August 25th, 2006 · Comments Off on Trouble in Boymelgreen Land
Given developer Shaya Boymelgreen‘s plans for Gowanus and presence in Park Slope, Dumbo and other Brooklyn neighborhoods, we’ve long been fascinated by news of his doings. In this week’s Brooklyn Papers, Ariella Cohen reports at length on Boymelgreen’s latest trouble: an investigation by Attorney General Eliot Spitzer into claims by 200 construction workers that they’ve been denied overtime pay for three years. (Note the inflatable rat, which is somewhat visible in the photo here, that’s been parked in front of Boymelgreen’s 75 Smith building for some time noting the missing overtime pay issue.)
Cohen also reports that Spitzer’s office is “arbitrating complaints from Park Slope condo owners who bought Boymelgreen apartments only to discover that the windows didn’t keep out the rain, walls weren’t properly insulated and bad engineering meant moldy cellars.”
A little more from Cohen’s excellent article:
The developer has been banking on the market power of Brooklyn’s stroller revolution since the late 1990s, snapping up gritty residential blocks and remaking them. With Park Slope Estates and two other bucolically named condo developments on Second and Third streets between Fourth and Fifth avenues, he introduced bigger, luxury-styled condos to what was then a fringe of Park Slope.
This year, he expects to finish construction on the 12-story luxury Park Slope Tower on Fourth Avenue at Fifth Street as well as another apartment tower on Second Street and Fourth Avenue, and a condo-hotel at 75 Smith St., at Atlantic Avenue in Boerum Hill. Over the next decade, he plans to bring the same family friendly luxury living to a four-acre parcel he owns on the banks of the Gowanus Canal. And he’s a big player in DUMBO, where his 23-story Beacon Tower and a 12-story building a few blocks away would add 135 units of luxury housing to the hot neighborhood one subway stop from Manhattan.
He’s been the target of protest by labor unions that have demonstrated near his sites with an inflatable rat. Now, not only construction workers are paying attention.
Cohen’s article also contains sidebard detailing Boymelgreen’s projects, problems and partnerships that is absolute required reading.
We’ve previously reported on the breakup between Boymelgreen and Israeli industrialist Lev Leviev, as well as Boymelgreen’s sell off of property in Miami. So, the rich detail that Cohen provides only intensifies our interest in whether Boymelgreen will remain a significant Brooklyn presence or whether his interest is already shifting to Israel, India and other countries.
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Nevermind the fact that the New York Times discovered the Red Hook Soccer Fields this week. Porkchop Express, the superb food blog that offers up so much more than swine, is still busy eating up a storm at Red Hook’s Latino sidewalk restaurants. The net result is a complete–and we mean thorough–guide to virtually every stand that you will find at this wonderful weekend food festival. Porkchop has done a superb job producing the ultimate guide to the sidewalk eateries.
Porkchop’s write ups include in-depth information about the food by way of explanation, detailed reviews, background on the owners and more.
Consider this excerpt from Porkchop’s review of the ceviche mixto at Rojas Ecuadorian:
It’s a generous, welcoming assortment. Lime, onion, and fresh herbs greet the nose, while plump rosy shrimp urge the eyes to get the brain to tell the hand to have some already…I experimented with a little fresh lime (not necessary) and extra salt (ditto), but really enjoyed dashes of their hotsauce. The thick puree of green chilis and scallions added a little zing to the schwing, without detracting from the delicate flavor of the seafood. And no matter how we tampered, one thing was clear: this was a winner.
August 25th, 2006 · Comments Off on SHERBERT: Brought to You by the Coney Island Shortcakes Crew
When we stopped by to get a shortcake at Coney Island recently and to see Dan Weise and Kalene Rivers at their stand in front of Cha Cha’s, we also scored a copy of the new issue of SHERBERT, the excellent literary, art and photography magazine that they produce. Issue 6, the “Personal Space” issue, has been out for a couple of weeks. It clocks in at 64 pages and comes with a hand printed, hand numbered cover. The limited press run is 1,000 copies. The mag comes with a 6″ wooden ruler to determine Social Distance, a mix CD from Nobot media, a design it yourself postcard from Smiling Disease. One of the treats about going to Coney Island this year has been getting a great strawberry shortcakes and spending some time talking with Dan and Kalene, but we don’t want you to get the idea that they’re just about shortcake. They are both graphic designers who are behind Thundercut and are the editors of SHERBERT. Stop by and say hello, get a shortcakes and, even better, get a copy of the magazine, which is produced with love, right here in Brooklyn.
