Monthly Archives: August 2009

Civics and Urban Life

When Sad and Scary Things Happen: How To Talk To The Children

I saw this on Park Slope Parents this morning. It was written by Susan Fox, who is the founder of that parenting list-serve. She lives in the building on 12th Street where Henryk Sebor, a 42-year-old construction worker, died after the scaffolding he was standing on collapsed and he fell four stories.

Yesterday there was an fatal accident at our building (12th Street between
7th and 8t street). Scaffolding broke and a workman fell to his death. I
heard from a number of people in the neighborhood who were with kids and saw
the confusion who were not in my building so I wanted to send out the
message about helping kids cope with the situation that I sent to my
building email group.

– – – – – –
Given the accident yesterday I have emailed a few professionals about
different approaches to take in talking to kids about it.  I received this
response this morning from a Nancy Workman, a therapist/counselor I know who
helps us with Park Slope Parents issues:

"Share the basic facts and validate how tragic, sad and perhaps scary it
was. Not a time to cheer them up or cover it over, but just to share in the
grief.  Kids often have their own way of resolving things, or moving on to
other feelings, but regardless, just following their lead in terms of
information and questions.  Younger kids may not have to know the facts, but
they may hear from the older ones anyway, in which case better to tell them
the basics. Perspective is helpful, too–you can talk about how unusual it
is for this to happen and most of the time scaffolding is safe.

If it's someone they knew, maybe they can help memorialize, or contribute to
the family, or something–but still, it's a time to sit with those feelings
a bit."

I have a few other requests for help out there and will post anything else I
receive.  If you have any other good advice please feel free to share.

Civics and Urban Life

Only in Park Slope: Ban Ice Cream Trucks?

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Once again, Park Slopers are acting crazy. A few of them are anyway. Some want ice cream trucks banned from playgrounds all because they can't stand the meltdowns their kids have when they say no.

Sounds like another classic Park Slope faux pas brought to you by the New York Times.

It's a spectacular day at Harmony Playground in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, with
children swinging and running through sprinklers. An “icy man” with his
pushcart of fruit ices stands near the jungle gym, as parents look
toward the gated entrance. A second ices vendor enters, also setting up
shop inside the playground’s cast-iron fence.

Vicki Sell, mother of
3-year-old Katherine, tenses when the vendor starts ringing his little
bell, over and over, hoping her daughter doesn’t have the typical
Pavlovian response.

Ever since Katherine had an inconsolable
meltdown about not being able to have a treat, Ms. Sell has been trying
to have unlicensed vendors ousted from the park. She has repeatedly
called the city’s 311 complaint hot line, joining parents nationwide
who can’t stand the icy man or his motorized big brother, the ice cream man.

I fall into the camp of parents who are irate,” Ms. Sell said. She
has equal disdain for Mister Softee and the ice cream pop vendor
outside the park, but since they are licensed, there is not much she
can do about them.

“I feel kind of bad about having developed
this attitude,” she said. “I want Katherine to have the full childhood
experience and all. But it’s really predatory for them — two of them —
to be right inside the playground like this.”

Ms. Sell says she
is not obsessed with health and nutrition. She — and others — feel they
have been pushed to the brink by that little bell. Across message
boards and playgrounds, soccer fields and day camp exits, parents have
been raging. In a greener, more health-conscious, unsafe world, the ice
cream man has lost some of his mojo.

Civics and Urban Life

Rebellious Subjects Theater in Prospect Park

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Folks from the Rebellious Subjects Theater sent me this note about their shows at the Music Pagoda in Prospect Park this weekend:

Dear Friends:

This
weekend marks the opening of our HENRY TRILOGY at the Music Pagoda at
Prospect Park.  With 23 actors, 2 directors, and 3 plays, it is an epic
not to be missed, and we couldn't be more thrilled to invite you to
experience the stories we have been living with all summer long.

As we re-enact the war histories of England this summer, we ask our
audiences to become a part of the dialogue of war: its necessity, its
human impact, its devastation.  But as much as the saga of Henry V is a
story of war, it is also a story of passion: that unnameable quality
that moves the human race to fight and laugh and love. 

We at Rebellious Subjects Theatre believe that this passion you
experience in the play is the same passion that moves 23 classically
trained, professional actors to spend their summer working in a pagoda
in a park.  It is the same passion that moves 2 professional directors
who have worked with Tony and Drama Desk award winners to leave the
typical 3-week rehearsal process to spend their whole summer cutting,
rehearsing, discussing, and creating the vision of this trilogy.

As artists, we believe that this passion is what touches, changes
and moves audiences.  We started this company because it brings
children to their first classical plays; it halts bikers, joggers, and
dog-walkers in their tracks; it induces people to recite whole passages
from plays to us.    This is the battle for our company as
theatremakers; this is where our passion lies.

The 50-plus collaborators that have helped make this show happen,
from building thrones to shaping costumes to opening up off-Broadway
theatres for rehearsals to creating the many roles of these shows have
joined us in the good fight.

We hope you will join us too.

Lauren & Patrick

BROOKLYN READING WORKS

August 22: Ft Greene Lit Festival Taps Into Local Lit Scene

This weekend, The New York Writers Coalition (NYWC) presents its popular
Fort
Greene Park
Summer Literary Festival. In addition to young writers, the event will feature Fort Greene literary luminaries: Colson Whitehead, Toure and Nelson George.   There's lots of literary history in the Fort
Greene neighborhood. For starters: poet Marianne
Moore lived and wrote on Cumberland
Street .  Novelist Richard Wright wrote his
landmark piece Native Son while living in the neighborhood.  Screenwriter and
filmmaker Spike Lee established his 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks in
Fort Greene
in the 1980s.  The park itself was built through the influence of the iconic
poet Walt Whitman in 1843.

The 5th annual free outdoor reading will
be held on August 22nd at 3:00 PM. 
This year features young writers, ages seven to eighteen reading
alongside Colson Whitehead, Touré, and Nelson George. This exciting
event brings several generations of writers together to build on the rich
literary traditions of the neighborhoods surrounding beautiful
Fort Greene
Park . 

The Festival celebrates the end of a free
summer-long series of creative writing workshops held in the historic
Fort Greene
Park .  The groups serve
7-12 year olds and teenagers in dynamic and innovative workshops designed to
create a safe space for young writers to find their voices through all genres
of creative writing.  “This continues to be one of our more popular
programs.  We see many of the same faces year after year and many have grown up
writing in the park,” said Aaron Zimmerman, Founder and Executive
Director of NYWC, a not-for-profit organization that operates the workshops. 
“Who knows which one will be become the next Touré or Nelson
George?”

  One of the Festival’s organizers, Johnny
Temple of Akashic Books, said, “We are lucky this year to be able to tap
into Fort
Greene ’s rich literary history. 
All the readers this year live in the neighborhood and are inspired by the park.” 

 


Civics and Urban Life

Worker Dies When Scaffolding Collapses At Ansonia Building

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19scaffold.inline.190 Henryk Sebor, a 42-year-old construction worker died on Tuesday when the scaffolding he was standing on collapsed and he fell four stories. The accident took place at the Ansonia, a six-story building in Park Slope. The following is an excerpt from the New York Times:

  A 42-year-old construction worker at a luxury apartment building in
Brooklyn plunged four stories to his death Tuesday evening when he
stepped onto a scaffold that suddenly gave way, the authorities and
witnesses said. Two co-workers tethered to harnesses were left dangling
in the air, and were rescued by firefighters who arrived moments later
as anxious neighbors witnessed the drama.


