Month: October 2011

Fallout From Housing Official’s Arrest Hits Vulnerable Neighborhoods And Workers

NY World, writing in the City Hall News:

The impact of the alleged criminal activity is especially vivid on the streets of Bushwick and Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, two low-income neighborhoods HPD programs sought to assist. Under HPD’s HomeWorks program… developers were supposed to take vacant city-owned buildings and sell them to new homeowners. But in one of those projects – the three-story brick townhouse at 53 Rochester Ave. in Bushwick – thieves have torn through immaculately painted walls in search of copper and pipes to sell. Once-polished floorboards jut out dangerously, splintered and cracked.

Santorini Grill: Pay What You Want for Dinner

For its fourth anniversary, Santorini Grill on Grand Street is instituting a pay-what-you-want policy. Santorini’s food is great (as Gothamist notes), the portions are huge, and the staff and owners are very nice. It was a bargain before, even more so now.

BushwickBK Shuts Down

10/20/2011 | Comment

BushwickBK, last night:

For many reasons, it’s not working out. It takes too much money and time to do this, so BushwickBK is shutting down for some period of time, and possibly forever. Turns out, sadly, we were never in the pockets of The Developers ™ or anyone else. The site and all its resources will stay up, and we will probably run occasional pieces. The Twitter feed (@bushwickbk) will probably continue to update as well.

This is a loss – BushwickBK managed to be a lot more than a neighborhood blog. It had some great reporting, strong editing and a ton of content. That’s tough to maintain, even if you are in the pockets of the The Developers or anyone else.

The 70’s as #OWS Prologue

Perhaps the most creative acts of resistance occurred in November, when the city shut Engine Company 212, a fire company in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Tipped off to the imminent closure by an air-raid siren, residents occupied the fire station, refusing to leave or to let the fire engine be driven away. They slept and ate there, and held meetings every Tuesday night that were open to the community and attracted large numbers of activists. After a 16-month occupation, the firehouse reopened.

North Brooklynites Demand Promised Parks

The Where’s Our Park coalition held a rally this past weekend to protest the lack of progress on the City’s promise to to bring more parks to the neighborhood.

‘Every community deserves access to open space — and North Brooklyn is no exception,’ said state Sen. Daniel Squadron. ‘It’s time for the city to fulfill its promise and make Bushwick Inlet Park a reality.’