Gowanus Canal Pictures, Feb. 20, 2010

As Joy, Jacob and I strolled along Union Street, we noticed that even in the middle of winter (Feb. 20, 2010) the Gowanus Canal stank. And when we neared it, this is what we saw.

Photos by Joy Romanski

View from Union St. Bridge over the Gowanus:




Closeup 1:



Closeup 2:




Disgusting and really stinky. Can't imagine living or working along the banks. But this wasn't the worst we have seen. It gets even worse in the summer in terms of both stink and slime. On July 26, 2008 my wife took the following pictures of the 9th St. bridge over the Gowanus Canal:



See the lovely phase change between the solid slick and the water? Here's what it looked like on the opposite bank:



Yes...that is a glass bottle embedded and suspended by the muck. Want to see a close up?



More debris enshrined in the amber-like "water":



Though for sheer "man that is gross" impact, nothing can beat a used latex glove embedded in the crap:



It is no wonder why the EPA wants to designate it a Superfund site and clean it up. I can't believe ANYONE would be so greedy and callous as to want to develop the canal without a thorough cleanup. My wife calls it a Love Canal waiting to happen. I should note that among those who support the Superfund cleanup of the Gowanus are:

# United States Environmental Protection Agency
# New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
# The Army Corps of Engineers
# Columbia University’s Urban Design Lab

That's not counting the environmental groups, local neighborhood organizations and local politicians. I am only mentioning the groups with both expertise on the issue and no bias or stake in the matter.

I also want to highlight another expert opinion: that of Tom Angotti, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Community Planning & Development at Hunter College. Another voice I would hesitate to ignore! Here is part of his statement from an excellent piece for Pardon Me For Asking on May 22, 2009:

I am deeply concerned about the future of the Gowanus area. It is one of the most contaminated in New York City and I find it troubling that after so many years of concern by residents and workers in the area, city government has yet to carry out a thorough study that looks at the long-term effects of the contamination on the health of people who live and work in the area. Nor does the city have an adequate strategy to clean it up the Canal. Designation of a Superfund Site would bring to bear the missing attention and resources and while it will not resolve all environmental and health problems it will bring us much closer than New York City’s limited efforts.

The proposal to rezone the area advanced by New York City Department of City Planning (DCP) can derail efforts to improve the environment. It is not based on any careful scientific study of contamination, the long-term effects of climate change and sea-level rise, or existing and future impacts on human health and local ecosystems. The rezoning responds to proposals for new residential development and would limit existing and potential industrial uses. DCP claims that as sites get redeveloped property owners will be required to clean them up. However, environmental impact statements (EIS) for individual sites, even large sites, will not produce the kind of remediation needed to make the Gowanus safe for residents and workers. First of all the EIS is a disclosure document. Applicants are required to disclose potential impacts; they are not required to remediate pre-existing conditions, nor are they even required to mitigate unhealthy conditions that are created by their own projects. And site-specific mitigation may very well lead to the migration of toxic waste to other sites and increase public exposures to unhealthy conditions. The EIS is so inadequate as a tool for environmental improvement that specialists at both the conservative Manhattan Institute’s Center for Rethinking Development and my Center, on the opposite end of the philosophical spectrum, agree that it needs a major overhaul...

City government also wants us to believe that the current plan by its Department of Environmental Protection to flush out the Canal, once it is fully implemented, will constitute an adequate cleanup. However, flushing out the canal will not remove the toxic sediment in the canal or prevent leeching into surrounding properties. It will not resolve the long-term problem of contaminated Combined Sewer Overflows. It will not make further development around the Gowanus Canal safe for people who live and work there.

We hear the argument that even if Superfund cleanup might be better if will take too long and in the meantime prevent new development, which is supposed to mean more jobs and housing units. This is a reckless way of treating public health hazards. It can also result in a net loss of jobs as residential uses replace industry. New residential development within breathing distance of the Gowanus Canal will place many more people at risk of chronic diseases such as cancer and respiratory illnesses. Government has not adequately studied existing levels of exposure or projected future levels of exposure. This is needed so that the public can make informed judgments about whether or not to develop, where to develop, and the precautionary measures that need to be taken.