“It was this terrible, ripping, tearing sound,” said Ilene Rosen, who was down the block when the scaffold gave way.

Ms.
Rosen and other area residents said they looked up to see the two
workers who had been on the scaffold now dangling in the air, and a
fourth worker standing on a second scaffold.

“He’s dead, he’s dead,” one of the workers shouted of the man below.

The
cause was being investigated, the authorities said, but it appeared
that both mechanical failure and human error played some role in the
collapse, which occurred about 5:30 p.m. at the Ansonia, a former clock
factory that was converted to residential apartments over the years by
various developers. The accident took place at one of the buildings, a
six-story prewar at 438 12th Street in Park Slope.

Music

OTBKB Music Video: Mike Viola

Mike Viola was a New York City fixture for years, first with his band
The Candy Butchers and then on his own.   A couple of years ago he
moved to LA and his appearances in New York are now fewer and farther
between.  But Mike's in town tomorrow night at Joe's Pub and I
recommend that you take the opportunity to see him live.  You might
already know him as the voice singing That Thing You Do in the movie of
the same name.  But if you don't, here's a murky video clip of Mike
(along with singer-songwriter Jim Boggia) musically free associating before he gets to that previously mentioned
song:

Mike Viola, Joes Pub (F Train to Broadway-Lafayette, walk north on Lafayette Street, or 6 Train to Astor Place), Thursday August 20, 9:30pm, $15

Scott Turner of Rocky Sullivan's

Greetings from Scott Turner: A Soul-Twisting Heart-Rending Thing

Once again Scott Turner brings us his weekly missive brought to you by Miss Wit, the t-shirt queen of Red Hook. This one has some contains some very disturbing photos of dogs brutalized during dog fights. Scott runs the pub quiz at Rocky Sullivan's every Thursday night.

Greetings Pub Quiz Hans Christian Ørsted fans…

There's a lot going on this week.

  • The
    White House is completely punking out — and I mean wussy to the Nth
    degree — on this health care reform thing.  Message sent — if you
    lie, cheat, disrupt, squelch discourse, exaggerate, exploit fears and
    those most at risk, you can stop the Obama administration dead in its
    tracks.  What is it about reforming this country's torn-and-tattered
    health-care system that turns Democrats to jelly?  I mean, even more so
    than their normal gelatinous state?
  • This was Google's doodle last week.  It honors Hans Christian
    Ørsted    , a scientist whose experiments with wires, nails, clocks and
    conductors proved…um…something about electrified, uh, thingies
    doing…er… something scientific.  Was I the only one that took a
    look at this, gulped, and thought Hans Christian Ørsted was the Father
    of the Improvised Explosive Device    ?

Hans Christian Ørsted's Birthday
Yikes.  That's all, just…yikes.

  • In a stunning
    development, hot weather has finally arrived in time for the end of
    summer.  It's a stretch of 90-degree days, the fans are on,
    air-conditioners are dripping on pedestrians, and the local newscasts
    have a lead story.  We took our goddaughter, Nina Rose, to Coney Island on Sunday, where she tilt-a-whirled and spinning-dragoned in Deno's
    Wonder Wheel Park     and won a little yellow dog at the
    shoot-water-in-a-clown's-mouth-and-pop-the-balloon game.
  • Best Coney moment for me that didn't have to do with Nina Rose
    having a blast at Coney Island?  At the balloon-popper game, Nina's mom
    Fran puts down two-bucks twice, taking the barker's "only need two
    players to win!" at face value.  I'm thinking this guy's not doing much
    business, I'll play too    .  I pull out my wallet, the barker looks at me
    and says "no, man, save your money.  Your girl's gonna get her
    doggie."  Other best moment: From atop the Wonder Wheel, the beach was pretty full —
    endless colors of beach umbrellas.  It wasn't the classic crowds of
    yesteryear, but pretty close.

And now let us move on to this one other thing, this one head-spinner soul-twisting heart-rending thing…

Michael Vick getting to play football again.

Now, I have my ideas, as do all of you.  But who better to talk to you about this desperate issue than…a dog?

Two dogs, actually.  The dogs I live with, Sirius Madra Dubh and Daisy Tikkanen. 
They've asked if you could pen this week's Quizmail.  Not from inside a
pen.  They just wanna pen it, as peoples say.  So sure, S&T, go for
it.  Don't forget to use the spell check, and don't give me the "ohhhh,
where'd our opposable thumbs go?!" I'm not falling for that any more.


Sirius and Tikkanen, your Canine Opiniers

Hi.  We're Sirius and Tikkanen, and we're dogs.

This Michael Vick thing blows.

No one asked the Dog Community what we think about Vick getting to play football again.  They should've.  It's kinda personal for us.

Our
deal is that we look for the best in people.  By people, we mean
"human" people.  Often, we find those best things we're looking for. 
Sometimes, not so much.

Vick is one of those sad cases where the worst we fear in humans actually comes true.

Look…there's
gonna
be some obvious stuff here.  A) You've already heard a lot about
Michael Vick, and B) we're dogs — obvious is our forte.  But hearing a
lot of peoples' opinions since the news broke about Vick signing with
the Philadelphia Eagles, it's kinda shocking how little of the points against Vick are obvious.

And what kind of name is that?  Eagles?!  it should be the Philadelphia Beagles, right?  Right.

The Eagles, the NFL, the Humane Society, Reebok, ESPN
and God (represented by Vick's "mentor" Tony Dungy) all got together
and decided to endorse brutality, torture and murder of dogs.

We didn't know any of these dogs — like most of you don't actually know anyone who died on 9/11.  But it affected you big time, right?  Some of NYC's older dogs still remember how upset their peoples were that day.

How do you think we feel every time we hear about a dog-fighting
ring.  Vick's was big news, 'cause usually, dog-fighting isn't news at
all.  Or at least never makes the news.

It's
important to remember — Vick's shocking treatment of dogs wasn't a
sudden crime of passion, a
quick-acting moment of insanity that changed lives forever.  Like
drinking out of a toilet or eating a nice pair of shoes.  This went
on for years.  Vick and others started the operation in 2001 — before
either of us were even puppies — and the
infamous Bad Newz Kennels opened a year later.  Vick had been
brutalizing dogs for five years — five years — before he was caught.

http://www.ldjackson.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/dogfight1.jpg
We can't understand why Michael Vick thought this was fun…

When he got caught, Vick did what bullies who're used to getting
away with murder do.  He lied.  To authorities, the media, the NFL, and
the Falcons, who'd signed him to a $130 million deal.  Rather than
accept responsibility, he blamed family members for the horror facility
on his Surrey County, Virginia property.

Lying — something else we dogs don't understand.

Vick was a very good player, we're told.  It got him all the things
he could have ever dreamed about.  Y'know, dreams are funny —
sometimes we're asleep and our legs just start moving, 'cause in a
dream we're chasing a rabbit but the rabbit's purple and riding a
bicycle and singing Patti Page and there's a biscuit — there's always a biscuit, and — wait, never mind, you didn't hear that from us, okay?

Why do people have to be so tough and bullying?  That stuff doesn't
impress us, except when it scares us.  Just spend time with us, feed
us, give us fresh water, play with us, and let us share in a pack
together.

To this day, Vick still
maintains he doesn't know why he did it.  Which means one of three
things — Vick's kinda stupid, dishonest or well-coached.  Dogs can't fathom any of this.  Honestly and love…that, we get.

