Coney Island Death Watch: Sitt Sending in Demolition Crews

It's been a while since we've posted a "Coney Island Death Watch," but developer Joe Sitt and his firm Thor Equities are clearing some of the land they own in Coney Island. Tenants got the boot from properties at the end of last year, and now, there are reports that a number of the Sitt-owned parcels are being prepared for demolition or will soon see demolition activity, including the Go-Kart track, batting cages and mini-golf course near the Coney boardwalk. According to reports on the Coney Island Message Board, copper wire is being stripped, light poles have been taken down and some fences have been cut. The area will reportedly be cleared so that it can be "activated" quickly if the firm gets the rezoning it is seeking from the city that will allow the construction of luxury housing and retailing on the Coney Island properties that it owns. Meanwhile, the New York Post reports that Thor has start to "clear some of the land where its planned construction would occur. Bulldozers have begun removing longtime attractions on Thor property along Stillwell Avenue."

There has been widespread speculation in Coney Island circles that Thor would move quickly to level buildings and attractions on property that it owns in Coney Island in order to increase pressure on the city to act on the zoning changes that it desires. It is thought that creating even more empty land in Coney Island, and the way it would make it appear vacant and unsafe, is a tactic to ensure quick approval of redevelopment plans. If the redevelopment somehow falls through, because Thor doesn't get the zoning changes it desires or because it can't line up financing, Coney would be left with blocks more empty, overgrown lots than it already has.

Related Post:
Mail from Mr. Sitt: Deliberately "Grassroots" Look?
Here's "Coney Island Park"
Coney Island Death Watch: Is Eviction and Demolition a Bargaining Chip?

Sitt Speaks: Give Me Luxury Housing in Coney Island, Or Else

Developer Joe Sitt is turning up the heat on the city in his attempt to have Coney Island rezoned to allow luxury highrise housing on the boardwalk. While Mr. Sitt's publicly-released plans have stressed retail development and amusements such as a new roller coaster, the New York Post reports that Mr. Sitt is suggesting he might pull out of Coney Island if he can't build housing. A story quotes Thor Equities spokesman Lee Silberstein as saying the planned $1.5 billion Coney development "isn't a financially feasible investment" without luxury highrises. Says Mr. Silberstein: "Everybody wants Coney Island to be revitalized, and housing has got to be part of it." The story continues that "the city faces losing its biggest private investment in Coney Island's future if it doesn't meet Thor's request."

It looks like some in Coney aren't taking the bait, however, or pushing the panic button in response to Mr. Sitt's ultimatum. The story continues:

Chuck Reichental, a member of the agency that will determine how Coney Island is rezoned, said a majority of residents opposes housing in the amusement district as well as any new development exceeding the height of the 262-foot landmark Parachute Jump.

Sources familiar with informal talks between the city and Thor say these are the two biggest obstacles to the developer's plan.

A city Economic Development Corporation spokesman said, "Our priorities remain to preserve and enhance Coney Island's historic amusement area, make sure it stays open to the public and create economic opportunities for local residents - and we have serious concerns that a predominance of residential towers . . . would work against those goals."

Clearly, Mr. Sitt and Thor have begun the process of trying to create pressure for the significant zoning changes they want, partly through calculated public statements.

Red Hook Noted in New Republic

If you're not a New Republic reader you might miss this next item, so we figured it's worth passing along. It's actually a story about Senator and Presidential candidate Barack Obama and his appeal across racial lines. The story, however, dwells quite a bit on some research that sociologists did in the 1990s in Red Hook:

In 1994, two sociologists went to Red Hook, Brooklyn, to solve a mystery. Red Hook abutted the East River, and along the waterfront sat shipping companies and warehouses — all in need of low-skilled labor. Next door sat a housing project teeming with exactly that. But the locals — primarily African Americans — didn't get hired. Instead, the jobs went to workers from outside the neighborhood, often Caribbean immigrants. Employers, wrote The New Yorker's Malcolm Gladwell in summarizing the sociologists' findings, "had developed an elaborate mechanism for distinguishing between those who they felt were 'good' blacks and those they felt were 'bad' blacks." Were the employers racist? Yes and no. They clearly held anti-black stereotypes. And they discriminated against those who conformed to them, even by association. But they discriminated in favor of blacks who defied those stereotypes. A man named Bruce Llewellyn described the phenomenon this way: "White people love to believe they're fair."

As it happens, Llewellyn wasn't talking about Red Hook. He was talking about his cousin, Colin Powell — whose prospective presidential bid enjoyed mass white support roughly a decade ago. Like the employers in Red Hook, whites discriminated in Powell's favor because he challenged their negative stereotypes of blacks. First, he had succeeded in a respected white institution: the military. Second, he was the child of immigrants, a man whose family history highlighted America's opportunities, not its racism. Third, he wasn't ideologically radical. And, fourth, he didn't look or sound stereotypically black. No one was blunter about this than Powell himself. Asked in 1995 to explain his appeal to whites, he volunteered that "I speak reasonably well, like a white person," and, visually, "I ain't that black."

Barack Obama would never put it that way. But he surely understands the uncomfortable subtext behind the adoration being showered upon him by white America.

You can read the entire story over at cbsnews.com, which is where we found it, or over at the New Republic, but you've got to register at the latter.

Brooklinks: Wednesday Midweek Edition

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

• In 1938, Blight Was a Simpler Thing [AYR]
• Brooklyn Matters Documentary Hits the Screen [NYDN]
• More Money for Atlantic Yards on the QT? [No Land Grab]
• Checking in on the Third Place Horror Show [Brownstoner]
• Another Brooklyn Construction Worker Dies in a Fall [NYT]
• How to Save Brooklyn Trees From Developers [I'm Seeing Green]
• Winter One-derland from Impact Theater [Dope on the Slope]
• Donate Computers to the Gowanus Community Project [Fusion PR Forum]
• Cookin' in Brooklyn: Lorimer Street Style [Brooklyn Record]
• BAM Cultural District: Another Day, Another Plan [Gothamist]
• Check Out a 1930s Coney Island Film [Kinetic Carnival]
• Coney Island is Best Brooklyn Spot for Public Sex [Gridskipper]
• Couplings at Issue Project Room [OTBKB]

Atlantic Yards Property Update: Where the Eminent Domain Hammer Would Fall

What you're looking at above is a map of the Atlantic Yards site, color-coded to show who owns what. While the entire thing makes a pretty, multi-colored map and diagram of the project, what's of particular interest here are the areas in red. Those, according to Develop Don't Destroy, are properties that are still privately owned. In total, more than five acres of the proposed site are still privately owned or controlled. "Unless the developer can gain the deeds and leases to these properties, the arena cannot be built," the group writes. "In addition, much of the rest of the project, including the de-mapping (removal) of City streets required to construct superblocks, cannot be built as proposed." There is a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of using eminent domain to seize property for the project. There are 12 plaintiffs in the suit (representing 2 businesses and 26 residents) and the parties are in court next week.

Busy on Bayard Street: Out You Go

We caught a virtual symphony of construction work going on over at what we call Karl Fischer Row on Bayard Street next to McCarren Park on Sunday and have been so overwhelmed with posts this week that we're only now getting around to posting a couple of pics. There was the sound of banging and drilling. The construction elevators were going up and down. And, there were workers inside the building that will become The Ikon tossing a lot of stuff out the windows, a bit of which we caught in mid flight as it made its way out the window near Lorimer Street.

More Crappy North Brooklyn Construction Sites: Greenpoint Edition

A special North Brooklyn correspondent who saw our post yesterday featuring two Williamsburg development sites that are pretty much open to those that wish to romp through the rubble and play demolition contractor or construction worker hit us off with the photo above of another fun site. This one is on Green Street in Greenpoint. Quality workmanship on the fence, no?

Need a Cup? Check A Brooklyn Coffee Map

These Brooklyn coffee maps, which are simply zoomed in versions of NYC coffee maps came to our attention via the Google Maps Mania blog. The top one--which shows independent coffee places--comes from cupofnyc's New York City coffee map. The bottom one shows the location of Starbucks (the paucity of which in certain parts of Brooklyn with either lead one to rejoice or to wonder when more will come, depending on one's orientation on this hot button issue). It comes from the findbyclick coffee map (no way to link to the NYC map directly. You have to type in New York in the search bar). We're pretty sure the "indie" coffee map is missing some spots, but the Starbucks map looks fairly complete. You can also search the "indie" map by neighborhood.

South Slope Development Follies, Continued: "I Noticed That the Building Was Gone"

If demolition and construction in Brooklyn were a genre of literature or drama, it would be Theater of the Absurd. How else to explain day-to-day, week-to-week spectacle of flagrant violations by developers and contractors, slow response by municipal officials and blatant disregard of any orders that are eventually issued?

We present without further explanation the following letter sent by Concerned Citizens of Greenwood Heights to the Commissioner of the Department of Buildings:

Despite your efforts; the illegal Demolition at 574 Fourth Ave. has continued. Last Friday there were 2 floors of a building. As I passed the site, this Morning, I noticed that the building was gone. At 1PM, when I returned to see what was going, on I found an 8 ton (probably more) Backhoe was busy taking down what was left of the building. There were 2 men [one Asian and one Hispanic] standing outside as lookouts, and one Polish (I think) man operating the Back-Hoe. I started to take some Pictures and was immediately descended upon. I asked if they had any permits. The operator of the Back Hoe (who happened to be the only one who could speak English) said that they were doing what there "BOSS" told them. I explained that their "BOSS" told them to break the law. Then I asked if they had a permit for the Machine and they looked at me like I had 3 heads. When I asked if the operator had a license to operate the machine and he immediately said "NO."...I am attaching 2 video, 2 Pictures and a short audio recording of the Operator admitting to not having a license.
Thank You and Enjoy!

All we need is a Commissioner or Inspectors with names like Pirandello or Kafka, and we're set.

Brookvid: A Trip to the Bottom of a Brooklyn Navy Yard Drydock

Our little trip to see PortSide New York's Mary A. Whalen in the graving dock at the Brooklyn Navy Yard was, to us, pretty damned cool. Yesterday, we posted a large flickr photoset from the visit. Today, we're putting up a Brookvid. It gives a little bit of the feeling of what it's like to be under a boat, several stories down in a drydock with a bulkhead holding back the waters of the East River. You don't get the damp cold or the kind of fish store smell, but it conveys some of the flavor. Watch the embed or click here.

Related Post:
Underneath a 613-Ton Ship: Visting the Mary Whalen in Drydock

BAM Cultural District Moving Forward?

After years of discussion and planning, the BAM Cultural District may be moving forward. The $650 million project would be built around the Brooklyn Academy of Music and in the words of today's Post create "a new Left Bank - Brooklyn-style." It will include a theater and arts library, dance studio, public park, museum & gallery, underground parking and residential housing. Plans, according to the Post, include:

* The Theater for a New Audience, to be built early next year. The 299-seat theater is modeled after London's Royal National Theater.

* A dance studio in a 20-story residential tower with 150 apartments, half of which will be affordable housing.

* The Visual and Performing Arts Library, currently on hold until a new executive director is named for the Brooklyn Public Library.

* A public plaza, which will be built with an underground parking garage by landscape architect Ken Smith, who designed the outdoor space at the new 7 World Trade Center building.

A request for bids on the project goes out next month.

Cool New Street Art in Williamsburg

We don't usually do posts on street art, except to feature it as a "Photo Du Jour" sometimes, but the recent outbreak of splashing, and the beauty of the two works here, merited a stand-alone post. In any case, we won't publicize the location of these two other than to say they're in Williamsburg somewhere between the BQE and the East River.

The No Longer Sunken Red Hook Lightship

[Photo courtesdy of Harvenyc/flickr]

Ever wonder about that sunken lightship in Red Hook by the Revere Sugar Plant whose masts were poking out of the water? The ship was reportedly removed from the water on Sunday by a massive crane floated into the Erie Basin by Thor Equities. We came across this flickr set of the lightship's actual sinking in the mid-1990s and thought we'd share in case you were curious and (like us) had never seen pics of the ship that had sat at the bottom. You can check out the entire set here or the slideshow of the set here. Below is one of our pics of how the lighship appeared until a few days ago.

Brooklyn Mystery: Why Won't Albany Pay the Council of Brooklyn Neighborhoods???

Way back when, the Council of Brooklyn Neighborhoods was promised $100,000 to report on the Environmental Impact Statement for Atlantic Yards. The group did a good job of coordinating the "community expert review" of a terribly complex document and was vigilant in monitoring what some would say was a deeply flawed process. It turns out they were never paid. (Norman Oder digs into the issue on his Atlantic Yards Report here and there is an item on No Land Grab as well.)

The Council includes cornerstones of the Brooklyn civic and neighborhood world: the Atlantic Avenue Betterment Association, Boerum Hill Association, Boerum Hill For Organic Development, Brooklyn Bears Community Garden, Brooklyn Vision Foundation Inc., Cambridge Place Action Coalition, Clermont/Greene Ave Block Association, Dean Street Block Association, Develop Don't Destroy-Brooklyn, East Pacific Block Association, Fans For Fair Play, Fifth Avenue Committee, Fort Greene Association, New York Preservation Alliance, North Flatbush Business Improvement District, Park Slope Civic Council, Park Slope Greens, Park Slope Neighbors, Pratt Area Community Council, Prospect Heights Action Coalition, Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council, Sierra Club-Atlantic Chapter, Society for Clinton Hill, South Portland Avenue Block Association and the Warren Street St. Marks Community Garden

Now, the group has started a campaign among each of its members to contact elected officials in Albany to find and turn over the money that has "disappeared" or that was made to vanish by political opponents such as former Assem. and Atlantic Yards supporter Roger Green. The letter reads in part:

CBN needs your help immediately. As you have read in the local papers and as we have discussed at our meetings, CBN was promised $100,000 from the New York State Assembly last year to fund our report on the Environmental Impact Statement of the Brooklyn Atlantic Yards project. The report is finished and being used by many officials, including the State Assembly but the promised funds have not been forthcoming...

Some of the sample text:

The Assembly appreciated that the scope and complexity of this analysis would require the use of environmental experts working on the community’s behalf when it originally approved the CBN funding. Based on these assurances CBN contracted a team of consultants who produced an excellent series of reports in a completely transparent manner. The work has been done and is being used by the Legislature. It is unconscionable that the funding has not yet been made available.

Hopefully, a public airing of what would seem to be a hardball political payback will help resolve the situation so that everyone that did good faith and top-notch work analyzing the Atlantic Yards document will be paid.

Brooklinks: Tuesday Cold Again Edition

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

Weather & Idiotarod

• Prospect Park: Snow Capital of New York City [Gothamist]
• Van Brunt Street with Snow [A Sad Day for Birds II]
• Trying , and Failing, to Find the Idiotarod [Brooklyn Record]
• Idiotaroders Outsmart Cops, Media & Pull Off Race [Daily Intel]
• Idiotarod [newyorkshitty]

Doubling Atlantic Yards Subsidy

• City Really Doubles Public Subsidy to Ratner & Nets [No Land Grab]
• City Admits Doubling Atlantic Yards Funding to $205M [AYR]
• City Subsidy to Ratner Doubles [NYP]
  

Everything Else

• Time's Almost Up on New Police Parade Regs [streetsblog]
• Robbers Really, Really Like Fifth Avenue Commerce Bank [Park Slope Courier]
• City Cancels Marine Park Golf Course Deal [NYT]
• Carroll Gardens Hell Update [Brownstoner]
• Willoughby Block in Disrepair [Clinton Hill Blog]
• The Grim Reaper & the Gowanus Canal [Moths & Anvils]
• First N. 6th Street Banksy Painted, Now London Wall Stolen [INSIJS]
• Brooklyn Arts Council Announces Art as Anecdote Show [Dumbo NYC]

Another Perspective on the Revere Demolition

Leave it to the flickr photographer who goes by f.trainer to get a wonderful perspective on the Revere demolition in Red Hook. Don't stop at this photo. Check out his entire Revere photoset, shot over time, and definitely make a stop at his Gowanus Batcave photoset.

More Excellent Maintenance at Williamsburg Construction Sites

It's not like we walk around Williamsburg looking for messed up construction sites--you know, downed fences or poorly secured doors. But, sometimes, we practically trip across them. The specimen above is at N. 10th and Berry on the site of an old zipper factory that was recently demolished and that will become condos. The one below is from the corner of N. 8th and Driggs where the Wonder Foods factory was recently demolished and has offered excellen opportunities to romp through both the demolition site and, now, construction rubble.

Underneath a 613-Ton Ship: Visiting the Mary Whalen in Drydock

There is something that is both frightening and uplifting about standing under a 613-ton fuel tanker several stories beneath ground level. You look up and the mass of the ship, with a fresh black coat of paint, rises several stories above your head into the pale Brooklyn winter sky. The the left and right are the steep, stair-stepped walls of a drydock. Amazingly, she sits about nine or ten feet off the bottom of the drydock on more than a dozen massive blocks. Water rushes through a massive bulkhead in the Brooklyn Navy Yard graving dock, dropping in a little waterfall into a trough before being pumped out again. Underfoot there is a gritty black gunk left over from sandblasting, spotted with fuel oil from work equipment, the smell of which is fairly strong. The ship itself--which is a large vessel--seems oddly dwarfed by the 285-foot-long graving dock, which is one of the smaller ones at the historic Navy Yard.

