The Department of Buildings stepped in yesterday to halt the demolition of 5 Roebling Street, also known as the Giant Fart Cloud Building because of its fragrant recent past as a cabbage processing plant. Neighbors had complained that the demolition was so violent that they were in fear that it would damage their building and leave them homeless. The Stop Work Order is currently attached to the plywood gate, but hadn’t been posted on the DOB website as of 9AM. It looks like, in this case, the department acted in a timely way to address a problem that could have proven quite serious to neighbors. It’s still going to be long haul, as the demolition is completed (hopefully in a way that doesn’t damage the neighboring building) and a new building site excavated and construction gets underway.

UPDATE: The Stop Work Order, which is now posted online, is for “demolition in progress in an unsafe manner” and for an illegal mechanical demolition.

As you know, rezonings in Brooklyn have been a priority for the Administration as we work to preserve the character of lower-scale neighborhoods from out-of-context buildings. The Department has taken on a very ambitious workload in order to bring the zoning in line with the prevailing character of these neighborhoods… Since the Mayor took office, the Department has seen 78 rezoning proposals adopted into law, representing over 5000 blocks, including Greenpoint/Williamsburg, Park Slope, Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst, Sheepshead Bay, Midwood, and Downtown Brooklyn.

We are aware that members of the community are concerned about out-of context development in the Carroll Gardens neighborhood. We agree that a study of Carroll Gardens is warranted and are committed to pursuing it. However, because of the numerous neighborhood rezoning efforts we have underway in communities throughout Brooklyn, we are unable to commit to a precise timeframe. We continue to maximize our limited resources in pursuit of more finely tuned zoning in Brooklyn, and citywide, with studies underway in Sunset Park, Canarsie, Brighton Beach, DUMBO, Gowanus, Coney Island and, at your request, Victorian and East Flatbush.

In other words, it’s very likely that significant political pressure will need to be forthcoming in order for the neighborhood to stand any chance of a speedier process, given all the neighborhoods ahead of Carroll Gardens in the rezoning line. The Carroll Gardens group CORD has posted a letter that residents can send to Mr. Markowitz asking him to turn up the heat.

We heard from the woman who calls herself the “Pigeon Advocate” again, and it turns out that important evidence that could have furthered the ASPCA investigation of the Park Slope Pigeon Killings of 07 was thrown away. (Which is what one might tend to do with a sack full of dead pigeons.) She explains:

The ASPCA was adamant that I give them the dead little ones — when, in fact, I was so upset that I put them in the bag (to avoid the children having to witness as there are many happy school within that three block radius) but then decided I couldn’t take the dead birds to work.

Instead, I turned around, saw the laughing man (the fellow, again, who out of fear of law suit, am not mentioning his name, but I know his name and where he lives) — he was laughing.

Are you sure he killed those birds? — Everyone, including reporters from the Brooklyn Papers and the Courier all want to know. Pretty darn sure. He had been threatening. He had also threatened me personally and yes, there is a public complaint filed against him (by me) with 78th precinct. He attacked me one morning on my way to work. He and I are very close.

But, alas, I do not have the sac o’ dead birds. Instead, apparently, this woman from the Bird Club found them and sadly we never took them for poison analysis. According to the ASPCA, we need that in order to further their efforts. So — hear this — if I ever, and I hope I don’t — see another pile of dead little babies (pigeons) on my block, I will, I promise you, I promise the ASPCA, the DOH and the DEC, I will take all the dead birdies home and (as they instruct) put them in my refrigerator so they can be picked up for analysis…

Let’s talk minority rights. Pigeon haters abound. That (from this blog, if by nothing else) is achingly clear. Pigeon haters – you’re with us! I hear you! I am loony to care, even though, in the top ten of “What would Jesus Do” — I believe coming to the aid of the down trodden, the meak and the lepers of his society was right up there with the magic of fishies from loaves of bread — if you get the general drift.

We would be utterly shocked if this is the end of the story unless, of course, the Park Slope Pigeon Serial Killer goes back into hiding for another nine or ten years before striking again.

H.P. Lovecraft had an interesting take on Red Hook. In The Horror at Red Hook, he wrote, “Red Hook is a maze of hybrid squalor near the ancient waterfront opposite Governor’s Island, with dirty highways climbing the hill from the wharves to that higher ground where the decayed lengths of Clinton and Court Streets lead off toward the Borough Hall …”–McBrooklyn

The Great Park Slope Umbrella Experiment, as well as the Buy Local campaign have begun. The Park Slope Civic Council’s 400 yellow umbrellas that can be used on the honor system have been distributed. So far, (two days) store owners say that “it’s working.”–NYDN

As it turns out, Brooklyn Paper editor Gersh Kuntzman has a bit of history with the Park Slope pigeon serial killings, having reported on the 1998 dart killings. When reports of the new massacre and fliers surfaced he went over to Eighth Avenue and Sixth Street in the Slope to try to find the source of the evil. He writes, in part:

The pigeon-lover (whose name I’m going to withhold for reasons that will soon become clear) met me at the corner carrying a baby pigeon, still bearing the tell-tale yellow hairs of his infancy. She said she saved the orphaned bird after the weekend massacre. And she also claimed to know who slaughtered these defenseless birds.