On 60 Minutes last week, Vick said he cried when he went to
prison.  What about, he was asked.   "What I did, you know, being away
from my family, letting so many
people down. I let myself down, not being out on the football field,
being in a prison bed, in a prison bunk, writing letters home, you
know."

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/content/Image/08-17-2009/James-Brown.jpg
Leslie Stahl, Morley Safer, Bob Simon?  Naw, let's go off-campus and get a Fox Sports guy to interview Vick

Not so much crying over the dogs, then.  That's really sad.

His
well-coached
press conference was like a silent dog whistle — pitch perfect for all
the people Vick needs on his side.  The football establishment.  The
vast majority of Americans who
like us dogs well enough but don't value our lives as much as
they value humans'.  A media unwilling to challenge Vick since he was
reading from the
right script and acting all contrite.  Pitch-perfect contrition, as our
Scott M.X. said yesterday.  Even
the Humane Society, who somehow thinks their new spokesperson Vick is
on their side for any reason other than his football career.

http://www.thewrap.com/files/michael_vick.jpg
like a deer caught in the headlights.  At least the headlights are quicker…

HSUSA's
Wayne Pacelle says "If we just punish Mike indefinitely and don't pivot
to this problem in the communities, where kids are victimizing these
dogs…we will not be doing our job."

We dogs get confused a lot.  Sometimes people sound like they're
saying "blah blah blah Tikkanen blah blah blah blah blah Sirius blah
Tikkanen."  But we're good at context.  That helps us figure stuff
out.  There's some very bad context here, and what we've figured out
about Wayne Pacelle is that he's, what's the really bad word for that
awful way peoples sometimes think about other peoples?  Right, racist. 
Otherwise, what does Pacelle mean when he says "communities"?  Which
"communities" are we talking about,
Wayne?  Black communities?  Poor communities?  All communities?  Dog
communities?  Is this somehow our fault?  Is this one of those "code"
words humans use when they're too embarrassed to say what they really
mean?  Second, it's not just kids — the awful thing is that adults run
dog-fighting rings.  It's not some youthful indiscretion where taking
away allowances can set things straight.  (Of course, the NFL is giving
Vick back his allowance, so maybe Purcelle and the NFL are working off
the same playbook.)

http://www.hsus.org/web-files/People_and_Animals/184x265_Wayne_Grace.jpg
what if it were this cheery, happy pooch, Wayne?

And third, how, exactly, does having Michael Vick on Team Humane
"pivot this back" to where the problem exists?  Are hardened, callous
dog-fighting operators gonna listen to Michael Vick and give up the
terrible, mean things they're doing?  There's so much you humans do and
think about that contributes to animal cruelty.  It seems like Vick
doesn't have much to say that humans who make us fight will listen to.

Ruh-roh…even Vick won't chase that ball.  Even Vick says it's not okay to blame it on "community."

No, the sad thing here is that Michael Vick needs the Humane
Society far more than the Humane Society needs Michael Vick.

Oh, and Wayne?  Thanks, but we're gonna find another group to fight for us. PETA, maybe, or the SPCA or hundreds of others.  They're not as confused as you.

By the way, the NFL
prevented animal rights organizations and individuals from attending
Vick's press conference at the Eagles practice facility.  So much for
reaching out. 

Helen Kennedy, in yesterday's Daily News, describes
Vick's
back-to-football strategy as "treading the well-worn path to career
revival."  She's right!.  As long as there's an NFL paycheck waiting
only for Vick to act nice, Vick will go where his handlers tell him. 
He'll gently pretend to whip himself and keep repeating children, I did a terrible thing, a terrible thing. 
Michael
Vick forced dogs to fight each other — and made the calls over who
lived and who died — it for too long.  Five years of electrocuting,
drowning, hanging, shooting dogs at the end of short, sad, painful
lives
being forced to fight, starved, put into breeding machines called rape
racks, and chained outside weather good and bad.

dogfighting1.jpg image by dearaewi


a veteran of the dog-fighting arena

Oh…and
Vick found God.  Not Dog…but
God.  It's not quite a pawlindromes and– what?  It's "palindrome," not
"pawlindrome?"  Wow, learn something new every day.  Like yesterday. 
We learned that grapefruit taste terrible.  Who knew?

Going all God is the biggest biscuit of the well-worn path to career
revival.  But would that be the All Things Great And Small/All
Things Bright and Beautiful God, or the "lemme throw Pol Pot and Hurricane Katrina at humanity to see how they handle it" God?  Or some other God
custom molded for Michael Vick's Days of Resurgence?

This week, Vick's supporters have been saying "he's done
his time, paid his debt to society, has the right to earn a living, and
deserves a second chance."

Well…that
sounds like people who keep saying "bad dog, bad dog, bad dog" over and
over 'til it loses all meaning and we just ignore it.  'Cause, if you
don't give us a good reason to stop eating yummy stuff off the
sidewalk, we will.  You guys keep smoking and driving drunk.  For
humans and dogs, its hard to stop the dopey stuff.

Let's paw away at these one by one…

He's Done His Time: 
Well, yeah, because Vick was allowed to cop a newspaper-on-the-nose
plea
for the so-many terrible things he did.   I know you call it The Big
House, not The Dog House.  But just  eighteen months?  What kind of
message is that, for peoples or dogs?  The sanctity of life we all
claim to
hold so dear only matters if it's humans.   Society is always
reflected by the penalties we inflict on wrong-doers.  When people used
to wantonly torture and execute, it proved what terrible creatures
you could be.  Now that money means more than protecting animals, that
proves how peoples still have a lot to learn.  And a long way to go. 
Hey…we'll walk with you, if that'll help.  We will.

There's no such thing as a bad dog.  Not sure the same rule applies to peoples, as much as we love you.

He's Paid His Debt To Society.  Again, not too terribly a
big debt.   "But
he lost all that money."  Well, truth be told, he should have.  Money
means nothing to us, but since peoples love it so much, maybe this'll
teach Vick a lesson.  You know, none of those hundreds of millions of
dollars are part of the "debt being paid to society."  It's simply
money the Atlanta
Falcons' owners doesn't have to shell out to Michael Vick.  There will
be ghosts haunting Michael Vick.  We'll see if its the ghosts of the
dogs he hurt or the very big moneybags he's lost.

Here's
a secret.  Dogs all have ghosts.  We're too kind to haunt Michael
Vick.  Haunting — not our thing, even for Vick.  We just hang around,
usually to make sure the people we lived with and who treated us nicely
are okay.

He Has The Right To Earn A Living.  No, he doesn't, actually.  He
has the right to try.  In fact, there are millions of convicted,
released, and rehabilitated felons in this country who don't have the
right to certain jobs, and those they do, have a hard time getting
hired for.  Probably not to many peoples would care about this particular felon if he weren't Michael Vick.

http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2009/0813/nfl_u_vick14_480.jpg
A right the Founding Fathers forgot to include…

Everyone Deserves A Second Chance:  This is the worst.  Not
because we disagree.  It's nice when peoples give dogs a second chance,
especially with adoptions from shelters.  The difference, of course, is
that dogs didn't do anything except be born.  There's nothing bad about
putting paw after paw on this earth.  Now, Michael Vick…he did some
very bad things.

