Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Once a week, we like to look at some comments left by GL readers. Here’s a selection from the last seven days:

Saga of the “Park Slope Vue” Not Over. “The developer has made the quality of life HELL for the local residents and probably could lose his shirt and 6 stories off his buildings if an appeal to the BSA was made. Working legally, safely and compliant with code, not to mention being a ‘good neighbor’ to the community, should be mandatory.” [CCGH]

A “Park Slope “Children’s Boutique” That Won’t Hire Moms? “come on people. do you really think the business owner’s concerns about her store making money or not somehow make it ok for her to discriminate? it doesn’t…we have laws against discrimination on the basis of sex, race, and family status for a reason. everyone should be judged on the basis of their ability to do the job, not on their social status.” [Anonymous]

Sackett Street Blunts and Stoop Drama. “In the year 2007, why is anyone throwing shit at anybody? Why are people who don’t live in a building sitting on a stranger’s stoop when their own is a few houses away? And why can’t people expect others to adhere to at least very basic levels of common courtesy?” [Anonymous]

Brooklyn Nibbles: Park Slope Edition. “attn 7th Ave.. we will trade you 2 sushi places for one diner– your buddy, 5th Ave.” [J$]

Coney Island, Brooklyn

As you may have read, officials in Newark have concluded that their new Prudential Center is extremely vulnerable to terrorism. This is because the glass-clad structure is next to active streets. The conclusion was reached two weeks before the arena is scheduled to open and officials are now scrambling to close streets, including ones that are bound to cause some traffic problems and inconveniences for residents.

Terrorism, of course, is not the only disaster that could befall the Newark Arena. There are many in the community who believe it is a profound misallocation of public resources in a city with deep social, governmental and fiscal problems and others that expect it to be a financial disaster as a one-sport arena that leaves the public highly exposed to losses.

We digress, however. The Council of Brooklyn Neighborhoods and Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn will be having a Press Conference with DDDB on Sunday at 12:30, at the beginning of the 3rd annual fundraising WALKATHON. City Council Member Tish James will take part. The CBN writes:

It is well within our mission to keep the community informed about the impacts of Atlantic Yards as they develop. This issue is one of the ones we have included in our Article 78 ( Environmental Impact) lawsuit. The lack of planning for security is a reason for overturning the approvals and remanding the EIS back to the ( NEW ? ) ESDC for additional hearings. This plan for Newark is a ‘last minute fix’ – we can’t have more street closings here, but perhaps more importantly, we can’t be hostage to a ‘last minute fix’ from the people who bring you such a disgraceful plan to begin with!

DDDB, meanwhile, notes:

Speakers at the press conference will discuss how and why the proposed Brooklyn “Atlantic Yards” arena complex is even more of an attractive terror target than the Newark arena and has received poor and inadequate planning review from the Empire State Development Corporation, the city and state of New York.

Concerns about what some people believe is the very real vulnerability of the Barclays Center to a catastrophic terrorist strike because of its vulnerability to truck bombs and its design were not addressed during the environmental review process. In fact, the Empire State Development Corporation’s Position was as follows: “Emergency scenarios such as a large-scale terrorist attack similar to the World Trade Center attack, a biological or chemical attack, or a bomb are not considered a reasonable worst-case scenario and are therefore outside of the scope of the EIS.”

(EDITORIAL COMMENT ALERT: If that’s not the kind of brain-dead thinking that will be at the center of an investigation by a “blue-ribbon” panel looking into what went wrong if a huge truck bomb turns out to be “a reasonable worst-case scenario,” we don’t know what is. That alone should be enough to send the entire process back to the drawing board because it is indicative of the entire mindset of head-in-the-sand planning that permeated the Atlantic Yards process. In the case of a terrorist act against the arena, it is on par with criminal negligence in public policy and planning. That statement is what, in the investigative stage, is called “a smoking gun.”)

You can find more discussion of the issue here and here at Atlantic Yards Report, here at DDDB and here at the Star Ledger. It almost boggles the mind that serious security concerns in Newark were ignored through the entire planning and development process.

We finally paid a visit to the recently completed new plaza in front of the Brooklyn Library. It’s pleasant, although it looks like it could use more greenery in order to prevent it from become a sun-reflecting frying pan in the summer. We are not trying to nitpick, but we couldn’t help notice that the new fountains that were installed must have proven popular with both adults and children as they had to be chained off and signs had to be put up telling people to stay out. Again, we wonder what the designers might have been thinking to install bubbling water in an expanse of stone and concrete in the middle of Brooklyn and not expect people to walk through them? It rather reminds us of the way the fountain in front of the Brooklyn Museum was barricaded and put under guard when the museum first opened because people were, well, playing in the fountain. It reminded us of our belief that architecture and planning students should be required to take a full year course called “Travel the City and Watch How People Actually Use Things.” All that having been said, it’s a nice space.

