Neil Smith, 1954 – 2012

10/09/2012 | 1 Comment

It has been 10 days since I heard about the death of geographer Neil Smith, and this is the at least the tenth time I have tried to sit down and write something about my old friend.

I first met Neil about 28 years ago, when he was a newly-minted assistant professor on the sinking ship that was the geography program at Columbia and I was foolish enough to consider a major the subject it is entirely possible that I was the last geography major to come out of Columbia College – within a year of my graduation, the program was closed). Neil was my advisor, mentor, collaborator and very good friend. He was, pretty much single-handedly, responsible for my love of geography, the built environment and all manner of land-use issues. Just about everything that you read here, and all the other stuff I do, has been shaped by – or is in response to – work that Neil and I did all that time ago.

In the late 80s Neil & I wrote about the spatial impact of the deindustrialization of the United States and even collaborated on a grant application to study the gentrification of the lower east side (which at the time, seemed imminent). As it turns out, we didn’t get the grant, and the gentrification we wanted to document was somewhat delayed by the real estate recession of the late 80s/early 90s.

In the early 90s, I almost went to grad school to study with Neil (by then at Rutgers), but chose instead to pursue a different path in studying the built environment. I’ve never regretted that decision, but for the opportunity I missed to study with him.

If you want a sense of Neil’s tremendous human and radical spirit, look no further than this video of him singing then socialist ABCs on a cold picket line (“A” is for alienation…). But I’ll leave you with this 1984 video of him reading USA Today – mainly because it dates to the year that I met him (skip to about the 11:00 mark and hear Neil discuss the old CDR bar on 119th Street).


In Memory of Neil Smith – “Neil Reads USA Today: The Flip Side of the Weather is the News” 1984
from Paper Tiger TV on Vimeo.


I will miss him terribly.



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Greenpoint Hospital Redevelopment Plan Flatlines

The Great American Construction Corp. pulled out of the $52-million redevelopment of the vacant medical building this summer after its senior executive William Clarke was indicted on bribery charges at a separate job.

The news halts any development at the main hospital building, which was slated to become 240 units of below-market rate apartments.

Apparently the project will go back out to bid, meaning that St. Nick’s and GREC – the local groups that have been trying to do this project for years, won’t be getting it. The city should make the two other bids public before going back to the well and wasting another year or three.

Court Nixes Domino Suit

One of Isaac Katan’s two suits seeking to block the sale of the Domino site to Two Trees has been thrown out.

In the decision on Friday, the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Kings County dismissed Katan’s suit against CPC for, among other things, “breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith.” According to court documents, the decision was based on the fact that Katan “did not have right of first refusal on the property, a contract provision that was not a part of the second operating agreement.”

Why You Hate Cyclists

I’m an asshole cyclist. I’m that jerk weaving in and out of traffic, going the wrong way down a one-way street, and making a left on red. I’m truly a menace on the road.

But it’s not because I’m on a bike—I’m an asshole on the road no matter what. I’m also a stereotypical Jersey driver, someone who treats speed limits as speed minimums and curses those who disagree. And I’m just as bad as a pedestrian, another jaywalking smartphone zombie oblivious to the world beyond my glowing screen. If I’m moving, I’m an accident waiting to happen.

Inductive fallacies, affect heuristics and assholes from Philly. Good stuff.

Olechowski on Top?

09/24/2012 | Comment

After all the votes were counted last Friday, it appeared that Lincoln Restler had eked out a narrow victory (53 votes out 11,000 or so cast). But nothing is simple in the 50th AD’s District Leader race – there are now reports of an 80-vote discrepancy at one polling place on Kent Avenue. Depending on which memory stick is used (the master or the backup), challenger Chris Olechowski could be up by 31 votes.

Either way, there will be a recount, as mandated in such a narrow margin.

Restler On Top

09/22/2012 | Comment

I have not seen any official results1, but incumbent Lincoln Restler says that the final tally in the 50th AD District Leader2 has him up by 53 votes over challenger Chris Olechowski. Lincoln had been down by 51 votes (out of about 13,000 cast) in the machine tally, so the absentee ballots apparently put him over the top. If the 53 vote margin holds (a recount is a distinct possibility), it represents an even closer margin of victory than his 121-vote 2010 victory. Given all the attention that has been paid to this race, the 53-vote margin would be an even bigger win.

1. If anyone has the numbers, particularly broken down by ED, please email me.↩

2. A Democratic party position with absolutely no legislative or executive power and virtually no real responsibility.↩

Corner Store: 1937

09/15/2012 | Comment

1028 third ave

1028 Third Avenue, 1937
Photo: via Shorpy

Great Shorpy photo of an Italian grocery on Third Avenue, circa 1937 (as always with Shorpy, click through to see the high resolution version in all its glory). The building still stands, stripped of its decoration and given the dreaded styrofoam stucco treatment (in sea foam green, no less).


1028 today

1028 Third Avenue, 2012
Photo: Google street views