Diana Richardson Weighs In On Cunningham/Eugene Race Next Tuesday

Somehow this pic captures DeeRich perfectly

From your tell-it-like-it-is neighbor Diana Richardson, your State assembly-person, whose candor is always welcome in the Q's book. I urge you to read this, remembering that is highly, highly uncommon for a sitting elected official to come out against an incumbent in another office, as incumbents usually win and having to work with someone you worked to defeat is, to put it mildly, a tad uncomfortable and a smidge prickly.

So...read carefully! Particularly if you voted for Pia Raymond, an honorable candidate from the Democratic primary who is not on the ballot this time around. Brian is, on the sneaky upstart Reform line.

Greetings PLG:

I feel as your N.Y. State Assembly Member that it is time for me to speak to you personally regarding the District 40 Elections.

1. I have heard the echos for the need for new leadership in the CD which has a underlay in my AD.
2. After looking at the election data (Please note I stated data so this is not an emotional statement): PLG SPLIT their vote totally. When you look at PLG as a whole but especially in the Manor, the votes went to Raymond and Cunningham evenly.
3. I totally understand the split because many of the candidates are good and hard working and to be honest I know them ALL personally (everyone who ran) (One of the reasons I did not get involved and let the community make their own decisions)
4. Now that the Sept results are in there is only 1 option for change: 1) Vote for the Incumbent Mathieu Eugene or 2) Vote for Brian Cunningham on the Reform line. I have watched many discussions with my name in it as far a party lines go. Let me be the first to tell you that a party line is just that: A Party Line. Did you know WFP endorsed me at 7pm the night before the 12pm deadline to get a party line? Yes, I almost didn't have that line. I created my own line "Now is the time" I was going to run on that line and the Green Party Line. (You can Google the Green Party story) - Had I not obtained the WFP line those 2 lines is where my name would have appeared. 
5. I recently saw a post where some one suggested "writing in additional names on the ballot when voting". I STRONGLY stand against  the write in of any names because that WILL NOT get you to the end result of the change that you desire.
6. I know it's difficult when the candidate we support does not win. I have personally been on the end of losing and I know how painful it is.(trust me unless you have run for public office and lost PUBLICLY you don't know how bad it really hurts) HOWEVER- we can't let our emotions cloud logic. This is a number games. 
7. Again, I've looked at the numbers, if unified again if unified PLG WILL make the difference in this race.
8. It is not enough to ppst online and engage in back an forth discussion. I am asking everyone to volunteer for they change they seek. Here are some things for you to consider doing. A) Knock on the doors of your neighbors to talk about the candidiate you support B) Make phone calls (aka phone banking) C) Put up a poster in your residential window, lawn or business D) Ask the local businesses you patronize to put up posters and assist them with doing so E) Make a list of 10 ppl and call to  remind them to vote on E-day.
9. My personal statement - I have more going on internally than you can imagine. In the face of everything I feel that I represented the 43rd AD fully. I can not personally wrap my hands on this race. However, as your elected official if you take the advice I've written above you will have a fighting chance on Nov 7th.
10. Everyone in this room is capabale of making decisions and I respect that. Note I never told you how to vote. But given the facts I think you know what to do.

- Diana Richardson

1.  

Skyscrapers To Replace Spice Factory

What defines a skyscraper? These days you have to top 60 stories or more, but back in the 19th century 15 or 20 would do. Heck in the musical Oklahoma! Will sings of a skyscraper 7 stories high - "about as tall as a building ought to grow!" This before confronting Ado Annie, who by her own admission was a girl who "cain't say no." To a Persian peddler no less! It's a scandal! It's an outrage!! God bless the Great American Musical, the most utterly optimistic of all forms of artistic expression...

The Q gets no great pleasure from saying he told you so. But here we are. The Wall Street Journal reports that builder bigwig Bruce Eichner claims to have found the money for a half billion dollar project to replace the Spice Factory and environs just above Lefferts on Franklin near the Botanic Garden with 25-35 story towers - four in all - that would surely create the appearance of a skyscraper city just to the east of the BBG, since Tivoli Towers and Ebbets already loom over the area.

