I just got word from a parent of a student at PS 10, here in Brooklyn that PS 10 is organizing a special concert to raise money for the school. This parent writes:

Browsing the list of Guggenheim  Fellowships in an ad taken out by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation I noticed quite a few Brooklynites in the crowd. The Guggenheim's are a coveted award given out every year to artists, scholars and scientist in all fields. This year they granted 180 fellowships picked from a list generated from hundreds of recommendations from panels and juries. The trustees of the Guggenheim Foundation include Robert A. Caro, Joyce Carol Oates, Edward Hirsch and Ellen Taafe Zwilich.

And the Brooklyn winners are:

John Haskell for fiction
Joann Malinowska, fine arts
Stefanie Snider, fine arts
Julia Loktev, film
Thomas L. Bradshaw, drama and performance
Jordan Harrison, drama and performance
Anne Wasburn, drama and performance

Heather Hendershot, film, video and radio studies

As reported in the New York Times, a humpback whale was spotted at around 11 am on Thursday about 1 mile from the Verrazano Bridge.

Petty Officer Annie Berlin, spokeswoman for the Coast Guard, is quoted in the New York Times as saying, “It is fairly close to the shipping zone.  We want to make sure that not only the animal is not in danger,
but that the vessels traveling in and out of New York Harbor are also
safe.”

She said the whale was not too far from Brooklyn. “It’s
right near Bay Ridge,”s he added. “It’s right off of Belt Parkway.” By
1:15 p.m., the whale had moved near Coney Island, the Coast Guard reported.

Brooklyn Heights blogger, Self-Absorbed Boomer has a nice story about the Brooklyn humpback whale, too.

It's supposed to rain. But that's not going to stop the 200 volunteers of the Bed-Stuy Meadow project to show up and "throw seed" all over abandoned land in Bed-Stuy.

In fact, the rain is great for the process and organizer, Deborah Fisher, is enthusiastically recruiting more people to come to Bed-Stuy Saturday morning at 11 am to participate in this unusual event.

For this project, the neighborhood has been divided into zones and volunteers are being assigned to varoius zones. If you are interested in participating, it's important to register and RSVP so that organizers can place you in a zone.

Apparently an article in the NY Daily News raised some issues about the project and included some quotes from members of the community who are concerned that the free throwing of seeds will fall unwanted on private yards and gardens, of which there are many in Bed Stuy. In fact, the Greenest Block in Brooklyn usually includes many Bed-Stuy prize winners. In a recent email, Deborah wanted to assure people that the project is "about abandoned land, and that throwing seeds on yards,
tended tree pits, or other zones that are obviously under someone's
stewardship is totally uncool!" Here's an excerpt from Deborah's recent email about the event:

She's bored already. We're going to the circus on Monday morning. Other than that: HELP.

I was checking because Diaper Diva (now Decorator Diva) wants me to organize one for her daughter. But now I think maybe we should just got to one of the one's mentioned by About Brooklyn's Kristen Goode. Thanks Kristen.

Brownstone Voyeur is a regular Thursday feature onOTBKB and  casaCARA .

Jamie Nesbitt-Weber,
an interior designer, and her husband Herb Weber, an architect,
renovated and decorated their Clinton Street home in the ‘high tech’
era of the late 1980s.

It has held up well. Good design and quality construction will do that.

Classic modern furnishings and ultra-contemporary Italian lighting fixtures have proven their staying power. Ethnic accessories and rugs add textural interest, warmth, and color. It’s a lively, appealing mix.

Below: icons like Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona chair and George Nelson's bubble lamp never go out of style. Go to CasaCARA for more text and pictures.

When I walked into Purity Diner on Seventh Avenue, David Pachefsky, the Green candidate for the City Council in the 39th district, waved me to the back, where he was sitting. The most casually dressed of the candidates, he was wearing a comfortable looking brown sweater and a scarf and ordered "two eggs over easy. Isn't that a style? No meat."

David, age 40, an extremely disarming and likable person is also fun to talk to. He told me that he grew up in my neck of the woods, the Upper West Side (110th Street and Riverside Drive). As a kid he had a keen interest in the work of garbage men; he and his dad, who was a professor of literature at CUNY, would follow them around the neighborhood. His mom, "a farm girl from Eastern Kansas, studied literature in
graduate school, and worked as a copy-editor and substitute teacher."

When he was 5, his family moved to a house in Patchogue, Long Island, where his mother grew strawberries and David remembers catching toads. His father, who was Bronx-born with a thick Bronx accent, never learned to drive and grew to dislike the suburbs after losing his teaching job during the CUNY budget crisis of 1975.

At Duke University and Hunter College, David studied international politics and became obsessed with the idea of fairness in the world. "Why are some countries poor? Why are some people poor?"

