27 January: CB1 Waterfront/ULURP Committee

01/26/2009 | Comment

Community Board #1’s ULURP and Waterfront Committees will be holding a joint meeting tomorrow night to consider City Planning’s proposed text amendments to the waterfront zoning provisions. In general, the proposal seems like a good package, and is certainly well-intentioned. But as with all such measures, there are devils in the details and questions as to whether or not it goes far enough.

The details:

Date: Tuesday, 27 January 2009
Time: 6:30 pm
Location: The Lady of the Snow Society, 410 Graham Avenue (between Withers Street and Jackson Street)



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The Gauntlet

01/25/2009 | Comment

gauntlet.jpg

Garbage day at Schaefer Landing (and this was a pretty light day).

Why is that in a new (ca. 2005) high-rise development, with hundreds of luxury and affordable units, is not required to provide some facility for off-street garbage loading? Probably the same reason that they are not required to provide all tenants access to the off-street drop-off area.



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Freed By U.S., Saudi Becomes a Qaeda Chief

A former terrorist released by President Obama is responsible for bombing the U.S. Embassy in Yemen.

Oh wait, sorry – the guy was released a year ago. By Bush.

Somehow the fact that W. screwed up everything he touched has become a reason for Barack not to try to get something right. Runs rings around you logically.

Obama Wants to Reopen Lady Liberty’s Crown

Another stupid Bush-era rule Obama is looking to overturn. Funny how Democrats are always accused of wanting to create a nanny state, when it was the Republicans who perfected the concept over the past eight years.

I haven’t been to “statue island” (as a certain 4-year-old I know calls it) since I was in 3rd or 4th grade, but I’d gladly go back if the crown was open.

Love Grows In Brooklyn

Somewhere, a publicist has earned his wings:

two of Brooklyn’s coolest hotels – hotel le jolie and hotel le bleu[…] are offering the ideal Valentine’s Day Packages for couples wishing to experience a romantic rendezvous in Brooklyn’s trendiest neighborhoods.

I mean really earned his wings:

Why It’s Dreamy: […]Nestled in Brooklyn’s trendy Williamsburg area, hotel le jolie offers comfortable rooms furnished with in-room amenities including

Whereby nestled, we mean cheek by jowl with BQE. Vroom, vroom – welcome to the neighborhood.

Change

This guy might be serious.

The new president effectively reversed a post-9/11 Bush administration policy making it easier for government agencies to deny requests for records under the Freedom of Information Act, and effectively repealed a Bush executive order that allowed former presidents or their heirs to claim executive privilege in an effort to keep records secret…

In what ethics-in-government advocates described as a particularly far-reaching move, Mr. Obama barred officials of his administration from lobbying their former colleagues “for as long as I am president.”