RIP Clinton Apothecary

Sad news as we lose another local small business to rising commercial rents.  From a local listserve last night, which generated a flurry of comments:

I just heard today that Clinton Apothecary, a local pharmacy that has been around for 80 years, is closing its doors as of Tuesday night because the landlord is raising the rent to a point they could no longer afford!   If you have patronized Clinton Apothecary and have your prescriptions there, all your records will be transferred to Rite Aid on Smith and President.  I'm truly saddened by this news and just wanted to pass it along in case you have not heard.  The neighborhood is pricing out its long time residents.  It's just not right!

I wonder what comes next.

Pope Francis To Visit NYC In 2015

Just a few years ago this is not something that would have gotten me excited.  But Pope Francis has been a breath of fresh air to the Catholic church, and his message has been inspiring.  Millions will be looking forward to his visit to NYC.  

On Thursday, Archbishop Bernardito Auza, the head of the Holy See’s permanent observer mission to the United Nations, told the Associated Press “if he comes to Philadelphia, he will come to New York.”

The 70th anniversary of the U.N.’s founding would be “the ideal time” for a papal visit, the archbishop said Nov. 13. Next year also marks the 50th anniversary of Pope Paul VI’s 1965 visit to the U.N., the first such visit from a Pope.

The Pope is now confirmed for Philly, so . . . maybe Brooklyn this time?

Not Just Carroll Gardens - Privatization Vote In Mitchell-Lama Buildings Rends Community

The board members of the Southbridge Towers, on the other side of the Brooklyn Bridge in downtown Manhattan, have voted to leave the program.  From the Times:

In a neighborhood like the financial district, where the average sales price is $1.1 million, according to CityRealty, the temptation to cash in is hard to resist. With so much money at stake, tensions flare. The Southbridge offering plan anticipates that a shareholder selling a one-bedroom apartment for $550,000 could walk away with $325,000 cash after paying substantial fees and taxes. The largest unit, a three-bedroom with a terrace, could sell for nearly $1 million.

“It’s really torn the community up,” said Charles Chawalko, 26, who moved to Southbridge as a child. “People think that you’re taking money out of their pockets if you want to support Mitchell-Lama.”

“If you saw what’s been going on here, the acrimony, this place will never be the same,” said Paul Hovitz, 68, a retired special education teacher who has lived in Southbridge for 30 years with his wife, Denise, 61.

Privatizing assumes financial risk, particularly for the type of tenant the program was designed to serve — someone who can barely afford the current costs. No longer eligible for tax abatements, Southbridge would have to pay at least $8.1 million a year in real estate taxes, significantly more than the $1.64 million it now pays. The development could also be on the hook for a $27.77 million transfer tax if the New York State Court of Appeals rules in favor of the city in an ongoing case involving a former Mitchell-Lama development in Coney Island that privatized in 2007.

The resource curse strikes again.

Landing On A Comet

I tip my hat to the engineers and astronomers behind the Philae mission.  I consider myself a smart guy, but what they accomplish just blows me away. The lander has been in space for over 10 years!  Talk about long term planning.

As Carroll Gardens Old-timers Age and Pass On, Next Generations Cash In - Observer

I've been in the neighborhood ten years now, and Mrs. Firstandcourt for fourteen.  Everybody knows a story like this (at least one) from their block.  It's not a story unique to Carroll Gardens, though the astonishing rise in property values here certainly has increased the pressure.  The fallout for families results from a sort of resource curse in a microcosm, not so unlike a developing nation that discovers oil riches.  From the Observer (via mcbrooklyn):

The typical conflict involves a home where a group of siblings grew up together, with most eventually marrying off and decamping for Staten Island, New Jersey or farther flung locales. Meanwhile, one sibling stays behind to care for the aging matriarch or patriarch, or both. Once the parent dies, “the whole thing can crumble very quickly,” says Ms. Kelly.

Like Anthony, the sibling who stayed, his or her caretaking duties done, is now an obstacle to putting the house on the market, as their siblings—who from a distance have been clocking the ever-rising seven-figure sums being fetched by neighborhood homes—are often in a sweat to do. So leverage is applied, and not always gently.

“That person is considered a liability, because they’re sitting on a goldmine and they won’t leave it,” says Maria Pagano, the president of the Carroll Gardens Neighborhood Association, who says she’s seen “many, many of these types of stories.”

With prices in the multimillions, buying one’s siblings out is rarely an option. And in any case, “often they don’t make enough to take out a mortgage,” notes Mr. Levine. So they’ve got no choice but to leave, cut off not only from their lifelong home, but also from the family that forced them out.

In fairness, the desire to get one’s piece of a $3 million asset is easy to understand. But what’s striking is the extent to which flashing dollar signs seem to blind people to familial considerations.

I'm grateful that some of the "old-timer" Italians on our block have taken us in and treated us like family over the years, even though we are "the liberals".  Change is a constant.  But I hope to share their company for a long time to come.

Side notes - I have never heard, not even once, a "newbie" refer to long time residents as "leftovers.  Never.  So there is that.  And a minor quibble Red Rose is not the only red sauce joint on Smith - Vinny's of Carroll gardens has been our go-to spot for years, and that's an old neighborhood family too.

Encouraging Stance From Obama On Net Neutrality

If the corporate powers that be are able to gut net neutrality we are well and truly fucked.  So I was gladdened to hear President Obama restate a commitment to continued net neutrality this week:

An open Internet is essential to the American economy, and increasingly to our very way of life. By lowering the cost of launching a new idea, igniting new political movements, and bringing communities closer together, it has been one of the most significant democratizing influences the world has ever known.

“Net neutrality” has been built into the fabric of the Internet since its creation — but it is also a principle that we cannot take for granted. We cannot allow Internet service providers (ISPs) to restrict the best access or to pick winners and losers in the online marketplace for services and ideas. That is why today, I am asking the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to answer the call of almost 4 million public comments, and implement the strongest possible rules to protect net neutrality.

. . . . 

