A Call for Narrative

by Brian J. Carreira

Local

“Money is a terrible master but an excellent servant.” — P.T. Barnum

At a moment when it has become largely irrelevant to the approval of the Atlantic Yards proposal, the New York media has finally noticed some of the real light unfiltered by the Ratner PR projection. Namely, that there is substantial local resistance to the humongous eminent domain-dependent project as was illustrated by the turnout of opposition at the October 18th scoping hearing of the Empire State Development Corporation. And that much of Forest City’s vocal support comes from groups the developer has been funding.

Up with Downzoning:

by Aaron Brashear

Local

Last year, my wife and I moved from the increasingly hectic Fort Greene section of Brooklyn where we had lived for over 20 years to a country-like (to us) neighborhood block in Greenwood Heights, the South Park Slope area of Brooklyn. We had bought our first home: a tiny but heavenly (to us) two-story frame house built around 1900, with “good bones” but in need of a gut renovation.

Bloomberg Says His Prayers

by Kate Greer

Local

While Fernando Ferrer is getting a lift from Bill Clinton, Mike Bloomberg is getting his from the Lord. On a recent Sunday in Bed-Stuy, Bloomberg sits among the congregation at Cornerstone Baptist Church alongside Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz. In a crowd of myriad browns, the two undersized Jewish men absorb the sermon of Reverend Lawrence E. Aker, III.