dietsch ::

NYC to Dems: Better candidates, please

The Times has a report this morning about the mayoral campaigns of Bloomberg and two of his Democratic rivals, Council Speaker Gifford Miller and U.S. Representative Anthony Weiner. What a joke the Democratic candidates are: Miller is, like, 30 or something, and he looks barely old enough to vote himself. Weiner has a good voting record in the House, but no one outside his own district knows him. Manhattan borough president C. Virginia Fields is just as obscure. The frontrunner, Fernando Ferrer, told a group of cops a couple of months ago that he didn't think the shooting death of Amadou Diallo was a crime. Oops. Further, they're all talking more about their opponents (both the other Dems and Bloomberg) than about themselves. But today's Times article gives a great indication of why the Dems are in so much trouble this time:

Mr. Weiner and Mr. Miller made sure people knew who they were; an aide held a sign over Mr. Weiner's head identifying him, and Mr. Miller marched behind a white banner with his name, as his two young children pranced about.

Marching behind a banner in a parade isn't new; politicos and B-list celebs do it all the time. But walking with a speech balloon over your head? That's just silly.

Grillin'

Oh my god, I just ate a chicken leg that was larger than a chihuahua. Grilled, free range, textured more like duck than chicken, and slathered with Gates ’cue sauce (thanks to DeFractions). And it was yummy, but holy damn. That's a lot o' chicken.

I see Paris

So it looks like we might be traveling this fall.

Geek = me

Here's exactly how aliterate I am: This will probably be my first Allende novel. It's a bit like waiting around for Eco to write the Green Hornet.

It's not just Kansas, folks

A bill has been introduced in the New York State Assembly to require the teaching of both intelligent design and evolution in all public schools in the state. Let's see if it goes anywhere.

New connection on the 6 train

This is cool: The Times' Sewell Chan reports that the MTA is planning to finally connect uptown 6 service to the B-D-F-V line, at Bleecker St./Broadway-Lafayette. One thing that confuses newbies is that the only connection available at that station is to or from the downtown 6 train. As Chan points out, if you want to get from the B-D-F-V line to the uptown 6 (or vice versa), you have to actually leave the system, go above ground, and re-enter, swiping your MetroCard again. If you have an unlimited card, this isn't such a problem (although it's an asspain when the weather's bad). But I myself was really confused by this when I was new here, and I've seen many tourists and other new arrivals get confused. It's really bad when the tourists speak little English. The confusion will be even worse in a few months, when one of the token booths at Broadway-Lafayette is slated to close. Building the connection is part of a $50-million project that will also renovate the Bleecker St. station and make both Bleecker St. and Broadway-Lafayette handicapped-accessible. Chan talks to some riders who question the worth of the project, since it is fairly easy to go above ground and transfer, but I think those riders aren't seeing the full value of the project. First, Bleecker St. is in bad shape and really needs the makeover. The station is poorly lit and the beautiful tilework is grimy and, in many places, broken. Bleecker St. was among the system's first stations in 1904, and as such, it should be among the system's showpieces. As it stands now, though, it's an embarrassment. Further, the area around these stations is seeing several new commercial and residential developments. It's likely, then, that these stations will see an upsurge of traffic, so I think riders in the area will certainly benefit from the improved facilities and accessibility. Chan gives no timetable for the project, but it's going to be a doozy. The uptown platform of the 6 at Bleecker St. will actually be shifted south a few hundred yards, because the uptown and downtown platforms don't actually face each other. The uptown platform isn't adjacent to the B-D-F-V in the way that the downtown is, so they need to be aligned. The MTA will have to shore up neighboring buildings, tunnel under the streets, install stairs and elevators, and so on. The engineering alone makes this a cool project, as far as I'm concerned. The Times has a diagram of the proposed changes, but it might disappear behind their subscription wall in a week or so.

Saving Brooklyn

These hipsters who want to save Williamsburg and Greenpoint from the city's rezoning plan--I have to say, they remind me of the cool kids in high school who loved U2 and R.E.M., but only until top-40 radio started playing them. Jen and I like hanging out in W-burg, but the attitudes often seem cliquish and patronizing. Consider three quotes from recent publications. First, the Village Voice. Paul Moses wrote a good piece about the working-class folks who are being priced out of riverfront-Brooklyn, as rents climb. But he mentions something interesting. He talked to an area priest who fights for fair housing:

Reverend Jim O'Shea...said he is rankled when news accounts refer to the neighborhood as a "frontier" and the newcomers as "pioneers." It's "like Columbus," he said.

I hadn't thought of it that way before: This is the language of colonial oppression.

Jonathan Van Meter, writing in New York magazine, echoes this:

When I hear modern-day yuppies talk of being "pioneers" in certain Brooklyn neighborhoods--so smug in their 718 T-shirts--I want to poke my finger in their eyes. Brooklyn is not a clean slate. People who live there have a history, one that, more often than not, is of grit and forbearance. It's a history that I imagine the shabby Gentiles of Park Slope and the midwestern hipsters of Williamsburg--colonists, all!--don’t want to think about too much. Gotham Gazette published a piece by Deborah Apsel about the New York City Teaching Fellows program, in which professionals and recent grads can earn a master's degree in education, while teaching in the public schools and earning a salary and benefits. Apsel interviewed the principal of a school in Williamsburg. This principal says that although he's hired excellent fellows to teach in his schools...

"I've met some fellows who are going to go back after two years and write a book about 'my time in the urban jungle,'" he says. "Don't come in here to do a social experiment. It's a slap in the face."

Pioneers and colonists in the urban jungle. They've hacked out their spot in the wilderness, and they won't let it go for anyone.