There is more of his excellent, expert analysis. Please read his whole statement on Pardon Me for Asking.

The Gowanus Canal neighborhood has so much potential. Even now there are some real gems, including a pottery shop and an art gallery (Proteus Gowanus) in a former box factory on the corner of Union St and Third Ave:



The pottery is Claireware, and has some beautiful stuff. From her website:



Proteus Gowanus includes the following ongoing projects all in one building near the canal:

Proteotypes
The publishing arm of Proteus Gowanus, an interdisciplinary gallery and reading room in Brooklyn, New York. Proteus Gowanus develops exhibits of art, artifacts, objects and books around a yearlong theme. Related programs are held at the gallery throughout that year.

Fixer’s Collective
The Fixers Collective is a social experiment in improvisational fixing and mending that grew out of a yearlong exhibition at Proteus Gowanus entitled MEND.

Anonima
An archive of visual art, books, documents and ephemera from a 1960’s artist collaborative including Ernst Benkert, Frank Hewitt and Ed Mieczkowski.

Blue Fire
This archival installation by Wendy Walker centers on a young British woman named Constance Kent, who in 1865 confessed to the brutal murder of her three year old half-brother. Kent’s detailed narrative, which inspired the first examples in two literary genres, true crime and sensation fiction, does not tally with the facts established by forensic evidence.

Reanimation Library
Developed by artist/librarian Andrew Beccone, the independent library serves artists, writers and other cultural archeologists.

Hall of the Gowanus
A mini-museum and store of art, artifacts and books related to the Gowanus Canal acknowledges our post-industrial neighbor and namesake as the site of the Revolutionary Battle of Brooklyn; a vital 19th century industrial canal; and the post-industrial polluted waterway and inspiration for artists and writers that it is today. We invite you to help us expand our collection by emailing us ideas for Gowanus-related art, artifacts, books and weblinks. We are interested in an interdisciplinary array of material relating to Gowanus history, art, ecology (past and present) and urban exploration. We are compiling a list for possible inclusion in an expanded Hall of the Gowanus in the future.

Museum of Matches
Developed by artist Sasha Chavchavadze, the Museum of Matches project explores the Cold War through an evolving array of visual art, narrative prose, documents, photographs, memorabilia and publications.
Morbid Anatomy

Morbid Anatomy Library
Developed by Joanna Ebenstein, Morbid Anatomy is a project begun in 2007 to survey the interstices of art and medicine, death and culture. The library is usually open by appointment only.

Oulipo
A library and bookstore of books related to the French literary movement, Oulipo, founded in 1960. Oulipian writing involves composing text according to constraints (rules) that are invented and arbitrary. Writers are compelled to say what they had never thought to say in ways they never would have chosen to say it. It is a method for making sense differently; for escaping old or ready-made ideas, subjects, and formulations; for creating many and various alternative realities and discovering what is true in them.

Observatory
A new exhibition/classroom/event space run by a group of seven artists and bloggers. The space seeks to present programming inspired by the 18th century notion of “rational amusement” and is especially interested in topics residing at the interstices of learning and amusement, art and science, and history and curiosity. The space hosts screenings, lectures, classes and exhibitions.

Bet most people in central Brooklyn don't know we have a great resource like this right in the neighborhood. But overall the neighborhood can be even better...but only if the stink and slime of the canal are cleaned up. If we just let the EPA clean it up we could have a great neighborhood along the canal.

Billboard in New Zealand Pisses off Christians

Seems a church in New Zealand (yes...this isn't an anti-church thing) has put up a billboard "challenging stereotypes" of the Christ conception story, that I (admittedly as a non-Christian) find hilarious, however some Christians are finding offensive. Here's the billboard:



And you can read more about the controversy at BBC News. Meanwhile, the whole thing reminds me of a friend I had in college who told me about his very devout Catholic grandmother who once expressed that though she believes in the absolute word of the bible, she has some SERIOUS doubts about this whole virgin birth thing.