This is the worst because it's such an easy, un-thinking, callous
and lazy thing that  Vick supporters have been tossing around, like
scraps off the table that even we won't scarf up off the floor.  Here
are four reasons why this is bad, this "second-chance" stuff…

1)
Some peoples do such bad things, they just don't deserve a second
chance.  At the very least, they don't deserve to be an sports
superstar again.  If by second chance, you mean Vick
should try and earn an honest living in a box factory or as a hospital
orderly, sure.  Maybe spend the rest of his life working in an animal
rescue shelter.  That'd be okay.

2) The countless dogs who died in the Bad Newz Kennels didn't get a
second chance.  In fact, never mind Vick's dog-fighting operation —
look at all the pooches and kitties and the other creatures that go
into shelters and never come out alive, just because no humans stepped
up and said "here, share our home with us, will you?"  (Of course we will!!)  It'd be nice if all living things got the same number of second chances, right?

3)
Vick's "second chance" defense has been given a decidedly Christian
religious tone by Vick's born-again rhetoric, his mentor Tony Dungy's
heavy Christianity, and football's serious depencency on pre-, mid- and post-game prayer.

4) Those peoples against Vick getting second chances in football or riches are being painted as
horrible peoples who don't endorse the charity of second chances.  Supporting a dog killer, you're being kind.  Speaking about
against him?  You're being cruel and inhumane.  Wow, guess Vick's supporters should know.  Grrrrrrrrr.

The NFL has had a run of athletes killing,
maiming, shooting and destroying lives.  Ultimately, they always get a
second chance.  Some say it proves the NFL's
compassion.  What it does is protect the NFL.  Ultimately, that's what
matters here.  Michael Vick's dog-fighting reflected badly on the NFL. 
If the appearance of a Vick rehabilitation can stick, it makes the NFL look good.  They could
care less about the victims of all of those NFL players' who've hurt people off the field —
a woman killed by a drunk NFLer, a club employee paralyzed by a macho
NFLer, club patrons nearly shot by a gun-toting NFLer.

Whatever NFL commissioner Roger Goodell says, by welcoming Vick
back, the league has made it easier, not harder, for dog-fighting rings
to continue in this country.  It wasn't such a bad thing, Goodell has declared about Vick's treatment of dogs.  We're okay with a guy like that playing in our league.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PlJTNgrwPpY/SnHc8mli0GI/AAAAAAAAC3U/J4kwa32S2Zo/s400/070326_goodell_hmed_6p_h2.jpg
"Hey, all you dog-lovers…CAN IT!"  NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell

The
money machine that is the NFL, ESPN, the media and the football jersey
companies has been too powerful for dogs and peoples who have our backs to go up against.

It's bad seeing all the comments from "dog owners" and "dog lovers" who
think Vick's return to the gridiron is okay.  It makes our bellies hurt.  Would
they feel that way if Vick had done it to their dog?  Dog-fighting rings often do it to somebody's dog, stolen from yards or houses.

It'd be a lot healthier and honest if all parties concerned said,
simply, "we can make a lot of money if Michael Vick comes back to the
NFL.  Shut up and take it.  It's America, and we rehabilitate
scoundrels not because it's good for people but because it's good for
business."

It's
unsettling when humans get mad at each other and talk that way.  It's
scarier even than thunder.  But at least everyone would be clear.

Reebok Philadelphia Eagles Michael Vick Premier Team Color Jersey - NFLShop.com

The NFL, showing its concern for animals

 

But hey, a script's a script, and they're using an old one for Michael
Vick.  Scripts are never real.  They exist only to serve a purpose.

That purpose?  The telling of a story that benefits whoever paid for the script.

How do you think the script would read if Michael Vick wrote it himself.

How would it read if dogs could write?

Wait…we can!  Give us some time — we'll come up with a script that helps everybody.

'Cause that's what dogs do — help everybody.  Cats think we're simps for still loving humans.  Maybe.  But we do.

love and paws in our time,

Sirius & Tikkanen

Civics and Urban Life

Register To Vote Before Aug. 21 So You Can Vote on September 15th

Thanks to Craig Hammerman, District Manager of Community Board 6. He sent this my way this morning;

Just a friendly reminder that in order to vote in the upcoming September
15th Primary Election, potential voters must be registered before
August 21st.

For a list of the qualifications and instruction on how to register click here, or use the following link:
http://www.vote.nyc.ny.us/register.html

Please feel free to pass this along.


Civics and Urban Life

Upcoming Special Exhibitions at the Brooklyn Musuem

HERE IT IS: The Fall 2009 Advance Schedule of Exhibitions
containing capsule information about current
and confirmed upcoming exhibitions has been
posted on the Brooklyn Museum Web site at
www.brooklynmuseum.org.

James
Tissot: "The Life of Christ"
October 23, 2009-January 17, 2010

Who
Shot Rock & Roll: A Photographic History,
1955 to the Present
October 30, 2009-January 31, 2010

Body
Parts: Ancient Egyptian Fragments &
Amulets
November 19, 2009-October 2, 2011

Brooklyn
1864:
Elizabeth Blackwell and the
Sanitary Movement
January 29-September 12, 2010

Kiki
Smith: Sojourn
February 5-September 12, 2010

To
Live Forever: Art and the Afterlife in
Ancient Egypt
February 12-May 2, 2010

Costume
Collection
May 7-August 1, 2010

Andy
Warhol: The Last Decade
June 18-September 12, 2010

Fred
Tomaselli
October 8, 2010-January 2, 2011

Vishnu:
Hinduism's Blue-Skinned Savior
June 24-September 18, 2011

Before
the Fall: Art of the American
Twenties
October 28, 2011-January 22, 2012

To
Live Forever: Art and the Afterlife
in Ancient Egypt
February 12-May 2, 2010

Civics and Urban Life

Avedon, Robert Frank, Georgia O’Keefe and Ansel Adams at SFMOMA

Avedon_withtwiggy Robert_frank_02 Okeeffe_black_mesa Adams_sunrise After a tasty brunch with the On the Go couple at The Bell on Polk Street, we went to SFMOMA to catch the Avedon show. Once there we realized that the museum is chock full of great photo shows. The quotes below are from the SFMOMA website.

—Richard Avedon 1946-2004, an impressive retrospective of the photographers best work, including a 31 feet long portrait of members of Warhol's Factory and a wall-sized grid of The Family, political photos for Rolling Stone Magazine taken during the Carter Administration. 

"Whether photographing politicians, artists, writers, fashion models, or
movie stars, Richard Avedon revolutionized the genre of portraiture. He
rejected conventional stiff-and-staid poses and instead captured both
motion and emotion in the faces of his subjects, often encapsulating
their intrigue in a single charged moment."

— Looking In: Robert Frank's "The Americans," featuring 83 photographs from Robert Frank's seminal book photos made in 1955 and 1956 when European born Frank
traveled around the United States. The exhibition celebrates the 50th anniversary of the publication of this book, considered one of the most important post World War 11 photographic works.

"The book looked beneath the surface
of American life to reveal a profound sense of alienation, angst, and
loneliness. With these prophetic photographs, Frank redefined the icons
of America, noting that cars, jukeboxes, gas stations, diners, and even
the road itself were telling symbols of contemporary life. Frank's
style — seemingly loose, casual compositions, with often rough,
blurred, out-of-focus foregrounds and tilted horizons — was just as
controversial and influential as his subject matter."

—Georgia O'Keefe and Ansel Adams: Natural Affinities. A compare and contrast exhibition featuring paintings and photos by the two artists who used New Mexico as an important subject of their work.

