The Word On The Street, Part II: Wake Up…

February 27, 2014 ·
Filed under: 10012, New York City, SoHo, SoHo Manhattan, The Word On The Street 

Taken February 27, 2014.

New York Shitty Photos Du Jour: From NYC With Love

Cortlandt Alley

Crosby Street

East 7 Street

Taken February 27, 2014.

The Word On The Street: Isms

February 27, 2014 ·
Filed under: 10012, New York City, SoHo, SoHo Manhattan, The Word On The Street 

From Crosby Street.

Quicklink: Williamsburg Greenpoint News + Arts

WGNAscreengrab

Please take a moment and give this tome a read, gentle readers. It is well worth the time!

From The New York Shitty Photo Pool: On The Subway

February 27, 2014 ·
Filed under: New York City, Subway 

Taken by UrbanphotoZ.

From The New York Shitty Inbox: Joint SLA Committee & Public Safety Committee Meeting This Thursday!

gothamistSCThere it is, the list of applications and renewals in its resplendent glory! While I am vaguely on the subject of public safety, I found this (at left) news to be quite disconcerting— but sadly not exactly surprising. What is surprising, however, is a response I got from someone who I had inquired as to where NYC issue condoms can be found/had hereabouts:

Perhaps Dewey can fish some out of Newtown Creek for you?

But seriously, I was going to direct you to the online condom directory, but
alas, when I put in the 11222 zip code, there were no locations to be found.
And then they wonder why people in the area don’t use them…

https://a816-healthpsi.nyc.gov/DispensingSiteLocator/mainView.do

And, as our very own Public Safety Chair added:

Perhaps BABAR (Brooklyn Allied Bars And Restaurants — Ed. Note) could be prodded into encouraging its member bars to put out fishbowls of them at all thier bars. This is the easiest and most effective way to distribute them and I am sure the Health Department would send cartons of them to BABAR to distribute to their member bars. Social responsibility may not be ironic enough without prodding…

Community Board 1 Joint SLA and Public Safety Committee Meeting
February 27, 2014 starting at 6:30 p.m.
435 Graham Avenue
Brooklyn, New York 11211

P.S.: Lest you are wondering why, gentle readers, yours truly was interested in access to free condoms. It is for a little art project I am working on (inspired by this)

There ain’t candy in these here Easter eggs. This Easter Bunny wants Greenpoint to practice safe(r) sex. Really folks…

This Is Just Plain Awesome…

shittitpaintingNYS

My buddy and all-around environmental BADASS Laura has taken up painting recently. Although her creations are all quite lovely and whimsical, this one (for obvious reasons)  is a stand-out. It simply had to be shared. About its creation she writes:

A walk to the Digester Eggs followed with some 60’s psychedelic music, incense and candles, topped with some community issues translates into this for me…

I give this piece two enthusiastic New York Shitty thumbs up!

From The New York Shitty Inbox, Part II: What’s Up On Monitor Street?

February 25, 2014 ·
Filed under: 11222, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic 

A person we’ll call “G” writes:

I am enjoying you follow the Argentos and their shady dealings. They drive me crazy because they get all of this government money and none of the rules apply to them. Have you noticed that Monitor St between Greenpoint ave and Norman ave is closed? The Argentos are building 7 sound stages on Kingsland Ave which the back is on Monitor. Since last year that street is closed and I cannot see any reason why except that it is being treated like a personal parking lot. Because it is closed the traffic on Greenpoint Avenue gets backed up especially at rush hour. I do not see any signs explaining why it should be closed either.
Have you noticed this?

I cannot honestly say I have. However, I opted to swing by today and see what’s up. Follows is a slideshow of my findings. Enjoy!

In closing, I decided to swing by Luna Lighting (which, as we have learned, was busted by the Business Integrity Commission for operating an illegal trade waste business). The following photo pretty much says it all.

Luna Lighting 2252014

Streets, sidewalks, who needs them when jobs are being created? Or so it is said by those who have been beneficiaries of the Argento’s largesse. Let this be a reminder folks that the “rules” apply to some folks more than others…

From The New York Shitty Inbox, Part I: And Now A Word From GWAPP

February 25, 2014 ·
Filed under: 11222, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic 

Naturally I had to kick this corker over to Queens Crap. Follows is his analysis:

“The Board is proposing amendments to those by-laws to reflect an organization that is no longer an association of local orgs meeting regularly but, rather, a Board overseeing various programs and initiatives with volunteer help.”

or, rather:

“We don’t like having members who question the things we do, therefore we’re planning to dump them all and close the group off so that’s it’s just the rotten inner circle that makes decisions.”

And what if the reps in attendance vote no?

I do not have much to add aside from noting that, in essence, the powers-that-be behind this organization are using the revision of by-laws to effectively create a new and very different “group”. Of course one has to compare and contrast both sets of by-laws in order to draw this conclusion. While it is refreshing to see that GWAPP seems to have made their by-laws available to the public I find it a mite bit disconcerting they only did so after a blogger, I, made them public. I will share them here once again:

And here are the old/present ones.

Please take a moment, gentle readers, and compare them. You’ll find some interesting differences.

UPDATE, 5:55 p.m.: It has been brought to my attention that the Williamsburg Greenpoint News + Arts has published an item regarding GWAPP and this upcoming meeting. This you can read by clicking here. Follows is a segment I for one found interesting:

But Dewey Thompson — with Christine Holowacz (Board of Directors co-chairs) who are on the receiving end of complaints — is caught off guard by the sudden attacks. “My biggest crime is volunteering my time too much,” he said, also adding, “there’s a misperception that organizations exist at the whim of community input. To set up meetings takes a lot of energy and incredible amount of time. Those people who will want to participate will actually need to commit themselves to this work, and be a part of it, and open to that kind of participation.”

This governance issue, he said, is to change bylaws so there are no longer membership organizations—he indicated that many are no longer active, and that the particular politics that brought them together aren’t relevant anymore.

“We are asking them to now amend those laws, so we can operate the board the way we are doing it now.”

In response to the notion that it would exclude public participation, he said: “We expect the nominating committee to do outreach and find people interested in the committee. We are not beating people away from GWAPP. We are very well known — anyone can have easy access to the board. We’re totally open to meeting new people and hoping we find new blood. We are hoping to refresh the governance, get a new board, and a new set of bylaws, for what we think is a very vital organization.”

Exactly who constitutes this nominating committee, you ask? Well, if a source who took up this matter with Mr. Thompson recently is to be believed, it is the following folks:

NYDNsc

(From the April 29, 2005 edition of the New York Daily News)

Interesting, yes?

Urban Artifact: Steppin’ Out

February 25, 2014 ·
Filed under: 11222, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic, Urban Artifact 

Taken February 25, 2014.

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