Saturday, May 29, 2010
Mike Bloomberg "Off-Shore Mayor" Brooklyn Bridge Park & Govs Island to Cayman post by Suzannah B. Troy
An Examination of Brooklyn Bridge Park in Terms of the Politics of Development Monday, May 24, 2010 Looking a Gift Horse in the Mouth? An Examination of Brooklyn Bridge Park in Terms of the Politics of Development, Part II http://noticingnewyork.blogspot.com/2010/05/looking-gift-horse-in-mouth-examination.html Monday, May 24, 2010 Looking a Gift Horse in the Mouth? An Examination of Brooklyn Bridge Park in Terms of the Politics of Development, Part III http://noticingnewyork.blogspot.com/2010/05/looking-gift-horse-in-mouth-examination_21.html by Michael D. D. White. You will learn why Michael calls Bloomberg the off-shore mayor from Governors Island to the Cayman Island and his links in his blog are extremely revealing or as much as they can be when it gets to the mayor's finances and other tidbits.
Please take the time to read Michael's expose, watch my YouTube interview. For me the way Mike Bloomberg has handled real estate and this ruthless tsunami of community crushing development as reckless and stupid as what brought the implosion of Wall Street is about the mayor wanting to do what he wants unchecked. Steve Rattner thought he could do what he wanted to do unchecked and he has been busted.
Here is an excerpt from Noticing New York and it takes patience and time to get to the really, really juicy bits including the Cayman Islands.
"This three-part article, which is principally about the new Brooklyn Bridge Park currently under development, wends a long, more serpentine path through the politics of New York City development than perhaps any other we have written. As you would expect, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's appearance is much more than a cameo. We don’t offer him praise. Inevitably the metaphor of looking a gift horse in the mouth comes to mind when we contemplate the spectacular change to the city’s waterfront that will one day be Brooklyn Bridge Park. Whatever our government agencies ultimately do, the park will provide desirable benefits that will be extremely hard to complain about. But not conscientiously examining “gifts” that government officials deliver just doesn’t work in the political environment of New York. Besides Brooklyn Bridge Park is not truly a gift; it is something that community activists worked for years to obtain. Our elected representatives are, after all, supposed to be working for us. It is their job to properly administer our available public resources. Whether they are doing so requires a conscientious examination. We hope you will find that conscientious examination takes us on an interesting and worthwhile trip. Now, let our wending look at the politics of development begin. The Shuffling of Dates for the Opening of Brooklyn Bridge Park On March 22, an initial part of Brooklyn Bridge Park opened, the Pier One portion in the north near Fulton Ferry. An actual opening is imbued with a faintly amazing aspect given that dates announced for opening the park have been shuffled around by innumerable postponements. The shuffling has occurred in truly big picture terms and it also occurred recently on a more micro level. In big picture terms; the park, which involved decades of planning (funding for which was approved in 2000) was originally supposed to start construction in 2003/2004 and be fully open and complete in 2011 (an eight year construction period). By the end of 2004 the public was being told 2008 would be shovel-in-the-ground year and that the construction would take three or four years to complete (i.e. completion would be pushed out one more year to 2012). Such big picture delay is something that press coverage of the opening necessarily alluded to. The rest of the media did not, however point out the shuffling of the opening date that has been transpiring recently on a more micro level,but we did. In late August, just around back-to-school time, the public was told that two sections of the park would open just four months later in December. (We were quite skeptical.) Then, in November, with three of those four months elapsed, the public was told that it would still be waiting another four months for an opening of just one section of park rather than the two promised in August. Let us restate this in terms of what prompted our own skepticism: At the tail end of the two four year terms served by the Bloomberg administration, just as Bloomberg was running for an unprecedented third term by having overturned the city charter to repel term limits,it was being announced that part of a project funded and approved evenbefore Bloomberg took office, the whole of which was supposed to have been largely completed within those two terms, was finally, finally being started! Not only that; the public was being told that it was going to be opened just a mere days after the election. What do you think happened? A scant 22 days after Bloomberg squeaked by (spending more than a hundred million dollars) to win re-election, it was revealed that the schedule of a four month countdown to completion announced before the election was, as we initially hypothesized, quite fanciful." You will have to go to the blog links above to read all the installments and also don't forget my piece on Mike Bloomberg's techno-dream is the tax payer's Titanic as in CityTime.