The FCC is an independent agency, and ultimately this decision is theirs alone. I believe the FCC should create a new set of rules protecting net neutrality and ensuring that neither the cable company nor the phone company will be able to act as a gatekeeper, restricting what you can do or see online. The rules I am asking for are simple, common-sense steps that reflect the Internet you and I use every day, and that some ISPs already observe. These bright-line rules include:

• No blocking. If a consumer requests access to a website or service, and the content is legal, your ISP should not be permitted to block it. That way, every player — not just those commercially affiliated with an ISP — gets a fair shot at your business.
• No throttling. Nor should ISPs be able to intentionally slow down some content or speed up others — through a process often called “throttling” — based on the type of service or your ISP’s preferences.
• Increased transparency. The connection between consumers and ISPs — the so-called “last mile” — is not the only place some sites might get special treatment. So, I am also asking the FCC to make full use of the transparency authorities the court recently upheld, and if necessary to apply net neutrality rules to points of interconnection between the ISP and the rest of the Internet.
• No paid prioritization. Simply put: No service should be stuck in a “slow lane” because it does not pay a fee. That kind of gatekeeping would undermine the level playing field essential to the Internet’s growth. So, as I have before, I am asking for an explicit ban on paid prioritization and any other restriction that has a similar effect.

 Professor Juan Cole lays out just why this is such a vitally important piece of policy:

A tiered world wide web would restore some of the lost ability of the wealthy to control the spin put on news. We know what that spin typically is. There are no labor reporters at any major metropolitan newspaper. Major labor actions are often not reported on at any length. Nor are union workers much featured in the mass media such as television. Wars benefiting munitions corporations are reported on positively. The dangers of fossil fuel consumption are discounted. In a business-class world, it is people with capital who matter and on whom reporters are told to concentrate. We’ve all heard of Donald Trump or the Koch brothers. Richard L. Trumka and Linda Chavez-Thompson of the AFL CIO are, let us say, less prominent. Even less prominent are climate scientists like Michael Mann. And, of course, northern Europeans are generally more newsworthy than people originating in other parts of the world. Race and class are not evenly distributed in the informational world of US corporate media.

A lot of you have said how much you benefited from my own analyses of the Iraq War during the Bush administration. But in the 20th century I might not have been able to present that analysis to the public. I had trouble getting my op-eds published in newspapers in the old days. I wasn’t mainstream. This blog would not have existed without net neutrality, and if net neutrality ever goes away, probably so will the blog.

. . . .

In the American system, the best guarantor of liberty of access to the internet and liberty of accessible publication on it is the rise of powerful economic interests that benefit from it. Thus, the guy in a white hat here is Netflix. In contrast, Comcast and other ISPs shot themselves in the foot by throttling Netflix and shaking it down, creating an ally for bloggers and civil libertarians. Senator Al Franken, with his ties to the entertainment industry (I remember when he was a comedian on Saturday Night Live), likewise has taken a powerful stand in favor of net neutrality.

It's impossible to overstate the importance of net neutrality to our democracy.  As it is, our discourse is dominated by what I like to call a billionaire-owned vanity press.  But mere domination is never enough fpor these people.  They need to shut out our voices altogether.  We can't let them.

Fulton Street Transit Center Opened Today

Entering from the A/C mezzanine.  A far cry from the old days.

The Fulton Street Transit Center opened at 5:00 am this morning, and it is magnificent.  The retail spaces are not yet occupied, but this place should definitely become a major part of downtown life. In my imagination, an Apple store would be an incredible use of the upstairs retail space.

Of course, this place took forever to build and was perhaps not the best use of scarce transit dollars.  But the MTA should not be the primary target for criticism of the decision to allocate those dollars here.  As for the delays and cost overruns, the MTA was forced to preserve and restore the Corbin Building (which is beautiful) and to construct the Dey Street underground passageway to the R/PATH/Chambers Street station.  Those decisions, which were completely out of MTA's hands, drove significant delays and cost overruns.  In the end, they accomplished worthy goals that would not have been priorities for a transit agency: preservation of an early NYC skyscraper and a weather-proof connection to another downtown hub.

Personally, I hated the old station here with a passion.  It was a depressing urine-soaked dungeon and I'm glad that we took the opportunity to turn it into a place that inspires.  I don't think we give enough weight to the quality of life of people that spend a portion of every working day passing through the system.  But whatever you may think of the utility of this project, life just improved immeasurably for every person who uses this station.

Second Avenue Sagas has more photos and analysis.

NY Drivers Getting Away With Murder: This Video Will Rip Your Heart In Two

I am trembling with rage and literally nauseous at the injustice here:


Liao Family Testimony in Support of 19-190 and Crash Video from Vaccaro and White on Vimeo.

I have a three year old daughter and I don't think I could be responsible for my actions in the face of this kind of injustice.  The Queens DA pressed no charges.  And now the NYSDMV has voided the tickets this man received (and clearly deserved to get).  If this isn't enough to make your blood boil, I don't know what is.

Vote! November 4 Is Election Day

What a year it's been.  As for the Governor's race: it didn't have to be this way.  But Andrew Cuomo has decided that he can kick progressives, kick the mayor, kick teachers, kick brownstone Brooklyn and the people who depended on LICH, and embrace Chris Christie and the politics of fear and ignorance and win a second term.  Sadly, he appears to be right, though at the expense of any further political ambitions he may have had.  These are my endorsements; check here to find your polling site and view a sample ballot.

US Congress District 7
Nydia Velazquez
We love Nydia.

Governor
No endorsement.
Andrew Cuomo is going to win reelection in a contest that is not expected to be close.  Which gives me the freedom to vote my conscience, and undervote the Governor's race for the first time I can remember.  Rob Astorino would be a disaster of a governor on many fronts.  And despite the delusions that some people seem to harbor, there is zero basis to believe he would lift a finger to save LICH.

I really would have liked to vote for Zephyr Teachout in this election, and as a result I will not be voting for Cuomo on the WFP line, either.  Nor will I vote for him on Chris Quinn's embarrassing "Women's Equality Party" line, which in reality served three purposes only (1) to undermine a strong female candidate among primary voters (2) to siphon off votes from the WFP and (3) to reanimate the corpse of Chris Quinn's political career.

Attorney General
Eric Schneiderman

Comptroller
Thomas DiNapoli

NY Senate District 26
Dan Squadron

NY State Assembly District 52
Jo Anne Simon
Jo Anne will make a fine replacement for our outgoing Assemblywoman Joan Millman.  I've known Jo Anne for a number of years now and she is smart, hardworking and energetic.

Updated to reflect the fact that Lt. Governor runs on a ticket with Governor and is not a separate race.