Remember the outcry when Borough President Eric Adams suggested buildings near Empire that topped out at 10 or 12 stories in exchange for inner-block protections in the area? That reasonable sounding approach to development led to the outright demolishing of the Community Board by local attacktivists and a wholesale fight for the survival of McDonalds and Storage Marts, which are seemingly more precious than housing for humans. The irony is thick as muck. Because this project will involve large numbers of below-market apartments, I suspect the City under De Bloz will find this project very appealing. Will Laurie Cumbo agree? Remains to be seen. The Q suspects this will go through with room to spare.

The below write-up is from the Journal's Peter Grant, and reprinted with the assumed permission of Rupert Murdoch, a close personal friend who plays bass on the Q's latest album "Oligarchia." He's no Geddy Lee, but neither is Geddy Lee these days. Nice poppin' though, Roop!

Veteran developer Ian Bruce Eichner, who has hit numerous highs and lows in his 40-year career in real estate, has taken a big step toward his latest dream: a $500 million, 1.2 million-square-foot residential project in Crown Heights that would set aside half of its units as affordable housing.
Mr. Eichner has a tentative deal to obtain construction financing for the project from the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust, he said, which is a mutual fund that invests for union pension funds. As part of the deal, the project would only use union workers, a major goal for organized labor in a city that is losing its status as a union town.

Mr. Eichner, who is partnering on the project with Lincoln Equities Group, said the venture is “about 10 days away” from closing on a deal to pay about $75 million for the land, which consists of about 3 acres at Franklin Avenue and Montgomery Street. The venture wants to build four buildings that would range in number of floors “from mid-20s to the mid-30s,” said Mr. Eichner, who heads Continuum Co.

The venture has begun talks with the city planning department to begin a rezoning process that would enable it to build that high. Part of the plan would be to earmark about 800 units for below-market rents, which would make the development one of the city’s largest such affordable projects on private land.

“We’re seeking an up-zoning, assuming this is something the city wants,” Mr. Eichner said. “Early indications from the local elected officials are that this is exactly what they want to see.” A Planning Department spokeswoman said the department hasn’t yet received a formal application for the project.

The project will still be scrutinized by the local community board, which has been tough on developers in the past. Mr. Eichner said he is planning a “robust” effort to include the community in terms of recruiting workers and tenants for the project. The deal marks the latest sign that the Brooklyn development juggernaut is continuing even as New York’s rental market is softening. If all goes well, the Continuum-Lincoln venture would break ground in the first quarter of 2019, Mr. Eichner said.

The development would mark the latest chapter in Mr. Eichner’s eventful career as a real-estate developer, which began in Park Slope, Brooklyn, during the 1970s. By the late 1980s, he was developing Manhattan skyscrapers but several of his projects—including CitySpire and the office tower at 1540 Broadway—ran into financial problems during the real estate crash of the early 1990s.
Mr. Eichner rebounded. In the real estate boom leading up to the 2008 crash, he developed the giant Cosmopolitan Resort Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. That project ran into trouble after the crash and was eventually taken over by its lender, Deutsche Bank AG .

In the most recent recovery, Mr. Eichner’s biggest project has been the luxury condominium at 45 East 22nd St. named Madison Square Park Tower. About 75 of the units have sold, with about 20 left, Mr. Eichner said. Median rents in Brooklyn rose to $2,460 a month in the third quarter of this year, up 0.6% from the third quarter of 2016, according to StreetEasy.com. That marked the slowest growth rate since 2011, StreetEasy said.

The AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust, which has about $6.1 billion in assets under management, invests for about 400 union pension funds. If the deal being negotiated is finalized, the developers will likely do a bond financing through the New York Housing Development Corp. and the trust would buy the bonds, Mr. Eichner said. The trust only invests in projects that use 100% union labor. Lately nonunion shops have been doing more construction work in New York.