"The two met for the first time in
1929 while in Taos, New Mexico, and despite a 15-year age gap and
differing personalities, they developed a lifelong friendship through
their shared admiration of the natural world. O'Keeffe and Adams
corresponded over the years, visited one another, and sometimes
traveled together to sites that became subjects of their artwork."

Civics and Urban Life

San Francsico Saturday

CAS_Entrance_SmAs usual, we thoroughly enjoyed our days in San Francisco. It is a city where I think I could live. No, I'm not moving. Not yet anyway. It's just one of a handful of places in the US where I'd consider moving.

Saturday morning breakfast was a donut and and coffee from Bob's while I sat in a laundromat on Sacramento Street washing OSFO's jeans. I always say, you can't know a city until you've tried a laundromat.

Later we took a DeSoto cab to Golden Gate Park to visit the California Academy of Sciences, a  world-class scientific and
cultural institution based in San Francisco, recently opened a gorgeous
new facility in Golden Gate Park. It's a 400,000 square foot
structure that houses an aquarium, a planetarium a natural history
museum, a 4-story rainforest all under one roof.

A green roof.

It
is one awesome place. The
new facility is also home to scientists, an education department that
provides a wide range of education services, and an extensive science
library with
over 20 million specimens and artifacts.

We didn't feel like standing in line to see the rain forest exhibit or the planetarium. We did, however, spend a lot of time in the aquarium, which is spectacular.

The building itself, which is open, airy and light-filled is also  the world’s greenest museum, as it is Platinum rated (the highest possible rating)  for Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design (LEED). Features of sustainability extend to all facets of the facility – from the bike racks and rechargeable
vehicle stations outside the building to the radiant sub-floor heating
inside the building to the energy-generating solar panels on top of the
building!

Afterwards, we walked out of the park to Judah Street and caught the N-Judah line, an overground/underground MUNI bus. There was traffic congestion caused by a firetruck on Judah Street and we were advised by another passenger to walk to Haight Street and grab the 71 bus. Taking buses in San Francisco is ALWAYS an advenutre.

Avedon_joplin I'd been wanting to check out Haight Asbury so off we went. I noticed on my map that we were right near the Janis Joplin House.

"Who's that?" OSFO asked.

"She was my idol when I was your age," I said .

We never did find the rock legend's house but we did enjoy the painted lady houses on Cole Street, a snack at the Cole Valley Cafe and many shops on Haight Street.

Finally, after a long wait on Haight, we caught the 71 to Market Street and got off near the SONY Metreon near the Yerba Buena Gardens,  where we like to browse the Chronicle Books Bookstore in the lobby. That building used to house the Where the Wild Things Are exhibit, which was an essential stop in our Henry/Alice tour of San Francisco for years. Designed by Maurice Sendak, it was a magical playground based on the illustrations and characters from that book set to Klezmer music. There was also a restaurant called, you guessed it, The Night Kitchen.

Anyway, SONY has left that building. There's no Wild Things exhibit and except for the movie multiplex, Chronicle Books, not much to do in there anymore. So we went to see Time Traveler's Wife, which is one very strange and silly movie. That said, I actually enjoyed it and OSFO, who seemed willing to accept the premise of a time traveler who constantly finds himself naked in various locales (and then manages to fin clothes that fit him), really enjoyed it.

Hepcat and the On The Go couple were home from the Monterey Historics and we watched the incredibly addictive Current channel on their big-screen TV and then grabbed some dinner at Nick's Crispy Taco, a taco place inside Rouge Nightclub, a bar/club on Polk Street with red walls and chandeliers.

The quesadillas were fantastic!

Janis Joplin photo by Richard Avedon.

Civics and Urban Life

Park Slope Pastor To Attend Global Dialogue in South Africa

Rev. Dr. Daniel Meeter, pastor of Brooklyn’s Old First Reformed Church, will
be attending a Global Dialogue on the ACCRA CONFESSION: Covenanting for
Justice in the Economy and the Earth, in Johannesburg, South Africa,
September 3-8, 2009. 

Hosted by the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, the
dialogue will include fifty delegates from around the world. Pastor Meeter
will represent the Reformed Church in America.

The ACCRA CONFESSION was drafted in Ghana in 2004. It addresses the
Christian response to the global economic crisis and the heavy burden borne
by poor nations and by the environment. How can the Christian faith bear
witness to economic and environmental justice? The African churches have a
special voice in this, and the global Reformed communion will find ways to
speak with them and respond together.

The World Alliance of Reformed Churches is a fellowship of 75 million
Reformed Christians in 214 churches in 107 countries. Its member churches
are Congregational, Presbyterian, Reformed and United churches with roots in
the 16th-century Reformation. It has a small secretariat in Geneva,
Switzerland.

Daniel Meeter has previously served the Reformed Church in America as chair
of its South Africa Task Force, chair of its standing ecumenical commission,
as delegate to the Presbyterian Church, and as dialogue partner with the
Evangelical Lutheran and Moravian churches.

Music

OTBKB Music: Stay in the Neighborhood on Tuesday

MitchEaster Amy Speace Tuesday, there's a pretty good twofer show over at Southpaw: Mitch Easter
and Amy Speace.  Mitch was in the band Sneakers in the 70s and Let's
Active in the 80s.  He's also been a producer working with R.E.M.,
Marshall Crenshaw and Suzanne Vega among others.  He also engineered
Amy Speace's recent record, The Killer in Me.

Amy Speace, who I've recommended here before, is a singer-songwriter
whose music could be called Americana, alt country and folk.  Her
recent album, The Killer in Me grew out of the break up of her
marriage.  So you'll hear some introspective songs, but Amy will mix in
some lively stuff too.  This is probably the last time to see Amy in
Brooklyn before she packs up and leaves the metropolitan area and moves
on to Nashville.

Mitch Easter and Amy Speace, Southpaw, 125 Fifth Avenue (between Sterling Pl. and St. Johns Pl.), 8pm

 –Eliot Wagner

Civics and Urban Life

Teen Spirit’s Gap Year Begins and Smartmom is Anxious

3 Comments

Smartmom_big8 Teen Spirit is in that summer-after-high-school time of life, an
interesting limbo between the end of one experience and the beginning
of another. And it is fraught with excitement, expectation and, this
being Smartmom talking here, anxiety.

The anxiety comes because Teen Spirit is taking what is now called a
“gap year” (which was called “taking a year off” when Smartmom was in
college, but now it has an official name and almost no stigma at all).

At first, Smartmom wondered if it would be awkward when people asked
what her son is doing in the fall. Now she just says, “He’s going to
‘Gap Year University,’” and that usually shuts them up.

More often than not, people seem to love the idea. Quite a few have
said some version of, “I wish I’d done that rather than flounder my way
through my first year at college.”

Back in her day, Smartmom knew a few kids who did interesting things
on their year off before college. One friend lived on a kibbutz,
another went sailing around the world. Still another was an intern at a
documentary film company.

It seemed very brave to Smartmom at the time and it wasn’t something
she ever considered for herself. She wasn’t really the independent,
design-your-own-major type of person back then. She did what she was
supposed to do and left it at that.

Smartmom remembers her summer between high school and college. She
worked at an insurance company where she filed, typed and answered
phones. The boredom was excruciating, but Smartmom enjoyed her lunch
hours at the Great American Health Bar on West 57th Street and the
paychecks on Fridays.

