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Tipping Over Domino

Matt Chaban nails it:

but it all basically boils down... that the project is just too damn big

Wed 10 Mar

Faith No More to Play Williamsburg Waterfront

OSA announced a series of paid concerts to be held at East River State Park this summer. The series kicks off on July 5 with a reunited Faith No More, with all proceeds for the paid events benefitting OSA and their work to preserve and create parks in North Brooklyn. (These concerts are in addition to the free "Pool Party" concerts, of which there will be eight this summer.)

Thu 04 Mar

Controversial Brooklyn Architect is Barred

Coincidentally or not, yesterday was the anniversary of Bob Guskind's death.

Mon 01 Mar

The Party Bus
"This bus is a little bit like going back to the New York of the '70s or '80s, when it wasn't about the money, it was about the spirit," said Richard Mark Jordan, an actor from Bushwick who was gyrating in the aisle with friends and high-fiving strangers.

If by "the New York of the '70s or the '80s" you mean the Upper East Side frat-boy scene, then yes. Otherwise, it's nothing at all like the New York of anytime.

I suppose the silver lining here is that the bus is taking these people OUT OF the neighborhood.

Thu 11 Feb

Cultivate the Grassroots

This article is almost two-and-a-half years old, but it is still pertinent. Are community groups buying in or selling out when they team up with for-profit developers and endorse large luxury developments in exchange for affordable housing?

Big Williamsburg Condo Project Faces Foreclosure

Crain's has the latest on the Warehouse 11 saga (which ultimately ties into 20 Bayard and Rose Plaza).

This little bit made me smile - a lot:

...the 120-unit condo, built atop the former Roebling Oil Field...

Emphasis added.

Climate-Change Debate is Heating Up in Deep Freeze
Skeptics of global warming are using the record-setting snows to mock those who warn of dangerous human-driven climate change — this looks more like global cooling, they taunt.

This is great news - 150+ years of human-induced climate change has been reversed with just two snow storms! And, we all get to make fun of Al Gore again!

Wed 10 Feb

New Domino" "Authenticity" and Affordable Housing

Despite misgivings on the authenticity front ("new businesses cannot help but name themselves for whatever working-class business used to exist at the same location. It has always struck me as being an inside joke that’s in poor taste..."), author Willy Staley finds some hope in the New Domino proposal.

Thu 04 Feb

Gays in the Military: Fisking Bill Kristol
"Abstract" is of course a way to dismiss the bookish Mr Obama, as opposed to Mr Kristol, a decorated Afghanistan veteran and noted military tactician the editor of an opinion magazine.

Wed 03 Feb

City Reliquary Needs Your Help

The City Reliquary is a fantastic local institution. Unfortunately, they are caught up in the bureaucracy of City funding, which hits small, legitimate non-profits the worst.

You can send them money directly, or go to their Fire Sale: NYC Firefighter Date Auction at The Knitting Factory (361 Metropolitan Avenue) on February 18th. Doors are open at 6:00 PM/ Show opens at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $20 and available at the door.

Talking Trash
In other ... neighborhoods, leaders say their litter problem could be ameliorated if they had more public garbage cans and if the sanitation department swung by more often.

You can walk for blocks in Northside or Soutside Williamsburg without seeing a public trash receptacle. And where there are public trash cans (Bedford throughout the Northside, e.g.), they are often overflowing.

Sat 30 Jan

Warehouse 11 Races Against the Clock

If you are thinking of buying at Warehouse 11, here is a new incentive to bid low. Way low.

Tue 26 Jan

The Chrystie Street Cut

Remember my post about the V train coming to Williamsburg? Old news, it turns out - as linked above, Second Avenue Sagas had full post on it two weeks ago. As I surmised, the switch from the BMT to the IND is west of the Delancey/Essex station, but what I didn't know is that the transfer has a name - the Chrystie Street Cut.

Clearly I don't read enough blogs.

Sat 23 Jan

Artists, Artworks Sought for Public Plazas in Brooklyn

The city is looking for artists to design new public artworks for public plazas citywide, including three local sites: Knickerbocker Plaza in Bushwick; Humboldt Plaza in East Williamsburg; and Myrtle Avenue Plaza in Clinton Hill.

M.T.A. Plan Would Spare Some Routes and Cut Others

Is Williamsburg about to get expanded subway service??

Maybe, according to the Times:

The V train, which now ends at Second Avenue and Houston Street, would replace the M train and travel east to Metropolitan Avenue in Queens.

