Tonight, Dave Herman relinquishes his post as President of the City Reliquary museum and civic organization. Taking over from Herman will be Bill Scanga, who currently serves as Vice President of Collections. Herman will pass the torch to Scanga in a celebration at the museum, 370 Metropolitan Avenue. Festivities begin at 7:00 PM.

Check out our profile of the City Reliquary and Herman in the WG’s September 2010 issue.
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Photo by Eric Wolman

Hometown Hooch  [TimeOut]

Sample Sales and Shopping Events  [TimeOut]

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By Marianne Do

The main meeting space of Alpha One Labs looks like a mash-up of a physics classroom and a garage. A whiteboard wall is covered in frighteningly complicated math equations. Cables dangle over tall shelves of computer gear. Objects retrieved from the street sit on a table, ready for fixing: a vending machine money slot, a broken iPod dock. People sit with laptops open and argue over Java versus C# programming. Conversations containing the phrases “bash script” and “micro-controller” can be heard over the rhythmic thumping of electronic music from mounted speakers.

Alpha One Labs is a hackerspace—a collaborative techno-centric workspace where members pay a small monthly fee for access to the space, equipment, classes, and the collective knowledge of other geek-minded members. “They’re mostly software developers,” explained Sean Auriti, 33, the co-founder of Alpha One Labs. “Coming here, they get to tinker with things.”

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By Jim Fleming

On June 21, 2010, the Loft Law (Article 7-C of the New York State Multiple Dwelling Law) was amended and now protects residential tenants in many commercial buildings in Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Bushwick, and other areas of the city. Passage of the 2010 Loft Law amendments was supported by a number of local politicians, notably New York State Assembly members Joe Lentol and Vito Lopez, who tried valiantly for decades to get similar legis-lation passed the now-disgraced felon and former Senate Republican leader Joseph Bruno. Democrat State Senator Martin Malave Dilan led the successful effort in that chamber this year, in a close, party-line vote. Mayor Bloomberg’s commercial-developer lackeys engineered an eleventh-hour bid to get Governor Paterson to quash it, but succeeded only in winning exceptions for some “industrial business zones.”

To learn more about the 2010 Loft Law amendments, I interviewed Margaret Sandercock, a partner in the Manhattan law firm Goodfarb & Sandercock, LLP, who often represents loft tenants on housing issues (full disclosure: including my own tenants’ association). I asked her the following questions:

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Fashion’s Night Out, version 2010: while last year it was the Stiletto Stimulus, this year is…tautologous? It is a night out…of fashion—and free merriment, libations and a chance to support neighborhood businesses.

What a night out of fashion it will be in Williamsburg and Greenpoint. From the northern most tip of the borough of Brooklyn to the elevated rumble of the J and Z trains, the area’s shops and music venues will be hopping with events.

This evening at Dalaga, sip free champagne and meet some of the many designers whose work is featured in the store. Get a free limited-edition Dalaga bag with any purchase. Across the street, head to accessories mecca Hayden-Harnett to meet with the designers, take in DJ sets from Newtown Radio’s Vanessa Bley and style editor Rachel Felder and enter to win a $250 store gift certificate, their Ibiza convertible flight tote, or a Hayden-Harnett scarf. Free gifts with every purchase. After 10 pm until 2 am, the Franklin Ave FNO fete heads to Veronica People’s Club (105 Franklin) for late-night libations.

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