At a summer camp where he worked during college, David met counselors from the Ivory Coast and later visited Senegal and other countries in Africa, a formative experience that inspired him to get a master's degree in International Politics at American University. There he  developed an interest in local governments and the way that they can be a force for the good in Africa and elsewhere.

"There was an anti-government bias at the time," David explained. "Government equals corruption and is controlled by big, greedy elites. The idea was to bypass government and work with non-profits." But David was dubious of  that model. He believed then and still does that  government has a role to play. "You're not going to get sustainable development if you go that route."

To learn more about local politics, David decided to study a local government close to home. "Where better to learn about micro politics than in the city you know." This interest led David to research a project about the 1968 Ocean Hill-Brownsville teacher's strike.

To fulfill a grad school requirement, David interned with City Council member Steven D. Brienza, who represented the 39th District at the time and was briefly considering a run in the 2009 race. David learned first-hand how NYC government works as he sat in on oversight hearings on welfare reform and other issues. This was during the Giuliani years and "in the thick of Giuliani's Draconian welfare policies," David told me.

By the time David's fried eggs and my egg and cheese sandwich arrived, we were just getting out of graduate school. That's when  David got a job in the Central Staff of the City Council. He worked in the Finance Division, which keeps tabs on the budget of the City of New York. It was there that he really learned the fiscal impact on legislation. Within Finance, he was assigned to the health, youth and aging committees.

Sometime during his ten years at the City Council, David left for a few months to try out a job at the MTA, which he found to be technocratic and boring so he went back to the City Council.

"So they took you back?" I joked.

"Sure," David replied. "I was good at my job."

I believed him but I wanted to know what made him good.

"I am very analytical. I understand complex financial issues. I can communicate complex things very clearly and I get along with people."

I wondered if these qualifications would be a plus if he makes it to the City Council.  

"Things get done in the City Council not through brilliant analysis but through listening, explaining things clearly to others and nudging policy through."

Clearly David is a smart, progressive thinker who is deeply analytical about the way government works. I enjoyed hearing his well-articulated thoughts on the subject.

"People who are good at getting elected are not always good at governing. Conversely, people who are good at government aren't necessarily good at getting elected," David told me.

Since leaving the council in 2008, David, with his specialization in legislative strengthening, has worked as a consultant for local governments in Africa. He recently returned from Nigeria and Sierra Leone, where he was thinking of moving his family (he has two girls, one in middle school and one in pre-school). But his wife, a pediatrician at Kings County Hospital, just
got a fellowship in emergency medicine in Newark, NJ, so the family is
going to stay put in Brooklyn for a while.

When we pushed aside our clean plates, I asked David to tell me the top drawer issues in his campaign? David took a thoughtful breath and then erupted with this; 

"Education. More good schools. Transportation and jobs. All of this within a framework of what makes a sustainable neighborhood and a sustainable society,"

David, who rides his younger daughter around Park Slope in a bicycle/rickshaw, is also interested in a pedestrian and bike-centric community, which he thinks works well for small business.

As for his qualifications: David believes that his ten year experience in the City Council counts for a lot as he understands that bureaucracy inside and out. With this, he believes, he represents a jolt to the political system as someone, who is fiercely analytical and interested in reform.

"We have the potential to do better at the City Council," David tells me. "The Council should take on the big picture in terms of ecological issues, social justice, democracy and political change."

As a Green candidate, getting on the ballot is one of David's biggest challenges — and his first order of business. In a lot of ways, the system is stacked against third party candidates. While each of the Democratic candidates will be collecting their 1500 signatures in June, David has to wait until July ("when everyone leaves town," David said) to get the 2,700 that are required of the Green Party.

It is important for people to know that citizens can only sign one candidate's ballot petition. Therefore if you feel strongly about the Green Party being represented in this election, wait until July to sign David's petition.

By the end of breakfast, I've learned a great deal about the City Council, NYC politics and the way local politics can be a force for good in the world. David is a great teacher and thinker, and could be a fresh new voice in NYC politics.

If only we could find the check.

After the waiter drops it off we somehow manage to lose it. No biggie, we figure. Except the waiter tells us, quite seriously, that if he loses a check he has to pay $50 to the restaurant owner.

David and I roll eyes. I check my bag over and over as does David who has numerous notebooks and papers in his. Finally, I find that I put the check and the money in a tiny inside pocket in my bag. Duh. Embarrassing. The waiter, David, the cashier, everyone is relieved.

"I'm glad you found the check," David told me as we finally leave the Purity. "$50. Jeez. That doesn't seem fair," he said as we began our walk down Seventh Avenue.

