Queens Crap: LIC you later!

"It puts us out on Long Island, and that's inaccurate — we are urban and hip."

I can see where that would be confusing to out of town people. But for the record, all of Brooklyn and Queens are part of Long Island. So it's not "inaccurate". 

http://queenscrap.blogspot.com/2013/02/lic-you-later.html?m=1

Typos courtesy of my iPhone

How greed and politics nearly destroyed the coast | The Asbury Park Press NJ | app.com

What's the opposite of enlightened self interest?

" Just a few holdouts can kill a proposed beach and dune project and leave an entire town at risk. Eminent domain is an expensive option that towns generally cannot afford. Many beachfront homeowners are wealthy business people, doctors, lawyers and retirees who can afford to fight city hall for a very long time.

.…

In Harvey Cedars on Long Beach Island, a court ordered the town of 340 to pay one beachfront homeowner $375,000. The reason: the out-of-town couple said the new 22-foot-high protective dune ruined their view of the ocean, thus decreasing the value of their $1.7 million property. This test case had some homeowners along the beach, many of whom own houses worth several million dollars, holding out in hopes of gaining a windfall for signing the necessary easements."

I grew up 20 minutes (and a world apart!) from Harvey Cedars. 

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012312230044&gcheck=1&nclick_check=1

Typos courtesy of my iPhone

Infrastructure Spending: It Works On So Many Levels

Money is cheap.  People need jobs.  Our infrastructure needs a lot of work.  Austerity is a proven failure.  How about some stimulus spending?  I've got a list longer than your arm of project ideas.

Suggestions here (from interested professional association, but nevertheless valid).  Via The Big Picture.

Holy Schist!

Manhattan schist, that is. 

http://gothamist.com/2013/02/16/photos_east_side_access.php#photo-1

Photo from MTA via Gothamist. 

Typos courtesy of my iPhone

American Assassinations For Dummies

One of the bits of conservative cognitive dissonance that makes me
want to bang my head against a tree is "American Exceptionalism". The
very same people who proudly proclaim their adherence to the concept
often derisively apply the pejorative "moral relativism" on political
opponents.

American Exceptionalism is the great excuse these moral degenerates
and cowards use to justify their casual disregard for the rule of law,
human rights, international law, and the golden rule.

https://nsfwcorp.com/dispatch/assassinations

What takes real courage and honor is introspection and self
improvement. In a Democracy it's up to all if us to keep our
government honest, and to punish those who abuse it's powers.

And I'll say this as a staunch Democrat: It's an outrage that the
Obama administration has done more to prosecute whistleblowers than to
prosecute the unlawful excesses of the Bush administration. Indeed,
in some areas the Obama administration has been even more aggressive
(drone strikes, whistleblower persecution) than his predecessor. We
have to be better than this.

Beware! F/G Train Disruptions This Weekend

Another weekend of F & G subway service disruption. I'm ready for this Culver Viaduct reconstruction to be over, how about you?

Image courtesy of @proBRUCEr


Investigate before you leave the house at the MTA's Weekender Service Advisory site.

On The Uninspiring Transit and Livable Streets Stances of Mayoral Candidates

To quote Ben Fried:

"So mayoral candidates aren't going to campaign on road pricing, even if they believe in it, and in the end, the person who has the most power to make it happen is the governor. If the NYC region is going to get a rationally priced road network and a well-funded transit system, it's up to Andrew Cuomo to get things started — from the looks of it, preferably sometime after the mayoral election."

http://www.streetsblog.org/2013/02/15/chris-quinn-i-dont-anticipate-congestion-pricing-coming-back-around

This is true.  Sadly the conventional wisdom is that pro-transit, pro-bike and pro-livable streets platforms are not political winners.  I think that's utter bullshit.  But it IS the conventional wisdom. 

I don't expect to see a single candidate put forth an inspiring position on these issues. Is that sad?  Yes.  Does it make me angry?  Yes.  Do I feel hopeless?  Absolutely not. 

Do watch out for candidates who signal a truly backwards/reactionary position on complete streets and transit, congestion pricing et al.  But don't expect a white knight to appear until after the election is over.  

And certainly don't write off a solid progressive candidate *cough* De Blasio *cough cough* because of tepid positions in this area.  Maddening as it is, it's still perceived to be politically risky for citywide campaigns.