Month: May 2012

A Do Nothing Politician

Colin Campbell at Politicker has a long inside-baseball piece on the race for District Leader in 50th AD. A good piece, and well worth a read.

The race itself pits incumbent Lincoln Restler against Community Board 1 chair Chris Olechowski. I know both well, and both are genuinely good people. But this bit jumped out at me:

[Olechowski] declined to overly criticize the incumbent [Restler], simply saying he hasn’t heard much from Mr. Restler during his short tenure in office… “I don’t know what Lincoln has really done,” he opined.

Seriously? Campbell is right, “[the] irony, of course, is that despite all [of Restler’s] talk of accomplishment, district leaders aren’t really supposed to be doing things”. But Lincoln has taken a genuinely do-nothing job and used it as a bully pulpit for a lot of effective advocacy (and a lot of bashing of the Kings County political leadership). Chris, of course, does know what Lincoln has done, and he has heard a lot from Lincoln – Lincoln is at every event Chris attends and many, many more.

Bike Share Map

The City has released its draft map for the first phase of the bike share program. Phase I includes about 60 or so sharing stations in Williamsburg and Greenpoint (including some east of McGuinness Boulevard in Greenpoint).

Building Brooklyn Awards 2012

atrium1.jpg

Atrium House
19 Powers Street
Mesh Achitectures
Photo: BB2012

Not much love for north Brooklyn in this year’s Building Brooklyn (™) awards, but I’m sure that’s probably as it should be. The only project in Williamsburg and Greenpoint to get a nod was “Atrium House” at 19 Powers Street (Mesh Architectures). Nearby, Building 92 at the Navy Yard was also honored (and is very much worth a visit, if you haven’t been).


There Is No “War on Brunch” In Williamsburg

But there is a crackdown on street furniture and a lot of other things that make streets more livable and enjoyable – which is the real story.

Businesses have been getting threatening letters and summonses from the city for things like having benches and planters on the street (North 6th Street), etc. (and, yes, even for operating sidewalk cafes before noon on Sunday).

P.S. – kudos to Brownstoner for doing some actual level-headed reporting on the overblown war metaphors.

Hindy Sells Stake in Brewery

After 25 years as a partner in Brooklyn Brewery, founder Steve Hindy is selling his voting shares in the company to his long-time partners, Eric and Robin Ottaway. Hindy is planning to stay on at Brooklyn Brewery in a managerial position and will remain on (and lead) the board of the company, but according to BeerPulse, he is looking forward to enjoying some well-deserved “fruits of [his] entrepreneurship”.

Katan Loses Domino Suit

05/04/2012 | Comment

The Observer reports that Isaac Katan failed to secure an injunction against his partner in the $1.5 billion Domino development from selling a majority stake in the project.

The decision appeared to clear the way for the Community Preservation Corporation, a joint owner of the site, to proceed with a deal to hand the majority stake to the project’s senior lender, Pacific Coast Capital Partners, LLC… Mr. Katan secured the Domino Sugar Factory in 2006 in a whirlwind deal largely negotiated over a single weekend to buy the site with CPC for about $50 million from the sugar company, which decades ago [actually, less than a decade ago] used the factory as one of its largest sugar refineries in the world.

Which means that Katan’s (and CPCR’s) stake in the project drops from 50% to 8%. The difference between 50% of $1.5 billion and 8% of $1.5 billion explains why Katan, through his attorney, is promising to continue his legal fight.

[again, via Brownstoner]

Even the Clergy Opposes Brunch Bans

Ann Kansfield, Pastor of the Greenpoint Reformed Church, weighs in on the Sunday morning sidewalk cafe ban:

The notion that sidewalk dining in some way restricts, inhibits or in any other way interferes with church attendance is utter hogwash. Consequently, I respectfully request that you not cite religious observance, specifically church attendance, as an argument against sidewalk dining… If there were so many church-going people in Greenpoint and Williamsburg that sidewalk seating would interfere with church attendance, all of our churches would be packed full of people. This is not the case… Sunday morning worship at the Greenpoint Reformed Church is so exciting and my sermons are so riveting and life-changing that sidewalk seating in no way keeps our congregation from attending services here. We simply traverse along the empty portion of the sidewalk and are able to get to church.

The pastor is right.

Winning the Battle, Losing the War

Lokal and Enid’s have both been issued summons for operating a sidewalk cafe before noon on Sunday’s. In addition to 300 Enid’s customers who think this crackdown is bullshit, you can add Borough President Marty Markowitz.