We’ve mentioned this before, but Community Board 6 is having its general board meeting tonight at 6:30 PM. The location is the auditorium John Jay High School at 237 Seventh Avenue in Park Slope, which is located between Fourth and Fifth Streets. The last monthly meeting was marked by acrimony over DOT’s plan to install bike lanes and other traffic calming measures on Ninth Street in Park Slope. We’re not sure what angst-inducing issues are on tonight’s agenda, but this is the first CB6 meeting since the Atlantic Yards/Gowanus Rezoning Massacre orchestrated by Borough President Marty Markowitz. Tonight is the first full board meeting since the bloodletting and the first meeting for the new members, which should give it an interesting air. This is also the last meeting before summer vacation–there are no meetings in July and August. So, if you want your CB6 fix, come and get it tonight, or wait until September.

History will show that in Coney Island, the city made mistakes. Now we have a great opportunity, with everyone united, to change that.

The first step took place in the previous administration with the implementation and building of Keyspan Park for baseball’s minor league Brooklyn Cyclones in 2001. When the Bloomberg administration came in in January of the following year, the first step was to unite the local elected leaders and come up with a vision of how we were to change Coney Island. The Coney Island Development Corporation was formed in 2004 by the mayor, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and the local city council member, Dominic Recchia. It has a 13-member board and is charged with spearheading a comprehensive economic development strategy for Coney Island.

As the president of the Coney Island Development Corporation, one of my first tasks was to work on the strategic plan. The vision for Coney Island, released in 2005, was based on three strategies. – It is important to get year round activity, new entertainment, and retail. – It is important to enhance the amusement district, because, without enhancing the amusement district, we’ve effectively lost Coney Island, we’ve lost that brand. – And lastly, Coney Island is in the middle of a vibrant neighborhood of over 50,000 residents, and it is important to provide opportunities to those residents.

How will we achieve this? The strategic plan breaks Coney Island into different districts, and in each of these districts we have certain goals that will become a part of the reassignment for Coney Island.

In order to look forward, you have to know your past. Let’s start with the historic aspects of Coney Island and the icons that are there: The Wonder Wheel, the Cyclone the Parachute Jump, the Aquarium, the Shore Theater. All of these are going to anchors for new development in Coney Island. Four of them are landmarks. One – the Parachute Jump — received a 1.5 million dollar lighting scheme within the past year and went into restoration. This is Coney Island east, the main amusement area, and we really want to see that grow as an amusement park.

We’re proposing new streets because, back in the day, part of the Coney Island experience was the pedestrian experience. You could wander or walk in and around a certain avenue and really enjoy yourself in a way that was pedestrian friendly. Currently the blocks are very large, they’re mega-blocks. One approach to the strategic plan is to break off some us those mega-blocks with new streets.

The existing zoning right now is called C, a very limited zone. It only permits, for the most part, open amusements. We need to give people different experiences when they come to Coney Island — for example, hotels, music venues, entertainment retail — and of course, more amusements and rides. So the new zoning would allow activities that could complement an amusement district such as entertainment retail and hotel.

Some might ask, “If you’re going to bring in all this retail and activity, who is going to use it?” A huge part of the strategic plan is residential as well. North of Surf Avenue, where there are currently a lot of vacant parcels with a mixture of public and private ownership, we are proposing residential, with ground floor entertainment retail. You need a reason to walk down Stillwell or Surf Avenue, you need something compelling, and retail is an important part of that plan.

The western end of Coney Island is a transition area and heavily residential. Here again you can ground floor retail. These are parts of the plan that we feel create the critical mass of people within Coney Island…

We’re here, we’re active in Coney Island, we’re anxious to hear your. But let me leave you with one thing: Tell every person you know that this is absolutely not the last summer for Coney Island.

The zoning sought by developer Joe Sitt and Thor Equities differs in some significant ways from the larger amusement zone envisioned by the Strategic Plan.

