Now that the summer is basically here–okay, late spring–the outdoor events are stacking up. One of our favorites is the annual Red Hook Waterfront Arts Festival. The 2007 edition will take place on Saturday, June 2 and there will be some changes. Instead of happening at the end of Beard Street it will move to the wonderful Louis J Valentino Jr. Park & Pier. In the words of the email we received “the cool sea breezes, grassy lawns and breathtaking views of the harbor make it an ideal setting.” If you haven’t been, the park is located at Coffey and Ferris Streets in Red Hook. The festival will run from 10AM-7PM and there are free activities for children and teens all day long. There will be a “Tolerance Tent” where films from the 3rd annual Youth Film Festival will be shown, among other things. There will be a Youth Dance for Tolerance with dance students from South America joining local youth groups on stage. The sponsors write:

Young dancers from Brazil’s renowned Edisca School, from the streets of Cali, Colombia and the local Brooklyn International High School will perform a “dance for tolerance” that they choreograph together prior to the festival. Local youth groups Pee Wee Hoofers, PureElements: An Evolution in Dance, Jow-ile-Bailar Dance Company, Solomon Goodwin Dancers, Final Destination, PS 27, PS 15 and other youth groups will also strut their stuff on stage.

There will also be live dance, music and spoken word performances by Baba Israel & Yako, Earthdriver, and Frankie Martinez’s ABAKUÁ Afro-Latin Dance Company.

There will be free canoe and kayak rides for children from the Red Hook Boaters and Urban Divers. There will be roving circus performers, hula hoop teachers and face painters throughout the day. The Brooklyn Children’s Museum will bring animals for children to pet. A children’s coloring contest will be held during the day. PortSide New York will hold knot-tying workshops for kids and set up a small pool where kids can power motor toy boats. There will also be maritime exhibits and activities at the nearby Waterfront Museum Showboat Barge, and the Brooklyn Public Library’s Kidsmobile will be parked at the festival all day. The event will be closed out with a dance party with DJ Bobbito Garcia (AKA kool bob love). If you don’t feel like taking the bus, New York Water Taxi will be ferrying passengers between Manhattan & Queens and Red Hook every hour.

Last year’s festival was rained on quite a bit, so this year, there’s a rain date, which is June 3.

The Sitt-created blight–which could be corrected by installing temporary amusements–is one thing. But, it is truly a curious thing that as the summer season begins a developer pitching a $2 billion project hasn’t even bothered to prettify the problem or to address the potential public safety hazard that he has created. If we were prone to making extreme statements, we’d call what Mr. Sitt has already done to Coney Island an act of civic contempt that could result in unsavory things as the summer crowds come to the Thor Equities Corridors of Blight. In fact, if we were the types to ascribe underhanded motives to developers, we would suggest that Mr. Sitt has been callous and calculated in creating emptiness and deadness in the heart of Coney Island long before any redevelopment will happen. We might say, in fact, that he is committing a kind of premeditated neighborhood homicide.

But, we won’t say any of those things, because we know the man that calls himself “Joey Coney Island” wouldn’t do any of those things. Instead, we’ll simply say, what a sad and terrible shame.

One of our readers who is thinking of buying a condo on the near the Roebling Oil field site at N. 11th Street and Roebling in Williamsburg wrote in with some information he had obtained from state Department of Environmental Conservation officials. He wrote in part:

I am considering the purchase of one of the condos on the North side of Roebling, I was rather frantic at reading these posts. Freedom of information is a great thing.

Despite some of the posts on the new developments, these are not multi million dollar apartments. In this instance we are looking for a home, relatively close to city (as we are priced out of NYC & unfortunately do not have wealthy families).

He adds that he spoke with the DEC manager for the site who told him that “the North side soil readings are well within health standard Norms,” which we take to mean the north side of N. 11th Street, and that “the tank on that property was removed in 2000.” We assume this means the ruptured tank that environmental maps show was under the condo known as North 11th & Roebling.

He also says that DEC says that there “is no record of an underground water way under this location,” meaning historic maps of Williamsburg that show old branches of Bushwick Creek running directly beneath the properties and under Union Avenue. There is fairly strong evidence from the maps, however, that this is the case. Whether it has anything to do with the oil is another matter.

