We know. Picky. Picky. Especially the two-by-fours with rusty nails sticking out of them (see below). (For the record, a lot of construction sites in Williamsburg that we saw had issues with the wind. However, the Quadriad site was by far the worst we saw and the most wide-open demolition site in the neighborhood.)

It’s bad enough that developer Thor Equities is shutting down rides and throwing people out long before it ever moves a shovel of dirt or has its Coney Island plan approved. But, imagine that sinking feeling in the pit of the stomach when we tripped across the following headline Global Warming + Hurricane = Goodbye Coney Island. It comes from xinhuanet.com, which is Xinhua, the Chinese news agency, and we found it thanks to a blog called Weather News, which is produced by Elaine Meinel Supkis. Here’s a taste of the Xinhua story:

A new computer model using data collected from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the National Hurricane Center reveals a substantial rise in sea levels during the next century caused by global warming, combined with a hurricane, and New Yorkers could kiss Coney Island goodbye.

Researchers also said the Rockaways, much of southern Brooklyn and Queens, portions of Long Island City, Astoria, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Queens, lower Manhattan and eastern Staten Island, from Great Kills Harbor north to the Verrazano Bridge could be submerged.

Sea level around the city could climb 15 to 19 inches by 2050 and by more than three feet by 2080, according to the model. “With sea levels at these higher levels, flooding by major storms would inundate many low-lying neighborhoods and shut down the entire metropolitan transportation system with much greater frequency,” said study team member Vivien Gornitz of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies and Columbia University in New York.

This is really an extension of a story we posted on Friday about hurricanes and rising sea levels–and, of course, the writer’s in the People’s Republic don’t know that some people are already kissing Coney Island goodbye–but it’s still interesting to note Thor’s new luxury condo highrises could be in the water rather than waterfront at some point in the not unspeakably distant future. (Nature always gets the last laugh.)

The blog from which this all came goes on to describe in some detail the history of erosion in Coney and environs, including relating the story of the Brighton Beach Hotel, which was moved on rails away from the shoreline to prevent it from being swallowed up by the sea.

Cool Read of the Day:

• Surprising Seagate [Runs Brooklyn]

Other Reads Du Jour:

• Blogarithms: Gowanus Lounge Discusses Brooklyn’s Growing Pains [Metro]
• Coney Creep Show at the Freak Show Uses Redevelopment as Creepy Villain [NYDN]
• Three Men in a Room: How to Change Our Dysfunctional State Govt. [AYR]
• The Great PUPkin [Clinton Hill Blog]
• Greenpoint, Part 2 [Boroughed]
• A Windy Day in Red Hook [Riffs and Licks]
• Walking Tour of Atlantic Yards Footprint [AYR]
• Out of My Gourd [Dope on the Slope]
• Vinegar Hill Historic District Sign [Dumbo NYC]
• Bank of America Cleans Up a Bit on Seventh Avenue [OTBKB]
• The Unreality of Atlantic Yards [Metro]

Z. Madison, a blog we always enjoy, emailed us to note that she had posted this Domino’s ad for “Brooklyn Pizza.” The ad was posted on youtube (where else?). It is both totally offensive on one level and deeply amusing on another. We’d never post a commercial, but if someone is trying to sell a “Brooklyn Pizza” using Brooklyn and Italian stereotypes, what can you do? The “Brooklyn Pizza,” as far as we can tell, features “extra large” sausage (dear God) or pepperoni. Go over to Z. Madison to watch it (you should go there, anyway) or click on this link or click on the embed below. Us, we’d rather eat discarded pizza from the curb outside Grimaldi’s than call Domino’s–this is Brooklyn, after all, and we have more pizza choices than you can shake a stick at–but what do we know?

If you’re interested in gettting a handle on the proposed mega-project called Atlantic Yards and learning about the community which it will erase or impact deeply, your moment has arrived. Norman Oder, the man behind Atlantic Yards Report, will be offering a walking tour of the “footprint” on Saturday, Nov. 4. Mr. Oder’s coverage of the proposal and the controversy is easily the most comprehensive and intelligent of any journalist or blogger, so getting a tour of the area from him will be an opportunity to learn a tremendous amount about the project.

The tour will be offered on Saturday, November 4, at 1:30 p.m. The cost is $15/person. The rain date is Sunday November 12 at 1:30 p.m. Given that Mr. Oder does not give Atlantic Yards thumbnail treatment, the tour will last 2-2.5 hours. Meet up point is the Williamsburgh Savings Bank, Hanson Place at Flatbush Avenue. More information is available in Mr. Oder’s post about the walking tour or by clicking here for his New York Like a Native tours site.