We’ve been remiss in not mentioning Brooklyn writer Gabriel Cohen‘s new novel Boombox, which is a story about class, race, gentrification and clashing cultures set in Boerum Hill. Gabriel, who is both a superb writer and a very nice person, called us a while back to tell us about the book. We read it during the winter. It’s a compelling and entertaining read that hits on some very, very familiar Brooklyn issues. The book revolves around a courtyard in Brooklyn that’s surrounded by gentrifiers and the locals that are being squeezed out by them. The flashpoint are the kids blasting hip-hip music from their very loud boombox. There’s a lot of familiar scenery in the book. Check it out if you haven’t. In any case, Gabriel is reading from Boombox tonight at 7:30 at the Community Bookstore, which is located at 143 Seventh Avenue, near Carroll Street in Park Slope. Go see him read. Pick up the book. You’ll enjoy both. You can read the TONY review, which calls it “elegantly written,” here. Meanwhile, Norman Oder reviews the book on Atlantic Yards Report today, and calls it “a snappy and engaging read.”

We have to say that we found this post on the blog You’re Not in Kansas Anymore, amusing. Can’t say we’ve heard an air horn in the middle of the night recently, but you never know:

A Letter to My Neighbors *or* Really? An Air-horn?

To the neighbors on my otherwise quiet, family-centered, tree-lined Brooklyn block,

Wow. Really? An Air-horn?

You know, when I first moved in, I must say I was surprised by the late-night gatherings on your stoop when your chattering and cigarette smoke would waft upward, invading my third-floor bedroom. Every few days I would curse your arrogant youth, your forgiving parents, and my street-facing bedroom.

But after a few months, your horseplay seemed to get a bit predictable. It began to border on trite and stale. Really, how often could you gab, smoke, and race up and down the block on motorcycles? But then, a few weeks ago, you really shook things up with those fireworks. Man, that was a surprise–to be lying in bed, almost asleep and the BANG! BANGBANG! Fireworks! At midnight! On a Thursday!

You had set the bar pretty high for yourselves, but last night you topped it. You pulled out all the stops with that air-horn. 12:30 on a Sunday night just after I had fallen asleep–an air-horn was the last thing I was expecting. But there it was and there you were blaring it–waking up the neighborhood while you apparently didn’t have a care in your non-working world. And the way you would blare it, then wait a few minutes before the next outburst, startling us all over again? Genius.

At this point, I’m just wondering what excitment you have planned for the rest of the summer. A curb-side bonfire? A chorus of dogs? A jam session featuring tamborines, harmonicas, and cymbols?

Thanks, neighbors, for reminding me that just because I’ve left Manhattan, it doesn’t mean I’m not still living near insensitive assholes.

xoxo,
Jen

We now return to our regular programming.

Call for Pedestrian Safety Measures on Third and Fourth Avenue [Streets Blog]
Dear God: $6.5M for a Nine-Room Prospect Park West Coop [Brownstoner]
Greenpoint in Need of Rescue from Rescue Me [11222]
Great Moments in Greenpoint Siding, Part V [newyorkshitty]
Good Citizens: If You Strip a Car in Gowanus, They’ll Call the Cops [Velvet Sea]
But if Oil is Constantly Leaking Into the Canal, No One Cares [The Justus Files]
“Lazy, Misogynistic, Cheap” Carroll Gardens Landlord from Hell [Esthetic/Aesthetic]
Coney Hoopla [Kinetic Carnival]
Atlantic Ave. Artwalk Recap [Brian of Brooklyn]
Red and White Home on Pulaski [Bed-Stuy Blog]
First Firefly of the Year Spotted in Flatbush [Flatbush Gardener]
Wisconsin Kids Fix Up Park Slope Church [OTBKB]
Recreating a Brooklyn Brownstone in Washington, DC [Brownstoner]

