Greenpoint Manufacturing & Design Center does great work. Their latest project is further proof that industry is alive and well in north Brooklyn (and could be even better off with a modern industrial policy).
Industrial Redevelopment on McKibbin Street
8 Sept: City Reliquary “Tribute to Our City”
The always fun and informative City Reliquary is sponsoring its 4th annual Tribute to Our City this weekend. From Reliquary President Dave Herman:
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The City Reliquary Museum invites you to…
The 4th Annual Tribue to Our City
This Saturday September 8th, 2007 12-6PM on Havemeyer Street between Grand & Hope Sts.A neighborhood pot-luck picnic in the streets complete with live music, games, raffle prizes, entertainment, free food and goodwill all day long! Please come out to join us. We will be joined by our friends from, Brooklyn Historical Society, Brooklyn Public Library, Lower East Side Tenament Museum, Coney Island Museum, The Gowanus Wildcats Drill Team with singer Renee Flowers, a performance by Kay Turner of Brooklyn Arts Council, live local bands, and more. BBQ’s will be grilling all day and we encourage all potluck picnicers to come out and join us! Come out to meet your neighbors, appreciate our city, and show your support for your hometown museum, The City Reliquary!
Always civic,
Dave
Where: Havemeyer, between Grand & Hope
When: Saturday 8 September 2007. noon to 6 pm.
It Is Illegal to Get This High
144 North 8th Street (aka The Finger Building)
Photo: A Test of Will
Remember all those buildings that were grandfathered under the old zoning – it turns out that they only had 2 years to complete work, after which time their DOB permits expired. That two years was up in May, 2007. And because the zoning changed, the permits cannot be renewed without a variance.
Last month, CB 1’s land use committee had an appetizer in this regard – a request to extend the permit for 20 Bayard Street1 (part of the famous Karl Fischer Row, and marketed, ironically, under the slogan “It is illegal to get this high”). This month – next Monday, to be exact – we get to the main course. Yes, we’re talking about the Finger Building. This will be the first time that the public actually gets a say about this project – up until now, they have been operating “as of right” (if you define “as of right” to mean “we’ll make up our zoning”).
Also on the agenda next week is a similar variance for 55 Eckford Street, which looks to be one of the Tahoe buildings Gowanus Lounge loves so much.
Where: CB1 Public Hearing. 211 Ainslie Street.
When: Monday, 10 September 2007. 6:30 pm.
1. Whose website is too annoying and flash-bloated to actually link to.↩
More Bike Parking
Photo: Otomi
In a follow-up to the historic bicycle parking peninsula at Bedford and North 7th, NYC DOT is now proposing 5 additional bike parking peninsula in Williamsburg and Greenpoint. The Bedford/N7 site is the first time the city has taken away automobile parking to create bicycle parking – and these five sites will do the same. This is very good news, though you expect objections from people who park cars.
The new locations are:
- 552 Driggs Avenue, corner of North 7th Street
- North 5th Street and Bedford Avenue, southwest corner
- Kent Avenue at North 8th Street
- 560 Manhattan Avenue, at Driggs Avenue
- Grand Street and Bushwick Avenue
DOT will be making a presentation on this proposal at next Monday’s Community Board 1 hearing. The cut off to sign up for public testimony is 6:15.
Where: CB1 Public Hearing. 211 Ainslie Street.
When: Monday, 10 September 2007. 6:30 pm.
Move it or lose it
“Derelict” in the city’s eyes
A while back, we noted the City’s recent crackdown on illegal sidewalk parking of motorcycles and scooters. Since then, we’ve heard first-hand a tale of woe that anyone on two wheels should take note of. After multiple incidents of having his vintage Norton knocked over on the streets of Tribeca, the hapless soul we heard from had taken to parking on the sidewalk1. Like many bikers, Mr. Norton pulled the license plate off his bike to prevent the revenue agents from issuing tickets2.