Welcome to the Mary A. Whalen, an old tanker that is in the process of being converted into a floating museum and headquarters for PortSide New York. Gowanus Lounge visited the Whalen--a 172-foot tanker that delivered to ships around New York City and to ports as far away as Maine before she retired from active duty in 1993--on Sunday, having been invited by PortSide's Director Carolina Salguero. Ms. Salguero has been documenting the repairs on the PortSide Tanker Blog, which she is somehow managing to keep up, despite living on a ship in dryock. Ms. Salguero notes that the ship hadn't been in drydock for repairs in about 16 years and that the TLC she is getting is vital. The Whalen had been docked since fall at one of American Stevedoring Piers in Red Hook, and PortSide must raise capital in order to do the interior renovations that will turn her into a floating maritime museum, office space, cafe and community facility, but the stay at the Navy Yard is vital to ensuring that the Whalen has a long and healthy new life of service.The Whalen will leave the drydock late this week or early next week, and we'll write more about her, but for now, it's time to let our pictures say more than our words. We've got a small slideshow embed below, but you can click over to our flickr photoset or directly over to our flickr slideshow (which we'd embed here, except for the persistent glitches) for a whole lot of images of the Mary Whalen in drydock.

Mail From Mr. Sitt: Deliberately "Grassroots" Look?

How do you hide the fact that you're connected to the well-heeled developer proposing at $1.5 billiion project? You produce a flyer from an independent group that looks like it came off an underground printing press. On Friday, we noted that the a group calling itself The Future of Coney Island that is connected to Coney Island developer Joe Sitt's PR firm, the Marino Organization, was sending out flyers touting the redevelopment of Coney Island to Brooklyn residents. (The URL thefutureofconeyisland.com, which is a "parked" web page, is registered to the Marino Organization.) Over the weekend, someone posted a scan of the flyer on the Coney Island Message Board. The results are below. All we will say is that given what the players here are capable of producing, one can only assume the faux grassroots community group look is deliberate. The mailer looks like it's coming from local residents doing DIY organizing--against Mr. Sitt's project, for that matter--rather than from an organization sponsored by or with very close ties to Thor Equities.

The Front


The Back


The Response Card

Related Post:
Coney Island PR Material from Thor Hitting Mail Boxes

Revere Falling Fast, Getting Craned

The Revere Sugar Plant in Red Hook is on its last legs. Demolition workers tearing the iconic structure down on behalf of developer Joe Sitt and his firm Thor Equities were back hacking away at the metal structure this week and also made more headway demolishing brick structures on the site. In addition, a huge crane on a barge has been floated up the site. When we were there, one of the masts from a sunken light ship that had long poked out of the water, had been lifted out. We're told that on Sunday, the entire light ship was lifted from the water and that a big hole was visible in the raised ship. Presumably, it's all in preparation for tearing down a conveyor structure jutting into the water, which raises interesting questions as to why clearing debris from the water is a priority during the demolition of the factory.

Street Art War Update: Faile Goes Up By One On the Splasher

Score one for the Faile crew. A check of the state of street art on N. 6th Street, which was one of the spots struck by the destructive Splasher, finds that the Faile crew has replaced destroyed street art. The art war was noted in the Sunday New York Times, and quoted a Faile member as saying they would incorporate the Splasher's splashing and "Excrement of Action" manifesto into their work, which they have done. Here's hoping they stay that way, but even if they don't we have faith that street artists will trump the pseudo-intellectual twaddle of the reviled Splasher.

Monday: Brooklinks Brave New Week Edition

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

• 2,159 Idiotarod 2007 Flickr Tagged Photos!!! [flickr]
• More Idiotarod Goodness [Gothamist]
• Why Isn't the Council of Brooklyn Neighborhoods Getting Its $100K? [AYR]
• Brooklyn Heights, 1982 [Brooklyn Heights Blog]
• NYT is Very Interested in Correct Spelling of Cannellini Beans [DDDB]
• Chance to Get Things Right in Gowanus? [Jeff Strabone]
• TV Repair Shops Still Exist [Lost City]
• Bumper Badger is a Brooklyn Invention! [NYDN]
• Pfizer's Long History in Brooklyn [Gothamist]
• Park Sloper Discovers She Made the Park Slope 100 [OTBKB]
• Sheepshead Bay Bulkhead Fight [Courier Life]
• More About 94-Year-Old Dominick Diomede's New Home in Boerum Hill [NYDN]
  
• Yvette Clarke Endorses Mathieu Eugene for Her Vacated City Council Seat [NYT]
• After Work Party at PowerHouse Books in Dumbo on February 1 [Dumbo NYC]

Brooklyn Matters Online

The documentary Brooklyn Matters now has its own webite, brooklymatters.com, which is a good spot to watch a trailer and to get updated listings of where producer/director Isabel Hill's Atlantic Yards documentary is being screened. The website itself says:

No single event will have a more drastic and long-lasting impact on Brooklyn than the proposed Atlantic Yards development. This uncommon proposal, however, is mostly misunderstood. Brooklyn Matters is an insightful documentary that reveals the fuller truth about the Atlantic Yards proposal and highlights how a few powerful men are circumventing community participation and planning principles to try to push their own interests forward.

You can check out a partial calendar of upcoming screenings here as well as info about a comedy fundraiser for Develop Don't Destroy.

Brooklyn as Seen in the LA Times

It's always interesting to see how Brooklyn is viewed, especially in light of its inclusion over the last year or so in a ton of travel section stories. In any case, here's a little something from yesterday's LA Times that we're including for fun:

The [Brooklyn Cruise] terminal, at Pier 12 off Bowne Street in the Red Hook area, isn't a neighborhood you want to stroll around after dark.

The best bet for staying overnight near the terminal is the New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge, which has big, comfortable rooms and a good restaurant, Archives. The other feasible (but less enticing) option is the Holiday Inn Express, farther away in Park Slope. It's no great shakes, but a good, inexpensive choice.

One of the best things to do is the most obvious: Take a walk on the historic Brooklyn Bridge for classic views of the Manhattan skyline from the pedestrian walkway above traffic. It takes 30 to 40 minutes to cross, or you can cheat and walk halfway and back. From the Marriott, turn right on Adams and continue to the waterfront, about a 15-minute walk. There's no public transportation available to the port terminal.

The Brooklyn Historical Society, in an 1881 Queen Anne building, and historic Montague Street are both a short walk from the Marriott. The historical society holds the papers of abolitionist Henry Ward Beecher, who preached at Brooklyn's Plymouth Church, and memorabilia about the long-gone Brooklyn Dodgers. At the end of Montague Street is a knockout view of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. Gardeners may want to check out the 52-acre Brooklyn Botanic Garden at 1000 Washington Ave., which has a bonsai museum and an outstanding orchid collection.

For a little local color, I ate one night at Frankie's 457 Spuntino in Carroll Gardens. It's a friendly brick-walled neighborhood place with good salads and pastas.

Another night I stayed at the Holiday Inn Express and found the delightful Moutarde a few blocks away. The menu is very French — onion soup, mussels, pot au feu, beef Burgundy — as is the bistro ambience.

Nearby Park Slope has delightful boutiques, such as Nest, for cutting-edge jewelry, tableware and toys. Bird sells high-end fashion for women.

We could point out that the writer says the Holiday Inn Express on Union Street is in Park Slope, but that would be wrong.

The Idiotarod: A Lot of Cops, A Lot of Pics

[Photo courtesy of LarimdaME/flickr]

We missed the Idiotarod, which is a sort of winter version of the Mermaid Parade with shopping carts, which took place yesterday and ran from Clay and Franklin in Greenpoint to 45th Road in Long Island City. It apparently attracted a large police presence, including helicopters, in addition to a large number of participants and onlookers. Gothamist did some coverage as the "race" was going on that you can check out here and bluejake has a photo feature up. And as of this morning, there are 1,146 flickr photos up online from the 07 Idiotarod. More to come, no doubt.

Not every photo who shot Idiotarod photos (TresspassersWill's, eva101, JefferyEl, LarimdaME) put them in sets, but very cool flickr sets were posted by:

• ultrahi (299 Photos)
• Verbavolant
• plemeljr
• Lindsay Beyerstein
• Gothamistllc
• mdpNY
  

Disconnected in Brooklyn on Craigslist: You Wear Excellent Pantyhose

Sunday = Our favorite Brooklyn Craigslist Missed Connection--pathos, comedy and heartbreak, all in one place--on Craigslist. We've got to say that we had a hard time making up our mind. We enjoyed this one, from the guy who found some panties in his laundry, but it was more of a weird lost and found than a Missed Connection. We also must say that we dug this one about the female talking to herself at Baked in Red Hook and this one to the guy who works out with a friend who reads Penthouse Forum on the treadmill at the Y and goes outside to smoke.

All that having been said, this week's award goes to:

Pink hat, N Train, panty hose, black boots with zipper on the side? - m4w - 28

I feel dumb for doing this but I just have to! I hope you look on here hon. We got on the same time at the bay parkway station. You had pink furry gloves and hat,panty hose that i was looking at quite a few times heh , i think pink coat also. I know you had three different shades of pink on with those black boots. Sat about 3 feet away from each other...I really wanted to sit next to you and start talking...you were so lovely! But I was going on an audition so i had to go over my monologue to myself. We kept glancing at each other and you distracted me from my monologue very much!! I had a beard, longish dark hair, brown coat, and chewing gum later on during the ride. We had our eyes on each other when you got off and sat in the other train across from me. I hope you read this and are interested. I'd love to talk and continue together. Write soon
Ray xox

"I had to go over my monologue to myself." That would mean you were talking to yourself while checking out her pantyhose? Cool.

Brooklinks: Sunday Still Chilling Edition

Brooklinks is a daily selection of information and, especially on weekends, images.

Pics:

• Gowanus Coffee Cup [seriously excited!]
• Walsh's Shoe Factory, Greenpoint [A Test of Will]
• Waiting for the Bus on Van Brunt [A Sad Day for Birds II]
• G'Night Remnants [jUSTINYC]
• Birds in Flight [Really Not Worth Archiving]
• Two Desktops [Brit in Brooklyn]
• Idiotarod 07 [Bluejake]
• Metal [Lex's Folly]
  

Words:

• Pfizer's Birthplace, No Pfizer [NYT]
• No Correction of Error in Sunday Times Story on Robert Moses [AYR]
• Brooklyn's Basketball City Evokes Fear and Hope [No Land Grab]
• Coney Park HOOPLA [Kinetic Carnival]
• Gmail Can Kiss My Ass (or Help Me Get Back Into My Account) [Z. Madison]
• Will Smith Shoot Makes it Look Like a War at the Brooklyn Bridge [NYP]
• About the Vandalism of Street Art in Williamsburg [NYT]
• Fort Greene/Clinton Hill Residents Go Out of Nabe for Gourmet Goods [Myrtle Minutes]
• Errol Louis vs. Gersh Kuntzman [OTBKB]
• Former Party Boat Sinks in Sheepshead Bay, Spills Fuel [NYT]
• Brooklyn Botanic Garden Signature Plants [Flatbush Gardner]

Gehry Doing a Miss Brooklyn Makeover

Frank Gehry breaks some news by noting that his Miss Brooklyn is undergoing a serious redesign. "Miss Brooklyn" was supposed to be a 60 story building, but its size was trimmed at before the Atlantic Yards development was approved by the Empire State Development Corporation. Now, Mr. Gehry says, as quoted in the Courier-Life paper: "Miss Brooklyn – she’s gone. She’s a new one now. I have a new Miss Brooklyn. I haven’t showed it yet and she’s better...I’ve always loved a reason to start over again and I did it."

You might remember Mr. Gehry's original explanation of naming Miss Brooklyn: "When we were studying Brooklyn, we happened upon a wedding, a real Brooklyn wedding. And we decided that Miss Brooklyn was a bride." Now, as it turns out, he says, "Miss Brooklyn got named when one of my guys was bringing the model from LA to New York and they had to buy a seat on the airplane, and when they sold the seat they needed a name so he said, 'call her Miss Brooklyn' and it stuck."

Also, Mr. Gehry says this regarding the Manhattanization of Brooklyn about which many residents are concerned:

It will be the Brooklynization of Brooklyn not the Manhattanization. Things are changing and growing, and people are attracted to the center — the cities, and whether you like it or not it’s happening here.

Somehow, we feel better knowing that it is inevitable.

Warm Up witth Vids of Coney Island

Here's a small (20 vid) playlist of Coney Island vids from youtube that we've put together for what we call GL's BrooklynTV. You can click over to the playlist here or, better yet, check out the selections on the very cool player below.

Gowanus Lounge Photo Du Jour, Part II: I Dream of Love & Corona

Williamsburg, Brooklyn

"Coney Island Park" TV News Report

Check out this report on CW11 about the "Coney Island Park" propsosal that Thor Equities floated this week. We found it thanks to a list of links on--what else?--Kinetic Carnival. The report is definitely worth checking out.

Related Posts:
Coney PR Material From Thor Hitting Mail Boxes
Here's "Coney Island Park"
Gowanus Lounge Coney Island React-O-Matic

Gowanus Lounge Photo Du Jour: Yellow Machine

Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Second Street in the Slope Gets a Shot of Castoria

When a Park Slope warehouse on Second Street near Fourth Avenue was demolished recently, it revealed an old ad for the stomach remedy Castoria on the side of an adjacent building. The big site is slated to be a four-story, 21-unit building designed by Karl Fischer Architect, best known for his work on Bayard Street adjacent to McCarren Park.

Great Squash Cook Off at V Spot

If you're a squash fan (the vegetable, not the game), there's going to be a "Great Squash Cook-off" with twenty amateur Brooklyn chefs working to create a vegan dish with winter squash. It happens next Sunday (February 4) from 4:30 pm to 7:30 pm at The V-Spot in Park Slope, Brooklyn. The release promoting the event says, in part:

Squash, often overlooked in favor of ‘flashier’ produce, is starting to get noticed. In an effort to encourage home cooking and seasonal eating, a local holistic health counselor is teaming up with Park Slope’s only vegan restaurant, The V-Spot, to host The Great Squash Cook-off...The contenders include new takes on the traditional ( Drunken Squash Soup ), to the sweet ( Butternut Persimmon Pudding ), to the exotic ( Indian Squash Halva ). Dishes will be judged for taste, creative use of ingredient, presentation, and ease of preparation. The grand prize winner will receive $200 in cash as well as the honor of having their recipe featured on menu of The V-Spot.

The judges include an impressive list of local food authorities and restaurant owners, including Anna Lappé, author of Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen; Isa Chandra Moskowitz, author of Vegan with a Vengeance; Vikas Khanna, owner and consultant for some of the top Indian restaurants in New York City; KalaLea, co-owner of smooch, an organic café and wine bar in Ft. Greene; and Danny Carabano, owner of The V-Spot.

Admission of $15 includes samples of the entries as well as the ability to witness the inauguration of Brooklyn’s very first squash champ. For more information about the event visit www.cookinbrooklyn.com. Space is limited.

The V-Spot, which is one of our regular desert stops because it carries an excellent selection of vegan cakes, is at 156 5th Avenue in Park Slope.

Brooklinks: Saturday Very Visual Edition

Broolinks is a daily selection of information and, especially on weekends, information.

Images:

• Twin Beauties [Atomische]
• Awaiting Development in Coney Island [Brit in Brooklyn]
• Canal Mirror [Lex's Folly]
• Brooklyn [Joe's NYC]
• Apple Locksmiths [Bluejake]
• Photo Op: Too Many Strollers in Park Slope [Daily Intel]
• Park Place [Brit in Brooklyn]
• False Alarms Kill [seriously excited!]
• Winter Sunrise at Canarsie Pier [MalNino/flickr]
• OTB Corner [Park Slope Street Photography]
• End With Snow in Gerritsen Beach [GerritsenBeach.net]
  

Not Images:

• City's $205M Atlantic Yards Pledge is Far Larger Than Original [AYR]
• Red Army (Yes, That Red Army) Hockey Team Playing in Brooklyn! [Daily Intel]
• Here Comes the Idiotarod [NYDN]
• Camera in the Kitchen at Greenpoint's Brooklyn Label [Gothamist]
• The Demolition of 205 Water Street in the Press [Dumbo NYC]
• Brooklyn Heights Awaits Runs Brooklyn Runner [Brooklyn Heights Blog]
• Ain't No Sunshine [Erica's Blog]
• Speaking for Sheep's Station [Brooklyn Record]
• PLG Historic District: What Is and What Could Have Been [Across the Park]

Get Your Fix of Demolition Porn

If you dig demolition porn, then by all means, you've got to check out this playlist of demolition porn (aka destructoporn) vids over at youtube. You can just click through them on the embedded player below to find the ones that, well, turn you on.

Gowanus Lounge Saturday Curbed Roundup

Those of you who read us regularly--and we thank you, as always--know that we post over at Curbed from Monday through Friday. Here are some of this week's items:

• Tall Williamsburg #1: Another Finger Raised (above)
• Brooklyn Real Estate Office Really Hates "Edgy" Art
• Prospect Heights 101
• Do's and Don'ts of Hocking Loogies in Prospect Heights
• Bay Ridge to Commerce Bank: Eat This
• Dumbo Residents Fight Demolition the South Slope Way
• Dumbo's Beacon of Light Turns it Down a Notch
• N. 5th Street #2: The Big Red Dumpster Cometh
• Toll Brothers Show Their Glass on Kent Avenue
• N. 5th Street #1: Another Big Hole
• What Works Better: Youtube Destructorporn or Phone Calls?
• Now Playing on Henry Street: Hard Hat Opera
• Brooklyn Jogger Blogger Has Run Half of Borough

Kinetoscope Video: Coney's Winter Lull

Kinetic Carnival posted this moody, gorgeous vid of Coney on a dark and wet winter day, earlier this week. It's part of a seriers that he says he'll be doing, which is encouraging, because it looks like we'll be getting some great vids. In any case, click on the embed below or go over ot Kinetic Carnival's item with the video here.

Coney Island PR Material From Thor Hitting Mailboxes

Brooklynites have started getting mailers from an organization identifying itself as "The Future of Coney Island." The URL printed on the mailers is thefutureofconeyisland.com, which currently is a "parked domain" page. However, the domain name traces back to The Marino Organization, which is the PR firm of Thor's and developer Joe Sitt's PR person, Lee Silberstein. Mr. Silberstein is frequently quoted on Thor's behalf. Hence, The Future of Coney Island is closely tied to Thor Equities, even if it will be set up as another organization on paper.

