Archives for March 2012

Trent’s Top Gallery Picks—March 2012

March 17, 2012 By Trent Morse Leave a Comment

Installation view of Charles Atlas’s video projections “Plato’s Alley,” 2008 (left), and “Painting by Numbers,” 2011. Photo courtesy Luhring Augustine Bushwick

CHARLES ATLAS, “THE ILLUSION OF DEMOCRACY”
Luhring Augustine Bushwick, 25 Knickerbocker Ave., through 5/20

After more than a year of renovations, bluechip gallery Luhring Augustine has finally opened its Bushwick outpost, in a nondescript gray warehouse building with a polished exhibition area. To consecrate the space, Luhring presented a magnificent show of video works by Charles Atlas.

The Doctors Are Coming, The Doctors Are Coming

March 16, 2012 By WG News + Arts Leave a Comment

Nancy Redman

After a few years of doctors moving to Greenpoint and Williamsburg, all our medical needs can now be taken care of locally. As a result there is no need to travel out of the neighborhood.

An estimated 312 hours of travel and 520 dollars in cost are saved yearly. This number is the result of 2 individual medical appointments with 3 hours roundtrip travel time on train or bus weekly. The 520 dollars saved affords our neighbors 27 Mocha Frappuccinos, 17 Carmel Macchiatos and 6 Bacon & Gouda Sandwiches per year.

Small Businesses Demand Compensation for L Train Closures

March 15, 2012 By WG News + Arts Leave a Comment

The lure of Williamsburg is that it’s just one short subway stop away from Manhattan. But when the trains are not running, it might as well not exist. It’s hardly “the vibrant street scene” envisioned in the 2005 rezoning for the neighborhood, and unfortunately it’s the businesses that are left holding the bag. The Williamsburg neighborhood depends on the L train.

The final straw occurred this past November when there was a non-disclosed scheduled shutdown for construction by the MTA, regrettably, on the busiest shopping days of the year: Thanksgiving weekend’s Black Friday and Small Business Saturday. What were the managers at the MTA smoking?

Unfortunately, the MTA relies on 10-year-old records, from a period when very few people came to the neighborhood on weekends. In the meanwhile, ridership has increased a whopping 141% above capacity. There are as many people using the L train on weekends and late nights as during rush hours. It has become just about the most crowded subway line in the city.

Has the MTA Pushed North Brooklyn too Far?

March 14, 2012 By Jon Reiss Leave a Comment

Promised L Train schedule adjustments for March

In mid February, a meeting was held at the Cubana Social Club in Williamsburg and attended by State Senator Daniel Squadron, Assemblyman Joseph Lentol, and District Leaders Lincoln Restler and Linda Minucci, among others. The meeting brought together community leaders, business owners, and private citizens to discuss the recent controversy surrounding the MTA’s ongoing shutdown of the L train, a train whose weekend ridership, Squadron announced, has jumped 141% since 1998, according to stats found on the MTA website.

The shutdowns have been due, for the most part, to the implementation of the Communication Based Train Control System (CBTC), which the city has been working on for the better part of the decade, a project that was initially scheduled to be completed in 2005. While shutdowns have been the subject of much complaining and frustration among locals, a particular recent shutdown provoked Williamsburg, Greenpoint, and Bushwick residents to wonder why the MTA’s project has taken seven years longer than it was supposed to, and whether the MTA cares about its ridership.

OP/ED The New Money Train—from Aqueduct to Albany

March 13, 2012 By Albert Goldson Leave a Comment

The glistening white mega-yacht navigates the placid waters of the East River at dusk, against the backdrop of a jaw-dropping Manhattan skyline. It gently pulls into the Domino marina where it disgorges its impeccably GQ outfitted owner nursing a vodka martini—shaken, not stirred—in hand, and sporting a designer-label white dinner jacket. Accompanying him are assorted hangers-on and a phalanx of black-clad bodyguards wearing Armani shades. They will all take a short stroll to the VIP entrance of the new Domino Casino—the Big Apple’s Casino Royale.

The former Domino Sugar Factory is now the name of the casino, along with the convention center complex that extends all along the Williamsburg-Greenpoint waterfront, built over the rubble of non-historical industrial buildings and other non-descript structures. The name “domino” conjures up games of chance—a “sweetener” of a different kind, frequently the name of the femme fatale in countless action movies, particularly for 007. This siren’s name represents the seduction of the gullible and weak-willed to financial ruin at Domino dockside, where the House always wins.

The newly renovated historical structure boasts an endless variety of VIP rooms, including the ultra-exclusive Sugar Daddy Suites, where wealthy yet insecure middle aged men can “entertain” their younger wives or mistresses. If you’re going to sell your soul, why not go first-class?