It Happened in 2015

Like any blowhard - sorry blogger -  the Q loves to recap and reassess at the end of the annum. I'm told the Q is considered a guilty pleasure by some, as in "the blog you hate to love and love to hate." I pay the critics no mind. I have no advertisers, nor electorate to please. Even my wife stopped reading. But to those who've been bored and sick enough to lend your ear, I must note that I'm fully aware that I take a hard tone and cast a nasty line in order to catch a slug or two. It's intended as good fun, the old fashioned fork-tongued gadfly thing, the kind of muckraking thoroughly unprofessional ranting that aims to take no hostages and tell it like it is. Though throughout I hope to share my love for humans and the very real struggles of life in the modern age. I don't actually HATE anyone, and despite the tough talk, I wish no ill will on my fellows.

To further frustrate myself and others, I often take a firm position, then infuriate by changing my mind. This, I'm told, is what blogs are for - wanton infuriation, Bloviation, navel-gazing and jaundiced analysis, followed by introspection and contrition. And silliness. The hope is that every now and then I hit the mark, and it feels right enough that it sticks, and suddenly I can put into words that which used to baffle me. On issues of class and race my brain is constantly awhirl, as if I were a beginning Physics student staring at the world's most sophisticated theorem and wondering if it will ever make sense. So here we are. Another year, another waste of nearly 50,000 words.

Now to the recap. The best and worst of the neighborhood crowned at roughly the same time, like sinister fraternal twins. Two swell local guys opened Brooklyn Greenery and my colon rejoiced. Then, Veggie Castle, became an iHOP in a terrificly hideous piece of half-ass development on Church Avenue. The Q was preoccupied and disillusioned with fighting for smart planning and contextual zoning, while some had decided the City was to blame for everything and couldn't be trusted for so much as a building permit. Meanwhile, "she who cannot be named" and a few others  made it nearly impossible to go forward with a reasonable approach to affordable housing and development by choice and design. The City had (and sadly HAS) nearly written us off as incorrigible and unreasonable. (Actually I think I'll merely rearrange the letters of our nemesis' name, like Lord Voldemort. So from here on out I'll refer to Alicia Boyd only as her anagram, Cadia B. Doily. It's all best summed up by Cadia's extraordinary attempt to:

Keep Empire Shitty

Thank You Paul G. for this. Had I a car...