Upcoming Meeting On Long Term Control Plan for Gowanus CSOs

Our antiquated combined sewer system regularly puts the "anus" in Gowanus.  Come out and learn what the city's plans are to fix it, and contribute your own ideas.  Should be ab interesting follow-up to the September meeting on the siting of potential CSO retention tanks that CB6 hosted.

Public Meeting On the CSO Long Term Control Plan for the Gowanus Canal

Wednesday, 19 November 2014
Public School 32
317 Hoyt St, Brooklyn, NY 11231
6:00pm to 8:00pm

Doors open at 6:00pm
DEP will give a brief presentation at 6:30 followed by a question and answer session.

When there are heavy rains and the sewer system is at full capacity, a diluted mixture of rain water and sewage, also known as combined sewage, may overflow into local waterways as a combined sewer overflow (CSO). The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is developing a CSO Long Term Control Plan (LTCP) that will identify and evaluate alternatives to improve the water quality of the Gowanus Canal.  In addition to developing alternatives through the LTCP process, DEP is currently working with the US Environmental Protection Agency under the Superfund process to site and design CSO retention tanks.

Citibike Is Coming!

The yellow areas will get Citibike before we do.

By 2017 Citibike will have expanded into Carroll Gardens, Park Slope, Gowanus, Red Hook . .  . in fact all of CB6, as well as northern Manhattan, more of Brooklyn and parts of Queens. I can't wait!

And former MTA head Jay Walder will be running the show - that was a shocker.

CHA Meeting: Move-NY Presentation for Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens TONIGHT

Move-NY will give a presentation at the Cobble Hill Association's meeting tonight, and CHA has graciously welcomed Carroll Gardeners to the session.  Move-NY is the new and improved incarnation of the Sam Schwartz equitable transportation plan, which would cut down on traffic, create a steady stream of funding for maintenance and improvement of our transportation networks, and more fairly distribute the toll burden throughout the city.  It's a damn good plan.

All that and free snacks?  You'd be a fool to miss out on this!

The Grand Bargain Clutches At Dems From Beyond The Grave

The "Grand Bargain" proposed to cut popular, useful programs like Social Security and Medicare was atrocious policy and even worse politics.  Everyone who advocated for this is guilty of political malpractice at best, and their advice should not be taken seriously by Democrats. 

A short history of the Grand Bargain and why it's still biting us in the ass #2014 #ads

"It was always bizarre that a Democratic president would believe that an epic economic downturn was a good time to worry about deficits and try to strike a bargain to cut the Party's signature domestic economic achievement --- an achievement  which had lifted massive numbers of people out of poverty. It was conceived as a "go to China" moment in which only a Democrat could cut Social Security without being demagogued by Democrats. Apparently it didn't occur to these visionaries that the Republicans were increasingly dependent on the elderly for votes and would be happy to demagogue the Democrats instead.  Certainly no one should have depended on their honesty and integrity. There have been few more misguided initiatives than the relentless pursuit of a Grand Bargain during the president's first term. And the Party continues to pay a price for that mistake. Fortunately for the Democrats no bargain was actually struck and a light is now shining on the inequities in the funding stream for the programs and a new approach is slowly being accepted as the new agenda: raise the cap on social security taxes and raise benefits. If the Party puts that in its platform and really gets behind it, it might even win back the support of the elderly. And then the GOP will have a real problem on its hands. "

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2014/10/a-short-history-of-grand-bargain-and.html

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Ron Fournier Has Become A Parody of Himself

This intro made me laugh out loud. 

Fournier-cation: Self-Service Edition

"Itinerant Rove-stenographer Ron Fournier, who once emitted a squid cloud of butt-hurt so opaque that Glenn Greenwald called him out for being a petulant crybaby, has written scads of tiresome columns earnestly urging Obama to be more leader-y. But his latest is the Platonic Ideal of a Fournier column, and the header captures the tone perfectly: "

http://www.balloon-juice.com/2014/10/24/fournier-cation-self-service-edition/

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Just In Time For The Weekend

Mmm, binge-watching. 

Unlimited free streaming of The Simpsons

This happened a few days ago, but I just got a chance to check it out: FXX launched Simpsons World , a site where you can stream every Simpsons episode ever aired. You just need a cable login, as with…

http://kottke.org/14/10/unlimited-free-streaming-of-the-simpsons

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Assange: Google Is Not What It Seems

This is the most important article you'll read today. I'm impressed that Newsweek ran this long and well composed piece.  The excerpt below is not even the best part, which is the first half of the article detailing Schmidt and Cohen's visit to Assange in exile. Creepy. 

www.newsweek.com/assange-google-not-what-it-seems-279447

"Google is perceived as an essentially philanthropic enterprise—a magical engine presided over by otherworldly visionaries—for creating a utopian future. The company has at times appeared anxious to cultivate this image, pouring funding into "corporate responsibility" initiatives to produce "social change"—exemplified by Google Ideas.

But as Google Ideas shows, the company's "philanthropic" efforts, too, bring it uncomfortably close to the imperial side of U.S. influence. If Blackwater/Xe Services/Academi was running a program like Google Ideas, it would draw intense critical scrutiny. But somehow Google gets a free pass.

Whether it is being just a company or "more than just a company," Google's geopolitical aspirations are firmly enmeshed within the foreign-policy agenda of the world's largest superpower. As Google's search and Internet service monopoly grows, and as it enlarges its industrial surveillance cone to cover the majority of the world's population, rapidly dominating the mobile phone market and racing to extend Internet access in the global south, Google is steadily becoming the Internet for many people. Its influence on the choices and behavior of the totality of individual human beings translates to real power to influence the course of history.

If the future of the Internet is to be Google, that should be of serious concern to people all over the world—in Latin America, East and Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa, the former Soviet Union and even in Europe—for whom the Internet embodies the promise of an alternative to U.S. cultural, economic, and strategic hegemony."

Download the official Twitter app here

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Complete The Harbor Ring

Paco is absolutely right.  We're 60 years past due to add bike/pedestrian access to the Verrazano.  Will Governor Cuomo stand in the way, or correct a historic error?