And the MTA confirms it in their latest description of the proposed service cuts [warning - links to very large PDF]:

Subway Reductions/Discontinuations Being Considered for the First Time: ...Extending V to Metropolitan Avenue to replace M service north of Essex Street and discontinuing M service south of Essex Street. V no longer stops at 2nd Avenue.

If this happens, the V would provide direct service on the Broadway elevated line from Bushwick and Williamsburg to Soho, Greenwich Village and Midtown. Without having to switch trains at Essex/Delancey. (I believe the elimination of the Second Avenue stop is because the switch from the BMT (brown) tracks to the IND (orange) tracks is located west of Essex Street - the train will actually be picking up the tracks that the B and D run on up to Broadway/Lafayette.)

On top of which, the latest austerity plan by the MTA no longer eliminates the Z train. (The proposed cuts still include the elimination of the B39 bus across the Williamsburg Bridge, but this route is truly redundant.)

Community Group Pushing for Greenpoint Hospital

The RFP for the Greenpoint Hospital redevelopment project has been out for close to three years now - that HPD hasn't awarded it to anyone yet is a crime. Remember, this site is one of the (many) publicly-owned sites that was supposed to supplement the developer-provided affordable housing on the waterfront. Cook Street aside, has any new affordable housing been constructed on City-owned sites since May, 2007?

Wed 13 Jan

Greenpoint Owner Charged with Dumping Sewage

Ick.

[via Laura]

Tue 05 Jan

Charter School Inks Deal at 33 Nassau Avenue

33_Nassau_trd.jpeg

Believe High School Networks, an organization that operates various charter schools in the city, is taking a big lease at 33 Nassau Avenue (which is across the street from McCarren Park, back behind Automotive High). It looks as the organization has leased the entire 16,800-square-foot second floor of the building, and will put its offices and a charter high school in there. (Locally, Believe operates the Believe Northside Charter High School, the Believe Southside Charter High School and the Williamsburg Charter High School - BNCHS opened this year across McCarren Park at Ericsson JHS.)

Mon 04 Jan

The Bloomberg Era, Part One

Nate Kensinger nails it.

[During the Bloomberg era], many historic structures were demolished along the industrial waterfront to make way for developers. Neighborhood icons vanished, like the smokestacks of the Long Island City Powerhouse, erased from the skyline in 2005 by luxury condominiums. In Brooklyn, the rapid pace of development claimed so many historic structures that by 2007, the National Trust for Historic Preservation placed Brooklyn's entire industrial waterfront at the top of their list of "America's 11 Most Endangered Places," stating "historic dockyards and factories are being demolished by developers anxious to cash in on the area's newly hip status." Some of the industrial structures lost included the Greenpoint Terminal Market - a potential landmark which was burned to the ground in 2006; the Todd Shipyard - a working shipyard demolished in 2006 by Ikea; the Revere Sugar Refinery - a neighborhood icon which guided ships into the Eerie Basin until being demolished in 2007, and the Kent Avenue Powerhouse - a grand structure completely demolished by 2009. Many of the industrial buildings destroyed throughout the decade were functional, stable, useful structures that could have been redeveloped and given a second life.

Thu 24 Dec

Greenpoint Hospital Bid Receives Shot in Arm

A private foundation has donated $500,000 to further GREC/St. Nick's application to redevelop the Greenpoint Hospital site. GREC/St. Nick's are one of four applicants who have been waiting for almost two years for the City to decide what to do with the site.

Fri 18 Dec

Newtown Creek Superfunding: One Week Left for Public Comment

In case you missed it, the EPA is considering Super Fund designation for Newtown Creek. Greenpoint Gazette has the details.

Monkey Town Closing

"Due to landlord issues."

Do those landlord issues have anything to do with the massive addition being slowly built on top of the restaurant?

[via Real Deal]

DuaneReade Coming to Bedford Avenue

DuaneReade is its bringing new, non-insta-blight, retail look to Bedford Avenue. To the Quadriad building to be specific. Like right across the street from King's Pharmacy.

Snoozing Brooklyn Squatter Lands in Cuffs

In a truly uninformative piece of reporting, the Post tells us that someone named "Torres" was arrested squatting in a $2,500-a-month apartment in "Williamsburg". And he wasn't happy about the lack of heat or the cops who took him away.

But it makes for good headlines, no? (And while they have clearly let their copy editors go, at least Post still pays the headline writers.)

Thu 17 Dec

Silent H Closing?

So says the Real Deal.