The Science of Violence

An amazing study just came out in the journal Nature where people studied violent conflicts statistically and found that such conflicts all follow very similar patterns. And those patterns are very similar to how financial markets (also based on human behavior) function. Here is the abstract of the article:

Many collective human activities, including violence, have been shown to exhibit universal patterns. The size distributions of casualties both in whole wars from 1816 to 1980 and terrorist attacks have separately been shown to follow approximate power-law distributions. However, the possibility of universal patterns ranging across wars in the size distribution or timing of within-conflict events has barely been explored. Here we show that the sizes and timing of violent events within different insurgent conflicts exhibit remarkable similarities. We propose a unified model of human insurgency that reproduces these commonalities, and explains conflict-specific variations quantitatively in terms of underlying rules of engagement. Our model treats each insurgent population as an ecology of dynamically evolving, self-organized groups following common decision-making processes. Our model is consistent with several recent hypotheses about modern insurgency18, 19, 20, is robust to many generalizations, and establishes a quantitative connection between human insurgency, global terrorism and ecology. Its similarity to financial market models provides a surprising link between violent and non-violent forms of human behaviour

What is most striking is just how similar the patterns are whether you look at Afghanistan, Iraq, Peru or Colombia. They analyze both the size and timing of events and show that they fall on a very well-defined straight line on a log-log graph. Thus small scale attacks of violence occur more frequently and large-scale events far more rarely, though such large scale attacks are NOT isolated, unique events but rather simply one extreme of the normal dynamics of a conflict. The authors use these similarities across conflicts to formulate a model of insurgency by "treating the insurgent population as an ecology of dynamically evolving, decision-making groups..."

This model cannot be used to predict specific attacks any more than financial modeling can predict specific ups and downs of the markets or climate models can predict specific hurricanes or El Nino years. But, as with these other fields, this study can be used to analyze the overall dynamics of conflicts and could be used for emergency planning as well as for the timing and nature of interventions and diplomacy. Cool stuff and it shows that violent conflicts are far more orderly than I would have predicted.

You can see an article about this study on BBC News.

Earth-like, Watery World Discovered

In the recent issue of Nature is an article reporting the most earth-like planet yet discovered outside our solar system and, importantly, one that is very likely to be watery...perhaps as much as 50% water.

From the News and Views in this week's Nature:

The hunt for Earth-like worlds has taken a major step forward with the discovery of a planet only 2.7 times larger than Earth. Its mass and size are just as theorists would expect for a water-rich super-Earth...

Charbonneau's team1 has found that the small, faint star GJ 1214 undergoes repeated dimming of 1.3% for 52 minutes every 1.6 days. The only plausible interpretation is that a planet orbits the star with an orbital period of 1.6 days and that it has a radius that is 12% that of the star. Good estimates of the star's radius (21% that of the Sun) put the planet's radius at only 2.7 Earth radii. Such a small planet orbiting a star other than the Sun is an extraordinary find. With the tools currently available, only one other extrasolar planet has been reported that is thought to be close in size to Earth, namely CoRoT-7b, at 1.7 Earth radii. The new planet, which is only about 13 parsecs away, is named GJ 1214b. Importantly, it pulls gravitationally on its host star, causing the star to move with a speed of 12 m s−1, which the team has detected through measurements of wavelength shifts in the star's light (the Doppler effect). The planet's inferred mass is a mere 6.6 Earth masses, which, when combined with its radius, leads to a density of 1.9 g cm−3. By contrast, Earth's average density is much higher, at 5.5 g cm−3. Because water has a low density of about 1 g cm−3, the chemical composition of the new planet is probably some admixture of rock and water, with perhaps a small atmosphere of hydrogen and helium...