She especially loved quitting time, when she could go home and be
with her high school friends, especially her boyfriend. They’d already
decided that they were “breaking up” for college. Still, they savored
the last months of their relationship and went to concerts in Central
Park, movies at the Elgin and bars on Columbus Avenue.

At the end of August, she was thrilled to say good-bye to the tedium
of an office job. She packed a big trunk, bid farewell to her boyfriend
and her beloved high school friends and journeyed to SUNY-Binghamton on
the southern tier.

Orientation was really scary and she figured she’d probably made a
huge mistake by going to a huge state school in a strange upstate city.
But within a few days, she had a new best friend and a whole gaggle of
interesting people she was becoming attached to.

In other words, Smartmom survived the transition and successfully reinvented herself as a college freshman.

Smartmom wonders how Teen Spirit feels watching his friends go off
to college. Last week one friend left for the Art Institute of Chicago
while others are off to Brown University, Reed, Lewis and Clark, and
Grinnell.

Luckily, one of Teen Spirit’s best friends is also attending “Gap
Year University” and that is a real source of comfort for Smartmom.
They tend to be very creative and constructive together and Smartmom
has a hunch that they’ll be an inseparable duo in the year to come.

Teen Spirit has two friends who took a gap year last year. One of
them got his own apartment and worked at an office job at a small firm
in Manhattan. The other boy taught English in South America. After a
year of working and traveling, they both feel ready and very motivated
to go to college.

That’s the Gap Year University success story. Smartmom’s big fear is
that Teen Spirit won’t ever want to go to college after his stint at
GYU — and that’s why a lot of parents don’t like the gap year idea in
the first place.

But Smartmom believes that it really is, probably, the best thing
for the iconoclastic Teen Spirit. It will give him a chance to work, to
travel and to play music, which is something he’s really passionate
about.

It will also be an opportunity for him to do something other than
school, which he’s done for most of his life. He seems eager to exist
outside of that structure for a while, and Smartmom has a hunch that
this will be a liberating way for him to reinvent himself a little bit
and find out what makes him tick.

Trouble is, it’s hard to tell when the program at Gap Year
University actually begins. There are no schedules, no course catalogs
and no freshman advisers. It’s all a little free form and very open
ended. But that, Smartmom tries to remind herself, is the whole point.

She just hopes his grades are good.

Civics and Urban Life

Tracy Fire 50% Contained and Not Growing

From the Tracy Press:

A massive
grassfire south of Tracy has grown into 15,000 acres of burning brush,
and fire officials expect it to continue to spread eastward and
continue burning through Sunday.

On
Saturday, Alameda County Fire Department spokeswoman Aisha Knowles said
the Corral Fire is 50 percent contained and is not growing.

She
said the winds, which were up to 30 miles per hour when the fire
started to grow, have died down to about 2 to 6 miles per hour this
morning.

However, Knowles said, the winds have shifted from
northeast to northwest, which could affect humidity and change the
fire's temperament.

Civics and Urban Life

Tidbits: City Council and More

City Council Race

City Council candidate John Heyer, one of the 39ers, is set to rally at the Carroll Street F- and G-train
stop to demand that the MTA stop its plan to close dozens of manned token booths citywide. The 24-hour booth at the President Street end of the station is supposed to close on Sept. 20. Nice quote from Heyer: “It’s people not machines — that make our subway stations and platforms safe."

Transportation
Alternatives is hosting a debate among the candidates vying for
the City Council seat in the 39th Council District, currently held by
Bill de Blasio. The debate will take place at PS 321, on 7th Avenue between 1st
and 2nd Streets in Park Slope, this coming Tuesday, August 18th, at 7
p.m. If you're a voter in the 39th District, or just interested in or
concerned about city transportation policies, we urge you to attend Thanks to Eric McClure of Park Slope Neighbors for this info.

Doug Biviano, one of the 33's, will host Health Benefits Guru Sam Camens, who will break down how our health care system works, how you can manage it, and what
Washington is (and isn't) doing about it. That's on Wednesday August 19th at 7 p.m. Biv Headquarters on Montague Street and Hicks.

 And don't forget: BCAT is theplace to watch the
candidates for City Council Districts 33, 39, and 45, Comptroller and
Public Advocate got at it. Organized by Ed Weintrob (publisher emeritus
of the Brooklyn Paper) these debates are a collaboration between 
Community Newspaper Group and  Brooklyn
Independent Television on the BCAT TV Network.

All the major races will be cablecast on BCAT, which is channel 56
on Time Warner customers and channel 69 for Cablevision subscribers:

• City Council District 33 (currently held by David Yassky): Monday, Aug. 17.

• City Council District 39 (currently held by Bill DeBlasio): Tuesday, Aug. 18.

• City Council District 45 (currently held by Kendall Stewart): Wednesday, Aug. 19.

• Comptroller (featuring Yassky, John Liu, Melinda Katz and David Weprin): Thursday, Aug. 20.

• Public Advocate (featuring DeBlasio, Mark Green, Norman Siegel and
Eric Gioia): Friday, Aug. 21 (repeated on Tuesday, Aug. 25).

All broadcasts will be at 9 pm. And all shows will be available online roughly 24 hours after its initial airing at www.bricartsmedia.org/BITspecials and the Community Newspaper Group’s new political Web site

Public Advocate Race

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. today
endorsed Bill de Blasio for Public Advocate, citing de Blasio's deep
understanding of the needs of Bronx residents, and his commitment to defending
New Yorkers' rights throughout his public career. De Blasio said, “I am
honored to receive the support of Borough President Diaz, a proven and
dedicated advocate for the Bronx. For far too long, our City's government
has been responsive to Manhattan while ignoring the needs of the outer
boroughs. As Public Advocate, I will fight for all New Yorkers, particularly
those whose voices often go unheard. Along with Borough President Diaz, our
broad coalition will make real reforms in City Hall.” Diaz said, “I am proud to
stand here today to voice my support for Bill de Blasio.  From leading the
fight against the Mayor’s undemocratic extension of term limits last fall, to
his recent proposal to reform community policing in our City, Bill continually
puts defending the rights of New Yorkers ahead of the celebrity of elected
office.  He is a true public servant, and I know that as Public Advocate,
Bill will be a watch dog standing up for all New Yorkers in City Hall."

Civics and Urban Life

Tracy Fire Scorches 15,000 Acres

The fire south of Tracy, not far from the family farm is twice the size of the fire in the Santa Cruz mountains. The Lt. Governor John Garamendi declared a state of emergency on Friday. Governor Arnold is back from Eunice Shriver's funeral in Massachusetts and is set to visit the fire zones today.

This from the Tracy Press:

A massive grassfire south of Tracy has grown into 15,000 acres of
burning brush, and fire officials expect it to continue to spread
eastward and continue burning through Sunday.

A DC-10 air tanker
flew in from Sacramento this afternoon to try to control the fire,
which has traveled from the eastern edge of Alameda County Thursday
afternoon to around Bird Road today. The air tanker can dump up to
12,000 gallons of retardant on the fire, which is now only 20 percent
contained.

“The fire’s still open-ended, and it’s spreading, but
it’s not as aggressive as it could be,” said Tracy Fire Department
division chief Andy Kellogg.

The Corral Fire has reached more
than twice the size of the one licking up the Santa Cruz mountains this
week. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
dispatched four air tankers and two helicopters to dump water on the
swelling grassfire that blackened much of the 1,500-acre Carnegie State
Vehicular Recreation Area and the surrounding Altamont Hills.

