I would just LOVE to take a break from this but I can't.

I'm tired (grad school is a lot more work than I imagined!) and I haven't ranted about the Toll Brothers project on Bond Street in a while but after coming home from a highly charged F.R.O.G.G meeting, that's FRIENDS and RESIDENTS of the GOWANUS CANAL y'all (contact me to get involved and not a member of the Gowanus Conservancy or Dredgers) one of the issues discussed was hurricanes and flooding, the latter being a HUGE problem around the Gowanus, although the Toll Brothers feel they can fix all that,but I digress. The other day I crossed the canal and we hadn't had rain in days and the tide was abnormally high. Just imagine what will happen in a hurricane, we will be getting them more with global warming y'know!

I would also like to add my two cents or have a cathartic little rant about the Toll Brothers. O.K we are in a recession. A big part of it is home mortgages defaulting. The Toll Brothers have made their fortune building the huge excessive suburban McMansion Homes that are largely the ones defaulting. The Toll Brothers take no responsibility, interviews with Robert Toll usually run a "no remorse" attitude, like "it's not my fault these people signed the dotted line". ANYWAY so the government bailed them out. So isn't that our money now? To use more wisely? WHY WOULD ANYONE WANT A CORPORATION SUCH AS THIS TO BE TRUSTED WITH A FRAGILE ECO SYSTEM SUCH AS THE AREA THEY WANT TO PLUNK DOWN A BUNCH OF CONDOS WITH A PRECIOUS "ESPLANADE"? and of course a parking garage.

Why are people in opposition to this project vilified and mocked (hello Brooklyn Paper!!) because they have ENVIRONMENTAL concerns? Flooding, raw sewage, pathogens, brownfields etc. And these corporate self involved, dried out, consciousless Toll Brothers reps and their political aliases (hello Bill DiBlasio and Community Board 6!!) just will not take the actual people who live in the communities opinion as a concern. The scary thing is that we have a Mayor who thinks in this fashion as well, term limits schmerm limits is has attitude and to hell with what the democratic process is.

Our world is majorly screwed up right now. War and greed have the country hurting. Can't we all just take a break and just LIVE our lives? Isn't this recession enough of a sign?

signed
Found in Brooklyn
naively simple
and wants people to just stop it.
(war and greed)

OK I feel better now. Check out this link over at my compadre Pardon Me for Asking (who was also at this evenings meeting) to find out more about the photo above of what the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel will look like with a type TWO hurricane,it's just around the corner y'know.

CB6/Toll Brothers Meet Thursday 6pm

Recently added to the building on 3rd and 3rd. Very timely.

The Toll Brothers comes before the Community Board 6 on Thursday night for the next round in the rezoning process. Be there if you care and you can speak for or against if you want to. Read the details below for the specifics.

Discussion and formulation of a recommendation on ULURP No. C090047ZMK, an application for an amendment of the Zoning Map.

Discussion and forumation of a recommendation on ULURP No. C090048ZSK, an application for a special permit to modify height and setback requirements, rear yard regulations and inner court regulations at 363-365 Bond Street (Block 452, Lots 1, 5, 15, 19 and Block 458, Lot 1).

Also! Has any one read this pro-Toll Brothers editorial in the Brooklyn Paper? I always knew they were all for it as their journalism has been slanted throughout (under reporting the amount of people that show up for community meetings for one example!) They claim that the Toll Brothers are saving "the soul of the Gowanus"! What a load of raw sewage Batman!

Read the crap here and prepare to roll your eyes.

The meeting is being held at:

P.S. 32 - Auditorium
317 Hoyt Street
(Union/President Streets)

6:00 PM

Photo compliments of Brian Berger.

Meet the man, Robert Toll.

This is last week's news from the New York Observer and it's been making the rounds in the Gowanus area email lists for days but since I love to take any opportunity I can to expose the Troll Brothers, I mean the Toll Brothers for the greedy land rapers that they are (hey i never claimed the opinions on this blog were impartial!) please read this article with the man himself, his vileness, Robert Toll.

The headline is priceless and it pretty much sums up the operation, "Everywhere you don't see high-rises, there are places to build."

Try not vomit.

Uh..you forgot to mention something!

I find the choice of words very curious on this mural outside the site on 3rd and Bond that is currently being excavated in preparation for the construction for a bunch of "luxury" (is there any other kind?) condos.What about what happened AFTER the revolutionary war? Industrial Revolution anyone? Coal processing plants, fertilizer factories, oil refineries? They all existed rather close together in this very area. This piece of land is in between the uber toxic public place site and most likely not to be built Whole Foods site on Third Street. It's at spitting distance from the canal itself which is, an aquatic brownfield.

Also, since when is an artist excited about war? Let's do some slight word changing, shall we?"

You are here, where revolutionary war battles were fought by developers, steering longtime residents into the marshlands of brooklyn, right here where the ground is still soft, you are here at the site of excavation where toxins are released and brownfields are revealed.

There that's better!!!

Christmas In Money Makin' Manhattan

My sister told me the other night that I have a bad relationship with people who have "money" and that I should stop bashing them on da blog. I really don't do it too much, yeah I had a fit about the couple with the double baby stroller on the subway, and yeah I also had a melt down on Smith Street one Sunday brunch time afternoon but I wouldn't have a problem if the people that had money walked around looking like Rita Hayworth, as I would if I could afford me some Alexander McQueen! F.I.B went to the 57th Avenue area today and was quite impressed with the Christmas windows in the old school New York Department store windows this year. These in particular are from Bergdorf's dahling...Anyway, it was another world from the craftsy Brooklyn Christmas stylee, I felt like I needed a face lift, a facial and a haircut. This one is for you Eileen!!!!

Chelsea Hotel Homogenized.

I just found out about this, this is so sad. Stanley Bard the manager of the Chelsea Hotel, who has worked there for 50 years has been forced out by the Board of Directors.I had a p/t job at the Chelsea Hotel in the mid 1980's and remember Stanley fondly. NYC is really becoming land of the bland fast and furiously. Today is his last day, read his thoughts here. I don't even want to get into who is doing it, I leave that to the real estate blogs(ie:enablers).