Starting May 1, 2009, a mandatory fee of $25 per member will be required to participate in Park Slope Parents, which is in its 7th year and is 10,000 Brooklyn parents strong. The founder and a 15 person volunteer advisory board felt strongly that the people who work full-time on PSP need to get paid. 

It seems that a lot of people don't like to pay for their online content. Especially at a social networking site like PSP that in many ways runs off of the energy and information of its contributing members.

But the truth is, online communities don't run themselves. There are people behind the bandwidth who are working full time to make it all run smoothly. And Park Slope Parents is  more than just a list-serve. There are the off-line components, the  face-time events that contribute to the sense of community and forge an enduring link between what goes on online and the real world. These events include the Harvest Festival, Spring Fling, kids' music concerts and clothing swaps.
There are also partnerships with non-profit organizations to provide
child-related items (e.g., clothing, cribs, blankets) for needy families.

Judging from some of the comments made during a fierce debate that went
on during the last week, many people would prefer to have advertising
in their face than pay for membership. Personally I think advertising would be inappropriate on a site that encourages free democratic discussion and honesty about products, services, and issues related to child rearing.

While I don't think $2 a month (which comes to $25 a year) is a lot to ask for PSP, I do think that there should be financial aid for those who can't afford the fee no questions asked. Perhaps, members who can afford it, can donate more than $25 per year, which would cover the costs of those who can't afford it. That's what we do at public school for class trips.  PSP should be as inclusive as possible and adding a fee will, unfortunately, turn people away. I also suggest that there be 2-week grace period so that new members can decide whether they do or don't want to become members.

So that's my $2 and here's the press release hot off the presses from Park Slope Parents, LLC.

Susan Fox, founder of Park Slope Parents, LLC along with the 15 person volunteer
Advisory Board announced last week a change in the structure to the online
parenting community they run on Yahoo! Groups. After years of research,
organized fundraising attempts, and much deliberation they concluded that a
mandatory $25 annual fee per member will be instituted on May 1, 2009 to keep
the group, which has 13,000 unique email addresses, afloat. "This is the
best way to serve our members.  It might look like information travels by
itself on the internet, but several people work for PSP, like a job, to keep it
running smoothly," Fox says.

When first announced the new fee
generated over 130 emails of varying support sparking a debate that has spread
to the media regarding the uniquely inquisitive nature of  PSP, the value
of online content, ownership of community groups, and the concept of a free
internet. "Creating a supportive, environment with high standards of
civility and integrity is more difficult than it appears. It's not just the
time involved in counteracting the tendency to over react or flame that on-line
communication is so famous for, but the fact that  discussions on the list
can have a dramatic impact on the local community. We want to continue to be a
community resource rather than be a commercial venture where advertising
dollars drive our decisions." says Nancy McDermott, Chair of the Park
Slope Parents Advisory Board. To date the overwhelming majority of the Park
Slope Parents membership is in favor of the change as a way to support the
incredible resource PSP provides and looks forward to taking a qualified role
in the amazing community they have all worked to create.

 FAQ found here:

http://parkslopeparents.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=479&Itemid=1

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wants to add the Gowanus Canal to the Agency’s Superfund National Priorities List (NPL). That could mean that the Gowanus Canal will one day be clean and beautiful and not the stinky, toxic mess that it is.

This sounds like excellent news to me and a huge acknowledgment of just how toxic that canal really is. Finally, maybe, something will be done about it.

I wonder how this will go over with Whole Foods, the Toll Brothers and others who plan to develop projects on the canal. Being on a Superfund site may not be great for business. Especially Whole  Foods, which sells itself as organic and natural. Views of a Superfund site may not be the best PR.

If the Gowanus Canal is listed on the Superfund list, the EPA would examine contamination at the site and figure out how to deal with the contamination.  The Gowanus Canal contains contaminated sediments because of its historic proximity to heavy industry.

Here's what the EPA had to say in their press release:

On Monday Susan Fox, the founder and director of Park Slope Parents, sent out an FAQ about the group's recent decision to institute a yearly membership fee of $25 per year.

Sad to say it's just more fodder for the snarky bloggers at Gawker to have fun at Park Slope Parent's expense. See Park Slope Parents Fee Battle Threatens to Spiral Into All Out Yuppie War.

Members of Park Slope Parents have had a mixed reaction to the fee. There has been much heated debate about this on the list serve. Some members don't like the idea of having to pay to be part of an online community saying that it's the members that make it what it is. But it does take time and money to run an online community like PSP. Since its inception, PSP has been an extremely labor-intensive, all-volunteer effort by Fox and other key players. They have considered advertising and sponsorship but have concluded that that is more invasive than asking the membership to pitch in. 

