Brooklyn 11211

The closing of East River State Park (that patch of concrete and grass on the river between North 7th and North 10th Street) has gotten a lot of press (including here, here, here and here).
If it occurred to you that Williamsburg and Greenpoint could be getting second-class treatment from New York State, you might be on to something. According to NYS Parks, East River is the only city park property that is closing down outright. Programming is being cut at Riverbank State Park in Harlem and at Roberto Clemente State Park in the Bronx, but both of those parks are remaining open. Hudson River Park (Chelsea/Greenwich Village – which is run by a conservancy) and Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park in DUMBO won’t see any service cuts.
**UPDATE:** In today’s paper, the News makes the same point:

While two other state parks in the city will suffer service cuts that will result in canceled programs for children and seniors, East River Park is the only one that will close.

In North Carolina.
Welcome to the Williamsburg of the South.

The latest delay in the rebuilding of the Kosciuszko Bridge – Native American grave sites (or the potential thereof).

Scenes from the marathon:
> Of all the neighborhoods we raced through, Green Point [sic] and Williamsburg, both in Brooklyn, kept us escorts the busiest. Here, residents seemed to be under the false impression that the roads had been closed for their convenience, and walked into the middle of the road without as much as a glance to check for traffic.
Yep, that sounds like us.

More on the contextual rezoning of Greenpoint and Williamsburg, this time from the Brooklyn Paper.

The City and the State Department of Environmental Conservation have reached an agreement on upgrading the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant (funny, I thought it *was* in mid-upgrade). The agreement provides $10 million for “community environmental benefit projects”, and includes an agreement to ensure environmental compliance at all 14 city treatment plants.
The agreement is settlement for $27.5 million in fines that have been levied against the Newtown Creek plant for past environmental violations.
Fun fact: the Newtown Creek plant is the largest sewage treatment plant in the state. Go Greenpoint!

Via NY1, a woman was raped on Bedford Avenue at 4 a.m. Wednesday morning. The report doesn’t say where on Bedford.
**UPDATE:** Gothamist reports that the rape occurred in Crown Heights’ 71st precinct (though their slug is still titled “rapist_at_large_in_williamsburg”).

> As the returns became known, and Mr. Obama passed milestone after milestone — Ohio, Florida, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Iowa and New Mexico — people rolled spontaneously into the streets to celebrate…
Bush was right after all – he *is* a uniter, not a divider.
And now the grown-ups are in charge again. Someone has to clean up this mess.

Run up the score.

NYology is reporting that NY Water Taxi is in a deal to buy Circle Line. That may explain the negotiations to keep the East River commuter line open into the winter.