There are few guarantees in life, but one of them is that you will know a lot more about Atlantic Yards and its impact after you spend some time with Mr. Oder.

We found this embed, from a few days ago, on Kinetic Carnival, our favorite Coney Island news source. We didn’t see it when it aired–it’s the TV version of all the Coney eviction stories–so we figured we’d post it. It’s worth a watch, as it offers the interesting perspective of some of the ride operators and business people being evicted.

Meantime, here another comment left on the Coney Island Message Board by someone with some local roots:

I know that condos are coming and there will be decibel noise ordinances passed because of it. Kiss the days of rising the Wonder Wheel at 2am goodbye in the near future. You’ll see 10 or 11pm closings to accomodate the millionaires who move in.

I get a kick out of the cheerleaders here for big development. They could care less about any of you unless you are putting big money in their pockets, not nickle and dime nonsense. The fact that they want Hendersons torn down shows you how they have no respect for its past. I remember seeing Sitt in some news piece waxing poetic about bringing back Coney to its glory days and that he’s a Brooklyn boy and all of this public face crap. The guys a money hungry phoney just like all of them. I don’t buy any of it…

Check out the vid clip below if you didn’t see it when it aired.

We usually don’t run this many photos in one day, but this is another sunset photo from yesterday evening, shot at the future East River State Park on Kent Avenue in Williamsburg. The railroad tracks in the foreground are remnants of the time when a large part of the waterfront in Williamsburg was the Eastern District Terminal.

Pictures:

• Playing with Traffic on Atlantic [seriously excited!]
• Gowanus Cement Factory [bluejake]
• Big Top Pee-Wee [justiNYC]
• Clinton Hill Haunted House for 10/28 [Clinton Hill Blog]

Words:

• Supermarket Dreams in East New York [NYT]
• PLG Halloween, 5:30 Sharp [Across the Park]
• South Slope Wood Frames [IMBY]
• Photos of Brooklyn Farm Houses at Underbridge Pictures in Dumbo [NYT]
• Myrtle Ave Retail Answers [Clinton Hill Blog]
• More Thoughts on Park Slope’s Tempo Presto [OTBKB]
• Atlantic Yards Letters: Be Very Afraid [NYT]
• Smart Mom: Kid Got the Runs? Send ‘Em to School [OTBKB]
• What’s a little puke (and the runs) in School? [I’m Seeing Green]

If You Need a Reminder:

• Spring Forward, Fall Back [Living in Victorian Flatbush]

Here we go again. GL–and every other blog hosted on Blogger–will update at some point today, whenever blogger gets around to solving the exact same technical glitch that afflicted it yesterday. We’re updating very early today for a Sunday morning, thanks to the time change, but the posts will appear when Blogger allows them to appear–maybe in ten minutes, maybe in two hours, maybe in six hours.

We apologize, again, for the “technical difficulties.” This reminds us, though, that we have got to follow up on our long-delayed plan to switch to our own server and domain and to kiss this little corner of the Google empire goodbye.

Although, we do, again, enjoy the excuse to run a funny image. Thanks for the laugh, at least, Blogger.

It’s the weekend, and time for that exercise in pathos, frustration and comedy called Missed Connections on Craigslist. This week, we abandon our usual haunt–the subway–for a gem that comes from a bar in Williamsburg. We found this one so, um, compelling and–sorry, Mr. Writer–such a freaking scream, that we can’t pass it up. We almost think it’s made up, but the scary part is that it might not be. Here it is:

Fork in the Road of Williamsburg – m4w – 28
Let me refresh your recollection of the evening. Me with my posse of Wall Street buds enjoying some brews in your hood while listening to some tunes. You there with your irritating hipster friends. I could see that you were all alone, surrounded by those pencil neck geeks and troll-like women. Our eyes met. Your mouth opened, you smiled, and you nodded in my direction. But then that Zelda with you began cock blocking me, and your group left. Mine stayed to catch the game.

I want you, Hipster Girl. I want to show you my loft in cutting – edge SoHo, which is where the real artists live. I want you to have a taste, just a taste, of the espresso that I am. I want you to ride the rocket that is my life. It’s pretty sweet.

Ditch the dorks and meet me, Hipster Girl of Williamsburg. Apart, we grow cold, but together we can make a wonderful beat on the bongo of my life. (Please do not write back if you have an STD.)

We have nothing to add to that.

Honorable Mention:
missed connection with vegan/vegetarian thanksgiving – 23

Our apologies for the late update of GL today. Blogger, which we use for Gowanus Lounge, was in major meltdown for most of the day, causing us to be unable to update GL in a timely way for the first time since we started it.