There’s a book launch party this evening, from 6PM-8PM for The Great Neighborhood Book. It takes place at Christ Church, which is at the corner of Clinton Street and Kane Street in Cobble Hill. The book is from the Project for Public Spaces and its formal title is The Great Neighborhood Book: A Do-It Yourself Guide to Placemaking, by Jay Walljasper. The author will be there to introduce the book, followed by real-life success stories from New Yorkers who have improved their neighborhoods (including East NY Farms, the Hester Street Collaborative, and the Forsyth Street Garden Conservancy). If you’re interested in going, you can RSVP to isla (at) pps (dot) org. There will be wine, cheese and music. You can read more about the book here. Our beloved friend, columnist Neal Peirce–one of the great urban thinkers of our time–says of the book, “Here’s a Declaration of Independence for America’s neighborhoods. It shows how it hardly matters how rich or poor you are, or whether City Hall recognizes your zip code or not. The building blocks for great place-making are revealed and explained — for you to build on.”

1) The rumor floating around in Coney Island circles is that Astroland, which is scheduled to close for good after the summer season and whose rides are up for sale online, will be given a one-year stay of execution. Owner Carol Albert sold to developer Joe Sitt last year and almost immediately began asking for more time on the current site and saying she would like to relocate to another property in Coney Island. (There is only one site that would fit her particulars, the land to the east of Keyspan Park.) In any case, a one-year extension is plausible if Mr. Sitt is negotiating with the city and the redevelopment timetable would only leave the land a vacant eyesore for the 2008 season. Mr. Sitt could easily trade a one-year hold on demolition for a concession he wants from the city. Or, it could be a move to temper some of the hostility toward his project. Alternately, it could very well be a baseless rumor. Interesting enough, though, to pass along. At this point in the weird Astroland saga, nothing would surprise us.

2) The Coney Island/Brighton Beach spot that was supposed to become a glassy highrise called The Sochi at 275 Sea Breeze Avenue, is apparently up for sale. It’s listed as offering “unobstructed ocean views with plans for a residential condominium tower and a community facility located on the north side of Sea Breeze Avenue through to the south side of West Brighton Avenue between Ocean Parkway and West 5th Street in the Brighton Beach Section of Brooklyn.” The building on the site can rise to 27 stories.
The property originally went for $13.8 million. No word on what it will bring now.

The building would be built “as of right,” which means that once Department of Buildings permits are in place, it can go forward. There is no community review. The MTA is said to have already signed off on plans for the building (this is necessary as it adjacent to the tunnel that carries the F and G trains).

Residents that have talked with architect Robert Scarano say he says that a design for a metal clad building that made the rounds widely in the neighborhood “was an additional design concept,” in the words of John Hatheway, who made a lengthy presentation on the plans. “He says it was never their original intention.”

Mr. Hatheway, who has seen revised drawings, says that the new building (which will have 46 apartments and 23 parking spaces) will be clad in a brick-color terracotta. It will be 50 feet tall on Second Place with a four-foot setback and then rise to 60 feet. A penthouse will rise to 70 feet. He described the new design has having “a funky cantilever” that seems to be a “modernist interpretation of a cornice.” The Smith Street front of the building would be 60 feet high.

The building was described as “South Beach in Miami architecture” at the corner of Second Place and Smith with metal balconies, big windows and “things jutting.”

While neighbors already got notices about a month ago that construction could begin and the parking lot on which the building would rise is slated to close on June 30, Mr. Hatheway said that “Robert Scarano is under a lot of scrutiny right now” and that the project is “likely to take a while.”

Resident Triada Samaras, who read an open letter to the meeting, said that the building was too big for the neighborhood. “Development is not bad,” she said. “But the scale of this development is insane.”

Another resident, Zoe Pellegrino said that the community had to create a united opposition to negotiate with the developer for changes in the project. “We can scream and yell but they won’t listen to us,” she said. “The only thing we can do is unite and get someone to work with the developer in a sane way.”

