Additional notes on Mark Murphy Congressional run, still lacking Bay Ridge reaction

 Posted by Brian Hedden at 6:00 am  Bay Ridge, Not Brooklyn, Politics
Jan 202012
 

News Corp’s Brooklyn Daily chimed in on the announcement from Staten Island Democrat Mark Murphy would challenge Michael Grimm for the Congressional seat that includes Bay Ridge as part of its constituency. After the Staten Island Advance covered the dissension between the Richmond County party chair and elected leaders from that borough, I was expecting the Bay Ridge Courier team to publish the Bay Ridge reaction.

On the contrary. The article didn’t mention Brooklyn until the end, mainly to say this:

Another hurdle — probably the biggest — is that no one Bay Ridge knows who he is. Murphy has yet to introduce himself to voters and many Bay Ridge Democrats are holding back their support until he hones his message — and crosses the Verrazano Bridge.

“I think he’s handsome, but I have no idea what he stands for,” said one Bay Ridge Democrat.

Yikes. I knew the Richmond County bosses – in both parties – hold most of the cards when it comes to official party support. But for Bay Ridge partisans to be completely in the dark? Yikes. Wait – I said that already. Continue reading »

 No Responses »  Tagged with: , ,

Murphy (D-Staten Island) To Challenge Grimm (R-Staten Island) For Bay Ridge Congressional Seat

 Posted by Brian Hedden at 6:00 am  Bay Ridge, Not Brooklyn, Politics
Jan 192012
 

WNYC reports that a new contender has emerged for the Congressional seat of Michael Grimm (R-Staten Island): Mark Murphy (D-Staten Island), the son of a former nine-term Congressman.

Murphy, 41, most recently worked as an aide to Public Advocate Bill DeBlasio representing Staten Island, south Brooklyn and northeast Queens. Murphy resigned from the position over a week ago and plans to launch his campaign Wednesday evening at his headquarters in Staten Island.

His father, John Murphy (D-Staten Island), served as Staten Island’s Representative from 1963 to 1981. He lost his re-election bid to a tenth term to Guy Molinari (R-Staten Island) after being indicted for bribery charges.

On the Staten Island side of the district, there’s already some ruffled feathers. As reported by the Staten Island Advance, Richmond County Democratic Chairman John Gulino (D-Staten Island) has embraced the Murphy candidacy. This boost has apparently raised tensions with several elected leaders, including Diane Savino (D-Staten Island), whose North Shore State Senate district reaches into Sunset Park, Bensonhurst, and Coney Island. Of particular note, Staten Island Councilmember Debi Rose (D-Staten Island) has expressed interest in running for the seat. (Murphy declared last summer that he would not challenge Rose for her spot on the Council, possibly as a favor to then-boss Public Advocate Bill DeBlasio.)

To date, the media discussion seems to be absent of any opinion whose name ends with (D-Bay Ridge) or (R-Bay Ridge).

 No Responses »  Tagged with: , ,

For the record: Boston sucks

 Posted by Brian Hedden at 12:30 pm  Kvetch, Not Brooklyn
Apr 252011
 

I have something I’d like to get off my chest. I stopped liking the name of this website over a year ago, when I got this e-mail from the operator of a South Boston cab company:

To: Brian Hedden

From: (redacted)

Date: Mon, Feb 22, 2010 at 5:41 AM

Subject: Can I get you to..

 

make an effort not to put the words taxi or cab in the title of any post? Perhaps remove those words from the titles of existing posts?

I dont get the use of the word Southie in your domain name and I especially don’t get how a page you have about a water taxi is competing on the same page as me but can I get you to stop?

How about with a 212 area code phone number? I have a few I dont need… youc an feel like a real New Yorker..

On my first glance, I took it the wrong way. I thought he was worried that web surfers looking for a South Boston cab company would get confused by my stories about the NYC Water Taxi. But after a second read, I finally realized: he was just annoyed that bksouthie.com was higher in the Google rankings for “southie taxi” than his web site, and felt like I was unfairly “competing” with him. And therefore wanted me to never use the word “taxi” or “cab” in the title of a story again. And remove such offending words from stories already written.