We haven't seen the flyer--it is said to include renderings of the Cyclone, Parachute Jump and Wonder wheel, as well of photos of people eating, Nathans and other scenes. Its content was posted on the Coney Island Discussion Board. The verbiage is as follows:

Serving the community

Real Opportunities....

The future of Coney Island will tickle the senses and excite your taste buds. Residents of the area will soon have a variety of new restaurants, at all price levels to choose from. They will have a full-service hotel to accommodate visiting family and friends, a great selection of neighborhood and destination stores in which to shop...and a whole new modern amusement district made up of rides and games to enjoy (in boldface) throughout the entire year (end of boldface).

The new Coney Island will honor the colorful history of the Boardwalk as America's amusement destination, and it will bring visitors back to a place that has brought joy to millions of people.

The mailer includes (shades of Atlantic Yards promotional material sent out by Forest City Ratner) a return mail postcard that says, "Let us know your thoughts" and asks the recipient to check any of the following:

Yes, my community needs jobs
yes, my community needs more amenities
yes, there should be more amusements in Coney Island
yes, the Coney Island season should be expanded

The promo mailer says nothing about housing or highrises, both of which are controversial parts of Thor's plan. It was previously reported that Thor is planning a PR campaign for its Coney plans, including five mailers.

Gowanus Lounge Coney Island React-O-Matic

As with all previous releases of Coney Island renderings, yesterday's information about "Coney Island Park," which might rise on the site of Astroland, made a splash. We noticed that the plan contained a mass of highrise buildings that we presume would be the hotel part of the proposal, and were amused at the way the drawing made them vague, gray outlines. (Interestingly, it is said to be a six-acre plan, whereas the Astroland site is three acres.) In any case, here are a few reactions to the plan:

1) To me, it just sounds like a zillion other Six Flags and other amusement parks. Nothing New York-ish about it, nothing that nods to the heyday of Coney Island, nothing enjoyable retro. Pretty disappointing. [Popsurfing]

2) With this new report Thor seems to have gained many points to their side. Let's hope Thor and company keep the promise and integrity of the importance of the amusements in Coney. [Kinetic Carnival]

3) What I'm very curious to see are Thor's plans for the hotel and condos. It seems they are always these shadowy, undetailed blocks standing in the backgrounds of all these drawings. I'm sure they have very specific detailed drawings and plans for those - and very hidden away from the public. [ConeyHOP/Coney Island Message Board]

4) This is an awesome design with some awesome rides. [Im_a_ThrashHole/Coney Island Message Board]

5) Exciting news, even if the rendering makes Coney Island look like Atlantic City. [Gothamist]

6) Astroland will soon be transformed into a glittery hulking mass of commercialism and obsequiousness [Bridge and Tunnel Club]

Check Out the Brookvids Collection from GL

We've put together a youtube playlist featuring some of the Brookvids that we've made since fall (which is not as many as we'd have liked to make, but it's a start). You can access the playlist here or just flip through everything on the way cool embed below.

Dirt and Traffic With That Brooklyn Park?

Today's post is reporting that the early part of Brooklyn Bridge Park's life could be full of construction activity as the stretch of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway that runs above it is rebuilt. In addition, Furman Street will likely be used as a detour for traffic turning it into one very busy roadway. The bad news is reported in today's Post:

The restructuring of a busy 2-mile stretch of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway could wreak havoc on the planned Brooklyn Bridge Park - both for visitors and the owners of luxury condos to be built there, a recently released report suggests.

The state-commissioned report on the BQE Triple Cantilever Project - which would rehabilitate or replace the split-level portion of the highway between the Brooklyn Bridge and Gowanus Expressway - suggests the new park could be a "staging area" for construction equipment, The Post has learned.

Should all be cleared up by 2012 or 2015, give or take.

Will Gowanus' "Public Place" Be Sent to Detox?

One of the more interesting places that figures in Gowanus redevelopment ideas is the site called "Public Place." It is a vacant parcel between the Canal, Fifth Street, the Smith-9th Street Station and Smith Street that was once the site of a manufactured gas plant owned by the corporate ancestor of Keyspan. It is also one of the most toxic parcels in all of Gowanus.

The Gowanus Comprehensive Plan envisions several possible futures for the site, all of which involve a cleanup and redevelopment that includes a combination of retail space, hosuing, community facilities and open space. (That's a diagram of the site, above.) The report says:

The Public Place site, including the adjacent warehouse to the south, offers the greatest potential due to its size, ownership and frontage along the canal. The controlling determinant is current contamination and the extent of clean up required (cost and time being critical issues). The best use of this area is shown...recommending residential uses, retail along Smith Street frontage, plus extensive open space and access to and along the canal.

Former manufactured gas plants in Gowanus (there were three) and around Brooklyn left behind a dangerous toxic soup that includes cyanide, but state environmental officials told Community Board 6 this week that the Public Place site can be cleaned up and "support virtually any development." Not all of the toxins will be removed from the site. Instead, barriers will be put in place to minimize health risks. The cleanup will take less time or longer depending on how the parcel--which is publicly-owned--is developed.

One of the major pollutants on the site is coal tar, which has been found to depth of 135 feet. Coal tar gas, meanwhile, is said to have spread far beyond the site. Pollutants from the site continue to enter the Gowanus Canal.

First Shots Fired in Sunset Park's Battle of 42nd Street

The Brooklyn development war has moved further south in Sunset Park, and it could be a nasty fight. At issue is a 10-story, 31 unit building that would sit on a block of 3-story houses on 42nd Street between Fifth and Fourth Avenues. Significantly, opponents say it would block views from Sunset Park, possibly including the view of Lower Manhattan from the 9/11 Memorial Grove in the park. Also of particular concern is blocking the view of historic St. Michael's Roman Catholic Church on Fourth Avenue from the park. St. Michael's has an egg-shaped dome atop a 200-foot tower. It was featured in the 1985 teen flick "Heaven Help Us" with Donald Sutherland, John Heard, Andrew McCarthy, Mary Stuart Masterson and Kevin Dillon.

Yesterday, Brownstoner called the building a "non-contextual sore thumb" likely to provoke "a groundswell of opposition" in the community." Concerned Citizens of Greenwood Heights, which has led many of the fights against out-of-context neighborhood development and illegal construction practices, meanwhile, has been sending out multiple emails about the project. For a lot of great photos of the park and some of the views, click over to the Bridge and Tunnel Club's photo page. There are more pics of the development and the neighborhood context here at CCGH's photo gallery.

Brooklinks: Friday Back to the Yards Edition

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

Atlantic Yards:

• Green and Jeffries Condemn Barclay's Naming Deal [Brooklyn Paper]
• Errol Louis Takes Issue with Brooklyn Paper [Brooklyn Record]
• Louis Uses an "Everyone's-Doing-It Defense" to Support Barclays [No Land Grab]
• Learning from Seattle [AYR]
• Want to Rent Barlcays Center for Community Use? It'll Cost You [Brooklyn Paper]
  

Not Atlantic Yards:

• New Port Authority Chief Could Foil City's Red Hook Piers Plan [TRE]
• Cyclone, Meet Leviathan [Gothamist]
• Asking $1.4M on Van Brunt Street [Brownstoner]
• Funny Fundraising Phone Call [OTBKB]
• A Culinary Tour of Red Hook [Chow]
• A Blog Grows in Brooklyn [WhiteTrash BBQ]
• 86th Street Station in Bay Ridge Will Finally Be Repaired [NYDN]
• Artist Dolphy Hazel on Dumbo Yesterday vs. Today [Dumbo NYC]

ExxonMobil Dumping Greenpoint Oil Spill Toxins in Newtown Creek

Riverkeeper is filing suit against ExxonMobil because it is dumping partly treated water containing toxic chemicals into Newtown Creek. The water comes from the site of the horrific Greenpoint Oil Spill--a 17-million gallon spill that is thought to be the nation's largest ever. Apparently, the oil company has been dumping groundwater that it is removing the from the vast spill site contaminated with carcinogenic benzene into Newtown Creek. According to Riverkeeper, the company has been operating under a state "equivalency" program in order to skirt the Federal Clean Water Act. City Council Member David Yassky, who represents Greenpoint, called ExxonMobil's "dangerous pollution" of Newtown Creek "nothing short of reprehensible." Today's Daily News reports that more local officials are announcing their support of the suit and roundly criticizing the energy company.

(To download Riverkeeper's Press Release about the suit, which is posted online as a Word Document, you can click here). There are a variety of lawsuits against ExxonMobil and efforts to force a faster cleanup. The spill dates back to the 1950s, though it was only "discovered" in 1978 when the oily sheen was noticed on Newtown Creek, the body of water that separates Brooklyn and Queens. The original tanks that leaked belonged to companies that are now Exxon Mobil, BP and Chevron Texaco. The trouble dates to a time when 23,000 gallons a day of gasoline and other products were refined along the banks of Newtown Creek. (For an earlier overview of the spill we put together, click here.)

Nothing was done about the vast toxic plume under Greenpoint--which contains carcinogenic benzene, explosive methane and other dangerous substances--for nearly two decades. Exxon has removed about half the spill since 1995, but estimates another two decades to complete the cleanup at the current pace.

For nearly two decades, nothing was done while the toxic plume--containing carcinogenic benzene, explosive methane and other substances--spread under Greenpoint. Since 1995, Exxon has removed about half the spilled oil, but at the current pace, it will take another two decades to clean up the rest of the spill.

Apparently, ExxonMobil is dumping 100 million gallons a year of partially-treated water into Newtown Creek. The polluted water is groundwater removed as part of the cleanup. Stay tuned for a lot more activity on the Greenpoint Oil Spill this year.

Related Post:
A Short Greenpoint Oil Spill Primer

Behold the New Williamsburg Skyline

As Northside Piers, the Toll Brothers development on Kent Avenue and the first of the new highrises on the Northside of Williamsburg, heads toward the halfway point, it is already changing the neighborhood skyline. The building will eventually hit 29 stories. It's the first of seven towers in the 30- to 40-story range that will be clustered between N. 5th and N. 7th Streets. A couple of more photos from different vantage points below.




Related Post:
Northside Piers, Going Up

Watching the I Am Legend Shoot from Brooklyn

[Photo courtesy of Montag007 on flickr]

We haven't made it over to watch any of the I Am Legend movie shoot around the Brooklyn Bridge, but there are some cool pics posted Bluejake, BlueJoel, rebeccacrumley, Montag007 and others. (You can see all the iamlegend tagged flickr photos here, and we're sure there are others tagged differently.) There's also a post with great pics over at Gothamist and a post today at Brooklyn Record. A friend of Gowanus Lounge that made the trek down to the East River reports:

I wandered up to the Fulton landing last night and it was fun to watch. Well for at least 15 mins as the cold wind was blowing hard.

Lots of big lights set up on the landing and pointed towards the bridge so it was definitely lit a lot more than usual. They'd also set up 'fake' police lights. Lots of boats and tugs in the water with, I'm guessing cameras/lights and then safety vessels also. What was most impressive was two Black Hawk (I think) helicopters flying under the bridge. I think one was filming the other, hard to tell but very impressive 'copter moves. Main point of the shoot at that hour - 10.30pm or so - was a very fast moving Circle Line boat, speeding from the Manhattan shores towards Brooklyn. And in between takes it looked like they had to let some of the huge cargo tankers through...them passing through the big movie spotlights was quite a good photo op. Had I had a camera!

Anyway I think it carries on for a few days - less spectators if those single digit winds hit our shores. But interesting to watch and see some people reacting when they didn't realize it was a movie.

We wonder what people that don't know about the film shoot think when they see all the action, like that Circle Line boat above packed with people in Montag007's pic.

Gowanus #2: The Demolition Man Cometh to Second Street

The vanguard of change has apparently landed on the shores of the Gowanus. Demolition crews are working to tear down a warehouse next to the Canal at 137 2nd Street (AKA 64 1st Street), which runs through to First Street. This is of particular interest because the building sits on land on which the Toll Brothers want to build their mixed-use Gowanus Village. You might remember that the firm pulled its application for a brownfield cleanup of another property in the neighborhood and has complained that the rezoning it (and other developers) want in the neighborhood that would permit residential construction has not yet happened. (The other building, on 1st Street, is a warehouse eligible for the National Register of Historic Places and could be the subject a local preservation fight, if it isn't demolished first.) The demolition permits were issued on January 17 and the tear down was already underway by the 19th. Records show that the property hasn't changed hands yet. Word of the demolition came via the blog The Food of the Future. The entire block (shaded in red, below) between First and Second Streets and between Bond Street and the Gowanus Canal is under the same ownership.



Related Posts:
Toll Brothers Getting a Little Testy in Gowanus?
Toll Brothers Point Finger of Blame in Gowanus

Here's "Coney Island Park"

The drawing above is the latest rendering of a park that Thor Equities might build in Coney Island on the site of Astroland. It was passed on to the Daily News and is written up today by Jotham Sederstrom. The six-acre park would have 21 rides, a hotel, a glass-enclosed atrium, commercial space and a manmade canal for boat rides. It's being designed by Thinkwell Productions, which Thor hired to work on the Astroland property. Here's some information from the story:

The big-bucks developer who bought Coney Island's oldest amusement park plans to replace it with a glitzy $250 million playground anchored by a roller coaster that dips under the Boardwalk, the Daily News has learned.

Double the size of Astroland, the multitiered park will include 21 rides, a hotel, a manmade canal for boat rides, a glass-encased atrium and commercial space.

"We're trying to deliver on the promise of what Coney Island is," said Chris Durmick, creative director of Thinkwell Design & Production, the California group that is drawing up the 6-acre plan. "Whatever you come looking for at Coney Island, it's all going to be there."

Astroland owner Carol Hill Albert, whose family had owned the gritty but storied park since 1962, sold the site to developer Thor Equities in November for an unspecified amount.

Coney Island Park, slated to open in 2011, would be one component of a 13-acre, $1.5 billion plan by Thor that includes an indoor water park and residential, retail and entertainment components.

The flagship ride is the "Leviathan," a 100-foot-tall coaster with loop-de-loops that dips under the Boardwalk before flying back aboveground.

Including the Cyclone and another coaster planned for Stillwell Ave., it would be the third for the area.

Another marquee ride, the Aviator, would soar 120 feet, with gondolas guided individually by hand-held joysticks.

Kinetic Carnival, the Coney Island blog, comments that "Attention will now be on ThinkWell as we eagerly await and see what specific plans they will conjure up. With this new report Thor seems to have gained many points to their side. Let's hope Thor and company keep the promise and integrity of the importance of the amusements in Coney."

We have questioned Thor's plans for Coney, and still have concerns about its plans to build massive highrises with luxury condos in the amusement area, but the plan for the Astroland property certainly looks like a step in the right direction, assuming it is serious.

Brooklinks: Thursday Focus on Food Edition

[Photo courtesy of Reynold on Chowhound]
Brooklinks is a daily selection of Brooklyn-related information and images. On Thursday, we focus on food.

Food:

• Tanoreen in Bay Ridge: Still Terrific [Reynold/Chowhound]
• "Pleasantly Surprised" by Iron Chef House in Brooklyn Heights [Brooklyn Enthusiast]
• Pequeña Offers Big Taste in Tiny Fort Greene Space [About Brooklyn]
• Brooklyn Label's Chili Colorado is NYC's Best Breakfast [Marc/Chowhound]
• Wednesday Food & Drink Roundup [Brooklyn Record]
• Comfort Food at Hope & Anchor [Clean Plate Club]
• Opinions on Sheepshead Bay Dining [Mark G/Chowhound]
• New Dog Spot Opening on Fifth Avenue in Park Slope [Brooklyn Record]
• Bensonhurst's Villabate Bakery: You've Got to Have the Fig Rings [NYCnosh]
• "Great Food at Reasonable Prices" at M. Shanghai in Williamsburg [Nycbyme!]
  

Not Food:

• Robert Moses Revisionism in the Era of Atlantic Yards [AYR]
• Improper Asbestos Removal at 205 Water Street [Dumbo NYC]
• Carroll Gardens Tenants Fighting Eviction by Landloard with Interesting Past [NYDN]
• The Splasher Provokes Debate [Gothamist]
• Pricey Union Street Condos [Brownstoner]
• $2M for a Solar-Powered, Toxin-Free Boerum Hill Luxury Condo [NYDN]
  
• Henry Street Property That Sparked Controversy Up for Sale [Brooklyn Heights Blog]
• Fun with Dick in Prospect Heights [Gawker]
• Trapped in Galapagos [Daily Intel]
• Living in a Park Slope Commune [TONY]
  

Program at Gowanus Houses Needs Computer Donations

Have a computer sitting around that you've outgrown? We came across an email from a local resident who is putting together a computer training course for the Gowanus Houses Community Center "to teach kids in public housing the fundamentals of computers using free and open source software." The resident, Kevin Hardiman, says he is "looking to the community for computer donations - full computer systems desired, but incomplete system will be evaluated - to drive the program." He is seeking people or businesses willing to donate old unused machines or that would be intesting in helping, and can be reached at kevin (at) opensourcebrooklyn (dot) com. The program is being developed in conjunction with the Gowanus Houses Community Center, and has the support of the Gowanus Tenant Association.

Gowanus #1: What's the Plan?

If you're interested in the entire Gowanus planning and zoning issues, representatives from the Department of Planning are making a presentation tonight (1/25) to Community Board 6 on "a land use framework for further planning discussions" in the Gowanus Canal area. Given the recent publication of a Comprehensive Plan drawn up by the Gowanus Canal Community Development Corporation and a likely rezoning by the city (and developer pressure for zoning decisions), it's the beginning of an important conversation. The meeting starts at 6:00PM at St. Mary's Residence, which is at 41 First Street (between Hoyt and Bond Streets). The entire Community Board 6 calendar is available here.

