January 22nd, 2007 · Comments Off on Report Says Gowanus Whole Foods Site Not "Significant Threat" to Safety
The environmentally-challenged site in Gowanus at Third Avenue and Third Street where Whole Foods is building a huge store–most of which will be below ground–is not a “significant threat to public health or the environment.” A draft report by the Department of Environmental Conservation reports that some pollutants including benzene, PCBs and metal cadmium will remain on the site after the cleanup, but that levels at the site will be within acceptable limits. The cleanup plan, which is reported in the Daily News, calls for removal of polluted soil as deep as 10 feet below the surface; more than 11,000 square feet of tainted dirt have already been removed.
The story goes on to note:
The cleanup plan calls for a protective membrane around the foundation to prevent benzene vapors in nearby ground water from seeping into the store. Extra “clean fill” will be placed under a proposed public promenade along the basin.
But some have raised eyebrows about the project’s design and the proposed cleanup.
“We want to be really sure that it’s cleaned up and that it will be safe,” said Lydia Denworth, president of the Park Slope Civic Council, a group that met with the developer recently. “There are more questions that need to get answered.”
The plan is open to public comment until Jan. 25. One group, Friends and Residents of Greater Gowanus, intends to file its opposition to the planned store.
“It’s an environmentally risky area, and they do the worst thing they can do, which is to bury the store underground,” said group member Marlene Donnelly, who said the below-ground space was chosen to skirt zoning rules.
Whole Foods was able to build space nearly six times what zoning would allow on the site by building underground.
Meanwhile, Verizon executives say that any toxic benzene that has been detected on the Whole Foods site and elsewhere around Third Avenue and Third Street isn’t coming from their property. Whole Foods execs say the source of the benzene isn’t on their property either. Where the underground benzene is coming from in Gowanus remains a mystery.
The photographer and photoblogger known as f.trainer (along with Bluejake) apparently got into the old Power Station next to the Gowanus Canal known as the Batcave, which had been occupied by squatters until it was cleared out recently. In any case, the views of Gowanus from the roof are quite interesting as they offer a rarely seen vantage.
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January 22nd, 2007 · Comments Off on Coney Island’s Future to be Determined by Late Spring?
When it comes to a community’s future, 90 percent of what matters is determined in a rezoning. So it will be in Coney Island, where a preliminary comprehensive rezoning is apparently due by late spring. That’s the news reported by the Courier-Life papers in a story by Stephen Witt. Any documents that are produced will be followed by a public review. The land use review process could begin by fall.
Mayor Bloomberg mentioned rezoning Coney Island in his State of the City Address and the major Coney Island development players, Thor Equities and Taconic Investment Partners are said to be frustrated that the neighborhood hasn’t been rezoned. Both firms are hoping to build luxury housing in the area currently zoned for amusements. While the development of hotels and retailing in the amusement zone is not particularly controversial, creation of housing and the shrinkage of the “amusement district” is a hot button issue among some in the neighborhood.
The story says, in part:
It also comes as preservationists worry that the city’s only zoned amusement area will be rezoned to include residential developments near the boardwalk…The much-anticipated rezoning comes after the city formed the Coney Island Development Corporation in September 2003 and a strategic plan about a year later.
The plan’s goals are for a vibrant year-round entertainment destination, enhanced amusement and seaside attractions and a vibrant neighborhood that provides opportunities for local residents.
According to several sources familiar with the redevelopment of Coney Island, the city has not moved as fast as some would have hoped.
Some in the know have speculated that part of the reason why the city has been somewhat slow in a comprehensive rezoning of the area is because of the loss of two key city employees who moved on to other jobs.
Skeptics fear that traditional amusements will all but disappear from Coney Island if the developers demands for zoning that would allow housing in the amusement zone are included in the rezoning.
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Last week, the street art war on N. 6th Street in Williamsburg took an unexpected turn, which blogger INSIJS explained. We shot some photos of the aftermath, of which more will be forthcoming, but found the shot above of an edited version of the “Excrement of Action” poster especially interesting.
It’s Sunday, which means it’s time to present the results of our careful reaading of the land of pathos, loss, missed opportunity, wishful thinking and comedy known as Brooklyn Missed Connections on Craigslist. Today, we turn to an unnamed drinking establishment in Park Slope, where a female drunkenly compliments a male on his “nice ass.”
