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June 19, 2007

It came from the Blogosphere...

Duffled Street Underground, PRESS CONFERENCE TODAY: EXPERTS TO DISPUTE CITY REPORT DENYING EXISTENCE OF UNDERGROUND RAILROAD SITE

On Juneteenth – a national celebration that commemorates the end of slavery – elected officials, historic preservationists, and local residents will rally at Duffield Houses to challenge the conclusions of the City's Economic Development Corporation report, which denies the existence of a historic Underground Railroad site at this location. Many of the nationally-renowned expert witnesses who worked on this report will directly repudiate the City's conclusions – which will now allow a private developer to demolish the Duffield Houses and build a parking lot at the site.

WHEN:
Tuesday, June 19, 2007 from 1:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.

WHERE:
227 Duffield Street (between Fulton & Willoughby)

McBrooklyn, Lawsuit to Save 'Duffield Seven' from Downtown Brooklyn Plan

A lawsuit has been filed against the city which aims to save the seven houses on and near Duffield Street that may have been part of the Underground Railroad, amNewYork reports.

These houses are in the footprint of parts of the Downtown Brooklyn Plan, and slated for demolition.

"There is no debate at this point that prominent abolitionists lived at 227 Duffield St.," said Jennifer Levy, a lawyer with South Brooklyn Legal Services, which filed the suit Friday.

I'm Seeing Green, Ted Kennedy Blows off Wind (Farm)
There's NIMBY and then there's NIMBY:

Not in my backyard is a well-known phenomenon where an activist group gets together to stop projects that they consider will have negative consequences for their immediate environs. This can be good or bad, depending on your viewpoint:

  • If it's the Atlantic Yards monstrosity, those of us against the destruction of the neighborhood feel we are on the side of the angels. That's another story, well discussed on the blogosphere.

  • If it's wind turbines a few miles off the coast, it's harder to understand the opposition.

We're thinking of wind turbines to make use of some of that hot air coming out of Borough Hall these days.

Leaning Cantonese, Local Action
A local blogger turns into a "long hair" to start a signature campaign and notes that a group in Hong Kong is making noise on the web, like some folks we know:

Like the Brooklyn-based blogs and groups that have been fighting the Atlantic Yards mega-development, Local Action has been using the Internet to move popular opinion and to organize the public to attend all the little and obscure town planning meetings where these projects get rubber stamped. Publicity, and noisy informed people may not be able to completely stop the deals and the giveaways, but it will force the big guys to work harder. And that will slow things down, maybe until the bubble finally bursts.

Posted by lumi at June 19, 2007 7:41 AM