displacement.

Kate Yourke
Williamsburg, Brooklyn

put that in your pipe and fucking smoke it, madam cardwell. oh, and fuck you too.

the morning after...

2005-05-04T18:49:00.000-04:00

Drinking Liberally at Levee
May 3rd, 2005

(the full collection of original photos can be found here)

any lawyers in the house?

2005-05-04T16:59:00.000-04:00

so i just ran in to williamsburg warrior eve over at the lucky cat and she brought up something that i had yet to think about, at least not in this way. she directed me to a site run by Mary Campbell Gallagher who defends red hook with her blog, big cities, big boxes. there are a couple posts there that are intriguing to say the least as regards our fight against bloomberg's plan to soho-ify our little corner of the world. this post really piqued my interest. in it, attorney Antonia L. Bryson of the Urban Environmental Law Center argues that 197-a plans ARE the city's Master Plan and have the weight of LAW. a taste:

The Red Hook 197-a Plan is a comprehensive land use plan for the Red Hook area, and provides the basis for zoning decisions in the area. It is not merely a policy document. New York City Charter § 197-a; Housing Justice Campaign v. Koch, 164 A.D.2d 656 (1st Dep’t), app. denied, 78 N.Y.2d 858 (1991); Angotti Aff. ¶ 5. The meaning or effect of a provision of the New York City Charter can be elucidated, but not altered, by City rule.

According to materials prepared by the Charter Revision Commission at the time the new Section 197-a was proposed, it was adopted specifically for the purpose of providing Community Boards the power to initiate long term plans for the development and improvement of their districts. These plans were to be reviewed by the City Planning Commission, with final action taken by the Board of Estimate (replaced after the 1989 Charter Revision by the City Council). The new 197-a replaced, and was intended to substitute for, a prior provision requiring the City Planning Commission to prepare a Master Plan for the development of the City. See State Charter Revision Commission for New York City, A Comparison of Revised and Current Charter Provisions, August 5, 1975, and George Hallett, Community Board Changes Under the New City Charter, April 1976, Exhibit 16.

<...>

Thus, a Section 197-a plan has whatever force and effect a "master plan" has. Such force and effect is defined by the case law. See Petitioners’ Memorandum of Law in Support of the Petition, p. 31. While City rules and statements of the City Planning Commission itself can guide and help define its force and effect, they cannot make it less than established by the Charter.

The City may not have been required to take any action to implement the Red Hook 197-a Plan, and need not initiate any zoning actions pursuant to it. However, when it affirmatively undertakes to re-zone property covered by the Plan, it must either act consistently with the Plan or first provide its well-thought out rationale for changing it. Asian Americans for Equality v. Koch, 72. N.Y.2d 121 (1988)

(--all emphasis mine)

that seems pretty clear to me, but i'm no lawyer. at a minimum, this avenue needs further scrutiny, preferably by someone with some legal training. norm, you listenin'?

elana levin, rockstar.

2005-05-03T14:37:00.000-04:00

hey, kids. our own resident superstar elana gets written up by the gothamist!

Elana Levin, Community Organizer & Williamsburg Warrior

Elana Levin, 25, has a passion for organizing -- organizing people to empower their lives through collective action against powerful, often impersonal, interests. By day she works as a union labor organizer. But just about every moment of this energetic, creative and politically engaged individual’s spare time in 2005 – nights, weekends, lunch breaks even -- has been spent on other NYC issues. For over a year she has been spending an ever increasing amount of time as a "Williamsburg Warrior" opposing the Bloomberg Administration’s rezoning plans for Williamsburg / Greenpoint. The plan, opponents believe, threatens to eradicate skilled jobs, reduce quality of life, and force life long residents from the very neighborhoods they have nurtured and built for much if not all of their lives.

Gothamist recently spoke with Elana to discuss efforts by a broad partnership of arts and activism groups -- The Creative Industries Coalition-- against the Bloomberg Plan and for an alternative plan the local community itself has proposed.

You’re involved with efforts to fight the City’s rezoning plans in Williamsburg / Greenpoint. Why are you opposing the plan?

It’s incorrect to say we are opposed to the City’s plan. We ARE the city. It is the Mayor’s plan that is opposed to the city! The mayor’s cronies are on a rampage to turn radical, unique, magical New York into a luxury bedroom community of chain stores and conformity.

Ten years ago this community asked the Department of City Planning to rezone our formerly industrial waterfront. Community members, with the help of urban planning experts, drew up a plan for what would make for a livable and workable Brooklyn. The plan was visionary but economically sound. So what did the Mayor do? He threw it in the trash. The administration refuses to acknowledge our right to decide what happens to the place we live. It is undemocratic and it’s just plain shortsighted urban planning.