At
least 350 firefighters from the state and Alameda and San Joaquin
counties have teamed up to battle the blaze. Earlier this afternoon,
the fire was about 20 percent contained, Alameda County Fire Department
spokeswoman Aisha Knowles said. The Tracy Fire Department estimated
about 35 to 40 percent was under control late this morning, but some
flare-ups has quickened the fire’s spread since then.

Civics and Urban Life

Two Fogless Days in San Francsico

1 Comment

Two fogless days in San Francisco. What a gift!

Yesterday we walked down Polk Street to Fisherman's Wharf—a walk which includes a view of Lombard Street, the steepest, curviest block in San Francisco. We checked out all the touristy stuff at the Wharf, including Ghiradelli Square, the Salvador Dali gallery, and the Hyde Street Pier. A few trips ago we visited Alcatraz, the  infamous federal prison, bird
sanctuary, the first lighthouse on the West Coast, and the birthplace
of the Native American Red Power movement. That was a great trip.

Then we decided to take a Cable Car to Market Street and waited with tourists from all around the world for, like, a half hour while listening to one of the area's street musicians, a bluesy electric guitar player. Riding a cable car is so awesomely cool. Refurbished and equipped with new tracks, cables,
turntables and cable propulsion machinery, San Francisco’s cable
cards operate just like they did more than 100 years ago. Unfortunately we didn't get to hang onto a pole and ride from the outside of the car. Still, it's a very fun ride with great views of the hilly city and is views of the coast.

We fully intended to do something "cultural" in downtown San Francisco like go to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and walk around the Yerba Buena Gardens, but somehow we got kidnapped by the plethora of cool shops on Market Street and what is probably the world's biggest GAP store (San Francisco is their international headquarters after all).

Oh well, at least OSFO has her first-day-of-school outfit (a cool purple skirt from American Eagle, a v-necked cardigan from GAP, a pair of grey flannel flats).

Speaking of stores, on Polk Street we happened upon a store called Favor, which sells Hotcakes Jewelry. The Hotcakes Design
studio is located upstairs from their colorful, fun retail shop. They have all the jewelry currently in their line plus  lots of items you 
won't find at The Clay Pot like the Louise Brooks earrings and the Billie Holiday necklace. They also carry jewelry by other artists. What a great find!

We waited another half hour for the Powell Street cable car. This time we had the two best spots on the car, the pole at the very front. What a great ride. We hopped off at Union Street and walked the hilly way back to the apartment where we're staying.

For dinner, we ordered in from our favorite Chinese place, Tai Chi on Polk Street. We were tired from our long day in San Francisco. And OSFO just loves Chinese food.

Today: a trip to Golden Gate Park, the California Academy of Sciences and Haight Asbury. Okay. And I hope to stop in to see blogger/retailer Rena at Rare Device (a shop that used to be in Park Slope). I also hope to meet Sasha Wingate at Bell Jar, a shop in the Mission I  wrote about for the Associated Press. I also hope to make it over to the City Lights Books in North Beach.


Civics and Urban Life

Lululemon Showroom in Park Slope

3 Comments

I'd heard that a Lululemon Athletica opened  in Park Slope but I didn't know where. Lululemon makes technical clothing for yoga, dancing,
running, and most other sweaty pursuits/ Founded in Vancouver BC in 1998, the first lululemon shared its
retail space with a yoga studio. They have a few shops in NYC including one near Lincoln Center.

Well, it turns out that Lululemon has opened on that cute stretch of Bergen Street between 5th and Flatbush Avenues (y'know where Bump is and Babeland are located. But here's the catch, it's a showroom open on an appointment-only basis.

They'll also offering a weekly complimentary yoga class and other community events once they settle in. 

472 Bergen St
Brooklyn NY 11217
tel: (718) 636-6298

Civics and Urban Life

Update: 10,000 Acres Burned in Tracy

That fire in Tracy is BIG. 10,000 Acres. They're saying it's 35-40% under control (I'm not sure what that means exactly). Air tankers and two helicopters are on hand to to dump water on the fire that "blackened much of the 1,500-acre Carnegie State Vehicular
Recreation Area and the surrounding Altamont Hills." Ironically, some members of the Tracy Fire Department were dispatched Thursday morning to help fight a fire in Santa Cruz. I am guessing they were called back to fight this fire in their own city.  The following is from the Tracy Press:

Winds have whipped up a blaze southwest of Tracy into what’s now the largest fire in California: 10,000 acres of burning brush.

At
its peak, the Corral Fire reached more than twice the size of the one
licking up the Santa Cruz mountains this week. The California
Department of Forestry and Fire Protection dispatched four air tankers
and two helicopters to dump water on the swelling grassfire that
blackened much of the 1,500-acre Carnegie State Vehicular Recreation
Area and the surrounding Altamont Hills.

At least 350
firefighters from the state and Alameda and San Joaquin counties have
teamed up to battle the blaze. Cal Fire said the fire is about 20
percent contained, though the Tracy Fire Department estimated about 35
to 40 percent was under control late this morning.

“We’ve got a
pretty good handle on it,” said Tracy fire Chief Chris Bosch. “The
message to bring home is that the fire is in an area of the mountains
far away from where anyone lives, and it’s mostly brush and vegetation.
That’s what’s causing all the smoke.”

Civics and Urban Life

Stop the Politics of Nasty in the 39th City Council District

2 Comments

I suppose it was inevitable that the 39th City Council race would turn nasty. Maybe it's remarkable how long it took for it to happen. But with just a few weeks left before the September 15th election, it's happening now and tensions are running high in the campaign offices of two of the candidates in this tight race.

That said, what is going on? And is any of this important to the voters of the 39th district?

Come on folks

Did Brad Lander really attack Josh Skaller for sending his son to Berkeley Carroll? Knowing Lander as I do, I seriously doubt that he actually attacked or criticized the Skaller's for the highly personal choice they made about their son's Wolf's education.

Wouldn't that be dumb? I mean, school choice is a very personal matter and lots of voters send their kids to private schools. 

As a member of the Park Slope community, Lander obviously knows many people who send their kids to Berkeley
Carroll and other private schools. That said, from the beginning Lander has made a big deal out of the fact that he is the only candidate with children in public school. In his own words: "It is something that I believe is relevant for
people to know (and, of course, that contains an implicit comparison)" he wrote me in an email. 

Being a public school parent is something that voters might value in their local politicians. I mean, it's comforting (and validating) to know that they believe that the public school are good enough for their kids. But it's also worth noting that Skaller and Lander are the only candidates out of a group of 5 who have children. Candidates Heyer and Reilly have said that when they do have children, they will go to public school. Heyer's wife is pregnant with their first child. 

Okay.

Now there's a lot of back and forth between Lander and Skaller about campaign finance issues. This was started by Skaller who hammered Lander for his ties to the Working Families Party.

In retaliation Lander spilled the beans on Skaller's alleged misconduct connected with the status of his  campaign office space. Says Lander, "he wasn't reporting the existence of the office or paying rent
for it."

So, is Skaller operating a campaign
office, without reporting the existence of the office or paying rent
for it? Well, Skaller's campaign has admitted wrongdoing to the accusation that they were hoping not to pay for their office space. 

Apparently they got caught by the Campaign Finance Board and they are now going to have to  acknowledge the value of that office space and most likely count it as an in-kind contribution.

Is this something the voters need to know? Yes, I think this is worth knowing. But it's also important to understand the context. Did Skaller and Co. intentionally try to pull the wool over the CFB's eyes or was this just a way of cutting corners, an oversight, a mistake, a bad choice, a dumb move?

