The upcoming Bruce Ratner Gala at the Brooklyn Museum continues to reverberate among those that are not fans of the controversial Atlantic Yards developer. No Land Grab did a humorous take on the invitations that have gone out. The (original) Ratner Murakami invite can be seen in detail here.

We got an email from Lee Kushnir at WCBS, who is working on a story related to some of the credit and debit card fraud about which we and others have posted frequently. Apparently, one of the focuses is Citibank and ATM machines in and around Park Slope. She is looking to talk with victims of the scams and figure it was worth passing along if anyone wants to talk about it. Here’s the email:

I am working on a story regarding an ATM scam that has been affecting Park Slope residents. If you have gotten fraudulent charges on your cards and been the victim of credit/debit theft in the area, please email me at lkushnir@cbs.com.

Over the weekend, we noticed that the weird outdoor ATM machine that had appeared at Grand Army Plaza and Prospect Park West for a couple of months was gone, although we don’t know when it vanished.

Click here to send a message to Stop the Power Plant now!

The Open Space Alliance for North Brooklyn (OSA) is grateful to GWWTF, GWAPP, NAG, other local groups and our local electeds for leading the fight against TGE’s power plant for more than six years. OSA supports the plan to build a public park on this waterfront site, not a power plant.

Will the state allow a power plant next to towers of luxury highrise housing? Will the Power Plant That Refuses to Die finally get a stake through the heart and be dispatched forever? Will the Burg have gas? Stay tuned.

Interestingly, one of the first personnel changes in the aftermath of the transition from Eliot Spitzer to David Paterson in Albany was that of Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) Chairman Pat Foye, who was a friend of the departed governor. Norman Oder of AYR took a look at the sudden departure (on Friday it had been reported that Foye would be staying on the job) and wrote:

What does that mean to Atlantic Yards, shepherded by the ESDC? Were new Governor David Paterson undecided about AY, the transition to a new chairperson, who’d have to get up to speed on pending projects, might be thought to slow things down. But Paterson told the Daily News he’ll continue support for Atlantic Yards. That suggests that work from the ESDC–contractual wrangling, legal strategy, site supervision–can continue without a chairman and, given delays in the project and emerging doubts from Crain’s New York Business, leadership from the top may not be crucial at this point.

Crain’s, by the way, put the odds of Atlantic Yards going ahead at 50-50.

The Big Green Monster on Diamond Street in Greenpoint from Karl Fischer is now fully on view for the world to see. Here is what Hot Karl might have thought in designing it: “Let’s see, this building is slated to be in a neighborhood called Greenpoint. What can I do to make it ‘fit in’ with the ‘feel’ of the neighborhood. Hmm… I could reduce the scale so it would jibes contextually with the rest of the block. NAH. Wait a minute…I know, I’LL MAKE IT GREEN! But what shade of green… hold on it’s coming to me…” Let’s call the color Newtown Creek Chartreuse.–New York Shitty

It’s time for another Green-Wood Cemetery photo contest. Details have been posted over at the brooklynian site about a contest for photos. (The contest is not connected to Green-Wood Cemetery.) Here are the details as posted:

We are working on the Spring 2008 version of Green-Wood’s bi-annual magazine The Arch. While we have a cache of spring shots of our own from 2007 (and will be taking more), we are hoping to tap into any ambitious shutterbug’s archives on any shots of spring in Green-Wood form your specific POV. Specifically to show the diversity of the horticultural diversity of Green-Wood, and not just the gorgeous cherry trees (though those are fair game as well). We had some great shots in the Fall edition from folks just like you! As per normal, we’ll leave submissions open from TODAY, 03.17.08 through next Monday 03.24.08

This is a no paying gig, but those selected will be featured in the Arch’s “Green-Wood Views: a photographic journal” section and potentially other places in the magazine. You’ll receive full credit (of course) and several copies of the Arch.

The photo here is a selection from a prior year.

