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June 2008 Archives

25 Jun 2008

◉  Seinfeld on Carlin

Via Daring Fireball, Jerry Seinfeld had this to say about George Carlin:

His performing voice, even laced with profanity, always sounded as if he were trying to amuse a child. It was like the naughtiest, most fun grown-up you ever met was reading you a bedtime story.

One of the great unexpected pleasures of fatherhood has been learning that George Carlin is the narrator for all of the Thomas the Tank Engine videos. Makes them a hell of a lot more fun to watch.

(I guess Seinfeld doesn't watch Thomas with his kid; nor Gruber for that matter.)

24 Jun 2008

◉  Bottled Water Recall

We have the best tap water in the world. Drink it.

[And don't panic, its a very limited recall - about 150 gallon bottles of Nestlé water sold at ShopRite only. But still, drink tap water.]

23 Jun 2008

◉  Dangerously Ugly Building Zones

Of course Williamsburg figures prominently.

◉  Company Hired to Test Concrete Faces Scrutiny

Allegations that a testing company isn't necessarily doing the testing to determine the structural integrity of all that concrete being poured in the city. Does anyone else get the feeling that every link in the construction chain is broken?

◉  George Carlin Dies at 71

He was here a minute ago.

20 Jun 2008

◉  Man Charged With Buildings Inspector Bribes

With DOB under the microscope, now is probably not the best time to be bribing inspectors. Hell, any inspector taking a bribe in the current environment is an even bigger idiot. Too bad judges can't add time for stupidity.

◉  One of Brooklyn’s Last Dutch Farmhouses To Come Before Landmarks Commission

If a house was built in the 1830s, 150 years after the Dutch ceded control of New Amsterdam to the English, it is not a "Dutch Farmhouse".

(Which is not to say that this building shouldn't be a landmark.)

19 Jun 2008

◉  Engineer is Charged in Fatal Wall Collapse

More fallout from the wall collapse that killed laborer Lauro Ortega, and more self-certification shenanigans. Turns out the engineer who pulled the plans authorizing construction at the site had lost his self-cert privileges. So he signed his partner's name to the documents.

The contractor/developer of the project has already been charged with manslaughter. The engineer - Abraham Hertzberg - is charged with 9 felony counts of offering a false instrument.

Its good to see DOB and DOI going after the bad actors, but at some point the structural deficiencies in the system itself need to be addressed.

◉  Subway Service on G Train Will Continue to Suck

One line that had been scheduled for more service in the original proposal last December but was not included in this round of improvements was the G. Riders on the G often complain of long waits between trains. Officials said the G did not exceed the loading guidelines.

No love for the L, either.

18 Jun 2008

◉  Luna Lounge to Become Knitting Factory

The short-lived Luna Lounge on Metropolitan looks like it will soon reopen as the Knitting Factory. Good news/bad news. Its too bad that Luna didn't make it - the old Ludlow version was a bastion of the music scene way back when, and it would have been great to see that success translate over here. Knitting Factory, on the other hand, has long been a bigger (bastionier?) bastion of NY's downtown music scene, so it will be great to see that success translate over here. Hopefully this is a sign that music and the arts can continue to thrive in Williamsburg - all signs have been pointing in the opposite direction of late.

17 Jun 2008

◉  Diamondstone Joins City Council Race

Its getting rather crowded in the 33rd.

(And as yet, no competition in the 34th, next door?)

14 Jun 2008

◉  Giuliani Plans to Aid Hopefuls, for His Share

As always, a class act.

13 Jun 2008

◉  At Least Its A Park

The only way to see a million-dollar sunset in Williamsburg is to own a million-dollar condo.

With all the open space that was promised as part of the Williamsburg/Greenpoint rezoning, all we have so far is a state park with no amenities that closes before sunset. But at least its A park.

12 Jun 2008

◉  Zoning Rules Are Flouted by Architect

So - we have an architect, an inspector and a developer charged with building-related improprieties in the space of three days. Looks like chickens are coming home to roost. Of course each is just the tip of a very large iceberg.

I wonder who is next?

◉  Officials Broaden Focus of Inquiry Into Corruption in Crane Inspections

Shocking.

◉  Builder Faces Manslaughter Charges

Cheap, unskilled laborer dies at the hands of a cheap, unskilled developer. What more pathetic metaphor for the Brooklyn building boom.

And lest we forget, Lauro Ortega was a hardworking man with a life and family back in Cuenca.