Someone is starting a new Brooklyn daily newspaper, based on the ad placed on Craigslist on Thursday. Here’s what it says:

We’re soliciting candidates for editorial positions with a new newspaper — THE BROOKLYN DAILY HERALD.

This will be a compact-sized paid newspaper of general circulation (Monday through Friday) featuring Brooklyn’s top news in a breezy entertaining style, including unmatched coverage of new businesses and real estate transactions.

To request an invitation to an upcoming open house, send us your resume.

Per an email sent to us, it is also listed as a classified in the new issue of the Brooklyn Paper. Clearly, more to come.

Williamsburg, Brooklyn

If you read GL (and thanks for doing so), you know that we spend our days posting at Curbed. Here is a small selection of some of this week’s Brooklyn output at Curbed:

• Oro’s Big Friends Start to Rise on Flatbush Avenue (above)
• Are Stolen Mopeds a Symbol of Gentrification?
• Glassy New Fourth Avenue Tower Revealed
• Nasty Cobble Hill Eviction Fight is Over
• Burg Getting a New Hole, Another Big Finger to Follow
• Greenpoint Stinks More Than Anyone Thought
• Will OPP Cabana Users Have to Wait Until ’09
• More Evidence of Williamsburg’s Death Throes
• Apple Looking for an Edge in Williamsburg?
• Prospect Heights Has a New Logo
• Boymelgreen Shows His Glass on Fourth Avenue
• After $1M Repair, Willie B.’s Watch Still Can’t Tell Time
• Wallabout Seeks Love, Landmarking

We love a sign that has been stickered up, especially those Williamsburg signs that have been stickered over the course of many years. It goes without saying that today’s messed up sign is a Williamsburg one.

“Walk Don’t Destroy,” the Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn Walkathon Fundraiser is coming up tomorrow, October 14. It takes place from Noon-5PM, with registration at Noon and the walk from 1PM-2:30PM. This year, the walk will take place in Prospect Heights. Registration and Kick-Off is at Freddy’s Backroom, 485 Dean Street @ 6th Ave. The walk will go up Flatbush Avenue to Grand Army Plaza. It will circle the Plaza and go down Vanderbilt Avenue. The total distance is about 1.5 miles. Post-walk festivities are from 2:30PM-5:00PM at Soda Bar at 629 Vanderbilt. For more information and to register, click here. The proceeds support the ongoing DDDB legal fight against the Atlantic Yards development.

Coney Island, Brooklyn

[Photo courtesy of ConeyHOP/flickr, aka Kinetic Carnival]

Brooklinks is a daily selection of Brooklyn-related information and images:

Look:

• Coney Island Wedding (above) [ConeyHOP/flickr]
• Industry City-Sunset Park [Frank Lynch/flickr]
• Brooklyn Army Terminal [Blue Jake]
• Brooklyn Army Terminal [f.trainer/flickr]
• Sunset Park [The Food of the Future]
• Frankel’s [Atomische]
• (Spook) Arama [Park Slope Street Photography]
• Food Chain in Chalk [Hugh Crawford/OTBKB]
• Angel [Frank Lynch/flickr]
• Gowanus Paddle [Brit in Brooklyn]

Look and Read:

• Help Feed Greenpoint’s Hungry [New York Shitty]
• “Ask a Greenpointer” Gets a Question [Greenpointers]
• From Brian Lehrer Live: Atlantic Yards Density & Process [AYR]
• What Kind of Retail at the Beacon [Brownstoner]
• Amy Ruth’s Coming to Downtown Brooklyn [Brooklyn Eagle]
• Fantastic on Fulton [Lost City]
• Third Annual Bed-Stuy Alive [Bed-Stuy Blog]
• Grace Nichilo Way [Kinetic Carnival]
• Touring the Montauk Club [Velvet Sea]

We can report significant progress at the site of the demolished Old Dutch Mustard Building, which was being torn down around this time last year by developer Steiner Equities. Old Dutch is morphing into 80 Metropolitan, a luxe condo with what–to our eye–is a very pedestrian design, particularly compared to the architecture that was destroyed to make room for it. In any case, we’ve dealt with the demolition issue at length. Our point here is to show that the big hole at the site has been filled with a foundation and that 80 Met–whose signage has featured messages like “More Stuff for Rich People” and “Kill the Yuppies”–should be above street level soon. The sales office is getting ready to open a block away.