Our reader also lists the following points:

• The south side of the street did have high levels of contamination.
• The bulk of the clean up work has been finished BUT not completed.
• They are monitoring drill holes on the North & south side site specifically. They have left a part of the South site uncovered, so as to monitor the soil.
• The oil from the south side did NOT originate from the North side. This was confirmed by the normal reading on the North site.
• The baffling part is where did it come from?
• DEC has a number of drill holes on the North & South side to determine contamination levels.
• Awaiting results….

“Baffling,” in this context, is not a reassuring thing. For those who haven’t followed this story, you can see some photos of the “high levels of contamination” on the south side of the street by clicking here. The test well, like the one pictured above, on the north side of N. 11th Street in front of the N11th & Roebling Condo were drilled very recently. It will be interesting to know if and when state environmental officials figure out the source of the underground Roebling oil.

Related Posts:
Potential Roebling Oil Field Neighbor Says Information Difficult to Obtain
From Where Might the Roebling Oil Have Come?
Roebling Oil Field Update: Drilling Begins

Construction permits are supposed to be displayed so that they can be viewed. Technically, we supposed this can be viewed, either by a very, very tall person or by zooming in with your camera lens. This is 246 Bedford Avenue, which is on the block on which Quadriad Development would like to build a number of structures, including some high rises. Well, at least this one is current–all of the permits displayed on the building next door at 118 N. 4th Street that has been in slow-demolition mode since last year had expired on May 18.

The tale of the houses on Duffield Street in Downtown Brooklyn said to have been part of the Underground Railroad, has taken another very, very curious turn. One of the homes–the one in which Joy Chatel, one of the leaders of the fight to stop the seizure of the buildings via eminent domain and to prevent their demolition, resides–is apparently on the market for $4.5 million.

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle’s Sarah Ryley reports on the listing:

The “Downtown Brooklyn Prime Location” — an eight-bedroom, four-bathroom, semi-detached home with a store and the right to build up to 20 stories high — has been listed with RE/MAX for three weeks, and was updated this week with a photograph. But nobody seems to agree on who put the property up for sale.

The home’s occupant, Joy Chatel, has spent the last three years of her life trying to prove that the residence was once a stop along the Underground Railroad in the hopes of saving it from the wrecking ball, and dozens of activists and elected officials have joined in.

Chatel says she wants to turn her home into a museum, but the city’s Economic Development Corporation (EDC) has plans to put an entryway for a parking garage in its place. The city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development held a hearing Tuesday on the property and 20 others on three blocks in Downtown Brooklyn.

Chatel doesn’t own the home she’s been living in for over a decade, which would make it difficult for her to fight an eminent domain ruling. She signed the deed over to her mother in 2004, and her mother, Arnelda Monroe, gave outside investor Errol Bartholomew 50 percent ownership of the property the following year to stave off foreclosure proceedings…Chatel said last week that her attorney, Angelyn Johnson, listed the property without asking, and suggested that Bartholomew was involved…

Johnson, who maintains a law practice on Court Street, was charged in February by the Queens District Attorney’s Office as part of a six-person deed fraud ring, and is still under investigation for other frauds she may have committed, according to the office.

We’d say that the story couldn’t possibly get any more bizarre, but something tells us that it will.

• Groups Dispute Congestion Pricing Poll Findings [Streets Blog]
• Outer Boroughs Question Congestion Pricing [NYP]
• No F or V Service Improvements in Brooklyn Until…2012 [Bklyn Streets, Carroll Gardens]
• Williamsburg Condos with Arts Space [Metro]
• Williamsburg Demolition Site With Unique Fence! [INSIJS]
• The Definitive User Guide to Greenpoint Public Toilets [newyorkshitty]
• Pro Volleyball Tournament Returning to Coney Island in August [Newyorkology]
• Denson Book Offers Wild Ride Through Coney History [Kinetic Carnival]
• Interesting Brooklyn Job: Launch Driver [Sail Brooklyn]
• Where Fort Masonic Once Stood [Brownstoner]
• Sources of Plants for Brooklyn Gardeners [Flatbush Gardener]
• Backless Building in Kensington [Kensington Brooklyn]
• Windows at 155 Water in Dumbo [Dumbo NYC]
• Happy 124th Birthday Brooklyn Bridge [BHB]
• Thai Food for Vacant Fort Greene Corner [Brooklyn Record]
• Clinton Hill Profile: Karen Schwartz, Yoga Therapist [Clinton Hill Blog]
• Bushwick Apartment Roundup [BushwickBK]
• Crown Heights North “Hidden Jewels” Tour on June 10 [HDC Blog]