The Crown Heights project would counter that trend. “There’s obviously an awful lot of private residential work in the last few years that has gone nonunion,” Mr. Eichner said. Theodore Chandler, the chief operating officer of the trust, confirmed it had given the venture a “letter of interest” to provide financing for the Crown Heights project with the amount to be determined. “We’re very much looking forward to potentially being a part of the financing.”

Cunningham for Council - Vote Nov 7

He's running a bold campaign outside the broken Kings County Democratic Party machine. Despite running on the obscure Reform Party line (the only way he could get on the ballot), this lifelong Democrat got more endorsments than the 10-year incumbent. Planned Parenthood considers him the Pro-choice candidate. Think about that - how hard you got to work to not get the endorsement of Planned Parenthood when you're the only Dem on the ticket. Eugene is a joke and a stain on on the neighborhood. Give the new guy a chance. We'll hold him accountable - this is no blank check. We've been rudderless for too long. Plus, he has a beard.

Alicia Boyd and Lorraine Thomas Claim Victory Against...You

Short version. Your community attacktivists Alicia Boyd (she of MTOPP) and Lorraine Thomas (the MTOPP mole actually ON the Board) are claiming victory over your Community Board, which is essentially like claiming victory over YOU. Because your CB9 is comprised of 50 of your neighbors, who have been held hostage and bludgeoned by Boyd and company for the better part of three years, often unable to accomplish even the simplest of tasks as mandated by the city charter.

Alicia Boyd in action; yours truly checking his phone while showering in her spit.

Background: MTOPP filed a suit over a year ago claiming the hiring of new District Manager Carmen Martinez did not conform to the letter of the law. This was after MTOPP managed to lead the charges against the former DM Pearl Miles. MTOPP's constant attacks and lawsuits against her and former Chair Jacob Goldstein got both of them canned, basically for little to nothing at all. Eric Adams didn't help, by replacing half the Board in the middle of the ruckus. MTOPP harassed the  board chair Dwayne Nicholson into resigning, then chair Demetrius Lawrence into resigning, and hasn't let up against the latest chair Musa Moore.

And now they claim victory, having "won" the removal of Carmen Martinez, who by all accounts has been doing a terrific job running the office. Regardless of how you feel about the various people involved, or how they were hired, or the machine behind the puppetry. Mizzes Boyd and Thomas and some truly mean-spirited others have torn your one City-mandated representative body to shreds. Boyd is clearly deranged, but she's no dummy. Were she on the side of justice and all that is right, I dare say she'd be a hero. As it is, she's a goat, an unruly goat at that. ready to "Keep Empire Blvd Shitty" to the detriment of all that is good and possible vis a vis le Great Experiment known as New York City.

What is a Community Board? To hear the critics rail, you'd think it was a bunch of faceless, corrupt bureaucrats out to take away your civil rights and force you to endure unwanted changes and development in your precious neighborhood.

Don't believe the hype.

Your CB9 is a bunch of your neighbors. Period. They come from all walks of life, and they're generally lifelong committed and engaged citizens looking to make sure their nabe gets its fair share of city attention and services. That's it. It has very little actual power. BUT, a well-functioning board is well-situated to advise the city on matters of importance. When it is respected by city officials, for its willingness to work with city objectives and personnel AND for its well-reasoned and well-organized operations, shit gets done. Look no further than CB6 across the park. Park Slope gets the job done. It's safer, cleaner, better responded to than "our" side. It's CB meetings are efficient models of hyper-local democracy. Sure things get heated sometimes. But the City listens, and the City abides.

Ms. Boyd, I hope that your next ride on the H-Train is one-way, and that your metrocard privileges are revoked. You have ripped the guts out of the body politic in Lefferts/CrownHeights, and yet somehow you claim victory. Even the judgement itself shows how hollow were your howls. Back to square one, for both board and neighborhood. The waste of time and effort knows no bounds.

(if you're the sort that likes to see the full rendering of court case and verdict, shoot me an email and I'll send you a copy)

Parents Of Wee Ones - Check Out This Playschool!

