Author Archives: dailyheights

[update] Ratner's plan to move Last-Place Nets angers Carril

Try to count all the discrepancies in these two reports. Is it heck? Is it hell? Is it junk? Is it crap? One thing’s for sure: someone said something the other night, he got confused, and his last name may contain one or two L’s.

From the Newark Star Ledger: "Pete Carril marched up to some stranger last night, demanded to know whether he was the ‘new owner,’ and immediately started scolding him for moving the Nets out of New Jersey. Then he had to be told that he was speaking to a team publicist, and that Ratner is not with the team."

"… the legendary coach wasn’t done … ‘You’ve got to get the owner to cut the crap and stay in New Jersey. I wish he knew what the hell he was doing.’" Read more…

UPDATE: MORE DETAILS from the Daily Herald’s Mike McGraw:

"…Before New Jersey played in Sacramento on Tuesday, Kings
assistant Pete Carril walked up to a stranger, asked if he was the
Nets’ new owner and proceeded to berate the person for moving the Nets
out of New Jersey ….
Carill was then told he was speaking to Nets publicist Gary Sussman …
Carill, who coached at Princeton for 30 years, was upset by Ratner’s
plan to move the Nets to Brooklyn. Those plans are not set in stone …
little to no progress has been made on the proposed Brooklyn arena."

"’You’ve got to get the owner to cut the junk and stay in
New Jersey … I wish he knew what the heck he was doing. And you can
quote me on that. … I mean, what’s the matter with that guy? I really
feel bad about this.’"

Are "Angry Yards" Protesters Ratner Puppets?

Stephen Witt, writing in the January 10, 2005 edition of the Park Slope Courier, reported on an "incendiary letter" charging that "Forest City Ratner is the hidden force behind grassroots suppport" for the Atlantic Yards project. According to Witt, the letter alleges that Forest City Ratner Companies (FCRC) "orchestrated and engineered" a protest outside the office of City Council member Letitia James.

Witt writes of the "quickly scrapped" note: "The note, bearing the letterhead of City Council member Albert Vann, asks for ‘black elected officials’ to express outrage …"

BUILD President James Caldwell is quoted in the article: "I as a black man can think on my own … We’re an independent organization and all we want is betterment for all the people in our community." ACORN Executive Director Bertha Lewis: "Out of respect for Mr. Vann, I refuse comment…" Forest City Ratner Companies spokesperson Joe DePlasco: "Ridiculous."

Would be nice if the whole article was online, but it doesn’t appear to be. Can anybody find it?

BREAKING NEWS: A Train Lingers at Scene of Crime

AcvDouglas reports that the A train seems to be running north through the Chambers Street station once again; however, it slows down drastically as it approaches the (still unsolved) crime scene before it comes to a full stop: "Then, the train lingers with the doors open while the conductor reads from a scripted statement:  ‘As many of you know, a crime was committed last week when a fire was started in the Chambers Street station.  If you have any information about this incident, please step out of the train and speak to one of the detectives.’  Long pause.  Anyone?  Anyone?  Then, after about a 5-minute wait, presumably the amount of time required for one’s memory to spark or conscience to awaken, the train continues north."

HEADS UP: Cheer on TEAM PIRATE tomorrow in the NYC Idiotarod

Cart2005Our home team, Pirates of the High Cs, race a shopping cart in the NYC Idiotarod, tomorrow (Saturday,
January 29) at 2 pm. Starts at Fulton Ferry Pier in Brooklyn, and
finishes at Tompkins Square Park in Manhattan: "The rolling pageant and
grueling endurance race will happen rain or shine, blizzard or breeze." Apparently they discourage "just filming" but hopefully someone will document it (hint, hint). See precisionaccidents.com for more info.