vBROOKLYN is billed as a video festival about Brooklyn as a place and about video as an artform. It’s now accepting submissions for its next video festival, which will run in (hate to think about it right now) December, 2007. Here’s is some of the verbiage that the festival organizers sent to GL:

The vBrooklyn video-festival documents Brooklyn, NY, USA’s, evolving cityscape, culture and people with contemporary video-art.

Brooklyn is New York City’s most populous borough and would be the United States’ fourth largest city if independent. It’s undergoing a period of intense transformation, both physically and culturally, as more people move into the borough and development hits critical mass.

vBrooklyn is asking video-artists to tape the borough before it permanently transforms, building a dynamic historic record through personal interpretation and literal documentation. vBrooklyn maintains a focus on urban landscape while including works about the people and experiences that make Brooklyn a uniquely strong, identifiable city within a city.

For more information about submitting and about the festival, click over to the vBrooklyn website.

The Times quoted Mr. Armer as saying that “The borough president feels that some of the actions of the board are not in keeping with what he would have liked, and it’s his right to appoint whomever. Or not.”

The story also said:

Mr. Armer said he thought the purge was motivated by “probably a combination of things, with Atlantic Yards being somewhat prominent.” Mr. Strabone said that many board members also differed with Mr. Markowitz on how densely the area around the Gowanus Canal should be redeveloped.

As we were writing this yesterday evening we found that Daily Intel had called Mr. Strabone and reported:

“The next big land-use item on the agenda is the Gowanus rezoning,” Strabone explained, “and the Borough Hall’s eyes are there.” It’s only natural that many of the same CB6 elders who bristled at Ratner would make hay of the Gowanus plan as well. “With Atlantic Yards, there were pros and cons,” Strabone said. “With Gowanus, there’s gonna be a cacophony of opinions. So, from [Marty’s] perspective, it’s a perfect time to put some new, more cooperative, more predictable members on the board.” Okay. Remind us to never patronize the beep again.

(The other big victim of the CB6 Massacre appears to be Mr. Markowitz’s carefully crafted public persona as a cheerful Brooklyn booster. Many residents that have not followed his outbursts about Atlantic Yards were unaware of the Beep’s less smiley side.)

In any case, as for CB6, the purge definitely has broad implications for Gowanus and other major issues. Its role in the Atlantic Yards debate is largely over, unless the contentious project is somehow sent back for a retool if, say, a judge finds the Environmental Impact Review process as legally flawed as a layman might interpret it to have been. Or, if Governor Spitzer decides to put distance between the Pataki legacy on the Empire State Development Corp. and himself.

Its role in the Gowanus rezoning, however, is largely still to come. It will be a high stakes battle with hundreds of millions of dollars in profits hanging in the balance for developers such as the Toll Brothers, Boymelgreen Developers and others looking for a broad residential rezoning, the highest possible densities and lax environmental cleanup standards and big public subsidies for deeply toxic parcels of land. (For a look at the kinds of machinations going on behind the scenes, check out this past post about the Toll Brothers and so-called Sub-Area B.)

A community board with new members that might have had to pass litmus tests on key issues such as Gowanus rezoning or who might require some time to come up to speed on critical community issues, will be helpful to those looking to redevelop Gowanus quickly.

They clearly have an interest. New York City campaign contribution records show, for instance, that Mr. Markowitz received $16,050 from contributors associated with Boymelgreen Developers–one of the key Gowanus developers–during the 2005 campaign and has gotten $9,900 so far for the 2009 campaign, for a total of $25,950. It should be noted that Mr. Boymelgreen contributes significant money to a large number of candidates and office holders in New York City and that developers, overall, are among the biggest contributors to all political campaigns locally, but Mr. Markowitz has been a significant beneficiary of Boymelgreen-related contributions.