To help his Google rankings.

On the other hand, I had to admit, he had a point. Why did I use the word “Southie” in the domain name of a Brooklyn-themed web site? Not only does it unnecessarily pay homage to a Boston neighborhood – it does so to the place that, more than any other neighborhood, gives Boston its reputation for dumbassery (Exhibit A: see above e-mail).

So, Brooklyn, I’m sorry about that. My bad.

 3 Responses »

5 Borough Pizza Put Down Part 2: The Meanest Pie In Town

 Posted by Arturo Tedesco at 2:01 pm  Brooklyn In Pizzas, Coney Island, Food & Drink, Not Brooklyn
Apr 122011
 
What Totonno’s lacks in basil (and kindness) they make up for in pure pizza goodness
Patsy’s service proved pleasing; their pie peculiarly premature

This is it. The culmination of countless afternoons spent devouring the best pizza we could find. This is the 5 Borough Pizza Put Down. In our never-ending quest to find the perfect pizza pie parlor, we’ll award points based on 5 categories: food, service, atmosphere, cost and value. In the short term we will be grouping pizza places together: either by geography, shared history or both, and comparing. In the long term, we will use the points system to decide on an overall city-wide winner. (I’ve decided that, in order to simplify any comparisons, I will only order the plain, or margherita pie at each pizzeria.)

Following up on last week’s Brooklyn versus Manhattan theme, we once again have a battle of the boroughs. This week we matched up Patsy’s Pizzeria in Murray Hill with Totonno’s Pizzeria Napolitano in Coney Island.

 Comments Off  Tagged with:

5 Borough Pizza Put Down Part 1: Conspicuous But Deadly

 Posted by Arturo Tedesco at 12:36 pm  Brooklyn In Pizzas, Food & Drink, Not Brooklyn
Apr 042011
 
John’s pie is impressive…
…but so is Grimaldi’s

This is it. The culmination of countless afternoons spent devouring the best pizza we could find. This is the 5 Borough Pizza Put Down. In our never-ending quest to find the perfect pizza pie parlor, we’ll award points based on 5 categories: food, service, atmosphere, cost and value. In the short term we will be grouping pizza places together: either by geography, shared history or both, and comparing. In the long term, we will use the points system to decide on an overall city-wide winner. (I’ve decided that, in order to simplify any comparisons, I will only order the plain, or margherita pie at each pizzeria.)

For the first part in this series we’ll tackle what are probably the most obvious choices. Along with Totonno’s in Coney Island and Patsy’s in Murray Hill, both are linked directly, indirectly or mythologically to New York’s first licensed pizza maker, Genaro Lombardi. Straight out of the guide books we have from Manhattan, John’s Pizzeria of Bleecker Street and from Brooklyn, Grimaldi’s Coal Brick-Oven Pizzeria. Continue reading at Wandering NYC

 Comments Off

About that Nytimes.com paywall

 Posted by Brian Hedden at 2:29 pm  Kvetch, Not Brooklyn
Mar 232011
 

On Monday, March 28, the New York Times will begin charging readers of its online site a subscription charge to read articles online. We can read 25 stories a month for free, and then we pay after that. I say, good for them. I fully support the time-honored business model in the newspaper industry that collects revenue from customers to support their journalistic endeavors.

And as soon as The New York Times begins producing journalism worth paying for, I will pay for it.

Until then, I can do without the lies, and the coverups, and the stories about hipsters and their freaking beer guts.

