Historicize It, Don’t Criticize It

NIMBYers somehow invaded the bodies of the four preservationists devoted to the cause of the Gowanus Canal:

Activists admitted that there was some irony in trying to retain the current polluted state of the canal by seeking protection for the industrial buildings that hastened its demise during the 19th and 20th centuries. But they said it’s possible to separate the buildings themselves from the messy business that went on inside.

“They are perfect specimens of what industrial buildings looked like at the start of the Industrial Revolution,” said Betty Stoltz, a member of Friends and Residents of the Greater Gowanus. “Think of it this way: I don’t love everything the Church does, but I don’t want to see churches destroyed.”

Location Scout: Gowanus Canal.

There Are Only Two Certainties In Real Estate: Eminent Domain And The Economy

Well, it’s a good thing they rushed to tear down all those people’s homes:

The slowing economy, weighed down by a widening credit crisis, is likely to delay the signature office tower and three residential buildings at the heart of the $4 billion Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, the developer said.

“It may hold up the office building,” the developer, Bruce C. Ratner, said in a recent interview. “And the bond market may slow the pace of the residential buildings.”

Mr. Ratner, chief executive of Forest City Ratner, did not specify the kinds of delays possible, but suggested that construction could be put off for years. His comments are his first public indication that the darkening economy has slowed the ambitious project, spanning 22 acres at the intersection of Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues.

The developer did say he was confident about starting construction on a $950 million basketball arena for the Nets by the end of the year. The arena was to be surrounded by the office tower, known as Miss Brooklyn, and three residential buildings in the first phase of the project.

But Mr. Ratner has yet to secure an anchor tenant for the Miss Brooklyn building, and now plans to phase in the residential buildings slowly.

Location Scout: Atlantic Yards.

Our God Is A Vengeful God . . .

. . . so don’t goof with the skullcap, cheese:

Uria Ohana, 25, a member of the Chabad Lubavitch movement, told The Post he entered a subway station alone at Fourth Avenue and Ninth Street in Park Slope at 6:20 p.m. Tuesday.

Ohana said he went through a turnstile and spotted a group of young Arabic men sitting on a bench.

“I wasn’t afraid of anything. I didn’t think anything would happen,” he said.

But something did.

Ohana said he felt a hand grab his brown yarmulke off his head.

He then spun around and came face to face with one of the men, Ali Hussein, 18, police said.

“There were no words exchanged. I decided to chase him to get my yarmulke back,” Ohana said.

Hussein’s friends joined in the foot pursuit, screaming “Allah-hu Akbar,” which means “God is great.”

They ran outside and Hussein darted into the street, where he was hit by a blue Volvo and toppled to the ground, cops said.

“He couldn’t move. He broke his leg. He was crying,” said Ohana.

In: Greasy-Haired Dudes Pecking At Laptops; Out: Mexican Bakeries

Oh, so that’s what those people do all day at those coffee shops in Park Slope:

You’re creative? You’re self-employed? Brooklyn’s for you.

In the last six years, Brooklyn has outpaced the rest of the city in attracting creative entrepreneurs, according to statistics from the Center for the Urban Future.

“It really is quality of life. It’s not as expensive and it’s not as busy as Manhattan. Brooklyn is hip. It has reached that level,” said Scott Adkins, a playwright who opened two writer’s spaces in Park Slope. “You’re guaranteed to have a good coffee shop.”

. . .

About 375,000 workers in the city were self-employed as of 2006 — a 23% increase from 2000, the center found.

In Brooklyn, the number of freelance writers, artists, architects, producers and interior, industrial and graphic designers increased more than 33% in the same period, compared with 6.5% in Manhattan.

That means nearly 22,000 creative freelancers live in Brooklyn – mainly in Park Slope, Williamsburg and downtown, according to the Brooklyn Economic Development Corp.

. . .

“I moved to Brooklyn in 1990 to work for Spike (Lee),” said cinematographer/photographer Frederick V. Nielson II. “At first, I was reluctant to leave Manhattan. I was like, damn, they give you a 718 area code.”

He first settled in Fort Greene, but moved to Prospect Heights after the birth of his son.

“I like the pluralism of living here. I know the guy at the candy shop. People here really patronize the local artists,” he said. “Once they’ve seen me in the neighborhood, or the diner, they’ll come up and buy my work.”

Adkins said the borough has come a long way from only a decade ago.

“It has everything Manhattan has — good theater, good restaurants. People actually use the G train now. It used to be a terrible train,” he said. “The one thing I don’t like is the Mexican bakeries are closing down.”

If There Is Any Way Properly Respect Our Nation’s First President, It’s Naming A 3-Acre Park In Brooklyn For Him

Well, I guess it’s better than a bus station, right? But Washington has a lot of stuff named for him. Just off the top of my head, there’s Washington Square Park, Washington, D.C., Washington State. But some cherry tree-cutting wooden-toothed sycophants want even more:

In a bid to rewrite a wrongly re-written history, a group of Park Slopers wants to change the name of J.J. Byrne Park so that it re-honors its original namesake — the one and only George Washington.

The park, which is bounded by Fourth and Fifth avenues and Third and Fourth streets, is currently named for an obscure Depression-era borough president.

The Beep vs. the Father of our Country? That’s about as fair a fight as Ron Paul vs. John McCain.

And J.J. Byrne is the loser in that metaphor, said Kim Maier, executive director of the Old Stone House, the recreated 17th-century Dutch farmhouse in the park.

“J.J. Byrne usurped the park,” Maier said, explaining that the current site had been Washington Park, the first professional baseball field in the country, since the 1800s. The site earned the name because it was near a pivotal moment in the Revolutionary War.

Thanks to the heroic efforts of a group of Maryland soldiers under the command of General William Alexander (don’t worry, he has a junior high school named after him nearby), Washington and the rest of the rag-tag American army was able to flee across Gowanus Creek and to safety in Manhattan.

“We’re merely changing the name of the park back to what it originally had,” said Maier.

Perhaps, but let us take a moment to praise J.J. Byrne before he’s buried forever.

Byrne was appointed to the borough presidency in 1926, after the death of legendary Beep Joseph Guilder. Byrne completed the term and was re-elected in 1929, but himself died in office the following year.

He’s credited with initiating or completing construction of the Municipal Building on Joralemon Street and the Central Court Building (now Brooklyn Criminal Court) on Schermerhorn Street.

His proclivity for grand construction was foreshadowed by his previous work as Brooklyn’s Commissioner of Public Works.

In that context, Maier’s support for the return of George Washington is particularly ironic, given that Byrne was the borough president who rebuilt the Old Stone House in 1930.

Now that I think about it, who is Nathanael Greene and why should we care?