Open Thread Wednesday 8/10/11

Interesting editorial in the News about the recent park funding plan:
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2011/08/08/2011-08-08_a_bridge_too_far.html

Are the posters of the Romeo & Juliet performance going to remove their taped-up advertisements from all around the neighborhood?

@getoffmylawn – there are actually two things that have been bothering my on Montague lately – and yes, one of them are the loud group of men in red chanting all day (my kids came home from camp chanting CWA…not knowing why!) the other, and I know I’ll get a lot of crap for this, is the newspaper guy on the corner of Henry. He has a shiny, huge new stand but there is always debris all around it…it ALWAYS looks like a mess. What gives?

Does anyone remember when Booklyn Union Gas was on strike in 1986 and the union chanting:

BROOKLYN UNION GAS – KISS MY *SS

After 13 long weeks the union that had been locked out settled for less than what they went out for and BUG was known as the KISS MY *SS company

@Willowtowncop:

I do feel bad that some jerkoff caused damage to your bike.

However, there are a plethora of moped owners – specifically in Willowtown – that park their bikes that quite often knock out what would otherwise be a viable parking spot for a car. Its incredibly inconsiderate and selfish.

Regardless of whether a moped or a motorcycle is entitled to commandeer a full sized spot, its totally bad karma. Much like a car taking up the entire space that would otherwise serve two cars.

Not endorsing parking vigilantism or intentional property damage, but some bike owners have no respect of the fact that people also need to park their cars in the shared space on our streets.

And finally, you are at your own peril. The rear bumper of my car is completely scratched and dented up. There are so many careless drivers – local and out of state yuppies – the feel that playing bumper cars is an acceptable way to get in and out of spots. I hate it, but its the reality of parking in this environment. All bike owners need to be cognizant of that reality as well.

@ Ari- when I park, there might have been a larger car in the spot next to me. When it moves and a smaller car parks there, it looks like the bike is in the middle of a spot. Most people who drive bikes would not park in the middle of a spot because people push bikes over, leave nasty notes, run them over, or in one case, put mustard and glitter on the seat. My bike takes up less than 2 feet of space. Some larger SUVs take up almost 20. If you don’t fit there, you can’t park there, if it’s a smaller car or a bike taking up “your” space. Drive a smaller vehicle if it annoys you that others got there first and parked perfectly legally and with enough consideration to not take up more than their fair share of space.

Oh, stop it, promenading! He’s not making a political point: he’s antisemitic, as many of his previous posts have proven.

Furthermore, the arrest, whether right or wrong, had ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with the religion of the guy hovering in the frame.Or were the people–you among them?–who refused to give ID detained because suspicious activity was (apparently) reported by a Jew?

Oh, no. Let’s please not let this Wednesday’s Open Thread be hijacked by this same religious debate.

promenading, what’s the test for religious zealotry? Or, the state’s test?

To put it another way, at what point is the state “capitulating” to religious zealotry?

AEB, you beat me to it this week! What’s an open thread without Topham spewing his very special brand of hate?

Those obviously non-Jewish cops are paid by the local community which is exclusively composed of the Satmar Hasidim, the charming people who make South Williamsburg such a delightful place. Since that handsome young man and his equally handsome girlfriend were not members of the tribe, they were reflexively thought to be up to no good. I wonder how those Hasids would like it if they were chased away when they wander into areas where they don’t belong. I believe the Nazis did precisely that.

@AEB

You really must learn to make a distinction between Jews and Hasids. I’m not anti- Semitic though I am proudly anti-Hasid and will do everything in my power to marginalize them even more than they have already marginalized themselves. I despise arrogant orthodoxy.

@promenading

There’s no need to imagine whether or not cops in KJ are on the take. The cops in KJ are in the employ of Hasids and necessarily do the bidding of their employers.

Kiryas Joel or City of Joel is made up exclusively of members of the Satmar Hasidic sect. I seem to recall they wanted state or county funds to educate their retarded offspring in their religious schools and were annoyed when the state or county said no. The incidence of retardation is high among Hasids because of inbreeding.

Topham and Promenading make this blog a real downer to read. I hope they crawl back under their respective rocks and log out. please.

Waiving a gun at an unarmed man while off duty is not my job. How would confronting him in a park, for, at best, being in the park after dark, solve the problem of whatever is wrong with him or not having a place to live? Would a summons he can’t pay fix that? How about a night in jail, and then letting him right back out again with no place to go? What exactly should an off duty police officer do, in your expert opinion?

I suggest unarmed citizens avoid situations that could possibly be dangerous.

If you were a plumber, would you find it necessary to comment on every thread about pipes bursting in a town you had never been to and had no plans on ever going to, espically when you thought the thread was posted for the purpose of saying something racist about the people who live in the town?

Religious fundamentalism is anathema to a liberal democracy, AEB. If you weren’t such a self-righteous windbag you would see that. Then again, you once called me antisemitic because I had the audacity to criticize a local synagogue for closing down an entire block so a few kids could play in the street, so I know how you love to cast stones. I’m sure you are as pure and wholesome as your Buster Brown logo. But the most revolting commenter on this thread is no doubt “Mickey.” Societies lose their rights because of weak, cowardly suck-ups like him who are always prepared to give the benefit of the doubt to authority.