May 31st, 2007 · Comments Off on The Downtown Brooklyn Landrush
We’re a day late and a dollar short in getting to this, but it’s worth noting that in this week’s Village Voice, Neil deMause deals with the mega-development in the making called Downtown Brooklyn and the collateral damage in the form of people being evicted to make way for the new development. It is not a pretty picture, and it is a story that has been overshadowed by Atlantic Yards and other development-related issues. A couple of copy and pastes from the story:
While Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards megaproject and the insta-towers popping up across Williamsburg have gotten more attention, an equally big land rush is stalking downtown Brooklyn in the wake of a rezoning approved by the city in 2004. Around the corner from…Willoughby West, the city is planning to raze a half-block of buildings to make way for a public plaza and underground parking garage for a Sheraton hotel already under construction across the street….
Another block east, Albee Square Mall merchants wait anxiously for word of their fate after its owner (and would-be Coney Island condo builder) Joe Sitt of Thor Equities sold the property to a consortium with rumored plans for a 60-story tower of condos, offices, and shops.
It is a long article with a lot of detail and definitely worth adding to this week’s information consumption list.
That building that could rise at Smith Street and Second Place in Carroll Gardens has, um, struck quite a chord in the neighborhood. First, we got an email from our original tipster noting common ownership of the lot at 360 Smith Street where the eight-story Heavy Metal Building designed by architect Robert Scarano would go and of the neighboring school. It also noted that apparently the building has been changed from shiny silver to more of a red brick design. Another email arrived to note that the MTA, above whose stop the building would rise, has apparently signed off on the project.
Then, someone emailed us to note that a large number of flyers had been taped up around the entrance to the Carroll Street subway stop. We stopped by to check on them yesterday evening and found two flyers–one of them reproducing our post from the other day and another calling for neighborhood action to change the plans for the building. Our emailer wrote:
Tonite I saw flyers all over the subway entrance at smith st and carroll street (entrance where the newstand is)…..there is sure to be opposition to this project as it is massive and ugly!…PS the flyer is pretty hilarious 🙂 and is signed by “Athena Lloyd Wright” (the great grand daughter of Frank Lloyd Wright’s first cousin by marriage). Below I quote the flyer:
Yes we all know it’s coming (“progress” in our Beloved Brownstone Brooklyn neighborhoods). But does it have to be massive, over-scaled and disrespectful to our existing scale and style of architecture and to the quality of our environment and way of life??? Hmmmmm
(This is a no-brainer here)…There is a better way! Let’s all work together to find it!
Please Please Please get involved ASAP! Time is of the essence!! There are many options not only one, e.g.:
1) Attend the Carroll Gardens Neighborhood Association Meeting June 11 at 7:30 PM at Buddy Scottos’ Funeral Parlor to discuss the 360 Smith Street Building Project.
2) Contact CB 6. Vanessa Twyford is our new CB 6 member. Congratulations Vanessa! (Twyford Realty Court Street). The other massive development project on the table this week: Smith Street between Fifth and Ninth Streets……
3) Blog away! Where? At Gowanus Lounge.com; Curbed.com; Brownstoner.com and several others. Let your views be known
4) Write to the local and daily newpapers
5) Contact your local politicians
6) Drop two thousand flyers by airplane
7) Make the “Manhattanization of Brooklyn into a hit reality TV show
8) Cry (you only get ten minutes, sorry)
9) Invent your own action!
Sincerely yours, Athena Lloyd Wright The great grand daughter of Frank Lloyd Wright’s first cousin by marriage
The flyer is pictured below. We don’t think we’ve heard the last of this by a longshot.
You know the circus that Thor Equities and developer Joe Sitt want say they are bringing to Coney Island this summer? Yesterday, we were going to crack a joke about how animal rights activists would complain. Well, the circus that will be coming is Cole Bros. and animal rights activists have complained bitterly about its alleged abuse of animals; the circus was even investigated by the Federal government for its treatment of its elephants. (It stopped using elephants in 2004.) A 2003 Sarasota Herald-Tribune article was headlined, “Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros. Circus facing animal cruelty charges.”
How you feel about all this probably depends on how you feel about things like elephants having been abused with bullhooks, tiger cubs that died after being taken from their mother and allegations of inadequate veterinary care. We won’t even get into the clown convicted of sexually abusing a teenage assistant because it’s too creepy to contemplate.
