LESRRD is not a member of the Coalition to Protect Chinatown/LES and they do not wish me to speak for them.
The views represented on this blog are mine, not theirs or anyone else's.
I do strongly support their goals and I have given them as much information as I have.
Their tactics are not for me to judge. They've got to conduct their own struggles their own way.
If you are looking for an account of Monday's contentious Town Hall meeting on the rezoning, I am afraid I can only supply second-hand accounts. Although I was able to watch the audience assemble, I had to leave before the meeting began. In any case, I have had my say here and in e-mailed posts.
The absence of testimony from local electeds -- except for the State Senator, but the Senate doesn't vote on the plan -- is bad news for Chinatown and the Bowery. It means that they don't intend to use the approval process to get a commitment from DCP to save Chinatown and the Bowery, and so they are hiding from the Coalition's disapprobation.
Btw, my relationship with Bowery Alliance of Neighbors is ambiguous. They consider me a member because I attend their meetings, have helped out and even enunciated their position on the radio. I consider myself a close friend of the group, a helper, but not a member. After all, I live on 11th between B&C, far from the Bowery. I support their goals, too, but I intend to turn my attention to other means than community activism, for which I have neither taste nor talent.
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5 comments:
I guess "Saving the Lower East Side" is only worth a few blog posts and staying for 5 minutes of a Community Board meeting.
Seems like you enjoy "Do as I say, not do as I do" position in life.
Your blog should be named
"Save the Lower East Side Unless you Have Something Better To Do"
Rob you claim your group is "LESRRD"
but you live in the East Village. Why do you call yourself an LES resident?
Does the 5 minutes you spent at the CB meeting in the LES count as being a resident?
I intend to pursue other means. I have spent three years posting, surveying, organizing, reading the law and the zoning ordinances, explaining them in posts and e-mails, attending nearly all the meetings of the Task Force and many, many community group meetings.
The East Village is a recent developer's expression. The LES used to be everything south of 14th street east of Bowery.
Rob - by "other means" it sounds like you are starting your own "Operation Chaos?"
Or is it - cant beat them, join them?
No, man, I want to try preservation via historical district. Community activism is hell and though I've succeeded in getting information out, I haven't succeeded in getting people involved. I don't like kicking up shit and making enemies. I prefer working in a positive, collegial, quiet environment.
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