Today the story is featured in the NY POST in an article by Rich Calder entitled: 'Carroll' crusade / Brooklyn courtyard battle".
Yesterday it was reported at Pardon Me For Asking
that Ken Fisher was hired by Hannah Senesh to lobby for the acquisition of the lot (front garden) currently owned by the city in Carroll Gardens revealing that DeBlasio's plan has been in the works for a very long time despite his public claims to his constituents to be a "champion" of Carroll Gardens.
See DeBlasio's Public Advocate website:
Fighting Overdevelopment: Bill fought to close a longstanding loop hole in the zoning text that left many streets in Carroll Gardens vulnerable to overdevelopment. The narrow residential streets were labeled “wide street” in the Zoning Resolution allowing for developers to build larger buildings. The change, advanced by Bill, appropriately characterized the narrow streets helping to preserve Carroll Gardens' character by disallowing out-of-context structures to rise on several residential blocks. http://www.billdeblasio.com/
To the timeline at PMFA we can add the following
One can add to the private school request timeline revealed yesterday at PMFA blog, another important piece of history:
Below is the story of how so many of us residents and community members/volunteers in Carroll Gardens were valiantly trying to work honestly and "above board" with our Councilman as his constituents to protect our beloved neighborhood, while he was busy, behind the scenes, implementing his own opposite agenda.
We were gratified, after hour and hours of hard work, to finally take this first step with our Councilman publicly. Naturally this move generated a lot of positive publicity for the Councilman. Alas, we Carroll Gardens residents and constituents, were duped.
We think DeBlasio's exit strategy as our Councilman speaks volumes about his ability to advocate for the public of New York City in the very near future.
(From the CORD blog)
Thursday, January 31, 2008
http://carrollgardenspetition.
RESOLUTION DAY
On Wednesday, January 30, 2008, our Councilman, Bill DeBlasio introduced to his fellow Council Members, a Resolution calling for two things that a substantial number of Carroll Gardens residents have been seeking for quite some time.
Councilman DeBlasio asked for the requested downzoning study to commence immediately and, more importantly, called to halt construction on anything that would exceed fifty feet (a simplified representation of the downzoning result) immediately as well. For all intents and purposes, he asked for the interim moratorium that we have been hoping for.
Now, unfortunately, a Resolution, even if unanimously passed, is not legally binding. It is not law. It is little more than an agreement between civilized parties. But, we, at CORD are
most appreciative of this first step. But, we, at CORD are most appreciative of this first step. Councilman DeBlasio promised this to us back in September and he has delivered. Some people would say, “So what? It doesn’t really mean anything.” But, we think it took courage to take this very politically unpopular idea to the Council Chambers.
We think that this is the way change begins. It starts with thinking about things differently, challenging what is no longer working and looking for a way to do and make things better.
What was introduced on January 30th, in the NYC Council Chambers was a small, but very good first step. We must remember that real change takes determination, purpose, conviction and tenacity. It takes resolve.
January 30th (2008) was Resolution Day.
CORD
