Reyna Wins!

11/04/2009 | Comment

It wasn’t even close.

Congratulations to Diana Reyna, who won 60% of the vote to Martiza Davila’s 35% – a 3,000+ vote margin. After a tight primary victory over Davila, and with many local Democrats crossing party lines (and the local clergy coming out) to support her opponent, Diana triumphs in an empowering victory.

And in a humbling victory, Mike Bloomberg won a third term with less than 51% of the vote.

Waterfront Power Plant Continues to Fight in Court

There’s a new blog in town, with word of a potential TGE appeal coming down the pike.

Election Day

11/02/2009 | Comment

Most of the real action happened on primary day, and most of the rest of the suspense was eliminated on runoff day, but there is still an election tomorrow, and there are at least two races that really matter.

One of them is that race at the top of the ticket, but locally (that’s why you’re here, right?), there is an actual race for the council seat in the 34th district. Diana Reyna, the incumbent, won the primary by a narrow 250-vote margin over Maritza Davila. Davila is now running on the Working Families Party line in the general election, and with some Democrats crossing the line to endorse her, the race is far from over.

Reyna has been a solid councilmember for her district. I don’t always agree with her, but I’ve always admired her commitment to her constituents – a very broad range of constituents at that. She has funded a lot of school playgrounds (132, 17) and computer labs (132, 17, 84). She was also a huge proponent of the contextual rezoning of Williamsburg & Greenpoint (including on Grand Street, where she stood up to a lot of flack), and the designation of Williamsburg’s first historic district. She was also about the only Brooklyn Democrat to endorse Barack Obama. In the primary.

Davila, despite months on the campaign trail, is still something of an unknown. Like Reyna before her, she is a close ally of Assemblyman Vito Lopez, the head of the King’s County Democratic Party (a title that has not stopped him from endorsing the WFP candidate). Davila is a long-time employee of Ridgewood-Bushwick Senior Citizens Council, and has been active in housing advocacy issues. (Website here, but it hasn’t been updated since the primary.)

Poor Man’s Feast – A Day in Brooklyn

The Poor Man returns to his family’s old haunts, Grand Street in Williamsburg, and finds something to eat. Nice story.

Scozzafava Calls for Owens

Speaking of crossing party lines, you can’t beat the criss-crosses in upstate’s 23rd Congressional special election. Dede Scozzafava (R) has dropped out of the race and is now supporting Bill Owens (D) over Doug Hoffman (very, very R). This all came about because the brownshirts in the Republican party thought that Scozzafava wasn’t Republican enough, even though she had the support of the local and national Republican party. This whole thing started when Barack Obama (D-US) appointed former congressman John McHugh (R-NY) to the Secretary of the Army.

Greenpoint Rising

11/02/2009 | 1 Comment

The Future India Street Park?

Matt Chaban has finally written his piece on the latest upzoning fishing expedition. This one is at least on the waterfront, where it might be appropriate to consider greater height and density in exchange for increased amenities (in this case, more park and more open space).

And it is a beautiful design.

[Update: Bumped up to full post status to allow for comments.]

Post Throws in Brooklyn Paper for Brooklyn Subscribers

Who subscribes to the Post?

DeMarzio Robocalls

In tomorrow’s election, there is a hot race for the 34th Council District seat. You might have thought that Diana Reyna’s close victory in the Democratic primary would have ended it there. But Maritza Davila, Reyna’s primary opponent, is still on the Working Families Party ballot line, and Vito Lopez (Davila’s boss and the head of the Kings County Democratic Party) is pushing her candidacy very strongly.

All of that is (the convoluted) background to this piece in yesterday’s Times piece about a robocall that Bishop Nicholas A. DiMarzio, the head of the Brooklyn Diocese, made to all registered voters in the 34th. The call itself only mentions Lopez and his support for issues important to the Diocese (so presumably the calls don’t jeopardize the Catholic Church’s non-profit status in the eyes of the IRS), but its intent seems pretty clear.

The robocall (which was first reported by Aaron Short at CNG’s BoroPolitics) was also noticed by the Commonweal blog , who noted DiMarzio’s newfound “flexibility” when it comes to politicians who support abortion rights. All of which seems to have the Bishop’s spokesman working overtime.

Engine Company 201

Engine 201, Sunset Park
Architect: RKT&B
Photo: Courtesy Albert Vecerka/Esto, via AN

Karl Fischer Row Revisited

Indeed, if Williamsburg is now defined by condo corpses on the one hand and early sales success stories on the other, Karl Fischer Row falls somewhere in the middle: a monument to grandiose condo dreams that didn’t quite gel with market reality, particularly after last September, when sales came to a standstill.

The Real Deal goes back to Bayard Street so you don’t have to. They report that the Aurora (30 Bayard, the center building) has sold out its 51 units. Next door, the Ikon (50 Bayard, the northernmost (and best looking) building) has sold over 85% of its 48 units. Last to market was 20 Bayard (the tall, aesthetically-challenged one) only sold 25 of its 62 units before calling it quits and going rental. Maybe they buyers couldn’t figure out how to get in to the building. Or maybe they didn’t understand the advertising campaign either.