The Eminent Domain

Board 3 Unanimously Approves Rezoning for East Village/ Lower East Side (The Villager)

The Past and Future of Sustainability (Gotham Gazette)

A Coney Island Strip Mall? (Brooklyn Paper)

Coney Island: Rides or Shopping? (NY Times)

Promised Brooklyn Community Center May Not Open (NY times)

Public Housing Residents Face Loss of Their Community Centers (NY Times)

Car-free Manhattan Boulevards on August Saturdays (Gothamist)

Upper East Side Tower Plan Significantly Scaled Back (New York Sun)

Brooklyn has changed tremendously over the last few years. With the building of condos and the closing down of stores that have been around for years, it’s no wonder that the folks who were here before are different from who is moving in.

I love Brooklyn. This is my home. This is where I’ve lived my entire life. It’s where I went to school from pre-K to 12^th grade. Brooklyn is dying a slow and terrible death, where she is silenced by the tearing down of her walls and the demeaning voices of developers and gentrifies are engulfing her and the rest of us. It kills me to know how money has overpowered the integrity of my borough and my community and what’s good just seems to be falling to the wayside.

FUREE’S been working so hard to do something, anything to help the people living here, since we are the ones directly affected by this change. I don’t live in squalor. I’ve do well at school, help my community, am active in many events to help my community members and my school and yet, I’m being displaced with many other community members. Why should I struggle so hard to find a job, to get into college, to live in my community and to keep my home when others take it so easily from me and mine?

It seems that there is nothing being done to provide what’s really needed in Brooklyn, especially in Brooklyn schools. Many neighborhoods are deprived of bare necessities and education is one of them. How is it that the city and developers have millions of dollars to build condos that are still empty, yet school buildings in my neighborhood and in the surrounding neighborhoods where poor people of color live, are falling apart? Why are school books more than 10 years old? Why are there teachers teaching subjects they didn’t go to school for and aren’t qualified to teach? Why are schools throwing away massive amounts of food every day when there are shelters near with hungry people?

I love Brooklyn. It’s my home. But it’s changed and it’s not for the better. Hopefully as a student entering college, I’ll be able to make even more change in my community.

Saturday, May 17^th, was FUREE’s 5^th Annual Convention. This year was the best convention ever. We had a good turn out with nearly 300 people in attendance, and we had our politicians show up as well: Charles Barron, Hakeem Jeffries, Latisha James, Joseph Lentol, Valmanette Montgomery, and a representative from Governor Patterson’s office.

The convention is a yearly community forum where we invited elected officials and others that can help members of the community with the issues they have.

We heard testimonies about how our communities are not given enough attention by the local officials, but specifically what I liked was the youth representatives who were there.  The youth at FUREE conducted a survey over 6 weeks with more than 300 youth, from 14 different high schools, who answered questions about issues that are important to us.

Clayton, a member of FUREE’s Youth Organizing Initiative, presented the findings and youth demands, went up there and told the politicians what youth wanted:

• Job opportunities
• College preparation
• Safety in schools
• and more after-school programs

We came out to make sure that the youth demands were heard loud and clear by politicians and our community.

Clayton says: My experience at the FUREE convention was a good experience because I was able to go on stage and speak for the youth about lack of jobs, safety in schools, college preparation and police brutality. What I learned from this experience is that this battle we are in is just getting started.

We will win this war for Brooklyn. We will change Brooklyn back to the old ways and if not we will develop Brooklyn into a community that’s affordable, beautiful and meant for all the people of Brooklyn.

– Nahyshene Molina and Clayton Williams, Youth Activists

Tuesday, June 17, 2008, 6;30pm
Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Avenue at 103 Street, Manhattan
RESERVATIONS REQUIRED
$9 General admission
$5 Museum members, seniors, and students

Jones Beach is an example of visionary parkway, park, and recreational design. Yet, it is unprotected by historic park designation or a master plan, and some advocates believe that Jones Beach is slowly losing some elements of its special character. Alexandra Parsons Wolfe, Director of Preservation Services, Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities, will present a picture tour of Jones Beach past and present, and discuss its status, stewardship, and proposed plans. She will be joined by Erin Tobin of the Preservation League of New York State, who will explain why Jones Beach was recently declared one of the “Seven to Save” locations in New York State.

Thursday, June 19, 2008, 11:30am
Humanities and Social Sciences Library Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, Manhattan

In this hands-on class, participants learn how to research antiquarian maps using traditional methods as well as new Geographic Information Systems (G.I.S) accessible only in the Map Division. Learn about new tools to research the latest New York City property information, as well as how to make your own map using the latest G.I.S. software. This class is hosted by the New york Public Library, limited to 6 people, and will be held in the Map Division, Room 117. Please register before the class by e-mailing southcourt@nypl.org or by calling 212.930.9284.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008, 7pm
Humanities and Social Sciences Library Fifth Ave and 42nd St
Cost: $15 general admission; $10 library donors, seniors and students with valid identification

The current exhibition at The New York Public Library, Eminent Domain: Contemporary Photography and the City (through August 29) features the work of five contemporary New York–based photographers—Thomas Holton, Bettina Johae, Reiner Leist, Zoe Leonard, and Ethan Levitas—whose works resonate with current concerns about the reorganization of urban space, and its public use, in New York City. The Atlantic Yards will serve as a focus through which the evening will begin. After a summary of how the use of eminent domain is shaping our City, an open discussion with the audience will address what all of this means for the future of NYC.

Panelists
Marshall Berman, Professor of Political Science, City College and the Graduate Center
Mindy Fullilove, Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Public Health at Columbia University
Tom Angotti, Professor of Urban Affairs & Planning at Hunter College
Brian Berger, photographer/blogger

Moderator
Michael Galinsky, Filmmaker

Tuesday, June 17, 2008, 6:30pm
St. John’s Lutheran Church 83 Christopher Street, between 7th Avenue and Bleecker Street
Reservations Required: rsvp@gvshp.org or (212) 475-9585 x 35

The Annual Village Awards are sponsored by GVSHP to honor people, places and organizations that contribute significantly to the quality of life in the neighborhood. The evening is free and open to anyone interested in learning about GVSHP’s efforts to protect the architectural and cultural heritage of Greenwich Village, Noho, and the East Village.

Thursday, June 12, 2008, 6:30-8:30pm
Parish Hall, Saint Mark’s Church-in the-Bowery, 131 East 10th Street at 2nd Avenue
RSVP to info@neighborhoodpreservationcenter.org or call (212) 228-2781

Please join us for a screening of Twilight Becomes Night, a short documentary set in New York City which explores the pivotal role of neighborhood stores in our lives and our communities.

After the screening, students at Pratt Institute’s Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment will present their study of the East Village conducted on behalf of the East Village Community Coalition and recommend strategies for retaining local businesses in the neighborhood. This will be followed by a discussion with film-maker Virginie-Alvine Perrette led by Vicki Weiner, Director of Planning & Preservation at the Pratt Center for Community Development.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008, 7:30pm
Horace Mann School, Gross Theater, 231 West 246th Street, Bronx

Bronx Community Board 8 (Riverdale, Spuyten Duyvil, Van Cortlandt Village, Kingsbridge, Kingsbridge Heights, Fieldston, and Marble Hill) general board meeting.

Call 718.884.3959 or visit the website for more information.

Thursday, June 12, 2008, 2pm
Humanities and Social Sciences Library, Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, Manhattan

Researching the architecture of a building in New York City can be difficult and bewildering. This class introduces print and online resources to make this process less daunting and more productive. NYPL’s collections are emphasized, but important resources throughout the metropolitan area are also introduced.