Residents credited coverage of the project on blogs, including Gowanus Lounge, Curbed and Brownstoner for leading to the developer’s willingness to have discussions with the community. Council Member de Blasio, who also mentioned the issue’s extensive online coverage and the fact that online media bring issues to light immediately, said “This is a political question…I called the rally because we thought we had an opportunity to change things. “

Mr. de Blasio suggested that residents continue organizing and offered to develop an action plan of e-mail and letter-writing, rallies and an online petition. “We need to take the power into our own hands,” he said. He also demanded the removal of Mr. Scarano from the project. “He is someone who has routinely violated zoning, has unsafe construction sites and has violated Stop Work Ordered,” he said. “To me, [the developer] can not bring Scarano into the project. Scarano is a proven bad actor.”

Mr. de Blasio said the community has “a chance to end the Curse of Scarano.”

Related Post:
Major New Developments in the Battle of 360 Smith Street

We are pleased to report that the NYPD says that crime is down in Prospect Park and two dozen more cops are now on summer duty in the park, but we hear that marauding chickens are on the loose. Whether they’re escapees from a live poultry place, runaways from a backyard or had to cross a lot of roads to get there, we don’t know. In recent weeks, not one, but two chicken sightings have been reported (different chickens, we think, or maybe the same one…we’re a little unclear). The most recent, uh, free-park chicken was reported at the Harmony Playground, which is near the Prospect Park Band Shell where Celebrate Brooklyn is held. This would make the chicken a stone’s throw from being a resident of Prospect Park West. (The photo here is not one of the actual Prospect Park Chickens. We only learned of their existence when the person that called the cops to report the chicken thanked the local Precinct Commander for the professional way in which officers, uh, dealt with the chicken issue. These, of course, are only the latest in a long line of chickens seen over many years in and around the park.) We don’t know about Chicken No. 1, but Chicken No. 2 was apprehended through interagency cooperation between the Parks Department and NYPD. No word on the bird’s fate and we’re afraid to ask. Maybe they took it to Greenpoint?

“Does this mean you’re coming in?” she joked.

“When you’re open,” we said.

“We’re opening on Thursday and I expect to see you,” she said.

There you have it. Po, which is related to the Mario Batali-created Po in the West Village and whose opening is the most anticipated on Smith Street in ages, will finally start serving food this week. McGrath, by the way, said of Smith Street, “We really love it here.” The original Po, of course, continues feeding the world on Cornelia Street. Po Brooklyn is at 276 Smith.

Our friends at Eater have a fascinating post about Delices de Paris, the bakery/cafe on Ninth Street in Park Slope that is noteworthy for both the fairly public breakup of its owners and its issues with the health department. Apparently, they have passed three health inspections but DOH won’t let them open. Eater reports:

This cafe has already had some controversy with the split-up of its husband and wife owners, but now they appear to be drawing extra DOH scrutiny and are mad as hell about it. About 9 different taped notes explain the reasons for their failure in May (unimportant) and describes their most recent inspection, in which they performed really well, but not perfectly. Something about hairnets, fruit flies, broken refrigerators…Anyway, they are directing customers to complain to the DOH about the closure, and to patronize their smaller cafe on 7th Avenue.

Head over to Eater for multiple pics of the signage. Nothing like a Park Slope mystery!
[Photo courtesy of Eater]

Not everything that was spotted on the Forgotten NY tour of Greenpoint related to historic structures. Take, for instance, this sign. Its maker explained that she made it because someone stole $70 worth of caulk from behind her gate. Miss Heather does an excellent job of explaining the background over at newyorkshitty and we urge you to read. In the photo below, the gentleman of the house displays the sign.

The extravaganza will feature drink specials all night, including VIP accommodations. The evening will have performances by Jill Cunniff (of Lucsious Jackson), The Shapes, Mighty Fine, The Atomic Grind Show – including the Coney Island Circus Sideshow, and a various acts from the NYC Burlesque. Visit the Ball Site for all the information. The event starts at 6PM on Saturday, June 23. Tickets are $10 in advance, $15 at the door and VIP tickets are $50 (and include VIP lounge access and Coney Island USA membership.)

