Mark Your Calendars: Stop The Towers

November 30, 2013 ·
Filed under: 11222, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic 

Stop The Towers

NYPOscreencapNew York Shitty has a counter-proposal/suggestion:

Why not remind Steve “I often spend a half-hour or more looking for a parking spot in Greenpoint [where he lives], and at this point, I think I’m just going to pay for a garage.” Levin that his parking troubles are only going to get worse when those towers go up.

From The New York Shitty Inbox: F*ck Them

October 30, 2013 ·
Filed under: 11222, BULLSHIT, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic, Wow, WTF 

Fuck MonstantoNYS

As some of you might recall I made a last minute announcement about a meeting regarding the future of Box Street Park. More specifically, there are some folks in our community who want to see this piece of public park space as a hang out and “chill” kind of place (“passive space”) as opposed to an athletic field. The latter is what has been proposed by the Parks Department.

martymaherQuite frankly, I had been— albeit slightly— leaning in favor of “passive space”. After being notified by a tipster that this park/athletic field will sport (as Marty Maher,  Brooklyn Parks Chief of Staff, as seen at left) stated that Chemgrass “may” be used I raised an eyebrow— and changed my mind. My tipster went on to opine that it sounded like something from the 1960’s. That is because, gentle readers, it IS from the 1960’s.

And our planet’s eco-terrorists good neighbors Monsanto, holds the patent for it.

chemgrass600dpi

Given the amount of environmental abuse this community has experienced— and continues to experience— presently, can we:

  1. Get a park with real grass in it?
  2. And not fill the coffers of a corporation that has no respect for the environment— or people— for that matter?

Then again:

Given the park space in question is the former MTA/Access-A-Ride depot at 65 Commercial Street…


View Larger Map

and contrary to prevailing real estate trends, was sold by our fair city to Clipper Equities…

(the developers behind 77 Commercial Street and its proposed “poor door”) at $8,000,000 (versus the original asking price of $12,000,000 back in 2008).

Should I really be surprised? Outraged (once again), yes! Surprised? No, not in the very least I am sad to say.

175 AMI: Or exactly WHAT constitutes "Low/Moderate/Middle" Income?

I mean, after all, what Greenpoint really needs is affordable housing at 175% AMI. Or at least Clipper Equities does— that way they can pass along the “charitable act” (more specifically its cost) of building this park (which, in return, they get to build a 40 story tower) onto their tenants— all of them.

Let them— or would that be us— eat cake, Astroturf, CHEMGRASS!

Live From The ULURP Review Meeting: 77 Commercial Street Presents

Pretty Shot

Borough Of Brooklyn

Chris O Is In The House

Rami Is In The House

175 AMI

As promised, here comes the footage from last night’s hearing regarding 77 Commercial Street. Enjoy!

The public speaking session starts.

And the ostensible “Voice of Our Community”, Christopher Olechowski, is nowhere to be found.

No worries, there were plenty of citizens with something to say. Like one of north ‘Point’s foremost and formidable badasses: Laura Hofmann! You can read her statement here.

Clipper Equity? That sounds vaguely familiar

New York Shitty Video Du Jour: Live From The ULURP Review Meeting

Angry Panther

I am pleased to announce there was a terrific turn-out at this last evening’s proceedings. Not only did my fellow Greenpointers show up— but they SPOKE UP! So much so, I suspect I will be up quite late uploading all the footage. I cannot say I am exactly fond of pulling all-nighters. However, I realize a lot of concerned folks could not attend this hearing and would find the footage of interest. What’s more when bits Greenpoint glory are to be shared with the general public like this…

Best Public Speaker EVER from Miss Heather on Vimeo.

…well, then as far as I am concerned, it is totally time well spent. I will share everything in (hopefully) chronological order in two separate posts: one for 77 Commercial and one for Greenpoint Landing. For reasons which require no explanation I felt this citizen (who was speaking in regards to 77 Commercial) merited her own post— and a New York Shitty salute! It is both an honor and a privilege to call you a neighbor, Nancy.

New York Shitty Videos Du Jour: And The Vote Is In!

September 9, 2013 ·
Filed under: 11222, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic 

Greenpoint Landing

  • Note the Community Board 1 members who trickle in as the proceedings commence. Rabbi Neiderman is one of them.
  • One board member (whose name eludes me) asked about “density”. A very good question— one which was not answered in any meaningful fashion whatsoever.
  • Esteban Duran, Education and Youth chair, asks about the school which will be built. It will be pre-K – eighth grade, but it is ultimately the city’s call.
  • The motion is carried with 4 votes against and 1 abstention.

77 Commercial Street

In news of not the terribly surprising variety, the Community Board (at least the majority of the 37-ish members* who elected to show up) voted in favor of the Land Use Committee’s recommendations. This is not to suggest no one had anything to say. Estaban Duran certainly did. In fact, I’d go so far as to say he asked the question which was on the minds of a fair number of citizens in the room:

Why aren’t we rejecting it outright?

Ms. Teague’s answer was as follows:

I believe if we reject them outright the city will give them what they want.

Conclusion: As is usually the case, much was made about affordable housing. Let’s put it this way, gentle readers: the reason I film this stuff is 1, 2, 5, 10 years down the line folks can go back and watch it. Speaking for myself, I will be very, very interested to see who ends up administering said affordable housing. Especially that at 77 Commercial Street.

If I was a betting woman (and I am not) I’d place my money on Peoples’ Firehouse. As some of you might recall, they were among the neighborhood organizations of whom Ms. Teague mentions as attesting to the need for affordable housing (at the prior Land Use meeting, which can be viewed here). I suppose it is sad that I harbor this level of cynicism— but history lends my prognostication some credence. A great many of the community organizations here, while certainly founded for laudable reasons, seem use these proceedings not so much to reflect the sentiments/interests/needs of the community they represent. Rather, they are a means of getting a “cut” of the action. Thus time is spent debating how many angels can sit on the head of a pin instead of examining “the larger picture” in any meaningful fashion.

And that’s exactly how they want it.

*As opposed to the twenty who answered roll call at the beginning of the meeting. If my memory serves me correctly, this is a new low. For those of you who are wondering, Community Board 1 has 49 members. Yup, we have a chronic absenteeism problem. Perhaps this should be brought to the attention of the:

You can always leave it to good ol’ Community Board 1 for a healthy dose of Kafka— with an Orwell chaser.

P.S.: You can view the Oh-Es-Aye minute by clicking here. It would appear the monetization bubble for the McCarren Park Tennis Courts has been tabled until next year.

Quicklink: From The New York Post

August 23, 2013 ·
Filed under: 11222, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic 

NYPOsc

Thanks to a little “birdie” on the Interwebs I, on a lark, decided to run a quick Google search of the two fellows who wish to (over)develop 77 Commercial Street, with air rights courtesy of 65 Commercial Street in exchange for affordable housing replete with its own “poor door”! The above tome pretty much says it all. Here’s a choice quote/teaser:

But Bistricer’s track record in Brooklyn is notorious. As owner of the 59-building Flatbush Gardens complex, he had more than 8,100 open violations in 2010 and even ranked among the city’s biggest slumlords that year, according to a list comprised by Public Advocate Bill De Blasio.

Bistricer’s shoddy upkeep of Flatbush Gardens and other properties was also a key reason why in 2007 then-Attorney General Andrew Cuomo fought to block a $1.3 billion bid by Clipper Equities to buy the nation’s biggest federally subsidized housing complex, Brooklyn’s Starrett City…

And so we are going to trust this fellow to provide quality housing— be it affordable housing or otherwise— here? LMFAO…

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