Radical Women and Unexpected Places

On Thursday, December 3 at 6:30 PM, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation will present The Immigrant, Radical, and Notorious Women of Washington Square, an illustrated lecture by Joyce Gold, at the 3rd Street Music Settlement, 235 East 11th Street (between 2nd and 3rd Avenues).  

Perhaps in no other neighborhood in America have so many notable women lived in the last 150 years than Washington Square, home to Eleanor Roosevelt, Edith Wharton, Louisa May Alcott, Emily Roebling, Bella Abzug, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, Ida Tarbell, Emily Post, and Edna St Vincent Millay.  

Joyce Gold is a NYC tour guide and author of From Trout Stream to Bohemia: A Walking Guide to Greenwich History.  

The event is free. RSVP to rsvp@gvshp.org or (212) 475-9585 ext. 35. 

On Wednesday, December 9 from 6:30 - 8:00 P.M., GVSHP will present a lecture with Judith Stonehill, New York's Unique and Unexpected Places, at Jefferson Market Library, 425 Avenue of the Americas (between W. 9th and W. 10th Streets). 

The event is free. RSVP to rsvp@gvshp.org or (212) 475-9585 ext. 35.

 Judith Stonehill is the author of Greenwich Village: A Guide to America’s Legendary Left Bank, and New York’s Unique and Unexpected Places, her latest, a guide for urban ramblers who want to explore the city’s fascinating but out-of-the-way places.

Looking Backward

A recent New York Times feature looks through the windows of New York City's remaining wood-frame houses into the city's suburban past.

Wooden houses were once standard construction.  In the mid-nineteenth century, according to Andrew Dolkart, director of Columbia University’s historic preservation program, developers constructed extensive tracts of wooden houses as Brooklyn emerged as a suburb.

The few wooden houses still standing in Manhattan are accidental survivors of a semi-rural period before shingles and wooden porches were outlawed as firetraps.  Not so in Brooklyn.

Today, according to Brooklyn realtors, wood-frame houses are a "cult" item among buyers, typically commanding more per square foot than brownstones.

Apartments in wood-frame houses in Brooklyn get rented faster and at higher rents than their row house neighbors -- because they are unique.

The article from the New York Times.

Family Favorite Will Shaw at the Lyceum

On Saturday, December 5th at 12 and 2 PM, the Brooklyn Lyceum will present juggler and cabaret performer Will Shaw, whose award-winning show combines wit, physical comedy and amazing skills.

Backstage calls Shaw "quite simply a very funny man."

Audiences of all ages will be astounding Shaw's displays of juggling, hat tricks, music, balance tricks, sight gags, cowboy rope spinning, boomerangs, spinning tops, audience participation and sophisticated, offbeat clowning.

Shaw, who first performed at the Lyceum last December, returns this year by popular demand.

Tickets are $10/each, 4 for $30.

Buy tickets here or at the door.

The Brooklyn Lyceum is at 227 4th Avenue in Park Slope.  Take the R train to Union Street.

Call the Lyceum at 718.857.4816 or visit the website.

Financial Survival Workshop

For those of you who work in Manhattan and are interested, State Senator Liz Krueger, (D-26th District) is sponsoring a workshop, "Managing Your Finances in Hard Times:  Survival Strategies", on Tuesday, December 1 from 5:30 to 8:00 PM at Central Synagogue, 652 Lexington Avenue (55th Street).

Presenters will include America Works, the City Bar Justice Center, the CUNY Office of Financial Aid, F.E.G.S. Health and Human Services, the Neighborhood Economic Development Project (NEDAP), the NYC Department of Consumer Affairs, the NYC Office of Financial Empowerment, the Office of the State Attorney General, and the Office of the State Comptroller.

Information tables will be open at 5:30 PM.  The program begins at 6:00 p.m.

Topics to be covered include: credit reporting, debt collection, bankruptcy, managing consumer debt, the ins and outs of college debt, and employment and career transitions.

For further information, contact Alice Fisher at alicefisher.nyc@gmail.com or call 212-490-9535.

No RSVP necessary.

Getting away with Murder

As reported by Gotham Gazette, the New York Legislature this month passed Leandra's Law, one of the country's toughest drunk driving laws.

Leandra's Law makes it a felony to drive with a blood alcohol level of .08 or higher with a child under 15 in the car, and requires that anyone convicted of DWI in New York have an "interlock" installed in their car.

An interlock is a device that checks the driver's BAC from time to time and will incapacitate the vehicle if the reading is too high.

A driver can still refuse to submit to a breath test at the scene, as did NYPD officer Andrew Kelly, assigned to Bay Ridge's 68th Precinct, after he hit and killed Vionique Valnord in September.  By the time a warrant was issued 7 hours later, Kelly's BAC was below the legal limit.

A piece of legislation known as Jack Shea's law, named for a 91-year-old former Olympian killed by a drunk driver in upstate New York, would close this loophole.

But there is a deadlier menace on New York's streets than the drunk driver.  According to one source, some 292 people -- including those riding in cars, riding bicycles or walking -- were killed by cars in New York City in 2008.  The cause?  Reckless driving.

The leading causes of death and injury by car in New York are speeding and distraction.  Reckless drivers kill and maim more people than drunk drivers do.  The number one cause of pedestrian deaths in New York City?  Cars turning into crosswalks filled with pedestrians.  The number one cause of cyclist fatalities in New York City?  Cars side-swiping bicycles.

Speeding, raging cellphone-wielding drivers are a lethal menace, so why don't they face felony charges or serious jail time when they kill and maim?  You can kill a cylist in New York City and walk away with a traffic ticket.

But New York does not treat reckless driving as criminally negligent, although juries have made some exceptions, as in the case of Auvryn Scarlett, a garbage truck driver who ran down a couple of  British tourists last winter after skipping his epilepsy meds.

Why does New York tolerate lethally reckless driving?  Why are reckless drivers treated so leniently by the public, prosecutors, police and judges?  Because, unlike drunk drivers, no one takes reckless drivers seriously.