The Growing Political Muscle of the Campaign for a Verrazano Bike/Ped Path

"The Verrazano was intentionally built with enough space for walking and biking paths, which Moses then ruled out, purportedly to prevent suicides. The firm that designed the bridge, Amman and Whitney, produced a report for the city that pegged the cost of the pathways, adjusted to 2012 dollars, at $50 million. The expense would be a rounding error in the MTA's upcoming five-year capital program. The MTA has incorporated a feasibility study for the pathways into a larger project to reconstruct bridge ramps and approaches. The study is due in 2015, and at Saturday's rally, speakers urged the agency and its consultants, Parsons Brinckerhoff, to conduct the process transparently, so supporters of the path can weigh in before the results are set in stone. "Fifty years without a Verrazano pathway has been 50 years too long," said Harbor Ring Committee member Paco Abraham. "Fortunately, now is the right time for change. The bridge is currently undergoing a massive rehab and we know with certainty that our ask is feasible and the demand is unwavering.""

http://www.streetsblog.org/2014/10/22/the-growing-political-muscle-of-the-campaign-for-a-verrazano-bikeped-path/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Streetsblog+%28Streetsblog%29

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More Foreign Skullduggery

We have no money for healthcare, education or infrastructure in this country, but we have a bottomless pit of cash to throw at destabilizing other countries. Our foreign policy is insane. 

There is no question, none, that the U.S. would expel Russians attempting to do this. What the hell is wrong with our national priorities?  And equally important, why is the US media so slavish in their reporting on this stuff?

State Department Contractor Breaks Russian Visa Law, Whines When Caught

"The State Department admits that much: Asked if the U.S. was concerned about what had happened to them, [State Department spokeswoman Jen] Psaki said: "They were there to do a training that we sponsored, so I think our preference would have been for them not to be detained, I think it's fair to say. The "tourists" or "journalists" broke Russian immigration laws and had been advised by the U.S. State Department to do just that. What did they expect the Russian immigration service to do? To also ignore Russian law because the U.S. State Department says so?"

http://www.moonofalabama.org/2014/10/state-department-contractor-breaks-russian-visa-law-whines-when-caught.html

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Brooklyn Spirits Book Launch

Via the Brooklyn Paper, friend of the blog Chris Wertz and partner Peter Fornatale have written the book on cocktails with locally made spirits:

A pair of cocktail connoisseurs have penned a tribute to locally-made liquors — and the drinks you can make with them. “Brooklyn Spirits: Craft Distilling and Cocktails from the World’s Hippest Borough” highlights borough booze-makers such as Greenhook Ginsmiths and Industry City Distilling, alongside about 70 cocktail recipes. And you don’t need to be an expert mixologist to make them. Most of the drinks require minimal preparation, because when it comes to mixing liquors, there is such a thing as too much alcohol, one of the authors said.

An excellent gift choice for your tippling friends or those out of town friends and relatives looking for something Brooklyn. Get a taste tonight:

The pair will launch their book at PowerHouse Arena in Dumbo on Oct. 17, chased up with a reading at the Central Library in Prospect Heights on Oct. 23.

“Brooklyn Sprits: Craft Distilling and Cocktails from the World’s Hippest Borough” at the PowerHouse Arena [37 Main St. between Water and Front streets in Dumbo, (718) 666–3049, www.power‌house‌arena.com]. Oct. 17 at 7 pm. Free. 

And at Central Library [10 Grand Army Plaza, near Flatbush Avenue in Prospect Heights, (718) 230-2100, brook‌lynsp‌irits.brown‌paper‌ticke‌ts.com]. Oct. 23 at 7 pm. Free.

So Long, Cable!

Netflix + HuluPlus + HBO + broadband connection = no reason for me to keep ridiculously overpriced cable. 

Next Year You'll Be Able to Get HBO Online Without Cable

"In fantastic news for those of you living off your parents' HBO GO accounts, HBO's Chairman and CEO Richard Plepler promised the assembled crowd of suits at Time Warner Investor Day that HBO would be offering its streaming service à la carte starting next year. Plepler noted that 10 million homes are broadband-only, having declined the opportunity to bundle despite frequently and loudly advertised financial incentives of doing so. "There are 80 million homes that do not have HBO," Plepler noted, after spending whole years of watching Game of Thrones be the most downloaded television show of all time every week."

http://morningafter.gawker.com/next-year-youll-be-able-to-get-hbo-online-without-cable-1646623814/+laceydonohue?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+gawker%2Ffull+%28Gawker%29

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Shut The Directorate of Operations

"Black Ops" are antithetical to any free society and the specifically the stated values of the United States.  We should not be in this business at all. 

CIA Report: The CIA Is Fucking Useless

"In fact, the most successful U.S. intervention of this nature that the report cites is our back of the mujahedeen in Afghanistan in the 1980s—and those people went on to become Al Qaeda. "Helping to create Osama Bin Laden" is the the high-water mark of CIA foreign actions."

http://gawker.com/cia-report-the-cia-is-fucking-useless-1646582671?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+gawker%2Ffull+%28Gawker%29

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United States: WMD Proliferator

When are we going to have a conversation about the caustic effect of a our foreign policy adventures on the world … and ourselves?

The American public is routinely lied to, often with the aid of establishment media, about what our military-surveillance-cloak and dagger complex is doing in our name, at great expense. 

Saddam's WMD: Technology Made In USA, Delivered by Rumsfeld

"Good old USA technology, conveniently exported to European firms that we helped to build factories in Iraq to produce chemical weapons to be used against Iran. That is what caused injury to US servicemen who were routinely denied care and quickly sent back into battle because they weren't missing limbs. Chivers talked to a number of those soldiers and their stories are so consistent they nearly blend together. Also consistent was the instant classification of the injuries, presumably because of the embarrassment to the Bush Administration they would cause should the press look into them too rigorously."

https://www.emptywheel.net/2014/10/15/saddams-wmd-technology-made-in-usa-delivered-by-rumsfeld/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=saddams-wmd-technology-made-in-usa-delivered-by-rumsfeld

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Crime of the Century

Aside from the horrific human toll of the illegal Iraq War, there was looting on an epic scale. The fact that no one in our government cares to investigate or recoup suggests complicity.  Of course, the CIA Directorate of Operations is essentially a state-sponsored criminal organization.  Who knows how many more we are funding, both on and off the books. The world would be a better place if we shut these things down. 

