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January 22, 2010
It came from the Blogosphere...
Only The Blog Knows Brooklyn, Scott Turner is Moving to Seattle
Scott M.X. Turner, one of the true stalwarts in the fight against Atlantic Yards, the chief fan behind Fans for Fair Play, quizmaster nonpareil, and rabble-rousing RebelMart singer/songwriter, is movin' on.
Brooklyn is losing a great one. And so is OTBKB.
Scott Turner, the writer/designer/thinker behind the weekly Greetings from Scott Turner post, is moving to Seattle. The fight against the Atlantic Yards is losing one of its most passionate activists and Rocky Sullivan’s is losing its talented pub quiz host. And OTBKB…
…OTBKB is saddened and bummed because it SUCKS to lose such an excellent contributor. But Scott says that he’s off to greener pastures: a job offer and a desire to pursue his true love: music—and who can argue with that. I have been honored to publish his posts every week and wish him the very, very best in his Seattle adventure. I even foster hopes that he will continue Greetings from Scott Turner from Seattle (will ya think about it, Scott?).
Tonight, you can hear Scott’s solo band, RebelMart at 9PM at Rocky Sullivan’s. Also on the bill are John Pinamonti and Neil deMause. It’s a great triple-bill and the last RebelMart show around here for quite sometime. Here is Scott’s farewell missive though he’s still around for another two weeks....
NoLandGrab: 53 years from now, will some future Brooklyn Borough President justify a land grab by saying, "Brooklyn hasn't had a true professional ass-kicker since Scott Turner moved west in '10...?"
Westchester Guardian Blog, ‘The Last Supper’
Was It The Pivotal Moment In A Criminal Conspiracy?
‘The Last Supper’ Five Practiced Conspirators And Sandy Annabi Meet Hours Before Her Vote Reversal
Does anyone seriously believe that any significant amount of money exchanged hands to lubricate the passage of approvals by Yonkers City Council for either the Ridge Hill development or Longfellow Senior Housing, and Phil Amicone and Nick Spano received nothing for their efforts? Of course not. Nick and Phil, between them, controlled the Republican patronage machine in Yonkers; and, as between them, Nick was clearly el Capo.
...We are informed by an exceptionally reliable and knowledgeable source, from first-hand observation, that a certain Italian restaurant in New Rochelle was the scene of a supper meeting attended by Al Pirro, Nick Spano, Mike Spano, as well as Anthony Mangone, Zehy Jereis and Sandy Annabi on the evening before the Yonkers City Council meeting at which Annabi changed her position and voted to enable the Ridge Hill Development Project to go forward; in a sense, a Last Supper.
Does such a meeting, in and of itself, prove any wrongdoing, any bribery or extortion was occurring? No, of course not. It’s possible, just possible, that all of those Yonkers players were out to celebrate because Sandy had changed her position and advised all of them that she would be voting in favor of Ridge Hill after all, because the builder, Bruce Ratner, had agreed to contribute $10 million to the Yonkers School System.
...As for the developers, they understand from years of doing business, that in Westchester, and particularly in Yonkers, for many decades, you don’t get the job and you don’t get through the City’s zoning, planning, and environmental approvals in a timely fashion unless you grease several palms. They simply know and accept the network of corruption as the price of doing business.
We understand the difference between those developers who can legitimately be said to have been victims of extortion, and those who routinely distribute envelopes filled with cash as a vital protocol. In either case, a serious crime has been committed when a government official has been paid off and the public trust has been breached.
Bleacher Report, New Jersey Nets: Light at the End of the Tunnel
That light at the end of the tunnel could be an oncoming train.
Bruce Ratner, who has torn apart the organization from the inside in hopes of moving the team to Brooklyn, will soon sell the team to one of the wealthiest men in the world, Mikhali Prokhorov.
Ratner had no knowledge of how to run a basketball team; he just saw the team as a means to an end in hoping to set up his Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn.
Posted by eric at January 22, 2010 11:31 AM