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“Raucous” is having its day in the sun. There are no less than four headlines today (so far) about the Atlantic Yards hearing that use the word “raucous“–as in “Raucous Meeting” or “Raucous Hearing” or “Raucous Crowd.” A Google News search of “Raucous” turns up a dozen results, all of them articles about last night’s big public hearing on Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn, not counting AP’s account which was published in multiple newspapers. (In addition to calling it “raucous,” the Star Ledger said it was like “open mike night at a mud slinging contest.”)
All of the comments about the, well, raucous nature of the hearing and the crowd aside, one begins to sniff the end game in the making–the trimming of the project that is likely to occur so that prominent backers like Borough President Marty Markowitz can be big supporters while saying their efforts led to a somewhat smaller project. Markowitz suggested that the Williamsburgh Savings Bank should remain Brooklyn’s tallest building rather than losing its status to Frank Gehry’s 620-foot “Miss Brooklyn.” He also said some fo the buildings nearest Prospect Heights had to be smaller and that traffic and parking solutions are needed. Even the Regional Plan Association’s surprising quasi-endorsement of the project yesterday contained important caveats about taking a hard look at the “second phase” of the development and a slap at project planners for their failure to plan for transit and transportation improvements.
Our awe of the day is reserved for Norman Oder’s superb and thorough coverage of last night’s events, which trumps all the other coverage. Mr. Oder has produced what is clearly the definitive report of the day about the seven-hour-long hearing and one which, by virtue of his fetish for detail and accuracy, is likely the most trustworthy account of events. If you read one account of the hearing, make it his Atlantic Yards Report article.
If you know Third Avenue in Gowanus around 9th Street, you will understand why this item has a sad ring to it, especially because the area can be a little desolate. We will let the reader who emailed pick up the narrative:
I live on 10th St between 3rd & 4th, so I’m always interested in the state of 3rd Ave. As rents rise on 5th Ave, stores start to trickle downhill. I was excited to see 3rd Ave’s first cafe open around the beginning of the summer, between 8th & 9th St, in what had been a closed tattoo shop. I’ve been gone most of the summer and didn’t get there until yesterday. It’s a cozy little spot with couches and wifi, but the owner said he’s closing at the end of the month, because he gets no business. He was very friendly, but pretty bummed out.
I felt so bad for the guy. He was obviously trying for a mix of the Yemeni & Muslim pocket (it’s a hookah bar, too) and Powerplay moms & dads. But there’s not much foot traffic, and he thought the prostitutes were scaring away customers.
I would love to see a 3rd Ave that can support more than auto repair and building supplies. The Waterloo Bridge theater didn’t make it, and I have yet to see Lemurplex actually be open (or the gallery on 11th).
The reason there’s no foot traffic is because there’s nothing to go to. This guy was not tuned in to what will work on 3rd Ave. here and now, and it’s sad to see him fail.
So long live auto repair and building supplies, I guess. It could be a lot worse.
Lemurplex’s website lists evening classes that have been going on and says that a fall performance schedule is coming.
Chalk up another interesting business for Red Hook. Boutique soap maker Saipua, orginally of the Hudson Valley, which makes all natural olive oil soap, is opening a retail outlet at 392 Van Brunt on August 26, its first NYC retail space. The 250 square foot boutique will feature Saipua’s soaps, plus flowers and some other products. According to Soap Wire, the Red Hook location “will serve as the hub for Saipua’s wholesale business while offering a location for retail customers to peruse the large selection of soaps in person and consult on custom soap orders. The storefront-lab will operate thematically and change with the seasons. The shop’s launch will focus on the owners’ Finnish heritage and sauna obsession.”
“Sauna obsession”? In any case, Saipua soaps are made off food-grade vegetable oils, butters, herbs and extracts. Each bar is hand cut, cured, and wrapped in hand-stamped papers. Saipua products are currently sold in small boutiques across the US. Saipua is a mother-daughter-boyfriend and sometimes father and sister team. The word is derived from the Finnish word for soap.
If you can’t get enough of that Coney Island goodness, then check out this nicely done vid from a website called dueviste.com, which is a bloggy sort of site that takes a look at “two views” of things. The article that goes with the video features Coney Island and Barcelona. There’s another on Red Hook and Park Slope. These are not insidery views in a lot of case, but still fun. You can watch the Coney vid–which has U2’s “It’s a Beautiful Day” as soundtrack, so leave it on or turn the sound off depending on your taste–by clicking on the embedded vid below or on this link.
