Freddy's Brooklyn Roundhouse Film Screening Saturday

Freddy's Brooklyn Roundhouse (FBR) was conceived at Freddy’s bar as a BCAT and MNN public access TV show in March 2006. The show’s purpose has always been to provide a forum for the community’s voice, which had no say in the Atlantic Yards project in Prospect Heights , Brooklyn, and to win the fight to demand community input for the local Brooklyn neighborhood, businesses and residents, and to s to p dubious, wasteful, & unsustainable over-development and eminent domain abuse. For the past 5 years FBR has strived to turn the train of eminent domain around by focusing on community leaders, artists, musicians and activists from Brooklyn all against Atlantic Yards. Roundhouse refers to a circular building for housing and switching locomotives, and lent itself nicely to the community’s desire to turn things around. Since its conception FBR has grown to cover other local & national issues threatening everyone’s civil liberties. Issues range from the use of Special Administrative Measures (SAM’s) to incarcerate and to rture U.S. citizens here in NYC, to corporate industrial threats to our water supply; bridging borough, city-wide and national to pics that infringe upon everyone’s constitutional rights and threaten our communities placing these to pics in to local his to rical context and tunneling in to action.

We hope you will join us this Saturday as we say farewell to Freddy’s bar and give thanks to our media endeavors that sprang from Freddy's wondrous backroom."

The screening starts at 8:00 pm!

Freddy's is at the corner of 6th Avenue and Dean.

Eminent Domain Standoffs in Brooklyn featuring the Fightin' Freddy's.

Cesse LaGuerre of Freddy's Brooklyn Roundhouse has put together this video covering protest actions which have happened in the last 5 months around the Atlantic Yards area. There is footage of the protests on the day of the "ground breaking" as well as all the events that happened at Freddy's Bar & Backroom.

Chained to the Bar * !Freddy's Bar Patrons Revolt Against Ratner * Sunday at Noon!

This is what eminent domain looks like.

This just in from Freddy's Bar and Backroom.

Due to ever increasing threats to the stability of Freddy’s bar in light of the Arena project, recent court decisions, an overwhelming number of Freddy's patrons desire to chain themselves to the bar if Scrooge Ratner and Grinch Paterson's Atlantic Yards Project attempts to shutdown and demolish Freddy's Bar and Backroom.

This Sunday, we are installing chains & shackles onto the Bar itself for just such a purpose.

We are hoping for a big turn-out from the press and TV when these puppies go on @ NOON on Sunday the 20th. I know you might be hung over...but please try to be in attendance to show your support, NO ONE will be chained yet since the threat is impending but not immediate. If you do have an extra set of hand-cuffs you can bring and donate PLEASE DO SO (for potential future use and to show that we are serious) we’ll even put your name on them.

With the coming of this Christmas everyone should be concerned with New York State and Governor Paterson’s capacity to hand privately-owned property over to corporations for profit. It is a disturbing trend that casts an ominous shadow over all of our futures in this country. Scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, or the Ghost of Christmas Future, is intended to represent the uncertainty of the future:

Scrooge queries the ghost: “answer me one question. Are these the shadows of the things that Will be, or are they shadows of things that May be, only?”
Still the Ghost pointed downward to the grave by which it stood.
“Men’s courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if persevered in, they must lead,” said Scrooge. “But if the courses be departed from, the ends will change. Say it is thus with what you show me!”

What is it that the Courts are showing us regarding the power of our own Scrooges?
In light of the recent decision against Columbia University and the Empire State Development Corporation’s attempt to steal properties by eminent domain, and the confusion in the Courts that seems to allow taking Brooklyn properties for Ratner, but not Harlem properties for Columbia…we are angry. We are giddy for the victory against Columbia, but angry that our neighborhood can be taken, that our bar can be taken. We will stand in support of the Prospect Heights neighborhood, and the extended neighborhood of 5000+ supporters who have donated time and money to fight against eminent domain.

We believe the links of the chain represent all the individuals unbreakably locked in a chain gang seeking fair rights for the individual in the contemporary flurry of land-grabbing corporate greed.

The Backroom at Freddy’s Bar was the birthplace of this particular rebellion for fair treatment, the front room is where we bring out the hardware to back it up.

The Chain will officially be installed on Sunday, December 20th at 12:00 noon.