That solid material forms the building blocks of large planets such as Saturn and Neptune, and perhaps smaller planets as well, such as the new one1. But the density of 1.9 g cm−3 for this new planet imposes a constraint on the relative amounts of each constituent. To keep the planet's density that low requires that it contains large amounts of water. If the planet were pure Fe and silicates, its density would be similar to Earth's. It must contain a huge amount of water, roughly 50% by mass.

The actual article can be found here.

This planet would NOT be just like earth. The atmosphere is likely to be very different and it is not clear whether there could be solid continents to support terrestrial life. However, I am of the opinion that anywhere you find liquid water, there is a good shot of at least simple (bacteria-like) life if not more complex life.

GJ 1214b as it is now called is quite a landmark discovery. It is hard to see it that way now, since it is unlikely that any kind of exploratory mission can be launched any time soon, so we have to rely on indirect methods of studying it. But I suspect a lot of smart people are thinking right now of how we can get a good look at what seems like a big, very watery, possibly (probably?) life-bearing world in our general galactic neighborhood.

New York Focus: The Ongoing Working Families Party Scandal

I got a fair amount of crap from people about my coverage of the Working Families Party scandal, wherein WFP was caught red handed violating campaign finance laws. Several people told me to lay off them because they are progressives. To me, though, corruption by people I agree with on policy is worse than corruption by Republicans, who I expect it from. So I covered the WFP scandal despite attacks from fellow progressives.

Well, now WFP and one of their star candidates, Developer Shill Bill de Blasio, have been subpoenaed by the U.S. Attorney's Office. So folks, it isn't just me who thinks WFP, Developer Money, and Bill de Blasio are rotten to the core despite their progressive rhetoric. From the New York Observer:

The Working Families Party has received a subpoena from the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District seeking information in connection with its efforts in the 2009 elections, a spokesman for the labor-backed party confirmed...

The party is being sued for its work on Staten Island Councilwoman-elect Debi Rose's campaign. A judge ruled last week that the trial can go forward.

It was also the subject of at least one complaint filed with the CFB.

Three days after the Nov. 3 elections, the party announced it had hired Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom to conduct a thorough review of the structure and relationship between the WFP and its for-profit arm, Data & Field Services. The review is being led by former Chief Judge Judith Kaye...

It's hard to overstate how bad this could be for the WFP.

I personally think that WFP skirted the edge of legality close enough that in the end there will be little actual punishment for their actions. But in my mind they have finally abandoned all pretense of being a reform organization. They have shown a complete willingness to bend and break laws and cooperate with corrupt political machines like the Vito Lopez machine in Brooklyn. WFP may well survive this scandal, but it is a real scandal nonetheless and one that finally shows their true colors: they are nothing more than another corrupt machine interested in their own power more than in actual governance. In this sense they are the same as the Vito Lopez or Clarence Norman machine which had perfectly respectable policy stands in most cases, but were corrupt as can be. I have high expectations of my fellow progressives. I don't accept corruption just because they have good rhetoric on policy. I find the corruption of Brooklyn's Democratic machine embarrassing as hell, and the corruption of the WFP is just as bad if not worse.

For a LOT more on the WFP scandal (I haven't covered it much recently due to taking some time off from blogging) please see the excellent coverage by the City Hall News here, here, here and here. And that's just the stuff published since I took a break from blogging.

(P.S. I know some of you out there are going to complain about this article, but how the hell can I speak out against Republican corruption if I don't speak out against this crap?)32

Who needs healthcare reform? Texas leads the pack!

Overwhelmingly Texas seems to be the state that is MOST in need of healthcare reform. Massachussetts is the state that needs it the least.

From Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/votes/house/healthcare/index.html?hpid=topnews

Here are the districts with greater than 30% of their people uninsured:
CA-31: 42.4%
TX-28: 35.5%
FL-21: 31.3%
FL-25: 31.3%
TX-20: 31.3%
TX-29: 43.0%
TX-9: 37.3%
IL-4: 32.2%
FL-23: 34.1%
TX-15: 36.6%
TX-18: 36%
TX-30: 38.4%
GA-4: 30.2%
FL-17: 35.9%
TX-27: 32.0%
AZ-4: 34.5%
TX-16: 34.6%
FL-18: 32.7%
CA-34: 38.0%
CA-47: 31.7%
TX-32: 35.7%
CA-33: 30.2%

TX: 10 districts
FL: 5 districts
CA: 4 districts
GA: 1 district
AZ: 1 district
IL: 1 district

Texas REALLY stands out with Florida and California distant seconds.

