Month: December 2012

City is Seeking Long-Term Extension of Successful East River Ferry Service

The City has decided that the East River Ferry pilot program, started in June of 2011, has been such a success that they are going to make it permanent. To that end, they are issuing an RFP to find a a permanent operator – it is a competitive process, but they’d be hard-pressed to find a better operator than the one that they have now.

Meeting the requirements of the RFP could be a challenge, though:

Respondents to the RFP will be evaluated on the extent to which they can improve the existing service while significantly reducing or eliminating the need for public operating assistance. In addition, respondents have the opportunity to propose expansion of service, such as increased operating hours and new landing locations. [emphasis added]

Expanding service would be wonderful (personally, a ferry stop at Houston Street would be grand). But reducing public subsidies (currently about $3 million per year) would require a massive expansion in ridership (it is already exceeding all expectations), something that probably only happens when riders can make a free transfer to public transportation. More likely, reducing subsidies means raising fares (probably by at least a dollar a ride).

City’s Law Tracking Energy Use Yields Some Surprises

The City’s program to track energy use in large commercial buildings has some interesting results. Some new LEED buildings aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. In a city where buildings use far more energy than cars, and 2% of the buildings account for 45% of that energy expenditure, this stuff matters.

On the other hand, two venerated show horses from the 1930s, the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building, sailed to an [Energy Star rating of] 84 and an 80 as a result of extensive upgrades of their insulation and mechanical systems.

By comparison, Lever House, a 1954 International Style glass tower, scored a 20. Keeping in mind that none of these buildings were built with energy efficiency in mind, it makes sense that a wall that is more than 50% masonry (as at Chrysler and ESB) will have better thermal properties than a wall of glass. (Lever House’s curtain wall was replaced within the past 10 or 15 years, so it is a somewhat apt comparison to the recently upgraded ESB – Seagram, which retains its original 1958 glass-and-metal facade, scored a 3!)

In Memoriam – 108 Cyclists and Pedestrians Killed in 2012

In 2012, victims whose lives were ended by reckless drivers ranged in age from 2 to 92. Two small boys were fatally struck as their horrified and helpless parents looked on. A high school football player with college prospects was run over by two drivers while riding his bike. A veteran UPS man on his regular rounds was crushed to death on a sidewalk. A grandmother of 22 who survived Auschwitz was killed by a driver in pursuit of a parking spot.

With murders at a historical low, the odds of a New Yorker being killed by a stranger with a car are probably greater than the odds of being “murdered” by a stranger.

Mapping Housing Segregation

Very neat ProPublica map analysis of housing segregation in major urban areas since the Great Migration, and how little impact the 1968 Fair Housing Act has had on that segregation.

New Affordable Development in Greenpoint

210 units of new housing will rise on the site of the former Brooklyn Heights Railroad Co. trolley barn at Manhattan between Box and Clay. The building (Crain’s says it’s a “tower”, but the R6A puts a 7-story cap on the whole thing) will have half the units set aside middle- and low-income residents, with the other half being market rate. I’m not sure if the income splits are exactly the same, but this mixed affordable/market-rate development scenario is a very similar set up to 11 Broadway.

74 Kent Street SWO

Newyorkshitty (via Brownstoner) noticed some activity at 74 Kent Street in the Pencil Factory Historic District that has led to a stop work order. The rooftop construction must be a mockup related to an LPC application to construct a rooftop addition, which a) should be on the community board’s agenda; and b) requires a permit (yes, mockups require a DOB permit).

As Heather notes, 74 Kent Street is applying for a BSA variance, which was before the CB’s land use committee last week. This block was specifically omitted from the residential rezoning in order retain manufacturing uses and later landmarked for its special historic character. As all of the other buildings, including the relic next door (future headquarters to Kickstarter), have been able to develop vibrant non-residential uses, what makes this building so different? I’d be curious to see how the owner is claiming a hardship on this one (let alone a unique condition) – and I’d also be curious to know why this isn’t being done as a special permit through LPC and CPC (which would at least require a restoration of the building).