A panel about the Future of Coney Island, which we posted about a while back, will be taking place on Wednesday (3/19) at 6:30PM. Here’s a follow up email we got about it:

Lynn Kelly, President of the CIDC, will present the latest proposal for the area and join a panel discussion moderated by Brad Lander, Director of the Pratt Center for Community Development. Additional panelists include David Gratt, Managing Director, Coney Island USA, Domenic Recchia, representative to the City Council from the 47th District, and Chuck Reichenthal, District Manager of Community Board 13. Reservations required. $9 for non-members of the Museum; $5 for members, seniors, and students.

It’s an excellent group both in terms of the knowledge base and the points of view represented. More info and tickets by clicking here.

• Three More Victims Pulled from Crane Collapse Rubble [NYT]
• Crane Collapse Investigation Points to Nylon Strap [NYT]
• Why Paterson Should Appoint Commission on Eminent Domain [AYR]
• Bullet Pierces Door of Jewish Girl’s School in Williamsburg [NYP]
• Schermerhorn House Gets Its Skin [Brownstoner]
• Queens Councilman Accused of Rape, Pleads to Sexual Abuse & Resigns [NYT]
• More on the Electronics Recycling Bills [Sustainable Flatbush]
• REGREEN Brooklyn [Green Brooklyn]
• Dragonette & Dragonetti [Brooklynometry]
• East New York Black-Owned Bookstore in Jeopardy [NYDN]
• Opening Day at Coney with Cold Atlantic Gales [Runnin’ Scared]
• 250 Chartreuse Frisbees in Prospect Park [OTBKB]
• Armando’s Sign Extinguished [Lost City]
• Brooklyn Restaurant Week [A Brooklyn Week]
• Bed-Stuy CSA Applications Being Accepted [Bed-Stuy Blog]
• Robert Gair of Dumbo [Fading Ad Blog]
• Easter Egg Hunt [Clinton Hill Blog]

“On our tour of bucolic Red Hook, we came across a large lot, which was relatively empty, with the exception of a few large tanks and oil drums. But as we looked closer, we noticed a white and gray rooster alongside a brown rooster. We don’t think they are guard roosters, because we didn’t see any signs reading, ‘Warning, Attack Rooster.’–Sail Brooklyn

Find out the latest news from Atlantic Avenue Betterment Assoc. regarding Brooklyn Bridge Park – report on court hearing of appeal today Monday Brooklyn House of Detention ‘s future – a new vision for the site is a real possibility and the UNITY Plan for Atlantic Yards. Now that there will be a new president of the Empire State Development Corp. We might get an ear for this community plan. Presentation by Dr. Tom Angotti.

The meeting takes place Thursday at 7Pm at the Belarussion Orthodox Church Atlantic at Bond St.

Sun today will give way to clouds and a little in the afternoon. The forecast suggests that there will be a high of 46 at the Brooklyn weather observatory. There will be no wind chill. Tonight will feature periods of rain with a low of 38. Have umbrellas handy, just in case.–Accuweather

[Photo courtesy of EKavet/flickr]

The Department of Buildings is one of the most vital city agencies after the NYPD and FDNY, yet it is one of the most troubled and its failures are nothing short of a major governmental breakdown. Yes, the department has improved in recent years, but it remains in dire need of radical reform. It is starved for resources in the face of an onslaught of development and in need of a thorough institutional overhaul. We cover the Department’s actions (or inaction) every day, so we’ve put together a list of recommendations that could begin to fix the mess that, in the worst case, endangers people’s lives or, in lesser cases, does violence every day to the quality of life of tens of thousands of residents living side-by-side with the building boom (as not all the problems are as dramatic as cranes crashing down on buildings and people). Here they are:

1) Even if the Department of Buildings functioned like a well-oiled machine that rigorously enforced city regulations, its inspectors are still overwhelmed by the level of construction. The number of inspectors should be at least doubled, if not tripled. Until the numbers are increased, there should be a cap on the number of permits for major projects that can be issued.

2) The Department of Buildings should be permanently removed from the purview of any of the city’s economic development officials. While it is now under the Deputy Mayor for Operations, it spent most of the Bloomberg Administration under the Deputy Mayor for Economic Development. DOB should be an independent regulatory agency whose prime mission is enforcement. Encouraging development and regulating it are not compatible tasks. Its work should be subject to regular audits by the City Comptroller.

