Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

Adams visited Long Island. Here’s why. , Politico reported Oct. 19: Mayor Eric Adams ventured out to Long Island on Wednesday to attend a ribbon-cutting ceremony in honor of Victoria “Vicki” Schneps-Yunis, a longtime friend and New York newspaper magnate. But the trek to Nassau County is indicative of a long and controversial relationship between the mayor and the Schneps family, who have traded favors with Adams for years. “When I write my book, there’s going to be a chapter on what she did to get me to become the mayor of the city,” Adams said at the event in Garden City. The program was hosted by Life’s WORC, a nonprofit serving individuals with disabilities that was founded by Schneps-Yunis after the closing of Willowbrook State School . The organization renamed one of its buildings in her honor Wednesday. Schneps Media now owns the Brooklyn Paper, amNewYork Metro (which consolidated two publications), among more than 30 publications, The publications endorsed Adams, who, as Brookl...

Well, you can't blame an ink-stained wretch for getting a better-paying job. That's why so many journalists hopscotch into public relations posts or get jobs in communications for a government body or institutions like a university. Or go work for a communications or lobbying consultancy. The benefits are typically better, as well. The tradeoff, in some (but not all) cases, is such jobs offer less freedom and opportunity for public service than journalism. Then again, a lot of journalism jobs, especially when working for tightfisted owners, offer less and less opportunity to do good work. That's my cue to comment on the (important!) new job for the notorious Stephen Witt , once the one-man Atlantic Yards-supporting band at the Courier-Life chain, an editor at Bed-Stuy-based Our Time Press, and then the founder of the independent (but suspiciously promotional ) Kings County Politics, and most recently the Political Editor-in-Chief of Schneps Media, the ever-growing chain t...

I wasn't planning on writing about the late James Caldwell (RIP) and Atlantic Yards until sometime after his funeral Wednesday, but Stephen Witt's Recollections of James Caldwell (1952-2021) , posted yesterday on PoliticsNY (part of the Schneps Media network ), requires response. The "notorious" Witt has never been known for nuanced reporting on Atlantic Yards--mostly for the Courier-Life chain, since bought by Schneps--and this summary is no different. So much for Witt's 2012 pledge to "be vigilant to be watchful against my own tendencies to have personal axes [to] grind. (His recollections address much more than Atlantic Yards, of course, notably Caldwell's salutary role in blowing the whistle on the city's problematic Third-Party Transfer Program.) Summarizing Atlantic Yards Witt writes: My relationship with Mr. Caldwell became closer in 2003 when Developer Bruce Ratner bought the Brooklyn Nets and announced the massive 22-acre Atlantic Yards pro...

This is the first of two articles on recent work by two scholars regarding Atlantic Yards. The second concerned their article on eminent domain. A book published last year, What the Signs Say: Language, Gentrification, and Place-Making in Brooklyn , focuses on a close analysis of retail signs. It also contains some interesting insights on Atlantic Yards, plus--I'd contend--some misreadings. This isn't the last word on Atlantic Yards from sociolinguist Shonna Trinch and cultural anthropologist Edward Snajdr, a married couple who both teach in the Department of Anthropology at John Jay College, CUNY, who are pursuing a larger study. They gained a 2010 National Science Foundation award to research “the dynamic and mutually transforming relations between local communities and urban development projects.” So this book reflects part of that research, focusing on retail markers of gentrification. The gist: The unique and consistent features of many words, large lettering, a...

Woodland at left, next to Bleachers and Sugarcane To regulars, notably black millennials flocking to a bumping brunch often described as “lit,” the restaurant-bar-lounge Woodland, at the commercial corner of Flatbush and Sixth avenues, is a cherished haven, highlighted last year in Eater by Stacy-Ann Ellis as "The Joy of Black Brunch" . To several nearby neighbors, the local police precinct, and the local Community Board, Woodland is a problem nightclub, blasting music, attracting long, sometimes unruly lines down Sixth Avenue, and pouring so much alcohol that customers sometimes puke and pee on neighbors’ stoops, disturbing a residential district. Brooklyn Community Board 6 has multiple times asked the State Liquor Authority (SLA) for Woodland’s liquor license to be revoked or suspended. Since Woodland supporters, especially the Bertha Lewis-led Black Institute and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, think such problems are overblown, reflecting historic patte...