“It’s that guy, right over there!” she said, pointing at him.

All I saw was a man sweeping debris in front of his house. But, wait a second, that’s not debris — it’s birdseed!

And the pigeon-lover is running over to him to start screaming…“Why are you sweeping up my birdseed?” the pigeon-lover screamed, demanding that I take the man’s picture. “You’re the one who poisoned those pigeons over the weekend! And the press is here!”

The man denied poisoning the pigeons, by the way, but he didn’t deny sweeping up all the birdseed that the pigeon-lover had left.

Very, very interesting.

[Photo courtesy of the Brooklyn Paper]

We got a call yesterday evening that the Botanica religious articles shop on Fifth Avenue in Park Slope was “fire bombed” last night shortly after 5PM. According to witnesses, and there were apparently many, several men threw devices described as “Molotov cocktails” through the windows. Gothamist Newsmap showed that an “arson robbery” occurred. This morning, local blogs have more info about and photos of the incident. The dramatic photo here is from Brit in Brooklyn blogger and photographer Adrian Kinloch, whose blog features two full sized photos (and which is consistently visually and informationally interesting). Dope on the Slope, who also happened by the smoldering scene, writes of the 5PM incident at St. John’s place and 5th Avenue that “There were seven fire trucks and a sizable gaggle of gawkers watching the boys from Ladder Company 122 tackle a fire in the building between New China Tung and the frame shop on the west side of 5th. You could have made a fortune selling popcorn or hot chocolate. The fire itself wasn’t visible, but there did appear to be some smoke damage from what I could see.” Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn got an email from someone that talked to people milling around that “either some kids came by asking for money and doused the shop with gasoline and lit it and ran when they didn’t get any, OR some kids threw an explosive (as in a bomb) in the botanica shop and ran.” The eyewitness account of the incident that was relayed to us was that several young men broke the windows of the shop and tossed in incendiary devices. All in all, not a good evening on that part of Fifth Avenue.

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• Brighten the Day with “Toxie the Snowman” [New York Shitty]
• Slope’s Old Stone House Gets Improved Website [OTBKB]
• Our Subway Station [Bed-Stuy Banana]
• Check Out Brooklyn with Fog [Self-Absorbed Boomer]
• Fast Times on Slope’s Fifth Avenue [Gridskipper]
• Feeling Dirty? There’s Plenty of Great Soap in Brooklyn [Brooklyn Based]

Some Carroll Gardeners are fighting the war against plastic bags by avoiding them when they toss their recycling on the sidewalk. Way to go, neighbors.–Pardon Me for Asking

We were prompted to scan the hard drives yesterday and, among other things, pulled up some long shots down Beard Street in Red Hook taken over the last 18 months. Here is a small series.

The wonderful and friendly crew at Baked on Van Brunt Street in Red Hook make some of the best baked goods in Brooklyn, including some to-die-for cakes. They just signed a lease through 2016. Plus, all the Thanksgiving Pie ordering info and deadlines!–Brooklyn Based

Our friends at Racked produced this vid yesterday of our huge blue-and-yellow friend on Beard Street in Red Hook. Ikea also told Racked that the opening date estimated for the store that will change Red Hook in a major way is a pretty big window between March and July. Previous estimates have said spring, but clearly the Swedish retailer is hedging a bit.

Remember the Giant Fart Cloud Building, aka Five Roebling? It’s the one that the blogger Bad Advice lives next to. She has been afraid demolition work would destroy her home and, at least, seriously effect her life. Well, it’s happening and it’s scary. Her story gets the at the heart of the powerlessness that everyone that lives near a building project must feel when work starts: If work starts, their homes might be endangered and they will have nowhere to turn.

Here’s is Bad Advice’s first email to us this morning, at 12:37 AM. It came with the subject line “Help!“:

I’m really freaked out about what’s going on next door. They’ve knocked out my phone (the lines are laying on the ground across N. 11th!), the cable TV/internet and the building is rocking like, uh, a building is NOT supposed to when they’re working. Thank christ Con Ed and the water supply is underground. I’ve spoken to Marie Grasso [who owns the demolition company] several times. As you might imagine, she’s not been terribly helpful,
though she did demand that the backhoe operator repair my cable tv with a roll of electrical tape. (Shockingly, that didn’t work.) I am losing my mind over here…

Here is this morning’s email, which arrived at 7:10AM and details frustration with both the 311 system and with the Department of Buildings (Note to DOB: If you are reading this, perhaps, an inspector might visit 5 Roebling Street today.):

I’ve been calling 311. Last night I called them about the wires laying across the street. They asked me if they were live wires–I told them I wasn’t about to check that out! So they connected me to 911 and the fire department came and made sure nobody was going to get electrocuted. Once they determined they were only phone lines, they split.