To explain PSP's reasons for wanting to institute a fee, Fox decided it was time to answer the questions that were being fired her way. The entire FAQ is too long to post here but this excerpt will give you an idea of what's there.

I will, however, include her answer to one question: How will the money be spent: "The primary use of the money we raise through membership fees will be used to pay salaries for the current Park Slope Parents staff (Susan Fox and Rachel Maurer as well as other staff whom we hope will be hired),and to pay for the website fees and for costs associated with in-person events."

Sounds reasonable to me. And $2 a month isn't a lot to ask for the resource that Park Slope Parents is.

Dear PSP Members,

We'd like to thank the members of Park Slope Parents for their support,
patience, and tough questions during this time of transition. One of the
things that Park Slope Parents has been known for is our ability to
disagree without name-calling and personal attacks.  Many of you have
been taken aback by the news of the membership fee. Many of you are
angry and would imagine from the posts that some of you feel hurt as
well. For that we are sorry, since as fellow parents (and in many cases
friends) our desire is to be ever-supportive of each other.

We've incorporated your questions, concerns and ideas into the following
FAQ to help you better understand our thinking behind the decisions
we've made. We want to assure you that the decision to have a membership
fee was not one that was taken lightly. We understand and accept that
not everyone agrees with our decision, and, in fact, the Park Slope
Parents Advisory group was not unanimous about this decision either.
With a group as large as ours we had to come up with a workable
solution, which meant making tough choices. We spent over 3 years
deliberating it, trying other options, doing research, reading articles,
and looking at other models that do and don't work.

It is clear from the number of posts about the fee that the organizers
of Park Slope Parents have done a great job of making the day to day
operations of Park Slope Parents appear effortless. In general,
potential members apply, get accepted, send and receive emails with very
little contact from those who keep the list moving and messages flowing.
Why, if done mostly by volunteers, does this need to be financially
supported? We hope this document will help answer that question.

To move the discussion forward on the list we that people carefully read
the FAQs before commenting further. Also feel free to email us at our
feedback [at] parkslopeparents.com address if you want to send us a
personal message. If you do post to the list, please indicate that you
have read the FAQs.

We cannot stress enough that we feel the new membership fee will allow
Park Slope Parents to continue to thrive with the high level of
integrity and professionalism that Park Slope Parents members have come
to know.

FAQs TABLE OF CONTENTS
-How is the money going to be spent?
-Why not just have a big fundraiser instead of a fee?
-Why not just sell advertising, sell more commercial posts, or charge
more for commercial posts?
-Why isn't Park Slope Parents a not-for-profit entity?
-Why $25?
-How many will join?  Doesn't 13,000 members = $325,000?
-Why not just do less?
-Online communities should be free. It's the members that make it what
it is. Why are you charging for something that someone else will provide
for free?
-Will the new membership fee change the character of Park Slope Parents?
-What about a Trial membership for new members who do not know the value
of the NEW Park Slope Parents?
-Can I volunteer instead of paying a fee?
-What do I get for my membership?
-What about Yahoo! Groups Terms of Service? Do they allow us to charge?
-What about my posts?  Don't I own all my posts?
-How will this new membership fee work?
-What if the membership fee doesn't ultimately work?

As reported on Tuesday in the Brooklyn Paper Craig Hammerman has dropped out of the City Council race in the 39th district for personal reasons. "My family needs me right now," he told the Paper.

Yesterday I heard a rumor about this but couldn't substantiate it.

This is the second time that Hammerman has run for City Council in the 39th. He ran in 2001 and lost to Bill deBlasio. He's been district manager for Community Board 6 for 19 years and says that his "personal reasons"  will not keep him from continuing to do his job there.

Craig's decision to leave the race means there's one less Democratic candidate running for Bill deBlasio's seat – a crowded race that includes Brad Lander, Josh Skaller, Bob Zuckerman, Gary Reilly and John Heier. Steven DiBrienza has decided not to run.

I had breakfast with Craig last month for my interview/profile series on Breakfast-of-Champions. He seemed in great spirits and outlined many of the ideas he was planning to campaign on.

Breakfast-of-Candidates: Craig Hammerman.
As District Manager of Community Board 6, Craig is the nuts and bolts
guy. He's the candidate, who understands infrastructure and really
knows what its like to serve the public day in and day out for 19 years.

It's time to pre-register for the Brooklyn Blogfest. We want to know who's coming and we want you to be there on May 7th at 7 p.m. at the PowerHouse Arena in Dumbo.

To plan Brooklyn Blogfest 2009,
a great group of bloggers have come together to make it the best
Blogfest yet. I

The centerpiece of this year's program will be a panel discussion, Why We Blog: Voices, Visions and the Realities of the Blogosphere. The moderator and the panelists will be announced later this week.