So while we install the chains, trying to fend off the mess that afflicts New London, Connecticut because of the abuse of eminent domain, we look to New York’s courts to rectify these injustices.

Afterall, ‘tis the season, and judges must enjoy the holiday spirit like the rest of us.

We invite you to this….THE INSTALLATION OF THE CHAINS OF JUSTICE.

Freddy's Bar is located at the corner of 6th and Dean Streets.

Be there Sunday at noon, bring handcuffs if you have them!

Atlantic Yards Year 6 - Christmas Special Tonite on BCAT

From the folks at Freddy's Brooklyn Roundhouse:

Freddy's Brooklyn Roundhouse has updated it's perennial Christmas TV Special for year 6 of Bruce Ratner's attempt to take a Brooklyn neighborhood. It will be on BCAT Tuesday at 8pm on BCAT channel 1, Time Warner channel 34, and on MNN in Manhattan Time Warner 56, this Thursday at 8pm. Also available on Youtube.


Condemned For Christmas 2009 - The Mittens Are Off
Christmas # 6 of Bruce Ratner's attack on Prospect Heights for his Atlantic Yards project. The lawsuits against Ratner's use of the ESDC and MTA for his private benefit continue in full force. And the neighborhood is making it clear they are not going to be evicted. The recent court decision against the ESDC's attempt to seize property for Columbia University has revealed a pattern of Eminent Domain Abuse on the part of the ESDC. A new law has passed specifically prohibiting the ESDC and MTA favoritism toward Forest City Ratner. Can it be applied to this case? After a long battle there is renewed hope, and anti-Ratner activism is on the rise.

Should New York State take homes and businesses, at Christmas, and give them a connected Cleveland billionaire and his new partner, another billionaire from Russia? The billionaires, Bloomberg included say, "yes!" The neighborhood says "nyet!"

Starring The Prospect Heights Action Carrollers, Chris Owens, the Hagan sisters, Scott MX Turner, Daniel Goldstein, Velmanette Montgomery, and many others.

Special holiday activist messages at the end of Condemned for Christmas 2009 - The Mittens Are Off, include a message from Reverend Billy about the "Fracking" threat to New York State's drinking water. And another about a man who is being tortured just blocks from City Hall under Obama's justice department. The last piece features Wallace Shawn, Cathleen Chalfant, and Bruce Ratner's not-evil brother, Center for Constitutional Rights leader Michael Ratner. How could the Ratner family have one brother who is soooo good, and another who is soooo very bad? This hasn't happened since Cain and Abel.

Have a very happy and very activist holiday season!

Care About NYC's Water Supply?

Friends of F.I.B, Sabine Aronowski and Steve DeSeve continue to cover fracking, an gas extraction process which endangers our reservoirs and watersheds where we get our drinking water.

The filmmakers' description:

"Freddy's Brooklyn Roundhouse (FBR) presents excerpts from several recent NYC hearings and rallies on the controversial proposal to allow Gas Drilling in NY State using the highly toxic "Fracking" gas extraction process. The show focuses on New Yorkers asking the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and Governor Patterson to scrap their plans to allow Hydraulic Fracturing in NY State, especially since the gas extraction process endangers our reservoirs and watersheds. Given the environmental track record of "Fracking" in other states, there are many calls for a Statewide ban. The show includes interviews with Carl Arnold of Chenago Delaware Ostego Gas (CDOG) and Laura Sheinkopf of SWiM (the Safe Water Movement), and footage from the NYC City Council Hearing and the DEC's NYC Hearing on their Environmental Impact Statement on proposed gas drilling in the NYC watershed and beyond. Additional footage from Manhattan Borough President, Scott Stringers' "Kill the Drill" rally."

The filmmakers urge everyone to go here to sign the petition, deadline is December 31!

New FBR Video: Jane Jacobs Remembered with Reverand Billy Airs Tuesday Night.

Sabine Aronowsky and Steve DeSeve the duo behind Freddy's Brooklyn Roundhouse, have released their latest episodes this week and they can be viewed on BCAT & Manhattan cable tomorrow (Tuesday)night at 8:00 and in Manhattan on Thursday. The next two episodes focus on the words and ideas of Jane Jacobs and the current developments happening in NYC today.