New York's prosecutorial "rule of two" holds that you can't prosecute a sober driver for criminally negligent homicide unless they do at least 2 things wrong, like speeding and running a red light.

The New York Court of Appeals, the state's highest court, recently threw out the conviction of a livery driver who killed a motorcyclist while making a U-turn on the Belt Parkway because it found the driver, although unwise, was not sufficiently malevolent.

Crazed driving seems to be just a part of life in New York, where speeding down residential streets, shooting red lights and playing chicken with pedestrians are typical.

Incoming Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance says prosecutors should crack down on reckless driving, but are New Yorkers ready to take reckless driving seriously?

The article from Gotham Gazette.

More from Gotham Gazette's Wonkster.

More from the Daily News.

Elsewhere on this blog, the city's pedestrian death rate is 3 times the national average.

Happy Thanksgiving

I'll be out of town for a few days due to the Thanksgiving holiday.

Wishing you fellowship, laughter and good food in abundance.

I'll be back in the city on Saturday, so please check back then.

As always, thank you for reading my blog.

Love Wanted

The theme of December's "Love Wanted" pet adoption event in Bay Ridge will be "Home for the Holidays".

The event will take place rain or shine on Saturday, December 12 from 11:30 AM to 4:30 AM at Salem Church, 450 67th Street (between 4th and 5th Avenues).

ID, proof of address and an adoption fee are required.

Animals are provided courtesy of  North Shore Animal League and NYC Animal Care and Control.

The organizers remind you that, because owning a pet is a lifetime commitment, giving an animal as a gift is not recommended.

New York Court of Appeals Rules for Atlantic Yards

As reported by the New York Times, New York's highest appellate court has ruled that the state can seize private property in downtown Brooklyn for Bruce Ratner's proposed 22-acre $4.9 billion Atlantic Yards development.

The New York Court of Appeals, by a 6 to 1 vote, ruled that the state can use eminent domain to take businesses, public property and private residences and transfer them to private developers like Ratner, declaring "blighted" the property of holdouts who refuse to sell.

The ruling reaffirmed New York’s use of eminent domain -- just as many state legislatures are moving to curb eminent domain abuse.

Opponents of Atlantic Yards, who argue that it is unconstitutional for the government to take private property and give it to developers, say they'll keep fighting. There are still four other lawsuits pending.

Ratner said the ruling was the last major hurdle to getting his development built.  He plans to begin selling tax-free bonds next month to finance an 18,000-seat basketball stadium for the New Jersey Nets at Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues.

Ratner and underwriter Goldman Sachs, in order to qualify for tax-free financing, have to complete the bond sale by Dec. 31. If they don't make the deadline, Ratner will have to seek conventional financing, which could make his project prohibitively expensive.

Ratner says it will take 28 months to build the stadium, meaning a June 2012 opening date. The stadium would be built on an 8.5-acre railyard and adjacent property, much of which Ratner now owns.  Ratner is due to to consolidate his holdings by next year.

There are 530 stalled construction projects in New York City.  Ratner's plan to build 16 high-rise, mostly residential towers in downtown Brooklyn could add as many as 6,430 apartments to the growing inventory of empty apartments in downtown Brooklyn.

Ratner, who apparently has no interest in basketball, bought the New Jersey Nets in 2004 for $300 million as an anchor for a big real estate development.  He has now sold a majority stake in the Nets to Russian billionaire and basketball enthusiast Mikhail D. Prokhorov.

The article from the New York Times.

More from Queens Crap.

Paterson Seeks Authority to Cut the Budget

In an address to the people of New York State today, Governor David Paterson called for executive authority to close the state's current budget deficit.

Emergency legislation – the Executive Authority Option – submitted by Paterson today would grant him one-time authority to administratively close a 3.2 billion gap in the 2009-10 budget.

The State's unprecedented fiscal crisis, caused in part by a dramatic decline in revenues, threatens its financial stability.  Paterson said that, unless we take action, the State will run out of money.

Under Paterson's proposed legislation, the executive branch would impose across-the-board payment reductions in the estimated amount of $1.3 billion in the current fiscal year.

Debt service, collective bargaining obligations and state or federally-mandated expenditures would be excluded from the reductions.

View the Governor's address online at:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZ4m53C3Cyk. 

There Goes the Neighborhood

The Observer reports that Rupert Murdoch, the 800-pound gorilla of the communications industry, has put his big hairy foot down in the Brooklyn blogosphere.

After including the New York Post-owned Brooklyn Paper in its Brooklyn edition last month, Murdoch's Post has now added The Brooklyn Blog to its website.

Reporter Rich Calder, a Carroll Gardens resident who has covered Brooklyn topics such as Coney Island and Atlantic Yards for the Post, is the blogger.

The article from the New York Observer.

Food Stamp Use Doubles at Greenmarkets

According to the New York Times, food stamp use at the city's Greenmarkets has more than doubled in the past year, due largely to better publicity and the availability of more markets.

In some low-income neighborhoods, food stamps make up 70 to 80% of Greenmarket sales.

There are now 23 Greenmarkets in the city, but Poe Park Market in the South Bronx and the Greenmarket at 175th Street and Broadway in Washington Heights account for more than 1/3 of the total sales.

The Poe Park Market's community has few outlets for fresh produce, and the Washington Heights market features Dominican-grown specialties that attract the local Dominican population.

Food stamps didn't transition from paper coupons to EBT cards until 2004, when many Greenmarkets weren't equipped to accept the new plastic. Now, farmers either have their own wireless machines or a central terminal processes the food stamps and gives shoppers wooden tokens to use.

Fresh produce has become harder to find in New York City as supermarkets and grocery stores are driven out by narrow profit margins, restrictive zoning and high rents. A study done in 2008 estimated that about 3 million New Yorkers lack fresh food options.

In September, the City Planning Commission approved zoning and tax incentives to attract full-service grocery stores to underserved neighborhoods.