This year, we've added Blogs-of-a-Feather, breakout sessions at
the end of the program that will give particpants a chance to meet with
other bloggers who share their interests. These groups will be
facilitated by notable bloggers in each category of blogging (place,
social activist, photo, political, popular culture, food, home &
garden, historical, and others).

Video segments are being produced for the show. Brit in Brooklyn is creating a video tribute to the photo bloggers of Brooklyn. Blue Barn Pictures is creating an opener, as well as short videos about interesting bloggers in Brooklyn. Blue Barn also created the Brooklyn Blogfest 09 teaser video, which is already circulating and was directed by Sharon Dowdell.

And
what about the Shout-Out, that fun and democratic portion of the
program, when new bloggers are invited to get up and share their blogs
with the world? That's been moved to the after-party at Galapagos,
where there's a great stage. There are strict rules of course: speakers
are limited to a certain number of sentences. Say what you absolutely need to say, give out your URL and
be on your way. Last year, 60 people got up and it was fantastic (and
long). This year it will be just one element of the party at Galapagos,
where there will be a cash bar and free snacks and lots of time to hang
out and network.

The Blogfest is on May 7th at 7 p.m. at PowerHouse Arena in Dumbo. Please register online at brooklynblogfest.com.
Admission is $10, $5 for students and seniors. We're encouraging people
to bring exact change so that the line will move quickly. The
afterparty is at Galapagos, which is right across the street.
Directions and information at the website.

Brooklyn Based that essential tri-weekly guide to life in Brooklyn has a great interview today with Booklyn author Arthur Phillips (who reads tonight at BookCourt see below). 

Today on Breakfast-of-Candidates, Josh Skaller sits down at 'Snice with OTBKB. A former computer music composer at Harvard, it was Howard Dean's presidential campaign that jump started his interest in electoral politics. As president of the Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats, he learned to facilitiate dialogue  and manage strong personalities. Running on a community empowerment platform with a strong interest in the environment and smart development, Josh is proud to be refusing donations from  real estate developers. He happens to be the candidate with the most donors, not the most money, of all the City Council candidates in Brooklyn. 

Next
up:  read all about Green Candidate David Pechefsky, who worked for 10 years as central staff for  the
New York City Council. With a master's degree in public policy and
experience advising local governments in Africa, David knows how the
City Council works from the inside out and has ideas about how it could
better serve the people of New York City.

And in case you missed these:

Breakfast-of-Candidates: Gary Reilly. At 34 he's not quite the youngest of the candidates (John Heyer beats
him on that score) but he's plenty wet behind the ears and full of
enthusiasm about public transportation and other issues that affect voters.

Breakfast-of-Candidates: Bob Zuckerman. A long-time politico, Bob is currently
executive director of the Gowanus Canal Community Development
Corporation and  Gowanus Canal Conservancy.  He remembers the night
Richard Nixon was elected in 1968 (he was 7-years-old) and one of his
heroes is Harvey Milk.

Breakfast-of-Candidates: Brad Lander, The intellectual of the group, Brad has two master's degrees and
a BA from the University of Chicago. He's made his mark running
community organizations like the Fifth Avenue Committee and Pratt
Center for Community Development, advocating for affordable housing and community sustainablility.

Breakfast-of-Candidates: Craig Hammerman.
As District Manager of Community Board 6, Craig is the nuts and bolts
guy. He's the candidate, who understands infrastructure and really
knows what its like to serve the public day in and day out for 19 years.

April 3, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (0)

I spotted Josh Skaller, democratic candidate for City Council in the 39th district, sitting in the corner window at 'Snice as i walked down Third Street a few minutes late for our breakfast-of-candidates.

"Sorry I'm late," I said.
"I was early," he tells me good naturedly.

Josh, age 40, is a small, trim, hip-looking man with a friendly sculptured face and close-cropped gray hair. Because he already had his coffee in a tall glass,  I went up to the counter and ordered a skim latte and one of 'Snice's delicious lemon blueberry muffins. Toasted. Back at the table, we small-talked a bit and then I launched into the official first question of all the interviews. 

So where are you from?

"I'm from a mixed marriage," Josh told me. By that he meant that his homemaker mom was born in Queens and his ecologist dad was born in the Bronx. Throughout the interview I noticed that Josh threw in funny lines and phrases like that. When he told me that his wife was born in Los Angeles he said, "But I still love her anyway."

Josh talked about his dad, who taught ecology at the University of Pennsylvania. "When other kids were washing cars for their allowance, I was counting bugs, ants, stuff like that for my dad. When we went for walks in the woods he was always identifying things."

