Meanwhile... Is There a Doctoroff in the House?

December has been surprisingly cold for this time of the year. I made Freddy's bar owner, Frank, a braided double-knit scarf. It's made from olive merino and trimmed with bronze silk braids. Of all the people who are being rolled in the Atlantic Yard fiasco, Frank Yost has taken the hardest hit. According to the arena's architectural model Freddy's bar is the future entrance to the parking lot. The Brooklyn Paper reports that in addition the the arena's centerpiece Ms. Brooklyn, "Ratner’s ‘Mr Brooklyn’ Deal Gets Sweeter" (Dec. 22, 07). This sickens me to my core to think about what is allowed in a backroom deal bewteen wealthy men. But this seems to be where we are as a nation, and then a neighborhood. People turn a blind eye until they find out the problem is actually in their front yards. What have we all allowed?

Atlantic Yards: Brooklyn's alleged new symbol of civilization. What's so civilized about stealing land from people to build ill-conceived buildings that smell like pee, Milk Duds, and hot dogs? As we knit in the foot print of an evil real estate titan, the proposed arena is still being crammed down our throats. The Brooklyn Paper recently reported that departing Deputy Mayor for Economic Development, Dan Doctoroff, finally admitted that Atlantic Yards was pushed through hastily without due proccess (article: "Now, He Tells Us!", Dec. 15, 07). The New York Observer (article: "The Education of Daniel Doctoroff", Dec. 11, 07) also speaks of Doctoroff's mea culpa. The New York Times, a Forest City Ratner partner, mentioned nothing (article: target="_blank"). But even as the Atlantic Yards fiasco is now undergoing great scrutiny, upstate cronies are still married to a secret backroom deal that promised private and public property to their wealthy friends — it's as creepy and suspicious as a private MySpace page. Knit PH is actually one man's odd-ball mission (me) to make people aware that Prospect Heights is alive, well, and not blighted. How can you declare a neighborhood blighted or uncivilized when it has knitting circles?