It promises to make an interesting day even more so.

An important vote on that 24-story building that Quadriad Development wants to build at N. 3rd Street and Berry in Williamsburg is coming up tonight. The building was approved by Community Board 1’s Land Use Committee last week. Tonight’s meeting of the full Community Board takes place at 6:30 PM at the Swinging 60’s Senior Citizen Center, which is lcoated at 211 Ainslie Street (at the corner of Manhattan Avenue). Community activist Phil DePaolo is urging a big community turnout to oppose the structure.

In the meantime, today’s Daily News covers the plan. Here’s an excerpt:

Just two years after a major rezoning of Williamsburg and Greenpoint, a developer is seeking another zoning change in return for more affordable housing.

What’s more, this proposal could set a precedent for similar projects throughout the city, both opponents and supporters said.

Quadriad Realty Partners presented a plan last week to build a 24-story residential tower in north Williamsburg, circumventing the current five-story limit allowed in the area. The proposal sparked outrage among residents at a Community Board 1 meeting. They said it would jeopardize protections for low-rise neighborhoods, including ongoing efforts to rezone Dyker Heights, Bedford-Stuyvesant and Fort Greene.

“If we allow them to do this here, we give them the keys to the car. We’re basically undermining every down-zoning in the city – present, past and future,” said neighborhood activist Philip DePaolo of the New York Community Council….

Quadriad president Henry Wollman argued that his proposal was a necessary precedent to meet affordable housing needs. “There are no other solutions on the table,” he said.

Wollman identified a seven-block area of north Williamsburg for rezoning, including a block where Quadriad plans to build the Williamsburg Terrace, which would more than double the allowed density for housing.

In addition, commercial corridors such as Coney Island Ave. and once-industrial areas such as Gowanus would be ideal locations for building more affordable housing, Wollman said.

Quadriad’s plans are still preliminary, despite discussions with the community for more than a year. City Planning Department spokeswoman Jennifer Torres said the agency had not been approached about the proposal.

This is the first mention we have seen by the firm of building highrises in Gowanus.

Remember that Brooklyn College student art show that was shut down last May by Brooklyn Borough Parks Commissioner, Julius Spiegel, who called it not “appropriate for families”? The students won their lawsuit against the city. McBrooklyn directed our attention to a Brooklyn Daily Eagle story on the outcome. The Plan B show opened May 3 in the War Memorial Building in Cadman Plaza Park and was shut down the next day. Many works were destroyed when they were removed by Brooklyn College employees and some were lost. The exhibition reopened in Dumbo courtesy of developer David Walentas.

The students had sued on the basis that shutting down the show violated their First Amendment rights. Here’s the gist of it from the Eagle:

Now, more than a year after the original exhibit was abruptly closed, the city has settled the lawsuit filed by the students. Based on the claim that their constitutional rights were violated when the city revoked their permit to display their artwork and confiscated the art, the city agreed to pay $750 each to the students and their teacher, $42,500 to their three lawyers. Julius Spiegel issued a letter of apology.

So, the students get $13,500 and the lawyers get $42,500, bringing the total cost to taxpayers to $56,000.

Rooftop Films are back. They’ll be holding their first Brooklyn screening of the summer on Saturday, June 16. The screening are held at the Old American Can Factory in Gowanus. It’s located at 232 Third Street at Third Avenue.

Saturday’s screening sounds fascinating–Industriance Shorts: Disaster Management
The Space Age goes terribly wrong, described as “Short, funny, bizarre films.” Door open at 8PM. There’s live music by Zeke Healey at 8:30 and the movies start at 9:00. From 11PM-1AM there’s a wine reception in the courtyard. Tickets are $8 at the door or $5 online here with code: RFJUNE. The films are indoors at the same location if it rains. Check out OTBKB for more information.

