The Eagle has landed Do you love tall sailing ships? The US Coast Guard training ship The Eagle has docked at the foot of pier 17, at the South Street Seaport. The ship is great (no signs of its Nazi origin), the coast guardsmen and women charming; tours from 9:00-6:30 Sat & Sun. If you go Sat. morning, check out the asbestos decontamination exercise run by Fire at the Sanitation garage at the foot of Montgomery Street.

After years of torture and harsh confinement, US officials have decided to allow some "high value" Guantanamo detainees to lawyer-up . (Although at least one of them, already represented by counsel, has not been allowed to get letters from her).

The poor get sicker than the rich. Great and serious congratulations are due to Comptroller William Thompson who (I guess with staff support) has produced a really smart interesting and important analysis of the NYC health impacts of class and cash. Surpise!

Several news outlets have covered the Duffield Abolitionist homes.

The Real Estate Observer gives us a nice shout out.

Curbed summarizes the last DailyGotham post.

The Gowanus Lounge also wades in, and NY Magazine offers a few words.

NoLandGrab offers original analysis by picking up a point published here. AKRF/NYCEDC chose to print a map without its legend, and NoLandGrab suggests that the missing legend offers support of the residents' oral histories.

Thanks y'all for keeping this on the burner!

Warning: the following post includes confusing details meant to discourage public participation. Some patience and bravery is advised.

In a stunning move of extreme waffling, the office of Melinda Katz has rescheduled the public hearing on Duffield Street from April 11 to May 1. Or maybe it will be April 17, but we won't know for sure until a few days before the meeting.

Action Advisory:
Email Christine Quinn at quinn@council.nyc.ny.us and
Melinda Katz at katz@council.nyc.ny.us

Write that the destruction of the Underground Railroad deserves a fair hearing. The City should not waddle through the seizure by eminent domain of private homes in a haphazard manner.

Stick to the announced date of May 1 for the public hearing on the Duffield Street Abolitionist homes!

In their messy attempt to help squelch any further exploration of this history, the City Council has in the space of about three weeks rescheduled the public hearing on this three times. The EDC, with AKRF (a private entity dedicated to destroying communities in the way of big development plans), spent two years studying the historical record. The 500+ page report was released 3/13/07 and the first public hearing was scheduled 3/20, giving the public no time to review the report. After some pressure from Tish James and others, they rescheduled the meeting to 4/11. On April 5 at about 5:00 pm, Council Member Katz's office let word out that the meeting will be delayed until May 1. Or maybe not.

[via The Daily Gotham - Chuck Schumer at Stuy-Town Press Conference]

Upon reviewing these video clips, there's one thing that I just realized about Schumer's shpiel : He's calling out MetLife's possible use of public land for free due to eminent domain as a playing card in the negotiations.

Does this mean, if it is true they did not pay for the land, that there are potential grounds for demanding from the company to pay what is owed to the city and with interest? Could there actually be any repercussions to MetLife's weaseling out of paying for the land they used to develop Stuy-Town?

More importantly, what effects, if any, could this have on development projects like Atlantic Yards and Williamsburg?

Hmmmmm.

You can find this clip at YouTube as well.

If we do, here's a fantastic reminder created by National Geographic and made available to the public through www.video.google.com :

I agree with the National Trust for Historic Preservation : Don't build anything until all details for preservation are sorted out.

Herewith are the paraphraghs that boggled my mind.

[via Donations Slow for Memorial at Ground Zero - New York Times]:

The foundation is preparing an ambitious worldwide marketing campaign to raise the remaining $197.7 million to cover the costs, at a time when many groups are continuing to solicit donations to aid victims of the Asian tsunami, two Gulf Coast hurricanes, the Pakistani earthquake, the Philippine mudslide and other disasters far more recent than the 2001 terrorist attacks.

