It’s starting to look like the big development at Public Place is going to get a lot larger. The winning Hudson Companies proposal included 774 units of housing and tens of thousands of square feet of commercial and community space. When presentations were made in Carroll Gardens during the winter the possibility that an adjacent warehouse could end up being part of the plan was mentioned. The warehouse has to be demolished as part of the Public Place cleanup as it was part of the original Manufactured Gas Plant site and toxins are deep underground beneath it. The current Brooklyn Paper confirms that the warehouse owner is likely to join the Hudson Companies plan. Adding the land under the warehouse (see photo above) could bring the total number of residential units to around 1,500, dwarfing the size of the proposed Toll Brothers development, which has engendered significant opposition. In the meantime, plans for a long cleanup are still being developed as preliminary prep work continues on the site.

See the current state of work on the site by clicking here.

The Issue Project Room, currently based in Gowanus, will be moving into the theater and arts space at 110 Livingston, the big condo renovation in Downtown Brooklyn that was done by Two Trees Management. The group is working on raising $2 million for the eventual move.–110 Livingston News & Blog

After we put up a post yesterday about the (possibly in violation of Stop Work Order) demolition going on at the site of a Fairfield Inn in Gowanus, we got an email from Friends and Residents of Greater Gowanus about a meeting that the Department of Environmental Conservation is having on Wednesday, May 7 from 4:00-5:30PM and from 5:30-7:00PM about toxic pollution and remediation of a former Manufactured Gas Plant site that used to occupy the site of the Thomas Green Playground. The area the plant covered is outlined in the map above. It’s of interest because MGPs as they are known, left behind a horrendous soup of underground toxins starting with, but not limited to, coal tar. The tar is known to travel underground and could easily have migrated beneath the Fairfield Inn site, which borders the original property. (Presumably test well have been sunk to determine this.) The toxic issue is the same one as the one at Public Place, which is another former MGP site. None of the sites were cleaned up after the coal plants–which manufactured gas from coal–were closed.

Additional Photos, by Clicking Here.

Our Carroll Gardens Correspondent has been out and about with camera, focusing on the beauty of spring. Here’s what she sent us, in photo gallery form.

We must say that the Karl Fischer site at 239 N. 9 Street, whose cheap wooden fence is ripped open more than we find it closed, is rapidly becoming our favorite spot in the nasty Williamsburg Triangle of Death. Here’s the scene on Sunday, when mountains of dangerous, shifting rubble were still available for the entertainment of dumb and drunk adults as well as any kid who wanted to have fun. The brick pile and construction equipment are just one spot in a very active corner of the Burg where, on any given day, the opportunities for injury or death via open construction and demolition sites are greatly varied.

We’ve always thought about creating a Gowanus Lounge Flickr Pool and a comment left yesterday by photoblogger Dalton Rooney, whose work is superb, reminded us that it was one of those things on our long-term “to do” list that’s never gotten done. So, why not now, as we’ve retooled the format of GL? To join the GL Photo Pool (which started late last night and is currently lonely and empty) go here and we also invite you to tag your photos “gowanuslounge.” We’ll be adding a flickr badge to the site in a few days (when there’s content) and, of course, will be posting some of the photos placed in the pool from time to time. Obviously, we’re looking for Brooklyn photos, so that’s the only working criteria we’ll use. We’re hoping the pool will be a fun set of photos to peruse and enjoy.

With Community Board 6 having approved the zoning text amendment to change a number of streets in Carroll Gardens from being officially “wide” to “narrow” and, therefore, changing the density and height of what can be built, a review process is underway that is creating some strong opinions in the neighborhood. While there is a great deal of support for the change, there is opposition among property owners who would lose the ability to put big additions atop their buildings. The review process is just getting started. There will be a Public Hearing by the Brooklyn Borough President on Wednesday, May 7 at 5:30PM in the Community Room at Brooklyn Borough Hall, which is located at 209 Joralemon Street. Specifically:

Calendar Item Carroll Gardens Zoning Text Amendment Community District 6, 080345 ZRKThe Department of City Planning has submitted an application for amendments to the Zoning Resolution. The proposed text amendments would apply the narrow street zoning provisions for height, setback and floor area ratio to streets which are mapped as wide on the City map but share a similar character to other narrow streets in the area. These streets are 1st Place, 2nd Place, 3rd Place, and 4th Place; and Second Street, Carroll Street and President Street between Smith Street and Hoyt Street in Brooklyn Community District 6.

Residents are still collecting letters in support of the change and there are still rumors of petitions and letter-writing efforts against it.

A new establishment will be opening in the Pioneer Bar-B-Q space on Van Brunt Street. It will reopen as ‘Brooklyn Ice House’…a bar with burgers and bbq. “There you have it Red Hook. A new burger, bbq, and beer bar, opening ‘soon’.”–Eater

New York, I Love You a huge all-star, anthology film whose cast includes Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman, Ethan Hawke, Cristina Ricci, Drea de Matteo and a ton of others is shooting in Greenpoint this week. We found this signage on Franklin Street.

Brooklinks is a daily selection of Brooklyn-related information and images:

· Delays for Bus Rapid Transit? [AYR]
· MTA Delays at 53 Broadway in Burg [Brownstoner]
· Markowitz Desperately Seeking Driver [NYDN]
· Happy Birthday Borden Avenue Bridge [New York Shitty]
· Brooklyn Blogfest Has a Mini Blog [OTBKB]
· Ah, the Rain at Borough Hall [McBrooklyn]
· Open Hearth on Ocean Parkway [Fading Ad Blog]
· Mourning Loss of Head Over Heels [Clinton Hill Blog]
· Car Culture 2 [Bed-Stuy Banana]
· Hidden in Plain Sight [Lost City]
· Cherry Blossoms Approaching Peak Bloom [NYDN]

It comes from Williamsburg, on N. 10 Street near Driggs, where it has been bolted into a wall. We don’t know how long it’s been there, but the creature certainly has sharp teeth.