At the heart of it is a question of values. The people here value their neighbors, diversity and the long-term sustainability of the local economy. The developers value quick profit and will vampirically suck the life out of NYC, turning it into a bedroom community and playground for the super rich.

go read the whole thing. elana was really able to get a lot of good info into the interview. in fact, it's probably the most fact-rich article i've yet to see about the rezoning fight. good work, elana!

she even name drops my house which is pretty cool. hey, raphie! a little credit on the photo would be nice, ya know.

crunch time for williamsburg/greenpoint rezoning

2005-05-02T11:48:00.000-04:00

oh, and some more lame threats from bloomberg, et al. from the daily news:

Brooklyn housing fight

The fate of a controversial Brooklyn housing plan was up in the air early this morning as Bloomberg administration officials and City Council members butted heads late into the wee hours.
The sides couldn't agree on the number of apartments to be reserved for low- and moderate-income residents and the creation of a waterfront park in Greenpoint on an MTA-owned bus depot site.

Land Use Committee Chairwoman Melinda Katz (D-Queens ) was "cautiously optimistic" that a deal would be struck before a Council vote this morning.

The mayor's plan would entice developers to build 10,000 apartments in towers up to 40 stories tall in Williamsburg and Greenpoint over the next decade. Bloomberg's bid mandated that 23% of apartments built be made affordable housing, but Brooklyn activists wanted 40% of units kept below market value.

If a deal couldn't be made before the vote, Bloomberg officials have warned that unpopular projects such as a TransGas power plant would go forward.

i'm not sure how the apparently contentious negotiations portend for the vote today, but it's interesting that bloomberg and crew are still wielding the power plant over our heads. they really are shameless, aren't they?

Vesperdad

2005-04-30T00:57:00.000-04:00

So tonight Greg and I saw a Vespa gang of about two dozen young, white hipsters pull up to the Royal Oak in Williamsburg. Needless to say, we were laughing pretty hard.

Then this article was in the Saturday Times:
NYT: Rolling Out With a Buzz, Not a Roar

defend brooklyn!

2005-04-29T16:54:00.000-04:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Big Williamsburg/Greenpoint Rally on Monday!

WHEN: Monday, May 2nd, 1PM

WHERE: City Hall Steps, downtown Manhattan

WHO: Williamsburg/Greenpoint community leaders side by side with
city-wide community representatives from neighborhoods as varied as
Prospect Heights, Red Hook, Chelsea and Harlem.

WHAT: Press conference and rally. Community groups from across the
city offer their reaction to Monday's Land Use Committee vote on the
the Williamsburg/Greenpoint rezoning plan.

The community of Williamsburg / Greenpoint faces one of the most
aggressive rezonings in NYC's history. Four thousand industrial jobs
are at risk of being lost, 10,000 people could be displaced from their
homes, the area's personable small businesses will be pushed out to
make way for less community-oriented chain stores. Under City
Planning's rezoning proposal for the area, the density of the
development would cause the population to rise by 25% without the
schools, hospitals, parks, and transportation necessary to support it.
The City's plan would allow the construction of twenty-two 40-story
luxury condominium towers (taller than the Williamsburg Bridge) in this
predominately three and four story community's waterfront.
Recognizing the potential devastation from this top-down development
system, communities City-wide have come to the aide of Williamsburg and
Greenpoint to stand up in solidarity for the importance of community
involvement in planning and to oppose this breathtaking scope proposed
for Williamsburg and Greenpoint by the Bloomberg administration.

Photo OP: props and signs identifying the more than 1 dozen
neighborhoods groups represented at the event.
************************************************************************************************

come on out monday! it's crunch time, kids. this will be one of our last chances to make some noise about the city's plan to soho-ify our neighborhood. hope to see you there.

some pics from tuesday 4/26

2005-04-29T16:28:00.000-04:00

our new home, the levee.

phillip, mike, mfs and amy get their drinkin' on.

(photos by randy)

I am here too!

2005-04-27T23:29:00.000-04:00

i'll notify Justin and Katrina and David (the founders of Drinking Liberally)

e

we're live, bitches!

2005-04-27T18:52:00.000-04:00

the drinking liberally - williamsburg/greenpoint blog is live and fresh, yo! feel free to say hi!

oh, and we have a new home! the williamsburg/greenpoint chapter of DL now meets every tuesday at THE LEVEE @ 8pm. they've got a great jukebox, a pool table as well as $2 PBRs and frito pie! THE LEVEE is located at:

212 berry st. (berry and n. 3rd st.)
brooklyn, ny 11211

hope to see ya there!