A PDF map of Greenmarkets, including those that accept food stamps, is available from the Council on the Environment of New York City, which runs the Greenmarket program.

The article from the New York Times.

Wall Street vs. Main Street NYC

According to a recently-published report by non-partisan think-tank Fiscal Policy Center, two distinct recessions have emerged in New York City.  Despite signs of an earlier-than-expected recovery for Wall Street, there has been no let up in the recession gripping the rest of the city.

And the disconnect between Wall Street and Main Street NYC is growing.  In the city's outer boroughs and neighborhoods, unemployment has doubled in the past year.  More than 400,000 New Yorkers are out of work -- 40% of them have been out of work for more than 6 months. And the unemployment rate, which stood at 10.3% in September, is projected to stay in the double digits for months to come.

The "Great Recession" that hit the rest of the country in 2007 arrived in New York City in August, 2008.  According to the report, the following has happened since then:

• unemployment has spiked faster than at any time in the past 34 years;
• two thirds of the jobs lost have been outside the financial sector;
• consumer spending has dropped 11%;
• bankruptcies -- both personal and business -- are skyrocketing.

Median wages in New York City have fallen by 5% since 2000, and by 11% since 1990. In the past 2 1/2 years, 50,000 homes in New York City have been lost to mortgage foreclosure.

President Obama's financial bailout may have softened the blow to Wall Street, but it has done nothing to abate New York City's unemployment crisis. The city's labor market is in deepening trouble:

• a growing percentage of New Yorkers have been unemployed for more than 6 months.
• figuring in long-term unemployed, underemployed and discouraged workers, the city's real unemployment rate is 16%;
• sheer poverty is driving more people into the job market;
• among young people, unemployment is riding between 25 and 40%;
• among blacks and Hispanics, who make up half the city's workforce, real unemployment is over 20%, factoring in under-employed and discouraged workers.

The key question is whether the millions the city is spending on economic development will result in good-paying jobs for these populations, rather than just subsistence wages.

Read the full report (in PDF) here.

Holiday Drive for our Troops

This week, State Senator Marty Golden (R-C,22nd District) announced a holiday drive to support American troops deployed overseas.   

The holidays provide a great opportunity show the troops some love and appreciation.  

Suggested donations include:

• tube socks (green/black);
• tan and green t-shirts;
• unscented baby powder;
• games (dominos, checkers, chess);
• lip balm;
• batteries;
• long underwear;
• snacks, Pop Tarts;
• phone cards;
• batteries;
• baby wipes;
• shaving cream and razors;
• toothbrushes, toothpaste and mouthwash;
• deodorant
• sun screen;
• toilet paper;
• mac and cheese, cup of soup;
• canned goods;
• snacks, powdered drinks;
• DVDs, paperbacks and magazines;
• sun block;
• envelopes, pens and pencils;
• playing cards;
• flea, tick and lice powder; and
• holiday greeting cards. 

Bring your donations to either of Golden’s District Offices:     7408 5th Avenue or 3604 Quentin Road, during regular business hours Monday through Friday.    

Donations will be accepted until Monday, December 5. 

For more information, contact (718) 238-6044. 

Toy Drive 

The 68th Precinct Community Council and the Dyker Heights Civic Association are jointly running a toy drive for the children of military personnel until December 8.  Toys can be dropped off at a number of local sites. For more information, click here.

More information on holiday drives for our troops, from the Courier.

Jacked Up

As reported by the Daily News, commercial landlords in Brooklyn who were eager to cash in on the real estate boom a couple of years ago jacked up rents on their long-time tenants in order to drive them out -- thinking that gentrification couldn't be far behind.

Then the real estate bubble burst, leaving the borough littered with empty storefronts and ruined small businesses, many of them minority-owned.

But the landlords are still holding out, keeping rents high and gambling on a market turnaround.

The article from the Daily News.

Hyer-Spencer Hosts Holiday Drives

New York State Assemblymember Janele Hyer-Spencer (D-District 60) is hosting the following holiday charity drives at her Bay Ridge office at 7606 Fifth Avenue:

Cleaning out your closet?  

From now through December 4, the Bay Ridge Chapter of "Dress for Success" is sponsoring a clothing drive for disadvantaged women in need of professional clothing for job interviews or work.  Skirts, pant suits, blouses, blazers/jackets and shoes are appreciated. 

Got old toys?  

From now through December 8, the 68th Precinct Community Council and the Dyker Heights Civic Association are collecting unwrapped toys as gifts for children.

Got an old coat? 

The New York Cares Coat Drive is taking place from now through December 18.  Bring your gently used coats and jackets for men, women and children.

Got old cell phones?  

The office is sponsoring a year-round drive to benefit survivors of domestic violence.  Used call phones, cell phone batteries and chargers are appreciated.

Call the office at (718) 492-2462 for more information about the drives.

Death Rides the D Train

Jerry Sanchez, a 37-year-old resident of Bedford Park in the Bronx who works as an exterminator, walked into the first car of a northbound D train at Rockefeller Center on Saturday at around 2 AM and demanded that another passenger move his bag from the seat where Sanchez wanted to sit.

When the man, 36-year-old Dwight Johnson, refused to move his bag, the two reportedly argued. 

According to one account, things escalated, Johnson punched Sanchez in the face, and Sanchez pulled out a steak knife and stabbed Johnson in the neck.

According to another, eyewitness, account, Johnson never threatened Sanchez.

The other passengers in the car -- about 24 of them -- fled to the other side of the car, one using the intercom to call the crew while others pounded on the motorman's door.

As the train pulled into 53rd Street station, the motorman locked down the train and called the control tower, which called the police.

Johnson, a homeless all-night rider, bled out in the car, his blood covering the floor.

When the cops arrived, according to the Daily News, they found Sanchez sitting calmly in the seat he killed a man for.

The article from the Daily News.

More from the Village Voice.

More from the New York Post.

More from the New York Post.

Buy Nothing Day

A reminder from Reverend Billy and the Church of Life after Shopping that November 27, otherwise known as "Black Friday" is alternatively observed as "Buy Nothing Day".