We got an email from the Cobble Hill Association, which is having its Spring 2008 Meeting on Monday, May 12, at 7:00 PM. The meeting will take place at the Kane Street Synagogue, which is between Court Street and Tompkins Place. The agenda includes the nomination of officers for 2008 and a presentation about “predators on the internet” from the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office. The guest will be Kings County District Attorney Charles Hynes and the speaker will be Kevin O’Donnell, who is Chief of the Brooklyn DA’s Cyber Crimes Unit. The meeting, of course, is open to the public and free child care services will be provided.

This gorgeous, bright bloom is from McCarren Park in Williamsburg.

Things are a little pissy in Boerum Hill. “One neighbor has had the bed of his pickup truck repeatedly doused with urine, and on several occasions large quantities of urine have been used to soak the gardens and sidewalks in the middle of the block…”–Curbed

[Photo courtesy of lostinbrooklyn/flickr]

One of the often unrecognized beautiful spots in Brooklyn in spring is Green-Wood Cemetery. This photo is from a full flickr set which can be viewed here. The blossoms are gorgeous.

Toren, the flashy condo from SOM on Flatbush Avenue, is shooting for gold LEED certification. Among other things, its power will be supplied by five on-site 100-kilowatt generators and it will offer “premier parking” for hybrid vehicles.–Brownstoner

We do enjoy a good Fallout Shelter sign from the 1950s and the overwhelming optimism that putting fallout shelters in Greenpoint and Williamsburg across the river from Manhattan represented. What, no instant vaporization?

The view from the Brooklyn Weather Observatory right now is not one of promise, but the forecast says that things will get better. It calls for “a little rain early this morning; breezy with clouds giving way to some sun.” The high will be 60. Tonight will be clear with a low of 41.–Accuweather

What can be simpler and more elegant than a bicycle reduced to a single tire? Or, is it a tire locked to a sign post for safe keeping while the bicycle resides elsewhere? In any case, it comes from the Kingdom of Trashed Bikes, Williamsburg.

Brooklinks is a daily selection of Brooklyn-related information and images, which is delayed and thin today because of our New Look GL Debut:
· Edolphus Towns Faces a Fight [NYT]
· Attack of the “Urine Vandals” Continues [Curbed]
· DOT to Overhaul Brooklyn Bridge [Brownstoner]
· Bruce Ratner on NY1 “One on One” Tonight at 8 [DDDB]
· Hear Edgy Moms Roar [OTBKB]
· Studio B Drama Continues [New York Shitty]
· Brooklyn College’s Roosevelt Hall Facing Destruction? [Brooklyn Junction]

On Saturday, we had another item about the Park Slope Branch Library and some dissatisfaction with the staff and its attitude. A follow up came our way via the Park Slope Parents group having to do with anti-stroller allegations, which is the Park Slope equivalent of tossing a hand grenade. Here it is:

I must admit that I haven’t had trouble with the staff, BUT . . . It is frustrating that, in a library where a significant portion of their user base has small children, most of us are forced to drag our strollers up a steep flight of steps just to gain entrance. The only ramp I know of is in the back, and access is usually blocked by parked cars. Even when you are able to get past the cars, the back door to the library is locked, forcing you to ring the bell for entrance — and it’s rare that anyone answers. Anyone have any suggestions to make the library more stroller-friendly? It seems to me, besides being difficult for stroller-using patrons, it must be extremely challenging for anyone using a wheelchair. (and probably not ADA compliant). I’m happy to say that I’ve never had trouble about the ramp in the back–I always use it, and if it isn’t open, someone comes pretty quickly. The desk also seems generally helpful. So hopefully it was just a bad day. Keep trying–and maybe someday there will be funds to add a ramp.

Another email says of the attitude toward children in general: “I am amazed at certain staff members (who sometimes work in the kids section!) who make it clear they dislike having the small
people in there…At least the kids don’t notice.” First, Union Hall and now this.

This is the corner of India and West Streets in Greenpoint, where demolition is still going on at 30 India Street. The site is going to become home to a new six-story building with 45 units and 55,592 square feet a (long) block from the Greenpoint waterfront. The building will be from the shop of JWC Architect which, sadly, isn’t offering up a rendering of the project yet. The building will join several other mid-size condo project rising in the area.

A reader passed along some interesting news about a new cafe and wine bar that’s going to be opening in Gowanus near the Carroll Street Bridge. We don’t have a name or more specific info on it, but we stopped by over the weekend and looked through the window to check out the cafe/bar under construction inside. Work inside is at an advanced stage. The new place will be across the street from the venue known as The Yard, which used to be the location of the Issues Project Room.

Tiffany Lamps!

There is a long, long, long story behind Brooklyn’s Khalil Gibran International Academy and its former principal Debbie Almontaser. “Since the school opened in Brooklyn last fall, children have been suspended for carrying weapons, repeatedly gotten into fights and taunted an Arabic teacher by calling her a “terrorist,” staff members and students said in interviews. The academy’s troubles reach well beyond its cramped corridors in Boerum Hill. The school’s creation provoked a controversy so incendiary that Ms. Almontaser stepped down as the founding principal just weeks before classes began last September. Ms. Almontaser, a teacher by training and an activist who had carefully built ties with Christians and Jews, said she was forced to resign by the mayor’s office following a campaign that pitted her against a chorus of critics who claimed she had a militant Islamic agenda.–NYT

The Bedford Avenue Art Walk took place yesterday. There were some street performances and there are art installations in a bunch of storefronts. Some select photos in the gallery below.