Archives for July 2010

Letter from Jane Jacobs to Mayor Bloomberg on Rezoning

July 28, 2010 By WG News + Arts Leave a Comment

A year before her death at age 90, the celebrated urban planning activist Jane Jacobs wrote a letter (dated April 15, 2005) to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, expressing her thoughts about the 2005 rezoning of the Greenpoint and Williamsburg neighborhoods. A copy was recently obtained by WG News + Arts (from an unnamed source).

We think that now is appropriate time to bring it to light, as tomorrow we face the latest rezoning on the waterfront, when the City Council of New York votes on the Domino Plan.

Ms. Jacobs, a world-renowned scholar of good and balanced growth in cities, is currently in the news because of a coveted citation in her name. Last week, a Jane Jacobs Medal was awarded to the the founders of Friends of the High Line.

Just Released Public School Test Scores Ain’t Pretty

July 28, 2010 By Phil DePaolo Leave a Comment

PHIL On FIRE: New York Public School Standardized Test Scores Plunge!
Surprised? Not.

When the results of New York City test scores in reading and math weren’t released this past June, I knew something was wrong. As a parent with two kids attending NYC public schools, I’ve witnessed firsthand the amount of test preparation my kids have been made to put up with. I’ve been an outspoken critic of the myth of Mike Bloomberg’s “Control” of our schools for the last five years. The Mayor’s claims of advances in education was his main claim of achievement when he ran for his third term. I still have the flyers he mailed me, to prove it! Today the latest round of test scores are out, and it ain’t pretty.

On the math exams, only 54% of third-graders through eighth-graders passed, compared with 82% the year before—a stunning decline of 28 percentage points.

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3rd Ward Summer 2010 Open Call!

July 27, 2010 By WG News + Arts Leave a Comment

What would you create for $5,000, three months in NYC, and your very own art show? You have the vision and now 3rd Ward is offering you a place in the international art world. You are invited to submit a portfolio of your best completed artwork, work-in-progress or conceptual proposal for our Summer Solo Show. A 3rd Ward Membership not required.

ONE DAY LEFT to Submit Your Art to the Summer 2010 Open Call!

DEADLINE TOMORROW!

Domino Plan Goes to a Vote in City Council w/ no Guarantees for Community

July 26, 2010 By Benjamin Lozovsky Leave a Comment

photos by Benjamin Lovosky

The original breaking news, investigative reporting on this story was first done by Benjamin Lozovsky, and followed quickly by stories appearing in several other New York City newspapers.

In the next few days, the City Council of New York City will hold a final vote that determines the fate of the old Domino Sugar factory, a massive 19th century industrial site along the Williamsburg waterfront. The for-profit developers CPC Resources (CPCR) have campaigned long and hard, spending close to three million dollars on lobbying efforts, to win the community residents and politicians over to their high rise luxury housing proposal, on the promise of 660 affordable units, open space accessibility to the waterfront, and jobs. Approval of the plan would rezone the site from heavy industrial use to mixed-use (residential/commercial), and would allow the developers to build towers up to 34 stories high.

Be Student and Teacher at School of the Future in Greenpoint

July 23, 2010 By Elvire Camus Leave a Comment

Major in Seed Bombing, Minor in Gunk

The location of a month-long series of free workshops sponsored by School of the Future, an alternative-style, inter-generational school, is a little known, underutilized park called Sgt. Dougherty Park at Anthony Street and Vandervoort Avenue—at the northern-most edge of Greenpoint, under the BQE.

“It’s an empty park where nothing ever happens. We felt like it needed our help!” said the school founders Cassie Thornton and Christopher Kennedy, who for the occasion also lugged along some colorful benches and books to spruce it up.