Buy Nothing Day, a protest against greed and compulsive over-consumption, will be observed in New York City and around the world next Friday.

Stay tuned for further details about Buy Nothing Day events here in the city.

Black Friday in Bay Ridge, from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

Culture jammers threaten a wildcat general strike on Buy Nothing Day,

New Front in War on Curb Cuts

The New York Times reports that the city's Planning Department has proposed anti-curb-cut regulations that could change the streetscape in neighborhoods like Bay Ridge.

Zoning regulations now allow some residents to make curb cuts, but in recent years there have been more complaints against them -- because they eliminate parking spaces on the street and because they look tacky.

Josephine Beckmann, District Manager of CB 10, is a vocal critic of curb cuts, which she says "look terrible". Local city councilmember Vincent Gentile agrees.

The proposed rules would:

• parking pads would be restricted in neighborhoods where one-and two-family homes predominate;
• the required planting strip would have to be at least a foot wide
• residential building owners would have to add parking spaces when they add new residential units;
• new curb cuts would be prohibited at row houses less than 40 feet wide;
  
• curb cuts would be restricted in higher-density residential areas.

Existing curb cuts and parking pads would be grandfathered under the existing regulations, but new applications for permits would be subject to the proposed rules, if  approved.

After they are reviewed by the community boards, the proposed rules will go to the borough presidents, then to the City Planning Commission and the City Council.

Parking in Bay Ridge is infamously hard to come by, and the city's over-zealous approach to parking enforcement here keeps tempers at a rolling boil.  Because I'm an aesthetic type of person who doesn't own a car, I like the idea of eliminating curb cuts, but I get why anyone with a shot at a parking pad in front of their house would take it -- even if it's not aesthetically correct. 

The article from the New York Times.

City's Pedestrian Death Rate 3 Times National Average

According to a report published by the advocacy organization Transportation for America,  pedestrians make up a very high percentage of all traffic deaths in New York City. The New York metropolitan area, with an average 316 pedestrian deaths a year in 2007 and 2008, has the highest absolute number of pedestrian deaths of any metropolitan area in the U.S.

The percentage of pedestrians killed by cars in New York City is nearly three times the national average.

Nationally, more than 76,000 people have been killed in the past 15 years while crossing or walking on a city street.  In this decade alone, more than 43,000, including 3,906 children under 16, have been killed, roughly the equivalent of a jumbo jet going down every month. Although children, the elderly and ethnic minorities are disproportionately represented in these figures, pedestrians of all ages and walks of life have been mowed down.

When a driver kills a pedestrian, it is typically labeled an “accident” and the driver -- if sober -- is rarely prosecuted.  But, the report finds, an overwhelming proportion of pedestrian deaths happen on roads designed to be dangerous to pedestrians:  roads that have been engineered solely for speeding cars, not people walking or riding bicycles.

As dangerous as it is to walk, it is just as deadly not to walk:  walking and bicycling –  called “active transportation” – are critical to reducing morbidity due to obesity and heart disease. And walking and biking, because they are clean transportation, are essential to reducing the negative impacts of traffic congestion, oil dependency and climate change.

Communities have now begun to retrofit poorly designed roads, adding sidewalks and bicycle lanes, reducing crossing distances and installing trees and crosswalks to make walking and biking safer. The safer streets that result have saved lives and promoted better health by encouraging fitness. The damage is beginning to be undone.

The current revision of the nation’s transportation policy is a once-in-a-generation chance to create safer streets, keep neighborhoods livable, promote physical fitness, and back off foreign oil.

Download a PDF of the full report here.

At a recent Town Hall Meeting in Dyker Heights hosted by State Senator Marty Golden, local residents had mixed reactions to efforts by the city's Department of Transportation to calm traffic and make room for bikes.

Yellow Hook

Via Gothamist, the blogger at Pardon Me For Asking has found an old map showing both Red and Yellow Hook in Brooklyn.

As people out this way know, Yellow Hook, the original Dutch name for this area based on the color of the soil, was changed to Bay Ridge after a yellow fever epidemic in the 19th century.

The post from Gothamist.

Robo Teacher

Inevitably, computerized instruction has come to New York City's schools.

This past summer, New York City schools chancellor Joel Klein piloted an individualized software-based learning program that Time Magazine calls "one of the 50 best inventions of 2009".

Each day, students using the School of One software program are given a personalized lesson plan — a "daily playlist" if you will  — geared to their learning style and rate of progress, that includes a mix of virtual tutoring, in-class instruction and educational video games.

Time calls it "learning for the Xbox generation."

The article from Time Magazine.

The press release from NYC.Gov.

Holiday Craft Market at Brooklyn Lyceum

The Second Annual Brooklyn Lyceum Holiday Craft Market will bring together more than 60 local artisans on the final shopping weekend before Christmas.

Handcrafted merchandise will include hats, tees, jewelry, soaps, pillows, plush toys, greeting cards, prints, ceramics, sweets, stocking stuffers, clocks, household goods and more. 

Why not buy local?   

Details at the Market's website.   

The Brooklyn Lyceum is at 227 4th Avenue in Park Slope (R train to Union Street). The phone is 718-857-4816.

Hundreds Attend Hydrofracking Hearing

As reported here earlier this month, the State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) held a public hearing in lower Manhattan on November 10 on its proposal to permit hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) for natural gas in the heart of New York City's water supply.

The following account was filed by one of the people who attended the hearing.

"When I arrived at 5:30pm, there was already a large crowd of about 150-200 people outside the hearing, lots of security and folks holding signs.

Over 800 people arrived by the end of the hearing, according to the Downtown Express.

Inside, there were representatives from the DEC answering questions. While they had brought info including the EIS (environmental impact statement), people were asking all sorts of questions that they just didn't seem to have good answers for:

• Where would this drilling take place? 
• Is there anyplace the DEC would not allow it? 
• What about all the pollution and accidents in other states? 
• What types of chemicals? 
• Where would the waste material go? 
• What would the impact on the watershed actually be?
• How much land would be cleared for drilling platforms and roads?
• What about the water tunnels? 
• How about the rest of the environment?

