Category: Linked
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Anti-displacement funding
Via Greenpoint Star, word that the City has finally funded three local initiatives to fight displacement in north Brooklyn. The $2 million in funding was committed as part of the waterfront rezoning (two and a half years ago) in order to help lower-income tenants who are being forced out their apartments by development. The funding…
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Landlord Forgery
Via the Times, a cautionary tale on the lengths to which some landlords will go to evict a tenant. The rule should be “trust but verify”. Before you sign anything, agree to anything, or (God forbid) go to housing court, know the rules and know where you stand.
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Greenpoint?
I know there are debates about geographical boundaries in North Brooklyn, but does anyone really think that Fortunato Brothers (on Manhattan and Devoe, south of Metropolitan) is in Greenpoint?? Apparently the Post does.
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Evan Thies Makes it Official
Evan Thies has officially thrown his hat into the ring for David Yassky’s City Council seat in 2009 (Yassky is running for Brooklyn Borough President, as he is prevented by term limits from running for Council again). Evan, who served as Yassky’s chief of staff for five years, officially announced his candidacy today, although it…
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More Schooling
P.S. 196, photo credit: malarchie In addition to releasing letter grades for all city schools, the Department of Education has also released numerical scores1, thus allowing a direct assessment of how each school in District 14 (Greenpoint & Williamsburg, and picking up bits and pieces of Bushwick, Bed Stuy and Clinton Hill) compares to schools…
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40,000???
…with 40,000 new units of housing expected in Williamsburg and Greenpoint, and 15,000 in Downtown Brooklyn… I really hope they mean residents, not housing units. Yeah, either way the L train will suck, but there’s an order of magnitude or two of suckiness in there. (For the record, I remember the waterfront rezoning claiming 10,000…
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Subsidized Water Taxis?
Buried in this NY1 story is some potentially great news: a subsidized water taxi route to Williamsburg. The Water Taxi ™ is one of my preferred routes to Manhattan (after two-wheeling), but it is definitely a) expensive, b) limited in service times, and c) only geographically appropriate to a few. It looks as though the…
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Eminent Domain Follow Up
From Gothamist, a rundown of pending eminent domain actions in the city. I think the list supports my point earlier that there is both good and bad eminent domain. The point is to get rid of the (Supreme Court sanctioned) abuse, while keeping legitimate takings. Gowanus Lounge has their own take (thankfully sympathetic to my…
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Planting Trees
This is pretty brilliant: Gilliam has started to transform the area from a concrete jungle to a space with a more lived-in look by exploiting a new and little-known Parks Department regulation that permits tree planting on private property if the owner of the land can’t be found.