 Comments Off  Tagged with:

An Ounce of Pretension: A Friday Night Out in Ditmas Park

 Posted by Arturo Tedesco at 3:54 pm  Bensonhurst, Flatbush, Food & Drink, Kvetch, Northies, Not Brooklyn
Nov 292010
 
This past Friday night my girlfriend and I went out to dinner at The Farm on Adderley, located on Courtelyou Road near Coney Island Avenue. I had been to  The Farm not too long after it had opened with family, and was drawn back by the allure of their primo 28 dollar steak.
The trouble started when my girlfriend ordered a ginger ale and expected well, a ginger ale. Now, I’ve had many artisinal-type ‘ginger beers’ such as Reed’s, and am used to their more intense ginger and less sweet taste, but this was a new extreme. It tasted downright medicinal. I took a piece of bread, which tasted like a sour-bread foccaccia without the dried tomatoes, and dipped it in the provided olive oil. The oil did not moisten the bread nearly enough and I immediately had a red-faced coughing/choking fit as my esophagus tried in vain to carry it down to my stomach.
We both remarked at the calculated snootiness of many of the patrons; we were surrounded by a sea of spandex-jeans and man-scarfs. The place seemed much more hipster-fied than I had previously noticed; maybe living in Bensonhurst the past half year had made me more aware of this? The only “normal” people seemed to be the middle-aged couples, God bless their presence. Okay, initial impressions were not great, but we were both willing to wait for the main course before passing final judgment.

Continue Reading at Wandering NYC

 Comments Off

Staten Island Screws Us Back

 Posted by Brian Hedden at 7:00 am  Bay Ridge, Belt Parkway, MTA, Not Brooklyn
Oct 272010
 

The MTA Board approved fare hikes for subways, buses, and commuter trains last month, but delayed action on its bridges and tunnels… until today. It is expected to approve a modified version of a plan presented by Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro that will largely save E-ZPass drivers at the expense of sticking it to cash customers. Of course he wants to spare E-ZPass drivers, since all Staten Island drivers getting the resident discount are on E-ZPass.

$13 to go to Staten Island. Not. Worth it. Ever.

A steep toll on par with London’s £10 congestion charge, but located nine miles from the downtown Manhattan business district, and charged in the opposite direction, no less.

A massive subsidy for mass transit on a route where mass transit options are almost non-existent (while scores of rush hour trains run over the untolled Manhattan Bridge).

And the thing that eggs my goat more than anything else: a 40% discount carved out to reduce the hardship of one of the boroughs connected by the bridge… as if the hardship is somehow not felt by the residents of the other. (“You poor, downtrodden Tottenville resident, what can we do to ease your pain?” “Oh, you’re from Bay Ridge? You can sod off.”)

A few weeks ago, Ned Berke of Sheepshead Bites remarked on the Staten Island Ferry – pretty much the only free transportation in the City, a gift for the benefit of Island residents subsidized by the taxes of everyone else, and said “Screw Staten Island!”

With the Verrazano Bridge toll, Staten Island is screwing us back.

 1 Response »  Tagged with: , ,

Things I Can Think Of That Are More Un-American Than Opposing Religious Freedom

 Posted by Brian Hedden at 7:00 am  Kvetch, Not Brooklyn, Sheepshead Bay
Aug 122010
 

1.

 1 Response »  Tagged with: , ,

Brooklyn as a Second Language

 Posted by Brian Hedden at 8:00 am  Not Brooklyn, Schools & Libraries
Feb 162010
 

Here’s a great story I was told from a mother who grew up in Queens in a Brazilian household, and is now raising a family in the Maryland suburbs.

belding We would like your daughter to take ESL again this year.
carrie Why?
belding (nervously) Well, it’s because of her Portuguese.
carrie That’s stupid.
belding I’m sorry?
carrie I speak Portuguese.
belding Yes.
carrie My daughter doesn’t speak Portuguese.
belding Ah…
carrie You made her take ESL last year, but she hardly spoke any Portuguese then, either.
belding Yes, but…
carrie She doesn’t speak any Portuguese at all anymore.
belding Yes, I understand. Uh, I’m not quite sure how to put this.
carrie Put what?
belding The thing with your daughter… is… well, your daughter…
carrie What is it about my daughter?
belding The problem with your daughter, you see, is that she talks, …
carrie She talks what?
belding She talks with a Brooklyn accent.
carrie …!

 1 Response »
Page 1 of 2 1 2
All content © 2009-2012 Brian Hedden unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. For more, see Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Suffusion theme by Sayontan Sinha