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The people you meet knocking on doors

 Anybody who thinks that New Yorkers aren’t neighborly should come door knocking in the 39th district of Brooklyn.  It quickly becomes clear that the greatest asset of our neighborhood is the people who live here: 

-- They talk about their hopes and concerns, the beautiful metal work on their doors, and the small businesses down the street that are closing.  

-- They worry about a neighbor whose house was foreclosed and introduce us with pride to their daughter who got into Stuyvesant. 

-- A woman in her 80s describes the horse drawn merry-go-round that her father drove around Windsor Terrace. The horse lived behind the house and the ride cost only 2 cents!  

-- A family thanks us for being the first people to come to their door to ask them what they think.  

-- And in one of the most beautiful rose gardens I have ever seen, a man who has lived here for 35 years shares his dream of voting once he gets his citizenship.  

Initially hesitant about knocking on people’s doors, I soon found that talking to neighbors about what they care about is a very rewarding part of volunteering on the campaign.

Sign up, and give it a try! 

Caron Atlas

Elect a public school parent to City Council

Although I'm retired from the NYC Department of Education (after a 40 year career, beginning as a 4th grade teacher at PS 29 in Cobble Hill, later as superintendent of Brooklyn's District 15, and then as Deputy Schools Chancellor), I'm still passionate about our public schools.  They are the foundation of our neighborhoods and our city.  At their best, they make it possible for all our kids to learn to read and write, to create, to imagine, to prepare for careers, and to become contributing citizens. 
Right now, our schools need real champions in public office -- people who have their own kids in public school, and have shown that they'll fight for what our kids need:  More teaching and less testing. Genuine parent involvement. Real support for teachers. Greener, healthier schools. A high-quality, neighborhood elementary school, where they know they'll have a seat. 

That's why I'm supporting Brad Lander for City Council in our neighborhood. 
Brad is the only public school parent seeking the Democratic nomination.  He and his wife Meg have been active at their own school, and in fighting for better public education across the board.  Brad's been part of successful campaigns to prevent cuts in school funding, and he helped organize the BrooklynPTA.org 5k run for public schools.  Brad is supported by more than a dozen current & former PTA presidents.
Over the past week, Brad has taken two important steps for our schools:

• Last week, Brad and several local PTA leaders called on the governor and legislators in Albany to give parents a greater voice in their children's education, and to provide stronger checks and balances, so we can reduce the excessive focus on high-stakes testing.  Click here for more details.
• Earlier today, Brad and leaders from several public schools in our neighborhoods gathered to highlight how parents are leading the way on creating healthier, more sustainable schools -- without soda, Snapple, and Styrofoam -- and calling on the DOE to follow their lead and adopt greener, healthier practices in every school.  Click here for more details.

I have always felt education works best when there is a strong collaboration among all the stakeholders.  When parents, teachers, and administrators share their ideas and concerns, and have a public voice, all children benefit.  In this spirit, Brad has already convened a task force of parent leaders and educators to help guide his educational policies.  He has committed to working closely with parents to strengthen their own schools, and to advocate for citywide policies that improve public education for all our kids.
I hope you'll join Brad's campaign, and in the broader effort to strengthen our schools.  Please respond to this email with your ideas for public education, and I'll pass them on to Brad.  Or go to www.bradlander.com to get more involved in the campaign.
Thanks, and have a great summer,
Carmen Farina
Former District 15 Superintendent and Deputy Schools Chancellor
P.S. If you want to do something simple to show your support for Brad, please consider putting a "Brad Lander for City Council" sign in your window.  Its easy, and it will help show your neighbors who public school parents are supporting in the campaign.  You can get one by dropping by the campaign office at 456 5th Avenue (between 9th & 10th Streets, 3rd Floor), or by emailing or calling Michael Freedman-Schnapp, at Michael [at] bradlander [dot] com, or (718) 499-1090.

A resounding rejection: Times critic blasts new arena design, and its "shameful betrayal of the public trust"

New York Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff was previously a defender of Frank Gehry's design for the Atlantic Yards project.  Glossing over the failed process, fundamental planning flaws, and disregard for surrounding neighborhoods, he found Gehry's design a compelling solution to the challenge of fitting a sports arena into an urban context.

In the June 9, 2009 New York Times, however, he has written a stunning condmenation -- not only of the new design by Ellerbe Becket, but of the entire shameful process that got us here, and what it says about how we prioritize profit over public interest in the development process.

You can read the full story here.

Excerpts follow.

The recent news that the developer Forest City Ratner had scrapped Frank Gehry’s design for a Nets arena in central Brooklyn is not just a blow to the art of architecture. It is a shameful betrayal of the public trust, one that should enrage all those who care about this city.

A new design by the firm Ellerbe Becket [is a] colossal, spiritless box, it would fit more comfortably in a cornfield than at one of the busiest intersections of a vibrant metropolis. Its low-budget, no-frills design embodies the crass, bottom-line mentality that puts personal profit above the public good. If it is ever built, it will create a black hole in the heart of a vital neighborhood.

But what’s most offensive about the design is the message it sends to New Yorkers. Architecture, we are being told, is something decorative and expendable, a luxury we can afford only in good times, or if we happen to be very rich. What’s most important is to build, no matter how thoughtless or dehumanizing the results. It is the kind of logic that kills cities — and that has been poisoning this one for decades …

The story is a depressing illustration of how New York development gets done. While Forest City Ratner fought for more and more concessions from the city — demanding tax breaks, reducing the number of affordable housing units — Mr. Gehry was forced to trim back his design. First the rooftop park was dropped because it was too expensive. The prowlike public space was redesigned, then redesigned again, until it began to look like a conventional atrium.

In a stunning bait-and-switch, Forest City Ratner (which was the development partner for The New York Times Company’s headquarters in Midtown) has now decided that it can’t afford an architect of Mr. Gehry’s stature. Neglecting to tell the public, the firm went out months ago and hired Ellerbe Becket, corporate architects known for producing generic, unimaginative buildings. And although it has refused to release details of the design, the renderings, obtained by The New York Times, tell you all you need to know.

Building this monstrosity at such a critical urban intersection would be deadly. Clearly, the city would be better off with nothing. But what’s at issue here is more than the betrayal of a particular community, as tragic as that could be. It is the way the city makes decisions about large-sale development.

Typically, a developer comes to the city with big plans. Promises are made. Serious architects are brought in. The needs of the community, like ample parkland and affordable housing, are taken into account. Editorial boards and critics, like me, praise the design for its ambition.

Eventually, the project takes on a momentum of its own. The city and state, afraid of an embarrassing public failure, feel pressured to get the project done at any cost, and begin to make concessions. Given the time such developments take to build, sometimes a decade or more, we then hit the inevitable economic downturn. The developer pleads poverty. Desperate to avoid more economic bad news, government officials cut a deal.

It’s a familiar ending, made more nauseating because we have seen it so many times before. And it can’t be solved by simply crunching numbers. It demands a profound shift in mentality. What we have now is a system in which decent architecture and the economic needs of developers are in fundamental opposition. Until that changes, there will be more  Atlantic Yards in our future.