We’re sorry for their lame performance,–and for the fact that it’s not the first time in the last couple of weeks that we’ve encounted it–although it does provides with an excuse to run the nifty image to the right.

Picktchuz:

• Raul in a Canoe on the Gowanus Canal [bluejake]
• Greenpoint Cloud [New York Nitty Gritty]
• Brooklyn Dinosaurs [Frank Lynch/flickr]
• Brooklyn Industries at Smith and Atlantic [seriously excited!]
• Gowanus Studio Tour Photos [Dahl’s House]
• Torag-Gowanus Canal [gowanus/flickr]
• A Cement Factory in Gowanus [bluejake]
• Gowanus Canal [Joe’s NYC]
• Greenpoint Primary Colors [Test of Will]
• York Street [nautical2k/flickr]
• Pumpkin Head on 2nd Street [seriously excited!]
• Brooklyn Train Car [Pro-Zak/flickr]
• Berry Street Balloons [justiNYC]

Woids:

• Broken Angel’s Past and Future [Brooklyn Record]
• Record Fort Greene Rental? [Set Speed]
• Sunset Park: NYC’s Most Sedentary Neighborhood [Sunset Parker]
• Books and Cooks [Windsor Terracean]
• Big Rock in Fort Greene [NYT]
• Single in the Slope [OTBKB]
• Fire Damages Historic Park Slope Church [1010wins]
• 1847 Segway Spotted in Red Hook [I’m Not Sayin]

Both:

• Equine Surprises in Gerritsen Beach [Runs Brooklyn]
• Starrett City: A City Within a City [Runs Brooklyn]
• Camera in the Kitchen at Williamsburg’s Egg (aka Sparky’s) [Gothamist]

• Williamsburg’s Old Dutch: Shrinking and No Longer Dutch
• Gowanus Whole Foods Update: “Glassy” Plus Parking
• “Open Letter” to Brooklyn Landlords About Gentrification
• Meier’s OPP Make GAP More Pedestrian-friendly
• Wrecking Ball Update: Broken Angel and Admirals Row
• Northside Piers Offering More Renderings, Floor Plans

There goes the neighborhood, originally uploaded by TrespassersWill.

There is no way to understate our horror at finding this photo of a graffiti removal van in Williamsburg. We are so shocked, we’re putting it up as a late afternoon posting. We came across it while scouting for photos for tomorrow’s links on A Test of Will.

Graffiti removal in Williamsburg. What diabolical thing will they think of next?

Noooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sure, hurricane season officially runs through Nov. 30, but we’re more likely to get hit by snow than a hurricane between now and then. All of which makes the dire warnings about how New York City was ripe to get slammed by a hurricane and submerged seem like alarmism. Or not. The fact that there were only nine named Atlantic storms this year and none that hit the mainland U.S. is being chalked up to an El Nino that has developed faster than expected.

In other words, wait until next year. Or, the year after, depending on how El Nino plays out.

That having been said, check NASA’s predictions in an article run on physorg.com about global warming and what hurricanes will do to New York–and especially to Brooklyn–once sea levels start to rise. (Which they are projected to do in a serious way by about 2050.) So, go ahead and laugh it all off if you want, but when a hurricane hits, and especially long-term, we’re screwed:

With sea level rise, New York City faces an increased risk of hurricane storm surge. Storm surge is an above normal rise in sea level accompanying a hurricane. Hurricanes are categorized on the Saffir-Simpson scale, from 1 to 5, with 5 being the strongest and most destructive. The scale is used to give an estimate of the potential property damage and flooding expected along the coast from a hurricane landfall. Wind speed is the determining factor in the scale, as storm surge values are highly dependent on the slope of the continental shelf and the shape of the coastline, in the landfall region.

A recent study by Rosenzweig and Gornitz in 2005 and 2006 using the GISS Atmosphere-Ocean Model global climate model for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projects a sea level rise of 15 to 19 inches by the 2050s in New York City. Adding as little as 1.5 feet of sea level rise by the 2050s to the surge for a category 3 hurricane on a worst-case track would cause extensive flooding in many parts of the city. Areas potentially under water include the Rockaways, Coney Island, much of southern Brooklyn and Queens, portions of Long Island City, Astoria, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Queens, lower Manhattan, and eastern Staten Island from Great Kills Harbor north to the Verrazano Bridge.

Of course, you can look at this two ways. The blue on the map above shows flooding in a Category Three storm with current sea levels. So, you see, increased sea levels won’t make things that much worse! We feel better about 2050 already.