We take absolutely no pleasure whatsoever in relating any of this and will note that many of the allegations are several years old. Charges of cruelty, etc. have been made against virtually every circus, particularly Ringling Bros. However, here’s a sample of verbiage from circuses.com, which is affilated with PETA:
Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros. has failed to meet minimal federal standards for the care of animals used in exhibition as established in the Animal Welfare Act (AWA). In April 1999, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) filed formal charges of AWA violations against Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros. because the elephants showed signs of being abused with sharp metal bullhooks. They were charged with animal cruelty in August 1999 by a New Jersey humane society for overloading and overworking an elephant. Two elephants, who were described as malnourished and neglected, died suddenly within a two-week period in August 1999.
Apparently, the same circus has set up during the summer in Marine Park. A poster on the Coney Island Message Board mentions that they had some, um, problems a while back in a park in Queens when one of their tigers got loose and, uh, wandered around a bit and also had an upset elephant-related issue. Someone else writes:
They are also one of the worst offenders of animal abuse in the world of circus animals and it’s amazing they have not been shut down yet. Seemingly appropriate that Thor Equities would choose such a group to perform on that property.
While we’re not animal rights activists, but we love animals a lot, and it makes us sad to know that creatures are imprisoned and abused for our entertainment. Frankly, we liked the Coney Island Go-Karts and Batting Cages better.
Just in case you were thinking that the South Slope is the only place in Brooklyn with a crack problem, we can verify that Greenpoint has one too. What you are looking at is a photo of 131 Meserole Avenue, which was submitted by our intrepid and very focused Greenpoint correspondent. The problem would appear to have been caused by construction next door at 133-135 Meserole, unless 131 was doing crack for a long time before digging started. (The developer of Armory Plaza in the South Slope contends, for instance, that the notorious crack building at Eighth Avenue and 15th Street was cracked out before the project began and that the gaping hole next door has absolutely nothing to do with neighboring buildings being undermined.) Regardless, 133-135 is under Ye Olde Stope Work Order because it is “undermining adjacent property” and because of “holes found” in the foundation of cracked out 131. The photo below, by the way, is the front of the building that’s on crack.
For those of you curious about the new East River State Park in Williamsburg, we’ve got sixty seconds of video for you, available by clicking the embed below. We also understand that there is a petition going around in Williamsburg asking the state park managers to put an end to the “No Dogs” policy in the new park. That didn’t take very long.
Hotel Le Bleu is coming to Gowanus and, along with it, Le View of the Gowanus. Gabby Warshawer reports on the Real Deal that Le Bleu will open on July 1:
“Brooklyn’s first boutique hotel,” according to developer Dominic Tonacchio. Rooms at the Andres Escobar-designed Hotel Le Bleu at 370 Fourth Avenue will have iPod docking stations, glass-walled showers and 42-inch plasma TVs. Rates will run between $149 and $249 a night at the property, which is scheduled to open July 1st. The 48-room hotel is sandwiched between a taxi depot and an outpatient dialysis facility. Le Bleu’s elements of high design–which also include a lobby enclosed in blue glass and a rooftop restaurant and lounge–seem somewhat incongruous on a Brooklyn avenue primarily known for its truck traffic and fast food joints.
May 30th, 2007 · Comments Off on Brooklyn Nibbles: Williamsburg & Greenpoint Edition
A few food and retail developments to report on the North Brooklyn front:
1) It looks like there will be a plethora of new pizza choices (well, at least two new ones) in Williamsburg soon. We’ve previously noted the impending coming of La Nonna at 237 Bedford. The always watchful Will Femia takes note of yet another place on his Test of Will blog, the Fratelli Brick Pizza Joint at 159 Grand. Of course, you’ve also go the Brick Oven Gallery on Havemeyer, Fornino on Bedford, some good pizzas coming out of the oven at Baci & Abbracci on Grand and others.
2) The spot on N. 12th Street across from McCarren Park that was a very short lived Amazon Cafe and then was supposed to be Patisserie Lafayette now sports a chalkboard saying that it will have sushi and Japanese cuisine. A restaurant storefront of death in the making?
3) If the signage is correct, a new flea market on N. 6th Street will be opening this weekend (Saturday, June 2, to be exact). It’s on an empty lot between Wythe and Kent sort of across the street from Galapagos. Of course, you’ve already got the ersatz flea market every weekend on the sidewalks on Bedford.
4) We haven’t ventured down there yet, but New York Magazine notes that the new Greenpoint outpost of the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory on Commercial Street is open. Now, the opportunity to get some of that ice cream without waiting on the insanely long lines at the waterfront branch is something about which to be happy.