I was sitting on the sidewalk outside a bar with two friends, when you walked out and we conversed. I told you that you had a nice ass, you said you didn’t have an ass, then you left. I just wanted to let you know that I wasn’t sick from being drunk, I have asthma and the smoke in the bar made my lungs close up. That is why I was sitting on the sidewalk drinking water. Just felt the need to clear that up.
Dude, you should have just accepted the drunken compliment and said, “Thank you, yes, my ass is fine.” The bar was full of smoke?
January 21st, 2007 · Comments Off on South Slope Constuction Mess Gets More Attention
Our favorite South Slope development horror, at 15th Street and Eighth Avenue, continues to draw coverage. This weekend NY1 has been running a segment on the horror and the neighbor’s use of 311 calls and videos to document the problems. NY1 reports:
Some Park Slope residents say a home video best tells the story: construction crews from the lot next door, dumping dirt and soil onto their property.
The crews are trying to fill holes they, themselves, made — as they attempted to build the foundation of the five-story apartment building that will eventually stand there.
“What’s happening is because we’ve never had, there’s never been any shoring involved, our backyards are sinking,” explained resident Tim Pietrzak.
Residents say their backyard is sinking because crews are using pile drivers to get below ground. The soil is destabilized, and eventually falls into large sink holes — threatening the foundations of nearby homes.
Trees, telephone poles and sheds have already sunk.
And residents say when crews realize they have created a hole, they simply use a bucket crane to fill it back up.
“When they’re dumping the dirt over, they’re knocking the poles over,” added Pietrzak. “They’re disconnecting the cable lines.”
Nearly every day, vibrations ring through the string of six homes, causing structural damage and cracks to a nearby church. Boris Gilzon’s backyard was split nearly in half.
“I came home from work Friday and I saw cracks, I saw two huge cracks, one is about ten feet from the property line to the construction site, and the other one is much closer to my house,” said Gilzon.
Since the project began about two years ago, residents have logged nearly 70 calls with 311 and the Department of Buildings. Building Inspectors have visited the site and issued nearly $15,000 in unpaid fines, yet somehow, the work continues.
NY1 has reached out to the contractor, Jack LoCiciero, but so far has heard no response.
But the Department of Buildings said in a statement that it “understands the residents’ concerns and is monitoring this property closely. We have been proactively inspecting the site in addition to responding to the residents’ complaints, and we will continue to do so. The department will not tolerate disregard of the law.”
Here’s a short vid we found via Kinetic Carnival of Coney Island shot from the air in 1991. (Originally posted, it seems, by Feltmans_4_mine on the Coney Island Message Board.) The poster describes it as follows: “A short airplane ride along the beach at Coney Island. Shot in 1991. From Brighton beach to Steeplechase Park. Good view of Astroland Amusement park and the Thunderbolt roller coaster. You can even see the Parachute Jump Ride and the footprint of George C. Tilyou’s Steeplchase Pavilion that has been gone since the 60s.” Click on the embed or on this link.
January 21st, 2007 · Comments Off on Gowanus Back in the Day
Back to the old Gowanus archive we go for another Gowanus Back in the Day historic photo from the Brooklyn Public Library‘s extensive collection of historic Brooklyn pics. The photo, which is not dated, but is most likely of 1950s vintage, is described as “Portion of Gowanus Canal showing Hamilton Avenue beneath elevated expressway; elevated subway line near station at Smith and Ninth Street in background; Brooklyn skyline and water tower beyond elevated subway line; parked truck and automobiles near warehouse in right foreground.” The caption reads, “Hamilton Avenue Bridge — A movable bascule bridge carrying Hamilton Avenue over the Gowanus Canal and placed under the Gowanus Parkway Bridge . . . .”.
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January 20th, 2007 · Comments Off on Honey, We Have Friends in the Backyard
Mayor Bloomberg’s plan to accept photos and videos at 911 and 311 is going to have some eager users in the South Slope. The video below, along with a number of companion pieces which you can see here, here and here, are new on youtube. They concern the ongoing nasty construction situation at 406-408 15th Street, which may be one of the best chronicled problems in all of New York City, yet one which keeps going and going and going.
