Author: Halden
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Grand Street Renaissance
Sodafine Photo: Sodafine Not so suddenly, Grand Street has become a thriving retail strip. The April/May 2008 issue of WG (the newish Williamsburg Greenpoint News + Arts paper) has a great article by C. C. McGurr on the retail renaissance along western Grand Street. By her count, there are 62 businesses operating on the six…
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Whither the Water Taxi?
Back in the coldest, darkest days of winter, when New York Water Taxi suspended service on its East River route, the company said that service would resume on May 1. In February NYWT pulled the water taxi dock out of Schaeffer Landing entirely. At the time, it was reported that the dock was to replaced…
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ExxonMobil Greenwashing Greenpoint?
The irony here is quite rich – ExxonMobil, the company that is (mostly) responsible for the oil plume that sits beneath Greenpoint is sonsoring today’s Go Green Earth Day celebrations at McCarren Park. The notice is very last minute, but when some local activists found out about this, they decided a protest of some sorts…
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That Explains It
Closed by Order of the Department of Health It has been noted elsewhere that Kellogg’s Diner has closed for renovations. Turns out, the closing might not be so voluntary. It seems the Department of Health happened to stop by and – surprise, surprise – found a few things amiss. So as the sticker here indicates,…
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475 Kent Lives – Opening Reception
The artists formerly living at 475 Kent Avenue have organized a group exhibition at the Bulova Corporate Center, part of the Queens Museum of Art. The exhibit opened on Wednesday, but the opening reception is tonight. From the QMA monthly calendar: On a cold January evening, residents of 475 Kent Avenue, artist lofts and studios…
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Daniel Squadron to Challenge Martin Connor
Chuck Schumer has endorsed Daniel Squadron, a former Schumer aide, in the race to challenge State Senator Martin Connor (D). Connor, a longtime incumbent, has weathered serious challengers in the past, so it remains to be seen if his number is finally up in ’09. (The Senate district covers the area around McCarren Park south,…
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Toren: Deep Thought of the Day
How long before Toren become “To Rent”? (I think its interesting that the web site has a “What is a curtain wall?” link. Of course their definition doesn’t really say what a curtain wall is.)
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Contextual Zoning
191 – 199 Grand Street With all the vitriol passing back and forth over the Grand Street rezoning, perhaps its worth remembering why the City embarked on contextual zoning studies in the first place. Five or six years ago, when the City was first pulling together the large Greenpoint-Williamsburg Rezoning (aka the waterfront rezoning), R6…
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Crying Wolf?
In today’s Sun, Council Member Jessica Lappin says of the 51st Street construction site: This is a site that was not under the radar screen, this was a site where the community had contacted the DOB, officials had contacted the DOB. To me it seems there should have been heightened scrutiny on the part of…
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Another Weekend in Williamsburg
North 1st Street, 12:50. While havoc was raining down in Turtle Bay, it was just a normal Saturday in Williamsburg. A walk through the Northside early yesterday afternoon showed over half a dozen active construction sites. At 80 Metropolitan (above), North 1st Street was blocked as workers loaded material. No flagman was present. Urban Green…