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March 4, 2010
It came from the Blogosphere...
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, March 11: Two Groundbreakings to Protest Ratner's Boondoggle Ceremony
On Thursday, March 11...
Join Our Groundbreaking to Bury the Soul of Brooklyn
Then Protest Ratner's Ceremonial Groundbreaking
...Thursday March 11 at 12:30pm
DDDB' Groundbreaking to Bury the Soul of Brooklyn
We will be joined by Bloomberg, Pataki, Spitzer, Paterson, Markowitz and Ratner.
Exact location (in the project footprint) yet to be determined...stay tuned.Then...
Thursday, March 11. Reportedly 1:30pm
Join us to Protest and Drown Out the Barclays/Ratner Boondoggle Ceremonial Groundbreaking
Exact location (in the project footprint) yet to be determined...stay tuned.
Brownstoner, House of the Day: 526 Carlton Avenue Reduced
When we featured 526 Carlton Avenue as a House of the Day last September, the Prospect Heights brownstone had just hit the market with an asking price of $2,300,000. The price was knocked down to $2,100,000 a couple of weeks ago, and then to $2,000,000 earlier this week. As we mentioned back then, we think the extensive renovation that was recently done looks pretty nice but wondered whether the proximity to Atlantic Yards would hurt its chances. Apparently it has.
Sheepshead Bites, Sheepshead Bay Residents Turn Out At MTA Hearing
I wasn’t able to attend last night’s public hearing on MTA cuts, but luckily Allan Rosen, the former MTA official who critiqued the plans earlier this week, sent us the dispatch below.
...Students were frustrated at having to wait hours for their turn to speak because of the MTA’s policy to allow elected officials to speak before the registered public speakers.
...The main points brought out my speakers were the need not to cut student passes, the need to use a portion of the federal stimulus money to fill the deficit gap until more permanent funding can be found, a sweetheart deal between the MTA and Ratner which allowed the Atlantic Yards to be sold at below market value with terms of up to 80 years for him to complete payment to the MTA and how the MTA is wasting money by allowing 370 Jay Street to remain empty for years.
NoLandGrab: Ratner actually has 22 years to pay, but if history is any guide, the MTA will gladly "renegotiate" repeatedly, so 80 years may not be far off the mark.
A Child Grows in Brooklyn, Supreme Court weighs in on Atlantic Yards
Just in from The Fort Greene Association. (I am truly sad about this).
Fort Greene Association, Closure of Sections of Fifth Avenue and Pacific Street
City Room, Pursuing Happiness
A different set of troubles can be found at the other end of the bottles’ life cycle. Freddy’s Bar, a cantankerous Brooklyn institution, is threatened with displacement and destruction via eminent domain as part of the the Atlantic Yards project.
ReasonTV, affiliated with the libertarian magazine of similar name, has lately taken up its cause, posting a five-minute video on Wednesday that is part lament, part call to action.
“It’s not Cheers. It’s something so much darker and richer,” regular Steve De Seve explains. He is not happy that it might disappear. “What’s going on here is wrong on top of wrong. Multiplied by extra wrong.”
Posted by eric at March 4, 2010 3:56 PM