There was a frightening incident on Prospect Park West near Sixth Street yesterday morning around 9AM involving a random assault by one or more teenagers on a father on his bicycle with his young child. Father and child were on the bike on the sidewalk near the park when, apparently, the teen (or teens) approached and shoved them off the bike to the sidewalk. We were alerted by the blood curdling screams and curses of the father, who was shouting “You better run, I’m going to kill you!” while picking himself and the wailing child, who appeared to be about year old, off the sidewalk. As luck would have it, a police car was a couple of blocks away and a resident alerted them to the screaming while residents went to see if the victims were okay. They went in reverse down Prospect Park West where another resident directed the police down Sixth Street where the kids had run. Within about 90 seconds the area was swarming with cops. At least one of the teens was caught and we’re happy to say that, other than being frightened and angry, neither of the victims was hurt. We don’t report this because it was the most heinous incident to take place in Brooklyn yesterday, but because it was a disturbing one and because of the level of help that materialized almost instantly.

Like any good Brooklyn neighborhood effort, the one to ask for “responsible and lawful development” in the South Slope and at 162 16th Street (aka the Vue) quickly morphed into an online effort. As to the Vue, the iPetition says:

Please help ensure the safety and security of our community in the face of the disregard demonstrated by the developer, Barry Katz/Issac Katan of 162 16th Street, Brooklyn, NY aka “VUE.” Our points outline above in this multi-neighborhood petition are outlined as specific examples of the illegal activity that Mr. Katz and Mr. Katan have violated, destroying the quality of life of our community at 162 16th Street, Brooklyn, NY. (92 311 complaints / 18 DOB violations / 14 ECB violations / Countless “stop work orders).

Mr. Katan, whose projects and tactics have not endeared him to some residents in the South Slope is also one of the developers behind the massive New Domino proposal in Williamsburg. The entire petition can be viewed and/or signed by clicking here.

What you’re looking at is an art installation called The Third Bridge by Osman Akan that will be in Brooklyn Bridge Park near the Manhattan Bridge starting Sunday (10/14) and that will run through January 14, 2008. It’s a solo commission from the Dumbo Ats Center. You can find out more about it by clicking here. If it looks half as good in the park as it does in the photo, it’ll be pretty cool.

There was a scary incident reported at the Harmony Playground at Ninth Street in Prospect Park on Wednesday evening, which was at first reported as “a possible abduction.” It resulted in a big police presence in the park, helicopters overhead and a lot of activity on Prospect Park West. As it turns out, it wasn’t an abduction per se, but the result of a domestic dispute of some kind. The mother of two children who was apparently accompanied by two men, took the children from the playground. It’s unknown where or when the children were found and it took the father a while to even realize they were missing. When he did he became very upset, according to witnesses and the police were called. The search for the children continued for some time. It is the second missing children problem at the playground in a month. We reported an earlier incident of a nanny losing track of a child resulting in a big commotion and search.

[Photo courtesy brianwood/flickr]

This is what its creators have called the Living Domino, a reimagining of the old Domino Sugar factory in Williamsburg as a mix of affordable housing, arts space and a “vertical farm.” It’s on a blog called The Wild Green Yonder and here’s a bit of what the creator writes:

The southern two blocks of the site, as well as the upland block, would be devoted to a mixture of public open space and affordable housing…Similar to London’s heralded BedZed development, the housing units would have attached south-facing greenhouses to help heat the building and provide space for growing food.

The recently-landmarked refinery structure (and the iconic concrete-and-glass tower behind it) would serve primarily as an arts and cultural center, along the lines of the vision laid out at dominosugar.org. With hundreds of thousands of square feet between the two buildings, there could be extensive galleries and performing arts space, with plenty of room left over for a public library, offices, or a magnet school.

The roof of the refinery, covered in PV and solar hot water heaters, would serve double duty as a rainwater collector…The northern two blocks of the site would house a Center for Urban Ecology, complete with a prototype vertical farm…There’d be an amphitheater, with the existing figure-8 footprint of two old storage towers as stage. Finally, the five blocks of public waterfront would accommodate a water taxi stop, a plaza, commercial tilapia culture, and a marina.

It will be interesting to see how many iterations the New Domino plan goes and what the final shape of zoning for the site turns out to be. The developers have already spent a significant amount of money on lobbying to try to ensure the 2,400 units of housing they want for the site are constructed.