Despite the environmental focus of the household, Josh and his two brothers all became musicians. "As a kid, I discovered the guitar and that was it." At Hampshire College, Josh studied environmental science and music and found himself on the front lines of a school famous for progressive politics. "I protested the first Gulf War, and threw myself into other movements for change and social justice."

Hampshire is also where Josh discovered computer music and decided to pursue a career in academic composition because he loved to compose and teach. After three years at Columbia, and a stint at UC Berkeley, Josh landed a job at Harvard University where he ran the Computer Music Studio.

But when his wife  Kelly (they married in 1997) got pregnant in 1999 with their son Wolf, Josh had second thoughts about the academic life. A friend suggested he come to work for his company, Globalworks in New York City and ten years later Josh is still there as Director of IT.

The job at GlobalWorks, a branding company, is what motivated Josh and Kelly's move to Brooklyn from Cambridge. At around the same time, Josh found himself wanting more and more to be involved in politics. It was Al Gore's campaign — and subsequent loss to George Bush in 2000 — that really got him going. "I was very excited for Al Gore to be president. He articulated the environmental message, understood the science that was at stake and cogently discussed global warming and top soil erosion."

In 2003, Josh was active in the Howard Dean campaign until "the scream ended that." Afterwards he found himself looking for the next thing to do. So with a group of former Dean supporters he helped form Democracy for NYC, a group in all five boroughs that aims to "bring about change and help people learn about local politics." According to Josh, the group organizes frequent "link-ups," small group meetings where people talk about neighborhood issues. Leaders provide the framework for discussion and help facilitate conversation.

While the group has an extensive mailing  list, "it is not a political club," Josh said emphatically. "There are no barriers to joining and it's more grassroots and for people who want to get away from regular politics; it  falls under the mantle of reform and against the machinery of democratic politics."

Until recently Josh was also president of Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats (CBID) a political club that meets in the United Methodist Church on 6th Avenue and 8th Street in Park Slope. "It's a special club. Very reform-minded. It was started as an anti-war group in the 1960's. We get very involved in local campaigning," Josh explained.

Josh told me that members of that group were wary of the Atlantic Yards Project early on.  "We could tell that the process was rigged. That there was no attempt to have a dialogue, to talk to the community." Maybe that's why Daniel Goldstein, one of the founders of Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn has already endorsed Josh. So has Candace Carpenter, who is that group's chief counsel. 

As president of CBID, Josh said, he had to deal with a lot of personalities:  "I work hard at facilitating dialogue and managing personalities." These skills are part of why Josh is running for City Council.  "I want to empower community groups across the district and make sure they have a real voice."

When I asked Josh what personal qualities equip him to do a good job representing the 39th district in the CIty Council he said. "I'm willing to speak my mind and I'm willing to stick out my neck."

One example of sticking his neck out: Josh's campaign, which is being managed by Chris Owen's, refuses to take campaign donations from developers. "I was scared at first but determined not to take that money because development money is what drives the political process in New York City."

While Josh's campaign may not be getting the big big bucks from the developers, they do have the distinction of having the most contributors: "We don't have the most money but we have the most donors of any candidate for City Council in Brooklyn," Josh told  me and he is clearly proud about this independence from that  particular sphere of influence.

Not surprisingly, Josh has strong ideas about what he wants to bring to the City Council:

Community Empowerment is a term Josh uses again and again. For him, it means that members of the community have a voice in what goes on in their community and in the city. Parent involvement in the public schools is one important version of this. He also believes that citizens can govern whether that means running for office or being taken seriously as a community leaders.

Having a voice in real estate development is also vital to Josh and he wants to see community input in that process "before it's a done deal." To Josh, every building should be wanted and the right questions must be asked: "How does this high rise enhance the community that already exists, the sense of place, time, history, the ability to know your neighbors, have conversations." His goal, Josh said, is "to preserve the things that make Brooklyn a wonderful place to be."

Affordable housing is an important part of this equation for Josh. "How many times do you hear 'I grew up here, my parents grew up here. But my kids can't afford to live here.'"

His father's son, environmental issues are vital to Josh. But he doesn't see this as a small local initiative but as a real citywide plan that includes tax incentives for those willing to build green roofs and add solar panels. "The benefits of this are tangible. Perhaps the cost of entry is too high. Let's look at funding sources to make this happen," he told me.

By the end of my conversation with Josh I am amazed at his  journey from Harvard, where he was a computer music composer, to his job in IT at a branding company, to his role as a passionate campaigner for Howard Dean and later Barack Obama. When he decided to throw his hat into the City Council race one friend reminded him that Brooklyn is a tough place to run. "Compared to academia, it's a dip in the shallow end," he told his friend. And he still laughs about it now.