Unfortunately, the city’s crackdown now entails the Department of Sanitation towing AND DESTROYING “derelict” bikes. By the city’s definition, a bike is derelict if it has no plates, is over 20 years old, and has any visible damage. Our victim in this case claims that his Norton has no damage, but unless its in concourse condition, its east to see how an overzealous Sanitation agent could flag any old bike without plates as derelict. Which is what happened to Mr. Norton.
The good news is that Mr. Norton actually checked on his bike on a daily basis, so he discovered that it had been towed almost immediately. The bad news is that he made this discovery on a Friday evening. After a frantic weekend of calling every tow yard in the city, talking to the local police, trying to get a hold of the Sheriff and Sanitation, Mr. Norton finally found a supervisor at Sanitation who could tell him where his bike was.
What the supervisor at DoS told him was not good: “You’re bike has been destroyed”.
Not what anyone wants to hear, particularly the owner of a well-maintained, mint-condition vintage Norton.
Standard procedure and all that, said the guy at DoS. It was towed by a private wrecking company, and destroyed immediately. Happily, the gods smiled on Mr. Norton, and when he called said wrecking company, it turned out that they hadn’t destroyed the bike. Yet.
So the story has a happy ending, but is a cautionary tale for anyone out there with an older bike or scooter. Don’t pull the plates. If your bike is that important to you, park it in a garage. Or find an out of the way place, preferably on private property, to park the bike. With a cover. And with the plates. You may get tickets, but it sure beats having your “derelict” bike destroyed.
In a city that is fighting congestion and overcrowded mass transit, this is a really stupid policy. After years of benign (and not so benign) neglect, the city is finally coming to recognize that bicycles are part of the solution. Hopefully too, the city will come around and recognize that motorized two-wheelers are also part of the solution. Just as the city needs more bicycle parking, it needs more cycle/scooter parking3 – away from cars (if you build it, they will come). While we’re at it, how about allowing bikes to park between meters?
And yes, people who use the sidewalks for their long-term parking needs deserve to have their bikes towed and destroyed.
1. For many years, it has been pretty standard practice to park motorcycles on the sidewalk. There is a very good reason for this – people in cars don’t give a shit about two-wheelers, and knock them over with tremendous frequency. Keeping a bike on the streets of New York City is not the best way to keep said bike in good running condition. If you happen to have a vintage bike, or any bike that you care about, the cost of these knock downs piles up pretty quickly. And you can pretty much expect that the driver who knocked your bike over will not leave a note with their insurance information. So many bikers park on the sidewalks as a means of self-preservation.
There is also a not very good reason for parking on the sidewalk – some people are too lazy to keep their bikes registered, insured, inspected and running. Its easy enough to park a bike on the sidewalk, chain it up, and forget about it for years.↩
2. Plate removal also has a survival aspect. If you leave an unsecured plate on a bike, you stand a pretty good chance of having it stolen and winding up on some delivery guy’s scooter. Which is why you see so many plates held on by velcro (for easy removal) or padlocks (to discourage easy removal).↩
3. And not just for Vespas, thank you.↩
Salcedo Grocery
North 5th and Bedford
Gowanus Nursery
Gowanus Lounge first put out the news about the impending dislocation of the Gowanus Nursery. The nursery is currently in Red Hook, on a street that may be rezoned for residential use. If it does get rezoned, expect them to be out of a home at about the time you’ll be looking for plants for the new season (next May).
The Gowanus Nursery is a great place. We’ve been going there for all the years that they have been open (originally in Gowanus), and its the kind of place that makes NYC special. On the other hand, their business model is predicated on taking advantage of underdeveloped land, as close as possible to upscale residential neighborhoods. In that respect, they are in the same boat as Chelsea Gardens, which has had locations in Chelsea (multiple locations), the Bowery, Red Hook, Hudson Yards, etc.
Still, any business needs stability to thrive. And right now, businesses that rely on manufacturing land in North or South Brooklyn have anything but stability in their lives. I hope they find a location where they can continue to thrive beyond a one-year lease.
Red Hook
Pier 41, Red Hook