3) Each Community Board should have an independent ombudsman to supervise the Department’s work. That ombudsman would work to makes sure that citizen complaints are handled in a timely way and that complaints of inaction are investigated.

4) Dramatically increased monetary penalties for violations should be determined by a special blue ribbon commission made up of industry experts and citizens. The penalties should be set so that they act as a strong disincentive to violating regulations. Penalties should increase with each violation and building permits should also be suspended for the most serious violations starting with 30 days and escalating to 60 and 90 days. After repeated violations, permits should be terminated.

5) There should be criminal penalties for both developers and contractors whose actions or negligence result in loss of life.

6) Persistent offenders–contractors and developers–should be put on a special list for highly targeted enforcement and be subject to even higher fines. Firms with a pattern of violations, particularly ones involving safety violations and illegal work should have their ability to work in the city revoked for a period of time. Contractors found doing illegal work should be placed on probation after a certain number of offenses and be barred from doing business for subsequent offenses.

7) Create target enforcement neighborhoods in each borough based on the level of development. In Brooklyn, for instance, Williamsburg and Greenpoint should be a No. 1 priority. These target neighborhoods should be assigned significant numbers of inspectors to increase response times to complaints and to patrol construction sites.

8) The city should make necessary repairs to sites that are shut down if developers don’t fix problem quickly, so that abandoned sites don’t become hazards to the community. The city should charge back costs to developers and property owners and seize property for unpaid bills.

9) There should be a zero-tolerance approach to violations. Currently, contractors can violate many regulations with virtual impunity. Non-enforcement on small violations leads to bigger violations in a sort of Broken Windows Construction Phenomenon. There should also be 24-hour follow up and immediate dispatch of inspectors on some calls, clearly including life safety issues, but also involving quality of life complaints such as illegal and after-hours construction.

10) Permit fees should increased to fund the entire program of more rigorous inspection and the workforce necessary to do so.

11) Firms with a pattern of violations should be barred from bidding on city contracts or doing city work.

12) The city should issue a monthly “scorecard” in a simple format, grading developers and contractors on their violations or lack of them in each borough.

Do we think any of this will happen? The odds are long, as the Building Industrial Complex is a powerful one, particularly in an era of million dollar one bedroom condos and housing shortage. Then again, given the horror of this past weekend, radical reform of the Department of Buildings could be an issue whose time has come. Even a few of these reforms could result in significant changes.

Pratt Center for Community Development Director and City Council candidate Brad Lander was among those who spoke at the City Planning Scoping hearing on Thursday on the big and controversial Toll Brothers project in Gowanus. Late on Friday, Mr. Lander emailed to us to clarify things because he had been described as giving testimony that was supportive of the development. He said in the email that he is “not a supporter of the Toll Brothers project, generally or otherwise.”

One thing that has become clear to us is that the Toll Brothers proposal has become even more polarizing in Gowanus and Carroll Gardens than the rezoning that it seeks to circumvent. (The rezoning discussion is like to revive when the city presents its draft plans in late spring or early summer, per a timetable related to us by Brooklyn Planning Director Purnima Kapur.) Based on comments that are appearing in our posts and conversations we are having with residents in both neighborhoods, the development is causing (or reflecting) deep divisions in the community and some is very personal. Public controversy about the Toll Brothers development has, in fact, been far louder than that surrounding the far bigger Public Place project which would be only a few blocks away.

Mr. Lander’s lengthy testimony, from which we will excerpt a few passages, was actually quite thorough in terms of the issues with which the project review should deal. He spoke on behalf of a group called the Coalition for Responsible Redevelopment of the Gowanus Canal which includes the Carroll Gardens Association, the Fifth Avenue Committee, the Gowanus Canal Community Development Corp., the Gowanus Canal Conservancy, the NYC Central Labor Council and other labor and community groups. “Because Toll Brothers is proposing a rezoning for substantial residential development for 363-365 Bond Street in advance of a broader public rezoning of the Gowanus Canal area, this action must be held to a higher standard,” he said. “If approved, this rezoning would likely start a chain reaction of development that would have significant and broad public impact far beyond its borders. It is therefore appropriate and necessary that a full range of alternatives be considered, and that the EIS be broadly scoped to answer questions about the potential impact of this action.”