Yesterday I called Marie Grasso and told her I didn’t think her backhoe was supposed to be ripping walls down. She insisted that it hadn’t been the backhoe, but only her guys–by hand–were doing the demo. I insisted it had been mechanical and she insisted back that I
was mistaken.

I told her that I had photos AND video. That shut her ass up.

311 has been so completely useless. They keep wanting us to say that we think our building should be condemned! Um, no! We want them to stop the parade of incompetence before it gets that way! It seems like there’s nothing you can do until your ceiling comes crashing down on your head.

I worked from home yesterday and while it was scary to have the building weaving with me in it, today I have to go into my office and I’m even more worried to leave and wonder what I’m going to come back home to. I can’t figure out if it’s incompetence or corruption that makes the DOB such a completely inefficient organization.

There is a post over at Bad Advice from which we have taken the photo of the heavy equipment doing the demolition. One can only hope the demolition is halted by DOB before damage happens to the building next door that causes people to become homeless. If not, it is emblematic of everything that is wrong with the system and how it fails to protect everyday citizens from being harmed. Sometimes from the threat of literal harm and homelessness that could be prevented. The DOB’s failure to respond to this situation before the building is destroyed would be akin to the Fire Department’s failure to answer an alarm.

We will have updates later.

UPDATE: We just got an email from Bad Advice saying that the site received a visit from the Department of Buildings and that a Stop Work Order was issued. The reasons behind the order are unclear right now, but it’s encouraging that DOB acted before structural damage was done to adjacent property.

The campaign to publicly sell the massive project that developers want to build the New Domino on the site of the old Domino Sugar Plant in Williamsburg includes a poll sponsored by the developer that finds that people support the project and say that big buildings are okay in return for affordable housing. The interesting news and analysis are passed on by Norman Oder in his Atlantic Yards Report. He writes, in part:

It’s doubtful that any other megadeveloper has outdone Forest City Ratner in the effort to sway public opinion on a controversial project. But the developers behind the proposed New Domino project in Williamsburg, CPC Resources (CPCR) and its silent partner, Isaac Katan, are pushing the envelope in one aspect of the hard sell.

They sponsored their own poll, then ran an advertisement (click to enlarge) based on the poll, offering the unsurprising conclusion that residents in the area around the proposed New Domino site would accept increased density for increased affordable housing.

Those polled also said, not unreasonably, that the lack of affordable housing is a bigger problem than overdevelopment. And, perhaps predictably, longer-term residents were less exercised by the thought of development.

The marketing effort for the project–which does have opposition within the community, particularly to the massive size of the buildings–should be interesting to watch as it unfold.

We appeared on Brian Lehrer’s WNYC show yesterday to talk about Coney Island development. Here’s the embed in case you missed it and care to listen.

In Carroll Gardens, there is a “commandment” that has nothing to do with the traditional one. It does, however, have to do with one of the most popular New York City and Brooklyn topics out there. Yep. You guessed it. Parking.–Pardon Me for Asking

We have seen ASPCA Humane Enforcement vehicles in Park Slope near the site of the alleged pigeon mass murders twice this week. There are no reports of any dead pigeons being found this week. In the meantime, we found this description on the New York City Bird Club website:

Last week in my passings there was birdseed placed on the curb of bus stop @ 8th Avenue & 6th Street in Park Slope, Brooklyn. A few days later, by that corner near USPS relay (green) box, there was a large birdseed bag filled with dead pigeons. The next day I see a zerox copy of ASPCA notice taped to the relay box regarding pigeon killing…Beware of any food (pizza, rolls, bread) or birdseed left in the middle of a street or by curb area. I’m totally outraged of this human behavior. So much for the enviromentalist & brownstone owners of Park Slope. The person or people that did this, will have to answer to the commander in chief. Who’s gonna take his License To Kill?

Also, we received an email that a “Vigil for Pigeons” is being planned in Manhattan, but this has to do with the proposed citywide pigeon feeding ban.

• Legendary Mentor in Coney Island Passes Away, Stephon Marbury Comes [NYT]
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• Clinton Hill Food Share Program [Clinton Hill Blog]
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• Hard Lobbying for Junction Mall Project [Brooklyn Junction]
• Basile Builders and Bricolage in Bay Ridge [Bay Ridge Rover]
• Ah, the McGuinness Boulevard Gauntlet of Death [New York Shitty]
• Brooklyn Greenway Gets Signage [Green Brooklyn]
• A Brief History of the Court Street Lofts [Curbed]
• Concerns Increasing Over Brooklyn Boom [Sun]
• Local Colour [Bed-Stuy Banana]
• Firefighter Rescues Elderly Man in Williamsburg Blaze [NYDN]
• District 14 School Workshops Today [Brooklyn 11211]

All we can say for sure is that this house isn’t in Park Slope, Williamsburg, Prospect Heights, Greenpoint or Brooklyn Heights. Readers, however, say that it is in Bay Ridge.–Brit in Brooklyn

Meet the Park Slope Court, which is destined to rise at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Warren. It comes from Toma Development (which is behind Hotel Le Bleu) and one is likely to have an opinion about it.–Brownstoner