Cheap, unskilled laborer dies at the hands of a cheap, unskilled developer. What more pathetic metaphor for the Brooklyn building boom.
And lest we forget, Lauro Ortega was a hardworking man with a life and family back in Cuenca.
Builder Faces Manslaughter Charges
412% (or Staten Island is Burning)
The Post regales us with chart junk about the foreclosure situation in NYC, and in the process, misses the story. Their map colors Brooklyn and Queens red (danger!), and Staten Island orange (caution?), but maybe Staten Island should be the focus here.
In raw numbers, sure Queens and Brooklyn have the most foreclosures, but they also have the most housing. But on a year-to-year basis, Brooklyn’s foreclosures are up a bit over 8% – relatively speaking, good news in today’s real estate climate. Compare that to the increase in foreclosures citywide, which are up a whopping 66%. In fact, ranked among the 5 boroughs, Brooklyn has the second lowest change in foreclosures (second only to Manhattan, where foreclosures are small in number, and at least since last year, dropping).
So here’s the real story (sans fiery-colored map):
- Manhattan -8%
- Brooklyn +8.5%
- Bronx +55%
- Queens +59%
- NYC +66%
- Staten Island +412%
Ikea Leads a Retail Renaissance
In the Sun, Noel Caban (a commercial real estate broker, natch) thinks that Ikea’s Brooklyn store is a harbinger of a retail renaissance for our Borough. Next up in Mr. Caban’s rose-tinted Brooklyn of tomorrow? BJ’s Wholesale.
Never mind that Ikea is as much about Manhattan as it is about Brooklyn (they’re subsidizing their own ferry service for Manhattanites; Brooklynites get an extra stop on the B61). Never mind that Brooklyn has been experiencing a grass-roots renaissance for some time now. Its all about big retail now. Let’s take a closer look at the Sun’s “evidence” for all this:
- “Later this year, Trader Joe’s will open in the former Independence Savings Bank building at the corner of Court Street and Atlantic Avenue.” It was supposed to be open by now, and given the pace of construction, “later this year” is not a mortal lock.
- “In 2009, Brooklyn’s long-awaited Whole Foods Market is scheduled to open…” Emphasis on scheduled. If TJ’s manages to open before 2011, they’re unlikely to much competition from their Gowanus neighbor.
- “Demolition work has already begun… at the Fulton Street Mall to make way for City Point… The complex will have more than 500,000 square feet of retail space” Timeline-wise, this project is behind Whole Foods. Let’s not hold our breath here, either.
- “The growth of retail into urban centers is part of a national trend… Marc Freud (another commercial real estate flack) says that ‘with the enormous interest in ‘green transportation,’ whether it be walking or cycling, Brooklyn and Queens downtown retail marketplaces are becoming the destination shopping meccas for consumers hard hit by soaring gasoline prices. It is becoming a much better economic choice to hop on the subway and do some shopping than to steer your car to the mall in New Jersey or Westchester.'” For those not riding the G train, and thus able to take a subway into Manhattan, this will be less than life-changing news.
- “Another speculator retail location is the 33,000 square feet of retail space on three levels available at the newly renovated One Hanson Place…” Which has been on the market now for three-plus years.
Look – its great that Brooklyn is attracting a really healthy range of retailers (which is clear once you get past the PR hype in the article). This “retail renaissance” is not just focused on Downtown and high-end retailers, it includes Gateway Center in East New York with over 600,000 square feet of occupied retail space. But instead of trying to turn Brooklyn into a mecca for commercial brokers, why not focus on the thousands of small retailers that are the real economic engines in many neighborhoods. And its not just the gentrifying Franklin Streets of the borough, its also the Manhattan Avenues.
Relish Loses Some Green
Photo: rajmeanswell
Walking down Metropolitan this morning I noticed a sidewalk shed had gone up in front of the clover-filled empty lot that has served as Relish’s lawn for many years now. Uh oh.
Took a look through a hole in the fence, and sure enough, there was a pile of steel. Checked out the fence more carefully, and there it was – a new building permit.
So what was once a lovely little urban oasis will soon become condos. Five of them, actually. Probably luxury ones. With off-street parking for one car. All in a five-story-plus-mezzanine package designed by Philip Toscano, RA (no web site for this old school architect).
Yes, its all as of right, and its private property that the owner can do with what he or she wants. But it is one little slice of Eden that will be missed.
Oh well.
Children were mistakenly rejected from public prekindergarten programs
I’ve been remiss in not posting on this before. As you may have heard by now, the Department of Education’s new pre-kindergarten enrollment system has some major flaws. As a result, kids are being assigned to schools that they should not be, and are being rejected from schools that, under the DOE’s own rules, they should be attending.
Call it the Halliburton effect. Rather than centralize the admissions process within the DOE, the City outsourced the work of assigning students to a private company in Pennsylvania. Of course people keying in data in Pennsylvania know nothing about NYC. For its part, DOE is saying the problem is limited to a couple hundred kids who weren’t assigned to the same school their siblings already attend, and blaming the problem on a bad “algorithm” that screens for siblings.
How’s this for an algorithm:
If sibling attends elementary school Then assign child to same elementary school End If
Sounds like a first semester programming exercise.
Top City Crane Inspector Accused of Taking Bribes
Amazing. I hope this idiot at least had the good sense to stop taking bribes after the 51st Street crane collapse.
Hillary’s Farewell
She was really good today. And gave a very strong – and heartfelt – endorsement of Obama.
Amazing crowd, too. Compare the crowd – numbers and enthusiasm – to that of McCain’s “kickoff” speech in Louisiana earlier this week. A good sign for November.
