Results tagged “meeting”

With Moammar Gadhafi making his first United Nations General Assembly visit this week, he also took the time to meet with relatives of victims of the 1988 Pan Am 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland. Linda Gibson said of the 10-minute meeting, "He generally said he was sorry for the loss, but we didn't go into any details about the bombing."

These health care town hall forums make for great television, what with all the red faced patriots eager to water the tree of liberty and save America's seniors from Obamacare death panels. So why would Anthony Weiner try to stop TV news crews from documenting last night's raucous health care meeting at the IBEW hall in Fresh Meadows? CBS 2 says Weiner's aides told them they couldn't come in, and when the congressman arrived, he got "snippy" with the camera crew, telling them, "This isn't for Channel 2. This is for my constituents."

Gang violence is an ongoing problem on the South Side of Williamsburg, so it's understandable that some local residents are up in arms about plans to open a fancy new wine bar in the neighborhood. Wait, what? On Tuesday a Community Board committee voted against approving a liquor license for Custom American Wine Bar at Driggs and Metropolitan Avenue. It seems Tempranillo and Trinitarios don't mix, as one neighbor explained at the meeting: "We are trying to prevent gang activity in the neighborhood. Opening this restaurant with beer and liquor, with teenagers already going crazy here, it’s going to be an even bigger issue." Another beef is that the owners want to serve wine until 2 a.m.! Do people even stay up that late? It looks like Brooklyn's Community Board 1 is now taking a cue from the stridently anti-night life Community Boards in downtown Manhattan. But it was bound to happen eventually, once enough hipsters transformed into yupsters with sleeping babies. As local Dennis Thompkins told the committee, "The neighborhood is nearly saturated with bars. The area is becoming unlivable. What we need are businesses that serve our community." Because there's no reason anyone should have to schlep to Manhattan just to buy a new bugaboo. [Brooklyn Paper via Eater]

Lounge 47, a restaurant and bar with a capacious back yard on Vernon Blvd in Long Island City, has had a tough time making peace with some neighbors who say the noise and smoke from the patio is unbearable. Next door neighbor Beth Garrett and her husband have installed large signs on their property begging Lounge 47 patrons to pipe down, and a growing group of locals want the State Liquor Authority to revoke the liquor license, which was recently renewed. (The Garretts have also been accused of spraying their hose over the fence onto diners.) The current owner is now trying to sell the place, but the potential buyer wants to make sure he'll be able to transfer the liquor license.

Over a dozen local residents who live (if you can call it that!) near the Thompson LES Hotel on Allen Street showed up at a Community Board 3 meeting last night to complain about traffic congestion, rowdy tools crowding their sidewalks, and noise noise NOISE echoing up into their windows from the newly-opened third floor rooftop pool bar. (Which, it should be noted, is open only to hotel guests—or anyone who gets a bite to eat at the hotel restaurant Shang!) How obstreperous are those bastards drinking and swimming and digesting Susur Lee's lamb chops? Well, one neighbor says their opening parties were so loud she couldn't hear her TV. Clearly, this monstrosity must be razed or urinated on at once.

Tomorrow afternoon Council Member Letitia James and schools within the JHS 117 /Francis Scott Key Building will hold a press conference on Student Safety Issues following incidents of harassment/violence that have become a common occurrence for students attending school at 300 Willoughby Avenue. Over the years students have become "victims of consistent harassment, jumping, and robberies, as they travel to and from the school building towards the G-train subway stop at Classon and Lafayette Avenues, as well as when taking surrounding buses," according to the press release. On April 30th, one student was jumped and when two fellow students defended him they were all attacked by nearly a dozen neighborhood residents. The assailants then followed the students into the school, resulting in school staff and school safety injuries, as well as broken glass doors. Hopefully the meeting can lead towards creating what they call a "safe corridor" for the students to travel to and from school.

Everyone is abuzz about the new renderings of McCarren Park Pool unveiled at the CB1 meeting last night, except they look exactly the same as the ones unveiled a year ago! Okay, close your eyes and picture McCarren Park Pool...now add some aquamarine-toned blue water courtesy of your mind's Photoshop, and that's pretty much what it's going to look like (for the imaginationally challenged, this is also represented in the rendering above).

The year is shaping up to be another crazy one for Coney Island, and tomorrow the Municipal Art Society will release even more re-imagined renderings of the area (you may recall the, um, interesting ones from November). Now they promise 300+ public ideas, and steps to revitalize the area. The MAS "will present the results of its ImagineConey project at a public meeting. The presentation will include highlights of the 300 concepts generated by the public, as well as specific recommendations from charette participants." If you want to be a part of the future of Coney, or just want to look at the crazy and colorful pictures, head to the Our Lady of Solace Church on Mermaid Avenue tomorrow. More details here, but check out Curbed for a look at some of the weird visions before you commit!