◉  412% (or Staten Island is Burning)

The Post regales us with chart junk about the foreclosure situation in NYC, and in the process, misses the story. Their map colors Brooklyn and Queens red (danger!), and Staten Island orange (caution?), but maybe Staten Island should be the focus here.

In raw numbers, sure Queens and Brooklyn have the most foreclosures, but they also have the most housing. But on a year-to-year basis, Brooklyn's foreclosures are up a bit over 8% - relatively speaking, good news in today's real estate climate. Compare that to the increase in foreclosures citywide, which are up a whopping 66%. In fact, ranked among the 5 boroughs, Brooklyn has the second lowest change in foreclosures (second only to Manhattan, where foreclosures are small in number, and at least since last year, dropping).

So here's the real story (sans fiery-colored map):

• Manhattan -8%
• Brooklyn +8.5%
• Bronx +55%
• Queens +59%
• NYC +66%
• Staten Island +412%

◉  Ikea Leads a Retail Renaissance

In the Sun, Noel Caban (a commercial real estate broker, natch) thinks that Ikea's Brooklyn store is a harbinger of a retail renaissance for our Borough. Next up in Mr. Caban's rose-tinted Brooklyn of tomorrow? BJ's Wholesale.

Never mind that Ikea is as much about Manhattan as it is about Brooklyn (they're subsidizing their own ferry service for Manhattanites; Brooklynites get an extra stop on the B61). Never mind that Brooklyn has been experiencing a grass-roots renaissance for some time now. Its all about big retail now. Let's take a closer look at the Sun's "evidence" for all this:

• "Later this year, Trader Joe's will open in the former Independence Savings Bank building at the corner of Court Street and Atlantic Avenue." It was supposed to be open by now, and given the pace of construction, "later this year" is not a mortal lock.
• "In 2009, Brooklyn's long-awaited Whole Foods Market is scheduled to open..." Emphasis on scheduled. If TJ's manages to open before 2011, they're unlikely to much competition from their Gowanus neighbor.
• "Demolition work has already begun... at the Fulton Street Mall to make way for City Point... The complex will have more than 500,000 square feet of retail space" Timeline-wise, this project is behind Whole Foods. Let's not hold our breath here, either.
• "The growth of retail into urban centers is part of a national trend... Marc Freud (another commercial real estate flack) says that 'with the enormous interest in 'green transportation,' whether it be walking or cycling, Brooklyn and Queens downtown retail marketplaces are becoming the destination shopping meccas for consumers hard hit by soaring gasoline prices. It is becoming a much better economic choice to hop on the subway and do some shopping than to steer your car to the mall in New Jersey or Westchester.'" For those not riding the G train, and thus able to take a subway into Manhattan, this will be less than life-changing news.
• "Another speculator retail location is the 33,000 square feet of retail space on three levels available at the newly renovated One Hanson Place..." Which has been on the market now for three-plus years.

Look - its great that Brooklyn is attracting a really healthy range of retailers (which is clear once you get past the PR hype in the article). This "retail renaissance" is not just focused on Downtown and high-end retailers, it includes Gateway Center in East New York with over 600,000 square feet of occupied retail space. But instead of trying to turn Brooklyn into a mecca for commercial brokers, why not focus on the thousands of small retailers that are the real economic engines in many neighborhoods. And its not just the gentrifying Franklin Streets of the borough, its also the Manhattan Avenues.

9 Jun 2008

◉  Children were mistakenly rejected from public prekindergarten programs

I've been remiss in not posting on this before. As you may have heard by now, the Department of Education's new pre-kindergarten enrollment system has some major flaws. As a result, kids are being assigned to schools that they should not be, and are being rejected from schools that, under the DOE's own rules, they should be attending.

Call it the Halliburton effect. Rather than centralize the admissions process within the DOE, the City outsourced the work of assigning students to a private company in Pennsylvania. Of course people keying in data in Pennsylvania know nothing about NYC. For its part, DOE is saying the problem is limited to a couple hundred kids who weren't assigned to the same school their siblings already attend, and blaming the problem on a bad "algorithm" that screens for siblings.

How's this for an algorithm:

If sibling attends elementary school
     Then assign child to same elementary school
End If

Sounds like a first semester programming exercise.

7 Jun 2008

◉  Top City Crane Inspector Accused of Taking Bribes

Amazing. I hope this idiot at least had the good sense to stop taking bribes after the 51st Street crane collapse.

◉  Hillary's Farewell

She was really good today. And gave a very strong - and heartfelt - endorsement of Obama.