Brooklinks is a daily selection of Brooklyn-related information and images:

• Newark Realizes Its Arena Vulnerable to Terrorists, What About Barclays Center? [AYR]
• Want to See City Inaction in Action? Check 271 Nassau Avenue [New York Shitty]
• Really Sad Cobble Hill Eviction Battle of Grandmas Ends with Death [NYDN]
• Haunted Victorians [Ditmas Park Blog]
• 221 Prospect Place Renovation Story [Brownstoner]
• Lame Renovation on Irving [Clinton Hill Blog]
• Checking Out Brooklyn’s Underground Railroad Trail (It Leads to Duffield St.) [NYT]
• The Worst Park Ever [Icky in Brooklyn]
• About Coney Island’s Soul [Kinetic Carnival]
• Introducing “Ask a Greenpointer” [New York Shitty]
• Check Out the Groundswell Urban Mural Project [NYDN]
• Red Hook Vendors’ Cesar Fuentes Responds [Eater]
• Halloween Brooklyn Heights Doggy Parade [Brooklyn Heights Blog]

This “Stop Sign Ahead” sign in Williamsburg was rendered political recently. We’re putting it up today in honor of Al Gore’s Nobel Peace Price. Sure, somebody should have written “Global Warming” instead of “War,” but it’s thematically on target.

We’ve mentioned the Gowanus Harvest Festival before, but now that it’s upon us, it’s only fit to bring it up again. The festival is taking place on Sunday, October 14, starting at 3PM at The Yard, which is at the Carroll Street Bridge on the Gowanus Canal and is a very pleasant spot to spend time on a nice day. Here’s some of the promo verbiage:

Brooklyn! Fall! Brews! Bounty! We love Autumn in the BK so much it hurts… so we’ve teamed up with our favorite organic chef extraordinaire, Kelly Geary of Sweet Deliverance, to bring you the first Gowanus Harvest Festival on October 14th. The fall-themed extravaganza will take place at our favorite Brooklyn spot, The Yard — a lovely little patch of green on the banks of the “gurgling” Gowanus. A day of pony-rides, pumpkin carving contests, local vendors, canoe-rides, fresh produce, live music, and Oktober brews flowing late into the night. Come join us as we pay homage to Fall.

Live Music by ::
Two Man Gentleman Band
Hot Time Harv’s Rollercoaster of Kicks
Casa de Chihuahua
BJs – NY’s hottest Rockabilly Trio

You can see more about this and a lot of other interesting local events and issues over at Green Brooklyn, a great eco-centric blog that’s worth having in your RSS Feed.

Red Hook has a brand new art gallery opening this weekend that specializes in Iniuit Art. The gallery is located in the same magnificent old warehouse that houses the Red Hook Fairway. Inuits are native inhabitants of the Canadian arctic regions. The gallery is located at 275 Conover Street, Suite 4E. There is an opening reception on Saturday night (10/13) from 7PM-9:30PM. You can check out the gallery’s website by clicking here.

Williamsburg, Brooklyn

If you’re looking for something to do with the kids on Saturday (10/13), we’re happy to present a couple of options that will make it a great weekend for petting goats and sheep. One is the Annual Harvest Festival at J.J. Byrne Park on Fifth Avenue in Park Slope. It takes place from 11AM-4PM and will include pony rides, a petting zoo, music, face painting, arts and crafts, a clothing swap from 10:30AM-1:30PM and a costume swap. It’s all part of the Harvest Festival sponsored by the Park Slope Parents Group. You can see pics from last year’s fun event here.

The other option is a petting zoo at the Chelsea Garden Center in Red Hook with free pony rides, face painting, balloon art, a clown on stilts and the aforementioned petting zoo. We were by there last weekend, and it looks colorful in a fall way–with a lot of pumpkins and mums around–this time of year. The Garden Center is at 444 Van Brunt Street, which is right up the street from the Fairway. Look at it this way, you can stop in for your groceries and pet a goat, or vice versa.

The tall South Slope building at 162 16th Street known as the Vue may be on the market, but the battle against it by residents isn’t over. In an email, circulating a new petition that is partly aimed at the development, neighborhood activist Aaron Brashear calls the building an “illegal eyesore.” Resident Bo Samajopoulos of The Concerned Citizens of South Slope writes:

We are asking for your immediate intervention into these issues. This developer has been allowed by the DOB and other city agencies to make a mockery of the law and our quality of life. For 3 years we have asked for some oversight (at the very least). Instead we have gotten nothing and/or worthless assurances. Now, as they try to sell off this blight on our community, it appears that the structure itself may indeed be illegal (questionable at the very least). What is DOB doing? They are working feverishly with this developer and his associates to try to justify everything that has been done. We would like this collusion to stop and we ask that the community which has been abused by this developer to be included in any and all discussions and developments regarding a structure that will directly effect us for many years to come.

A copy of the petition, which lays out a variety of conditions and requests, is available here.