324 Bedford Avenue.

[See update, below – ed.]

There is a lot of vestigal crap in the City’s zoning code, as one might expect for a document written in 1961. Its a code written for a time and a place that have long since passed.

One area where this is the case is the requirements for off-street parking. By now, its pretty well established [pdf] that when it comes to parking, if you build it, they will come. And park. When the zoning code was written, however, cars were seen as the answer to the City’s problems and congestion was a problem that could be solved by just building more highways.

The new project at 324 Bedford Avenue epitomizes the stupidity of off-street parking requirements. The building sits at the corner of Bedford and South 2nd. It is designed by Bob Scarano, and is slowly inching its way toward completion (a stop-work order was issued in March, 2007 and the permits have all been revoked). Architecturally, it is quite nice (even if it is an overbuilt collection of quasi-legal mezzanines). Its size and massing fits in well in this more densely built up section of the Southside.

As required by zoning, 324 Bedford includes on-site off-street parking. According to BIS, that works out to two spaces for a project of seven units. To get those two spaces, though, the developer has put in two curb cuts – one on Bedford and one on South 2nd. The net result in terms of parking spaces is zero – the community loses two on-street parking spaces, and gains a virtual guarantee of two additional cars. Oh yes, and the soul-deadening experience of roll-down gates where there might be another retail establishment.

Parking requirements might be a good idea in lower density neighborhoods, where cars are needed on a more day-to-day basis, but in densely built up sections of the City such as this, they contribute nothing.

UPDATE: As noted in the comments, its not the zoning that is creating the parking here. Which makes it that much more ridiculous. I’m not sure what the development angle is, as I would think there would plenty of FAR to turn the parking into retail, and I have to believe that retail at this location ($25 to $40 a foot?) is worth more than two parking spaces. On the zoning side, its silly to even allow this in a densely developed urban area. As noted above, this is essentially privatizing public space. “We” are losing two on-street parking spaces, and the developer now has the right to sell those two spaces. It might be different if the public were losing two spaces in exchange for 25 off-street spaces (though I still believe most of those off-street spaces would result in incremental cars, and not take many cars off the street). But that’s not what’s happening here.

And yes, I still think that required off-street is a losing proposition for the city as a whole. The result is a net increase in cars, congestion and pollution.

As reported elsewhere, the construction ongoing at the foot of South 5th Street is for the installation a “bladder” to hold water from large storms (like tonight’s). The idea is that the bladder would hold the large runoff from flash storms until it can be safely passed onto the sewage system. Under the current system, that storm surge goes straight to the East River.

If you go by the site now, you will notice a not-very-pleasant smell, which is the result of this little bit of infrastructure porn – the old brick sewer basin beneath South 5th Street.

As Robert posted on Curbed today, the rehabbed Grand Ferry Park has been open for about two weeks now (the opening was put off a couple of weeks to miss the Fourth of July and the huge n-ewplant-killing crowds it would bring). The renovation was funded by the New York Power Authority, as part of the mitigation package for the gas generating plant next door.

The new park came out very well. There is a lot more green than the old park (the wood chip piles are now grass), and the plantings are now clustered to make more intimate spaces. Along the water there is now a walkway, so you no longer feel as though you are falling into the East River. Making lemonade from lemons, the new design adds a ravine filled with small stones to move storm water flowing downhill from Grand Street (no more Grand Ferry canyon).

Overall, it is a very successful new design, one that manages to make a very small park feel much bigger. Be sure to check out the more complete set of photos here.

Today was the first installment of Williamsburg Walk, the street closure that is not a street fair. Turnout felt light, and the oppressive heat certainly lent the afternoon a languid tone (except at the hydrants, which were very popular). Whether it was the weather or just the extra space, the afternoon lacked that manic aspect that Bedford often gets on the weekends. (And it certainly helped that the sponsors had people going around emptying garbage cans and generally keeping things in order.) Hopefully, less heat and no Giglio festival three blocks away will mean a greater turnout in the coming weeks.