A  good listener with the ability to manage personalities and facilitate diaglogue, Josh is clearly a smart, confident guy with strong opinio
ns about what he believes in. He's not afraid to stick out his neck and take a stand. He's been going door-to-door for months from Carroll Gardens to Boro Park getting to know the citizens of the 39th district. Clearly, he's prepared to run  hard for the privilege of serving this community.

Get out the welcome wagon and visit Deborah Matlack's new blog, Brooklyn Rocks. She's a photographer, who was a contributor to Gowanus Lounge. I saw her speak briefly at the Memorial yesterday. Now that Gowanus Lounge is gone, I get the sense that she wants her blog to, in some way, photographically echo the concerns of Gowanus Lounge. In this post she expresses her fondness for Red Hook:

Inspired by yesterday's Bob Guskind Memorial and all the talk about the preservation of Coney Island, I checked out the Coney Island Message Board and found this information. I don't think anyone will be offended i I share it here:

A Searching Mind

I'm always hunting for ideas,

The fate of any worder,

And get the very best while parking–

Ideas that focus on murder

Saturday's Bob Guskind Memorial at the Brooklyn Lyceum was a deeply moving event. In attendance were nearly 100 people, including many Brooklyn bloggers, Gowanus Lounge contributors, readers and friends.

Tomorrow I will write more extensively about the event, which was a celebration of Bob Guskind and his influential and much-missed blog, Gowanus Lounge. But for now, gratitude and congrats to the organizers, a large dedicated group which included Aaron Brashear (Concerned Citizens of Greenwood Heights), Sam Coker, Nicole Davis (Brooklyn Based), Phil DePaolo (New York Community Council) Jake Dobkin (Gothamist), Susan Fox (Park Slope Parents),  Ann Kansfield (Greenpoint Reformed Church), Katia Kelly (Pardon Me for Asking), Chris Kreussling (Flatbush Gardener), Heather Letzkus (NY Shitty), Norman Oder (Atlantic Yards Report), and E Cherilin Stephens (Gowanus Lounge).

Quite a few people who spoke movingly at the event had never met Bob in person. He was cited as a cheerleader and a mentor over and over again. It's amazing how one man managed to connect so many people, have an impact on so many neighborhoods and civic activists, and produce such a huge output of skilled urban reporting.

City Council member Vilmanette Montgomery spoke briefly as did a representative from the office of State Senator Daniel Squadron, who presented Resolution 1131 to honor the life and work of Bob, which passed in both houses last Tuesday.

The event ran a full four hours. There was a video, a line-up of scheduled speakers, as well as a shout-out at the end for those who felt moved to speak. And after that food and beverages were provided courtesy of Rafael Soler of Bob's beloved Food Vendors of Red Hook Park, who supplied the pupusas and Juventino Avila, chief/owner of Get Fresh Table and Market. Chris Kreussling baked a huge number of chocolate chip and pignoli nut and almond macaroons.

It was a wonderful celebration of a man, whose reputation continues to grow even, sadly, as many mourn his death.

How does it happen that a 30-year-old organization like the respected Center for the Urban Environment, a non-profit, closes its doors suddenly and lays off its staff without any warning to the public it serves?

It sure brings up a lot of questions.

30-years ago, the Center for the Urban Environment was founded by John Muir as the Prospect
Park Environmental
Center. Until just over a year ago it was located in the Tennis House in the park. Last year the group renovated and moved into a LEED-Gold eligible building in the Gowanus section of Brooklyn.

Last week they closed their doors and let their staff go. Very suddenly. In a press release they sent out the day after, the organization's board claims that the closure was due to funding delays and short falls.

I can well understand that an expensive renovation and move into a new building and the current economic climate, which has affected funding and philanthropy,  could create fiscal problems for a non-profit but why was there no attempt to reach out to the community to save CUE?

Were local politicians and city officials notified about the impending loss of a valuable local resource?

Was there anything city or state government could have done to help this organization survive its economic travails?

Were their problems so deep that no one could help them? And what were these problems? 

Through the years CUE provided  programs for school children in the environmental sciences and urban and natural
environments. There were also programs for charter high schools and special programs related to environmental education issues and practical training.

For the community, the group sponsored weekend tours of neighborhoods and historic sites, organized kayaking trips in the Gowanus, and public events like
GreenBrooklyn. The Sustainable Business Alliance – a growing network in support of local businesses — was also an important project of the CUE.

Interestingly, Bob Guskind on Gowanus Lounge interviewed Sandi Franklin, who ran CUE since 2001, on the occasion of its 30th anniversary last November. Ironically, he asked her: "Where do you see CUE ten years from now?"