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Former Treasury Department officials also questioned the need for the flights. Treasury had already sent $1.7 billion in cash from Iraqi government accounts in the United States to Baghdad in the first weeks after the invasion, and then had developed a new Iraqi currency that was introduced that October. They say the new currency ended the need for further cash infusions from the United States. "We did not know that Bremer was flying in all that cash," said Ged Smith, who was the head of the Treasury Department team that worked on Iraq's financial reconstruction after the invasion. "I can't see a reason for it." Mr. Bowen said that Brick Tracker, his office's most sensitive investigation, began in 2010 when Wael el-Zein, a Lebanese- American on his staff, received a tip about stolen money hidden in Lebanon. An informant told him about the bunker, which in addition to the cash, was believed to also have held approximately $200 million in gold belonging to the Iraqi government.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/12/world/investigation-into-missing-iraqi-cash-ended-in-lebanon-bunker.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=HpSum&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

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Amazing Pics of Decommissioned Russian Submarine

Decommissioned Russian Victor Class nuclear sub en rte to the scrap yard.  via Business Insider.

I love picture sets like this.  Clearly this thing was parked, rotting away in shallow water for a long time.  Reminds me of an old Star Blazers cartoon I saw on a UHF channel thirty years ago, back when this thing was still probably cruising the ocean with a cargo of nuclear missiles targeted at the US.

Participatory Budgeting Is Upon Us!

Building on the success of Participatory Budgeting over the last few years, Council Member Brad Lander's office is tweaking the process a little bit this season.  For one, the assemblies are going to focus on certain issues.  And two, the pot is getting juiced up to $1.5M from previous allocations of $1M.

Sounds good!  The first assembly (this coming Tuesday) is going to focus on transportation issues, and following assemblies will address a host of other key areas.  The details:

Streets and Transit: 

Tuesday, October 14 at the NYC Transit Museum (Boerum Pl & Schermerhorn St)

Kensington Neighborhood Assembly:

Thursday, October 16 at PS230 (1 Albemarle Rd)

Parks and Environment:

Monday, October 20 at the Picnic House in Prospect Park (95 Prospect Park West)

Arts, Community and Culture:

Wednesday, October 22 at ReelWorks (540 President Street, #2F in Gowanus)

Public Education:

Monday, October 27 at PS 154 (1625 11th Ave in Windsor Terrace)

All the events will be from 6:30-8:30 p.m.  As in past years, attendees will have the opportunity to give their ideas about how to spend PBNYC dollars. But this year, we will also break into smaller, issue-related groups for in-depth discussions that go beyond participatory budgeting. We hope this format will provide a forum for people to discuss needs and concerns … even if they can’t be solved with capital dollars spent on a physical project.

A great opportunity to get involved in the community.  A lot of great ideas have been put forth and paid for over the last few years.  RSVP HERE.

CM Brad Lander, BP Eric Adams, AM Joan Millman and DL Jo Anne Simon Question Logic, Process of Gowanus Parole Center Siting

Councilman Brad Lander has a petition up for those concerned about the process followed and the general advisability of consolidating Brooklyn parole operations into a remote location on the Gowanus.

The planning process for this facility has fallen far short of what any community deserves from their government. Over several months, not one single written word about the facility has been provided by DOCCS to the community or its elected officials. DOCCS has failed to articulate a coherent rationale for choosing to site a borough-wide facility in the heart of an industrial business zone close to a vibrant residential community. DOCCS has not shared the criteria it uses to site facilities, the solicitation, RFP, or process through which this site was chosen.

This single facility would replace three facilities that were originally in Downtown Brooklyn location, which were convenient to transit, and located in a commercial district with substantial foot-traffic. This new location would concentrate 300 to 400 parolees visits per day in a single site, which is close to many schools, parks and residential areas and inconvenient to transit. If the goal is to provide community-based locations, then there should be several around Brooklyn, convenient to residents from many neighborhoods, in areas with services. Perhaps this location could be one such facility; however, the state cannot claim that siting one facility in this location to serve the entire borough is part of a community-based strategy.

Downtown is the logical site, with excellent access to transit, courts and other government offices.  It's a mystery as to why the state thought this would be a good idea. Borough President (and former police officer) Eric Adams has also weighed in to question the wisdom of the plan:

The new headquarters for state parole operations should be downtown, not in Gowanus, according to Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams. The proposed location at 15 2nd Avenue is too difficult for parolees to reach.

“When you’re on parole, cab fare can be the difference between violating and not violating,” he told The Brooklyn Paper. “We shouldn’t make it more challenging.”

 Assemblywoman Joan Millman and her presumptive successor, District Leader JoAnne Simon have also questioned the logic of siting the office in such a remote location.

The Latest On LICH

From Dan Goldberg at Capital New York:

SUNY has finalized a deal to sell Long Island College Hospital to a Brooklyn developer, ending a two-year battle to shed the money-losing hospital.

Fortis Property Group will purchase the campus for $240 million, and N.Y.U. Langone Medical Center will run the remaining health care on the site, along with Lutheran Medical Center. 

N.Y.U. has committed to building a $175 million, four-story medical facility that will eventually have a staff of 400, including about 70 physicians. The amount of square-footage devoted to medical care is double what was originally proposed in the Fortis bid, "in recognition of the need for greater services in the community," SUNY chair Carl McCall said in a statement. McCall said SUNY negotiated for increased health care on the site, in response to the needs of the surrounding communities.

And

The deal must still be approved by the state attorney general and state comptroller. Once that approval is complete, N.Y.U. can take over operations of the emergency department, which is all that remains of the Cobble Hill hospital. 

N.Y.U. can then ask the city fire department to resume ambulance service to LICH. N.Y.U. officials expect to see between 35 and 50 patients per day once the ambulances resume.

Of course, this story has had more twists and turns, head fakes and surprises than just about any local issue I can remember.  So this is where we stand, for now.

The Worst Person In The World

Bob Friedrich.

I usually reserve this topic for nationally recognized figures, but seriously, what a jackass.

We're Evolving

xkcd comic via The Big Picture

 . . . and that's a great thing.  But I don't think most young people appreciate just how bad things were, just how recently, in America.  And by young people I don't even mean that young.  Mid-forties on down.

I'm forty myself, and while I certainly remember a strong social stigma against interracial relationships in the environment I grew up in, I was still stunned to learn that they were illegal in half the country in the 1960s.  A big part of that is the fact that our education system and media organs work hard to gloss that over and focus on the happy talk of American Exceptionalism.