The Q loves, loves, loves the term "playschool." To me, that's what it's all about, and doesn't try to overstate the goal. A teensy bit of school, a lot of play, a chance for mom and dad to do their thing while the toddler gets a bit of the social thing happening. I would argue that at 51 it's still my ideal scenario, and we don't get nearly enough of it!

From a friend whom we (the royal WE) trust comes a recommendation for just sort of sitch right here in the 'hood. A HoodSitch, as I like to call it. Below is the info. (Maybe you're not ready or situated to commit to something like the more expensive, tres pro and it must be said lovely Maple Street School, of which the Q and Mrs. Q were satisfied clients before it went all uppity at 626 - the classrooms there are top notch by the way, so I'm by no means dissing MSS, quite the opposite. But each parent has her own needs. I love the look of Rutland.)

Halloween - Look No Further Than Home For Trick or Treatin'

What, you thought I was joking? Ladies and Gentlemen, Sia joins Applejack and Pinky Pie

Safe, sweet, and full of sweets, the local "safe walk" organized by the 71st precinct is quite simply the great secret of Brooklyn Halloween fun. Along the beautiful blocks of Lefferts Manor, you'll see many a neighbor decked out in the latest costumes. Who will go as Harvey Weinstein? Congresswoman Fredrica Wilson? Post-Fatwa Larry David? My girls both wanted to go as Sia, and a fight ensued. Thank GOD there's now a Sia Pony from the My Little Pony movie. One can be real Sia, one can be Pony Sia! Bless the marketing departments!!!

Tomorrow Oct 21: 3:30 pm. Let's Help Brian Cunningham Skewer the Lame Duck

It's time to get serious, y'all. Just a half-hour or hour of your time is required. Bring the whole family. Organized by a passionate neighbor, this event gives you a chance to meet the only hope we have that the next four years aren't as lame as the last 10. Let's get rid of the worst Councilman in NYC and replace him with a capable challenger, who managed to get his name on the Reform Party line for just this opportunity. Ironically, if elected, he'll be more of a Democrat than a certain State Senator around here who likes to tie his pony to the Republican hitch up in Albany. (Jesse, they're coming to get you!) So get on out there and vote for a true Democrat! (er, but on the Reform line).

Why Brian Cunningham Has A Chance In Hell

Good news for those who think Mathieu Eugene deserves only one vote (his own, that is if he hasn't switched his residence back to Canarsie where he mostly sleeps) in the upcoming November general election.  The Working Families Party, which notably refused to endorse Eugene as it has in the past, has come out in favor of his opponent , one Brian Cunningham, on the mysterious yet beguiling Reform line. That's big news to followers of union politics. The WFP tends to align itself with union interests (put the word "working" in your name and you should expect as much). Will they help sway the powerful local hospital workers unions next month? One can hope so.

This is not Brian Cunningham

When people meet Brian Cunningham, they like Brian Cunningham. Not because of his polish (or because he's Polish - which he's not - he has Jamaican roots). Not because of his beard, which he now sports despite being youthfully handsome without it. (Never vote for someone based on their facial hair. That's how we got stuck with that guy to the right, 21st president Chester Arthur, who, you must remember, gave us this gem: "“If it were not for the reporters, I would tell you the truth.” Hmm. Sounds familiar. He also famously said that his private life was none of our goddam business. Speaking of important political "business," it just occurred to me that Trump might actually be heavier than William Howard Taft. Trump is famous for fudging his weight (who doesn't?), but he's taller than Taft was, and if you look at him in golf clothes he's not just chubby - he's portly. Fat, if you will. I'm thinking he may be the heaviest president on record by the end of his term. First term. Gotta stay positive!

This is Brian Cunningham. And that's his real beard.

Burger Mexicano No Mas

Related to Trump pulling out of NAFTA?

New menu; new chef; new era. 545 Flatbush, where Burger Mexicano once was.