As it turns out, the closure does not effect any of the cross streets – cross town traffic continued unabated, it was only Bedford that was closed. The regulatory thicket that had to be negotiated for this was pretty incredible, and included multiple city and state agencies. One result was that restaurants and bars could put out tables, but only on the sidewalks. The street tables were all provided by Williamsburg Walks, and clearly, there needs to be more tables. Even without table service in the street, having more tables there would enliven the street. As it is, there is little to bring people into the street, other than the wide open spaces.

Inspired.

Reminder: Williamsburg Walks starts today. From noon until 7pm, Bedford Avenue will closed to vehicles from Metropolitan to North 9th. Its a hot day for the inauguration of this event, but there will be cafe seating at most of the restaurants up and down Bedford. You can also beat the heat (and the crowds) by stepping off Bedford – restaurants along Berry and Wythe will also be open, and in many cases offering some air conditioned comfort.

Greenbelt, 361 Manhattan Avenue.
Photo: Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce.

I screwed up – in yesterday’s post on the Building Brooklyn awards, I completely missed Greenbelt in the list of award winners. So there was a north Brooklyn project worthy of being the best of Brooklyn architecture. Greenbelt is a fantastic mixed-use project on Manhattan Avenue between Jackson and Withers. It is billed as Brooklyn’s first LEED-rated residential project, and includes arts and cultural space on the ground floor with residences above. The building incorporates much of the single-story building that was formerly on the site (not preservation, but not throwing the entire building into the dumpster certainly has a positive environmental impact). As the project’s website says, “Greenbelt aims for sustainability in relation to multiple ‘environments’ – natural, cultural and visual – by building green, providing space for the arts and community, and launching bold architectural ideas scaled to the surrounding neighborhood.”

All in all, a very interesting and worthy project. Which only goes to reinforce the point I was trying to make in yesterday’s post – given the huge wave of building we are seeing Greenpoint and Williamsburg, why are there so few projects that can be singled out as enriching our neighborhoods? Yes, there are some projects such as Greenbelt that are worthy of accolades, but they are few and far between. Take a look at the list of projects that won awards last night – I think you’d be hard pressed to find too many local projects that rise to the level of these projects.

NYC elections are still more than a year off (even the primaries), but the races are definitely underway. Tuesday was the deadline for candidates to file disclosure statements with the Campaign Finance Board, and the new numbers are already posted.

The 33rd Council District (David Yassky’s district, which covers Greenpoint to Cobble Hill) is one of the most hotly contested in the city. Isaac Abraham, who only just announced his candidacy, has raised less than $3,000, and Kenneth Baer about $12,000. The other four candidates (Ken Diamondstone, Steve Levin, Jo Ann Simon and Evan Thies) are all over $30,000. Simon leads the way with $55,037, followed by Thies at $38,620, Levin at $31,298 and Diamondstone at $30,238.

The 34th Council District (Diana Reyna’s, covering Williamsburg, Bushwick and Ridgewood) is one of the least contested open seats in the city. Gerry Esposito, the District Manager of Community Board #1, has raised close to $65,000 to date. Esteban Duran, a CB1 member and Department of Ed employee, has raised $3,560. (Duran has not even had a formal campaign announcement, other than a quick reference in the Greenpoint Star.)

Its all very early, though – too early to read too much into the numbers. (If you want to see who’s behind those numbers,

Its that time of year again. Time once again for the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce to honor the best architecture of the borough with its Building Brooklyn Awards. And once again, north Brooklyn gets the short end of the stick. Yes, once again, not a single project in Greenpoint or Williamsburg was deemed worthy of merit.

Pretty amazing, when you think about it – Williamsburg and Greenpoint are home to the biggest building boom in the borough. There is more “architecture” happening here than anywhere else in Brooklyn. And yet, by the standards of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, all of that architecture sucks.

They obviously have good standards.

UPDATE: Oops, there was a north Brooklyn project honored. More here.