we've been going through much the same thing here in north brooklyn as of late. it's been a nightmare. there's just too damned much money to be made from turning brooklyn in to a bedroom community for the rich. our community actually asked the city for a rezoning 15 years ago and we were largely ignored. the community (community board 1), over the last decade developed their own 197-a plan. the city came up with a huge giveaway to developers with pretty much nothing for the community infrastructure-wise. the city's plan was atrocious. it was rejected by the community board, the borough president and just about anyone else who looked at it impartially. our city council people vowed to fight it and change the plan significantly in negotiations with the city. then they fucked us. they threw us a bone with affordable housing. that's pretty much it.

you can read a gushing story by the ever odious diane cardwell in the times about the "historic plan" here. it's awful.

i've been blogging about our woes on our new drinking liberally williamsburg/greenpoint blog. we've only been live for about a week. be gentle.

on a side note, mark peters, candidate for brooklyn district attorney and former spitzer employee, spoke to our neighborhood DFNYC meeting last night. he must have mentioned that he worked for spitzer two dozen times. it was pretty funny. honestly though, i like him and may do some volunteer work for him later this summer.

sucks to hear spitzer sound like, well, just like every other pol in this town. everybody but norm seigel anyway. norm is my fucking hero.