Exxon Claus?

Many of you who have lamented over Manhattan Avenue’s lack of Yuletime wattage might have noticed the fancy energy efficient lights that were fired up last Friday, December 12. Well, as it would happen they have a very interesting benefactor (from the December 10th edition of the Greenpoint Gazette):

…Town Square still faces the daunting task of raising the funds for the lights. Companies like ExxonMobil, MetroFuel, and the New York Power Authority have pledged their support and Assemblymember Joe Lentol, Councilmember David Yassky, and Esposito have lent their voices to the call for community support. The Greenpoint Gazette, Greenpoint Lions, and North Brooklyn Development Corporation are helping with collections from local merchants.

Yup, you just read that Exxon is one of the folks ponying up the dough for these bad boys. I don’t know about you, but the given sheer environmental havoc this company has wreaked on our community and the fact that petrol is going for a pretty penny these days I would have expected our “neighbor” (Who some of you might remember co-sponsored Earth Day at McCarren Park this year!) to single-handedly fund a Dyker-fucking-Heightsesque spectacle bathing our main drag in retina-searing glory. Hell, it damned better be visible from outer space for that matter!

In other words, not something that looks like a raver’s glow wand or a swizzle stick gracing a Mai Tai at the local Tiki Club.

Call me a scrooge but this is insulting. Seriously.

Miss Heather

P.S.: The reason the usual lights were not up this year is because ponying up money for them is completely voluntary. And in a sour economy people clasp their wallets a little more tightly than usual. Had Manhattan Avenue created a Business Improvement District (thus spreading the financial burden equally among business owners) it is probable we would have had are usual garish show of holiday cheer this year. Several attempts have been made to start a B.I.D. here. All have failed. Mostly in part to one person who saw fit to engage in a campaign of misinformation about what creating a such an entity entails.

Grand Street has a B.I.D. They have Christmas lights.

Graham Avenue also has a B.I.D. They too have Christmas lights. (See where I’m going with this?)

They also have a holiday trolley to take you to see Santa Claus this weekend.

But the Garden Spot doesn’t have a B.I.D. So we get “Exxon Claus” instead. Lucky us. You can see last year’s lights (courtesy of our very own Bitchcakes) by pointing and clicking your way over to the New York Shitty photo pool.