For those that have missed previous posts and maps, we offer up the beauty below, which is way more frightening than anything Gowanus Lounge ever managed. Douglaston Development, which is creating “The Edge,” a mega-highrise project on the Williamsburg waterfront, has prepared this eye-grabbing map and brochure of Future Williamsburg. Call it the graphic evidence of The End of the funky, hipster neighborhood that everyone knew and loved. The map, in all its glory–note the 1.5 million square feet of space (about 100,000 of it retail) the project will include–is reproduced below. (The good news: Another Water Taxi stop!) Pile driving is in full swing on the two-square-block parcel between Kent Avenue and the East River.
Today’s news is that the developer is opening a sales office at Bedford and N. 6th in the retail space where Spacial used to be, whose current asking rent is in the $8,000 per month range. Gaze and weep.
Special GL Questions of the Day: How early will people start lining up for the Atlantic Yards Public Hearing? Did anyone camp out overnight? How many people will be turned away?
August 23rd, 2006 · Comments Off on Return to McCarren Pool: More From Pool-Aid
As far as Gowanus Lounge is concerned, you can never have too much information about McCarren Pool. It’s one of the places in Brooklyn about which we’re a little obsessed. As you might recall, there has been no lack of discussion and controversy about the pool’s future, particularly after the series of big shows produced by Live Nation were announced.
In any case, we hadn’t heard much from Pool-Aid in a couple of weeks, so we went looking and found that their website is up and running. It has information about what they’re doing and some very interesting photos and history about the pool. Pool-Aid is just one of many groups that have worked to try to bring the pool back as part of the community, including Park Moms, GWAPP, NAG, McCarren Park Conservancy and the Independent Friends of McCarren Park.
Pool-Aid’s Manifesto:
As long as the pool is a performance venue, it should showcase a diversity of cheap or free programming.
We don’t want Live Nation swimming in our pool. They already have hundreds of venues they can hold profit-making concerts in: why do they need a public park? Let the other kids play.
The community should control the pool, dealing with day-to-day operations and the long-term vision for the space.
Pool-Aid’s Solutions:
Ensure that Live Nation doesn’t get an exclusive contract for the pool.
Transfer the control of the pool to the neighborhood, book cheap or free programming reflective of our community in the space, and to gather community consensus to determine the long-term use of the space.
You can also contribute to Pool-Aid and get addresses and numbers to call and write about this historic pool’s future. There are other groups doing a lot of heavy lifting trying to determine McCarren Pool’s future, such as Independent Friends of McCarren Park, which are involved in this effort.
As for Pool-Aid, they’re having, um, letter writing happy hours at Union Pool on Mondays and Pool-Aid Man made an appearance at Sunday’s Pool Party at McCarren Pool.
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August 23rd, 2006 · Comments Off on Brooklyn Video: McCarren Pool Dodgeball
One of the fun parts of the free shows at McCarren Pool this summer is the dodgeball game. Take a quick look by clicking on the embedded video below or on this link.
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If you read Gowanus Lounge from time to time, you know we dig Coney Island. One of the more interesting Coney websites/undertakings belongs to the Coney Island History Project. The organization is putting together oral histories of Coney Island through the Coney Island Voices project. Voices is an oral history archive that preserves the stories and memories of people who visited or lived and worked in Brooklyn’s famous playground. The project’s founders are Carol and Jerry Albert, who own and operate Astroland and the Cyclone roller coaster. The executive director is Charles Denson, a Coney Island native and author of the award-winning book Coney Island: Lost and Found.
Check out the site and listen to recordings of people like concessioneer Arthur Melnick and 1932 Coney Island fire survivor Goldie Durlester.
The group has an oral history booth set up at the Brooklyn Public Library through October for those that have Coney stories to record.
A number of organizations and individuals have been doing heroic work dissecting the huge Atlantic Yards Draft Environmental Impact Statement that will be the subject of a public hearing tomorrow night. One major theme has already emerged: As massive as the document is, the consultants that prepared seem to have seriously skewed their analysis to ignore very significant impacts the big project at Atlantic and Flatbush avenues will have on Brooklyn (or to, at least, underestimate some very unpleasant impacts).
Both Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn and the consultants hired by the Council of Brooklyn Neighborhoods (CBN) point out that New York City’s own zoning prohibits an arena within 200 feet of a residential district. The reason, as noted by DDDB: “some of the operations could be incompatible with districts limited primarily to residential use.” According to the consultants commissioned by the CBN, whose critiques are extensively referenced in Norman Oder’s Atlantic Yard’s Report:
In order to understand the true effect of an urban arena, other examples from different cities should be referenced in the DEIS. Based on preliminary analysis, there are no urban arenas 200 ft or less from residential neighborhoods that are positive examples.
