The Truth About The Wide Streets Amendment

Pardon Me For Asking has a must read post today on the Wide Streets Text Amendment.

The CGNA forum has been been inundated for days now with mis-information, dis-information and utter nonsense, mostly from one persistent opponent of the text amendment who is masquerading as a local preservationist. The sad thing is, to the casual observer, most of it sounds perfectly reasonable.

Please click through and read the entirety of the post above to get the true story on the text amendment. The misinformation flying around has sown confusion, fear and doubt where there should be clarity and unity. The wide streets amendment will help PREVENT out ofd scale development in Carroll Gardens. That is the point. That is precisely why a few would-be developers are fighting so hard against it.

Bottom line: the wide streets amendment will preserve the neighborhood scale by treating the Place blocks and a few others with 33' courtyards exactly like they should be: the same as President Street and other Carroll Gardens residential streets.

We are working to get the neighborhood downzoned to a more appropriate R6B. A number of people are working hard on landmark status as well. In the meantime, we need to get this wide streets amendment passed.

Transit Blogging Serendipity

Mia and I took a long weekend up in the Berkshires to get some hiking in and relax in a rural setting. I grew up in the woods, after all, and it's nice to get back to nature every so often . . . while working to make sure that we preserve the rural environment through sound transit and development policy.

We stayed at a rustic little place called the Race Brook Lodge just outside of Great Barrington, MA, where we had a fantastic dinner Saturday night at their Stagecoach Tavern. I can't begin to explain the eclectic and rustic decor of the place, which along with the candlelight gives it an incredibly cozy, homey feel. I almost wished it were winter, so we could enjoy our meal next to a roaring fire.

Anyway, all this is just setting the scene. On Sunday afternoon we hiked up to the Race Brook Falls(cascade pictured above). We paused at the foot of the falls, about 1 mile into our strenuous hike, to take in the view, and met a gentleman in his 50s who was coming down the mountain. We made small talk while he waited for his son Ben and the rest of their party. Ben emerged from the woods and began cleaning out a scrape in the pure cold water of the brook . . . and I'll be damned if it wasn't Ben Kabak of Second Avenue Sagas.

120 miles from Brooklyn, in another state and a mile up a mountain on a steep hiking trail. What are the odds of that? I guess support of mass transit and a love of the outdoors go hand in hand.

I Am Popular!

How else to explain such heartfelt entreaties in my inbox from wealthy strangers living abroad?

Honey,
URGENT More information
i want to come to your country to stay with you,honey,please dont be surprise,my parents were died by food poison and my uncle sent me out from his house,he is wicked man i hate him and i can never stay with him anymore.

if you promised to send me letter of invitation and will not cheat me when i come to stay with you,i promised you will never regret having me,my late father has with his bank 2.5MUS$,i was his only daughter living nexk of kin,my uncle is wicked thats why i refused to give him my inheritance and he send me out from his house.I am 20 years old and my brother 17 years oId from Small country origin Seirra Leone Republic,i want to be a nurse when i come to your country,the bank remittance director said i am too small to handle such money that i should look for foreign partner to stand for me for easy transfer and investment purposes,that is why i am seeking for your help if you wish.

Pls,honey,tell me about you? and i want to see your picture how you look like?

Rose Linda Benjamin

O internet, you bring me so much joy.
~

Gowanus Goes Green - Next Sunday June 1st

This looks like a lot of fun . . . and who can argue with environmentally friendly fare, food, and entertainment? I took my niece to see sokme music at The Yard last summer. It really is a great space. The combination of trees, the adaptive reuse of the silos for studio space, and the location right on the Gowanus made for a very pleasant experience. I regretted then that they weren't selling refreshments, but it looks like this time around they'll be stocked up. Details below and available in full at the Gowanus Canal Conservancy.

Come celebrate the Gowanus Canal and its watershed at an all day festival on the banks of the canal! Showcasing an assortment of environ-mentally-conscious products andservices from Brooklyn businesses.Great music, organic and natural food,educational workshops, kids activities and more for the whole family!!!! Free admission for the public.

The Yard - Carroll Street on the Canal(between Bond and Nevins Street)
Sunday,June 1, 2008 - 11:00am to 6:00pm
featuring The DEFiBULATORs playing at 12:00 and 2:30

For more information on exhibiting or sponsorship, please contact Lauren Collins at (718) 858-0557 or lauren@gowanus.org.

Check it out!
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A Fresh Steaming Pile From The Brooklyn Paper

And I mean that in the nicest way.

The Paper excreted a podcast on a fantastically functional, fecally-focused feature of a Fort Greene community garden.

A community garden in Fort Greene has installed a solar-powered, composting toilet — and, naturally, Editor Gersh Kuntzman loaded up on high-fiber cereal and coffee to offer his review

Reminder: G Train Rally Today

The rally for the G-train will be tonight at 6:30 p.m. at Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church. The church is located at 85 S. Oxford St., and can best be reached by taking the G-train to Fulton St., and walking up Fulton to S. Oxford, or taking the C train to Lafayette, and walking up Lafayette to S. Oxford. The church is on the corner of Lafayette and S. Oxford, with the entrance that we will be using on the S. Oxford St. side of the building.

Attending the rally will be Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, Councilwoman Letita James, Councilman David Yassky, Councilwoman Diana Reyna, as well as representatives from Assemblyman Joe Lentol and Assemblywoman Joan Millman's offices, representing a broad swath of both city and state leaders whose districts rely on the G train.

Yours truly will be there representing CGNA.

It's not enough to merely demand better G service . . . a line that sorely needs improvement in terms of longer cars, stations served, and timeliness. Our state officials, having failed to pass congestion pricing, need to step up to the plate and come up with funding for the mass transit improvements and expansion this city desperately needs.

NY-13: Fossella Not Running; Recchia Out?

Swing State Project has a post up with speculation on candidates . . . potentially one or more Staten Island Dems will challenge Steve Harrison for the Democratic nomination and speculation that Domenic Recchia will drop out, while the GOP is looking for a successor to Fossella, who announced he will not stand for reelection. (Ya think?)

Another interesting race this year, as the national Republican party implodes.