UPDATE: Mr. Strabone left a comment, but we want to make sure that readers see it. He writes: “I just want to clarify what I said about the implications for Gowanus. I don’t know what the axed members’ ideas were for Gowanus. I don’t know what Borough Hall’s plans for Gowanus are either. All I’ve said is that, looking forward rather than back, we have another big land debate coming up, i.e. Gowanus, and it’s going to be more complex than voting yea or nay on the DEIS for Atlantic Yards. From Borough Hall’s perspective, they got burned on the Yards by their appointees and probably don’t want to run that risk again. From CB6’s perspective, the board has lost the people with the most knowledge and experience in land use.” He has also written a blog item on the subject on his own blog that is absolutely worth reading.

Related Post:
Sharp Knives: Markowitz, Yassky and de Blasio Purge Community Board 6

We don’t get to see too many of Jotham Sederstrom’s stories online because the NY Daily News still has a pretty dysfunctional website after suffering a series of “improvements,” so we figured we’d point out one of today’s, which is actually up online. It’s about a man who those with long memories might remember, John O’Hara, a lawyer and “political gadfly” who was convicted of illegally voting a decade ago. Given that so many Americans don’t bother to vote at all, it’s quite an achievement to want to vote so badly that you break the law to do so and end up with 1,500 hours of community service and five years of probation, not to mention getting disbarred. Dear God. Mr. Sederstrom writes:

O’Hara, a five-time candidate for public office who was convicted of illegal voting in 1997 and disbarred from practicing law, waltzed into the Board of Elections office in Brooklyn and registered to vote without a hitch.

“It feels great. I’m very happy,” O’Hara said after filling out a voter registration card at 345 Adams St. “Being disbarred, being on probation – that was all rough, but not being able to vote was the worst punishment of all.”

He says he might want to run for District Attorney.

Silly us. We thought that the activity pictured last week at the Whole Foods site and the construction trailer we noted yesterday indicated that the project had a green light. It doesn’t. There are no demolition permits in place and plans for the building were disapproved by the Department of Buildings on May 17. We don’t know the reason for the disapproval–it is most likely something technical. However, as the commenter that brought this to our attention noted, any demolition or construction work going on at the site would be taking place without permits and that is, well, you know, doing work without a permit. If it were taking place, which we’re not saying it is. We assume that the gentlemen in the blue hazmat type suits spotted on the roof last week were doing something totally within the bounds of what is allowed.

There’s an interesting development in the case of the buildings on Duffield Street in Downtown Brooklyn that historic preservationists believe were part of the Underground Railroad network in Brooklyn. As it turns out, the New York State Historic Preservation Office was never contacted to determine whether the buildings are eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. You might recall that the city hired a consulting firm, AKRF, which conducted a $500,000 study that determined it could find no evidence of the historic significance of the house, a conclusion with which preservationists strongly disagree. The city wants to seize the property via eminent domain in order to demolish the buildings and construct an underground parking lot. Council Member Letitia James issued a statement calling for a halt to any seizure of property because of what some are calling “a major omission” and “negligent at best.”

The Historic Districts Council blog and Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn have put up post about the latest development. Here are a few excerpts of Ms. James’ release:

The New York State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) had never made a determination on the eligibility of the Duffield Street Houses to the National Register of Historic Places, the country’s official list of historic properties. Not only has the agency not issued an official determination (according to their records), but agency staff was never consulted about the possibility of the buildings being eligible nor did it seem that the agency was ever consulted about the larger Downtown Brooklyn Plan…

“This is a major omission on the part of the City and their consultants. The basis of the Research Report is that these buildings should not be protected because they are not eligible for any kind of historic recognition – a point that the majority of the peer reviewers disputed. That the government agency who is tasked to make this exact determination was not even consulted seems negligent at best,” said Simeon Bankoff, Executive Director of the Historic Districts Council.

“This process, as it has been followed by the Administration and its paid consultants, essentially seeks to undermine federal environmental protection laws, such as the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Transportation Act of 1966 and the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969; all of which mandate that consideration of the effect of government actions on historic resources. All proceedings should be halted immediately in light of this disturbing revelation,” said Council Member Letitia James.