AIG, the troubled insurer that the Feds bailed out to the tune of $85 billion in September, was accused by Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Maryland) of "stonewalling" Congress when AIG said it couldn't come to D.C. for a meeting to discuss executive pay last week. Now AIG CEO Edward Liddy tells CNBC that Cummings didn't give him enough time to prepare, "I got a letter on Tuesday asking for more information. We simply couldn't provide the information in time for a meeting on Thursday." Liddy, who said AIG has been "very transparent," also said that retention bonuses were important for keeping employees, "If we don't do that, we will not be able to pay back the federal government." Related: The AP tallies how many private jets are owned by financial firms that received bailout money, noting that while automakers are getting nailed for private jetting, Wall Street firms still are (AIG has 7 private jets).

A compromise may be in sight between those who would rid Prospect Park of cars and community groups who say such a change would clog their streets. The Brooklyn Paper reports that at a Community Board 7 meeting in Brooklyn last night, Transportation Alternatives revised its call for an immediate ban, instead proposing narrowing the park to one car lane. About 600 motorists pass through every hour, and the thought of a full ban had board member Cynthia Gonzalez asking, "They want us to redirect 1,200 cars [each morning and evening] onto our streets, for how many bike riders?" Wiley Norvell at Transportation Alternatives tells us, "Our single-biggest issue with cars in Prospect Park is the danger they pose to park users. Speeding and reckless driving are rampant, and a 'road diet' would go a long way to improving the situation, without bumping up against the traffic concerns that have been raised south of the park."

The incident that took place on Bedford Avenue on Election Night (you know...riot gear, arrests, etc) lived on last night at the 94th Precinct Community Meeting. NewYorkShitty has a rundown (with video), reporting back that Captain Fulton was on hand to field questions and concerns, as well as locals (both young and old). "Overall it was a pretty ugly meeting. The reason for this had little to do with Captain Fulton. Rather, it had to do with how the 'old guard' treated the younger people present. For example: When Aaron Short (of the Greenpoint Courier and BushwickBK) asked if this was 'a generational issue'," crowd responses allegedly included: "The issue is order over anarchy!" and "Too lenient!" In the end, a sit-down "with people present on Bedford Avenue that evening who felt the police acted inappropriately" has been promised.

After a long, bitter public battle, St. Vincent's hospital has won permission from the Landmarks Preservation Commission to raze the distinctive O’Toole Building in the West Village and build a 299-foot-tall medical tower. The hospital applied for, and was granted, a “hardship-status” exemption, which allows nonprofit landlords to demolish landmark buildings if they can prove that the building is preventing them from carrying out their charitable mission. Community groups, preservationists and local celebrities like Susan Sarandon have opposed the scope of the project, which also calls for a 235-foot-tall luxury condominium (in partnership with the Rudin Management Company). In a statement, hospital officials said they can now take "another step forward to building a 21st century, technologically advanced hospital for Manhattan’s West Side and Downtown."

When the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a hearing Monday night to consider an ambitious proposal to raze the Pier 17 mall at the South Street Seaport to make room for boutiques, a hotel and a 42-story condo, there was fierce objection from the Municipal Arts Society, who opposed not just the "out of scale" tower but plans to relocate a 1903 landmark building from its current location in the shadow of the FDR to the pier's edge. Formerly part of the Fulton Fish Market, it's called the Tin Building, and NY1 reports that many people don't even know about it because of its lousy location and also because it was gutted by a fire in 1995. The developer sees moving it as an opportunity to restore and rebuild it with "authentic materials," but MAS says relocating it would "set a troublesome precedent...The Tin Building is important because it's really the only historic building on the water side of the FDR Drive."

Never mind that mall owner General Growth Properties—the current leaseholder of the South Street Seaport, as well other retail outlets nationwide—has been scrambling recently to refinance massive debt by selling off $2 billion in rapidly devaluing stock. The company is still pushing forward with an ambitious plan (rendered above) to turn the underwhelming Seaport tourist trap into a more vibrant destination, by razing the existing Pier 17 mall, relocating the landmark Tin Building, and throwing up a 42-story waterfront condo/hotel tower, as well as a wood-based boutique hotel and two-story retail structures designed by SHoP Architects.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission met again yesterday to deliberate on St. Vincent's Hospital’s “hardship-status” application, which, if approved, would let the hospital raze the distinctive O’Toole Building in the West Village and build a 299-foot-tall medical building and a 233-foot tall luxury condominium. Unlike previously rowdy sessions that featured protest from local celebrities, there was no public comment this time. Instead, the commission heard from outside experts like Michael Meola at the city’s Economic Development Corporation, who testified that no other sites “would be a viable alternative to the O’Toole Building.” Developer William C. Rudin added, “Now more than ever, the city needs a project like this as an investment in our future.” No decision was made yesterday, but Andrew Berman at the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation tells the Times, "A lot of people are questioning whether they will actually stick with this."

