Telecom Immunity

Essentially, the phone companies have been helping the Bush administration to illegally spy on American citizens, without warrants, since before 9/11. Yes, before 9/11. While the arguments are always thrown out about how this is all to save us Murkins from the terrists, the Bush administration began the lawless spying almost as soon as he was sworn in.

And now, Congress, led by the spineless Harry Reid, is considering waving a magic wand and making it all legal. Read Glenn Greenwald for the gory details.

Straphangers Bill (deBlasio) of Rights

I hear that Bill deBlasio is holding a press conference on Tuesday at noon at Union Square Park to unveil a City Council Resolution laying out a Straphanger's Bill of Rights.

When: Tuesday 12/18, 12:00 - High Noon!
Where: Union Square.

That's all I've got. So to pad out this post, here are a couple of cool construction shots taken from the Engineering News Record's 2007 photo contest. Plenty of cool images there for infrastructure geeks. Pictured here are East Side Access, Fulton Street Transit Corridor, and South Ferry, respectively. Get your transit geek on.




This last one is my favorite. It looks like a crappy sci-fi film shoot could break out at any moment.

Why The Housing Market Is Due To Crash

This graphic (h/t Calculated Risk) pretty much draws the picture for you. It no longer makes sense to buy when you can rent for far less than the monthly cost of ownership. We left the realm of sanity about 6 years ago.

Case in point: The apartment (a condo conversion of a brownstone; walk-up, floor-through) next door to me would rent for perhaps $2500-2700 dollars per month.

It sold for nearly $1,000,000. And has monthly maintenance and taxes. Does that make financial sense to you? Crunch the numbers any way you want, it simply doesn't add up. At certain price levels, owning is more attractive than renting. The disastrous fiscal policies of the Bush administration have created a massive real estate bubble in the US (yes, even in Brooklyn) and the next few years will not be pretty.

25 Year Old "Tycoon"

A part of me died when I read this article.

Scarano - Lancaster Scandal

So we heard yesterday that Buildings Department commish Patricia Lancaster entered into a secret, sweetheart deal with infamous architect (what is the opposite of "starchitect"?) Robert Scarano. Essentially, Lancaster would sweep Scarano's various misdeeds under the rug.

This Daily News article visits with one of the victims of Scarano's chicanery, who thinks that Lancaster should be brought up on charges for the questionable deal with Scarano. But note this:

Bloomberg spokesman John Gallagher did not respond to a question about whether the mayor knew of the Scarano deal before it was signed. He said such nondisclosure deals since have been banned.

This stinks to high hell. We need action, including an investigation of Ms. Lancaster's dealings with Scarano. More broadly speaking, we need to reverse the damage done by years of Republican maladministration, starting with Rudy Giuliani's ill-advised self-certification program. It was self-certification that allowed Scarano to get away with the worst of his abuses.

We need a buildings Department with some teeth!

UPDATE: Gowanus Lounge has the response from DOB.

F Train Report Card

You'd think an F Train report card would practically write itself . . . F! Ben Kabak has the full run-down on the F line's C- grade over at Second Avenue Sagas . . . here's a tiny morsel, with the shocking (shocking!) top three complaints:

What follows are the top ten complaints for another C-minus grade joining a long line of mediocre grades. After the jump, the full grade breakdown.

1. Reasonable wait times for trains
2. Adequate room on board at rush hour
3. Minimal delays during trips

Ben also notes the potential for F express/ V local service once the viaduct work is complete - the holy grail of Culver Line service, which is potentially in our grasp. Make sure to let the MTA and your elected officials hear, regularly, how important this is to Brooklyn.

Man Bites Dog

Holy cow . . . NYT columnist Tom Friedman actually wrote a decent column.

After 9/11 we had an unprecedented opportunity to make this country a better, safer place. Too bad we had George W. Bush. Thanks, Scalia!