"I would say this is a challenging goal, because the foundation can't now rely on the shock value of the original tragedy," said Leo P. Arnoult, a fund-raising consultant not connected with the memorial. "But given the magnitude of the event, perhaps the fund-raising could be presented as something very affirming."

First, what does it say of our government that it won't pony-up the money for a memorial?

Second, what does it say of NGOs or non-profit organizations that, and I quote, "rely on the shock value of the original tragedy" to justify their existence? And let me add to that, rely on the marketing of a tragedy to pay the bills?

The US government should have covered the cost of the memorial and then have a foundation manage it. What does it say about the Bush administration that they could care less about what goes on at Ground Zero?

That they knew it was a necessary loss to further their dreams of Empire? That 2K Americans are dispensable in the quest of untold riches in the Middle East? That a hole in the ground in New York City is a little loss --good thing we don't have something like the war that has destroyed Iraq? Or that, what's the rush since more calamities will be coming our way anyhow?

Mr. President, what does your administration's silence over the fate of Ground Zero really, truly mean?

It is outrageous to me that in this day and age, "the people" do not have access to many aspects of city, state and national government. How can you leave it to the discretion of a panel or committee who gets to participate or testify in the process of creating laws, executing policy of preserving history?

[via Perkins bill to let Council calendar landmark reviews]:

The bill, introduced Aug. 17, would also allow the City Council, by a majority vote, to require the Landmarks Preservation Commission to calendar designation hearings for eligible properties. The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation is an enthusiastic supporter.

"Our board of directors voted last week to support this new legislation to provide alternate ways to calendar landmarks designation hearings for endangered buildings," said Andrew Berman, G.V.S.H.P. executive director.

The L.P.C. currently has the sole discretion, often after requests by preservation groups and sometimes owners, to calendar buildings or districts. A spokesperson for L.P.C. said this week that the commission is evaluating Intro 705. But the agency's negative response to an earlier bill that involves properties eligible for listing on the state register indicates that Intro 705 will not get L.P.C. support.

Perkins, a Democratic primary candidate for Manhattan borough president who represents Central Harlem and heads the Council Governmental Operations Committee, said, "This is a simple bill that says, "Let there be a hearing." It's the result of several committee hearings and a report on opportunities to review, reflect and reform 40 years of landmarks preservation. It does not require the L.P.C. to designate the properties."

The Villager
http://www.thevillager.com/villager_111/organizationalmeetingon.html
Volume 75, Number 4 | June 15- 21, 2005

Organizational meeting on downzoning and landmarking on the Lower East Side
By David Katz

People, politicians and community organizations who have been active in zoning and landmarking issues on the Lower East Side have been invited to an educational forum at the Clayton Gallery, 161 Essex St., on Mon., June 20 at 6 p.m.

"This will not be a rally," emphasized organizer and gallery owner Clayton Patterson. "It is strictly an informational meeting in which groups involved in the struggle to preserve our communities will speak, and in which the politicians who have shown up at their rallies will also be invited to comment, and state what they think can be done about the situation."

Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, which is spearheading the movement for downzoning the Far West Village to prevent out-of-scale construction from destroying the character of the neighborhood, will speak about the lessons learned there, and how they can be applied to the East Village. Richard Kusack, of The Committee for Zoning Inaction, will address "Trojan horse zoning," the bait-and-switch process by which developers misuse or misrepresent their projects as community facilities and dormitories in order to erect hotels and luxury housing; also invited are representatives from L.O.C.O; the Ludlow-Orchard Community Organization, who have been involved in the fight against the construction of a 24-story luxury hotel directly opposite a proposed 15-story luxury condominium on Orchard St. between Houston and Stanton Sts.; the East Village Community Coalition, involved in the fight to preserve St. Brigid¹s church and annex on Avenue B and the old P.S. 64 on E. Ninth St.; and representatives from 4 E. Third St., 47 East Third St. and 81 E. Third St., sites of recent protests over such issues as overdevelopment and construction not conforming with Buildings Department guidelines.