Don’t be surprised next summer when you show up to Coney Island and find your favorite ride is just a memory.

The bumper cars, batting cages, the Zipper and a slew of carny games are among some of the long time tenants who have been ordered out by owner, developer Thor Equities, when their lease is up in December. It’s all part of Coney Island’s redevelopment makeover to make it more respectable…

In other words, the effort to recapture Coney Island’s past glory starts with erasing it’s past. Get it?

To add new material to the story, there’s some sense that evictions took everyone, including the city, by surprise and that there may be pressure to give the tenants another years. Meanwhile, here’s what someone who is apparently one of those being evicted has to say over on the Coney Message Board where this topic has generated much conversation:

I DO love Coney Island, and I am happy that someone finally wants to do something, but, “I” have a great attraction, and “I” wanted to STAY and be part of the NEW Coney Island, and have been told that just wouldnt be possible, we dont fit in with what they want to do.

If its entertainment and amusement, WHY wouldnt my ride fit in?

Its very well maintained, and has something people love! Actually, it combines a few well liked elements!

Get it now? “I” want to stay and be part of it! I dont want to go, I DO want new and marvelous things, but NOT condos.

To recap: In a week’s time, we’ve discovered that nearly two blocks of Coney Island will be a ghost town next summer. What will Thor do with the properties? Demolish everything? Use them for parking?

Perhaps, there will be a reprieve for the 2007 summer season if the city forces it. Emptiness or another year to live–it’s a very bad omen of the way Thor intends to treat Coney.

This fourth week of October in Brooklyn was dominated by stories about things that are ending or about to come to an end, many of them via demolition.

The evictions at Coney Island made everyone stand up and take notice that an era appears to be coming to an end. The Henderson’s Building, one of the spots being cleared, looks destinated for demolition. It’s not that we had any particular love for the Go-Karts or the Zipper or the Batting Cages, all of which are also getting kicked out, but they are part of the Coney Island landscape and there is no reason we can fathom that one would toss them out at least a year in advance of any redevelopment project breaking ground. (Apparently, the evictions ticked off the city, so there could be a last minute reprieve for a year.) What is coming is most likely a shrinkage of the amusement area in Coney Island so that it will be limited to Astroland and Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park. The rest of Coney? Condos, a hotel and a shopping mall type of thing.

Whereas the Coney story saddened us, the steady progress toward demolishing Admirals Row in the Brooklyn Navy Yard so that a supermarket can be built made us sick to our stomach, particularly the matter-of-fact spin that officials put on the story. It also led some normally even tempered people to voice a great deal of hostility toward a number of elected officials, particularly the Mayor and Borough President Marty Markowitz, who seem to have their hands on the controls of the wrecking ball. Or is it all about going shopping rather than history?

There were inklings of progress on saving Clinton Hill’s Broken Angel, with an architect donating services, but the entire issue of paying for changes needs to be resolved before anyone pops open the champagne.

Of course, there was a beginning too, of sorts, to try to prevent the wrecking ball from taking bigger whacks out of Prospect Heights: the big eminent domain lawsuit against Atlantic Yards was filed on Thursday. The Bruce, though, expects final approval of Atlantic Yards by the Empire State Development Corporation sometime in November followed quickly by the Public Authorities Control Board. The Mayor, apparently is not a fan of the Control Board’s “three men in a room,” except for Atlantic Yards, of course.

On other fronts, it is going to get somewhat easier to cross Grand Army Plaza without being run down and killed by a car. Although Atlantic Avenue looks like it’s destined to get a lot worse before it gets better. It might take a while, because people have been trying to “calm” its traffic for a long, long time. Maybe it would help to have a Richard Meier building with apartments starting at $1M like Grand Army Plaza does? On the other hand, maybe they should keep Grand Army as a Death Race against cars because a whole bunch of Brooklynites can use the exercise.

Oh, and did we mention that Williamsburg is so screwed it isn’t funny? Now, go soothe any upset you feel by buying some wine and cheese on Bedford Avenue.

Yum. Yum.

[Photo courtesy threecee/flickr]

It’s on. What will be the decisive lawsuit over the Atlantic Yards proposal was filed in Federal court yesterday by eleven property owners and tenants within the big footprint of the proposed Forest City Ratner Atlantic Yards project. The suit was filed in the Eastern District and seeks to stop New York State from taking property for “the developer’s private benefit” via eminent domain. The suit says that the use of eminent domain for the project is unconstitutional.