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We haven’t seen these ads for 20 Bayard, which is one of the Karl Fischer Row buildings on Bayard Street along McCarren Park. The blog Copyranter has, though, and in addition to posting the photo seen above, has this to say:
Stupidly Idiotic. Idiotically Stupid. I have given NYC real estate ads a rest lately, because all NYC real estate ads are fucking moronic. But when Twenty Bayard, “Williamburg’s premier parkfront condominiums,” sticks the above sort-of Warhol knockoff in front of my face on the A train, I gotta dig out my camera. Who are those people? Did you do a photoshoot? Are they friends of yours? Models? Do they all live in Williamsburg? Who cares, right? With four succinct words, you’ve perfectly captured the essence of New York City’s hipster enclave. And what an attractive building you’ve designed! Neighbors are thrilled, I’m sure.
May 30th, 2007 · Comments Off on Here’s the Water Slide Thor Says It Will Put Up in Coney Island
In case you’re curious, the image above is the Hippo inflatable water slide that developer Joe Sitt says he’s going to put up somewhere on the Coney Island property that he made vacant this winter and that is currently surrounded by plywood fences. You can check out the slide here on the manufacturer’s website. If you’ve demolished anything and want one of your own for your empty property, you should know they take American Express. The big water slide is 36 feet tall, 47 feet wide and 168 feet long. The top platform is three stories high and it’s a 40 degree drop. The manufacturer estimates gross revenue of about $29,000 a week. Most operators charge $2-$4 for a single ride, about $10-$15 for an hourly pass or $20-$30 for a full day pass. It takes about 6 hours to set up and comes with three days of training. One of the slogans on the website is, “When it comes to attracting thousands of families to your location, size does matter.”
May 30th, 2007 · Comments Off on Say What?: Alternate Side Parking Edition
We continue our series on signs that have been rendered odd or hard to read by construction, graffiti or other issues with this specimen from Williamsburg, which has a whole lot of compromised signage.
May 29th, 2007 · Comments Off on Coney Island Mega-Focus #4: Memorial Day 2007 Photos
If fewer people are going to Coney Island this year, as some have claimed, it would have been impossible to tell yesterday, when the place was jammed. If you don’t like the slideshow above, you can go over to the flickr set here.
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May 29th, 2007 · Comments Off on Markowitz to CB6 Purge Victims: You Never Call, You Never Write
The CB6 story reverberates today with Borough President Marty Markowitz‘s first official statement since he, Council Member David Yassky and Council Member Bill de Blasio purged nine members over (a). their votes on Atlantic Yards or (b). the upcoming Gowanus rezoning. Jotham Sederstrom has Mr. Markowitz’s comments in today’s Daily News:
You can cross Marty Markowitz if you want, but give him a courtesy call first.
Following a week of public scrutiny for his decision not to reappoint nine Community Board 6 members, the borough president vehemently denied his actions were in retaliation for their opposition to aspects of the Atlantic Yards project.
“I was not given the courtesy by the members of this board to contact me — as the person who appoints them — and say, ‘Marty, we want to vote against Atlantic Yards,'” Markowitz said.
He goes on to say, “If my intention was to be vindictive, and to make sure that everyone that voted against Atlantic Yards was to be removed, you understand I had the power to do that.”
He also says: “I’m not going to say I don’t have a temper every now and then, but overwhelmingly I don’t. But I was not happy about the community board’s vote. I’ve made no pretention about that.
Well, that clears things up.
[Photo of Mr. Markowitz at the BWAC show in Red Hook courtesy Gowanus/flickr]
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May 29th, 2007 · Comments Off on Coney Island Mega-Focus #3: Circus Coming to Town?
Are Coney Island developer Joe Sitt and Thor Equities trying to put a kinder, gentler face on their Coney Island project and dampen some of the controversy it has generated? Could be. Today, they send word via the New York Post that one of the big parcels of land that they cleared over the winter and that is now surrounded by a big plywood fence, will be reanimated a bit during the summer. The Post reports that land on Stillwell Avenue will be getting a giant inflatable water slide and a 2,000-seat big-top circus tent. The circus will perform up to three times a day, but only from July 30 through August 5. There will also be a 40-foot-high by 120-foot-long water slide called “The Hippo,” open from June 23 through Labor Day. Movies will also be shown on a big outdoor screen from Monday, July 9 through August 27.
If you want to see more photos of what the area looks like right now, click here. Yesterday, there was a police car stationed on Stillwell next to the big fence watching the crowd, dumpsters overflowing with trash bags sat on the boardwalk end of the street, a few vendors sold bottle water, and a Mr. Softee Truck was doing a good business selling ice cream.
East River State Park finally opened this weekend and we like it. It is wonderful to finally have open space on the water that can be accessed without climbing through or over fences. While the site has an interesting environmental legacy–as does neighboring land to the south where those luxury condo towers are going up and land to the north where a Manufactured Gas Plant was once located, plus the Astral Oil Works–it creates 7.5 acres of new parkland in Williamsburg. If you don’t like the slideshow above, you can go over to the flickr set by clicking here.
