Linderman Leaves the Gazette

Goodbye, Greenpoint Gazette!
Feb 03, 2011 by Juliet Linderman

After two and a half exciting years, it’s finally time for me to hang up my press hat and bid farewell to the Greenpoint Gazette. I do so, however, with a tremendous amount of love and admiration for this newspaper, this community and this neighborhood.

I started as the managing editor of the Greenpoint Gazette in October of 2008. I had just graduated from college and was dying to find a job—any job, really—in the newspaper biz. Before landing the position at the Gazette I lived in Park Slope (I moved to the nabe shortly thereafter), and had only made the trek up to Greenpoint a handful of times. I remember getting off the train on my first day and feeling confused. ‘Where am I?’ I thought. ‘It feels like the end of the earth out here.’

Fast-forward two and a half years. I’ve gotten to know every corner of this neighborhood from the poisonous banks of Newtown Creek to the complicated borders of the Broadway Triangle, the classic arches of McGolrick Park to the dazzling waterfront view of East River State, the bustling commercial corridor of Franklin Street to the Polish delicatessens along Nassau Avenue. This is a neighborhood with an eclectic cultural legacy, but also a place of immense change and it has been a pleasure and privilege to write about the communities that call Greenpoint home.

We’ve been through a lot together over the past couple of years. We’ve watched high-rises grow up along the waterfront to sit empty in the wake of the housing bust, mega-developments get approved by certain city agencies and shot down by others, old elected officials step down or be ousted in favor of a new political guard, Newtown Creek finally see the Superfund status so many members of this community fought long and hard for.

I am a New York City transplant originally from San Francisco, and before moving to Greenpoint I had never really felt like a part of any particular community in New York. But now I’m a Greenpointer, and I thank you all for that. It has been a truly amazing experience to watch this neighborhood grow and develop, and get to know so many residents of the Garden Spot, new and old. The commitment you show to your community is inspiring, and is a testament to the spirit of this place. You are some of the strongest political, social and environmental advocates I’ve ever met, and I have the utmost respect for the dedication you display and the battles you fight on a daily basis.

So, thank you Greenpoint, for making my tenure at the Greenpoint Gazette so satisfying, and for welcoming me into this community with open arms. Thank you for all the tips and phone calls, the e-mails and invitations. I served this community to the best of my ability, and I hope I did right by all of you.

Lastly: I am by no means cutting ties with the Greenpoint Gazette. You’ll still see my bylines now and then, maybe in the form of a weekly column, maybe attached to sporadic feature stories. Either way, you’ll most certainly still see me around the neighborhood, and please don’t hesitate to call or write me with story ideas: you’ve all got my number.

So goodbye for now, Greenpoint. I’ll see you soon, no doubt.

All Best,
Juliet Linderman