Jane Johnston

I had been keeping an eye on the Milberg Weiss case off and on over the past few years. From 1995-1996 I had worked as a legal assistant at the firm, located at One Pennsylvania Plaza in New York. As such, I was curious about the fate of my former employers, who were now facing criminal charges.

So I read with interest this post from the White Collar Crime Prof Blog, “Where’s the Milberg Weiss Case Headed,” from last summer. It includes an excerpt from the grand jury transcript of “Stockbroker A” who received cash payments for giving MW clients.

The payments, which consisted of packs of hundred dollar bills, were made in restaurants at a Howard Johnson or Holiday Inn in Newburgh, New York, by passing the money underneath the table — I’d hate to think what else might be found under there.

As it turns out, I actually have some familiarity with what was underneath the table at that Newburgh HoJo’s (now a “Union Square” restaurant, pictured above.) I waitressed there the summer before heading off to college, and one of my duties at the end of the night was vacuuming. It wasn’t always pretty, but as far as I’ve heard nothing necessitated a criminal investigation – aside from this.

I arrived early in Minneapolis for a Journalism That Matters conference, “A Passion for Place,” this past June. So I headed to the Walker Art Center and discovered an inspirational exhibition, “Worlds Away: New Suburban Landscapes.” Some of it was quite familiar, including the requisite Gregory Crewdsons.

But I found greatest inspiration in a modest exhibit put together by Interboro, a group of architects who devised “In the Meantime, Life with Landbanking,” a multi-faceted proposal to enliven the “dead” Dutchess Mall in Dutchess County, NY. This mall is across the river from Newburgh, a little further east down route 84. I have childhood memories of going to the movies at this mall in what were its much better days. Here’s Interboro’s project description:

In the Meantime, Life with Landbanking is Interboro’s winning entry to the LA Forum for Architecture’s “Dead Malls” Competition, which asked Interboro to envision a future for a dead shopping mall of its choosing.

Interboro’s project, a reimagining of the Dutchess County Mall in Fishkill, NY was inspired by a conversation it had with the mall’s developer, who made it clear that he was landbanking the property. Interboro asked “what can be done in the meantime?” Rejecting the idea of a traditional masterplan, Interboro’s submission is a collection of small, cheap, feasible moves that come in over time, and lead to many possible futures.

Small, cheap, feasible moves that come in over time: this is almost a description of citizen journalism, another enterprise that leads to many possible futures.