Writer Goes Back to Boerum Hill

Head over to this week's New York Observer to check out a nice account by Alexis Swerdloff of going back to the neighborhood (Boerum Hill). A sample:

During the summer of 1996, my parents and I crossed the pond, as it were, and moved from Boerum Hill to the Upper East Side. Several months later, Patois opened up on Smith Street, inciting the so-called “Smith Street Restaurant Revolution,” which went on to incite a full-on Boerum Hill revolution. A year after we left, Boerum Hill (née Gowanus) had transformed itself from Cobble Hill’s pockmarked younger step-cousin to a full-fledged swan of a neighborhood...Like the burnt-out punks who wax nostalgic for the East Village of yesteryear—when you couldn’t walk an inch without stepping on a crack vial—I did my own back-when-ing.

“Back when I lived here, Bar Tabac was a Chinese restaurant—with pictures.”

“Back when I lived here, there was a drunk guy who sat on the stoop across the street from my house and shouted obscenities at me.”

“Back when I lived here, I had a gymnastics birthday party at the YWCA on Third Street and Atlantic Avenue, and it was too dangerous to walk there, so we drove.”

...Whenever people ask me why I don’t live in Brooklyn anymore, I say, “I’m not ready.” I’m a little intimidated by what it’s become. I live above a Duane Reade in the East Village, a neighborhood that is moving closer and closer to Fratsville as we speak. It’s hard for me to think about the boys with calculator watches and girls with WNET tote bags, drinking Stellas at Boat on Smith Street and browsing the paperback section of Book Court, without feeling a little left out. I feel like the girl who was best friends with the fat kid, who then started being mean to said fat kid because that was the cool thing to do, and now that fat kid has grown up to be Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Absolutely worth a read in its entirety.

Williamsburg Sunrise

There's something about this vid--a seven-second time lapse sequence, actually--that we really like, and it only requires a tiny investment of time. It was originally posted at Lolz Blog, where you can watch it with a Quicktime plugin or just click on the youtube version below.

"Nutso" Tax Assessments Hit Boerum Hill

Interesting chatter in Boerum Hill as property owners appear to be getting frightening tax statements from the city. (Nothing like a missive entitled "Nutso Property Tax Assessment" to get our attention.) The discussion comes from the Boerum Hill Group on Yahoo. Among the comments from owners:

Has anyone else gotten a loony property tax assessment this year? I just opened mine to discover that Mayor Bloomberg thinks my house has increased 100 percent in one year. What is more, it is now worth more than any other house on the block or perhaps in the neighborhood by hundreds of thousands of dollars. This of course allows him to bill me at an outrageous rate for property that would sell at best for half the valuation. What the hell is going on NOW? First we are inundated with wiggy water bills. Now we get priced out of our own houses for valuations we cannot possibly collect? Is there no one minding the store?

Not to get too technical, but later emails indicate that assessments are "going to full market value" but that "taxes will still be based on assessed value (which has yearly limits on the percentage."

What kind of market value increases are people seeing? Apparently, 50 percent or more. One property owner reports a market value increase of $700,000. Another of $500,000. And, are you ready for this one? "We got our assessment yesterday and our value went up by $1.2 million!"

Please God, not a $1.2 million increase!

Street Art Destruction is Work of Serial Splasher

If you get your information online, you already know that Jake Dobkin revealed on Gothamist that someone called "The Splasher" is responsible for the destruction of street art in Williamsburg and Soho. For the handful of you, however, that didn't see the post, he writes, "Over the last few months, someone has been splashing paint over major streetart works all over the city. The 'Splasher', as he's come to be known, has a taste for targeting major pieces by Swoon, Obey, Momo, and others. His trail of paint-dripped terror extends from Williamsburg, to Soho, and back again-- and he's already obliterated dozens of pieces." As one who appreciates the work of Swoon and other artists, we find this all tremendously depressing. There is more info and many photos in the post as well as an ongoing discussion about the propriety of destroying street art and about street art itself. The street artists known as Flower Face Killah says that the Splasher is a former Columbia student named Zak, which still doesn't explain the Splasher's infantile, pseudointellectual psychobabble about "the fetishized action of banality" and "unmediated actualization of desires."

We could say a lot of things. "Bite me," comes most readily to mind. But, we won't say that or utter any of the curses or epithets we yearn to type. Instead, we will ask: With all the things one could splash in Brooklyn and Manhattan, this person has to destroy street art?

Related Posts:
Casualties of the N. 6th Street Graffiti War in Williamsburg
Art: The Excrement of Action, Edited

Why Coney Island Won't Be Coney Island Anymore

Wonder why some people are less than enthralled with the top-to-bottom rebuilding of Coney Island proposed by Thor Equities that might leave it nothing more than a famous brand name that bears zero relationship to the original product? Well, for a strong sense of the concern, check out this post about Coney Island on Erica's Blog. For all of our writing of the planning and development issues involved, the spirit she conveys is far, far better than anything we've managed:

The highlight of my trip was always climbing the incline of the ramp of the Riegelman Boardwalk as the entire expanse of the Atlantic Ocean opened up before me...the world famous Parachute Jump - what has been called Brooklyn's equivalent to the Eiffel Tower - directly ahead of me. It was a sight that never failed to take my breath away, the sun setting over the crashing waves, old Russian immigrants huddling together (even in the summertime) on the benches lining the boardwalk, and the further along I rode on the rickety slats, the closer I got to the amusement park, which I would sometimes bypass my mother's job for if I had the time to kill, and then go back to West 5th Street later.

I loved the sounds of the rides, watching, and listening to them. The towering Wonder Wheel, its red and blue cars sliding back and forth on the rails, affording riders a breath-taking view of the landscape, children screaming with joy on the teacups...adults pleading with Cyclone operators "Shut it off!, I wanna go back!," as they ascended the first gut-wrenching drop of the coaster (which I've been on close to 20 times, each time better than the next)...these sights and sounds always made me so happy, and never was I more at peace with myself and life as when I took this journey to Coney Island.

After construction and re-development commence to turn Coney Island into (words escape me) the exact opposite 0f what it is now, the Brooklyn-spawned, age-old seediness and grit will be gone, replaced by digitized neons and high-techitude, nothing more than another Atlantic City, or Vegas-ized theme park. It won't be my Coney Island anymore, the only one I've known my whole life, the one I would go to every summer, and used to drool over as my bicycle wheels bumpily thumped over miles of boardwalk to the tune of coasting seagulls and the screams of Cyclone riders, who'd never before experienced that "first drop," which I hear is a killa.

I, for one, do not look forward to this makeover. Yeah, the neighborhood could use a little pick-me-up, but an out and out makeover, so that it's no longer recognizable from what it one was? No thank you.

We should have a better sense of what will happen as 2007 unfolds.

Related Posts:
Filling Out the Coney Island Vision
Is Coney Island the New Atlantic Yards and Joe Sitt the New Bruce Ratner?

Brooklinks: Wednesday Midweek Edition

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

• ESDC Says State & City Really Tried to Find Another Rail Yard Project [AYR]
• Brooklyn's O'Malley Paved Way for Ratner [Sun]
• Big Fire Hits Brighton Beach Boardwalk Restaurant [NYDN]
• Williamsburg Developer Selected "Worst Landlord" [NYP]
• Winter Hoopla [Kinetic Carnival]
• Getting Used to the Neighbors in Brooklyn Heights [Daily Intel]
• Improper Asbestos Removal at 205 Water Street [Dumbo NYC]
• Second Death This Month at Brooklyn Shipyard [NYT]
• Looking Back at the Brooklyn Ice Bridge [Lexiphane via Gothamist]
• Amazing Technicolor Art Shop [Brooklyn Record]
• PortSide's Mary Whalen Set to Become Red Hook Museum [NYDN]
• On the Set of "Hammered" [Clinton Hill Blog]
• Inconvenient Truth at K-Dog on Thursday [Across the Park]

Brooklyn Losing Zoloft but Gaining Affordable Housing on Pfizer Site?

The announcement that Pfizer was shutting down its Brooklyn manufacturing plant--where Zoloft, Cardura XL and other prescription drugs are produced--had barely hit Monday when discussion started about the fate of the company's factory on Flushing Avenue in Williamsburg and several adjacent parcels of land. (The Pfizer land is shaded in the Google map/satellite image above.)

Yesterday, Brownstoner offered that the site should be used for affordable housing, writing:

The availablity of a site this size provides Mayor Bloomberg with a rare opportunity to achieve his affordable housing goals. The area would have to be rezoned for residential, but the Mayor said yesterday that he planned to pursue that course of action.

A huge amount of land will be in play including the 660,000-square-foot plant between Marcy and Tompkins. Pfizer also owns another 15 acres of land nearby, leading a source to write to Curbed:

It's a sizable chunk of real estate in Williamsburg/Bed-Stuy. On the above Google satellite image, it's not just the factory and parking lot, but the three triangular/trapezoidal plots just north of it. It's almost as large as the Marcy Houses to the west. I wonder which developers are going to jump on this? Like Gowanus, they'll need experience in remediating the brown-field/superfund like conditions under the plant. Keep an eye on this story.

Interestingly, in May 2003, Pfizer was promised $46 million in tax breaks and subsidies to expand and add jobs in New York City. The city is said to be taking a look at the incentives in light of the plant closure.

Gowanus Whole Foods Site From Above

It's not often you get to see a major development site from above in an essentially low-rise neighborhood. Such is the case with the photo above shot by photographer f.trainer that shows big Gowanus Whole Foods site. The Whole Food property extends from Third Avenue, on the left, all the way to the Gowanus Canal, on the right. (It doesn't include the history Litchfield Building, which is at the corner at the lower left.) The property extends back to the branch of the Gowanus that appears as a dark line in the photo. A wider panorama is below. You can check out a couple of the shots at full size here and here.


[Photos courtesy of f.trainer and The Food of the Future]

Cool Panoramas of Gowanus from the Batcave

The images from the photo expedition inside the so-called Batcave--the old Transit Authority Power Plant between the Gowanus Canal and Third Avenue--in Gowanus keep coming. Photographer f.trainer has produced a variety of very, very cool panoramas shot from the roof. One was posted over at his excellent blog, The Food of the Future. Others are part of his flickr photostream. You can check them out in a large size (which is how they should be seen) here, here, here and here. They offer excellent views of Gowanus and South Brooklyn from a vantage you wouldn't otherwise see.

Develop Don't Destroy Holding Comedy Fundraiser at Union Hall

At least they haven't lost their sense of humor. Develop Don't Destroy, which is waging a legal fight against the Atlantic Yards project, is holding a fundraiser for its Legal Fund on Tuesday, February 6 at 8:30. The event will take place at Union Hall, the cool hangout spot and venue at 702 Union Street in Park Slope (at Fifth Avenue). Comedians include Michael Showalter, Eugene Mirman, Kristen Schaal, Jon Benjamin, Andrea Rosen, Chelsea Peretti, Gilad Foss, Patrick Borelli, Robin Cloud and "special guests." Doors at 8. Ticket are $20. For more information go to Develop Don't Destroy. Hey, you might as well laugh.

BONUS: Screenings of documentary "Brooklyn Matters," are being held several times in coming weeks. (Check out Gothamist's review of the documentary here.) There's one on Jan. 31, from 7-8:30PM, hosted by the Boerum Hill Association at Belarusian Church, which is at 401 Atlantic Avenue (at Bond Street). There is another screening on February 1 at 6PM at the Pratt Institute at the Higgins Hall Auditorium, which is located at 61 St. James Place(at Lafayette Avenue). And there is a screening on February 27 at 7:00PM hosted by the Fifth Avenue Committee, which is at 621 Degraw Street(btwn 4th & 3rd Ave.).

DOUBLE BONUS: We didn't get around to it yesterday, but it was developer Bruce Ratner's Birthday. No Land Grab declared it Happy Bruce Day and related the following information from Wikipedia about Mr. Ratner: Born January 23, 1945 in Cleveland, Ohio. He is president and CEO of Forest City Ratner, the New York division of Forest City Enterprises, which is based in Cleveland. Ratner was New York City's most active real estate developer during the 1990s. Ratner graduated cum laude from Harvard University in 1967 and graduated from Columbia Law School in 1970. After obtaining his J.D. Ratner became the director of a Model Cities program for the Lindsay administration in New York City. Subsequently he served in the capacity of chief of the Consumer Protection Division in the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs under Mayor Ed Koch in 1978.

Roebling Oil Field Progress Report

Our friends at the Roebling Oil Field, the development at N. 11th Street and Roebling in Williamsburg that is formally known as McCarren Park Mews, are making progress on the coverup remediation. Much foundation has been poured, but the scent of oil still wafts from the environmentally-challenged site, which a few weeks ago smelled like an oil field in Kuwait. The workers have also tried closing up all the holes in the tarp covering the fence around the site, but where there's a will (and a small lens on a Canon Powershot), there's always a way. What we found on Sunday were workers bulldozing around black dirt on the western side of the site.

What, you might ask, is down there? Well, a look at the big Environmental Impact Statement that went with the Williamsburg-Greenpoint rezoning is revealing. It shows a tank with used oil across the street at 5 Roebling Street, which has been used as a truck repair facility (but no indication the tank has leaked). Of interest, at least if you want to know what used to be near the condo you're buying is the report for 215 North 10th Street, next door to the Roebling Oil Field. That site used to house a tank for 5,000 gallons of hydrochloric acid, a tank for 12,000 gallons of ammonium hydroxide and a tank for 2,000 gallons of nitric acid. (The tanks were "closed" in the early 90s and there is no indication of any leakage, but it's always interesting to know who the neighbors were.)

Not listed in this document, but noted on Property Shark, is another interesting issue: a "tank failure" at 223 N. 11th Street, which would be the current site of a condo called N. 11th & Roebling. "Tank failures," according to Property Shark, involve "releases of gasoline, fuel oil, industrial chemicals or other toxic pollutants often cause extensive air, water, groundwater or soil contamination that threatens the environment or the public health."


Related Posts:
Oily Williamsburg Condo Coverup Almost Finished
Williamsburg Condos: Pay No Mind to the Oily Muck

PortSide's Mary Whalen in Drydock

PortSide New York, which acquired a tanker named the Mary A. Whalen, and is turning her into a floating headquarters and multi-purpose facility, celebrated a milestone last week when the venerable ship was towed to a drydock at the Brooklyn Navy Yard for renovation and repairs. PortSide director Carolina Salguero has started a blog called the Portside Tanker Blog to chronicle the work. Here's an excerpt from the first entry:

0830 and we’re at the Navy Yard. A cluster of hard hats awaits us. The dock is flooded and the caisson (door) is open. A dinky block of wood floating on a slim line across the head of the dock indicates the centerpoint to align with the Whalen’s bow. The opening is too narrow for the tug to keep us on the hip, so the tug lands us on a fuel barge just outside the caisson, and moves to our stern to push us in. The Delaware’s tankerman helps out with lines even though he’s still in his slippers and it looks like we woke him. We slide in and the gantry crane soon swings over a man basket and lifts the guests away. My adrenaline wicks away rapidly. I’m beat. Wednesday night was a sleepless one due to the cold.

You can also check out some cool photos of the ship in drydock at Stefan Falke's Eye and over at Tugster. We had to miss the trip to the Navy Yard, but we're hoping to be able to visit or to make the trip back. (We visited the Mary Whalen during Open House New York and you can check out the photos in our GL post with a flickr slideshow or just go over to the flickr set.) What we really can't wait for, however, is for the Mary Whalen to start her new life berthed in Red Hook, welcoming visitors.

Related Post:
The Mary Whalen's New Life in Red Hook

Tale of Two Neighborhoods: Battling Dangerous Demolitions by youtube, Blog & Phone Call

Today's Daily News takes note of some of the bitter development fights in the South Slope and in Greenwood Heights, comparing the youtube and blogging approach of the Greenwood Heights residents with the more traditional calls made to the Department of Buildings by Bensonhurst residents. A bit on the battle on 22nd Street:

A Greenwood Heights man is filming a construction site's alleged asbestos violations and posting them on YouTube, while a Bensonhurst group facing a similar problem is loudly voicing concerns to city agencies.

Aaron Brashear has been videotaping a construction site at 338 22ndSt., which he charges has hazardous working conditions, including asbestos. He then puts the footage on the Internet...City officials said they are monitoring the site but have not written any violations. "The department understands the neighbors' concerns and we appreciate the efforts and urge them to call 311 in addition to the videotaping," Buildings Department spokeswoman Kate Lindquist said.

The city Department of Environmental Protection said the asbestos allegations are "under consideration" and that a ruling may come as early as today. If it is found, the contractor, Knockout Construction, could be slapped with multiple fines.

Meanwhile, in Bensonhurst:

In Bensonhurst, angry neighbors of an asbestos-tainted demolition site have taken a more traditional approach - hounding city agencies.

The site at 2084 60th St. has been dormant for over a year after the Buildings Department issued a stop-work order due to demolition without a permit. When a complaint about asbestos was filed earlier this month, the Department of Environmental Protection inspected the site. "Asbestos was found in the vinyl floor tiling," agency spokesman Ian Michaels said, but the asbestos is unlikely to get into the air because the tiling "holds the asbestos really well."

Slight advantage to the youtube and blog approach.

Brooklinks: Tuesday Pills & Films Edition

Brooklinks is a daily selection of Brooklyn-related news and images.