Empire Boulevard Gets A Wee Bit Of Residential

'Member the laundromat at the NE corner of Empire and Rogers? Gonna be "mixed use," which means they're going to get as many rental units as they can out of the outdated zoning. The housing advocate in me has to remind Q readers that this could have been a larger building with 30% or more apartments renting below market (i.e. "affordable"), but NIMBY Attacktivist Alicia Boyd led the call to make sure that wouldn't happen. So...look for some unaffordable units marketed as "luxury." Could be that this leads the way to a slew of development, or...the big money will simply wait til it can build what it wants. Needless to say in the meantime those fast food places are paying the tax bills...

More from your probably-not-so-good-friends at YIMBY.

PLeGNA Pluggin' Away - Come on Down Oct 16

There's actually no "e" in PLGNA - just giving you a hint as to how to pronounce it. Still not quite as good a name as PHLeGNA (Prospect Heights Library Gardens Neighborhood Association) or SMEGNA (Southern Midwood Gardens Neighborhood Association) or MAGMA (Montessori Anthrax Groupon and Metamucil Advocates).

I love the good people of PLGNA and have watched them weather many an outburst from local "attacktivist" Alicia Boyd, including a lawsuit of zero merit meant to intimidate and fluster and destroy. But like Elton John, PLGNA's still standing, and needs your help and expertise to lead the neighborhood at its time of widespread change and unease.

All politics is local, except when it isn't of course. See you Monday!

Risbo - Unique, Charming, Delicious

The Q's no gourmand. Fact is the Q once tried to outsource all my restaurant posts, since I honestly prefer takeout on a park bench to white linen, white wine and white white white. But being a middle-class middle-aged man who doesn't go to bars, socializing is often focused on food, and so one does find oneself from time to time bellying up to a tightly spaced table in order to spend what would have in my youth seemed an OBSCENE amount of money on nicely arranged platefuls of things that taste pretty good but not OBSCENELY good enough to match the outlay. That's why I often order the burger. At least that way I can compare it to all the burgers I've had over the course of my life. And frankly, if you can't do a good burger, why are you even in the restaurant business?

Enter RISBO. No burgers. Great vibe. Terrific layout, outstanding food. A place you want to hang for more than just a meal - maybe stick around and head out to the garden for an after-drink. Just five days into what is sure to be a very successful run, the place is oozing with cool. Not hipster cool a la Billyburg, but real honest-to-goodness-I-can't-place-it-so-it-must-be-foreign cool. European cool. South American cool. French cool, with some Caribbean cool, and a Cosmo-Euro playlist with the music just a tad too loud and yet just right to ensure your conversation doesn't travel. Sorry. I don't want to hear about your love life or problems at work. I really don't. Not that I can't sympathize of course.

Address? 701 Flatbush btw Parkside and Winthrop. I know, right?

The emphasis of cuisine is on carne of various types, but the vegetarian sides and salads are delicious as well. As in really, really good. Garlic good. If you're allergic to garlic you may struggle here. And let's talk about the super sweet ordering style that seems to have caught on Stateside. Order here, pickup there, sit wherever. Not that it feels like a cafeteria. But the kitchen is so central to the proceedings you feel like at any moment chef Boris might ask you to toss him an onion. And you would. It feels communal that way.

The deep menu of yore is replaced by a few items done well. Yesterday I got the sliced lamb and it came with (get this) FIVE sides. Perfectly spiced and complementing one another. And the complementing didn't end there. My entire group of five parents-of-a-certain-age couldn't stop complimenting the owners/staff. A complement of compliments.

Cash only is a bummer, but I'm sure they'll take cards soon. The system is still being worked out. I liked the non-alcoholic offerings, and the winos seemed satisfied with the list. For now you pay and order from the host, then you bring your slip to the bartender. I got some sort of sorrel drink called bissap that was super righteous. I feel very cool having ordered and enjoyed bissap. Bissap.

But what impressed me most was the vibe. Great mixing of cultures and people. Didn't feel too pretentious, even though every detail has been considered. Thumbs up, y'all. Thumbs up.

Are We Little Haiti or Little Caribbean?

Well, like most contentious issues, depends on who you ask. For a summary of arguments, here's a well-drawn opinion of the pro "Little Caribbean argument."