One hundred and sixty people had signed up to speak - and I've never been to a public hearing where so many people stuck around after the first hour and a half.

The crowd got a bit rowdy at points. The first testimony was interrupted by someone who jumped on stage and shouted about the drilling.

The overwhelming majority of people who spoke at the hearing were against anything that would risk our drinking water.

I'm really glad that I was able to go to this hearing. It's our water supply. This is an something New York has got to get right."

For those who couldn't attend the hearing, there's still time to be heard.  The DEC's extended comment period on the proposal is open until December 31.  You can e-mail comments to dmnsgeis@gw.dec.state.ny.us (include your name, e-mail or return mail address); or send comments by regular mail to: DSGEIS Comments, Bureau of Oil & Gas Regulation, NYSDEC Division of Mineral Resources, 625 Broadway, Third Floor, Albany, NY 12233-6500.

Every New Yorker has a stake in the quality of the city's drinking water, so speak up.

More on the hearing from WNYC.

Bay Ridge pols on hydrofracking, from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

Vivian Cherry at Brooklyn Lyceum

The Brooklyn Lyceum's monthly writers series, First Sundays, continues on Sunday, December 6 at 7 PM with a presentation by photographer Vivian Cherry, a former Broadway hoofer who has been shooting New York City street scenes since the 1940s.  

Admission is free.  

Cherry's photos of the Lower East Side, the Third Avenue El and Hell’s Kitchen reside in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art, the International Center of Photography and the Brooklyn Museum of Art.

Copies of Cherry's collected photos, Helluva Town, New York City in the 1940’s and 50’s, will be available for signing.  

The First Sundays series is hosted and curated by Susan Hartman, a journalist and poet.

The Brooklyn Lyceum is a performing arts and cultural center at 227 4th Avenue in Park Slope, just upstairs from the R train station at Union Street. 

For more information, visit the website or call 718-857-4816.  

Brooklyn Leads in Stalled Developments

The Daily News reports (as picked up by Queens Crap) that, according to statistics from the city's Department of Buildings, the number of stalled construction projects in Brooklyn has surged 42% since this summer, to a total of 245.

Brooklyn has half of the city's 527 stalled sites, making it the five-borough leader.

In once red-hot neighborhoods like Greenpoint, Borough Park and Williamsburg, the shells of abandoned developments have begun to attract "the wrong element" -- drug addicts, homeless people and raucous teens.

The City Council, in an effort to bail out developers and keep neighborhoods safe, has passed a bill giving owners incentives to keep up their properties, but the underlying problem -- a lack of commercial financing -- can't be legislated away.

The article from the Daily News.

Another Christmas, Another Show

The Narrows Community Theater will present an original musical revue, "Another Christmas, Another Revue, on three December dates at three locations in Bay Ridge:  

• December 5 at 8:00 PM at Salem Lutheran Church, 450 67th Street; 
• December 6 at 3:00 PM at St. Patrick's Auditorium, 97th Street and Fourth Avenue; and 
• December 13 at 2:00 PM at Our Lady of Angels, 74th Street and 4th Avenue.  

The revue tells the story of Emily, a spoiled, selfish child who discovers the true meaning of Christmas as she accompanies Santa on a magical journey -- featuring Christmas music and traditional dance -- around the world. 

Betty Kash authored and directed, with musical direction by Joe McLaughlin. 

Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children.  

Call 718.482.3173, visit the website at www.NarrowsCommunityTheater.com or email NCT@Nctheaterny.com for tickets or more information.

Of Bigotry and Cowardice

When the Brooklyn Paper polled 6 state Senators in its coverage area back in April about whether they would support the gay marriage bill recently shelved by the Senate, all but one strongly supported the bill.

The lone holdout?  Marty Golden (R-Bay Ridge), who has repeatedly invoked the mantra of the Religious Right that “marriage is between a man and a woman.”

The Senate, after being shamed by Gov. David Paterson into taking up the gay marriage bill as passed by the Assembly, has now indefinitely postponed the vote on the bill.

I agree with the Brooklyn Paper that gay marriage is the civil rights issue of our time.  All Americans, gay or straight, should be free to marry who they choose, free of religious bigotry. It's that simple.

The Brooklyn Paper takes to task City Councilmember Vincent Gentile (D-Bay Ridge) and state Sen. Carl Kruger (D-Sheepshead Bay) for repeatedly refusing to be interviewed on the subject of gay marriage, calling them, in so many words, spineless leaders.

The article from the Brooklyn Paper.

State Senator Ruben Diaz Jr., a Bronx Democrat, may be more hostile to gay rights than Golden is.

Co-Housing Comes to Brooklyn

As reported by New York Magazine, there are more than 100 co-housing communities in the U.S., but, until recently, there had yet to be one in New York City.   

Co-housing is not a commune, nor is it a kibbutz, and it's also not for hippies -- at least not poor ones -- New York City's first co-housing venture will have to come up with $16 million to buy and renovate an old mattress factory on Brooklyn's South Slope.

Legally, co-housing is nothing more than a premeditated co-op, but there's a lot more to it than that.  It's a fundamentally different way of life in which people own their own apartments, but are part of a planned community. In exchange for paying premium prices for their units, members of Brooklyn's first co-housing venture will share 11,000 square feet of common areas, including a community kitchen, guest rooms and a wine cellar.  Members are expected to socialize together, share maintenance and gardening tasks, and meet on a weekly basis.

The Brooklyn group, which began as a collection of strangers, hopes to create the functional equivalent of an extended family.  People invited from other communal-living developments tell of fellow members supporting one another through death, divorce and raising children.

The group was organized by Alex Marshall, who moved back here from Boston in 2000 after his divorce, and found himself socially isolated.  A writer who specializes in urban planning and infrastructure, Marshall had recently finished writing a book called How Cities Work.