• Our Coney Island Shortcakes Friends Have a Baby!!! [Coney Island Shortcakes]
• Coney Island Lager, the Tattoo Brew [Metro]
• Detail on the Mermaid Parade Ball at Childs [Kinetic Carnival]
• Thank God: DiFara’s Will Reopen This Week [Gothamist]
• Brooklyn Food News: Red Hook Vendors and DiFara’s [Lost City]
• Union Market Preps for Fort Greene Expansion [Brownstoner]
• If Lincoln Rd. Gets New Bike Lane, Where Will We Double Park? [Across the Park]
• Carroll Gardens Meeting Recap [Found in Brooklyn]
• Gowanus Concrete Plant Fears Being Given Cement Shoes [Carroll Gardens Courier]
• Someone Arrested in Weird Brooklyn Heights Assault [BDE]
• Kensington Peeping Tom Gets Press [Kensington Brooklyn]
• Cool Burglars in Greenpoint [newyorkshitty]
• Green Streets Coming to Gerritsen Beach [GerritsenBeach.Net]
• Packed House for 808 Union Reading [OTBKB]

In any case, we digress. Here’s a bit of what our contractor wrote about Crater Lake, a photo of which we’ve posted above again as a handy memory refresher:

…As for the hole in the ground here are the facts. 2 stop work orders have been placed, the signage and permits have been ripped down 6 times causing us to get violation after violation. The lock on the gate was cut and the site vandalized, photos were taken of the break in and our attorneys have shown them in court while addressing the violations. The owner has not paid for any insurance (we at our expense are maintaining insurance) and owes my company money. I do not finance other peoples projects, when they don’t pay work stops. The building for this site would be a nice addition to Greenpoint but without the proper funding work stops. It is unfortunate that the community has to deal with this eyesore for now. But we as the General contractors, our hands our tied, unless some of you guys want to pay for the solution.

Which brings us full circle to the point we make again and again: Why is the city virtually impotent–either unwilling or unable to act–when it comes to forcing property owners and developers to safeguard the community and protect quality of life?

Related Post:
Check Out Greenpoint’s Crater Lake

Among the locals, there’s little doubt that the character of old Coney Island — “a combination of the U.N., and the circus, and some spontaneous act,” says Albert — will disappear with the old tenants. And there’s no doubt that personal touches like those brought by the Alberts will leave with them. Each spring, Astroland opened on weekdays around the Jewish holidays for the local Hasidic community.

Before anyone arrived, the park’s staff wrapped fabric around any overexposed mermaid figures in deference to the conservative guests. The park also hosted an annual day for the widows and children of dead police officers — an event recalled fondly by Coney Island native Louie Scarcella, who spent 28 years with the NYPD.

Scarcella remembers opening day at Astroland, when crowds flocked to the 275-foot tall Astrotower (it’s still there). He’s spent his entire life in the neighborhood, and worked as a boardwalk carny before becoming a cop. He’ll be around for closing day at Astroland, too.

Scarcella knows the good times are supposed to return to Coney Island in a few years, but he wonders if it will ever be the same once Astroland is razed.

“Once that’s all gone, Coney Island’s heartbeat will no longer beat,” he says. “Coney Island is going to be put to sleep.”

Contrast that to this:

On a weekday morning, Sitt — in a dark blue pinstriped suit, lighter blue shirt and striped tie — appears incongruous with the local environment, strolling up Stillwell Avenue toward the beach. But it soon becomes clear that he’s equally at home on the boardwalk as in the boardroom…”Every single time I come out here, I get another vision,” he says. “Restaurants, theaters. Everything comes off another visit.”…

“Everybody else is trying to create a Coney Island,” Sitt says. “We are the real thing. You know? We’re the real thing! Anything else is a knockoff of this.”

Interesting.