For the Q's part, I only heard a couple weeks ago that founder of CaribBeing - Shelly Worrell - had effectively worked her way through the Labyrinth of Bureaucracy to actually come away with a near unanimously embraced win for the 'hood in terms of increased recognition and maybe even a commercial windfall. Tourism tends to follow such designations, don't you know.

Ah, but then...local NY State Assemblyperson Rodneyse Bichotte smelled something rotten in Kingston, as she claims that plans have been in the works for years to get a Little Haiti designation for the same area - roughly Empire Blvd down to the Junction along Flatbush Avenue. Why not both, say some? Say what, say others? And what's with lumping Haitians and Caribbeans together in the first place? (hint: it's not just about geography, or puerto rico would be in the mix)

The Q first caught wind of this while dying his hair green last weekend, not to be left out of the fun his girls were having going pink and blue. As I waddled off to the Susie Farm cum Flatbush Market, leaving them with shower caps on to speed the bleaching, I ran into gentle bear Duane Joseph and got the whole skinny from him. Upon further examination, it would seem that the issue of whether Haiti is part of or distinct from the culture identified as Caribbean goes back a spell. To be honest, I've often wondered whether the French and English speaking countries might bear some animosity, just from things I've observed and heard through the years, but this seems to confirm that there are lingering resentments that can come into play over seemingly harmless distinctions of neighborhood identity.

Bichotte huffed a letter to the Mayor; a local activist followed with one to Bichotte. The details here.

If your lineage is comes from North of Miami, I highly suggest you do your best to stay out of the kitchen while the frying pot is still scalding hot. And don't even dream of calling the neighborhood Little Hipster.

Update: And just after I suggested that it would be wise for non-Caribbean folks to stay out of the fray, along comes this from KCP's Stephen Witt. It's comedy, for sure, but I'm guessing it'll come back to haunt him. Just a hunch.

There Are Good Reasons To Be A NIMBY

Check out this article from the Guardian.

But don't pretend it's progressive.

That's the conclusion the Q has reached after my years of community upheaval, conversation and activism. (yeah I'm an activist - wanna try me?) The people who shout loudest against the creation of new apartments buildings, even those with affordable set-asides, are the people who claim their Quality of Life will be violated. And they're not necessarily wrong about that. If you moved to a neighborhood with a certain density, a certain cultural or architectural flavor, a certain je ne sais crois, you'd like to think it's gonna stay that way. This despite the fact that no NY neighborhood stays the same for long, unless it's heavily landmarked, and even then the prices of houses just go through the roof, then the stratosphere, then into the record books. Think West Village and Brooklyn Heights and parts of the Upper East Side among a hundred others.

Finally, some folks are starting to realize that you cannot freeze the creation of new buildings and units and at the same time prevent massive displacement. The fact is, displacement has more to do with market forces AND perverse incentives for landlords to be classist and racist AND the inherent unfairness of rent stabilization (you got it or you don't). If, as in San Francisco, you add half a million new jobs but only 50,000 units of housing - yeah, you're gonna have a problem. A big, ugly problem that leads to more homelessness, no place for low-income workers to even aspire to living, and a skewing towards the creation of "luxury" units. Whatever. Either you believe in economics or you don't. That's your choice I suppose. But I'll bet 9 out of 10 of you already own, or have a decent income from which to search for a new place if necessary.

Ten years ago (and counting) I looked at the expanses around Empire Blvd and said to myself, harmlessly enough, "wouldn't this be a great place to build affordable housing for working people?" Now granted, I was pretty naive at the time. I figured progressives like Eric Adams and Tish James would be all over this idea. In fact, as Eric Adams came into office saying "Build Baby Build" I thought he was going to take the idea and run with it. But I saw 626 Flatbush rising and thought "whoa, new housing is great and all, but does it need to be so dang tall?" Then out came the anti-housing activists, as I've now come to see them. They don't want new buildings. "The City is already too dense. Our infrastructure can't handle it. You're stealing my light and air." How about phrase that differently - you, homeowner, are HOGGING the light and air?