As per their press release:
"The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs’s most famous book, helped change the blind acceptance of urban planners and their grand schemes to remake cities into unlivable places. Jacobs ended Robert Moses’ reign of bad building and urban destruction. With the misguided development of the Bloomberg administration today, Jane Jacobs's work is as important as it ever was. Freddy’s Brooklyn Roundhouse presents two new episodes based on readings from Jane Jacobs, filmed at the Judson Church, NYC and hosted by Green Party Mayoral Candidate Rev Billy.

You can watch these episodes on TV in Brooklyn and Manhattan , air dates below, also on YouTube now here.

Episode 1: Features neighborhood activists, Michael Premo from Picture the Homeless, Philip Dipaolo from The People's Firehouse and Joy Chatel, Defender of the Duffield House Brooklyn Underground Railroad landmark.

Episode 2: Features neighborhood activists, Cathryn Swan of the Washington Square Park Blog and Save Union Square, Melanie Joseph of the Foundry Theatre and Christabel Gough, NYC preservationist hero.

LOCAL TV SCHEDULE LISTINGS:

Brooklyn BCAT Air dates

Episode 1 Tuesday Oct 13
8:00 PM - TimeWarner Cable 34 / Cablevision 67 / RCN 82 / Verizon 42

Episode 2 Tuesday Oct 20
8:00 PM - TimeWarner Cable 34 / Cablevision 67 / RCN 82 / Verizon 42

Manhattan MNN Air dates

Episode 1 Thursday Oct 15
8:30 PM - TimeWarner Cable 56 / Cablevision 17 / RCN 83 / Verizon 34

Episode 2 Thursday Oct 22
8:30 PM -TimeWarner Cable 56 / Cablevision 17 / RCN 83 / Verizon 34

Bob Holman, of the Howl Festival & Bowery Poetry Club and former City Councilwoman, Carol Greitzer, are other activists who spoke at the event and were not included in the above shows, due to lack of time, will be found here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/communityevents

In solidarity to all of you working to stay “neighbors” in our neighborhoods, keep up the good work!

~ Sabine

Coverage of Sunday's Save Coney Island Protest at City Hall

On the case again exposing all the wrongs going on in Brooklyn - Sabine and Steve over at Freddy's Brooklyn Roundhouse have made this video and sent these words about the tragic war to save Coney Island.

"Save Coney Island had a press event July 26 to update the public on the city council vote on July 29th and to encourage another round of phone calls to the Speaker Quinn and all of the City Council members to keep Coney Island for amusement. The current city plan cuts most of the zoned amusement acres and rezones for high rise buildings. With Kevin Powell, Dick Zigund, Angie Pontani, Savitri D, Famous Bob, Rev. Billy, and other notables who want to enlist your help to Save Coney Island. Wednesday the Council votes to cut amusement zoning from over 60 acres to less than 9, spelling the end of Coney Island as the peoples' playground."

The City Council votes on Wednesday on this, go to Save Coney Island to find out up to the minute details.

Superfund Gowanus vs. The City's Plan

The folks at Freddy's Brooklyn Roundhouse have done it again and have added a part two to their series about the Gowanus Superfund Nomination. This show will air BCAT television and Manhattan cable over the next few weeks, starting this Tuesday. But of course you can also watch it right now on Youtube! This video addresses the City of New York's "alternative plan" vs. the EPA's. Footage includes folks from the city and the EPA at a Community Board 6 meeting a few weeks ago along with interviews with residents and the bio-bus which took samples of Gowanus water and put it under microscopes.

LOCAL TV SCHEDULE LISTINGS:

Brooklyn BCAT Air dates
Tuesday 8:30 PM
8:00 PM
TimeWarner Cable 34 / Cablevision 67 / RCN 82 / Verizon 42


Manhattan MNN Air dates
Thursday
8:30 PM
TimeWarner Cable 56 / Cablevision 17 / RCN 83 / Verizon 34

Please do not forget to comment on the EPA's website, direct link here.

"Superfund Gowanus" Show Airs Tuesday

This just in from Sabine and Steve at Freddy's Brooklyn Roundhouse who produced a great show about why we should support the Gowanus Superfund.

" Freddy’s Brooklyn Roundhouse spent a day with FROGG (Friends and Residents of Greater Gowanus) to produce our latest TV and Youtube show that will air this month on BCAT and MNN in order to raise environmental consciousness about the issue and encourage all to go to www.superfundgowanus.org and take action by signing the online petition and sending comments to the EPA."