Marshall found that the traditional community meeting places, pubs, churches and neighborhood associations,  had waned as community centers -- especially in the suburbs -- and that the fragmented lives we now lead as a result cause isolation and loneliness.

Having studied urban design at Harvard, Marshall knew about co-housing, an idea that originated as an experiment in Denmark in the sixties. Two American architects, Kathryn McCamant and Charles Durrett, visited the Danish housing cooperatives a generation later and published Cohousing: A Contemporary Approach to Housing Ourselves, in 1988.

McCamant and Durrett’s book became a bible for the co-housing communities that sprouted up across the country in small cities like Berkeley and Boulder and in the suburbs of big cities like Atlanta and Seattle.

Co-housing has never been tested in a dense urban environment like New York City, but Marshall thinks neighborhood-centric Brooklyn is a perfect co-housing venue.

The article from New York Magazine.

The Brooklyn co-housing project has become a casualty of the recession [New York Observer.]

BRFC Moving Forward

According to an e-mail blast today from the Bay Ridge Food Co-op, its steering committee, which has been working to build the co-op's membership base, will deliver an organizational report at the Co-op's next general meeting on December 8. 

The Co-op has completed a market research survey report, to be mailed out over the coming week, which is expected to give a clearer picture of the community's unmet food sourcing needs and assist the co-op in targeting those needs. 

The Co-op is preparing a 2010 outreach calendar.  If you know of a 2009 or 2010 event that would provide an outreach opportunity for the co-op, please e-mail outreach@foodcoopbayridge.com. 

The Co-op is working to build membership and financial capacity so that it can lease retail space in Bay Ridge. Membership costs as little as $10 a month.

Photo above by Colby Hamilton, a student reporter at CUNY Journalism School who covers Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights and Ft. Hamilton.

Driving off the Cliff

The Daily News reports that New York State's "Doomsday Budget" scenario threatens core services like homeless shelters, domestic violence centers, probation centers and libraries.

If the state continues spending and revenues continue falling at the present rate, the state will "drive off the cliff" in December unless Albany comes up with a plan to close a $3.2 billion gap in the budget.

By December 31st, the state needs $1.6 billion for schools, $2.5 billion for school property tax relief, $800 million for Medicaid and $500 million in municipal aid.  Without budget relief, the general fund, from which the state pays its bills, would be $1.1 billion in the red by year's end.

If state revenues and Wall Street bonuses fall below projections, the state may have to put off paying its January bills, which means that school districts, vendors and local governments may get IOUs.

The brunt would fall on New York City, where Mayor Michael Bloomberg has warned city agencies across the board to cut their budgets by January in order to close a looming $4.9 billion gap.

This will be Bloomberg's 7th round of budget cuts since 2007, resulting in a total reduction of $3.2 billion in annual costs.

Albany lawmakers ignored the governor's call for a special session on Tuesday.

Senate Democrats oppose Paterson's proposed $1.3 billion cuts to health and education. Brooklyn's Carl Kruger, Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, while acknowledging the need to close the hole in the budget ASAP, urged "fiscal prudence". 

The article from the Daily News.

Robert Kennedy Jr. at Town Hall

Robert Kennedy Jr., Senior Attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, Time Magazine "Hero for the Planet" and best-selling author of Crimes Against Nature, will give a free talk at Town Hall, 123 West 43rd Street in Manahttan, on Tuesday, November 17 at 8:00 PM.  Doors open at 7:30 PM.

Kennedy will talk about his pioneering fight against dirty coal, the devastating costs of fossil fuel use, and the promise of a clean energy future.

Register for free tickets here: www.nrdc.org/kennedy.

Sitt Squeezes City for $95.6 Million

The New York Times reports that the Bloomberg administration and developer Joe Sitt, after a long standoff, have closed a $95.6 million deal for 6.9 acres along the Coney Island Boardwalk between the Cyclone and Keyspan Park, which the city regards as crucial to its stalled Coney Island redevelopment plan.

Sitt originally asked $140 million for 10.5 of his 12.5 acres.  A year ago, Sitt walked away from the city's offer of $110 million for 10.5 acres.  The city's $95.6 million/6.9 acre deal breaks out to $300 per square foot — way overpriced in the current market.

Sitt, who runs Thor Equities, plans to develop hotels and stores on the 5.6 acres he still owns.

Sitt began buying Coney Island real estate in 2005 as part of a plan to build a Las Vegas-style year-round resort. Although Coney Island icons the Cyclone, the Wonder Wheel and Nathan’s are still standing, the Thunderbolt, Child’s restaurant and Astroland are gone and much of Sitt's land, cleared of tenants, is vacant.

The city plans to solicit offers for an interim amusement operator for the 6.9 acre parcel, and is sending representatives to the annual convention of the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions in Las Vegas next week.

The article from the New York Times.

More from NYC.Gov.

Veterans Day Parade

New York City's 90th Annual Veterans Day Parade, one of the biggest in the U.S., steps off at 11:00 AM today on 5th Avenue, and will follow a route from 26th to 56th Streets.

This year's parade, titled "The Blessings of Liberty", will feature a 21-gun salute, a military flyover, and the participation of the famed World War II Navajo Code Talkers.

From modest beginnings in 1919 after World War I, the New York City parade has grown in scope, scale and national significance.

Veterans Day is observed this year against a somber background: American soldiers are engaged in prolonged and bloody wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the nation is reeling from the shock of the Fort Hood massacre.

The article from CBS TV.

McMahon: "Fiscal Restraint" Lacking

U.S. Representative Michael McMahon was one of 39 Democrats who voted against the historic health care reform bill passed by the House last week by just 5 votes.

McMahon was the only New York City representative  -- they're all Democrats -- who voted against the bill.

In a New York Times interview, McMahon called the health care bill a net negative for seniors, families and small businesses in his district -- the 13th.  McMahon's was the only district in New York City where John McCain beat Barack Obama last November -- when McMahon, a lawyer, succeeded disgraced Republican Vito Fossella to become the first Democratic representative since 1981.