Amazing crowd, too. Compare the crowd - numbers and enthusiasm - to that of McCain's "kickoff" speech in Louisiana earlier this week. A good sign for November.

4 Jun 2008

◉  Mayor of Coney Island Resigns

Dick Zigun's letter of resignation as a director of the Coney Island Development Corporation, fake mayor to real Mayor. Zigun has a point, the city's first order of business should be to keep Coney Island fun.

Worth some extensive excerpting, but check out the full text yourself:

As everyone knows, I am a phony politician, no more than a spokesman and advocate for the amusement industry is this “Mayor” of Coney Island. My fantasy municipality is 61 acres zoned for amusements. Nobody lives there or votes there and most Coney Island fans are tourists who live in the 5 boroughs or other states or countries far away from the real elected officials in Brooklyn...

The CIDC Plan promised a world class tourist attraction with an entertainment core: lots of rides complimented by year round nightclubs and enclosed waterparks. Instead the core will now be rezoned for a shopping mall full of NikeTowns, Toys R US and 4 thirty story hotels. One of these massive hotels is even proposed directly in front of The Wonder Wheel, a NYC Landmark. Only 9 acres out of 61 will be reserved for amusement park rides. The original CIDC Plan promised that any condos built within the empty lots of the 61 acres would have Entertainment Retail on the ground floor such as bowling alleys and theaters. Instead the 61 acres now crams in 26 new high rise towers up to 30 stories each with dry cleaners and hardware stories no tourist will ever visit. We worked four hard years for consensus and I for one feel betrayed...

If snooty Paris, of all places, can live with Euro Disney why can’t New York City reinvent a 21st century Coney Island the right way? I beg you to return to the balance and consensus that is the CIDC Plan… or else I will have to speak out against the new plan at the hearing June 24th.

◉  Rabbithole

My old stretch of Bedford Avenue continues to get some high quality eateries - the latest (via Gothamist) is the Rabbithole. Added bonus is that this is the reincarnation of the "beloved" Read Cafe.

Further proof, I hope, that the best food continue to be on the Southside.

◉  Bushwick: Then and Now

The rise, fall and subsequent rise of Bushwick, via City Journal. A decent history, though I wonder about the final gentrification-is-nothing-but-good conclusion:

Still, there’s little evidence that the trans­formation will do anything but benefit most Bushwick residents. “Gentrification drives few low-income residents from their homes,” writes Columbia University urban-planning professor Lance Freeman, who has studied the effects of neighborhood change in New York. Instead, demographic changes take place gradually, prompted not by precipitous hikes in rent but by normal turnover in the housing market. Far from pushing people out, Freeman has found, neighborhood upgrades like Bushwick’s encourage many residents to stay and enjoy the fruits of revival.

3 Jun 2008

◉  McCain: I'll Spy on You Too

Seems McCain is also ready, willing and able to extend Bush's war powers claims.

◉  Rah-Rah!

Cloying, annoying and just downright obnoxious Williamsburg piece from the Observer (hey! there are a lot of young people here doing crazy young people things!).

They do manage to get a couple of things right without being obnoxious about it, like Aurora and activism. On the latter: "after you’ve been here a while, you may find that some things need improvement". Complete with solutions from City Council candidate Evan Thies and a plug for NAG.

2 Jun 2008

◉  City Breaks Park Pledge

It seems those grand plans for new parkland in Greenpoint and Williamsburg are a little bit behind schedule. Not surprising, really. Much of Bushwick Inlet is contingent upon acquisition (in a rising real estate market) or eminent domain. The MTA lot on Commercial (which is part of a land swap for both open space and affordable housing) is contingent upon locating comparable space elsewhere for the MTA (when all of the city-owned land in North Brooklyn has already been promised to others). The sludge tank site at Barge Park is contingent upon the relocation of the sludge tank (which is on hold until the city can get new barges to ply Newtown Creek).

Seems like the only thing that is not contingent based is the construction of luxury towers in Williamsburg (which will mean the completion of an esplanade sooner rather than later).

◉  Contador Wins Giro

By winning the Giro d'Italia yesterday, Alberto Contador became the first rider to win the Tour de France and the Giro back to back since his fellow Spaniard Miguel Indurain did it 1993 (Indurain did it in the same year; Contador across years).

But the best Grand Tour rider won't be defending his Tour de France title this year. In whst dhould go down as one of the more boneheaded responses to its ongoing doping scandal, the organizers of the Tour - have dropped Contador's (new) team from this year's invitation list.