Gowanus Lounge: Serving Brooklyn

Entries from July 2007

Brooklinks: Thursday Blue Sky & View Edition

July 26th, 2007 · Comments Off on Brooklinks: Thursday Blue Sky & View Edition

Atlantic Yards Tax Break Deal in the Works [NYDN] Compromise on Ratner’s Special Tax Break, Behind Closed Doors [AYR] It Came from the Blogosphere [No Land Grab] Hakeem Jeffries Slowly Turns on Ratner [Daily Gotham] Ex-Barron Aide Barred from City Council Floor [Sun] Barron Will Have Company in Race for Brooklyn Borough President [City Room] […]

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Tags: Brooklinks

Report Details Williamsburg-Greenpoint Job Losses, Gentrification & More

July 26th, 2007 · 3 Comments

The 144-page report about Williamsburg and Greenpoint rezoning and gentrification from the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers is not the kind of reading you bring to the beach on Saturday. Within the pages of the study conducted for the New York City Community Council, however, are some fascinating pieces of information […]

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Tags: Greenpoint · Williamsburg

Will Army Corp of Engineers Suggest Sealing Toxic Gowanus Sludge in Place?

July 26th, 2007 · Comments Off on Will Army Corp of Engineers Suggest Sealing Toxic Gowanus Sludge in Place?

Could the nightmarish toxic sludge at the bottom of the Gowanus be frozen in place with a “clay-based seal” called AquaBlock? Well, it’s one of the less expensive solutions to detoxing the canal being considered by the Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps is coming up with options for dealing with the horror show of […]

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Tags: Environment · Gowanus Canal

360 Smith Street Happenings Update

July 25th, 2007 · Comments Off on 360 Smith Street Happenings Update

Today is as good a day as any to review the status of things surrounding that controversial development at 360 Smith Street in Carroll Gardens that would be built by developer Billy Stein and designed by architect Robert Scarano. Several members of the CORD organization, which grew out of the backlash against the new building, […]

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Tags: Carroll Gardens

McCarren Pool Landmarked

July 25th, 2007 · Comments Off on McCarren Pool Landmarked

Some good news out of the Landmarks Preservation Commission meeting yestreday. The LPC has finally landmarked McCarren Pool, capping an effort to save the closed WPA-era pool that began in the 1990s. This is a good thing both because protection of the pool is now official and because any modifications, as per renovations that the […]

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Tags: Historic Preservation · McCarren Pool

New Controversy Over Thor’s Handling of Historic Coney Island Buildings

July 25th, 2007 · 5 Comments

Coney Island USA’s Dick Zigun, who founded the Mermaid Parade and is a member of the board of the Coney Island Development Corp. among other things, has been involved in efforts to landmark a number of significant Coney Island structures and has been seeking a permanent home amidst the redevelopment that will take place. In […]

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Tags: coney island

More Modern Trouble in Williamsburg

July 25th, 2007 · Comments Off on More Modern Trouble in Williamsburg

We’re not saying The Modern on N. 7th Street is better or worse than any other development in Brooklyn in terms of the way it’s upsetting the neighbors, only that we’re getting detailed information about the problems related to it. In the last several days, we’ve had water leaking from a hydrant that could become […]

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Tags: Construction Issues · Williamsburg

Take Pictures? Participate in "What’s the Hook"

July 25th, 2007 · Comments Off on Take Pictures? Participate in "What’s the Hook"

If you read GL, the name Harriet Zucker might ring a bell. She is the artist and kind soul who has devoted a great deal of time to caring for and saving Red Hook’s Revere Sugar dogs. Ms. Zucker is now organizing a cool photography project called “What’s the Hook.” It will involve photographers shooting […]

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Tags: Events · Red Hook

Wikipedia Toasts Roebling Oil Field Entry

July 25th, 2007 · 3 Comments

We didn’t know there was a Wikipedia entry on the Roebling Oil Field until we got an email telling us that it had been deleted. So, we only know that an entry called “Williamsburg Oil Spill” is gone. What we find amusing, though, is some of the logic for killing it that was voiced by […]

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Tags: Enviornment · Roebling Oil Field

Check Out the Red Hook Vendors Video

July 25th, 2007 · Comments Off on Check Out the Red Hook Vendors Video

Here’s fun vid about the threatened Red Hook Vendors, including a bunch of interviews with the vendors themselves. (While the vendors will be in place through the end of their season in October this year, the Parks Department still intends to put their permit out for competitive bidding. Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe has said that […]

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Tags: Red Hook

Brooklinks: Wednesday Sugar Edition

July 25th, 2007 · Comments Off on Brooklinks: Wednesday Sugar Edition

Sugar: A Look Around the Old Domino [Curbed] CPC Shows and Tells Its Plans for Domino [Brownstoner] Plan Unveiled for “New Domino” Housing [Sun] Developers Unveil More Plans for Former Domino Plant Site [NY1] Developers May Give Domino Plant New Life [amNY] Not Sugar: Jefferies Calls Atlantic Yards Special Tax Breaks “Offensive” [AYR] Mill Basin […]

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Tags: Brooklinks

Williamsburg Development Wisdom: Business is Business

July 25th, 2007 · Comments Off on Williamsburg Development Wisdom: Business is Business

Our Greenpoint correspondent found this scrawled on a (pretty crappy) construction fence on Meserole Street in East Williamsburg. We find the message compelling in its way.