Pills:

• Brooklyn's Bitter Pill [NYDN]
• Pfizer Shutting Plant Where it Was Founded [NYT]
• Bitter Pill: 600 Jobs Gone [NYP]
• Pfizer Closing Brooklyn Plant, Doesn't Update Website [Daily Intel]
• Pfizer Leaving Brooklyn, 600 Jobs Will be Lost [TRE]
  

Films:

• Expect Havoc Near Brooklyn Bridge for Will Smith Movie [NYT]
• Do Not Be Alarmed by the Filming at the Brooklyn Bridge [Z. Madison]
• Will Smith Attacks New York [NYP]
  

Not Pills or Films:

• It Came From the Blogosphere [No Land Grab]
• 2004: Bloomberg Said Atlantic Yards Would be on Private Land with Private $s [AYR]
• Retail Opportunity on Greene Street [Clinton Hill Blog]
• House of the Day: Sorta' on the Water in Greenpoint [Brownstoner]
• Interesting Greenpoint Street Sculpture [INSIJS]
• Swoon in Prospect Heights [Mr. Cronin's Blog]
• Neighborhood Blogger is Not to be Confused with Porn King [Brooklyn Heights Blog]
• Newtown Creek Alliance Meeting Tonight, 6:30 [Green Brooklyn]
• A Hawk Tale [Englishman in New York]
• Polar Bears Put New Members on Ice [Gothamist]
• Noticing Changes in Williamsburg [A Sad Day for Birds II]
• The Dumbo Furniture Design Paradise [Brooklyn Record]
• Thoughts on Turning One [Across the Park]
• Storefront Churches [Brooklyn Streets]

Casualties of the N. 6th Street Graffiti War in Williamsburg

We owe the news of the N. 6th Street Williamsburg Street Art War to blogger INSIJS, because we don't often check that block for blogging purposes. In any case, tipped off by INSIJS's post, we shot some photos of the aftermath (and posted an edited version of the "Excrement of Art" manifesto yesterday). Here's some of the collateral damage. Banksy went first. The Faile stencils went last week. We await the next clash and results.

The Amazing Shrinking Revere Sugar Plant

Yesterday, we posted a video of the Revere Sugar Plant in Red Hook. Today, we update the time lapse sequence of photos of the Red Hook landmark.

Gowanus Back in the Day

We hit up the well known as our Gowanus archive for another Gowanus Back in the Day historic photo from the Brooklyn Public Library's extensive collection of historic Brooklyn pics. This is an aerial shot of the Carroll Street Bridge from the 1950s. The notes with the photo say, "Portion of Gowanus Canal showing Carroll Street and Union Street bridges; tugboats docked in canal, lower left; warehouses and industrial plants on both sides of canal, with parked trucks and automobiles; large water tower in right foreground; rows of residential buildings in left background." The caption reads, "Carroll Street Bridge -- A retractile bridge carrying Carroll Street over Gowanus Canal. Opened to traffic in 1889."

Brooklyn Bridge Park Tetherball Plan Wins Over Skeptic

The Brooklyn Paper has frequently questioned the Brooklyn Bridge Park plan, but it looks like a planned amenity has won over a skeptic. Editor Gersh Kuntzman devotes his Brooklyn Angle column this week to the ability to play tetherball in the future on the Brooklyn waterfront. Specifically:

This paper has taken a very principled stand against the waterfront condo-and-open-space development known as Brooklyn Bridge Park, but the time has come for the Brooklyn Angle to break from The Brooklyn Paper and support Brooklyn Bridge Park for one reason and one reason only: tetherball.

The other day, the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy sent out a glossy mailing highlighting all the recreational offerings their new park would have — and tetherball was right there on Pier 2 (see rendering).

Yes, tetherball — the true city game — is coming back to Brooklyn, the borough that, arguably, nurtured the greatest talents that the sport has ever produced (true, Leroy “Tight Serve” Johnson was from Fresno, but he’s nothing compared to Kareem Abdul Fishman — Midwood High School ’45! — and Ollie “Loop-de-loop” Carradine, the pride of Westinghouse High).

Indeed, all these legends have been forgotten — but only because the city’s Parks Department, the Board of Education and Robert Moses’s long-powerful Office of Tetherball Services dropped (or, more accurately, severed) the ball and eliminated hundreds, if not dozens, of tetherball courts citywide.

Tetherball!

McCarren Pool Up for Landmarking

McCarren Pool will be before the Landmarks Preservation Commission on January 30 for a landmarking hearing. Preservationists have had the pool on their landmarking list for nearly two decades. News of the sites around city that will get hearings on the 30th is passed along by the Historic Districts Council Blog. The historic pool was opened in 1936 and sat abandoned for years before being revived for use as a concert venue last year. Landmark status might actually give a boost to efforts to return it to life as a swimming pool. In any case, it would safeguard the facility from destruction or significant alteration. The Landmarks Commission document lists "the bath house, swimming pool, diving pool, wading pool, filter house, life guard house, brick perimeter walls, piers and cast-iron fencing, comfort stations, linking pathways, and the planter meridian paralleling the western side of the bath house, Lorimer Street between Driggs Avenue and Bayard Street, Brooklyn." Interestingly, the diving pool has already been filled in with dirt.

The pool opened on July 31, 1936 and ceased operating as a pool in 1984. It was the eighth of eleven giant pools built by Robert Moses and the Works Progress Administration that opened during the summer of 1936. Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia cut the ribbon at McCarren pool on July 31, saying "no pool anywhere has been as much appreciated as this one." It was built to handle 6,800 swimmers and cost $1 million to build.

The future of programming at the pool is still being decided.

Brookvid: Revere Sugar Death Throes

Developer Joe Sitt's demolition workers weren't working in Red Hook this weekend, but the results of their labor were on full display. The site of the old Revere Sugar Plant used to be dead quiet. Now, as Revere dies, it is eerily noisy as loose metals bangs and clangs and vibrates. The Brookvid here captures the current state of the demolition project and the death noises of Revere in a bitter January wind.


Related Post:
Revere Sugar Demolition Porn: Hand and Blowtorch Job

Monteleone's About to Reopen on Court Street!

We swung by Monteleone's on Court Street over the weekend and found that it looks like it's about ready to reopen and that it's looking good. The signage says "F. Monteleone & Cammareri, Bakery & Cafe." All of the cases are in place, as you can see, and so are the tables, so it looks like the only things missing are the best cakes and pastries in Brooklyn.

Report Says Gowanus Whole Foods Site Not "Significant Threat" to Safety

The environmentally-challenged site in Gowanus at Third Avenue and Third Street where Whole Foods is building a huge store--most of which will be below ground--is not a "significant threat to public health or the environment." A draft report by the Department of Environmental Conservation reports that some pollutants including benzene, PCBs and metal cadmium will remain on the site after the cleanup, but that levels at the site will be within acceptable limits. The cleanup plan, which is reported in the Daily News, calls for removal of polluted soil as deep as 10 feet below the surface; more than 11,000 square feet of tainted dirt have already been removed.

The story goes on to note:

The cleanup plan calls for a protective membrane around the foundation to prevent benzene vapors in nearby ground water from seeping into the store. Extra "clean fill" will be placed under a proposed public promenade along the basin.

But some have raised eyebrows about the project's design and the proposed cleanup.

"We want to be really sure that it's cleaned up and that it will be safe," said Lydia Denworth, president of the Park Slope Civic Council, a group that met with the developer recently. "There are more questions that need to get answered."

The plan is open to public comment until Jan. 25. One group, Friends and Residents of Greater Gowanus, intends to file its opposition to the planned store.

"It's an environmentally risky area, and they do the worst thing they can do, which is to bury the store underground," said group member Marlene Donnelly, who said the below-ground space was chosen to skirt zoning rules.

Whole Foods was able to build space nearly six times what zoning would allow on the site by building underground.

Meanwhile, Verizon executives say that any toxic benzene that has been detected on the Whole Foods site and elsewhere around Third Avenue and Third Street isn't coming from their property. Whole Foods execs say the source of the benzene isn't on their property either. Where the underground benzene is coming from in Gowanus remains a mystery.

Related Posts:
The Ground Beneath Gowanus, Whole Foods Edition
Whole Foods Execs Say Toxic Under Control

A Different View of Gowanus

gowanus skyline, originally uploaded by f.trainer.

The photographer and photoblogger known as f.trainer (along with Bluejake) apparently got into the old Power Station next to the Gowanus Canal known as the Batcave, which had been occupied by squatters until it was cleared out recently. In any case, the views of Gowanus from the roof are quite interesting as they offer a rarely seen vantage.

Brooklinks: Monday Again Edition

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

Batcave Images:

• View from the Roof of the Batcave [Bluejake]
• Batcave Slideshow [Streetsy/flickr]
• Batcave Pic [The Food of the Future]
  

Nothing to Do with Bats or Caves:

• Times Finally Shows Scale of Atlantic Yards...in an Ad [AYR]
• Good Samaritan Helps Brooklyn 94 Year Old Facing Eviction [Gothamist]
• Polar Bears Close Membership Rolls After Tragic New Year's Death [NYDN]
• Anger Management [IMBY]
• Condition of Boerum Hill Jogger Hit by Bus Improves [NYDN]
• Smith and Vine Moving Down the Street [ABL]
• Alice Oldendorff Sails from Brooklyn [Tugster]
• Bay Ridge Internet Pharmacy [Bay Ridge Blog]

Coney Island's Future to be Determined by Late Spring?

When it comes to a community's future, 90 percent of what matters is determined in a rezoning. So it will be in Coney Island, where a preliminary comprehensive rezoning is apparently due by late spring. That's the news reported by the Courier-Life papers in a story by Stephen Witt. Any documents that are produced will be followed by a public review. The land use review process could begin by fall.

Mayor Bloomberg mentioned rezoning Coney Island in his State of the City Address and the major Coney Island development players, Thor Equities and Taconic Investment Partners are said to be frustrated that the neighborhood hasn't been rezoned. Both firms are hoping to build luxury housing in the area currently zoned for amusements. While the development of hotels and retailing in the amusement zone is not particularly controversial, creation of housing and the shrinkage of the "amusement district" is a hot button issue among some in the neighborhood.

The story says, in part:

It also comes as preservationists worry that the city’s only zoned amusement area will be rezoned to include residential developments near the boardwalk...The much-anticipated rezoning comes after the city formed the Coney Island Development Corporation in September 2003 and a strategic plan about a year later.

The plan’s goals are for a vibrant year-round entertainment destination, enhanced amusement and seaside attractions and a vibrant neighborhood that provides opportunities for local residents.

According to several sources familiar with the redevelopment of Coney Island, the city has not moved as fast as some would have hoped.

Some in the know have speculated that part of the reason why the city has been somewhat slow in a comprehensive rezoning of the area is because of the loss of two key city employees who moved on to other jobs.

Skeptics fear that traditional amusements will all but disappear from Coney Island if the developers demands for zoning that would allow housing in the amusement zone are included in the rezoning.

Art: The Excrement of Action, Edited

Last week, the street art war on N. 6th Street in Williamsburg took an unexpected turn, which blogger INSIJS explained. We shot some photos of the aftermath, of which more will be forthcoming, but found the shot above of an edited version of the "Excrement of Action" poster especially interesting.

Disconnected in Brooklyn on Craigslist: I Drunkenly Complimented Your Ass

It's Sunday, which means it's time to present the results of our careful reaading of the land of pathos, loss, missed opportunity, wishful thinking and comedy known as Brooklyn Missed Connections on Craigslist. Today, we turn to an unnamed drinking establishment in Park Slope, where a female drunkenly compliments a male on his "nice ass."

You had a nice ass, I drunkenly told you so - w4m - 20

I was sitting on the sidewalk outside a bar with two friends, when you walked out and we conversed. I told you that you had a nice ass, you said you didn't have an ass, then you left. I just wanted to let you know that I wasn't sick from being drunk, I have asthma and the smoke in the bar made my lungs close up. That is why I was sitting on the sidewalk drinking water. Just felt the need to clear that up.

Dude, you should have just accepted the drunken compliment and said, "Thank you, yes, my ass is fine." The bar was full of smoke?

South Slope Constuction Mess Gets More Attention

Our favorite South Slope development horror, at 15th Street and Eighth Avenue, continues to draw coverage. This weekend NY1 has been running a segment on the horror and the neighbor's use of 311 calls and videos to document the problems. NY1 reports:

Some Park Slope residents say a home video best tells the story: construction crews from the lot next door, dumping dirt and soil onto their property.

The crews are trying to fill holes they, themselves, made -- as they attempted to build the foundation of the five-story apartment building that will eventually stand there.

“What's happening is because we've never had, there's never been any shoring involved, our backyards are sinking,” explained resident Tim Pietrzak.

Residents say their backyard is sinking because crews are using pile drivers to get below ground. The soil is destabilized, and eventually falls into large sink holes -- threatening the foundations of nearby homes.

Trees, telephone poles and sheds have already sunk.

And residents say when crews realize they have created a hole, they simply use a bucket crane to fill it back up.

“When they're dumping the dirt over, they're knocking the poles over,” added Pietrzak. “They're disconnecting the cable lines.”

Nearly every day, vibrations ring through the string of six homes, causing structural damage and cracks to a nearby church. Boris Gilzon's backyard was split nearly in half.

“I came home from work Friday and I saw cracks, I saw two huge cracks, one is about ten feet from the property line to the construction site, and the other one is much closer to my house,” said Gilzon.

Since the project began about two years ago, residents have logged nearly 70 calls with 311 and the Department of Buildings. Building Inspectors have visited the site and issued nearly $15,000 in unpaid fines, yet somehow, the work continues.

NY1 has reached out to the contractor, Jack LoCiciero, but so far has heard no response.

But the Department of Buildings said in a statement that it "understands the residents' concerns and is monitoring this property closely. We have been proactively inspecting the site in addition to responding to the residents' complaints, and we will continue to do so. The department will not tolerate disregard of the law.”

It continues.

Related Posts:
Honey, We Have Friends in the Backyard
Meet Your Department of Buildings. Or Not.
South Slope Development Still Doing Crack

Brooklinks: Sunday Winter's Here Edition

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

Images:

• Snow!!! [Brooklyn Enthusiast]
• Snowtime [Brit in Brooklyn]
• Icy Call Box [Clinton Hill Blog]
• City of New York Water Supply Distribution Gowanus Station [seriously excited!]
• A Mural in the Notary District [Bluejake]
  

Not Only Images:

• Love and Death in the Air with Brooklyn's Red Tailed Hawks [NYT]
• The "Permanent Campaign" to Promote Atlantic Yards Has Begun [AYR]
• Checkbooks Out: $4,500 for the Right to Buy Nets Season Tickets [NYP]
• Coney's Muscle Beach for Lightweights [Kinetic Carnival]
• Red Hook in Winter at 6:35AM [Lit Up Like the Blood of a Centerfold]
• Hip Furniture Stores in Dumbo [NYT]
• Articles About Jane's Carousel [Dumbo NYC]
• Boerum Hill Jogger Slips on Snow, Hit by Bus on Third Avenue [NYDN]
• Snow! [Green Brooklyn]
• A Little Clinton Hill History [Clinton Hill Blog]
• Luxury Rentals in Fort Greene [Set Speed]
• On Leaving Park Slope: Buffalo Girl Speaks [OTBKB]
• City Protects Brooklyn from "Odorous Air Contaminant": Roasting Coffee [NYT]

Vintage Video: Coney Island from the Air, 1991

Here's a short vid we found via Kinetic Carnival of Coney Island shot from the air in 1991. (Originally posted, it seems, by Feltmans_4_mine on the Coney Island Message Board.) The poster describes it as follows: "A short airplane ride along the beach at Coney Island. Shot in 1991. From Brighton beach to Steeplechase Park. Good view of Astroland Amusement park and the Thunderbolt roller coaster. You can even see the Parachute Jump Ride and the footprint of George C. Tilyou's Steeplchase Pavilion that has been gone since the 60s." Click on the embed or on this link.

Gowanus Back in the Day

Back to the old Gowanus archive we go for another Gowanus Back in the Day historic photo from the Brooklyn Public Library's extensive collection of historic Brooklyn pics. The photo, which is not dated, but is most likely of 1950s vintage, is described as "Portion of Gowanus Canal showing Hamilton Avenue beneath elevated expressway; elevated subway line near station at Smith and Ninth Street in background; Brooklyn skyline and water tower beyond elevated subway line; parked truck and automobiles near warehouse in right foreground." The caption reads, "Hamilton Avenue Bridge -- A movable bascule bridge carrying Hamilton Avenue over the Gowanus Canal and placed under the Gowanus Parkway Bridge . . . .".

GL's Weekend Curbed Roundup

As some of you know, we post on Monday through Friday over at Curbed. Here's some of this week's Curbed output that did not appear on GL:

• A Flood of Red Hook Post-Industrial Photos (above)
• Boymelgreen Gets a New Friend in Park Slope
• Digging the Dirt at Ikea's Red Hook Site
• Williamsburg Graffiti War Escalates, Dada Invoked
• Finger Building Noir
• Red Hook Piers: Cargo, Cruise Ships or Beer Gardens?
• Can "Small Predators" Reclaim Boerum Hill from Rats?
• Brooklyn Hotel Update: Got to Put the Tourists Somewhere
• Check Out the Smith Street Notary District
• Progress at 160 Imlay: Plastic Windows!
• Landlord's Blog Does Not Disappoint

Gowanus Lounge Photo Du Jour: Red Hook View

Red Hook, Brooklyn

Honey, We Have Friends in the Backyard

Mayor Bloomberg's plan to accept photos and videos at 911 and 311 is going to have some eager users in the South Slope. The video below, along with a number of companion pieces which you can see here, here and here, are new on youtube. They concern the ongoing nasty construction situation at 406-408 15th Street, which may be one of the best chronicled problems in all of New York City, yet one which keeps going and going and going.

Related Post:
Meet Your Department of Buildings. Or Not.
South Slope Development Still Doing Crack

Meet the Barclays Center Website

The new website for the Barclays Center is just so full of interesting...things that it's hard to know where to begin. From the opening screen that says, "Brooklyn Gave the World Inspiration" to the ability to sign up for "construction updates and ticket information," it's quite the clicking around kind of place. (Don't miss the intro flash screens that say "Brooklyn Gave the World Opportunity" with the photo of Jackie Robinson or "Brooklyn Gave the World Memories" with the vintage Coney photo or the concluding screen, "It's Time the World Gave Something to Brooklyn.") The image above is a screencap of a model of the project.

