Month: January 2008
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That Smell
We haven’t noticed it, but apparently there has been an ongoing problem with gas smells on Grand Street between Berry and Wythe. The Fire Department and Keyspan have been out a couple of times, but have not located anything. Aside from an actual gas leak on the block, there are two possible sources of “the…
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475 Kent Update
There seem to be a world of mixed messages on the 475 Kent front. First off, I’ve heard that all of the grain has been removed the building. This removes the immediate fire hazard, though the question of operable sprinklers still remains. The “City” (not clear which agency, Office of Emergency Management, I think) is…
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Thompson Wins Louisiana
Fred Thompson dropped out of the Republican race for President yesterday afternoon (you’re forgiven if you forgot that he was running in the first place – apparently he forgot too). Hours later, Thompson effectively won the Louisiana caucus (I say “effectively” because there is a fair amount of nuance there, but click the link to…
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NYWT Suspends South Brooklyn Service
Via Amy’s NY Notebook – NY Water Taxi has announced that it is suspending its South Brooklyn (Brooklyn Army Terminal) commuter service. Unlike the suspension of the East River service, NYWT is not even portraying this as a seasonal cancellation. This leaves NYWT running one ferry service – from Wall Street to Yonkers and Haverstraw.…
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Riding the L
In their ongoing series on commuting in NYC, the Times took the L train today (“don’t necessarily believe what you read… the lighted platform signs announcing the minutes until the next train’s arrival have been known to be wrong”). (Previously, they took a ride on the G train (“…like that unwanted drunk uncle everyone has)…
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Bully
Today’s Times looks back fondly on the cult of personality that was Rudy Giuliani’s City Hall. As President, Giuliani would embrace all of the worst traits of George W. The difference being that Rudy would bring a new level of competence to the vindictiveness, pettiness and toadying that has become the legacy of the past…
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Fire Response Times Improve
I know I’ll hear from Phil on this, but NYFD is reporting that Brooklyn has the fastest response times in the City. The average response time in Brooklyn was four minutes and one second, a five second improvement over 2006. As the News notes, these improvements come after three years of increased response times following…
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Yurly Vanchytsky
Yurly Vanchytsky, the concrete worker who died last week at Trump’s Soho Tower, was a resident of Greenpoint.
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475 Kent Evacuated
Some thoughts on the eviction of hundreds of tenants from 475 Kent (covered extensively elsewhere, see below). First, this is a building I know fairly well. I know (or knew) at least two of the master lease holders, and know (or knew) about half a dozen other tenants. Coincidentally, I rang in the new millennium…