None of those problems are insignificant, but with compromise and sufficient funding, they can all be addressed. That's why I so supported a neighborhood planning and zoning study that looked for new places to build affordable housing. It's why I supported Mandatory Inclusionary Housing. It's why I keep championing projects that are all or include large set-asides for means-tested housing. And yeah, we needs lots more PUBLIC HOUSING too. That's what I believe belongs at the Union-Armory project, but no one so far has ponied up the dough. It's there - the will is not.

Ah well. Maybe the City will simply exert its authority over us and do as it so pleases. After all, we gave up what little bargaining power we had when NIMBYists organized to the point of bullying. And as I've always said, there are very good reason to be NIMBY. There are never good reasons to bully, name-call and shut down respectful conversations.

True progressives understand that social progress doesn't happen without one group giving up something to help satisfy the needs of another. It's about levelling the playing field. What have you done lately to help someone find an apartment they can afford? Not just the "poor." But anyone who wants to live in our wonderful neighborhood but just can't quite make the rent?

Lastly, a word about developers. Some are assholes; some are tolerable; some are even forward-thinking. But you could say that about any capitalist industry. What's different is that you equate them with change, the kind you don't like. But guess what - that apartment or house you're living in? The result of a developer, plus the real estate industry and market through the years. My cute little house was consider the ruin of the neighborhood back in the early 20th century - the tract houses of the day.

But I'm no apologist for the development industry. Fact is, though, they're the ones that build stuff, and saying you want them to go away is to say you want the city to stop being a city. You need to work with them, speak their language, cajole with the right kind of incentives and zoning and partnerships. Or, you better just get out of their way. Ultimately they, like YOU, are out to make a buck. If you hate all Developers, then I suspect you also buy no goods from China, have no investments or retirement earnings in the stock market, don't rely on "free" offerings on internet or TV, never shop Amazon, own no cheap clothes etc. Because it's all part of the same web of supply and demand and frankly human suffering. You like McDonalds; I like Shake Shack. You like Sun in Bloom; I like falafel trucks. But thank your lucky stars that (as Tom Petty would say) "you don't have to live like a refugee." Unless of course you're broke without a home, in which case, you pretty much do live like a refugee.

DIY Recording of Ta-Nehesi Coates Talk

Is it a bootleg if it was just a conversation?

Regardless, the venerable Bard of Brooklyn Blogs - Liena Zagare - was at last night's fully packed Kings Theater conversation between boss and star writer at The Atlantic magazine. If you want to know more about why yours truly had the great pleasure of getting personally scolded by Mr. Coates, go back into the Q archives. I'm not going to do you the favor of a link!

Here's the link to Liena's piece and recording from BKLNR.

Thx Liena!

picture by Dina Rabiner for BKLYNR

Yo Whitey - Donald Trump Is YOUR Problem

So many rationalizations of the Trump problem being bandied about. It was misogyny! Blue collars didn't come out for the Dem! Russia stole it! Blacks didn't turn out! (Really now. You expected that black voters would rally round a Clinton the way they did Obama? How much more for granted could you take their vote?) It was Sanders! It was Stein! It was Facebook and Google! It was Fox News and Breitbart!! It was...us. Not each of us, but it was us. The very folks who've benefited most from white supremacy.

Rarely do I hear anyone taking full responsibility. particularly among "whites." And I ask you, if it makes you uncomfortable to be lumped in with such a large, unruly group, imagine how it must feel to be lumped into equally unruly and wildly diverse groups like "blacks," "Hispanics," Jews, Muslims, Soccer Moms, White Collar Older Men, Red State Middle Class Professionals and others. For better or worse, you, dear Whitey (sorry to segregate this post) are a demographic, a voting bloc, and a big-ass problem in America's present and future. Nearly 60% of you (that's a fact, Monterey Jack) voted for Donald Trump. So don't go blaming anyone but yourselves for a Wicked White House.

