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October 27, 2009
It came from the Blogosphere...
Cobble Hill Blog, 5 Questions with David Pechefsky
Our 5 Questions with the District 39 candidates continues, today featuring Green Party candidate David Pechefsky.
...If you could change one thing in your neighborhood, what would it be?
It’s difficult to choose just “one thing” - as great as our neighborhoods are there are several things that could be changed for the better. I would like to see the Atlantic Yards site developed as beautiful public open space and a mix of housing types, small businesses, and small scale manufacturing - not a sports a arena, towers, big office spaces, and chain stores. I believe this could still happen.
BROOKLYN (The Borough), Three’s A Crowd! Ahead of Election Day, Third Party Candidate Still Alive In Bed-Stuy
"It was not a given, it was not an automatic kind of thing – I had to actually think about it for a while,” said City Council candidate Mark Winston Griffith of his third party challenge to 36th district incumbent Al Vann, citing the sacrifices his wife and two small children made during the primary.
Mr. Griffith, 45, a native New Yorker and long time resident of Bedford Stuyvesant, ran against Mr. Vann along with seven democratic party challengers during the primary season, losing to the incumbent by 735 votes. Only 9,525 votes were cast in primary and the campaign has been virtually ignored by major media outlets, as the New York Times even failed to make an endorsement in the race.
“The second open question was could we win, and on that front we knew two very important things,” he continued. “One, we knew that 70% of the electorate did not vote for Al Vann, which is almost unprecedented when you’re talking about an election that so few people would have voted for not just an incumbent but someone who’s been there for 35 years and is in some ways a legend.”
...Mr. Griffith opposes the Atlantic Yards project, and told Brooklyn The Borough he favors “responsible development,” and views foreclosure as the most pressing issue in the district, which has a significant population of homeowners.
NoLandGrab: Al Vann, on the other hand, supports Atlantic Yards.
HOOPSWORLD, Nets-Timberwolves Preview
The still-New Jersey Nets tip off their 2009-2010 season tomorrow night at Minnesota.
...Nets owner Bruce Ratner made a deal with Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov. Prokhorov became majority owner in order to facilitate Ratner's desire to move the team to a yet-to-be-built new arena in Brooklyn.
"Oh no, that's not a distraction at all," Nets coach Lawrence Frank said."We just focus on what we can control and we have a great practice facility. We have a great arena. We are happy for what we have."
Posted by eric at October 27, 2009 3:10 PM