My own views on race, gender, and LGBT-related issues have evolved fairly dramatically over the last 25 years . . . or more accurately, over the period from say 1992 to 2003.  And not all at the same pace, necessarily.  But I was an early newspaper reader, and a twelve-to-fifteen year old kid reading garbage from the likes of Cal Thomas and Tony Snow is going to form some ass-backwards opinions about things in the absence of other information.  A lot of retrograde attitudes in this country especially on race are sustained by ignorance, often willful ignorance, of how bad things were and how bad things still are.

We have a duty to make sure that our schools are presenting our history to kids warts and all.  Thankfully, kids today have things I didn't: Twitter, blogs, the internet in general, the Daily Show, The Colbert Report, John Oliver.  But we also need to stand up against the Pam Mazanec's of the world who would fill our kids heads with sweet lies.

We need to evolve on a lot more things.  But I am encouraged by of this trend.

Almost Halloween!

1st Place between Henry and Clinton

I've always enjoyed this season, but having a Halloween-obsessed three year old really brings it to another level.  It's awesome.  Thank you, neighbors, for delighting the kids.

A Gateway Out Chris Christie's Hell

The Amtrak Gateway project that is currently not being rushed into place before disaster strikes the NJ-NY commuting populace.

NYC and NJ could both be in for a world of hurt if we don't invest in some Hudson River rail crossing redundancy, immediately.

New York’s dependence on its rail system is why Amtrak’s announcement last week that damage from 2012’s Hurricane Sandy would require the eventual renovation of the North River (Hudson River) tunnels, which connect New Jersey and New York, is such devastating news. The $700 million expected cost of the renovation, which includes improvements to tunnels under the East River, isn’t the problem, for once, as the price is expected to be covered by insurance. Rather, the problem is that Amtrak noted that the renovation of the North River tunnels would require shutting down one track at a time (there are two), reducing peak capacity from 24 trains an hour to just 6 (there are four tracks under the East River so there is far less of a concern there).**

It’s unclear how this problem will be handled. Passengers could switch to the already-crowded PATH subway into New York from Newark or Hoboken. Or one of the automobile tunnels could be converted to bus service, which isn’t likely to make many drivers happy. Amtrak through-service from Washington to Boston will be dealt a severe blow. Either way, there are no happy outcomes to a tunnel renovation program other than a safer infrastructure.

Amtrak head Joseph Boardman noted that, because of the storm damage, the 104-year-old tunnels likely only have 20 years left of life in them. The public rail company’s solution is to immediately begin construction of the Gateway Program, whose primary component is a new double-track rail tunnel under the Hudson. Once those new tunnels are ready for use, rehabilitation of the North River tunnels could commence by 2025 or so.

Amtrak’s report could be seen as little more than a thinly-veiled threat; give us money to build a new tunnel, the argument goes, or you’ll suffer from complete evisceration of your rail services. Indeed, the press release notes that “the report underscores the urgency to advance the Gateway Program,” including the new Hudson tunnels. Who knows whether to believe Mr. Boardman’s proclamation about the tunnel’s life expectancy.

Yet it’s hard not to come to the conclusion that, even had the storm not happened, a new Hudson River rail tunnel would have been necessary. Traffic along the rail corridor is expanding. New York City is expected to continue to grow in the coming decades. And resiliency is always a good idea (had Sandy been bad enough to destroy the tunnels, what would have happened?).

It absolutely blew my mind when Hudson rail crossing redundancy was not an immediate, hair-on-fire priority after 9/11.  I mean, lots of good policy that should have been implemented after 9/11 was ignored in favor of tax cuts for the rich, invading Iraq, and lavishing funds on Bush and Cheney cronies.  And while that was tragic, and will hurt us all for decades to come, it was not entirely unexpected.  But new tunnels under the Hudson?  That for sure I thought would be a priority.  Wrong!  And then, even the slow progress of the Access to the Region's Core project (which admittedly had problems beyond its awful title*) was utterly derailed by NJ Governor Chris Christie, who siphoned off the funds for slosh around the state on highway projects.

And now?  We are on the verge of a potential bi-state transportation nightmare.  And if one thing goes wrong, a lot of people are going to be very miserable for a long time.

* Yonah's post neatly lays out the problems with the ARC project, and I am forced to footnote my criticism of Christie with odd fact that if Gateway gets built before we have a catastrophe, we will be better off.  Christie was only focused on redeploying the money from transit to highways.   However, Gateway is unquestionably a superior project to ARC, and it was only Christie's cynical, selfish act that made Gateway a practical possibility.   But if catastrophe strikes first, Christie's name will be mud forever.

American Exceptionalism!

Our conservatives are exceptionally ignorant and stupid.

So this is what they mean by "voluntary"

"Apparently, this woman doesn't know that one of the most exceptional historical facts about America was that we were last Western nation to outlaw slavery by a long shot. And I'd guess she missed class the day they discussed that little dust-up from 1860 to 1865. (Of course, it's always possible that like so many wingnuts she has thinks the civil war wasn't about slavery at all. It's just a coincidence that the country "voluntarily ended it" after over half a million people died over the most important moral cause humankind has ever known: states' rights.

This is why you need teacher's unions and tenure. When people like this take over school boards (and this isn't the first time) they will happily fire anyone who teaches evolution and refuses to teach the kids that the US "voluntarily ended slavery.""

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2014/10/so-this-is-what-they-mean-by-voluntary.html

Emphasis added.  If it was their own ignorance, I could live with it.  But the belligerent willfulness of the ignorance, and the insistence that our youth be indoctrinated with feel-good truthiness is truly dangerous.

89 Boerum Place Back In Action

Workers were on site doing foundation work.

I am a little surprised there is no residential, but perhaps that is a function of the jail across the street.

I passed this site on Thursday and was pleasantly surprised to see that things were moving again.  This has been a hole in the ground for what, seven years now?  Pacific Street has seen a lot of building since I've been in Brooklyn.  The second wave has moved pretty fast.  The place right next to the old Pacifico is almost finished (those properties were put up for auction in January 2008).  The place behind the grocery on Court shot up quick.  And who knows, perhaps even the Chien Merde will return to life . . . but one would hope with a better design.

Don't Be Evil

The bigger issue is, how did Google get in bed with ALEC in the first place?  It's not a close call.