And next are the districts with fewer than 10% uninsured: (less obvious pattern)

HI-1: 6.0%
MO-2: 7.9%
PA-4: 8.6%
MN-6: 7.7%
WI-2: 9.0%
IL-13: 8.2%
IA-3: 9.2%
MA-8: 6.8%
CT-2: 9.0%
MA-10: 5.1%
MA-4: 4.0%
NJ-11: 7.4%
NJ-5: 9.3%
PA-6: 7.9%
HI-2: 9.4%
NJ-12: 7.6%
NY-3: 7.2%
MN-2: 6.9%
NJ-7: 8.0%
NY-26: 7.0%
MA-9: 4.3%
MA-7: 5.2%
MA-3: 3.7%
PA-8: 6.9%
PA-18: 7.6%
MA-2: 4.3%
MA-1: 4.5%
MN-3: 7.4%
WI-6: 8.7%
PA-19: 9.6%
WA-8: 9.8%
PA-13: 9.6%
WI-5: 6.2%
PA-7: 7.3%
MA-6: 4.1%
MA-5: 4.0%
MN-1: 8.9%
CA-30: 9.6%

MA: 8 districts (many around or below 5%!!)
PA: 7 districts
MN: 4 districts
NJ: 4 districts
WI: 3 districts
HI: 2 districts
NY: 2 districts
MO: 1 district
CA: 1 district
IL: 1 district
IA: 1 district
WA: 1 district
CT: 1 district

Texas should be at the forefront of healthcare reform with Florida coming in second. Massachussetts already has its own excellent healthcare system and Pennsylvania doesn't seem to be doing so badly, but most of the rest of us really need healthcare reform.

Nov. 3, 2009 NYC Elections: Updated Endorsement List

I posted most of this before, but I have a couple of additions. For my
Brooklyn readers, my endorsement for Brooklyn BP is fulfilling a
promise I made, so please consider it.

Mayor: Bill Thompson (Democratic Party)

One of the best things I have heard said about Bill Thompson was meant
to disparage his chances: Bill Thompson was accused of "being too much
of a gentleman" to win against Bloomberg. Honestly, that comment made
me like Thompson more. Thompson is a good, solid Democrat and I think
it is about time this very Democratic city stop having dictatorial,
pro-business, anti-labor mayors. Mayor Bloomberg isn't bad...for a
Republican. But he IS a Republican not just in name but in actions.
His education policy has been little more than privatizing our
educational system. This has made it a money maker for outside
contractors who deal with the increasingly arduous and Byzantine
testing and admissions processes, but it doesn't really help parents
or students. If students don't do well enough, too often they get
dropped from the system so the tests won't be affected. Admissions
have become insane and yet have done little to equalize the
discrepancies between neighborhoods because only the wealthy have the
time and money for the admissions process, the interviews, extra
tutoring for tests, etc. And the big results that Bloomberg claims
vindicates his "reforms?" They can be seen statewide, even in areas
where Bloomberg has had no influence. So how can he lay claim to the
changes? Bloomberg has also closed firehouses, yet given tax money to
developers. Bloomberg pissed on voters when he bullied the City
Council into overturning term limits ONE TIME ONLY, specifically so
Bloomberg could have a third term. I have never understood the cult of
Bloomberg that many follow. Once he called my wife and me "terrorists"
because we protested the Republican National Convention and once I
learned that Bloomberg was the number one individual donor to Tom
DeLay's ant-choice, anti-environment, right wing PAC, I have disliked
him.