May 29th, 2007 · Comments Off on Coney Island Mega-Focus #2: Good & Bad News on Trash and Developer Blight
The busy Memorial Day weekend found good news, and bad, on the trash and developer blight front in Coney Island.
First, the good news: It appears the city has learned how to pick up trash on the Coney Island boardwalk. Overflowing trash cans were not in evidence yesterday and the boardwalk was not particularly strewn with garbage. Trash cans were actually emptied into trash bags, although we didn’t see who was doing it.
Now, the bad news: The property owned by Thor Equities, and surrounded by that huge plywood fence erected by developer Joe Sitt was, to put it politely, a little rough around the edges. Hopefully, some positive change is coming by the end of June in the form of a circus and a water slide. In the meantime, perhaps Thor could hire someone to maintain its big fence and clean up?
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The Daily News is looking into the dark side of the development boom in Brooklyn and elsewhere around the city that has been chronicled by many bloggers, but which has gotten only fleeting attention in the mainstream press. What the paper finds comes as no surprise to residents whose quality of life has been violated and to those following the fallout of the Great Building Boom of the Early 2000s: myriad safety violations, developers and builders that ignore the law with impunity, residents whose homes are literally being undermined and a city government that is either (a) mindbogglingly incompetent, (b) stunningly disinterested or (c) frighteningly corrupt. Put every borough in the city together, and it could well be one of the bigger scandals in recent municipal history. Yet, the fact is that the problems associated with the Development Industrial Complex have barely caused a ripple in the print and broadcast media, other than occasional investigations by the News.
Low-rise middle class neighborhoods battered and overwhelmed by the construction of high-rise condos for the wealthy.
Residents forced to flee their homes or pay massive repair bills because of shoddy and dangerous construction – often performed by contractors working on projects next door or nearby.
Abuses by architects and engineers in the self-certification program, where they attest that regulations have been met without an independent inspection.
Developers who ignore fines and penalties, or treat them as the cost of doing business.
Workers forced to work in unsafe conditions while being cheated of their rightful wages.
Two articles, so far, have focused on the South Slope, which is one of citywide poster children for Battered Neighborhood Victims of Developer Abuse. One of the articles deals with the battle over the Katan Towers at 182 15th Street. Another article deals with damage caused by 226 16th Street, where two workers were also seriously injured. A third story deals with one of our favorite topics, the Armory Plaza, the development at 406-408 15th St., between Seventh and Eighth Aves., which has caused the widely chronicled crack problem in neighboring buildings. Of this hard-hit part of the South Slope, Brian Kates writes in the News:
Few areas of the city have been more hard-hit by building boondoggles than a small swath of Brooklyn known as south Park Slope. Here, in just four blocks on 15th St. and 16th St. between Fourth and Eighth Aves., irresponsible builders have damaged adjacent properties, forced families to evacuate and assaulted the neighborhood with demolition dust and construction noise for at least three years, a Daily News investigation shows.
Just in case anyone thought it was all in the imaginations of those that have been fighting to bring attention to the problems for a long time.
May 29th, 2007 · Comments Off on Testing for Toxics Under Gowanus Playground?
We have reported a couple of times about the potentially toxic threat under the Thomas Greene Playground in Gowanus. Located at Third Avenue and Douglass Streets, the park sits atop the former site of a Manufactured Gas Plant (MGPs) of the Fulton Municipal Gas Company. The plant operated from 1879 to 1943. MGPs are notorious for leaving behind an underground toxic stew. (You can read our earlier story here.) The Public Place site in Gowanus, for instance, is the site of a former MGP.
In any case, the park has been proposed as the site of a new skate park and, now, some officials are saying that testing for toxics is in order. In fact, Craig Hammerman, District Manager for Community Board 6, told the Brooklyn Paper, “It would be foolhardy for the city to spend public money on a park only to have to come back some time later for a cleanup.” Various consultants’ studies and EPA testing have found that there are toxics sitting beneath the site, which is in keeping with the highly toxic legacy of MGPs. The Parks Department apparently says that toxins are too far underground to cause any threat. The main toxic leftover of MGPs is coal tar. It can migrate thousands of feet underground on the water table over time. Interestingly, nearby properties have recently been purchased for residential development in advance of a hoped-for Gowanus rezoning.