January 20th, 2007 · Comments Off on Meet the Barclays Center Website
The new website for the Barclays Center is just so full of interesting…things that it’s hard to know where to begin. From the opening screen that says, “Brooklyn Gave the World Inspiration” to the ability to sign up for “construction updates and ticket information,” it’s quite the clicking around kind of place. (Don’t miss the intro flash screens that say “Brooklyn Gave the World Opportunity” with the photo of Jackie Robinson or “Brooklyn Gave the World Memories” with the vintage Coney photo or the concluding screen, “It’s Time the World Gave Something to Brooklyn.”) The image above is a screencap of a model of the project.
Brooklyn’s G Train picks up a pretty diverse array of riders as it runs from Queens’ potpourri of ethnic neighbs through Williamsburg and Hasid central, the Bed-Stuy ghetto, Mafioso Gowanus, and into the Yuptopia of Park Slope. But easily the line’s rappinest ridership hop on board in the Polish stronghold of Greenpoint.
Last night, these two up-and-coming Krakow MC’s were just OWNING the car we were in. Not really sure what they’re rapping about, what with the Polish, but the flow these guys were kicking out to their cell-phone beat-box had the entire rainbow crowd hanging on every unintelligible word. Someone sign these guys, they get on at the Nassau stop every day around 7 PM.
We found this post on a blog called Jolie laide. It’s about a visit to Coney Island in weather that does not make it a year-round kind of place, except for residents. In any case, that’s another issue. The point here is a post that is atmospheric and almost poetic:
Coney Island in the winter is Tom Waits. Debauched, depressed, a glass eye in the bottom of a shot of bourbon. Of course I love it. So even though invitations are stacking up in my mail box, tonight is the long train ride to the end of the F train. Tonight is the coldest night of this winter and only one skell is out, crouched at the corner darkness, curled into a question mark by the wind. The neon of Nathan’s is a harsh burn against the night, and the stark fluorescents inside turn it into a desolate Hopper painting. At a table by the wall two teenagers try to impress each other by how unimpressed they are with each other, while I am personally in awe of how much orange cheez and bacon type food product is on these waffle fries.
There is no one on the boardwalk and the old wooden slats thump echo boot heels. To the right is the blackness of the nighttime ocean, above, with no light bleed from the shuttered beer and clam joints, the sky is black enough to pick out stars. The cold front blasting through is palpable enough, but it announces its presence by singing, making the metal of the closed amusement park moan, the brackets and braces static but unquiet. Back to the open air train station where you can pick out the beat of one train pulling in, and another train pulls through and it counterpoints, then blurs, then is gone.
January 19th, 2007 · Comments Off on Evidence of Winter’s First Snow in Brooklyn
Yes, that was snow this morning. We took these shots around 8:15AM on Prospect Park West in Park Slope. Not much snow, but it sure looked nice, even though it was probably all gone by about 9:30. But, if you slept late and missed it, it was there.
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There is a lot of property avaiable in Williamsburg on both the North and South sides. However, no building in all of Brooklyn or New York City is more available than this one, which is located on Kent Avenue at S. 11th Street, near the Schaefer Landing development. Take your pick of brokers.
We’re fascinated by new buildings that bump up against the Gowanus and the BQE. We understand the old ones that were there before Robert Moses cut a swath through Brooklyn and Queens. We might even get why developers build new buildings right up against it. What confuses us, though, is why people would shell out big bucks to buy a new condo in one or to rent a new apartment ten or fifteen yards from insane traffic and noxious fumes. In any case, one of these buildings has been going up at the end of Court Street at Garnet Street and Hamilton Avenue beside the Gowanus Expressway. A reader wrote us to say that the building had sprouted another two floors while she was away away on a trip:
When I peeked out my front window onto Court, I saw that a building they’d been working on for a few months had suddenly sprouted two floors. Most of the buildings here are ground floor plus two levels above. So you can imagine this thing towers above them all, but ironically whoever might eventually live in those two ‘extra’ floors could almost reach out and shake hands with the motorists on the Gowanus Expressway. Anyway, the building’s on a really busy intersection and it would be hell to live there. The noise of the trucks can be bad enough at times and I’m a bit back from the whole thing… Now that’s a real estate selling job, can’t wait to read the description of those apts.