Defendant in the suit include Governor George Pataki, FCR President Bruce Ratner, Empire State Development Corporation Chairman Charles Gargano, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff, Forest City Ratner Companies, Forest City Enterprises and others.

The text of the press release is available here and you can download a PDF of the filing by clicking here.

The lead attorney, Matthew Brinckerhoff calls the case “a textbook example of what the Fifth Amendment expressly prohibits: the taking of one citizen’s property in order to benefit a powerful and influential private citizen.” The legal case is complicated, but the property owners and tenants argue that use of eminent domain in this case “is precisely what was forbidden by the majority in last year’s controversial Supreme Court Case — Kelo v. New London.”

Stand by for a great deal of litigation.

The Lawsuit Has Arrived:

• Yards Controversy Goes to Court [AYR]
• Legal Shot Fired in Atlantic Yards Fight [Curbed]
• Suit Alleges Abuse of Eminent Domain [Sun]
• Suit Seeks to Dunk Arena [NYPost]
• Ratner Plan Hit with Suit [NYDN]
• DDDB Makes a Federal Case of It [The Real Estate]
• Full Text of Lawsuit Announcement Release [No Land Grab]
• Suit Challenges Eminent Domain [NYT]
• Groups Aiming to Block Project Cite Eminent Domain [NY Law Journal via NLG]

Halloween is Coming:

• Halloween in Brooklyn [About Brooklyn]
• Halloweenish Things to Do [OTBKB]
• Doggie Halloween Parade [Brooklyn Heights Blog]
• Halloween on Washington [Clinton Hill Blog]
• Halloween Approaches [Englishman in New York]

None of the Above:

• Some Coney Island Rides Won’t See Another Summer [Gothamist]
• Rides, Games Being Forced Out of Coney Island [Metadish]
• Coney Project Includes Ouster of Rides, Businesses [1010wins]
• Going to See the Community Board [Sunset Parker]
• Montgomery Place Sale Sets Slope Record [Brownstoner]
• And the Streets Shall Flow with Wine and Cheese [Excellence Makes Wack Irrevelant]
• Bank of America: A Blemish on Seventh Avenue [OTBKB]
• Homebuying for Hipsters [Brooklyn Record]
• Gowanus Canal and Manhattan Views at New Hotel [Taksa’s Dump]
• Bumper Cars on Atlantic Avenue [Brooklyn Papers]

So, it’s Halloween weekend and that means that there are, like, dozens of Halloween-related things to do in Brooklyn alone. (Let alone all the parties.) Excellent lists of official events are available through About Brooklyn and Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn. If you’ve got kids, the Number One activities are in Prospect Park on Saturday (10/28) and Sunday (10/29). They include the Haunted Walk and Carnival on Saturday from Noon-3PM. (UPDATE: Unfortunately, as of Noon on Friday, the event has been canceled because of expected bad weather; other park events are still on, though.) Plus, on Saturday and Sunday there is the Haunted Carousel from 12 – 5 PM. ($1.50 per spin.) Scary stories at Lefferts Historic House from 2:00PM-3:00PM. And something described as “a critter-fest in Prospect Park with lots of spiders, worms, and other creepy creatures that are sure to make your skin crawl! Creepy crafts, live critters and hands-on experiments” at the Audubon Center from Noon-5:00PM. Also, there are special activities at the Zoo, including a “legendary haunted barn.”

Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn has posted a very detailed listing of events that is absolutely worth checking out. There is also a long and comprehensive list of Halloween events that’s a little more adult-oriented, in addition to covering the kiddie landscape, at About Brooklyn. It, too, is another must click.

Eight renters received notice last week from their properties’ new owner, developer Thor Equities, telling them to be out when their leases expire Dec. 31…Norman Kaufman sees a downside to the changes. Kaufman, who owns batting cages, go-cart tracks, a boat ride and a rock climbing attraction on Stillwell, said he won’t be able to relocate anywhere nearby.

“We’re talking about losing one-third of Coney Island,” said Kaufman, who has operated in the area for 50 years. “They purchased most of the usable area. I couldn’t go into Coney Island if I wanted to.”

Yesterday (Wednesday), several more Thor tenants, including the Go Kart track on Henderson Walk, got the boot. Now, you might not bemoan the loss of batting cages or go karts, but what’s interesting is that the evictions mean that a significant part of Coney will be devoid of life during the next summer season.

While Thor’s plans for Coney haven’t been announced, it is widely believed that they will not be replacing any of the lost amusements and will instead be building retail and residential properties. Coney’s short-term future is crystal clear: 2-4 years of vacancy and construction, starting in 2007.

Related Post:
Developer Starting to Clear Out Its Coney Properties?