May 29th, 2007 · Comments Off on Coney Island Mega-Focus #1: Coney on the Cusp of Change Panel
The Municipal Art Society is sponsoring a “Coney Island on the Cusp of Change” panel on Wednesday, June 6. It looks like they’ve put together an interesting lineup for the panel including: Coney Island Development Corp. President Lynn Kelly, Coney Island History Project President Dan Pisark, Aaron Beebe of Coney Island USA and Ari Shalam of Taconic Investment Partners. (We notice one fascinating omission, but don’t know if that’s because Thor Equities has declined to participate or hadn’t confirmed.) The discussion will take place from 6PM-8PM at the Urban Center, 457 Madison Ave., Manhattan. MAS encourages reservations. You can RSVP via email at rsvp@mas.org or call the MAS office at (212) 935-2075.
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May 29th, 2007 · Comments Off on Upcoming Community Board 6 Meetings
Purges aside, Community Board 6 will be continuing its important work in the community. Here are some upcomings CB6 meetings and hearings. (You can always check out the full calendar of events here.):
May 31 Landmarks/Land Use Gowanus Hearing–Continued discussion with representatives of the Department of City Planning on topical issues for the future planning of the Gowanus Canal corridor. Topics to be addressed at this meeting include the prioritization of the Guiding Principals and how they relate to the land use framework. The meeting will take placed at P.S. 32, which is located at 317 Hoyt Street (Union & President Streets). The start time is 6PM.
June 11 Public Forum–On Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s bill to amend the New York State domestic relations law in relation to the ability to marry, which would provide same-sex couples the same opportunity to enter into civil marriages as opposite-sex couples. CB6’s Executive Committee will convene after the Public Hearing to formulate its recommendation. The meeting will take place at Park Slope United Methodist Church, which is located at 410 6th Avenue (between 7th/8th Streets). It starts at 6PM.
June 13 General Board Meeting–The General Board Meeting of CB6 will take place in the Auditorium at John Jay High School, which is located at 237 7th Avenue (between 4th & 5th Streets). The start time is 6:30 PM.
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What can one say about this sort of palatial look, which was photographed for us by our Greenpoint correspondent, and all that Fedders action on Leonard Street in Greenpoint? The pink brick with the serious maroon decorative element? The ground-level garages with the metal doors? The only thing we can say is: What were they thinking?
If you head down to Coney Island today or any other day this summer, be careful where you walk. The dangerously deteriorated boardwalk is still nasty, with sagging and teetering boards, protruding bolts, holes in the wood, splintered edges and more. (A small stretch in front of Astroland and Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park was replaced last year and is in great shape.) We wrote this same item last year, and while the boardwalk seems to be slightly less hazardous to your health this year, there are still ample opportunities to break your face or sprain an ankle and get a chance to meet one of the many nice and friendly NYPD officers patrolling the boardwalk as they call EMS to cart you away to the Emergency Room. We haven’t seen any statistics, but it is our understanding that there were a large number of injuries last year and, to judge by the bad condition early in the season, this year probably won’t disappoint. The city has cited the unusual wear and tear caused by the NYPD driving on the boardwalk as well as the fact that sand is directly underneath the boards and contributes to rot. What we don’t understand, however, is how it is cheaper to settle trip and fall injury lawsuits than it is to fix the boardwalk. (Not to mention why it is okay to allow conditions to persist that allow people to become injured.)
The boardwalk is an embarrassment in its current condition and the city can certainly afford to fix it if it wants, but nothing will probably happen until Thor Equities or another developer asks that it be fixed because too many customers walk in bloody and bruised. In fact, if Thor and Taconic Investments and other would-be Coney developers had any civic spirit they would already have chipped in for a boardwalk overhaul rather than looking at Coney Island simply as an investment opportunity to be exploited.
May 28th, 2007 · Comments Off on Park Slope Tree Guards Multiply Quickly
Workers have been toiling at installing these tree guards in Park Slope this spring, particularly along Prospect Park West, Eighth Avenue and, recently, Fifth and Sixth Streets. We don’t know how many have been installed, or will be, but you’ll know they’re coming to a tree near you by the square boxes painted on the sidewalk around the trees long before the work is done. Some people are taking advantage of the new space around trees by doing mini-landscaping and planting. The one negative we’ll note is that they take up an awful lot of sidewalk space, but we’re sure that both the trees and the sidewalks will do better with them in place. Money for the tree guards comes through the Borough President’s office.
Comments Off on Park Slope Tree Guards Multiply QuicklyTags:Park Slope · Streetscape
The Kiddie Beach in Gerritsen Beach had its opening day yesterday and some great photos like the one above were posted by GerritsenBeach.Net, a blog we totally enjoy that brings news from that corner of Brooklyn. We love the photo above, so we figured we post it and direct your attention to another part of Brooklyn as it celebrated the start of the summer season and Memorial Day.
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