New York Shitty Day Starter: By Their Friends Ye Shall Know Them

July 7, 2009 by missheather
Filed under: Greenpoint Magic, Williamsburg

On Friday, July 3, 2009 I wrote (in this post):

Some of you probably know ground has been broken for the new soccer field which will grace Bushwick Inlet Park. What you probably do not know is (per a most curious anonymous source) I have been told there will be a ribbon cutting ceremony with none other than our fair Mayor as well as â€œother elected officials and Commissioner Benepeâ€ this upcoming Monday, July 6, 2009! The festivities will kick off at either 9:00 or 10:00 a.m. (I am awaiting confirmation for all of thisâ€” if/when I get a firm time and date I will post them here.)

Well kids, I have a confirm on the time: between 10:00 and 11:00 a.m.

Ribbon Cutting Ceremony For the New Soccer Field At Bushwick Inlet Park
Monday, July 6, 2009
Time: 10:00 â€“ 11:00 a.m. (closer to 11:00)
Kent Avenue
Brooklyn, New York 11211

Why not swing by and see the select few who were invited to this most auspicious event?

Well, here’s the “local media”. Aaron Short (A Short Story), Juliet Linderman (Greenpoint Gazette), and Jeff Mann (Greenpoint Gazette). I was uninvited.

But not unconcerned.

My concern involves a short story.

A VERY short story indeed!

A post that is comprised only of comments.

This wasn’t the case last week. You can read the rest of the comments here.

Which brings me back to this short story. It was excised. Follows is facsimile of it since Mr. Short has seen to censor himself so as to curry favor. With the right people.

You must be desperate if you’re pimping for votes in north Brooklyn, David. In the cockfight between you and John on Bedford. You lost. Plain and simple.

I vote old school “Texas Style”, e.g; I do not vote for a candidate, I vote against the one who offends me most. It’s like picking between syphilis and gonnorrhea. If Lucifer himself was to put his name on the ballot I’d vote for him. AGAINST YOU. For the simple reason that I little doubt the devil himself could wreak more havoc and destruction on north Brooklyn than you, David Yassky, already have.

Miss Heather

UPDATE, 2:50 p.m.: This story on A Short Story is back up! See the comments for Mr. Short’s explanation as to its disappearance.

P.S.: PLEASE REMOVE ME FROM YOUR MAILING LIST.

Tags: 11211, 11222, Bushwick Inlet Park, David Yassky, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, John Liu, Soccer Field, Williamsburg, Williamsburg Brooklyn

Comments

9 Comments on New York Shitty Day Starter: By Their Friends Ye Shall Know Them

Rebecca11222 on Tue, 7th Jul 2009 11:26 am

Wow, Ward Dennis certainly has a lot of time for photo ops. Four square AND a last minute petition signing?

You’d think that being an active member of both NAG and CB1 wouldn’t afford him time to play ball with Mr. Yassky (literally and or/ figuratively). Conflict of interests, anyone?

ashort on Tue, 7th Jul 2009 12:54 pm

Hi Miss Heather,

It’s Aaron. Sometimes when I edit posts on a PC the computer accidentally deletes the post. Just for the Hell of it. Thanks to Phil DePaolo for saving the post. It’s back up as of this morning. This technical error also happened with a community board one running diary that I worked several hours on, and fortunately Genia saved that post too and sent it to me. Please, next time you see that happen, just email me. No need to jump to conclusions. There will be lots more Yassky coverage this week too.

-Aaron Short
aaronmshort@yahoo.com
aaronshortstory.blogspot.com

mikki on Tue, 7th Jul 2009 1:54 pm

Ward has said that he wasn’t signing the petition–he was on his way to a meeting for NAG. Hearsay reporting–“We hear Ward Dennis, Peter Gillespie, and Stephanie Thayer stopped by to sign it”–is hardly anything to go on.

Also, he was playing 4 square because he was volunteering at Williamsburg Walks. Jeeze.

ashort on Tue, 7th Jul 2009 4:28 pm

Hi Mikki,

I had that confirmed from other volunteer petitioners so I wrote it, but hey, I could be wrong. I put a call into the Yassky campaign and we’ll find out from them, because, you know, they’re the ones with the petitions. Geez.
-Aaron

SpillConspirator on Tue, 7th Jul 2009 11:12 pm

We found out that the only people that were actually invited were CB1 members. I and others crashed. OSA’s S. Hindy had a shovel at the event while other board members were not even told about the event.

mikki on Wed, 8th Jul 2009 8:06 am

Why not just call Ward or Peter or Stephanie? Sorry, “We hear” just doesn’t sound very reliable, esp when Ward said the report was wrong.

missheather on Wed, 8th Jul 2009 12:19 pm

Hence what I find very worrisome about this “event”: it was painstakingly engineered with the utmost secrecy. This lack of transparency makes me wonder what else is going on we (that being the public) do not know about. In addition, it is my understanding that the person charged with organizing this event (upon being queried about the number of other parks obligations the city has let languish) said and I quote:

There is a time to protest, and there is a time to celebrate. The groundbreaking for the
first parcel of Bushwick Inlet is the time to celebrate.

So much for free speech or community input.

The timing is also very curious. A number of people are still out of town on the Monday after a 4th of July weekend. It is also usually a “slow news day” thus ensuring this “event” will get ample coverage.

This groundbreaking was a publicity stunt/campaign stop and little else. What’s more, what can be said about public servants who conduct public “ribbon cuttings” in which a substantial amount of the public is forbidden to attend? This in my opinion betrays a cynical contempt— and dare I say arrogance— on the part of our civil servants regarding the people they are (ostensibly) supposed to serve. Disgusting.

d on Wed, 8th Jul 2009 3:23 pm