• Things started ugly as Cadia B. Doily calls her neighbors Uncles Tom . 
• The floodgates opened on "giving you the finger" style development. Tall and Skinny Comes To Lefferts. 
• Things worsened for longtime residents, as there was a frightening Consolidation of Apartment Buildings by A Very Few Unscrupulous Owners
• Who you may ask? Try Robert Durst and Others No Boy Scouts
• The "Berserk Eclectic" Clarkson classic went From Haunted House to Ho-Hum Homes
• We wondered, in all this talk of City growth, Who's Moving To NYC Anyway?
• The Q got bored and wandered out to note the tons of "soft spots" in our current zoning, as The Q Makes His Case For Rezoning - In Pictures
• Hudson won a Hail Mary lawsuit and the neighborhoods tallest building shot up as 626 Flatbush Wins Lawsuit Doesn't Have To Tear It Down Or Move It To Downtown Brooklyn Where It Belongs
• Mediocre LPT became mediocre Nacho Mother's Tacos (rather I wished they'd've called it that)
• An adorable lass opened an adorable shoppe on Rogers called Pels Piess
• My favorite discount store became a Rainbow, which my daughters love, but the Q Cried Like Baby As Gem Dies
• A Hoo(kah) Dunnit is told, as Ali's Roti Gets Complaints, Answers Complaints, Then Hosts a Murder
• The new CB9 Chair Can't Take It Anymore - Resigns
• One of many Fuck You Finger Buildings comes to Lincoln Road
• Myspace Realty, the Gentrification Accelerator, Opens on Flatbush
• The Q April Fooled You, and I'm sorry to say that Mario Batali is NOT Coming To Flatbush Ave
• After years of trying to rouse attention, finally it's the NY Times On the Insanity of 60 Clarkson and Scattersite Housing
• Jim Mamary branches out from Bluebird Cafe with Mexican Burgers
• A major real estate conglomerate swoops in, and Scoops Gets New Landlord
• More goodies as IM Pastry Opens On Nostrand
• Our favorite rabble rouser Diana Richardson Takes It All 
• There is something wrong with the numbers in this buying spree, so the Q ponders whether To Ponzi Or Not To Ponzi
• From "discovered," to "hot," and Now We're a Brochure
• Yes! The Trees Finally Get a Makeover 
• Leave the carbs behind, as Silver Shi Shi Sushi Comes To Flabenue
• The Botanic Garden reopens an entrance and ruins its cafe as Food at Botanic Garden Now Officially Sucks 
• The Q heads to Miami and learns firsthand how Nationwide the Topic Is Gentrification
• Once again, as clear as a bell, Your Councilman Is An Idiot
• Outstanding newcomer, The Food Sermon Blows Minds
• Ever in the shadow of the "other side of the park? No, It's Not Always A Conspiracy Against Us. But it sure helps to get organized - finally folks are waking up about what it takes to get shit done.
• That nasty intersection gets another tweak, as Improvements Come To Parkside Ocean - Again
• Barry Hers is going to hell, and 60 Clarkson Tenants Are Given One Day To Get Out
• Jim's Joint American Tacos or Burger Mexicano, take your pick.
• The Parkside Farmers Market Arrives! So Turnip the Volume (Rakim I Say Peas)
• The Q Reads An Actual Book, as Ta-nehisi Goes To Vermont
• The bold new wave barberess of Nostrand - Cut Lola Cut
• More Game Changers On Nostrand - IM, Allen & Starliner
• Tragedy strikes Ali's Roti
• Another sweet mural as Killer Clarkson Block Holds Killer Party: The Hood Love Mural
• The Q Hearts J'ouvert in Mas To Do About Everything
• More Lola opens around the corner
• Tonic redux as Owl Music Parlor Bloedows 'Em Away
• Michael Allen Opens; chocolate lovers shed tears openly
• GMACC is doing the work the cops can't and they need funding and support
• Cynthia's Final Toush is the jam for dresses and island themed accessories
• House of Juice Opens and does fruits and veggies proud
• Burger Truck Coming, or let's hope it's still happening at the BP station
• Erv's and Blessings Now Neighborhood "Institutions" at One Year
• Damn Good Falafel Invasion as Kalushkat opens on the Flabenue
• During the most crucial time to quit squabbling and "do the work," CB9 DM Pearl Miles Ousted By Resentful Board
• Now we're talking, as Caton Market Becomes Huge Affordable Apt Building because the City actually owns the land.
• Terrific newcomers, as Park Side and Zurilee Add Upscale 'Za Bars to the Flabenue
• Greenlight Bookstore Moving Into 626 Flatbush (Maple Street School Too)
• Big Flatbush Cleanup Day and the Q wasn't invited, and he couldn't be happier about that
• PLGNA & PPEN To Start Independent Needs Assessment which of course turned Cadia B. Doily into a Tazmanian Tsunami claiming MLK Day has been usurped by whites in bizarre rant
• Little Mo' Wine A Big Hit On Nostrand - winos with credit cards rejoiced openly.
• The Q Continues To Squawk Against the Wind, decrying The Lunacy of Saying NO To Housing - all types
• C'mon dammit, you Should Have Rezoned - Ridiculous 20-story Building Going Up on Linden exactly where Councilman Eugene's Offices are.
• Then as if to shove it in my face, the Q gets Fucked By My Own Community, which could have been signing the ink on a zoning plan by now, saving countless blocks from shitty development and encouraging residential market and affordable on Empire Blvd and other wise corridors. Keep Empire Shitty indeed.
• Fresh Face To Take On Indumbent Mathieu Eugene and no, that's not a typo
• Big changes south of Wendy's, as Brooklyn Commons and Jack Srour Take Phat Albert's Into the Current Millenium 
• The Q writes another long essay that no one will read about how Segregation Is Alive and Thriving in the South and just about everywhere, while here we're practically paving the way for a wealth-only future by missing the opportunity to plan for a mixed-income future, Tenants advocates continue to do the good work...the rest of us squabble over things the City has already told us it refuses to do, like downzone the whole neighborhood at a time of housing crisis.

Enough. 2016 will undoubtedly be...who the hell knows? Economic meltdown? Terrorist shitstorm? Trader Joe's? All three?