Long Live Gowanus!
May 13, 2008
Last night I was invited to sit in on the graduate presentations in the urban planning department at Hunter College. First, coming from a Southern University, I was so surprised to be served wine and pizza! This was all before the lights went down and the power points went up.
The quality of the presentations were good. The first couple of groups focused a lot of time and emphasis on finance; which, yes, is critical to making building build. But, I was after the nitty gritty.
Thankfully, this is what the third and final group provided me with. The Gowanus in Brooklyn is a sink hole haven, sandwiched right in between two of the most expensive neighborhoods in Brooklyn. Carroll Gardens and Park Slope.
Once upon a time, when I resided in the Slope, I used to ride my bike past the UHUAL rentals and the only Holiday Inn for miles to reach the Gowanus. I usually went to visit a friend of mine, Sash, who lives on a boat right in the canal.
Gowanus is a post industrial wasteland with a lot of environment stench. Sasha regularly has to chisel condoms off the side of her boat.
The presentation provided an accurate portrayal of a very much unseen/hidden area that desperately need recognition. Well done.
Do or Die in the Stuy
May 11, 2008
This, my friends, is my neighborhood in Brooklyn. The brilliant Spike Lee directed Do the Right Thing in 1989 to shed light on the racial tension of Bedford Stuyvesant. Unfortunately, not much has changed, almost twenty years post production.
City Room: The Politics of Curb Cuts and Driveways
May 11, 2008
Dispatches: As construction has boomed in recent years, many property owners have sought permits for curb cuts to create driveway entrances, irritating neighbors who fear loss of street parking.
An eccentric, lost talent was revived at the Chelsea Hotel when the lives of two artists, a generation apart, intersected.
First Baptist Church
May 4, 2008
Finally someone has enough sense to map out the impact of FBCJ on the “urban downtown” of Jacksonville.
You can’t have a religious(Southern Baptist) institution control a downtown area! Idiots! FBCJ literally has the City of Jacksonville by the balls. No, better yet the balls are in their mouth.
This Creates major problems;
1. The museum. MOCA Jacksonivlle, where I once interned, has little to no say about the selection of the art work!
2. No businesses! Restaurants! (expect Chew, Cafe Nola, and burrito gallery)
It’s also never a good thing when the most foot traffic and population downtown experiences is on a Sunday. Downtown sees the most action only when the Jesus lovers climb into their ridiculously over priced SUVS in their Sunday best and drive from the gated communities of South Side. The interesting fact is that when worship is out, the congregation leaves! They don’t even eat their Sunday lunches downtown! Why is this? Are they too scared that the “homeless” people from Springfield are going to include them in the murder count? Or do they need the comfort of shorter buildings? How can this be resolved?
NY NY
May 1, 2008
The moments I experience on rooftops/decks are when I feel most “on top” of New York City. High enough to see the Manhattan Bridge with the dark grey clouds hoverring over its beams. Or glancing over Tribeca towards the gritty, capitialistic finanical district. This is the place where things happen; where people are inspired to become something; something great; someting they never thought possible.
Against Odds, New Orleans Schools Fight Back
April 30, 2008
There is still disorder in many classrooms in New Orleans, but there is also learning going on, amid the struggle.
Bicycle-Sharing Program to Be First of Kind in U.S.
April 27, 2008
Starting next month, people in Washington DC will be able to borrow a bicycle any time they need one with the swipe of a membership card.
Through Weegee’s Lens
April 27, 2008
Jill Freedman was born decades after the legendary photographer of ’30s grit, but her visions of the underside of the city of the ’70s have a similar power to shock.
getting it done!
April 26, 2008
I am discovering the fragility of relationships, passion and life.
It’s all very interesting to intellectualize. Today I thought about
giving up; leaving work, gathering my shit, and attempt to start
organizing my thoughts. NO. I started phase two, letter two
-apologizing to someone i love- now i am feeling STRONGER BETTER
FASTER. Something inside of me wanted out, and on paper.
Here I am in my button down white dress shirt with lipstick and dirt
stains on my collar. All a horrible remembrance of last night’s
happening. All a reminder of exactly what not to do.
At work, miserable, hungover and on the verge of puking, I met Carol.
She’s 62 years old and has lived in NYC her entire life. She majored
in economics and spent 25 years at AT&T working for THE MAN. She and
30,000 others(with families to feed) were fired with 3 weeks notice
in 1991. She was 54 at this point and decided it would be a good idea
to get her PHD! She spent weekends, being the oldest student in her
class, and become a doctor at GWU in DC. Capetown, South Africa, is
where she’s been developing school systems and lending a caring,
helping hand. We don’t realize, most all the time, how things which
we think are important really don’t matter at ALL. Speaking to Carol
in my state of misery made me jump back, spin around (180 style) and
“hold the phone.”
Drinking! SEX! Stimulation! the fucking INTERNETS! it’s all SHIT
Checking your reality and realm/bubble is entirely important. In
fact, a priority. Just when i start to think things are begging to go
sour and end up in the trash, I have an uplifting encounter which
puts me right back on my train tracks!