The fact is, Trump is but a manifestation of the ugly underbelly of White America, or overbelly really. His politics - so supposedly foreign to we liberal-arts educated elites - are in reality wildly familiar. Donald Trump a/k/a Archie Bunker as Rich Snake Oil Salesman, is a particular sort of relative or family friend. You know him, but you pretend you don't. "How dare he" you say, "sully the Presidency thusly." "He has no decency" we bemoan. "He's patently racist, uncivilized, misogynistic and egad, an unbridled egomaniac!"

Yeah he's all those. But he's merely a bigger-than-life stereotypical version of the American White Male. Entitled, chauvinistic, dismissive, combative, obscenely cocksure. And other Americanisms abound. He's obsessed with image. Prone to fantasy. Ratings driven. Consumerist. Hypocritical. Surrounded by television and echo-chamber politics. He fires at whimsy with fuck-you money to boot. Even THAT he lies about - he's not nearly as rich as pretends, nor as handsome as he feels. He eats greasy junk food - he's fat and thinks he's healthy. Loves his hair and takes meds to grow it. I'm sure he downs Viagara, though he'll never cop to it. Thinks he's an ideal dad. Trusts his "instincts." Is more white supremacist than even white supremacists, because he doesn't have to hide behind radical dogma to believe it, to KNOW it, deep in his being. America reinforces his white supremacy, not so much in its laws but in its judicial nuance and police preference and tax policy.

This man, this PROBLEM, is yours white America. No influx of Puerto Ricans to the mainland, no redistricting or un-gerrymandering or motor-voter laws or "education" or party-switching or gross missteps or political intrigue is going to change that fact. Four in ten Americans, nearly all white, will continue to fight for the right to Trump, either he or another. They will bully and nag and create fake news cycles full of hatred and distrust of liberal whites (they already KNOW the people of color and immigrants will be against them) and they will twist themselves into pretzels proving themselves right, as you prove yourself right on Facebook and the Daily Outrage (sorry, Huffington Post). They're NOT going to change, anymore than your Uncle Frank or Aunt Pat. The only hope is that YOU will help them change, that YOU will marry a black man and bear black children, that YOU will foster a Syrian orphan, that YOU will live like their politics didn't exist all the while respecting their very existence to the point of forgiveness. You won't forgive the hate, but you will forgive them for falling prey to the fear, the fear of the "other," and the fear of failure and irrelevance. And you will convince every last person you can to stand up against the negativity, and vote, but you will never again try to sweep them under the rug or cast them from your awareness.

America, the political state, is gun-crazy and money-obsessed, craven and greedy, fame-fucking and at the same time, somehow, to-date, indestructible. You gotta hand it to the Founders. They wrote a prenup so tight you can't break it, not even by slavery and civil war or foreign wars or culture wars or gender wars. They wrote that document because, I think, whether conscious or not, they knew they couldn't trust you, White America, to do the right thing.

I love you, Whitey, but you've a problem and no, Donald Trump is not it. You're the problem, and Trump has woke you. The question should be what are you going to do about it? Are you really ready to fight for values, or more likely to dismiss Uncle Jack and Aunt Sarah as you always have as painfully old-fashioned and well-meaning but ignorant and misguided? You've been blessed with the benefits of Donald Bunker and Archie Trump's America, but are you willing to change, maybe get a little uncomfortable and a lot more amped? Are you willing to take to the streets with your kids in tow, and show up and pony up for candidates in other states that need your help more than New York City? And instead of simply praising diversity, are you willing to embrace it, truly embrace it, and the people all around you who are more than props in your liberal fantasy?

And perhaps most importantly, will you talk with firm compassion with your Trump-loving brethren, and tell them why you feel the way you do, and how you respect their conscience but disagree with their conclusions. It's easy to condemn, and probably right to do so. But they're your relatives and your legacy and they desperately need attention and convincing, because as the polls and blogs and Fox News keep proving, they ain't going nowhere.

But they, and Trump and his ilk are yours, and without him and his forebears, your world doesn't exist. Think about that - you are living white supremacy even as you denounce it. Ironic isn't it?

Dark Humor Is Best Political Commentary. Sometimes.

Oh, and Risbo, the French inflected community seating groovy chicken place opened Flatbush btw Parkside and Winthrop.