This Week In Brooklyn: Markowitz Gets A Challenger, Greenpoint Businesses Suffering
59 Orient Ave. in Williamsburg/Photo via Brooklyn Paper
This week in Brooklyn local news, the New York State Court of Appeals said they’d hear the oral arguments of the litigants in the eminent domain case brought by Atlantic Yards Project’s opponents on Oct. 14. This means that the court’s verdict will arrive at some point during either November or December, effectively killing Bruce Ratner’s plans to break ground this year, which were a precondition for millions of dollars of tax relief from the state and sponsorship money from Barclay’s bank. If these funds come into jeopardy, then the project itself begins to have problems and they’ll only get worse for Ratner if the court actually finds in favor of the plaintiffs.
The Court Date Is Set for the Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn [The Brooklyn Eagle]
Meanwhile, a candidate has emerged to challenge Borough President Marty Markowitz in the democratic primary in September. Eugene Myrick, a 37 year-old Fort Greene native who runs www.chocolatebrides.com with his wife, plans to contest Markowitz on a platform of opposing the Atlantic Yards project and reallocating $64 million in funding from Markowitz’s Asser-Levy Seaside Park Bandshell project to spend on education. He said he already had the 4,000 signatures necessary to get on the ballot, but is girding himself for Markowitz to challenge those signatures.
Newcomer Bids to Deny Markowitz a Third Term [The Local / The New York Times]
Over on the gentrification beat, the recession may squeeze many of Greenpoint’s immigrant businesses out of the neighborhood for good, according to a wrenching story from The Greenpoint Star. The recession has hit the families that patronize these businesses the worst, and they have responded by eating at home and skimping on purchases. The new hipster residents who have replaced many immigrant families have different tastes ("They don’t buy anything. They just go to bars and get cups of coffee," said Soulat Javed, who owns a discount clothing store) and go further afield for products that match their style, like at IKEA.
Greenpoint small businesses in trouble [The Greenpoint Star]
And finally, the Brooklyn Paper continues its watch on the Williamsburg "mansion" featured prominently in the film "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." Last summer, the 59 Orient Ave. house was full of junkies and squatters before The Paper brought attention to its neighbors’ complaints and the site got boarded up in the fall. For a while it looked like the owners were going to tear it down and sell the land to condo developers. Now, it’s just going to sit there as the owners look for a buyer to fix the place up (it’s yours for $1.5 million.) Apparently, nobody wants to finance more condos in the ‘Burg, since the Department of Buildings has currently listed 18 building sites in the neighborhood that have already stopped construction. For some comparison, the DoB says the Bronx and Queens each have only 14 stalled sites.
‘Eternal Sunshine’ house may not be torn down after all [The Brooklyn Paper]
Lots of Woe in W’Burg [The New York Post]