Dennis Hopper - Rest in Peace by: Nikky Raney
Dennis Hopper died today (Saturday, May 29, 2010) from complications with prostate cancer.
Gary Coleman Dead of intercranial hemorrage - sad life ends
"Gary Coleman Dead of intercranial hemorrage - child actor dies" happened Friday after the famous child star passed away after a severe head injury he sustained at his home in Utah caused bleeding in his brain and described as an intercranial hemorrage and a epidural hematoma.
Gary Coleman |
Gary Coleman has openly said his parents did not treat him correctly. Edmonia Sue and W.G. Coleman adopted Coleman and from all accounts they did not care about him at all. Gary sued them for "misappropriation of funds" and they counter-sued for defamation and breach of contract. Consider that there's no record that Coleman knew who his real parents were and the people who took him in as his adopted parents, took his money from his work.
Coleman sued them, won, and was awarded $1.3 million. But nothing could recover the emotional damage Coleman sustained from four years of battling with his parents. The reason why Gary Coleman had the problems the public has been exposed to was because he had no solid family base around him. No real parents, brothers or sisters, cousins, or aunts and uncles. No one who cared.
Gary's marriage to Shannon Price was probably the best thing that could have happened to Coleman, but his anger problems threatened to destroy it too. In an effort to save their marriage Coleman and Price went on the show Divorce Court, where Coleman said this:
"I don't have any friends and don't have any intention of making any. People will stab you in the back, mistreat you, talk about me behind your back, steal from you. And they're not really your friends. (They're) only there because you're a celebrity or because they want to get something from you."
And this statement from the NY Daily News explains why the Lord took him on Friday:
"It's not her fault," he says. "I always feel like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders every day I get up. ... There are days I don't even want to get up."
On Friday, Gary Coleman got his wish.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Oakland, CA developer retained by SunCal on Alameda Point project
Phil Tagami in front of The Fox Theater |
Alameda Point has morphed from a desired Alameda redevelopment objective to a name associated with a city planning direction deemed undesirable by a vast majority of Alamedans. In a recent poll, 59 percent of Alamedans' polled said they did not want Measure B, which would approved the Alamaeda Point Revitalization Initiative and have granted SunCal an exemption from the one-new-dwelling-uhit-per-2,000-square feet prohibition that has governed the city's growth since 1973.
The reason for the failure of Measure B at the polls was the overwhelming feeling that SunCal was trying to get around the city's planning process. This even with the developers efforts to work with community leaders and even agreeing to pay for the time Alameda planning staffers spent on the project.
SunCal has reportedly considered a number of efforts to improve their prospects of retaining exclusive negotiating power with Alameda; hiring Phil Tagami as a consultant is SunCal's latest effort and perhaps its best chance at success according to observers who do not wish to be named.
Phil Tagami and Alameda's City Manager Problem
One issue facing Phil Tagami is what observers claim is a problem in the form of Alameda's Interim City Manager Ann Marie Gallant, who's had an interesting past pattern of employment, and some current practices that leave some who do not wish to be named uncomfortable. But the greatest concern expressed by those who want a consistent process is that Gallant is trying to push SunCal out of the picture in favor of a master developer of her selection.
The best outcome for Phil Tagami is to engineer an extension of the Exclusive Negotiating Agreement with SunCal, enjoy Gallant's full support, and have SunCal's involvement in the Oakland Army Base.
Pulling off that hat trick would give Tagami some logical level of control over development in Alameda Point, which is right across the mouth of the Oakland Estuary from The Oakland Army Base.
Stay tuned.