Significantly, Mr. Lander asked that the environmental review consider the Toll project with the “cumulative impact of other proposed development” in the area, even if they would not be finished until later. “The Scope of Work indicates that other projects that will not be completed by the Build Year of 2011 will not be considered in this DEIS,” he said. “We strongly object to this exclusion. If every project is able to look only at short-term impacts, then no one project may trigger sufficient impacts to show the need for additional school seats, or infrastructure investments, or child care, or traffic calming … but surely collectively they will generate these impacts.”

The testimony also requested that the environmental review consider on-site wastewater treatment, height limits, how it the development would impact overall zoning goals for Gowanus, long range impact of all developments on community facilities, and a host of other factors. Mr. Lander also called for a rezoning of Carroll Gardens to take place with a Gowanus rezoning (which is not likely to happen given the city’s timetable) and that the Toll development take this context into account as well. In terms of canalside uses, the testimony said:

The DEIS should consider additional small-scale retail and commercial uses, preferably artisan-, environmental- and community-oriented, along the Canal. We believe that adding a mix of uses along the Canal will help to enliven it, to the benefit of the project and the community at large. These should not be uses that would draw car traffic, but instead that would encourage pedestrian visits.

Written comments about the critical environmental review and what it should include can be submitted through March 24. (While comments can cover anything, at this stage, the most useful comments should cover elements that should be present in the environmental review; opportunities for lengthy commentary for or against the project will be available later.) The comments should be sent to Robert Dobruskin, Dept. of City Planning, 22 Reade St., New York, NY 10007. A copy should also be sent to Community Board 6 at 250 Baltic St., Brooklyn, NY 11231.

It seems the Jim Mamary entourage has liquor on the brain. Not only will residents of Carroll Gardens near Union and Smith have to deal with noise and filthy trash from Smith & Union Cafe and The Gowanus Yacht Club, there will be something new to groan about. Smith and Union Cafe is building an outdoor bar to compliment their al fresco diners. I see a run on earplugs… Mamary’s partner owns the cafe and Mamary is the behind the hated Hoyt Street Oyster Bar plan.

A sure sign that good weather is right around the corner.

In case you didn’t catch our scoop via GL reader yesterday, the Seventh Avenue Tempo Presto space mystery has been solved. The new Mexican eatery will be called Barrio. Our reader wrote that the “restaurant is going to be called Barrio. They seem to have only done cosmetic work (new tiles, some decorative woodwork, etc.). It looks like it’s going to be a very cool place…The chef is from Mexico and he said the food will be super authentic.–GL

I encountered a dangerous situation today at 553 Henry street. It looks as though they installed some new cell phone antennas on the roof. But here is where it gets good–not only did they do that they also went ahead and put a huge antenna directly on the facade of the building on the 4th story. Now this is pretty scary being we have many small children walking by the building everyday. Not only will this become an issue with a good storm but looking at it makes me nervous.

The tower was put up with a permit from the Department of Buildings.

Have a look at some cool photos of the Brooklyn Heights waterfront and some relics here and there of another era. There’s some detail of National Cold Storage on Furman Street. There’s a reminder of the New York Dock Company from 1917. And, of course, the Dept. of Sanitation’s Encumbrance Depot.–Fading Ad Blog

Yesterday, of course, was the reopening of Astroland and of Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park for the 2008 season and neither rain nor damp chill stopped it from happening. The photo above comes from the excellent Brit in Brooklyn blog and the one below is from a flickr set posted by lornagrl. And, yes, people were seen riding the Water Flume at Astroland.

Other Coverage:
Let the Games Begin [Kinetic Carnival]
Astroland Opening Day: Cold and Rainy [Lornagrl]
Another Season at Coney [amNY]