More developments to follow in this continuing preservation fight.

Related Post:
Duffield St. Underground Railroad Houses Have Hearing

The focus at Brooklyn eminent domain hearing on Tuesday was the Underground Railroad Houses on Duffield Street, but Brooklyn Daily Eagle reporter Sarah Ryley reports another pending taking of property that would otherwise fly under the radar screen. In this case, the city would like to seize property at 95 Rockwell Place and clear the property, although there are no plans for the site. The business that is currently there employs 150 people.

Ms. Ryley writes:

Another lesser-known condemnee is Track Data Corporation, a financial service company six blocks from Duffield that employs 150 people and provides real-time financial and market data. The building, surrounded by parking lots, is within the BAM Cultural District, an area the city wants to turn into mixed-use developments and cultural centers orbiting the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

“Given the fairly small footprint of the building, what could you possibly want here more than a high-tech firm that pays salaries, employs 100 people [onsite] and has been here for several decades?” said Track Data spokesman Rafi Reguer. “What is it that you could replace it with that would be more valuable to the borough?”

The answer was nothing, at least for now.

According to information provided by the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, there is no development in any planning or approval stage that would replace Track Data. A spokesman for the partnership said it’s a normal part of the redevelopment process to clear everything through eminent domain to ensure that all existing property owners or lease holders are vacated when it comes time to build.

Eight lots that were on the eminent domain list yesterday are within the BAM Cultural District, and four have planned developments. A theatre for Danspace and 350 residential units are in the planning process; the Theatre for a New Audience, a 350-seat theatre, is in the approval process; and a small park is proposed atop one of the parking lots.

Read the rest of Ms. Ryley’s coverage. It’s fascinating stuff in a bizarre government taking of land for no apparent good reason kind of way. Urban renewal, anyone?

Post-Purge:

• Beware the Wrath of Marty Markowitz [Gothamist]
• Marty’s Purge is About Gowanus [Daily Intel]
• Marty Markowitz is Not Really a Very Nice Man [Gumby Fresh]
• Brooklyn’s Community Board 6 Gets Punished [No Land Grab]
• The Purge: Revenge of the Clown [Daily Gotham]

Not Purge-Related:

• Joan Millman Not Convinced About Congestion Pricing [Streets Blog]
• Con Ed Notes Atlantic Yards Burden in Rate Hike Request [AYR]
• How About Coney Island as a Vertical Theme Park? [Kinetic Carnival]
• Developer Blight in Sheepshead Bay [GerritsenBeach.Net]
• New Condo Project on Atlantic [Set Speed]
• No Borders at One Hanson Place [Brownstoner]
• Major Dumbo Retail Newswrap [Dumbo NYC]
• Weekly Food & Drink Roundup [Brooklyn Record]
• Two Workers Injured in Red Hook Demolition Collapse [NYT]
• Brooklyn Brewer Wants Land: In Gowanus, In Red Hook. Wherever. [NYO]
• Brooklyn Greenway Meeting Tonight [Bike Blog]
• Don’t Demo Domino Benefit [WPA]
• New Williamsburg Street Art [INSIJS]
• F Train Follies: Sometimes I Hate People [Z. Madison]
• Is This a Greenhouse? [Clinton Hill Blog]

For a take on how this makes residents nuts in other neighborhoods, check out this Open Letter to Dennis Leary posted by 11222. It says, in part, “Please stop taking all our parking spaces and disrupting life for needless blocks on end. You do not put up the parking signs with the mandated notice, and you make the boyfriend call the Mayor’s office for TV and film to complain at least twice a month. You would sing ‘The Asshole Song’ to yourself if you lived here and had to deal with ‘Rescue Me’ hogging Greenpoint constantly.”

The final death toll of the Community Board 6 Atlantic Yards Massacre is nine, which is a little less than had been predicted, but a stinging blow to an institution that had raised legitimate questions about the big development and its impact. The list of members that were not reappointed was circulated late yesterday. Together the dismissed members had about 150 years of combined service. The purge was carried out by Borough President Marty Markowitz along with City Council Members David Yassky and Bill de Blasio.