BARCLAYS PRINT MEDIA BONUS: Check out Barclays Center newspaper ad here, which was thoughtfully scanned, posted and considered by No Land Grab. The incomparable Norman Oder also does a bit of descontruction of the ad over at Atlantic Yards Report.

Brooklinks: Saturday Very Visual Edition

Brooklinks is a daily selection of Brooklyn-related information and, especially on weekends, images.

Photos:

• Revs on the Gowanus [seriously excited!]
• Finally, a Bit of Snow [423 Smith]
• It Finally Snowed [Park Slope Street Photography]
• Snow! [A Brooklyn Life]
• Private Jesus [Atomische]
• Two Views of the Port of New York Grain Terminal [Bluejake]
• Red Hook Grain Terminal Roof Panorama [e-liz/flickr]
• Port of New York Grain Terminal [The Food of the Future]
• Everything Normal on the L Train [Gothamist]
• Cyclone [seriously excited!]
  

Not Photos:

• Barclays Center Ad Considered [No Land Grab]
• Barclays' Present to Brooklyn's Future? [AYR]
• Forest City Ratner's Jim Stuckey Interviewed by Mike & the Mad Dog [No Land Grab]
• Brooklyn Paper Wins Two Prizes [Brooklyn Paper]
• That Didn't Take Long: Housing Works Store Already Open [Brooklyn Heights Blog]
• Attack of the Christmas Tree Carcass [Callalillie]
• White Collar Boxing at Gleason's Gym [Dumbo NYC]
• "Unthinkable," Sad Robberies at Happy House Chinese in Bed-Stuy [NYT]
• Adarro Minton Doesn't Show for Brooklyn Reading Works [OTBKB]
• Alternadad Visits Tea Lounge Sunday [Brooklyn Record]
• Desperately Seeking Cat Sitter [Across the Park]
• Swinging or Non-Swinging: The Wonder Wheel [WFMU's Beware of the Blog]

Polish Rappers on the G Train

Maybe these guys were practicing for the Polish Hip Hop Festival in Greenpoint Friday night? In any case, this youtube vid was posted over at viceland, which offers:

Brooklyn's G Train picks up a pretty diverse array of riders as it runs from Queens' potpourri of ethnic neighbs through Williamsburg and Hasid central, the Bed-Stuy ghetto, Mafioso Gowanus, and into the Yuptopia of Park Slope. But easily the line's rappinest ridership hop on board in the Polish stronghold of Greenpoint.

Last night, these two up-and-coming Krakow MC's were just OWNING the car we were in. Not really sure what they're rapping about, what with the Polish, but the flow these guys were kicking out to their cell-phone beat-box had the entire rainbow crowd hanging on every unintelligible word. Someone sign these guys, they get on at the Nassau stop every day around 7 PM.

Fun stuff.

Coney Island on a Cold, Cold Winter Night

We found this post on a blog called Jolie laide. It's about a visit to Coney Island in weather that does not make it a year-round kind of place, except for residents. In any case, that's another issue. The point here is a post that is atmospheric and almost poetic:

Coney Island in the winter is Tom Waits. Debauched, depressed, a glass eye in the bottom of a shot of bourbon. Of course I love it. So even though invitations are stacking up in my mail box, tonight is the long train ride to the end of the F train. Tonight is the coldest night of this winter and only one skell is out, crouched at the corner darkness, curled into a question mark by the wind. The neon of Nathan’s is a harsh burn against the night, and the stark fluorescents inside turn it into a desolate Hopper painting. At a table by the wall two teenagers try to impress each other by how unimpressed they are with each other, while I am personally in awe of how much orange cheez and bacon type food product is on these waffle fries.

There is no one on the boardwalk and the old wooden slats thump echo boot heels. To the right is the blackness of the nighttime ocean, above, with no light bleed from the shuttered beer and clam joints, the sky is black enough to pick out stars. The cold front blasting through is palpable enough, but it announces its presence by singing, making the metal of the closed amusement park moan, the brackets and braces static but unquiet. Back to the open air train station where you can pick out the beat of one train pulling in, and another train pulls through and it counterpoints, then blurs, then is gone.

Very nice words.

Gowanus Lounge Photo Du Jour: Sukkah Center

South Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Evidence of Winter's First Snow in Brooklyn

Yes, that was snow this morning. We took these shots around 8:15AM on Prospect Park West in Park Slope. Not much snow, but it sure looked nice, even though it was probably all gone by about 9:30. But, if you slept late and missed it, it was there.

Property Available, Capisce?

There is a lot of property avaiable in Williamsburg on both the North and South sides. However, no building in all of Brooklyn or New York City is more available than this one, which is located on Kent Avenue at S. 11th Street, near the Schaefer Landing development. Take your pick of brokers.

Reach Out and Touch Someone at the End of Court Street

We're fascinated by new buildings that bump up against the Gowanus and the BQE. We understand the old ones that were there before Robert Moses cut a swath through Brooklyn and Queens. We might even get why developers build new buildings right up against it. What confuses us, though, is why people would shell out big bucks to buy a new condo in one or to rent a new apartment ten or fifteen yards from insane traffic and noxious fumes. In any case, one of these buildings has been going up at the end of Court Street at Garnet Street and Hamilton Avenue beside the Gowanus Expressway. A reader wrote us to say that the building had sprouted another two floors while she was away away on a trip:

When I peeked out my front window onto Court, I saw that a building they'd been working on for a few months had suddenly sprouted two floors. Most of the buildings here are ground floor plus two levels above. So you can imagine this thing towers above them all, but ironically whoever might eventually live in those two 'extra' floors could almost reach out and shake hands with the motorists on the Gowanus Expressway. Anyway, the building's on a really busy intersection and it would be hell to live there. The noise of the trucks can be bad enough at times and I'm a bit back from the whole thing... Now that's a real estate selling job, can't wait to read the description of those apts.

Of the end of Court down by Hamilton Avenue and the Gowanus she adds:

On 9th between Court and Hamilton Ave there's a newly built condo block. Weirdly, when I moved in about a year and a half ago the agent said 'oh there's this great building across the way, about to open up which will mean better stores, bars down this end of Court. Lovely, sez I, bring on a good grocers down this end of the street but nothing has happened since and the block looks like it was never inhabited since completion. The whole thing's now for sale. So in some ways, the quiet end of Court hasn't really taken off as predicted by other agents I heard say similar things a fair while back. Not really complaining as I kinda like our quiet thing.

A couple of more pics below.

The Barclays Center: What's In a Name?

The deal to put the name of Barclays Bank on the Atlantic Yards Arena is stirring a bit of controversy. On Wednesday, Fans for Fair Play circulated an email digging into the bank's history. The new Brooklyn Paper's front-page headline is "Blood Money," which expands on the bank's historic connection to the slave trade, its role in World War II and its support for the apartheid government in South Africa, among other things.

Here's some of what Fans for Fair Play wrote in an email blast:

Ratner has just sealed a deal with a company that didn't just profit from, but was FOUNDED upon, slave-trade profits (1756). There are other disquieting machinations...apartheid funding, deals with French collaborators during WWII, current loans to exploitive mining operations in Congo, etc.

From the website itself, there is this about Barclays background:

* a major funder of South Africa's apartheid regime;
* a rotten place for women to work through the 1970s;
* sued by French Jewish holocaust survivors for working with French Nazi collaborators during World War II;
* funding exploitive mining operations in Congo;

The Brooklyn Paper reports that the company's senior archivist, Jessie Campbell, defended the bank’s link to slavery in a letter to the London paper, the Guardian, as something that must “be understood in the context of the times,” he wrote. “In the mid-18th century, trading in slaves was the norm.” During the Holocaust, the BP says, "Barclays’ French branches froze the accounts of their Jewish customers. After being sued by Hitler’s victims and their descendents, Barclays agreed in 1999 to pay $3.6 million in restitution. Nazi officials kept the proceeds from Jews’ forced property sales at Barclays, the suit charged."

Of course, one could criticize many financial institutions, especially ones whose history reaches back a century or more, on dealings 50 or 100 years ago. The same could be said of any number of multinational corporations. So, there will be many opinions around Brooklyn about this information and whether it is fair to bring it up. All that said, as information goes, the background on Barclays is fascinating.

Digging Into the Gowanus Plan: Pedestrian Bridges

We're going to spend some time digging into the Gowanus Comprehensive Plan produced by the Gowanus Canal Community Development Corporation, which proposes many interesting things for the neighborhood around the Gowanus Canal, which it divides into North and South Districts. The South District would be an industrial zone and the North District mixed use. The focus throughout would be on green uses.

Having focused on depressing environmental issues yesterday, we'll lighten it up here and note that the plan envisions new pedestrian bridges across the canal to encourage more walking and biking and access to the canal-side public areas for which the plan also calls. (It also calls for special lighting of existing bridges and of some industrial buildings.) The plan sees up to five new pedestrian bridges, which would be retractable in order to allow boats to pass. That's a little before and after action above.

Related Posts:
The Ground Beneath Gowanus, General Neighborhood Edition
Gowanus Plan Calls for Green Focus and Environmental Education Center

Brooklyn Band of the Week: Dimestore Scenario

How can we pass up a Brooklyn band whose new EP is called The Gowanus Sessions and that rehearses and records on Second Avenue at 15th Street? The band is Dimestore Scenario and lead singer Rachel Federman, whose vocals are alternatingly sweet and powerful, depending, says the band works "right in the heart of that great desolation." The Gowanus Sessions is being released on January 24 and the band will be playing at Southpaw along with Plaza Toros and Breaking the Silence. Doors at 8PM. As for The Gowanus Sessions, the five tracks are fun. Kickoff track Laila has a definite Belly-esque, Pixie-ish vibe. Return to Guatemala and Contenders have a more pop feel. Descent dips productively into the harder indie rock well and the concluding track, A Million Times at Least, is just flat-out pretty. The band has been through a bunch of personnel changes, but several years ago, Time Out New York wrote that Dimestore Scenario "sometimes reinvents pop." Check out Dimestore Scenario at their My Space page and their website.

Brooklinks: Friday No Free Air Edition

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

• Gehry Jousts with Proster, Says Ratner Kept Him on Leash [AYR]
• Greenpoint Polish Hip Hop Festival Tonight! [newyorkshitty]
• Fred the Gargoyle [Brooklyn Heights Blog]
• One Hanson Price Cut? [Brownstoner]
• Support for 94-Year-Old Carroll Gardens Resident Facing Eviction [Brooklyn Paper]
• Stopping the Driving Madness on Henry Street [Brooklyn Record]
• Three Empty Buildings for Sale on Old Fulton Street [Dumbo NYC]
• Brooklyn Botanic Garden to Get Greener [Metro]
• In Case You Missed It: Luna Lounge Reopening in Williamsburg [Brooklyn Vegan]
• Grab Some Gourmet Food in the South Slope [Gothamist]
• Plywood Epic: Silent H Coming to Oznot's Space in Williamsburg [Eater]
• Demolishing Old Brooklyn Homes [Brooklyn Streets]
• Brooklyn Weekend, Including Mark Morris Dance Group Open House [About Brooklyn]

Sheepshead Bay Report: Lundy's Sleeps with the Fishes

O.L. Robau, who produces Kinetic Carnival, which is devoted to Coney Island and is one of our favorite blogs, reports that Sheepshead Bay landmark Lundy's is no more. He left the news as a comment on an item, and we wanted to highlight the information. Mr. Robeau writes:

Lundy's restaurant has been shut down.

According to the Greek owners of Lundy's, they have been locked out and evicted. Apparently they have not payed their rent in almost a year and the landlord got their court order to evict them. The owners came to the restaurant last weekend to find the locks changed. There are rumors that Outback Steakhouse is interested in the space. Regardless of what the location turns into, Lundy's restaurant as well as the building is a landmark. Therefore, at least, the menu must contain lobster and a raw bar.

Lundy's, which is on Emmon's Avenue, opened in Sheepshead Bay in 1907. At the time, it was on the bay side of Emmons, on pilings in the water. It opened at the present site (which is the northwest corner of Emmons and Ocean Avenue) in 1938. It could serve 2,800 people at a seating. Lundy's closed in 1979 and reopened in 1995. There had been rumors of another demise.

Preservationists Push Domino Sugar Plant Online Landmark Petition

We linked to this item from the Historic Districts Council Blog yesterday, but it's worth noting in a bigger post. The Waterfront Preservation Alliance of Greenpoint & Williamsburg has had an petition online for some time calling for the historic Domino Plant on Kent Avenue to be landmarked. Lanmarking would be significant, as the parcel will likely be rezoned for residential use. It was not included in the big waterfront rezoning that is producing highrises on Kent Avenue, but plans call for up to four towers of 40 stories each on the site. If you think the historic buildings on the grounds should be landmarked, head over to the petition and sign up.

Related Posts:
Landmarking Request for Williamsburg's Domino Sugar Plant
Brookvids: The Domino Sugar Plant

Filling Out the Coney Island Vision

Yesterday, in his State of the City Address, Mayor Bloomberg mentioned Coney Island as one of the parts of New York City that will be rezoned to promote new development. We've been following the blow-by-blow of various Coney land deals, renderings and ideas, and the Daily News website today posts an article by Jotham Sederstrom that appeared in print a few days ago. It has some interesting information:

In addition to hundreds of upscale housing units, big-name franchises like Nickelodeon, W Hotel and the House of Blues are being floated as possible components of the revitalization plan, sources familiar with some of the proposals have said.

Add to that a slew of entertainment attractions - including a state-of-the-art roller coaster designed to wind around buildings on Stillwell Ave. - and Coney Island could begin to resemble a Las Vegas on the Atlantic Ocean.

But until the 13-member Coney Island Development Corp. releases its long-awaited master plan, nothing but sand and water is certain for the neighborhood.

"You should have a big question mark over the whole thing," said Community Board 13 District Manager Chuck Reichenthal. "One doesn't know from day to day."

There's a lot of interesting detail in the article and also an interesting map that goes with the story that we are reposting below.

Mapping Out the New Coney Island

For those that have been having a hard time seeing what might go where in the new Coney Island, an article in the Daily News by Jotham Sederstrom has a map and text that lay out the possible new configuation and projects. Here's the key to the map:

1. New York-based Taconic Investment Partners hopes to build residential and retail on 100,000 square feet of land on four parcels between W. 16th and 20th Sts. between Mermaid and Surf Aves. Taconic also plans:

* Residential and retail space on 180,000 square feet of land between Surf Ave. and the Boardwalk at W. 21st St.

* Child's Restaurant site is being eyed for a high-end catering hall between Surf Ave. and the Boardwalk at W. 21st St.

* Residential and retail space on 18,000 square feet between Surf Ave. and the Boardwalk at W. 22nd St.

2. A proposed new street, tentatively called Front St., to be built from the Parachute Jump to the Cyclone, spanning roughly 2,400 feet and used primarily as a pedestrian throughway.

3. Bowery St., currently composed of penny arcades, fast food restaurants and small rides, could turn into five blocks of retail and restaurants. Along W. 15th and 16th Sts., however, developer Horace Bullard still owns property and hasn't said publicly what he plans to do with it.

4. Stillwell Ave. south of Surf Ave. would become "Stillwell Walk" and serve as the main thoroughfare of Coney Island, with open-air cafes and retail along a cobblestone street. A 4,000-foot rollercoaster designed by Switzerland-based Intamin AG is also in the works.

5. Called "Splash," this 150-foot observation deck with holographic displays, light shows and water mist, would be the first thing people see upon exiting the Stillwell Ave. subway station. A rooftop beer garden, with views of Brooklyn and the Atlantic Ocean, is also in the works.

6. Anchored by one of two planned hotels, this 75,000- square-foot glass-encased water park would soar eight stories and sit atop a parking garage.

W Hotel and Nickelodeon, among other hoteliers, are in talks, sources said.

7. The second of two hotels planned for Coney Island would sit above an entertainment attraction, which sources said could be a live music venue.

A source close to House of Blues said the franchise was looking seriously at expanding to New York.

8. The former Astroland amusement park would be reimagined as another park, this one glass-enclosed and potentially three stories tall. The Burbank-based Thinkwell Design and Production is currently designing amusement rides.

9. Developer Thor Equities plans to build residential near the Boardwalk between W. 15th St. and Stillwell Walk.

The Ground Beneath Gowanus, General Neighborhood Edition

What's under Gowanus? A little bit of everything, apparently, given the neighborhood's industrial lineage dating to the 19th Century. Among the many things contained in the 161-page Gowanus Comprehensive Plan is a sobering look at the environmental challenges in and around the Big G. The map above shows possible brownfield sites in the neighborhood based on their former industrial uses. (In other words, virtually every bit of land around the canal, and the historical survey used to create the map only covered land within a block or so of the canal.)

The neighborhood, for instance, had three Manufactured Gas Plants, which introduced a toxic soup of byproducts into the environment, including cyanide. The Thomas Greene Playground is part of one of the former Manufactured Gas Plant sites. The plan says, "the consultant does not have any information regarding potential community exposure" and recommends working with Parks Department "to determine if any community health risks do exist at this playground."

Of the former Brooklyn Rapid Transit Authority Power Plant that is part of the "Gowanus Village" site, the report says:

The former power station may still contain asbestos-containing material within its insulation and PCB oil within the remaining electrical equipment. The station was powered with coal, which may have resulted in coal tar impacts in the soil and groundwater. The property to the south contained several coal yards and a sulfur works, which are additional potential sources of contamination. To the north lies the filled-in First Street Turning Basin and stretch of bulkhead that has completely failed. Nothing for certain is known about when or with what the turning basin was filled in. In short, there are enough potential sources of concern at this site that the GCCDC should work closely with the site developer to ensure that any environmental impacts that are found are adequately addressed.

