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David Freedlander

By David Freedlander 10/11/11 5:25pm

Occupy Wall Street

millionaries march

Uptown Grr! Protesters Start Occupying The Upper East Side

Protesters from the Occupy Wall Street demonstration in Lower Manhattan took the rolling, roiling march up to the Silk Stocking District this afternoon with a raucous protest in front of the homes of some of New York’s wealthiest residents.

Several hundred demonstrators gathered in front of the Plaza Hotel at the bottom of Central Park chanting, “We are the 99 percent! And We Are On The Upper East Side!” and made their way north, first to Rupert Murdoch’s building at 834 Fifth Avenue, then on to David Koch’s building on Park Ave, and later to Howard Milstein and John Paulson’s homes further uptown. They carried signs which said, “Tax the Millionaires,” and some carried homemade signs that said “Koch Brothers–Dem Belly Full” and “No More Cake–Off With Their Heads!” Read More

By David Freedlander 10/10/11 4:14pm

event

Native American Writer Reminds Occupy Wall Streeters Who The Real Occupiers Are

John Paul Montano, a Native American writer and activist posted online late last week an open letter to Occupy Wall Street activists reminding demonstrators that they too are interlopers of a sort.

Hoping and believing that you enlightened folks fighting for justice and equality and an end to imperialism, etc., etc., would make mention of the fact that the very land upon which you are protesting does not belong to you—that you are guests upon that stolen indigenous land. I had hoped mention would be made of the indigenous nation whose land that is.

[...] Read More

By David Freedlander 9/20/11 7:10pm

Art

Nato_TimGreenSan_1

The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side: Curator Nato Thompson Has the Whole Essex Street Market to Play With for His Latest Show

Last month the Essex Street Market—the original one, not the current one across the street with the cilantro sellers and handcrafted cheese mongers—betrayed no indication of what it will look once the public art presenters Creative Time get ahold of it this week, transforming the abandoned warehouse into part exhibition hall, part gathering spot and part guidebook on how to live off the grid, for the exhibition “Living as Form.” A few laborers laid electrical wire, or hauled materials into place. Nato Thompson, the chief curator of Creative Time and the driving force behind the show, walked through the empty room, pointing out what was to come. Read More

By David Freedlander 9/07/11 10:54am

Our City Since

A Call for Neutral Corners

Political campaigns in New York are like a mile-long sprint. Beginning in January, when the likely candidates start raising money and meeting with neighborhood groups, they round a corner in the summer months and hit full stride as September starts and New Yorkers start paying attention to politics again.

Except for one day, every year, when those running pull up short, only to start again 24 hours later.

That day, of course, is September 11. Read More

By David Freedlander 8/30/11 1:09pm

Keith Wright Calls In The Troops for David Weprin, 1199 Slated to Meet Today

A reader passes along the follow letter from Manhattan Democratic chairman Keith Wright, urging members of the local county party to cross the river (a big ask for Manhattanites) to help get out the vote for David Weprin the closing days of the Congressional race between Weprin and Bob Turner.

The letter is further proof that the race for this Brooklyn-Queens seat is closer than expected. Want further proof? According to a source, the powerhouse political operation over at SEIU 1199 is meeting today to decide whether or not they need to get further involved in the race as well.

Wright letter after the jump. Read More

By David Freedlander 8/24/11 9:47am

Hipster Runoff

Illustration by Drew Friedman.

O-Bummer! Hipsters O-Bandon Obama

As Election Day 2008 approached, if you were an urban organic kale farmer, or a crochet enthusiast or a vaudevillian with a new song to sing, and you wanted to support Barack Obama for president, you were in luck.

The streets of New York were crowded with “Walks for Change,” “Bike4Barack” groups, “Karaoke We Can Believe In” sing-alongs, “Get Out the Laughs and Votes” comedy shows and “Art for Change” auctions. The days leading up to the election saw Pasties for Peace, a Cowboys for Barack Wild West Burlesque Show Fund-raiser, a Yo La Tengo fund-raiser at McCarren Pool, and a $1,000 fund-raiser in Dumbo featuring They Might Be Giants, which sold out.

Richie Fife, who helped lead the Obama effort in the run-up to the primary, estimated that 10,000 New Yorkers had contacted his office to get involved and that three times that many were out on the streets on their own initiative. Read More

By David Freedlander 7/27/11 7:54am

2013

Non-Candidates Top 2013 Poll

New Yorkers want Ray Kelly to be their next mayor, a new poll out by Quinnipiac today found.

Also high on their list is Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz.

The only problem is that neither Kelly nor Markowitz are thought to be likely candidates. Neither, for example has been raising money for a potential run. Read More

By David Freedlander 7/26/11 9:24pm

Attorney General

The Left’s Last Hope: Eric Schneiderman Carries the Mantle During the Right’s Resurgence

On Sunday morning, New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman sat in a back room of the Abyssinian Baptist Church, one of Harlem’s most storied chapels, and prepared to give his first Sunday sermon. Hundreds of parishioners sat in the pews, along with a few hundred more tourists, expecting to hear the kind of stirring oration for which Abyssinian has long been known.

A deacon, dressed in a gray, striped, seersucker suit, tried to reassure him. “Just go up and be yourself, man,” he said. “You ran a righteous campaign. People know you, and people need you, and once you get on a roll, people aren’t going to let you sit down.” Read More