Nicholas Jahr
In Conversation
Representing Central Brooklyn: Mark Winston Griffith with Nicholas Jahr
Brooklyn native Mark Winston Griffith has been a community activist in Central Brooklyn since the early 1990s. Among other projects, he helped launch the Central Brooklyn Credit Union and the Central Brooklyn Partnership; and from 2005 to 2007, he was the co-director of the Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project.
No Escape
By Nicholas JahrI didn’t even hear him coming. Perched on the side of the steps leading into Fort Greene Park on Willoughby, I was too busy tapping away on my iPhone like the dopamine junkie that I am.
Who Pays for the MTA?
By Nicholas JahrLike the man says, “It’s déjà vu all over again.” Unless the State Legislature intervenes, on May 31, facing a more than $1.8 billion budget gap for 2009, the MTA will hike the base fare for NYC’s subways and buses to $2.50.
The Battle of Starrett City
By Nicholas JahrThe news came with a knock on the door just before 6 a.m. One of Max Abelson’s neighbors was out in the hall. Had he heard? It was all over the news. Starrett City was on the block.
Scenes From a Rent War
By Nicholas JahrAnderson Fils Aime kicks back and tells me a story. Back in May of this year, a month after he’d begun working as an organizer for the Pratt Area Community Council, he was at a community meeting when a woman approached him. “A resident comes in with this package saying, ‘My landlord’s trying to raise my rent.’ I say, ‘Well, are you in a rent-stabilized building?’ She says, ‘I don’t know, I just got this thing from DHCR [Division of Housing and Community Renewal].’”
Tales from the Other Side, Berger's From A to X: A Story in Letters
By Nicholas JahrThe setup is simple. One prison closes, another opens. The prisoners are transferred. A packet of letters is found. Well, three packets.
Chaos is Good Business
By Nicholas JahrLike many people—at least, that’s what I tell myself these days—I wrote Naomi Klein off when she first appeared on the scene in the late 90s. There were too many earnest activists toting around No Logo, her surprise million-plus bestseller on the buzzword of that bygone day: “globalization.”
Subprime Crimes From Wall Street to Brooklyn and Beyond
By Nicholas JahrIt starts with someone like Milagros Munoz. She has lived in East New York for nearly all of her 46 years.
Making Our Votes Really Count
By Nicholas JahrAs term limits and elections loom—with much of the current City Council scheduled for eviction in 2009—Mayor Bloomberg (along with more than a few members of the council) has indulged in an achingly long flirtation with the idea of repealing the limits that stand between him and a third term.
The Strange Case of Charles Taylor
By Nicholas Jahr“My name is Dankpannah Dr. Charles Ghankay Taylor, the 21st President of the Republic of Liberia.” Taylor’s first words on the witness stand, seemingly a statement of the simplest facts, already hinted at his country’s tortured past.
Woodward at War
By Nicholas JahrMost of the reviewers of State of Denial have been polite enough not to mention how Woodward’s shifting perspective neatly mirrors Bush’s poll numbers.
Iraq and the Problems of Pulling Out
By Nicholas JahrJust when you thought we might finally pull out, the President is surging. The last time Bush fils dipped into the Viagra and pumped 20,000 troops into Iraq (for the last round of elections in fall ’05, both the number of daily attacks and U.S. casualties spiked.
Gen. Kos’ Army
By Nicholas JahrWith over 500,000 visits a day, DailyKos is not just (in one ranking) the second most popular blog on the net. It’s also one of the main sites where the Democratic faithful are rallying, where they get the latest updates from the front lines, where they hash out their vision of what the party should be, their plans for victory.
Memories of SDS
By Nicholas JahrIn the long twilight of the U.S. of A, nobody has been younger or closer to heaven than the Students for a Democratic Society.
