Women on a public bus route (operated by a private company) are told to move to the back of the bus, where they belong.
This is illegal, right?
Ladies, Please Move to the Back of the Bus
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.’
Coney’s Axed Eateries May be Back
Ruby’s Bar & Grill and Paul’s Daughter are two boardwalk establishments that were thought to be history – now they may not be.
[via @Lola_Star_]
Examining MetroCard Usage
Speaking of cool maps – the Wall Street Journal has an interactive map showing MetroCard usage by type of card and station.
Hours of fun.
[via @felixsalmon]
Bicyclist Killed in East Williamsburg
Tragic – another bike fatality, this one in industrial East Williamsburg (in an area that has seen other very similar bike fatalities in past years). From what I hear, the driver of the flatbed trailer truck may not have known that he hit anyone.
Visualizing a Changing Region, Block by Block
CUNY’s Center for Urban Research has posted a very cool block-level map comparing the 2000 and 2010 census. (Based on work I’ve been doing, the 2010 census for part of North Brooklyn is flat out wrong, so take the numbers with a big grain of salt – but CUNY’s map is a thing of beauty.)
[via @OASISnycmaps]
East River Ferry Service Exceeds Expectations
The ferry service that the city started in June has attracted twice as many riders as its planners had expected. On sunny weekends, it has been so popular with tourists and wandering residents that some boats have been too full to take on everybody waiting on the piers in Brooklyn.
The article doesn’t say that it is profitable (and reading between the lines, it certainly isn’t), but the East River Ferry has been a game changer. I’ve commuted intermittently since the NY Water Taxi first started service, but, as I’ve said before, the East River Ferry is a game changer. Not only can I commute on the ferry (from the Northside, no less), but I can now take the ferry midday when I’m working from home or just need to get home early. The number of families using the ferry, and the number of commuters using the ferry for intra-borough travel has been substantial.
A Drinking Temple Grows in Brooklyn
WSJ previews Hotel Williamsburg’s four (yes, four) bars.
Where’s Our Park?
The “Where’s Our Park?” protest event, organized by a handful of North Brooklyn community groups, was timed to coincide with the city-sponsored “It’s My Park Day” on Saturday, where more than 5,000 volunteers engaged in parks improvement projects citywide.
Instead, parks advocates marched from the N. Ninth Street soccer fields — the first and only working recreational field at Bushwick Inlet — up Kent Avenue to Quay Street, the site of a long-delayed museum.
Good quotes, too.