So Thompson is too much of a gentleman to win against Bloomberg, thus,
I suppose, admitting that Bloomberg is an asshole. Well, I for one
hope the gentleman who has consistently been a solid Democrat wins. I
hope Thompson, who is pro-labor, can win over anti-labor Bloomberg.
Recently Bill Thompson (http://www.dailygotham.com/mole333/blog/
eldiarioendorsesbillthompsonformayor) has been endorsed by El Diario.
Bill Thompson has also been endorsed by one of my favorite
Congresswomen, Nydia M. Velazquez. He has been endorsed by State
Senator Eric Adams, Councilmember Letitia James, Councilmember John
Liu, Councilmember David Weprin, State Senator Diane Savino, and
Congressman Anthony Weiner, all of whom I respect (even if I don't
always agree with all of them). Thompson has been endorsed by 504
Democrats, NYC's main disabled rights group, Barack Obama Democratic
Club, American Heritage Democratic Club, Gay and Lesbian Independent
Democrats, Lambda Independent Democrats, Out People of Color Political
Action Club, East Harlem/El Barrio Democratic Club, Gramercy-
Stuyvesant Independent Democrats, Village Independent Democrats and
West Harlem Independent Democrats. Thompson has been endorsed by
Communications Workers of America, United Auto Workers, Uniformed
Firefighters Association, Transport Workers Union and the Teamsters.
And, of course, many others. To me Thompson represents a good, old
fashioned Democrat supported by a good, old fashioned pro-union, pro-
LGBT, pro-minority coalition. I would support that any day over a
spoiled, dictatorial billionaire.


Comptroller: John Liu (Democratic Party)

John Liu is ideal for this job. With a degree in mathematical physics,
extensive financial experience, City Council and community organizing
experience, and overwhelming support of Unions, LGBT groups and local
clubs from all Boros, John Liu is one of the best candidates we have
seen this year. He will also be the first Asian American EVER to be
elected to city wide office in NYC, so he is not only a good choice
for the job but it will also be historic when he wins.


Brooklyn Borough President: Write-in: Gatemouth

Okay, I can't stand Marty Markowitz. I once liked him. But over the
years I have grown to despise him. I have written at some length why,
but suffice it to say he is a mean-spirited, nasty, hypocritical shill
for the worst developers ever.

The only official alternative is a Republican. I can't do that either.
At one point I half jokingly promised fellow blogger Gatemouth that I
would write him in ffor Brooklyn BP. In reality he is better than
either of the official candidates so I plan on fulfilling that
promise. If a good chunk of people write in Gatemouth for Brookly BP,
it won't really make any difference, but it will a.) make a good
person (Gatemouth's real persona) feel good and b.) show I keep my
promise. Here are the write in instructions:

"You may vote for a candidate not listed on the ballot by writing in
the candidate's name. Locate the button over the column of numbered
slots on the left of the voting machine and:

1. For General Election: Depress the button and, while holding it
in, open the slot opposite the office for which you wish to write in a
candidate's name."

Do me a favor...take the effort and vote Gatemouth for Brooklyn BP.
And spread the word. If we get a respectable number of votes for
Gatemouth, it will make an impression of sorts.


22nd City Council district: Lynne Serpe (Green Party). http://serpeforcouncil.com

Having already endorsed Green Party candidate David Pechefsky (see
below under 39th City Council district) I came across another good
Green candidate running against a lousy Dem. Lynne Serpe is the Green
Party candidate looking to oust Peter Vallone (a conservative DINO
incumbent who voted for Bloomberg's overturning of term limits). And
the big surprise is that Lynne Serpe has actually out raised Vallone,
making her challenge one to be taken seriously. From the (href="http://
www.cityhallnews.com/newyork/article-969-out-raising-vallone-council-...)
City Hall News:

"Vallone, who holds the same Queens seat his father held for almost
three decades, had only $40,000 on hand a few weeks before election
day, and decided to forego matching funds, figuring that they were a
waste of taxpayer money.

" But that was before Lynne Serpe, a 38-year-old environmental
activist and Green Party candidate for the seat announced that she had
$100,000 on hand and qualified for over $70,000 in matching funds.