McMahon said that, while he supports overhauling the health care system and favors the so-called "public option", he doesn't think the House bill does enough to restrain government spending, and that it would result in premium increases, increased costs for small businesses and Medicaid cuts.

The article from the New York Times.

More from the Daily News.

More from the Brooklyn Paper.

More from the Courier.

Albany Running out of Money

The New York Times reports that Gov. David Paterson took the unusual step today of addressing an off-season joint session of the legislature to underscore New York State's deepening financial crisis.

Paterson, in grave language, urged lawmakers to make his proposed funding cuts and warned that the state is approaching insolvency.

Budget negotiations between the governor and the legislature must address social welfare, health care and education spending. New York spends more per capita on Medicaid and education than any other state in the U.S. -- well above the national average.

The governor has called the legislature into an extraordinary session tomorrow to take up his proposed budget cuts. The state faces a deficit of more than $3 billion by the end of this fiscal year, with unprecedented deficits looming in 2011 and 2012.

Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch described the state's taxation system as being at its "outer limits".

Education and health care advocates, labor unions and senate Democrats have pushed back against the governor's proposed cuts to Medicaid and education -- the state's two biggest expenditures.

But the legislature apparently has no responsible fiscal strategy to counter the governor's planned cuts.

State comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said that everything would have to be on the table in the state's budget negotiations.

The article from the New York Times.

House Bill Prohibits Abortion Coverage

In an e-mail blast today, Planned Parenthood described yesterday's passage by the U.S. House of Representatives of a comprehensive health care bill as a "brutal" setback for abortion rights.  

Despite a call-in campaign by hundreds of thousands of women's health care advocates, the bill passed by the House bans private abortion coverage for millions of women and prohibits abortion in the "public option". 

The anti-abortion lobby, emboldened by the House vote, will now take the abortion ban to the floor of the U.S. Senate. 

President Obama campaigned as an advocate of women's reproductive health care reform. In great numbers, women who want reform voted for and contributed to Obama's campaign. They are now looking to Obama to reaffirm his commitment to them by demanding that the Senate refuse to pass any bill that eliminates abortion coverage. 

You can take action by clicking here.  

Sign the petition.

Scandinavians and Dutch in Old New York

Five Dutch Days in Bay Ridge   

The Scandinavian East Coast Museum will sponsor a "Five Dutch Days" event at 7:00 PM on Thursday, November 12 at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, 4th Avenue @ 80th Street in Bay Ridge. 

Pascal Theunissen, author of a newly-published book, Nederlands in New York, will give a talk about Scandinavian New Amsterdam and some of its colorful Nordic characters. 

New Amsterdam was a melting pot of cultures and religions, in which Scandinavians were an important ingredient, yet most New Yorkers today know little about the city's Dutch and Scandinavian heritage. Thursday's event is intended to bring that history to light.  

Tickets are $20.00, and include a reception following the talk featuring Dutch and Scandinavian treats.

For more information, call 718-748-5950 or visit the East Coast Scandinavian Museum's website.    

Five Dutch Days in Manhattan 

In Manhattan, the St. Mark's Historic Landmark Fund, sponsor of the Neighborhood Preservation Center, will host its final series of annual "Five Dutch Days" events from November 12 through 16.   This series was organized by the Department of History at Columbia University, the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum and the St. Mark's Historic Landmark Fund. 

Five Dutch Days is a city-wide collaboration celebrating Dutch-American Heritage Day and the continuing influence of Dutch arts and culture in NYC. This year's event is also part of the year-long celebration of the 400th Anniversary of Henry Hudson's Arrival. 

Among the events at St. Mark's next week are: 

Peg-Leg Pete's Scavenger Hunt
Saturday, Nov. 14, 2 PM
131 East 10th Street 
Free Admission
Meet in front of the Stuyvesant vault in the East Yard of St. Mark's Church, rain or shine.
RSVP required: 212-228-2781 or info@smhlf.org.
 
The scavenger hunt, a family event, will take place at Peter Stuyvesant's bouwerie, or farm.  Participants will visit locations throughout the East Village and Gramercy Park that were part of the bouwerie. The person who completes the hunt first with the highest score on a related quiz will get a prize. The hunt is expected to take 2 to 3 hours. 

A self-guided tour of Stuyvesant's farm will be available on the web November 14.  You can download a PDF map of the tour.

St. Mark's Church Walking Tour
Sunday, Nov. 15th, 1-2 PM
131 East 10th Street 
Free Admission
Meet in front of St. Mark's Church.
RSVP required: 212-228-2781 or info@smhlf.org.

This historic tour of St. Mark's in-the-Bowery conducted by Associate Pastor Michael Relyea and Annette Hendrikse is available in English and in Dutch, and will focus on the cultural and architectectural history of St. Mark's church.    

For more information, visit the website. 

Public Hearing on Hydrofracking Tuesday

From the Campaign for New York's Future:  

On Tuesday, November 10, the State Department of Environmental Conservation is holding a public hearing in lower Manhattan to receive comments on its proposal to allow hydraulic fracture drilling ("hydrofracking") for natural gas in the heart of New York City's watershed.

As The New York Times reported this week, "hydraulic fracturing has been implicated in a growing number of water pollution cases across the country."

The State DEC has agreed to give New Yorkers one more month to speak up about the hydrofracking proposal. 

Now, we need the DEC to ensure that no gas drilling will put the safety of our drinking water at risk.

Decision makers must see and hear from concerned New Yorkers at Tuesday's hearing.  Our drinking water must not be endangered. 

 Here's the 411:

• What:  the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) hearing on its proposal to permit drilling for natural gas in the watershed that supplies 90% of New York City's water. This is your chance to speak up on the plan.
• When:  Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 at 5:30 p.m. Please arrive at least ten minutes early to go through security. 
• Where:  Stuyvesant High School, 345 Chambers Street, Manhattan, at the West Side Highway, a short walk or M22 bus trip from the 1, 2, 3, A or C Chambers St. subway stop. There is a bridge across the West Side Highway at Chambers.  