Of course, having the ability to skirt NYC zoning, city regulations and the local review process could be among the reasons that the project was turned over to the Empire State Development Corporation.
Meanwhile, some of the conclusions of the CBN’s consultants make for very compelling reading about the very selective and skewed nature of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement that will be the subject of tomorrow’s public hearing. (Read their latest bulletin, released yesterday, here.) For a very chilling example of why the DEIS could allege such minimal impacts from the project, consider the following:
The DEIS assumes less than half (47%) of the development that is underway or approved in the study area, resulting in an underestimation of all impacts, dramatically under-reporting traffic and transit impacts and virtually all issues.…In general, traffic volumes for baseline 2006 appear lower than reported for 2002 for the Downtown Brooklyn Redevelopment Plan EIS. This seems like an underestimation of impact.
If ever there were a project that needed a full public examination and a local review process, Atlantic Yards is it.
One of the more visually interesting elements of America’s most polluted waterway–AKA Newtown Creek–is the sci-fi Greenpoint landscape that has been under construction for several years. Theses strange looking structures that look they could be part of Epcot Center or a World’s Fair, if not for the industrial surroundings, are part of the Newtown Creek Water Pollution Control Plant. Those egg-type structures are huge devices that, in effect, treat sewerage. The current upgrade to the sprawling 53 acre plant is part of a $2.2 billion, 13-year project. Work on the facility has been underway since 2003. What we want to know is: Why did they build that big stepped landing on Newtown Creek? Is it a design flourish that no one but a handful of workers at the plant and some barge captains will ever see? Is it future waterfront public access? Or did someone have grand visions of greeting visiting dignitaries who row up in their gondolas? The big plant did have its own landscape architect, by the way.
August 22nd, 2006 · Comments Off on Get Your Burg TV On
One of the more amusing internet TV series is The Burg, the hipster series set in Williamsburg. Episode Four: The Project, has been up for a bit now and features an attempt to convert a frat type of guy into a hipster, plus some fun drug copping behavior. The Williamsburg scenery is also a plus: there’s footage of some of our favorite Williamsburg buildings like the Domino refinery, the Old Dutch Mustard Building and others. Check it out.
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August 21st, 2006 · Comments Off on Clifton Place Building Rally Draws Diverse Crowd
The Clinton Hill-Bed Stuy rally protesting that new building on Clifton Place and the dangerous demolition practices on the property drew a diverse crowd and some media coverage yesterday, according to the Clinton Hill blog. Organizers keyed on the buildings excessive heights (12 story in a nabe where the maximum is currently five stories), the reckless demolition and the rudeness of developers to neighbors. (We wrote at length about the situation on Friday.)
No one would rather look at an abandoned lot filled with garbage over a tastefully-done new building. It’s the way the developer is going about it that’s deplorable! I laud the efforts of area residents to keep the site SAFE and the resulting building tasteful. One of the best parts of the rally was the sheer diversity of the attendees – young and old of a variety of races and backgrounds. It’s one of the area’s best strengths.
Demolition at the site was halted on Friday because crews were doing a mechanical demolition without a permit.
August 21st, 2006 · Comments Off on Gowanus Wanderings: N. 1st Street Art and Design Walk
Gowanus Lounge walks the streets of Brooklyn a lot, always with camera in hand. No camera, in fact, equals a feeling that something is terribly wrong in the world. In any case, from time to time we’re going to be posting short photo series focusing on some of the things we see in our wanderings. Today’s installment covers the short, but visually intriguing stretch of N. 1st Street in Williamsburg, between Wythe and Berry.
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August 21st, 2006 · Comments Off on Brooklyn Video: Brooklyn Memories
Here’s a fun Brooklyn video, especially if you dig the music of Frou Frou. It’s a nicely edited, atmospheric four-minute vid shot largely in Dumbo and Williamsburg. Click on the embedded video below to play or click on this link.
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Given developer Shaya Boymelgreen‘s plans for Gowanus and presence in Park Slope, Dumbo and other Brooklyn neighborhoods, we’ve long been fascinated by news of his doings. In this week’s Brooklyn Papers, Ariella Cohen reports at length on Boymelgreen’s latest trouble: an investigation by Attorney General Eliot Spitzer into claims by 200 construction workers that they’ve been denied overtime pay for three years. (Note the inflatable rat, which is somewhat visible in the photo here, that’s been parked in front of Boymelgreen’s 75 Smith building for some time noting the missing overtime pay issue.)