Of the end of Court down by Hamilton Avenue and the Gowanus she adds:
On 9th between Court and Hamilton Ave there’s a newly built condo block. Weirdly, when I moved in about a year and a half ago the agent said ‘oh there’s this great building across the way, about to open up which will mean better stores, bars down this end of Court. Lovely, sez I, bring on a good grocers down this end of the street but nothing has happened since and the block looks like it was never inhabited since completion. The whole thing’s now for sale. So in some ways, the quiet end of Court hasn’t really taken off as predicted by other agents I heard say similar things a fair while back. Not really complaining as I kinda like our quiet thing.
The deal to put the name of Barclays Bank on the Atlantic Yards Arena is stirring a bit of controversy. On Wednesday, Fans for Fair Play circulated an email digging into the bank’s history. The new Brooklyn Paper’s front-page headline is “Blood Money,” which expands on the bank’s historic connection to the slave trade, its role in World War II and its support for the apartheid government in South Africa, among other things.
Here’s some of what Fans for Fair Play wrote in an email blast:
Ratner has just sealed a deal with a company that didn’t just profit from, but was FOUNDED upon, slave-trade profits (1756). There are other disquieting machinations…apartheid funding, deals with French collaborators during WWII, current loans to exploitive mining operations in Congo, etc.
* a major funder of South Africa’s apartheid regime; * a rotten place for women to work through the 1970s; * sued by French Jewish holocaust survivors for working with French Nazi collaborators during World War II; * funding exploitive mining operations in Congo;
The Brooklyn Paper reports that the company’s senior archivist, Jessie Campbell, defended the bank’s link to slavery in a letter to the London paper, the Guardian, as something that must “be understood in the context of the times,” he wrote. “In the mid-18th century, trading in slaves was the norm.” During the Holocaust, the BP says, “Barclays’ French branches froze the accounts of their Jewish customers. After being sued by Hitler’s victims and their descendents, Barclays agreed in 1999 to pay $3.6 million in restitution. Nazi officials kept the proceeds from Jews’ forced property sales at Barclays, the suit charged.”
Of course, one could criticize many financial institutions, especially ones whose history reaches back a century or more, on dealings 50 or 100 years ago. The same could be said of any number of multinational corporations. So, there will be many opinions around Brooklyn about this information and whether it is fair to bring it up. All that said, as information goes, the background on Barclays is fascinating.
We’re going to spend some time digging into the Gowanus Comprehensive Plan produced by the Gowanus Canal Community Development Corporation, which proposes many interesting things for the neighborhood around the Gowanus Canal, which it divides into North and South Districts. The South District would be an industrial zone and the North District mixed use. The focus throughout would be on green uses.
Having focused on depressing environmental issues yesterday, we’ll lighten it up here and note that the plan envisions new pedestrian bridges across the canal to encourage more walking and biking and access to the canal-side public areas for which the plan also calls. (It also calls for special lighting of existing bridges and of some industrial buildings.) The plan sees up to five new pedestrian bridges, which would be retractable in order to allow boats to pass. That’s a little before and after action above.
January 19th, 2007 · Comments Off on Brooklyn Band of the Week: Dimestore Scenario
How can we pass up a Brooklyn band whose new EP is called The Gowanus Sessions and that rehearses and records on Second Avenue at 15th Street? The band is Dimestore Scenario and lead singer Rachel Federman, whose vocals are alternatingly sweet and powerful, depending, says the band works “right in the heart of that great desolation.” The Gowanus Sessions is being released on January 24 and the band will be playing at Southpaw along with Plaza Toros and Breaking the Silence. Doors at 8PM. As for The Gowanus Sessions, the five tracks are fun. Kickoff track Laila has a definite Belly-esque, Pixie-ish vibe. Return to Guatemala and Contenders have a more pop feel. Descent dips productively into the harder indie rock well and the concluding track, A Million Times at Least, is just flat-out pretty. The band has been through a bunch of personnel changes, but several years ago, Time Out New York wrote that Dimestore Scenario “sometimes reinvents pop.” Check out Dimestore Scenario at their My Space page and their website.
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