Gary Coleman: Rest in Peace --by Nikky Raney
Kanye West "Power" single and lyrics leaked online today
One has to listen to the lyrics what Kanye West said to understand;
The lyrics are below from Zimbio:
I’m livin’ in the 21st century
Kanye West
Doin’ something mean to it
Do it better than anybody you ever seen do it
Screams from the ’80s, got a nice ring to it
I guess every superhero need his own theme music
No one man should have all that power
The clock’s tickin’, I just count the hours
Stop trippin’, I’m trippin’ off the power
(21st century schizoid man)
The system broken, the schools closed, the prisons open
We ain’t got nothin’ to lose, ma’fucka, we rollin’
Huh? Ma’f*cka, we rollin’
With some light-skinned girls and some Kelly Rowlands
In this white man world, we the ones chosen
So goodnight, cruel world, I see you in the mornin’
Huh? I see you in the mornin’
This is way too much, I need a moment
No one man should have all that power
The clock’s tickin’, I just count the hours
Stop trippin’, I’m trippin’ off the power
‘Til then, fuck that, the world’s ours
And then they
And then they
And then they
And then they
(21st century schizoid man)
F*ck SNL and the whole cast
Tell ‘em Yeezy said they can kiss my whole ass
More specifically, they can kiss my asshole
I’m an asshole? You n*ggas got jugs
You short-minded n*ggas’ thoughts is Napoleon
My furs is Mongolian, my ice, brought the Dodies in
Now I embody every characteristic of the egotistic
He know, he so, f*ckin’ gifted
I just needed time alone, with my own thoughts
Got treasures in my mind, but couldn’t open up my own vault
My childlike creativity, purity and honesty
Is honestly being prodded by these grown thoughts
Reality is catchin’ up with me
Takin’ my inner child, I’m fighting for it, custody
With these responsibilities that they entrusted me
As I look down at my dia-mond-encrusted piece
N*gga, no one man should have all that power
The clock’s tickin’, I just count the hours
Stop trippin’, I’m trippin’ off the power
‘Til then, f*ck that, the world’s ours
And then they
And then they
And then they
And then they
And then they
And then they
(21st century schizoid man)
Holy, powers, Austin, Powers
Lost in translation with a whole f*ckin’ nation
They say I was the obamanation of Obama’s nation
Well, that’s a pretty bad way to start the conversation
At the end of day, goddammit, I’m killin’ this sh*t
I know damn well y’all feelin’ this shit
I don’t need yo’ p*ssy, b*tch, I’m on my own d*ck
I ain’t gotta power trip, who you goin’ home with?
How ‘Ye doin’? I’m survivin’
I was drinkin’ earlier, now I’m drivin’
Where the bad b*tches, huh? Where ya hidin’?
I got the power, make yo’ life so excitin’ (So excitin’)
Now this’ll be a beautiful death
Jumpin’ out the window
Lettin’ everything go
Lettin’ everything go
Now this’ll be a beautiful death
Jumpin’ out the window
Lettin’ everything go
Lettin’ everything go
Now this’ll be a beautiful death
Jumpin’ out the window
Lettin’ everything go
Lettin’ everything go
Now this’ll be a beautiful death
Jumpin’ out the window
Lettin’ everything go
Lettin’ everything go
You got the power to let power come
Is Power a hit? Yes, it can be because it sounds a cry of anger that's heard by many who are suffering economically and feel powerless. The song is catchy and edgy, even race concious (though some may say racist), pointing at what Kanye sees as a white power establishment, but in many sectors has become multi-racial.
Stay tuned.
Chevron CEO talks BP Oil Spill; takes on Ecuador protestors
John Watson of Chevron |
Acting as a member of one of two industry task forces that report to U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Watson explained that they gave Salazar a document that explains what procedures should be implemented and which ones should be improved in order to avoid another BP Oil Spill Disaster.
In that issue, the oil drilling rig called The Deepwater Horizon and owned by Transocean Company, suffered an explosion that killed 11 workers, two week ago. The result has been a massive oil spill that rivals the Exxon Valdez Alaska disaster in size. "The energy industry is learning a great deal," Watson said according to The Wall Street Journal, "If there is something we need to adopt, we will adopt it."
Watson said Chevron reviewed its own safety standards after the BP Oil Spill Disaster, as its one of the largest oil producers in the enormous Gulf of Mexico.