The "First Black President" and the first black presidential candidate will reportedly meet on Thursday at Bill Clinton's Harlem offices. Newsday reports that Clinton extended the invitation to Obama, "signaling another step toward party unity as the race for the White House intensifies." Clinton was accused of making racist remarks when wife Hillary was running against Obama, and he gave a speech at the DNC emphasizing Obama is ready to be president. Maybe they will discuss how Obama can get his mojo back--John McCain is either even or ahead in certain polls and Reuters says white women are heading to the McCain-Palin ticket.

Mark David Chapman was just denied parole for a fifth time, and although nothing really stands out, CityRoom notes that with this hearing "some details that were not publicly discussed during Mr. Chapman’s previous attempts at obtaining parole" surfaced. In the interview he discussed his crime with the parole board, and noted of his shooting John Lennon: "I don't recall saying: Mr. Lennon. I think that was something that the press elaborated on; that did not happen, he didn't turn I shot him in the back." He continued on, saying he's changed, apologizing to Lennon's family and noting that if released he would go work on a farm upstate, where a man had offered him a job. The board decided to keep him locked up, of course--and as Yoko Ono said herself, he's "safer" in jail.

Opponents of Bloomberg's proposal to rezone and develop Willets Point weren't the only ones angrily protesting yesterday; the public hearing held by the City Planning Commission [CPC] also drew outrage over a rezoning plan for the Lower East Side. The change would place height limits on buildings in an area that has swelled with luxury high rises, from Delancey Street to East 13th Street, and east of the Bowery to Avenue D. But NY1 reports that many residents outside the zone believe it would make neighborhoods like Chinatown even more of a bulls-eye for developers. Josephine Lee of the Coalition to Protect Chinatown told the commission, "We know that you will pass this plan regardless of how many people it displaces, regardless of how many people speak out against it."

Studio B has been met with some serious opposition in their Greenpoint neighborhood, and this week they'll be meeting with Community Board 1 to discuss their cabaret license, or lack thereof (they've been operating without one for two years).

Last night the community board meeting concerning The Brooklyn Flea was held, and The Brooklyn Paper reports back that opponents and organizers alike "met in a heated, ethnically charged summit that ended without any solutions to the chasm that separates the sides." Essentially, local churches want the Flea gone, or at least no longer coinciding with services on Sunday (but really they just want it gone); many believe that the long-time residents are leaving no middle ground for compromise and are merely resisting any inevitable change.

For the love of all that is crafty and thrifty: Brooklyn's beloved Flea is in danger! NYMag reports that "the large church on Vanderbilt & Lafayette along with some FG residents are meeting this week to try to shut it down." This is their third meeting addressing the topic, and each meeting has grown in size and support. Yikes! Jonathan Butler, organizer of the Brooklyn Flea, confirmed the problems and told us the following:

At this point, as far as we know, it's a matter of a few residents and church members who feel inconvenienced by some quality of life issues that are the natural by-product of holding an event like this. Councilmember Tish James will be presenting a number of specific steps to address these concerns at the meeting on Thursday and we are optimistic that the community will be able to move forward from there. The Flea is a source of both economic stimulus and community building and the large majority of people in the area--including the Fort Greene Association and the Society for Clinton Hill--are in full support of it.

Last night’s Coney Island Public Scoping Meeting was the place to be, as activists like political performance artist Reverend Billy turned the meeting into a carnival, leaping up on a chair with repeated cries of “Coney-lujah!” Musician Amos Wengler stood up to croon his anthem “Save Coney Island,” and Savitri D., the Mermaid Parade queen who had been on a hunger strike since Saturday to spotlight the meeting, passionately derided the city’s latest proposal for Coney Island.

Before the big meeting tomorrow at Borough Hall, the Brooklyn Paper weighs in on the great Union Hall debate of Aught Eight. Recently some neighbors, led by Jon Crow, rallied together to stop the renewal of the establishment's liquor license at the end of the month; one neighbor, who has since moved, told us, "This place had a serious impact on my life, on my wife's health, and threatened the health and well-being of my child. No one's fun is worth that, to me."

Late last month some residents of Park Slope secured themselves a Community Board meeting with CB6 to air their complaints about Union Hall, and attempt to stop their liquor license from getting renewed. The meeting took place last night, lasted more than two hours, and to everyone's surprise -- the board voted against Union Hall. The vote of six to two (with two abstentions) means CB6 will advise the State Liquor Authority (SLA) against renewing the liquor license of Union Hall.