The Mayor is coming to Greenpoint to talk about Greenpoint. As we said earlier, this is an opportunity not to be squandered. We will have the Mayor for a very brief amount of time – probably an hour or so – so this is no time for soap boxes, breast beating, grandstanding and hyperbole.

Get to the point.

Stay on message.

And the message should be this: the city needs to do a better job of managing change.

There are going to be a host of issues thrown at the Mayor. If there is one theme that ties most of these issues together, I think it is this: we need to do a better job of managing change and growth in Greenpoint. The rezoning and redevelopment of Greenpoint have brought tremendous changes, and no one wants to stop this process or turn back the clock. At the same time, the community needs help managing this growth and we are not always getting that from city agencies. Issues of construction safety, zoning, transportation, parks and open space, the environment, housing and industry – all of these are brought on by, or made worse by, the incredible pace of change we are undergoing in this neighborhood. If the rezoning and redevelopment of Greenpoint is going to be a success (and we should certainly want it to be) the city needs to step up and work with the community to manage change.