Franklin: Ten years is a long way out. But in the upcoming
decade, we’ll make use of technological advancements in order to reach
more urbanities—not just New Yorkers—with our products and services.
There are so many great initiatives across the city and country, one of
the principal challenges of the next decade will be working to connect
all of them meaningfully and practically.

Go to Gowanus Lounge to see the rest of the interview.

April 23rd: Brooklyn Reading Works presents Fiction in a Blender curated by Raina Washington at the Old Stone House. Another great event at Brooklyn Reading Works. Fifth Avenue and 3rd Street. 8 p.m. Five bucks includes wine and refreshments.

April 28th: Gala opening of Essence and Accident. Photographs by Hugh Crawford at the Old Stone House. 6-8 p.m.  Fifth Avenue and 3rd Street in Park Slope. Come see this exhibit of photographs by OTBKB's No Words Daily Pix photographer. All photos are for sale. The show runs from April 1 – June 30th, 2009. Wine and refreshments.Note: the gallery is open on weekends from 11-4 p.m.  Hugh will be at the gallery Friday afternoons from 5-7 p.m. and by appointment. Contact hugh(at)hughcrawford(dot)com

As no place is immune to the reality of random mass murder, the fact that Binghamton, New York is the latest city to become identified with this phenomenon doesn't surprise me but it makes me deeply sad as  I was a resident of that town when I was a college student at SUNY-Binghamton in the late 1970's.

Now Binghamton will be remembered as a place where a man murdered 14 people in an American citizenship class. As I watched the images on television of the American Civic Association on Front Street, memories flooded back of that upstate city that was my playground during and after my college days.

As students at SUNY-Binghamton, many of us lived off-campus and traveled on a brightly painted school bus from the campus to various sections of that town that are now in the news like Johnson City with its1930's archway that says "The Square Deal Town;" Downtown Binghamton with its churches, American Legion Halls and legendary Salvation Army, where in the early 1980's you could still find vintage clothing from the 1930's; the West Side of Binghamton, where many students lived in Victorian houses on streets named for German composers (Beethoven, Schiller, Mozart). We joked that residents pronounced Beethoven Street: Beeth Oven but now I'm not even sure if that was true or just college kids being patronizing about the townies.

Now because of this tragedy, Binghamton will become iconic in a nation that has seen too many of these mass murders, most recently at  Virgina Tech where 32 college students were killed. Early reports said that the killer, Jiverly Wong, a Vietnamese immigrant, had been laid off from IBM. That resonated with me, too. I had a summer job during college at IBM, which is one of the biggest employers in the area. 

At one time, IBM was the economic engine of Binghamton and its presence was inextricably linked to the city's economic fate. Through much of the 20th century, Binghamton was a manufacturing town. In the 1970's there were many empty red brick factory buildings that evoked an earlier industrial time. One in particular had entrances marked for girls and boys from back before child labor laws I guess.

In my moody walks and bike rides around Binghamton, a town at the confluence of the Susquehanna and Chenango Rivers, I explored many of its nooks and crannies. Back then there was the American Dance Asylum, a dance school and performance space run by Bill T Jones and Arnie Zane in an old YMCA. There were antique shops and yard sales galore and its where I developed my interest in old photographs and 3-D stereo-views. There was the Roberson Museum and Science Center and  the Kopernik Observatory, one of the largest public observatories in the world, great dining car diners, and a small arena where it was fun to see the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Brown and the Ringling Brothers Circus when it came to town.

A great place to wander around with a super-8 movie camera, Binghamton is where I learned to appreciate the charm of a faded lost America that in the 1970's still had one foot in the 19th century and one in the 20th, especially in its mysterious abandoned rail yards and down-on-their luck neighborhoods.

Some people say Binghamton is just depressing town in western New York state. But I know better. It has charming house-proud neighborhoods with gardens and lilac bushes that bloom fragrantly in the spring. The autumn foliage is nonpareil and it has real old diners and funky Irish bars where they sell green beer on St. Patrick's Day.

Like any city it's had it hard times and its boom. This is one of the bad times. My heart goes out to that city of my youth and the families who lost loved ones in this  tragedy.

Read Peter Loffredo's effusive review of a production of "Hair" performed by students ages 5-19 at the Brooklyn Free School on his blog, Full Permission Living.

.”

A tree in front of PS 321 on Seventh Avenue near 2nd Street fell over last night. The school's custodian was on the scene. "It fell in the middle of the night from the wind," he told me as I walked by. By 9am the Fire Department was on the scene moving the tree and clearing the broken branches. A section of the sidewalk is closed to pedestrians.

Readers can vote for the next 5. 

http://brooklynhall.blogspot.com/2009/04/inducted-into-brooklyn-hall-of-fame.html