The table below shows some of the substances beneath Gowanus and their sources.

The Ground Beneath Gowanus, Whole Foods Edition

While much of attention recently has been focused on the benzene in and around the future site of the Whole Foods in Gowanus, the site itself has an interesting past. The Department of Environmental Conservation's website notes "subsurface soils and groundwater are contaminated with volatile organic compounds, semi volatile organic compounds, and chlorinated solvents." Among the substances disposed at the site were napthalene and xylene. Meantime, Stephen Witt relates some details about the site's past (it was originally a wetland) and present from a recent DEC fact sheet in the latest Courier-Life papers:

The site was created by filling the wetlands during the mid-1800s and the early 1990s and specific sources of fill material are unknown, according to the fact sheet.

However, according to the United States Army Corps of Engineers, the canal is filled with 20 feet of ash in some places and it was a common practice to use demolition debris, ash and furnace slag as riverfront fill.

During the late 1800s through 2004, the site was the location of numerous industrial operations, including coal yards, an ice company, lumberyards, a petroleum oil company, a building materials company, a trucking company, a freight depot, and an automobile junkyard and automobile repair shop.

Contamination related to these former industrial operations included the BTEX compounds benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes.

These are volatile organic hydrocarbons found in most petroleum products such as gasoline, according to the DEC fact sheet.

We scoured the DEC website, but the fact sheet does not appear to be posted online, unless we somehow missed it.

Related Posts:
Gowanus Whole Foods #2: Execs Say Toxics Are Under Control

Gowanus Back in the Day

Here's another one from our Gowanus Back in the Day feature of historic photos. Like many others, this is from the Brooklyn Public Library's extensive collection of historic Brooklyn pics. It's simply dated as "1950s" and is an aerial showing the bridges over the Gowanus. Look closely and you can see some landmarks that still exist and see what used to stand in place of what's there now.

Brooklinks: Thursday Focus on Food Edition

Brooklinks is a daily selection of Brooklyn-related information and images. On Thursday, we focus on food.

Food:

• Petite Marche is "Comme Ci Comme Ca" [Brooklyn Enthusiast]
• Petite Marche Draws Attention [Brooklyn Heights Blog]
• David Rosengarten Unhappy with DiFara's Experience [Chowhound]
• Bruni One Stars Porchetta [NYT]
• Wednesday Food and Drink Roundup [Brooklyn Record]
• Vivir on Court Street "is Doomed" [Larry Brooks/Chowhound]
• Great Sandwiches at Dumont Burger and Tempo Presto [Eating for Brooklyn]
• Damis in Greenpoint is "Blazing New Trails" [Porkchop Express]
• Now Open: Chilies and Chocolate Oaxacan Kitchen in Park Slope [NYT]
• Coney Island Soup Shop is Excellent [AlwaysHungry/Chowhound]

Not Food:

• ALERT: Domino Sugar Plant Needs Your Help [Historic Districts Council Newstand]
• NYC/Brooklyn Freedom of Speech Map [oNYTurf]
  
• Gowanus Comprehensive Plan Released [Brownstoner]
• jUSTINYC Shoots Cover of the New L Mag [jUSTINYC]
• Someone Please Repaint This Building [Across the Park]
• Clinton Hill Community Supported Agriculture [Clinton Hill Blog]
  
• Proteus Gowanus [Phantasmaphile]
• Baby Brigade Invades Fort Greene [Brooklyn Record]
  

Brooklinks: Thursday Special Barclays Edition

Brooklinks is a selection of Brooklyn-related news and images. Here is some of today's coverage of the Atlantic Yards arena naming deal:

• Barclays Bets on Brooklyn Nets [Gothamist]
• Brits Coming to Brooklyn Thanks to Ratner [Daily Intel]
• Something Fishy About the Barclays Deal [Gumby Fresh]
• Naming Rights Could Pay Half the Costs of Arena [AYR]
• Barclays Pays Record Price to Put Name on Arena [NYT]
• Nets Banking on Brits [NYDN]
• Constitutional Rights v. Naming Rights [No Land Grab]
• "That Money Has to Come from Somewhere" [DDDB]
• A Little Barclays History [Fans for Fair Play]

Revere, Before Thor's Hammer & Now

Gowanus Plan Calls for Green Focus and Environmental Education Center

The Gowanus Canal CDC has released its final plan for Gowanus. The news comes via a release from the CDC and its chair Michael Ingui. The final plan is posted on the CDC's website. (We are not posting a direct link to the PDF because it is big and can virtually freeze your computer depending on your connection. Release of the plan is also reported by Brownstoner.) It divides the neighborhood into North and South "zones," each of which would feature a different mix of uses. Overall, the plan pushes a "green" focus for new development and industry. There is also a development on the Gowanus Canal Conservancy front. The group was formed this summer to help advocate for improving the environmental quality of the canal and for making it more friendly to recreational uses. The group wants to create a Gowanus Canal Environmental Education Center on the Big G with classroom and meeting space, an auditorium, office space for Gowanus-related groups and a boat launch. The plan, "includes the concept of the 'canal as park' – viewing the waterway, like a park, as a precious community resource for all users, industrial and residential, to be improved and protected." The group is apparently looking at the creation of a "Canal Improvement District."

We will dive into the plan a bit more in coming days, but for now, it's worth pointing out that the it is an independent vision of Gowanus' future. The city is just beginning its planning effort for the neighborhood that will serve as the basis for a comprehensive rezoning. Developers have already expressed frustration that the process is moving slower than they would have hoped.

The debate will prove interesting.

Related Post:
Toll Brothers Point Finger of Blame in Gowanus

Brooklyn Bridge Park, Part III: Where the Tall Buildings Will Go

So where would the development that will be used to pay for the park elements of the waterfront "civic and land use project" known as Brooklyn Bridge Park go? We concocted the above map to show the approximate location of the mixed-use hotel-residential complex (with up to 225 hotel rooms and 150 condos) that would go near Pier 1 where the old storage building is currently located, as well as the big highrises that would go in the "uplands" of Pier Six, more or less near the foot of Atlantic Avenue. None of this, of course, is news and the project plan has already been approved, but virtually all of the beautiful renderings of the park have studiously avoided including drawings of the high rises. So, it's always interesting to have a look.

There are two main condo options according to revised plan issued by the Empire State Development Corp. Option One includes a building 315 feet in height with up to 290 condo and a building of 155 feet with up to 140 condos. Option Two includes two buildings of 215 feet, each with 190 units. There would also be a 170-foot building with 130 units north of the Manhattan Bridge.

You can check out the entire revised plan here at the Empire State Development Corp.'s website. Just click on "Modified General Project Plan" in the upper right hand corner for the PDF.

Related Post:
Brooklyn Bridge Park, Part II: The Sweetheart Deal Building

More on the Broken Angel Condo Deal

Today's Daily News fills in more details about the story we reported yesterday about Broken Angel's future as condos, courtesy of developer Shahn Andersen. Creator Arthur Wood says he rejected offers of up to $1.8 million that would have destroyed the unique work of art he has created over time. Here's an excerpt from the story:

"It will be taller, more majestic. We may even light it up at night, and it will be nicer," Wood, 75, said yesterday.

He rejected offers of as much as $1.8 million that would have destroyed the 108-foot building in favor of one that will preserve it, he said.

He may even lose money, depending on how the condos sell, he added.

"It was tempting to take the money and leave, but I couldn't do that," Wood said. "The building is a living entity, and I wasn't about to abandon it."

Local developer Shahn Andersen agreed Saturday to buy a 50% stake in the structure, financing the rebuilding of Wood's creation with potential profits from condos.

While have concerns about a condo project, we're also realists about how things must be financed in an era whent the public sector is unwilling to help (and, in this case, has acted as the problem, rather than the solution.) We trust the team of Andersen & Wood will create a true Brooklyn landmark.

Related Post:
Broken Angel Sold and Saved: Will Become Condos

Brooklyn Bridge Park, Part II: The Sweetheart Deal Building

In case you were wondering what building yesterday's Post story was talking about in discussing the "development team with close ties to ex-Gov. George Pataki" that "stands to rack up nearly $700 million in gross revenue by selling more than 400 luxury condos to be built within the state-planned Brooklyn Bridge Park," that's it above. The development is the flashy One Brooklyn Bridge Park which is being built by developer Robert Levine and some partners. According to the Empire State Development Corp., sales at the complex will reach $674 million, with one study estimating profits of $365 million. The developer told the Post the profit on the 441 luxury units at One Brooklyn Bridge Park would be one-third that figure. What is even more interesting than the profit, though, is the developer's relationship to the just-departed Pataki Administration. Says the Post:

"It looks more and more like a risk-free deal written by Robert Levine that the ESDC just went along with it," said Cobble Hill activist Roy Sloane.

Levine's partners include Thomas J. Murphy, a Pataki ally and former executive director of the state Dormitory Authority, and AIG Insurance, which records show donated $120,000 to Pataki from 2000 through 2004.

By going through the ESDC, the developer is circumventing city zoning. The controversial residential component of the development is being used to finance the waterfront park component. Fun reading in its entirety, esxpecially once you attach the building to the story.

Related Post:
Brooklyn Bridge Park, Part III: Where the Tall Buildings Will Go

Meet Your Department of Buildings. Or Not.

We would be riveted enough by the spectacle of the development site at 406-408 15th Street 9and Eighth Avenue) in the South Slope that threatens to undermine a variety of properties in the neighborhood, but we are utterly fascinated by the bureaucratic incompetence, malfeasance and nonfeasance surrounding it. The damage has been going on since last summer, to the point where buildings are cracking and becoming structurally unsafe, trees are falling over and sinkholes are opening. In a rational world, IMBY's latest post would have city bureaucrats falling over each other to try to remedy the situation or to at least make it look they care. Here goes:

Let's face it, the DoB is failing miserably in regards to protecting the surrounding properties... maybe as a morale booster if the DoB required its inspectors to wear one piece spandex blue and gold unitards, capes with the NYC BUILDINGS logo, and shiny black patent leather utility belts with matching boots... at the least they would still have some self esteem left to lose. I know what your thinking. You need to rotate inspectors to prevent the possibility of malfeasance and bribery. Hell, the way things are leaning in the contractors favor at 406, I would be truly disappointed if we find out no one has been receiving gratuities. Wow, free favors, that would really mean they don't know their underpinnings from a hole in the ground...

So we had a steady tsunami of DoB inspectors out to look at the new damage. Are two inspectors in one week considered a tsunami? Two different inspectors among a half dozen who have made visits this far. One who admitted this isn't his "area" and another who mysteriously disappeared after 5 minutes.

Unfortunately they had to be dragged kicking and screaming before they would come out to take a peek. Special thanks to Sergeant Ward at the 72nd police precinct for your help. Sergeant Ward had been out to the site to assess the damage months ago after a 5 foot deep sink hole formed taking out a utility pole and a tree. In his most recent visit, he immediately saw how bad the situation had deteriorated since his last visit and immediately made a call to the DoB.

That's right... The police are now calling the DoB telling them they better get their asses over to the building site or else.

One wonders when the city will stop turning a blind eye to the awfulness on 15th Street and do its job to protect residents.

Brooklyn Bridge Park, Part I: The Barge Pool at Rest

The colorful little barge above docked at Pier 2 on the site of the future development called Brooklyn Bridge Park is the Barge Pool. It's the Neptune Foundation's pool on a barge that will serve as a city park this summer. No word on the location(s) at which it will be docked, but it certainly promises to be one of the city's more unique swimming experiences.

Brooklinks: Wednesday Dreaming Edition

Brooklinks is a daily selection of Brooking information and images.

• Most Lucrative Arena Naming Deal Ever? Meet the Barclays Center [NYP]
• Eminent Domainia [No Land Grab]
• Subtle Process of Rewriting Atlantic Yards History [onNYTurf]
• Empire State Development Corp. Evaded Crime Issue [AYR]
• Brooklyn's Notary District [423 Smith]
• Plant Thief Loose in Clinton Hill [Brooklyn Record]
• Buildings Being Renovated [Across the Park]
• Mysterious Apartments on St. James and Lafayette [Clinton Hill Blog]
• "Backfat" Tag is Everywhere in Windsor Terrace and Kensington [NYDN]
• Chan Still Putting Up 11 Stories on Baltic [Brownstoner]
• Bridgeview Tower Price Increases [Dumbo NYC]
• Brooklyn Beauty Salons [Brooklyn Streets]

Gowanus Back in the Day

We revive our Gowanus Back in the Day feature of historic photos of the Big G with this excellent old black and white that has been lurking on our hard drive. The photo is from the Brooklyn Public Library's extensive collection of historic Brooklyn pics. The photo would have been taken, more or less, from the location of what is now Lowe's. The description reads, "Gowanus canal at 9th Street drawbridge beneath elevated bridge or highway; two tugboats in right foreground; two men observing canal traffic from booth and platform at left; girders supporting elevated bridge at right and left; large water tank in background." And, the caption says, "Up-sa-daisy -- Ninth St. drawbridge reluctantly opens its jaws to allow one of the Gowanus Towing Company's tiny tugs, the Victorious, to drag its giant-size barge through the Canal. Many of the Gowanus tug admirals have seen half a century wreak its changes along the Canal. The company has only four tugs now in active service, including the wonderfully named Hesperus." Ah, the old days.

Brooklyn Reading Works, Thursday Night

The next installment of Brooklyn Reading Works, the series held at the Old Stone House between Third and Fourth Streets and Fourth and Fifth Avenues, features Adarro Minton, the author of the short story collection Gay, Black, Crippled, Fat. He'll be reading on January 18 at 8PM, and admission is $5. A short excerpt from the intro, to give you the flavor of this provocative work:

I have been expelled from St Peter Claver, St Catherine of Siena, and The Union Springs Academy, a Seventh Day Adventist boarding school, after refusing to submit to a weekly shower game that five lusty upper-classmen came up with. I survived the disco era in New York City, in imagined opulent splendor at Studio 54, Better Days, The Nickel Bar, 220 Club, The Saint, The Mineshaft, and The Paradise Garage. I survived mescaline, blotter acid, cocaine, freebase cocaine, crack, danger sex in subway bathrooms, hunger, homelessness, and three serious suicide attempts. In 1999, I lost the use of my arms and legs to a mysterious, and still undiagnosed form of myositis. Thanks to 12 steps, and the love of K.D. Haynes, I got up (so to speak) off of my clinically depressed ass, and in the year 2000, I began to forage through a lifetime of stories circling my soul. This collection represents the first set of them.

Excellent stuff.

Broken Angel Sold & Saved: Will Become Condos

It's official, the Clinton Hill landmark, Broken Angel, has been sold and will be developed as condos. Creator Arthur Wood will work to design the new development. The move toward a sale had been reported over the last two weeks. The new figure in the Broken Angel saga is Shahn Andersen (although an email from Chris Wood that arrived at midnight refers to him as "Shaun" Andersen). An empty lot next door will also be developed as "arts space." Mr. Wood says he feels it is the "best opportunity" to work on the design and keep the "spirit and details of Broken Angel intact." We assume that is Mr. Andersen with Mr. and Ms. Wood in the photo from onebadapple above. Here is the full text of Mr. Wood's statement:

My parents signed an agreement with Shaun Andersen, a local developer on Saturday. This agreement will remove the threat of demolition by the Department of Buildings. Our thanks to Letitia James, Brent Porter, Peter Grossman and Zerlize Goodman for their help in overseeing and mediating the agreement. Under the terms of the agreement my father will work with Shaun to redesign and develop Broken Angel as condominiums. The sale of these condominiums will pay for the work that is necessary to bring the building to code and allow my father to see his vision realized and completed. In addition a second building will be created at 8 Downing Street (the lot next door) that will become an arts space. My father chose to work with Shaun because from their previous friendship, he felt that given the current circumstances, this collaboration would offer him the best opportunity to contribute to the design of the building and keep the spirit and details of Broken Angel intact. A show of photographs and my father’s plans for the original and the re-envisioned Broken Angel are currently on display at Higgens Hall at Pratt.

Text of the message with the photos is on onebadapple's flickr page.

The reenvisioned Angel, a drawing of which appears above right, includes a rotating whale at the top and a "Sunflower House." We truly hope the partnership goes well and that Broken Angel is indeed saved rather than turned into a brand name for yet another pricey development. Done right, it will become an even more significant Brooklyn landmark.

Related Post:
Broken Angel to be Saved, in a Way, Turned into Condos

Clarification: Mr. Andersen, in a comment left below, writes "The property was not sold. Arthur Wood and I are going to work together to renovate Broken Angel and rebuild it taller and more elaborate than it is now."

Revere Getting Banged Hard

Red Hook's old Revere Sugar Refinery does not have long to live. While the demolition work appears to have slowed on the front part of the structure, Thor Equities, Joe Sitt and Breeze Demolition have been busy tearing the Red Hook icon down from behind. There is now a gigantic dent in the dome, most likely where a tower fell into it during demolition, and external structures are being demolished.

Red Hook from Above (More Grain Terminal Photos!!!)

Check out this rocking photo of Red Hook taken from the roof of the huge Grain Terminal by f.trainer and posted on his flickr page. Clearly, he was on the same photo expedition that resulted in the cool Bluejake post. The little pic we're reproducing here--that shows the former Todd Shipyards site in all its Ikea construction glory with the Revere Dome beyond--doesn't do it justice. Click over to see the pic full size and the entire bunch. Another excellent shot below.

South Slope Amateur Demolition Porn Videos

Check out the latest installment in the war between developers and residents on 22nd Street, this time with youtube videos of some night demolition activity. This specimen comes from 338 22nd Street, which is the subject of many ongoing complaints. You can click on the embed below for Part I. Click here for Part II and here for Part III.