More on hydrofracking from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

Unemployment Hits Double-Digits

U.S. unemployment rose to 10.2% in October, the highest rate since 1983.  This country has seen double-digit unemployment only twice since World War II.

The projected numbers for 2010 are even worse -- peaking at 11%.

President Barack Obama has signed a measure extending unemployment benefits and expanding a tax credit for homebuyers.

The article from WABC.

More from the AP.

Non-Voters, Fickle Democrats To Blame?

The New York Times reports that tens of thousands of New Yorkers, who took it for granted that Michael Bloomberg was going to win Tuesday's mayoral election, didn't bother to vote.

The New York Times article.

In the aftermath of Bill Thompson's near-victory over Michael Bloomberg in Tuesday, the Democratic Party is having second thoughts about abandoning Thompson in the stretch.

New York City, where there are 5 Democrats to every Republican, where unemployment is in the double digits, and where nearly half of black men are jobless, should be able to elect a Democratic mayor.

A Democratic state senator called it "disgraceful" that so many Democrats failed to support Thompson's candidacy -- or even bother to vote.  Other prominent Democrats took President Barack Obama to task for having done so little for Thompson in a "winnable" race.

Is a broken Democratic machine to blame?  Or was Bloomberg's narrow victory about the awesome power of money and spin?  The cash-fueled Bloomberg campaign machine effectively portrayed the mayor as invincible, and a lot of power players stayed out of the race because they believed the hype.
 
Maybe Anthony Weiner will have better luck next time. 

The article from the New York Times. 

More from Gotham Gazette's Wonkster.

Not Our Fault

Looking for somebody to blame for Mayor Michael Bloomberg's 5-point squeaker against Democratic challenger Bill Thompson Tuesday night?  Don't look at Brooklyn.

Thompson got 49.8% of the Brooklyn vote.  Bloomberg got 46%.

Citywide, Bloomberg, who spent a record-breaking $90 million campaigning, edged out Thompson 50.6 to 46%.

Running as a Republican, Bloomberg did well in majority white neighborhoods like Bay Ridge, Borough Park, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill.  But Brooklyn's predominantly black and Latino neighborhoods, including Clinton Hill, Fort Greene and Sunset Park, went for Thompson.

The mayoral race was the only close one in Brooklyn.

In the 43rd Council District, Democratic incumbent Vincent Gentile defeated Republican challenger Bob Capano with 60% of the vote.

Borough President Marty Markowitz trounced Republican Marc D’Attavio by 85 to 13.2%.

The article from the Brooklyn Paper.

Feeling the Pinch

The New York Times reports that both the new and the old immigrant communities in Bay Ridge, regardless of party affiliation, are unhappy with two-term mayor Michael Bloomberg, running for a third term on the Republican line.

Their main complaint:  Bloomberg is driving the middle class out of the city.

The article from the New York Times.

"Gingerbread House" for Sale

Brooklyn real estate blog Brownstoner reports that Bay Ridge's Howard E. and Jesse Jones House, at 8220 Narrows Avenue, is for sale.

The asking price is $12 million.

Mr. Jones, a shipping magnate, commissioned architect James Sarsfield Kennedy to design the Arts and Crafts house, which features uncut boulder construction and a simulated thatched roof made of multi-colored asphalt shingles, in 1916.

The house, popularly known as the "Gingerbread House" for its hobbity look, is a local landmark.

The article from Brownstoner.

More from the New York Post.

BK Southie has calculated the monthly mortgage at that current asking price.

More from the Wall Street Journal.

Vote!

I listened to plenty of excuses for not voting this morning as I stood across the street from a polling site in Bay Ridge handing out Thompson flyers (the guy with the Gentile flyers was right beside me.)

The candidates are all "pro-choice", you say?  The candidates are all crooks?  You don't like any of the candidates?

So who's fault is that?  Maybe you should stop pouting and start doing your political homework.

We can't afford to refuse to vote in this election, because this is our referendum on term limits extension.   

Gawker's Bloomberg "anti-endorsement".  Good rant.

Capano Running on Influence

As reported by Gotham Gazette, Conservative/Republican City Council candidate Bob Capano, endorsed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg in late September, shares a campaign office with the mayor's staff in Bay Ridge, on a commercial strip plastered with Bloomberg posters.

Capano sees himself as better positioned than incumbent Councilmember Vincent Gentile to "work with" the Bloomberg administration to get what the neighborhood needs from the city.

Gentile counters that certain mayoral initiatives, like Sunday parking meter fines, which Gentile successfully fought, didn't benefit the neighborhood.

Gentile and the Mayor have a bit of a history.  In a special election race in 2002,  Gentile put a photo of Bloomberg’s Upper East Side townhouse on campaign leaflets protesting property tax hikes, pointing out that, while the Mayor could afford higher taxes, the neighborhood couldn't.

Gentile credits his work with the city Planning Department's Brooklyn office for helping down-zone Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights in 2005. Since 2006, Gentile and the Historic Districts Council have worked on rezoning Bath Beach. Gentile's Bath Beach rezoning proposal was submitted to the City Council in July 2008.

Gentile would have senior status on the city council next term and a shot at a committee chair, something a minority member would not have. Only 3 out of 51 City Council members are Republicans.

Capano counters that Republican Marty Golden delivered for Bay Ridge when he was a minority member of the city council -- because of his friendship with then-Mayor Rudy Guiliani.

Gentile, also running on the Working Families line, has the support of the Arab American Association and the Brooklyn Chinese-American Association.

Campaign Finance Board filings as of Oct. 29 show Capano with $33,151 in private donations and $88,550 in public funding. Gentile had $156,659 in private donations and $88,550 in public funds.

District 43 includes Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bath Beach and Bensonhurst. The medium household income is about $50,000.  The population is just over 64% Caucasian, with 20% Asian/Pacific Islander.

The article from Gotham Gazette.