The Times takes a walk around South Williamsburg and finds an “anachronistic pleasure” (they also can’t tell Grand Avenue from Grand Street, but hey, they don’t get out to these parts much).
A Hasidic Section of Brooklyn, Seemingly Lost to Time
Pool Parties Lineup Announced
Grizzly Bear, Dirty Projectors, Deerhunter and Mission of Burma, to name a few. And all free.
Tour de France 2009
Prologue tomorrow morning, 9:30 local time. Great course this year – four countries plus the prologue in Monaco, stopover in Barcelona, and a finish at Mont Ventoux the night before the ride into Paris. And, it seems as though there is less of flat stages up front (only four days of flats before the Pyrenees).
Palin Says She Will Resign as Alaska Governor
I understand not running for reelection as a prelude to mounting a presidential campaign, but quitting midstream? Quitting midstream through your first executive position above the municipal level?
Strange.
Soccer Field of Dreams
As the Gazette reports, construction has finally begun on a portion of Bushwick Inlet Park. As I noted previously (and as originally reported by NAG), in May the City upped its commitment to building out some of the promised area parks. Here’s a rundown and status check of what the City said in May:
- Manhattan Avenue Street end greening is open to the public as of today. Check.
- Northside Piers (at North 5th St/Kent Ave.) will be open 7 days per week within the next two weeks. Check (though it was closed this morning).
- Transmitter Park will be opened for use this summer, with interior fencing that provides as much safe site access as possible. Slated to open in July (though the groundbreaking that was once promised for Summer, 2009 won’t be happening).
- Mayor’s office will proceed with an independent study to further the relocation of the MTA. In progress, from what I hear.
- Parks Dept. will hold regular public listening sessions about the parks commitments of the rezoning. Haven’t heard anything about this happening.
- We will break ground on the first phase of Bushwick Inlet Park, a soccer field, between North 9th and North 10th, in June. Check. Ground was broken and some construction was started in June.
We are working to improve Newton Barge Terminal Park to provide waterfront views this summer. Unclear – anyone?
John and David on the Corners
Dueling clipboards at 40 paces.
It was a pretty funny situation yesterday morning outside the Bedford Avenue L stop. Comptroller candidate John Liu (D-Queens) was there for some pre-announced canvassing. Comptroller candidate David Yassky (D-Brooklyn) made a surprise appearance. For the record, though, Gillespie and I were innocent bystanders – we were headed to a NAG meeting in the big city. I have no idea what Thayer’s excuse is.
City Planning Approves Greenpoint-Williamsburg Rezoning
The City Planning Commission held a public meeting on Wednesday and advanced two important Greenpoint-Williamsburg land use actions. The biggest was the approval [pdf] of the Greenpoint-Williamsburg Contextual Rezoning. The 175-block rezoning now moves on to the City Council, which will hopefully approve it by the end of July. Which means that we are about a month away from the end of finger buildings, community facility bonuses and other sources of zoning abuse in most of CB1.
The other important action by CPC was the approval of the Fillmore Place Historic District (the Planning Commission reviews all historic designations). Which puts that designation one step away from the force of law, and Williamsburg one step away from its first historic district.