Google Drops Membership From Conservative ALEC

"Last week, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt said in an interview with NPR's Diane Rehm that the company was dropping its membership with ALEC, a coalition of corporations and state legislators that works to create and share model legislation in statehouses around the country. Responding to a question from a listener, Schmidt attacked ALEC for helping to sponsor legislation that opposes environmental regulations and "just literally lying" about climate change."

http://www.nationaljournal.com/tech/alec-ceo-google-s-departure-was-like-getting-dumped-via-text-message-20141001

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Krugman On Our Broken Economic Discourse

Lying about the economy (among other things) pays pretty damn well. So don't expect this to change. 

What we should expect though, is more reporting like this. And for "respectable" media outlets to stop giving a platform to remorseless shills like, e.g. Bill Kristol, Dan Senor and Amity Shlaes. 

Shared from the Digg iPhone app:
When the going gets tough, the people losing the argument start whining about civility. I often find myself attacked as someone who believes that anyone with a different opinion is a fool or a knave; as I've tried to explain, however, that's mainly selection bias. I don't spend much time on areas where reasonable people can disagree, because there are so many important issues where one side really is completely unreasonable. Relatedly, obviously someone can disagree with my side and still be a good person. On the other hand, there are a lot of bad people engaged in economic debate — and I don't mean that they're wrong, I mean that they argue in bad faith. Which brings us to today's installment of oh-yes-they're-that-bad, courtesy of Bloomberg. You may remember the infamous open letter to Ben Bernanke warning that his efforts to boost the economy "risk currency debasement and inflation"; just in case you wondered about the political nature of the letter, among the signatories was that noted monetary expert William Kristol.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/02/knaves-fools-and-quantitative-easing/?module=BlogPost-Title&version=Blog%20Main&contentCollection=Opinion&action=Click&pgtype=Blogs®ion=Body

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Cuomo Out To Lunch On Vital Rail Infrastructure

This is unbelievable.  Granted, Chris Christie screwed everything up when he unilaterally scrapped decades of work on Access to the Region's Core. 

But Amtrak's Gateway proposal is vital to cross-Hudson transit.  If one of those tunnels goes, and we're getting to the point where it's not inconceivable, NY is in for a serious awakening. 

Cuomo has similarly ignored the sorry state of the BQE cantilever, canceling urgently needed planning for the inevitable rebuilding to focus on the Tappanzee. And don't get me started about LICH. 

Shared from the Digg iPhone app:
"The, uh, I haven't seen the Amtrak report so I can't really comment on it," said the governor. There were no follow-up questions. 

The governor's non-response on this particular topic was standard, for him. He has never made a particular priority of mass transit, and also abides by an unofficial nonaggression pact with Christie. (Cuomo wouldn't touch Bridgegate, at least publicly; Christie, who currently heads the Republican Governors Association, won't touch Cuomo's Republican opponent.) 

 Now, to properly repair the cross-Hudson tunnels, Amtrak will have to wait for federal support for a replacement tunnel project called Gateway, which as yet has no capital funding commitment attached to it and would be completed, at the earliest, in the middle of the next decade. Or it will have to take one of the two tubes out of operation, which, as an Amtrak official said yesterday, would have "draconian" consequences for rail service between New York and New Jersey.

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/albany/2014/10/8553816/cuomo-declines-take-new-yorks-amtrak-issue

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Khorasan, Tooth Fairy and Slender Man Plotting Imminent Attacks On Homeland!

Lied to once again, with the eager assistance of the U.S. media. And can we stop using this nonsense word "homeland"?  Enough with the bullshit, "folks". 

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Late last week, Associated Press' Ken Dilanian – the first to unveil the new Khorasan Product in mid-September – published a new story explaining that just days after bombing "Khorasan" targets in Syria, high-ranking U.S. officials seemingly backed off all their previous claims of an "imminent" threat from the group. Headlined "U.S. Officials Offer More Nuanced Take on Khorasan Threat," it noted that "several U.S. officials told reporters this week that the group was in the final stages of planning an attack on the West, leaving the impression that such an attack was about to happen." But now: Senior U.S. officials offered a more nuanced picture Thursday of the threat they believe is posed by an al-Qaida cell in Syria targeted in military strikes this week, even as they defended the decision to attack the militants. James Comey, the FBI director, and Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon spokesman, each acknowledged that the U.S. did not have precise intelligence about where or when the cell, known as the Khorasan Group, would attempt to strike a Western target. . . . Kirby, briefing reporters at the Pentagon, said, "I don't know that we can pin that down to a day or month or week or six months….We can have this debate about whether it was valid to hit them or not, or whether it was too soon or too late…We hit them. And I don't think we need to throw up a dossier here to prove that these are bad dudes." Regarding claims that an attack was "imminent," Comey said: "I don't know exactly what that word means…'imminent'" — a rather consequential admission given that said imminence was used as the justification for launching military action in the first place. Even more remarkable, it turns out the very existence of an actual "Khorasan Group" was to some degree an invention of the American government. NBC's Engel, the day after he reported on the U.S. Government's claims about the group for Nightly News, seemed to have serious second thoughts about the group's existence, tweeting:

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/09/28/u-s-officials-invented-terror-group-justify-bombing-syria/

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The Real Reason for The School Reform "Movement"

Money and control.  Take the money, break the union, take more money. Profit!

Applying Monsanto's tactics to educating children by @BloggersRUs

"Writing for the Nation Investigative Fund, Lee Fang details how venture capitalists and firms such as K12 Inc. view it as their mission to disrupt traditional public schools through vouchers applied to private schools, expanded charter schools, and the "next breakthrough in education technology.""

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2014/09/applying-monsantos-tactics-to-educating.html

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Regulatory Capture: NY Fed Edition

It's always been obvious to interested observers.  But as the Ray Rice incident has shown, tape can force people to acknowledge what they didn't want to see. 