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Tags: Construction Issues · Williamsburg

PM Update: Details About ‘New Domino’ in the Shadow of the Old

July 24th, 2007 · Comments Off on PM Update: Details About ‘New Domino’ in the Shadow of the Old

The Community Preservation Corportation, which will redevelop the old Domino Sugar plant in Williamsburg, held a press event earlier today to detail its plans for the site. If it is approved, the development would be a massive $1.2-$1.3 billion undertaking that would take 6-8 years to complete. It would be the largest development on the […]

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Tags: Williamsburg

A Big Day for North Brooklyn Preservation & Development

July 24th, 2007 · Comments Off on A Big Day for North Brooklyn Preservation & Development

Today will be one of the more important individual days for preservation and development of late in Williamsburg and Brooklyn. Most of the action will take place at the Landmarks Preservation Commission where the future of both the Eberhard Faber complex in Greenpoint and McCarren Pool are at issue. In Williamsburg, meanwhile, architect Raphael Vinoly […]

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Tags: Williamsburg

Who Knew the Post Office Was This Persistent?

July 24th, 2007 · Comments Off on Who Knew the Post Office Was This Persistent?

We found this little tale of postal woe while scanning the brooklynian.com Park Slope Forum. There is something about it that is amusing in a pet that someone dumps three hundred miles from home that manages to find its way back sort of way. (Not that we find dumping pets funny. We love animals.) We […]

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Tags: Park Slope · Postal Service

Is This Why The Bunker on Bond Doesn’t Have Windows?

July 24th, 2007 · 7 Comments

Oh God. Here we go again. Yes, this a building designed by you know who. (Hint: His first name is Robert. His last name is Scarano.) We have featured it many times and named it The Bunker and/or The Bunker on Bond because of its striking lack of windows. In any case, you can look […]

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Tags: Architecture · Gowanus

Community Board Funding Measure on Governor’s Desk

July 24th, 2007 · 1 Comment

Q: When are planning bodies not eligible for certain planning grants? A: When they’re community boards in New York City. From Community Board 6 comes a reminder that a measure that will help these entities do planning is awaiting NY Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s signature. An email says: You may recall that two years ago Senator […]

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Tags: Community Boards · Urban Planning

Williamsburg Development Site Offers Dramatic BQE Views

July 24th, 2007 · Comments Off on Williamsburg Development Site Offers Dramatic BQE Views

Big “development site for sale” have recently gone up on this group of buildings at the BQE end of N. 7th Street at Meeker Avenue. One thing we know is that whatever goes up there will have spectacular and dramatic views of the cars and trucks racing (or crawling) through North Brooklyn on everyone’s favorite […]

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Tags: Williamsburg

Brooklinks: Tuesday Colorful Juice Truck Edition

July 24th, 2007 · Comments Off on Brooklinks: Tuesday Colorful Juice Truck Edition

Brooklinks is a daily selection of Brooklyn-related information and images. ESDC Says Consultant’s Ratner Work Was Disclosed [AYR] 1 Train Rules, F Train Stands for Filth [Gothamist] Subway Group Ranks 1 Train Tops [Sun] What Ratner & Gehry Won’t Tell You About Brownfield Bucks [No Land Grab] Newtown Creek Alliance Meeting Tomorrow (7/25) [Green Brooklyn] […]

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Tags: Brooklinks

Upcoming: Two Cool August Shows at BAG in Gowanus

July 24th, 2007 · Comments Off on Upcoming: Two Cool August Shows at BAG in Gowanus

The good people at the Brooklyn Artists Gym emailed about two cool upcoming shows of winners that have won prizes in their shows. One is Pepe Villegas, who won first prize in BAG’s “Look See: Reflections” photography show. The other is Lucy Mink, who won first prize in the second annual “Small Works Show.” (That […]

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Tags: Events · Gowanus

Gowanus Lounge Photo Du Jour: We Recycle Pallets

July 24th, 2007 · Comments Off on Gowanus Lounge Photo Du Jour: We Recycle Pallets

Williamsburg, Brooklyn

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Tags: Photo du Jour

More Photos of the Mysterious Park Slope Brownstone Bride

July 23rd, 2007 · 11 Comments

You remember the bizarre story of the bride discovered sleeping on ledge above a doorway in Park Slope last week? It’s either the most elaborate ruse of the year or one of those stories that will become a neighborhood urban legend. One of the first reports of the story came from OTBKB on Tuesday. Gothamist […]

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Tags: Park Slope

How to Have a Crappy, Modern Weekend on N. 7th Street

July 23rd, 2007 · Comments Off on How to Have a Crappy, Modern Weekend on N. 7th Street

Apartments at The Modern, which is under construction on N. 7th Street in Williamsburg between Driggs and Roebling, are selling for an average of $1M, with one of them priced at $1.8M. Neighbors, however, have been complaining that its construction is causing major problems. On Saturday, we ran a post about the contractors using a […]

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Tags: Construction Issues · Williamsburg

Demolition Porn #2: Red Hook Edition

July 23rd, 2007 · Comments Off on Demolition Porn #2: Red Hook Edition

Taking down the old Revere Sugar plant in Red Hook has been quite the task. Demolition started in December on the dome that had defined the local waterfront for a long time, then moved to the the assorted factory buildings. The big steel frame building is now coming down. In fact, as you can see […]

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Tags: Red Hook · Thor Equities

Brooklyn Nibbles: Williamsburg Edition

July 23rd, 2007 · 5 Comments

1) Ella Cafe is now open on Bedford Avenue between N. 7th and N. 8th Streets. We found it to be a good space with a very nice and chill outdoor space in back (photo below). The front of the cafe has a long bench along the wall where people were hanging out drinking espresso, […]

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Tags: Brooklyn Nibbles · Williamsburg