Brad Lander, candidate for City Council in Brooklyn, has sworn up and down he won't take developer money. Or so he keeps saying. [UPDATE: See below for answer to those who are missing the point]. [UPDATE 2: Further comments below regarding to what degree Ratner's offering of money signifies Brad is "the development candidate."]

But looking at Brad's recent filings, I find that he has taken money from one of the most controversial development companies in Brooklyn. Richard Greenspan, project coordinator for Bruce Ratner's company Forest City Ratner, donated $2750 to Brad Lander's campaign on July 9th, 2008. Richard Greenspan not only works for one of NYC's biggest developers, but he is also the son-in-law of Charles Ratner the founder of Forest City Ratner.

Brad...you CAN'T get more developer linked than this money. Did you not catch this yourself? Did you think no one would notice that your vow to take no developer money looks a bit, shall we say, thin if you take money right from part of the Ratner extended family?  read more »

I recently took my son to the Brooklyn Children's Museum. Although I have been to many far better Children's museums (like the Exploratorium in San Francisco and the Children's Museum in Balboa Park in San Diego), I will say my son LOVED it. He loved it so much he had a massive temper tantrum when we had to leave. Which isn't really typical of his behavior anymore, so he REALLY wanted to stay there.

I think he said he wanted to stay there for a HUNDRED hours!  read more »