Check it out on BCAT and MNN in the next coming weeks, air dates for this week below, also on YouTube here.

LOCAL TV SCHEDULE LISTINGS:

Brooklyn BCAT Air dates
Tuesday June 9
8:00 PM
TimeWarner Cable 34 / Cablevision 67 / RCN 82 / Verizon 42


Manhattan MNN Air dates
Thursday June 11
8:30 PM
TimeWarner Cable 56 / Cablevision 17 / RCN 83 / Verizon 34

Superfund the Gowanus!

Please take the time to watch this video to learn more about just why the Gowanus Canal needs to be a designated Superfund site. This film features members Gowanus residents and members of FROGG (Friends and Residents of the Greater Gowanus) and was filmed and edited by Sabine Aronowsky, Peter Pierce and Steve deSeve of Freddy's Brooklyn Roundhouse. This film as well as a few others will be on BCAT television and Manhattan cable through July 8th, times to be announced.

Convinced?

Please click here to sign a petition that will be sent to our local politicians and leave your comments with the EPA.

Brooklyn Election Stories 2008

Friend Sabine Aronowsky was out in the streets of Brooklyn with her video camera this past election day. Her doc opens with coverage of Brooklyn Obama Supporters making phone calls on election eve at B.A.M and then hits the streets. Although Obama has won it's distressing to find out that there was only ONE voting machine working in Brownsville and people got the run around to carry out what is supposed to be a basic right and duty as a citizen!


The details:

Watch Brooklyn Election Stories 2008 now AND on BCAT TV this Tuesday night at 8pm, on Time Warner cable channel 34 or CableVision channel 67, only in Brooklyn, also airing in Manhattan on Thursday night at 8.30 pm on Time Warner channel 56/17 RCN 83.

About this episode: Brooklyn Election Stories 2008

Protecting the vote & Obama celebrations in Brooklyn. Local coverage of Election Eve and Day, Nov. 3-4th, 2008 in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn Heights, Prospect Heights, Brownsville and Downtown Brooklyn. Kings County Brooklyn had the fifth highest total of votes in the nation for Obama! Freddy's Brooklyn Roundhouse salutes all those who worked to get out and guard the
vote. This historic win is thanks to you!

New Episode of Freddy's Brooklyn Roundhouse Tuesday Night

F.I.B's friends over at Freddy's Brooklyn Roundhouse have a new episode of the show airing on Tuesday night. I've seen some of the footage and it is definitely a story that is underreported. The residents of the public housing projects around Ft. Greene are feeling the effects of gentrification and have lost many basic neighborhood emmenities including their supermarkets. Here are the details as per the Roundhouse.

Episode 1 of Freddy's Brooklyn Roundhouse's coverage of the FUREE convention will air on BCAT at 8pm this Tuesday, June 3rd and in Manhattan next Thursday, June 5th, at 8:30pm on MNN.

About the show:

Brooklyn's FUREE (Families United for Racial and Economic Equality) held their 5th annual convention followed by a march to protest the closing of the Albee Square Mall. Is it time to fight back? The Developer, John Catsimatidis, destroyed all the services around the Farragut, Whitman and Ingersoll housing projects (which is home to over 30,000 tenants), including the supermarkets (ironically he is the owner, president, chairman, and CEO of the Red Apple Group and Gristedes Foods). NYC is also using a fake "egress" issue to shut down child care. And Public Housing is under attack.

Featuring Ed Carter, Diana Smith, Beverly Corwin, Kevin Powell, V/elmanette Montgomery, Hakeem Jeffries and the Marching Alliance . Not attending for the 5th year in a row was Ed Towns.

Click here to out more about FUREE.


Support FUREE's Downtown Brooklyn Video and watch the trailer here.

Watch Tuesday Nights on BCAT 8:00pm Freddys Brooklyn Roundhouse
Time Warner 34/CableVision 67, BCAT CH 1 for live internet streaming at showtime www.bcat.tv/bcat


Watch Thursday Nights on MNN 8:30pm Freddys Brooklyn Roundhouse
Time Warner 56/17 RCN 83 for live internet streaming at showtime www.mnn.org