“'There are people in the district who have wanted resources that
they haven’t gotten in 35 years,” she said. “I think people are ready
for a change...'

“'My goal is to win,' she said, explaining that she was buoyed by
the surprise primary wins of other left leaning candidates like Danny
Dromm. 'It’s possible that we’re looking at an entire shift in Western
Queens.'”

To see the end of the conservative Democrat Vallone dynasty in favor
of a more progressive candidate will be sweet. I wish Vallone had been
challenged by a good Democrat, but lacking that, I'll take a Green.


34th City Council District: Diana Reyna (Democratic Party)
http://www.friendsofdianareyna.com.

The first woman of Dominican-American descent to be elected to NYC
public office, Reyna is being heavily targeted by corrupt Brooklyn
Boss Vito Lopez and his scandal-ridden ally, WFP, because she hasn't
gone along with Vito Lopez's corruption. In essence, she is being
punished for her independence, and I personally want to see more
independence in our City Council members. This is another race where
we can stop a power play by a corrupt party boss. The Village Voice
(http://www.villagevoice.com/2009-09-01/columns/power-plays-by-party-
boss-vito-lopez) had this to say about this race during the Democratic
Primary:

"In the adjoining 34th District, which encompasses a swath of
Williamsburg and Bushwick, Lopez is pushing the candidacy of a young
woman named Maritza Davila, currently a project director at Ridgewood
Bushwick. Lopez is such a Davila fan that he allocated $45,000 in
funding for her job there. The money, according to Lopez's legislative
initiative form, pays for Davila to take residents to museums,
aquariums, and sporting events. She also does double duty: In addition
to her day job, Davila serves as a Democratic district leader in
Lopez's political club.

"Bushwick is Lopez's home base. OK, not his actual residential home.
He lives blissfully with Battaglia far from his district in a Queens
condo. His political home. He has long controlled the local Council
seat, but sometimes, his protégés disappoint him and he is forced to
seek their removal. For instance, the incumbent Council member in the
district is Diana Reyna, whose training came—where else?—from being a
Lopez aide.

"Reyna, however, ran afoul of her mentor when she dared to disagree
about a large tract of undeveloped land known as the Broadway
Triangle. Thanks to his great clout with city and state officials,
Lopez arranged to have all of the housing development opportunities
there routed to Ridgewood Bushwick and a kindred group, the United
Jewish Organizations, which controls social service funds in the
Orthodox section of Williamsburg and whose executives happily carry
Lopez's election petitions. Lopez has long been a big booster of Mayor
Bloomberg, and his influence is such that the city didn't even bother
holding its usual competition among would-be developers. It simply
designated Lopez's chosen groups..."

Reyna's opponent lost her primary bid but is still actively running on
the Working Families Party line. So we still have to stand up to Vito
Lopez on this one. Diana Reyna has been endorsed by Councilwoman Tish
James and Congresswoman Nydia Velasquez (both of whom I greatly
respect), El Diario/La Presnsa, Lambda Independend Democrats, 504
Democrats (disabled rights), the Teamsters, United Federation of
Teachers and others ( http://friendsofdianareyna.com/endorsements.html).

36th City Council District (Brooklyn): Mark Winston Griffith (Working
Families Party Candidate)

I have now met Mark Winston Griffith and am more impressed now than
when I was just going on good reports from mutual friends. Mark is and
excellent candidate and would make an excellent Councilman.

Many people know (and can tell by my comments regarding the 34th City
Council Race) that I am disgusted by the fact that WFP has been
breaking campaign finance laws and has sided with corrupt party boss
Vito Lopez this year. To me, WFP was once a great idea that has been
descending into the same kind of corruption that they claim to fight.
They love to accuse others of being party hacks, but that is exactly
what they have become themselves: party hacks surrounded by scandal.
But, there are still remnants of the old style, more idealistsic WFP,
and among the corrupt and sleazy WFP candidates this year there were
some great ones. This includes Debi Rose on Staten Island, John Liu
for Comptroller...and Mark Winston Griffith for the 36th City Council
seat in Brooklyn. If Griffith wins, he will be the second WFP
candidate to win for City Council without the Democratic Party line.
Since that first example is Councilmember Tish James, someone I admire
and agree with most of the time, and who has become one of the best
Democrats in the Council, I believe that for a good progressive,
untainted by the current WFP scandals, the WFP line is a good way to
get into office.