Here's some narrative from a letter that went from Concerned Citizens of Greenwood Heights to the Department of Buildings:

Returning home yesterday, we drove by 338 22nd St. What we witnessed was a full asbestos removal crew, improperly abating the rooftop of 338 22nd St. on a Sunday. According to neighbors who live across the street from the site, the work began promptly at 9:00 am that Sunday morning and was still going on as we passed at 4:30 pm. It continued until past 7:00pm when we assume the Department of Environmental Protection inspector's second visit shut the site down.

Gotta' love the ability to post the problem on youtube.

Brooklinks: Tuesday Fallout Edition

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

• ESDC Didn't Quite Address Some Atlantic Yards Impact Statement Comments [AYR]
• $700M Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Goldmine for Pataki Friends [NYPost]
• A Crane Falls in Gowanus [Brownstoner]
• What's Up with Snooky's? [OTBKB]
• Join a Brownstone Shtetl [New York]
• Myrtle Avenue Blog! [Clinton Hill Blog]
• Three Brooklyn High Schools Slated for Shut Down [Brooklyn Record]
• Amanda Burden: Good Witch or Bad Witch? [Gothamist]
• Hell Ride for Tourists in Brooklyn [NYPost]
• Wedenesday Night at Inkwell [Across the Park]

Fun with Maps, Part II: The Times Gets Park Slope's Boundary Right

We've been known to say an unkind thing or two about the New York Times' coverage of Brooklyn, most of it having to do with the way the most important paper in the nation covers our borough infrequently and incompletely. A lot of Brooklyn news, unfortunately, does not appear fit to print. In any case, the Times ran an article about Park Slope in the Real Estate Section and a reader emailed us to note that the paper ran a map that actually got the neighborhood's borders right, by 2000s standards. Meaning that it doesn't try to usurp any of Gowanus or Sunset Park. (We wouldn't have looked at the map on our own, as we know where Park Slope is, so we thank the eagle-eyed GL reader for pointing it out.) In any case, here are few words from the article about Fourth Avenue:

These days it’s also a construction zone, at least on its fringes. Developers have worked quickly since 2003 zoning changes along Fourth Avenue, Park Slope’s noisy, truck-filled western border with Gowanus, to begin building condominium towers and a hotel there. Comparisons to a new Park Avenue for Brooklyn are being made, with occasional snickers, on local blogs. But building presses on, with sales soon to begin at the Novo Park Slope, a wide 12-story condo building at Fifth Street. The construction is “very quickly transforming Fourth Avenue from what was otherwise a forlorn, neglected thoroughfare into a place where people can live,” said Craig Hammerman, district manager for Community Board Six. “Whether or not the infrastructure is there to support it is now the newest challenge.”

We now return to our regular programming, grousing about how the Times is more likely to report on a Brooklyn stabbing than an important development or public policy issue issue.

Fun with Maps, Part I: Find That Brooklyn Neighborhood

We found the map below courtesy of Gothamist, which located it on the Brooklyn Properties website. For the handful of you that haven't seen it, we've been meaning to run it for days, because we find it compelling in terms of testing our neighborhood knowledge. How many of these Brooklyn neighborhoods do you? How many could you place on a map? How many of them have you visited? Fun stuff.

You Meet the Most Interesting People, Part I

So, GL was wandering on N. 1st Street between Wythe and Kent in Williamsburg, which is the back side of the site where the Old Dutch Mustard Company Building stood until not long ago. A car pulled up and and older guy got out and walked to the big blue construction fence around the site. He started looking through holes and gaps in the fence. Eventually, he walked over to us and said, "Nothing left in there." He looked nostalgic when he said this.

We nodded and said that the building had been gone for several months.

"I know," he said. "I used to own the Old Dutch Mustard building."

That plot, plus several others were sold to Steiner Equities for $25 million.

"You owned it?" we said. He was modestly dressed, driving an non-descript car.

He explained that he'd owned the property since the 1950s. "There was a time it was nothing but a nuisance. Then it was worth $1 million and all of a sudden $4 million. That was some building too. They had to work to get it down."

"It was a nice building."

"They wanted to save it. They really wanted to save it, but there was no way they could make it work."

He looked at GL, with two cameras, asked us what we did. We could have explained the whole blog thing and that, ironically, we'd covered the Old Dutch demolition blow-by-blow.

"I'm a photographer."

We chatted a bit more, talking about development in the neighborhood and about the old Domino Sugar plant down the street.

His wife got out the car and called him. He turned, telling us to have a nice day, and we didn't have the presence of mind to ask him to pose for a photo. We told him it was nice talking with him.

Of all the random encounters we could have in Williamsburg, it was more than a little ironic to have run into the former owner of Old Dutch coming back for a nostalgic look at the property he'd once owned.

You Meet the Most Interesting People, Part II

So, we were shooting pics (again) on Beard Street on Saturday when we heard someone saying, "Hey!...Excuse me!...Hello!...Hey!" When we finally looked it was a security gaurd from the Ikea site, approaching us on a public street, clearly interested in what we were doing.

"What's up?" we asked.

"Aren't you that reporter that was here when we had that trouble?" he asked.

"No. I'm just a photographer. What trouble?"

We've been past the gate, but given that Ikea had "trouble" on Friday in the form of stories about missing (possibly toxic) rubble and dirt, GL as very curious.

"Somebody got hurt a few months ago in the drydock," he said, referring to a worker hurt on the site.

"Right, I remember that. Actually, I'm shooting pictures of the dome."

This was not a lie. We were shooting photos of the dome and didn't have a good angle into the Ikea for a shot of the (possibly toxic) rubble. Last time we tried shooting picture through the gate one of the security gaurds became moderately rabid. Which is why the idea of 15 dump trucks full of rubble being snuck past them seems a bit odd.

"That's coming down," he said.

"Well, have a great day."

As he walked away, we could see him saying something into a two-way radio. Was it an innocent encounter because he thought we looked like a reporter that had been on the site before (which we haven't)? Or is Ikea taking a keen interest in who's taking photos on public streets? We'd assume it's the former, but the insistent way the guy approached us in the first place, makes us wonder.

Now Playing in South Williamsburg...

We wandered over to Broadway and Kent Avenue to check on the status of a property where some pre-demolition has started. We found a big hole being dug (and we'll have more about the property itself), but far more interesting for the moment is the Rodent Multiplex pictured below. Yeah, we know, it's a standard exterminator thing. But, it calls to mind a bunch of rats sitting around, eating popcorn, sipping soda and watching Charlotte's Web and Night at the Museum. The former "Executive Office" on the property is below.

Amazing Looking Inside the Red Hook Grain Terminal

If you ask us, the old Grain Terminal in Red Hook is one of the most frightening-looking structures in all of New York. There is something about the way the huge building, and its dirty and blackened exterior, looms over the landscape that scares us. Which is all the more reason to find the photos that Gothamist's Jake Dobkin posted on his photoblog bluejake and others that he posted on his flickr page even more amazing. Check out these pictures. They're an amazing looking inside a building you would otherwise never see.

Brooklinks: Monday Martin Luther King Day Edition

Brooklinks is a daily selection of Brooklyn related information and images.

Dr. King:

• I Have a Dream (above) [youtube via A Sad Day for Birds II]
• MLK Speech MP3 Download Links [Brooklyn Vegan]
• Text of King Speeches [stanford.edu via AYR]

Everything Else:

• Planner Amanda Burden: From Cotillions to Reshaping NYC [NYT]
• NYT Burden Profile Maintains Atlantic Yards Myth, Suffers Curious Cut [AYR]
• Planning v. Designing [Polis]
• Property Tax Increases Hit Low Income Brooklynites Hardest [NYPost]
• Park Slope Child Care Collective Needs Temporary Space [OTBKB]
• Record Sale for Prospect Heights Condo [Set Speed]
• Newtown Creek Alliance Meeting on Jan. 23 [Green Brooklyn]
• Coney Island in Winter [Dave Beckerman Photography]
• Cruise to Coney [Lexiphane]
• Electronic Signs on L Platforms [Sun]

Carroll Gardens: Land of the Defunct Video Store

423 Smith weighs in with a fun neighborhood post called "Carroll Gardens: Land of Video Stores (many of which are closed, or supported by many other services)." With that kind of title, no need to explain what it's about, right? A small taste:

The Carroll Gardens area is known for many things; for instance, its brownstones, French bulldogs, and lard bread. But one thing this area doesn’t get recognition for is its burgeoning and bustling scene of closed-up video shops as well as video shops who clearly have to do way more than rent videos in order to stay in business.

What follows is a not to be missed tour of the neighborhood video rental scene. (That picture above from 423 Smith? That's the former Video Corner.) Put this post on your must-read list.

Mega Projects Around Brooklyn

The Post takes a look at the Brooklyn real estate game today and notes some of the projects making it hot. A sample:

Bruce Ratner last month received final state approval to break ground on the largest development project in Brooklyn's history: a $4 billion plan to build an NBA arena and 16 skyscrapers along the Prospect Heights/Fort Greene border.

Another hot-shot developer, Joe Sitt, continued to gobble up properties along the Coney Island boardwalk - including the famous Astroland Park - as part of his $2 billion bid to turn the rundown summer amusement area into a Vegas-style, year-round entertainment complex.

And while Brooklyn's commercial real-estate market continued to boom, residential sales did even better - despite a market slowdown nationwide.

The most interesting thing, though, about the article is the map, which is fun for those that are visually inclined. We've reproduced a smaller version above, or click here to see the full-size image.

Gowanus Lounge Photo Du Jour: Williamsburg Bridge in Fog

Coney Island Moment: Vid of the B&B Carousell Circa 1990

Here's a fun video we came across courtesy of the Coney Island Message Board. It's a video from 1990 of the B&B (Bishoff & Brienstein) Carousell, which was bought for $1.8 by the city and will be reopened at some point as part of the "new" Coney Island. Click on this link or on the embed.


BONUS: If you want to read an interesting item about the Carousell (spelled that way because that's the way its builder spelled carousell) click over to this webpage. There are some wonderful photos and a lot of information.

Disconnected in Brooklyn on Craigslist: Weed + Drunk Driving Conviction = Lust

It's Sunday. Time to hit Craigslist for this week's best Missed Connection. Our search brings us to a party in Bushwick:

Rooftop party last Saturday you were blonde and from South Oregon - m4w - 25

This might be a longshot but I ended up at a random party in the Williamsburg/Bushwick area. You were with a couple of your girlfriends, one of them had some Heinekens with her. We were drunk, had a fun conversation and were smoking purple haze in the stairway (it was too chilly on the rooftop). You and your friend were talking about how you guys were in Stuttgart, Germany (your dad was there for the army or something), you also told me how they put you in jail for 14 days in Oregon for drunk driving or something like that. You were wearing a green tank top. Wish I could have stayed longer but my friends were dragging me to another bar.

We'll drink to that.

Brooklinks: Sunday January Rain Edition

Brooklinks is a daily selection of Brooklyn-related infomration and images.

Photos:

• Water Towers [Lex's Folly]
• Bus Stares [Park Slope Street Photography]
• No Words_Daily Pix [Hugh Crawford/OTBKB]
• Atlantic Terminal 9AM [seriously excited!]
• Grain Elevator [Atomische]
• Polar Bear [Native Eye]
• Coney Murals [jason/myspace]
• Belgian Blocks [Dumbo NYC]
• The Horror at Red Hook [Brit in Brooklyn]

Words:

• Daily Eagle Column Says Flaws in Atlantic Yards Process are "Falsehoods" [AYR]
• Sunni and Shiites on Atlantic Avenue [NYT]
• OTBKB Goes to Bay Parkway [OTBKB]
• Burnt Sugar [Polis]
• Red Hook Biodiesel Plant Closer to Reality [Green Brooklyn]
• Who's the Guy with the Dog? [Brooklyn Heights Blog]
• Latest Wave of Williamsburg Restaurants [NYT]
• New L Train Signs! [Gothamist]
• Mo Vaughn Sets Out to Clean Up Brooklyn Complex [NYPost]
• Coney Island Memories, AKA, Why, Astroland, Why [Pablo da Whipper Whip/myspace]
• Second Lives: The Mary Whelan [Tugster]
• Finding a Condo on Bedford [The Hunt/NYT]

Gowanus Lounge Photo Du Jour, Part II: Greenpoint Triangle

Greenpoint, Brooklyn

A Few Brooklyn Martin Luther King Events

We have already noted a prayer service taking place this afternoon in Park Slope to remember the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., on this national holiday weekend. There are some worthwhile programs going on today and tomorrow. One of the more interesting ones takes place today (Sunday 1/14) from 4-7 PM at the Brooklyn Museum. It will be a panel discussion called "Looking for Martin: Are Dr. King and His "Dream" Still Relevant?" Among the participants are Kevin Powell, Brooklyn-based community activist and author (Someday We’ll All Be Free), and WNYC's Brian Lehrer. On Monday, the Brooklyn Academy of Music is holding its 21st annual tribute to Dr. King. It starts at 10AM and seating is first come, first served. Among those attending are Gov. Spitzer. Finally, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden will have a free performance of spirituals by the Great Day Chorale led by Louvinia Pointer in the Plam House. Performances are at 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. There's also a special tour of African plants at 1 in the Steinhardt Conservatory. We thank Neil Feldman and his superb Not Only Brooklyn Enewsletter of events for info on some of the events. Email arbruner (at) aol (dot) com to subscribe. It's absolutely worth it.

Red Hook Moments: Revere Demolition Porn with Music

Here are a couple of vids of the ongoing demolition of the Revere Sugar Dome in Red Hook that were posted by parabolic223 on youtube. The top one is about 2:16. The bottom one is only :29. They were shot back in December during an earlier stage of the demo.

Gowanus Lounge Photo Du Jour: Smith-9th

Court Street, Brooklyn

Evocative Words from Inside Red Hook's Revere Plant

[Photo courtesy of Soupflowers from her superb Revere Sugar Refinery flickr photoset]

Brooklyn Paper reporter Ariella Cohen writers a beautiful piece this week as the result of a visit inside the Revere Sugar factory, which is slowly being demolished by developer Joe Sitt. The column notes that Mr. Sitt still isn't saying whether any buildings on the site will be saved--and there are structures of historical signficance on the site other than the iconic dome, which he is having demolished.

Ms. Cohen files an evocative report, which does with words what a handful of other people that have made their way onto the site have done with pictures. It's a wonderful read in its entirety, but we reproduce a small sample here:

To be inside a factory on the verge of demolition is like visiting a place of worship emptied by earthquake. The ceilings are high. Unfiltered sunlight washes over everything: chairs that once held people, stray leather shoes, a suit jacket, ink-stained ledgers, bashed-up books. A sapling grows in the arch of a broken, scroll-shaped window.

At the Revere Sugar refinery on the new gold coast of Red Hook, the high ceiling is a silver dome over the South Brooklyn waterfront. Look past the tree growing in that window and see how the Statue of Liberty shines on the water, see the skylines of Manhattan to the north and Sunset Park to the south.

Revere went bankrupt in 1985 and the plant was wrecked by fire some years later. Clearly, no one has come back for cleanup duty in the cathedral built by a sugar king from the Philippines. Now, a real-estate developer from Brooklyn, Joe Sitt, has begun tearing it down.

So soon enough, the ledger books scribbled with notes about fusty boilers and sugar orders that were late in 1982 will be gone. In due time, the signs will all be removed (one, near the exit, warned workers to be careful because “a fire could put us all out of work”).

Beautiful words paying homage to an oddly stunning place.

(For two other amazing visual looks inside slowly falling Revere dome, check out the flickr photosets posted by Gowanus and Mercurialn.)

Brooklinks: Saturday Very Visual Edition

[Photo courtesy of Frank Lynch/flickr]

Photos:

• Soda (above) [Frank Lynch/flickr]
• Then it Rained [A Test of Will]
• Red Hook Salt Mountain [Atomische]
• Thor's Playland [Brit in Brooklyn]
• Quest Mechanical Corp. [bluejake]
• Robot Operator, Gowanus Canal [seriously excited!]
• Graving Dock [Lex's Folly]
• Brooklyn Bridge Photo Pool [Dope on the Slope]
• Atop the Gowanus Cement Chute [callalillie/flickr]
• Park Slope Construction Scene [seriously excited!]
• Beard Street Art Panorama [jakedobkin/flickr]
  

Not Photos:

• Tenant Lawsuit Filed Against Atlantic Yards [NYT]
• "Almost no chance" Developer Would Abandon Yards Project [AYR]
• L Train Platform Electronic Signs Will Tell You How Screwed You Are [NYDN]
• Wal-Mart Still Hot for Brooklyn [Courier-Life]
• Lucky Dumbo Artists Can Design Works to Match Hallway Carpets [Daily Intel]
• Where Does a Tree Stand in the Development Hierarchy [Brownstoner]
• Manhattan Beach.... [ctphoneshome]
• Is Greenpoint's Guernsey Inn Chic or Crappy? [Brooklyn Record]

Gowanus Lounge Photo Du Jour, Part II: Shores of Red Hook

Red Hook, Brooklyn

GL's Weekend Curbed Roundup

As some of you know, we also post over at Curbed from Monday-Friday. Here are some of the Brooklyn items that appeared there this week that never made it over here:

• Dumbo's Beacon of Light Offering Rentals (above)
• Red Hook Roundup, Toxic Mystery Edition
• Fourth Avenue G-Slope Hotel Blends with Surroundings
• $3.8 Million Record Condo Sale at Aurora Should Liven Party
• Williamsburg Party Smackdown: Northside Piers v. Aurora
• Greenpoint's Tahoe Triangle Taking Shape
• Williamsburg Update #2: 55 Berry's Friend Gets Bigger
• Williamsburg Update #1: North8 Gets Brick, Glass
• Why Isn't Forest Hills Hip Like Red Hook?