In other annual shareholders’ meeting news, Chevron’s Watson said he would protect the oil company and its shareholders against the fraudulent claims made against it in Ecuador. Chevron, which purchased Texaco in 2001, inherited a lawsuit against Texaco that claims it polluted the Amazon River region with ‘produced water,’ a byproduct of the oil drilling process.
But, as Watson noted and recent news stories have reported, the case against Chevron in Ecuador has turned into a legal circus and become overshadowed by a series of alleged legal and political frauds in Ecuador.
Watson pointed to evidence such as the Ecuadorian judge who had to remove himself from the case because he was caught up in a bribery scandal against Chevron, and, more recently, significant and damaging evidence that the entire case has been written by the plaintiffs against Chevron and then simply copied by the ‘independent court expert’ Richard Cabrera and submitted to the court.
There is mounting evidence that when this trial concludes, and Chevron is found guilty, that no court in the world will enforce the $27 billion judgment against Chevron because it will be tainted by fraud and illegal activities by the plaintiffs.
Stay tuned.
Mike Bloomberg's CityTime the tax payer's Titanic -- Suzannah B. Troy
Thursday, May 27, 2010
50 Cent drops 50 pounds & loses the tattoos By: Nikky Raney
The movie was inspired by 50's friend who died of cancer. I understand that for movie roles stars change their body and do certain things to fit the role, but this just looks so sad. It does not look healthy (I know it isn't supposed to look healthy). 50 says not to worry, "I've been eating, I'll be back in shape in no time!"
I wonder how his fans will react this weekend when he is performing. He goes back on tour TOMORROW, and this news has just broken today. I am sure if he had just started performing without explaining his weight loss there would have been a lot of rumors and tabloid craze over this.
Tony Yayo told MTV News that 50 was very dedicated to his role (we can see that!) Yayo says:
"50 doesn't party, he doesn't drink.... 'Man, he has the three D's: desire, determination and [direction].' "
I think what is more shocking (at least to me) is that he got rid of his tattoos.
“I took ‘em off,” he said. “I’ve been on a few acting projects and they been making me get up… My call time is four hours before the regular acting talent because of the tattoos.”
I always picture 50 Cent has the buff man from "In Da Club" with those big muscles and tattoos. I remember he used to speak of his tattoos and how much they meant to him. It seems sad that he got rid of those tattoos for his career as an actor. I know there are a lot of other actors and actresses who would refuse to get rid of their tattoos. He says that it saved time in the make up chair working on covering up the tattoos.
But at least he didn't get rid of the GIANT "50 Cent" on his back!
Lloyd Banks, from G-Unit, says since he was with 50 so much he didn't notice the drastic change as much as others:
"I was around him everyday, so I didn't see it [the dramatic weight-loss transformation] as much as other people did, but when I seen the pictures, it's affected everything,..He's crazy, it was non-stop working, running 10 miles."
Well, even though 50 is a "rapper-turned-actor" I hope that he will be able to bring back the "rapper" side of him for this weekend's kick off of his tour. I am sure he won't disappoint any of his fans.
(I wonder what Eminem thinks of this!)
Post written by The Future of Journalism's Nikky Raney
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Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Soluto wins TechCrunch Disrupt Startup Battlefield Competition
UPDATE: The winner of the competition is...Soluto, which receives a check for $50,000.
Today's panel has John Borthwick, CEO of betaworks, Ron Conway, Angel Investor at SV Angel, Marrissa Mayer, VP of Google, Samuel Schwartz, EVP of Comcast Interactive and Quincy Smith, Founding Partner of CODE Advisors.
You can watch the livestream for this event now below:
Right now, a startup called Publish2 is up. The idea of Publish2 is to have a news exchange that replaces "the hated Associated Press" according to its CEO Scott Karp. It enables newspapers to install content from any source, from blogs to other news websites, into their print newspapers and websites.
In the questioning, Marrissa Mayer of Google says Publish2 is a good idea that "this is an area that needs to be looked at" as journalism is changing. But she's concerned about reliability and the business model. She's also concerned about distribution of the content.