The incumbent for this seat is Al Vann who is among the least popular
incumbents I have ever seen. In fact, I suspect had there only been
one opponent in the Democratic Primary, Vann would be history now. But
the opposition split the vote and Vann squeaked by the primary with
barely 30% of the vote. The man who came in second was Mark Winston
Griffith and he has decided to continue the fight on the WFP line.
Mark has been Executive Director of the Drum Major Institute for
Public Policy and co-director of the Neighborhood Economic Development
Advocacy Project and has been a community organizer for years. Mark
has been endorsed by the United Auto Workers, Educational Justice PAC
and Committee for the Future Leadership of Bedford-Stuyvesant and
Crown Heights. I firmly believe that the 36th district would be better
served by Mark Winston Griffith than by Al Vann. So I urge a vote on
the (I hate to say it) Working Families Party line for Mark Winston
Griffith in the 36th City Council district.


39th City Council District (Brooklyn): David Pechefsky (Green Party
Candidate)

Most people also know I have seldom sided with the Greens since the
2000 fiasco. Too often the Greens are counterproductive as well as
obnoxious purists. But sometimes the Green Party really is an
alternative to a Democrat I just can't bring myself to support. This
is, I believe, the second time since 2000 that I have endorsed a Green
Party candidate. I first heard about David Pechefsky from two of my
neighbors. They knew him personally and, though Democrats, were
interested in supporting him. At the time I was supporting a Democrat
in the running (Josh Skaller) and thought two of the other Democrats
(Gary Reilly and Bob Zuckerman) were also good candidates, so I took a
dim view of Pechefsky's run given the fact that no fewer than THREE
excellent Democrats were vying for the position. Well, none of those
three excellent Democrats won. I met Pechefsky and talked with him. He
agreed that the candidate I was supporting would be excellent but I
gathered he was running in case one of the not so good Democrats won
the primary. Which is what happened. The Democrat who won the primary,
Brad Lander, is allied with Dov Hikind (a known homophobe and racist),
has been publicly anti-Israel, and who has been centrally involved in
the WFP campaign funding scandal I mention above. Any one of these
would be a reason not to support Lander. Brad Lander is one of those
Democrats I feel I can never completely trust even if we agree on most
things. He is too blinded by his own sense of self-worth and his own
ambition to ever listen to an opposing view. Too often I have seen him
face disagreement with disdain or rage. By contrast David Pechefsky is
even-tempered, thoughtful and willing to listen to opposing views.
Pechefsky seeks to be "a catalyst for a truly democratic City Council,
eco-friendly living, and the sensible use of our resources." Unlike
many Green Party candidates I have met, Pechefsky has a wide range of
practical experience to bring to the City Council. According to his
website:

"David Pechefsky has 12 years of New York City government experience
and has worked with Council Members, advocates, city officials, and
service providers on a wide range of housing, youth, senior, health,
and economic development programs. He has also consulted
internationally working on democratic governance issues in Africa,
Asia, and the Middle East...

David is a member of the Park Slope Greens and the Park Slope Food
Coop and was recently appointed to the Economic Development Committee
of Community Board Six."

I think Pechefsky would represent the district excellently while Brad
would too often let personal ambition and ego get in the way of
effective governing...and would probably break the law to further his
career if he thought he could get away with it. This impression has
recently been re-enforced when I learned Brad Lander was sitting next
to Rudy Giuliani at an event honoring Mike Bloomberg where Giuliani
and Bloomberg made racist innuendos against Thompson. And as far as I
know, Brad said nothing against this. So I endorse Green Party
candidate David Pechefsky for the 39th City Council district.