Mr. Markowitz removed five CB 6 members. Council Member Yassky removed three CB6 members and Council Member de Blasio removed one. Members Jerry Armer, Angela Beni, Bill Blum, Barbara Longobardi and Marilyn Oliva were removed by Mr. Markowitz. Council Member Yassky purged three members–Pauline Blake, Al Cabbad and Theresa Ricks. Mr. de Blasio removed Madelaine Murphy.

Rumors of the purge had been circulating for months as have stories about Mr. Markowitz’s often angry (some say screaming and raging) confrontations of CB6 members that opposed Atlantic Yards.

Member Jeff Strabone, whose term is up next year, told the New York Times: “It’s a shame to punish people for having independent judgment. On the one hand, in order to have fresh blood on the board there has to be change, but losing this much leadership at once is a bloodletting.” Atlantic Yards Report offers complete analysis of the dismissals, including the notation that Mr. Armer, who was dismissed, was “hardly a flamethrower.”

(It should be noted that we got at least one email from a local activist that called the turnover “healthy,” but said that it shouldn’t have happened because of opposition to Atlantic Yards.)

Some GL Analysis
What is interesting about the CB6 purge isn’t that it happened–that’s hardball politics in the big city–but that it again shines a spotlight on the awful Atlantic Yards process. We have long felt that the process was both deeply flawed and largely undemocratic–so much so that few public officials even cared about creating an appearance of bona fide public participation. The CB6 dismissals strengthen the belief that Mr. Markowitz and other supporters were unwilling to tolerate basic legitimate questions about the project’s impact on the community or an honest assessment of its public costs. CB6 did its job by raising questions and representing the community.

We understand that politics is politics. When Richard Nixon didn’t like the way the Watergate investigation was going, he exercised his Presidential power and fired the investigators. The current Attorney General is in hot water for putting the screws to U.S. Attorneys. At the end of the day, one of the perks of position and power is the ability to fire those whose performance displeases you.

Yet, the CB6 Purge gets to the reasons that Atlantic Yards has had such a sadly divisive and deeply corrosive impact on Brooklyn politics and on civic discourse. One clear culprit has been the absence of real participatory democracy in a project that will impact the quality of life in surrounding communities for generations to come. Had the planning process not been handled as a top-down exercise, the outcome might still have been the same, but some of the bitterness and civic poison might have been diluted. (We remember the huge discussion session held at the Javits Center to get public input about rebuilding of the World Trade Center site. It didn’t make a difference in the convoluted planning and development process, but it gave thousands of people a sense that their opinions were being heard.) A real public process would have allowed for an airing of strong feelings and led to real modifications of the proposal that reflected legitimate community concerns. It would have tempered some resentment. It might even–gasp–have led to broader support.

CB6 was one of the institutions that tried to represent community concerns. To have members that raised them symbolically taken out and shot for speaking their minds, is fair political game, we suppose. But it’s indicative of the political sickness that surrounds Atlantic Yards. And it will have implications for other important work, like the Gowanus rezoning, in which CB6 is involved.

We remain convinced that a generation from now, someone will be teaching an urban planning course that uses Atlantic Yards as the case study of how not to plan a major public project. In that context, the CB6 Atlantic Yards Massacre will be an interesting footnote.

Related Links:

• Ironies of the CB6 Purge: Jerry Armer, Flamethrower? [AYR]
• Project’s Foes Shown Door in Brooklyn [NYT]
• Arena Foes Slam Dunked [NYP]
• Markowitz Boots Board Members [DDDB]
• What Is Community Board 6? [OTBKB]

Choosing just one winner for the Greatest McCarren Park Eyesore Award is 20 Bayard…is a strong contender.

Work there has proceeded through a partial stop-work order, and now the subway ad campaign has begun.

Dana reports (in email):

Today on the 7 train (man, I wish I’d taken a photo) I saw a poster for a new Wbgh development called 20 Bayard. Ever seen it? It has four portraits, vaguely Warholesque, of a Hasid, a hipster, a white couple… I can’t remember it exactly. But the tagline! The tagline was: Williamsburg: Radically Chic, Chicly Radical.

Dear God. Say it ain’t so.