Ron Conway mentioned Twitter as a competitor and the fact that Twitter itself is breaking news.
UPDATE: Soluto's a software company that promises to " bring an end to the frustrations PC users encounter" by finding the problem in your computer, then using "crowdsourcing" to connect you to a whole community who can help you.
The panel likes the company, but has concerns about privacy; the founders of the company, Tomer Dvir and Ishay Green are explaining that they are not going to collect private data.
UPDATE: Betterment is up next and my personal favorite. The idea of Betterment is to make it easier for people to invest online. Many companies have websites that are just plain hard to use. The founders call Betterment "the replacement for your savings account."
The panel is getting down on the concept of the "simplification" of data on the Betterment website. Personally, I agree with TechCrunch Editor Michael Arrington, who said that there was a bit of looking down on Betterment because it's "cute."
Betterment does need to work on its SEO.
UPDATE: MovieClips, which allows you to make a mashup of videos clips from movies, is up now. MovieClips Richard Raddon presented a set of clips (one that will make your stomach turn). He explains that he has deals with six movie studios, which is how they're able to use the 12,000 clips.
Ron Conway said, "imagine how big YouTube sales would be if you were one of the founders." John Borthwick is skeptical as to how many people will use MovieClips. Plus, he feels that the studio deals can be done by others, not just the founders of Movie Clips, but Conway disagres.
Samuel Schwartz of Comcast Interactive likes MovieClips and wants to talk to Richard Raddon and Zack James about how they can work together. Marrissa Mayer focused on the need for a better search technology system to facilitate clip discovery.
Ujam, the conference favorite, is up. Ujam allows you to make original music from different sounds and instruments. Very simple. Very exciting. Movie Composer Hanz Zimmer is one of their partners.
The panel generally likes Ujam but focused on the problem of monetization. Currently, it's free.
The judges went backstage to decide the winner.
UPDATE: The winner of the competition is...Soluto, which receives a check for $50,000.
Stay tuned for updates.
Jesse James Nightline Ratings High by Suzannah B. Troy
Eric Shoenfeld on TechCrunch Disrupt, Carol Bartz, and Foursquare
New York, NY - (Zennie62's trip to TechCrunch is sponsored by Christine Smith Associates, Inc., the Premier Female Contractor in NYC.) This video discussion with TechCrunch Co-Editor Eric Shoenfeld took place on Monday, and just after Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz was interviewed by TechCrunch Editor Michael Arrington.
In giving an overview of TechCrunch Disrupt, Shoenfeld said that Bartz "is a pretty tough cookie. She can...She gave as well as she gets. We got a few bombs out of her. She kinda came into the lion's den. We've been critical of Yahoo! and Carol, and for her to come into (this) and do really well speaks volumes about her leadership.
On the matter of the impact of "geo-based social networks" like Foursquare, and their explosion, the question has been when will the next "Foursquare" emerge? "There's a lot of buzz around geo-media companies. Foursquare and Gowalla, and Booya are some of the first ones out of the gate. I think it's going to be difficult for a startup today. The question is not what the next Facebook but who's the next Foursquare?...There are already early, early leaders. If you're not in that pack, it's going to be difficult to get into that pack."
Shoenfeld says that TechCrunch Disrupt is a mix of interesting panels in the morning and interviews presenting the different "disruptions" that are present. A disruption, in the industrial context, is another way of describing the "paradigm shifts" famously described in Thomas Kuhn's classic work The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.
A paradigm shift is a dramatic alteration in a process, tradition, or convention. In the case of tech, the growth of the web has been extremely disruptive to the media and entertainment industries, as iTunes, YouTube, and Craigslist (to offer some examples), have caused massive declines in ad revenues to newspapers and radio stations and other traditional forms of media. Thousands of people have lost jobs in the process. Meanwhile new jobs are being created and countries, like India, are now major players in these same industries.
The intent of TechCrunch Disrupt is to explore the anatomy of these disruptions and give a view of what "disruptive" companies are on the horizon. I think it's done that very well. Plus, it's probably the largest single "dump" of people from the San Francisco Bay Area into New York City ever done.
Stay tuned.