Who knows?

According to Chris Owen's, Skaller's campaign manager “The CFB and the campaign are in discussions as to whether or not
the space should be treated as an in-kind contribution.  Originally, we
were given advice that the space, if it had no commercial market rate,
would not count.  After the audit, the CFB asked for more information
about the space, which we have provided to them.  If the CFB deems the
space to be a contribution, we will value it and list it as such.  But
that final ruling has not been made at this time."

Okay.

According to Lander, his campaign has been aware of Skaller's officegate for while: "We were hoping things would not get ugly, so we didn't
say anything about it. But when they hit us with a totally baseless
attack, we let people know about it," said  Lander in an email to me.     

The so-called "baseless attack"  was Skaller's hammering of Lander for his ties to
the Working Families Party and its offshoot, a for-profit company
called Data and Field Services. According to the Brooklyn Paper, "Lander, like other WFP-endorsed candidates, allegedly received
significantly more field assistance from the party via its sister
organization than what he and the other pols disclosed in their filings
with the Campaign Finance Board."

Lander's campaign has not yet been accused of any wrongdoing. But the Skaller campaign continues to make an issue out of it. This matter will either develop or just blow away.

So why so nasty?

The race in the 39th is a tight race by a group of candidates, who seriously want the job. This race could go either way based on turnout and how well the candidates have communicated their ideas and personality to the voters and whether they're able to motivate them to vote. In other words, it's a numbers game.

In these final weeks, some candidates feel compelled to bring the politics of attack into the race. But I'm wondering if that choice will just turn voters off. Most can see through the attacks for what they are: a desperate attempt to win what is basically a numbers game.

This race is up for grabs. Still. From what I can see it can go in a number of different directions.

Skaller has the progressive, smart development, Develop Don't Destroy crowd.

Lander has the slightly more moderate smart development crowd who also care about education, affordable housing and livable neighborhoods.

Zuckerman is the only gay candidate in the race and is a strong progressive contender.

Heyer has the moderate to conservative Carroll Gardens crowd and the backing of a powerful Democratic club.

Reilly is a smart transportation advocate who has built a strong group of supporters. A smart, likable man, this is his first foray into politics, where he probably has a strong future.

Kudos to Zuckerman, Heyer and Reilly who have managed to stay off the nasty path in this campaign. And to Skaller and Lander I ask: what would happen if you decided to drop the tit for tat and continue to bring your message and your strong personalities to the voters of the 39th?

I'm just saying.

Breakfast of candidates

City Council, Comptroller and Public Advocate Candidates Debate on BCAT Next Week

BCAT is the place to watch the candidates for City Council Districts 33, 39, and 45, Comptroller and Public Advocate got at it. Organized by Ed Weintrob (publisher emeritus of the Brooklyn Paper) these debates are a collaboration between 
Community Newspaper Group and  Brooklyn
Independent Television on the BCAT TV Network.

All the major races will be cablecast on BCAT, which is channel 56
on Time Warner customers and channel 69 for Cablevision subscribers:

• City Council District 33 (currently held by David Yassky): Monday, Aug. 17.

• City Council District 39 (currently held by Bill DeBlasio): Tuesday, Aug. 18.

• City Council District 45 (currently held by Kendall Stewart): Wednesday, Aug. 19.

• Comptroller (featuring Yassky, John Liu, Melinda Katz and David Weprin): Thursday, Aug. 20.

• Public Advocate (featuring DeBlasio, Mark Green, Norman Siegel and
Eric Gioia): Friday, Aug. 21 (repeated on Tuesday, Aug. 25).

All broadcasts will be at 9 pm. And all shows will be available online roughly 24 hours after its initial airing at www.bricartsmedia.org/BITspecials and the Community Newspaper Group’s new political Web site BoroPolitics.com.

Civics and Urban Life

Prospect Heights House Tour Needs Houses

This just in from one of the organizers of the Prospect Heights House
Tour. They need homeowners who want to show their houses. Read on:

The
Prospect Heights House Tour scheduled for Sunday, October 18th from 1-5
p.m. is in danger of being cancelled this year because not enough
homeowners have steeped up to the plate to make the tour viable.

 The
organizers have
four confirmed homes, both single family and apartments, but need at
least four more homes by the end of next week to make the tour a go.
 If you or your neighbor would like to discuss the particulars of being
on the House Tour please contact the organizers  at Biegen(at)aol(dot)com or call (718) 393-7653
and leave your name, address and phone number. 

The tour has been a
neighborhood tradition for more than two decades. Each homeowner is
covered by $1 million in liability insurance. Besides celebrating the
Prospect Heights neighborhood, money raised by the tour goes directly
to grassroots, under-funded community organizations for projects such
as community gardens, after-school programs, street beautification, and
the successful landmarking of Prospect Heights.  Please help!

Music

OTBKB Music: Les Paul (1915-2009)

It was announced yesterday that Les Paul died last Thursday.  If you
had to sum up what Les was in one word, that word is innovator.  He not
only created music, he created instruments (although it is not
absolutely certain that he was the first to create a solid body
electric guitar, he was at least one of the first persons to do so; and the iconic Les Paul guitar, although what his contributions to that were are somewhat disputed) 
and ways to record them (multitracking, overdubbing and electronic
effects).  It is no stretch at all to say that Les created the template
for music as it has existed since the mid 20th century.

Les had an interesting take on why he became an inventor:  “Honestly, I
never strove to be an Edison. The only reason I invented these things
was
because I didn’t have them and neither did anyone else. I had no
choice, really.”

The clip today will give you a look at what Les did and how he did it. 
It also includes a Les Paul and Mary Ford hit, How High the Moon.  I
picked this song because it always seemed to be coming out of the
kitchen radio when I was in elementary school.


For more information on the life of Les Paul, check out this obituary in The New York Times or the article on him in Wikipedia.

–Eliot Wagner

Civics and Urban Life

We’re In San Francisco Now

1 Comment

We left Tracy early early this morning (is 4:00 am, early enough for ya?) to catch the BART (Bay Area Rabid Transit) in Dublin/Pleasanton for San Francisco. On the way out of the driveway we saw the Tracy blaze in the hills. According to the Tracy Press, fire crews are still fighting what is now a 4,000-acre blaze on the Altamonts southwest of Tracy that is spreading east.

…the fire near Corral Hollow
and Tesla roads is about 25 to 30 percent controlled, but probably
won’t be fully contained until Sunday. He said two crews are watching
the north side to make sure the fire does not touch the two-dozen or so
homes in that area or spread to Interstate 580.

“It’s still just a lot of grass burning,” Bosch said. “There’s no direct threat to residentials right now.”

Bosch
said if the fire does get close to I-580, they’ll shut it down, but
there’s no danger to drivers yet. Right now, the freeway remains open,
he said.

He added that the blaze is in a tough spot, a canyon,
to access with fire engines. They have been using helicopters and
planes with water in an effort to extinguish the fire.

We arrived at the BART station around 4:30 and waited with the other commuters to get on the San Francisco bound train. We got off at the first stop in San Francisco, Embarcadero, and met up with Hugh's sister in front of the Hyatt Regency.

Hugh and his sister and brother-in-law are off to Laguna Seca Raceway for the Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races. While they do that, OSFO and I will hang out in San Francisco, something we love to do.

Suffice it to say, we're tired from the early wake up.