village voice

best of new york 2007
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illustration by Jason Edmiston
Best Noble Failure - It's Still Not a Done Deal

Recently, Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn hosted a literary soiree and fundraiser. The title of the afternoon: It's Still Not a Done Deal. "It" refers to Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards proposal, the multibillion-dollar plan that will transform the abandoned rail yards and neighboring buildings into a morass of skyscrapers and luxury housing (and will rely on lots and lots of public money to fund it). DDDB's motto is hard to argue with: "Fighting for development that will unite our communities instead of dividing and destroying them." They've distinguished themselves by their intelligent analysis, delightful events, reasonable goals, and maybe the coolest advisory board ever (Jo Andres, Nelson George, John Wesley Harding, Jhumpa Lahiri, Jonathan Lethem, and Rosie Perez are just a few members). But no matter how many white papers and challenges to environmental reviews and eminent-domain appeals they seem to file, Atlantic Yards looks increasingly like a done deal. Smart, savvy, hip, and friendly, the organization nevertheless seems powerless to halt Ratner's plan.

Other People & Places categories:

Best little house in the Village
75 12 Bedford Street

Best transatlantic reed boat dry-docked near the Hudson
Abora III

Best straight-headed ho
Al Sharpton

Best ghostbuster
Artie Matos

Best (in fact, only) Louis Sullivan building
Bayard Building

Best albatross
Bernie Kerik

Best way to enjoy the Brooklyn Promenade
Blue Pig

Best radio-interview-show host
Brian Lehrer

Best bridge anywhere
Brooklyn Bridge

Best old-school-decrepit subway station
Chambers Street J-M-Z stop

Best Bonnie-and-Clyde duo in City Hall
Charles Barron and Viola Plummer

Best New England town in the Bronx
City Island

Best criminally unknown superstar in our midst
Diamanda Galás

Best Manhattan neighborhood in Brooklyn
DUMBO

Best place to get murdered, raped, or robbed in the city
East New York, Brooklyn

Best old-fashioned labor stem-winder
Ed Ott

Best place to pretend you're in a movie about New York where an important scene plays out in a tiny coffee shop
Eisenberg's Sandwich Shop

Best equestrian statue
El Cid

Best city councilman to tighten his belt
Eric Gioia

Best remnant of old (old) Soho
Fanelli Café

Best place to compose a Dear John (or Jane or Jean) letter in palatial grandeur
Frick Collection

Best New York lawyer not in New York
Glenn Greenwald

Best place that will cease to exist when Columbia takes over West Harlem
Hint House Artist Collective

Best noble failure
It's Still Not a Done Deal

Best subway steel drummer
Jeffrey "Sighting" Antoine

Best Brooklyn assemblyman who never quits
Jim Brennan

Best adherent of mosaic law
Jim Power

Best old-school Italian joint in the East Village
John's of 12th Street

Best peace tribute
Marble Collegiate Church

Best illegal Valentine's Day card sent to a New Yorker
Matthew Diaz's missive from Guantánamo Bay

Best old-school Greenwich Village restaurant
Minetta Tavern

Best place to seek shelter from a rainstorm
Morgan Library and Museum

Best underappreciated waterfall that also happens to be a historic site
Morningside Park's mini-waterfall

Best. Law. Ever.
New York City's Noise Code

Best place to read about New York history in blissful quiet
New York Society Library

Best urban monk
Nicholas Vreeland

Best graveyard
Rossville Boatyard

Best highway pull-over
Shore Road pullover

Best statue of a famous political leader
statue of Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia

Best reason to stop bitching about how small and noxious your apartment is
The Lower East Side Tenement Museum

Best underappreciated skyscraper
the original McGraw-Hill Building

Best (and cutest) East Village radio DJ
Timmy G

Best old, short street
Weehawken Street