I didn’t make it to the blogger talk with City Council member Bill de Blasio at the Tea Lounge last night and I’m sorry I missed it. Sounds like an interesting discussion ensued. De Blasio is running for Borough President and is a frequent presence around Park Slope. The fact that he gets the meaning of Brooklyn blogging and wants to reach out to the Brooklyn bloggers is pretty cool. Brownstoner has coverage:
Last night Councilman Bill de Blasio held a meet-up for Brooklyn
bloggers at which he spoke for a couple of hours about development
topics including Atlantic Yards, rezonings, affordable housing, and
what he’d like to accomplish if he’s elected borough president.Like Gowanus Lounge,
we were most interested in what de Blasio had to say about Atlantic
Yards: The councilman said he thinks there should be no more
demolitions in the Atlantic Yards footprint until Forest City Ratner
puts its current plans for the project into writing. De Blasio said he
was "livid" about the interview Bruce Ratner gave to the New York Times last month since the likely stall "calls the entire Community Benefits Agreement into question."
Gowanus Lounge was also there:
City Council Member and Brooklyn Borough President candidate Bill de Blasio is calling for a moratorium on demolition in the Atlantic Yards footprint.
Mr. de Blasio made comments deeply critical of possible changes in the
huge project as part of a wideranging discussion last night that
covered everything from construction safety as developers race to beat
changes in the 421a tax break program to zoning issues in Gowanus and
Carroll Gardens. (Check out Brownstoner’s excellent report on the discussion here.)On Atlantic Yards, Mr. de Blasio said, "I am livid at the New York Times interview with Ratner"
in which the developer announced that the project would be scaled back
and that massive amounts of affordable housing would be seriously
delayed or eliminated. "There was no discussion with the community
before he went on record," Mr. de Blasio said, adding that the changes
put "the entire community benefits agreement up for question."