Category: Linked

Andrew Sullivan is one pissed off conservative. He’s also been one of the most consistent critics of Bush-Cheney hijacking of the constitution.
> No economic mismanagement can compare with this attack on the basic institutions of our democracy and the constitution. No incompetence in conducting an occupation can be deemed comparable with this level of criminality and indecency. No reaction to a natural disaster, however hapless and negligent, is as grave as this crime. No financial crisis eclipses it in gravity. The president’s oath is to protect the constitution from enemies foreign and domestic. Instead, the president himself became an enemy to the constitution he swore to uphold.
As a patriotic progressive, nothing makes me more angry, more sad or more despondent than watching the systematic squandering of our national legacy on the world stage. Eight years ago, this country was poised to lead the world into a new millennium. Seven years ago, a small group of religious fanatics hijacked four planes, and our government’s response has led our leaders to turn their backs on everything this country is supposed to stand for. The perpetrators of 9/11 (an attack on NYC, USA, Ms. Palin) are still at large, our constitution is in tatters, and our position as a world power (morally, economically and politically) is precarious at best.
And yet some people think that four more years of Republican thugocracy wouldn’t be so bad. Sullivan is right, until we can heal our democratic institutions and our reputation, we will not lead in the world.

This has been around a while, but its still an inspiration.

NY Water Taxi had announced that it was suspending its East River commuter service effective 1 November. Now, they’ve announced that they are “working with the City of New York to continue the East River ferry service through the winter months“.

Grand Street, Williamsburg

Primary in Greenpoint
Photo: AugustHeffner

Greenpoint
Photo: rschreiner

Open Space Alliance is holding a community committee meeting on Monday evening.
> We are VERY EXCITED to announce this meeting for the formation of the Community Committee for the Open Space Alliance for North Brooklyn! Organized by GWAPP and others, the purpose of this meeting is to formally introduce OSA to the community and for all interested community organizations and residents to discuss the purpose of the Community Committee, ideas for how it will function, how it will be organized, etc.

The rule, scheduled to go into effect tomorrow, would have required most taxi cabs to be fuel-efficient hybrids by 2012. The judge based his decision on the fact that only the Federal government has the power to regulate fuel economy. Of course the Federal government also mandates that municipalities meet stricter clean-air standards, which would result from the use of hybrids.
The taxi industry, which brought the suit challenging the city’s law, claimed that hybrids would be harder to maintain and less safe in an accident (arguments the judge rejected).

This is a good move. Not only will it help neighborhoods facing large numbers of foreclosures, it will also result in 250 to 300 units of affordable housing for low- and middle-income residents.
On the other hand, hopefully this is not the start of a trend toward the City becoming landlord of last resort, as it was in the 1970s.

Well, not yet. But the Star has a recap of this week’s rezoning meetings – hopefully in six to nine months they can reuse this headline.