Shared from the Digg iPhone app:
The reporter, Jake Bernstein, has obtained 46 hours of tape recordings, made secretly by a Federal Reserve employee, of conversations within the Fed, and between the Fed and Goldman Sachs. The Ray Rice video for the financial sector has arrived. First, a bit of background -- which you might get equally well from today's broadcast as well as from this article by ProPublica. After the 2008 financial crisis, the New York Fed, now the chief U.S. bank regulator, commissioned a study of itself. This study, which the Fed also intended to keep to itself, set out to understand why the Fed hadn't spotted the insane and destructive behavior inside the big banks, and stopped it before it got out of control. The "discussion draft" of the Fed's internal study, led by a Columbia Business School professor and former banker named David Beim, was sent to the Fed on Aug. 18, 2009. It's an extraordinary document. There is not space here to do it justice, but the gist is this: The Fed failed to regulate the banks because it did not encourage its employees to ask questions, to speak their minds or to point out problems. Just the opposite: The Fed encourages its employees to keep their heads down, to obey their managers and to appease the banks. That is, bank regulators failed to do their jobs properly not because they lacked the tools but because they were discouraged from using them.

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-09-26/the-secret-goldman-sachs-tapes

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Velazquez Demands Red Hook Post Office Intervention

In an odd bit of timing, I saw this letter from Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez after I tweeted about my own frustration with the postal service in 11231.  Yesterday I received a pile of mail from August, including time sensitive material such as checks, cards, and credit cards, and even unwanted time-sensitive material in the form of primary election mailers.  I called the bank two weeks ago to complain about a missing card.  It showed up yesterday - and it wasn't the bank's fault.

Our current mail carrier jams what he can into the box indiscriminately . . . including, frequently, mail for our neighbors.  And sometimes it's just left empty.  It's become clear that the culture of the Clinton Street Post Office is not conducive to good service.  It's bad enough that we don't have convenient access to a post office in Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill; to compound that with an "I don't give a shit" level of service is beyond the pale.  So I was happy to see a formal complaint raised by our Congresswoman. Something's got to give.

The full text of the letter:

September 24, 2014

The Honorable David Williams
Inspector General
United States Postal Service
1735 North Lynn Street
Arlington, VA 22209-2020

Dear Inspector General Williams:

I am writing you regarding the Red Hook Post Office located at 615 Clinton Street, Brooklyn, New York, which provides postal service to residents of Red Hook, Carroll Gardens and the Columbia Waterfront District.  Given recent problems at this location, I am asking that your office conduct an audit of the accuracy and timeliness of the mail delivery process at the Red Hook Post Office. 

Local residents have recently brought to my attention instances of inadequate service and unprofessional conduct, which when taken together denote a troubling pattern.  This includes mail delivered to wrong addresses, missing packages, parcels that were damaged and/or missing items, and weekdays without any mail delivery at all.  Often, consumers have faced challenges in seeking redress for these occurrences, which have only compounded these problems.  Reports of unprofessional treatment by staff have caused many residents to rely on other privately-operated delivery services.  Our residents need – and deserve – better from the United States Postal Service.

The excessive frequency and sheer volume of complaints regarding mail delivery related to the Red Hook Post Office dictate that immediate intervention is warranted.  Without such action, residents of Red Hook will be left without access to essential postal services as specified under federal law.  To this point, federal law (39 U.S.C. 403(b)(3)) states that “[i]t shall be the responsibility of the Postal Service to establish and maintain postal facilities of such character and in such locations, that postal patrons throughout the Nation will, consistent with reasonable economies of postal operations, have ready access to essential postal services.”  Under current conditions, many Red Hook residents do not have access to these services as required by law.  It is further (39 U.S.C. 403(b)(1)) stipulated that the Postal Service “maintain an efficient system of collection, sorting, and delivery of the mail nationwide.”  Given the widespread reports of mail delivery difficulties, it appears that the Red Hook Post Office is not operating efficiently.

Given these challenges, I am requesting that your office conduct an audit of the accuracy and timeliness of the mail delivery process at the Red Hook Post Office.  The Postal Service – and the Red Hook Post Office in particular – remain vital to our local residents and businesses.  With your assistance it can be restored as an asset to our community.  Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions about this matter.

Sincerely,

Nydia M. Velázquez
Member of Congress

The F Express Back In The News (Recently)

I'm a little late to comment on this amNewYork piece, although I did speak with Dan Rivoli while he was drafting the article earlier this month.  This time a round a group of 14 elected officials has signed a joint letter calling on the MTA to add limited F express service in addition to current service levels.

The MTA is studying the issue and has said any express F service, last seen in 1987, would have to wait until rehabilitation and track work on the Culver Viaduct at the Smith-9th Street station is complete. That project is coming to a close, though the MTA did not have an expected end date as crews continue work on the 80-year-old structure spanning the Gowanus Canal.

"We think now is the time to rally around making sure that the F starts the process of representing fast service and not failed opportunity," Adams told amNewYork.

Officials said riders in the southern part of the line would get a faster ride to downtown and Manhattan, while people who use the popular local stops in DUMBO and Brownstone Brooklyn would see fewer delays and less crowding.

"I grew up on a local stop," Adams said. "I tell you, nothing is more troublesome than having to watch the trains go by when they're too full."

MTA spokesman Adam Lisberg said there are operational challenges in implementing express service. For instance, there is less track space for trains between the Bergen and Jay street stops where the rails merge, he said.

"It's not as simple as just throwing on extra trains, because they all have to end up merging together," Lisberg said.

Another part of the study is to look at the demographics to find out how many riders would benefit from express F service and how riders at crowded local stops would be affected.

"The largest volumes are getting on at some of the stations closer in anyway," Lisberg said. "How much savings is there really? That's why we're doing the study, to find out."

This, of course, is something we've been asking for for many years.  Longtime readers will remember my petition to bring back the F Express from those distant days of 2007 when we still shared the sixth avenue trunk with the V train.  Of course, times have changed a bit.  The V has been replaced with a re-routed M train, and the G train has been extended out to Church Avenue.   As a local stop user myself (Carroll Street), I'll second what BP Adams said about the frustration of waiting for a packed train that you can't access.

There are legitimate questions about the implementation of express service, given the sharing of tracks with other lines, as well as the need to address potential noise and vibration issues related to the express tracks in Windsor Terrace.  So I eagerly await the feasibility study from the MTA.  

And definitely appreciate the renewed attention the F line has received from both elected officials and press interested in potential transit improvements. (Including the Bensonhurst Bean, which picked up the amNY story).  Pending study results from the MTA, perhaps the biggest obstacle to an F Express is money.  Which will bring us to our next post on the giant hole in the MTA's capital plan, and what's to be done about it.