Superpowers

07/13/2009 | Comment

Williamsburg Walks, 11 July 2009

Bushwick Inlet Follow Up

Here are some press links from yesterday’s Bushwick Inlet groundbreaking:

North Brooklyn Now a Little Bit Optimistic About Promised Parks [Observer/NY Future Initiative]
Williamsburg Park Under Way, But Full Vision Still Unmet [Metro]
Ground Breaks on New Brooklyn Waterfront Park [WNYC]
City Breaks Ground on Bushwick Inlet Park [NY1]
City Breaks Ground on a 28-acre Park [GlobeSt.com]
City Breaks Ground on New Brooklyn Park [Post]
Mayor Breaks Ground on First Phase of Bushwick Inlet Park [Eagle]

And last, NAG’s press release on the groundbreaking. Here’s an excerpt:

The Parks Department and the Open Space Alliance, along with neighborhood groups including NAG, the Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park, and the Greenpoint Waterfront Association for Parks and Planning, have worked long and hard to create more open space along the East River. This future facility, along with East River State Park and the reopening of McCarren Pool, are examples of what can be done when local organizations and government work together to set priorities, push through bureaucracy and create positive change… But we must highlight the other open space commitments made during the 2005 rezoning in an agreement between the City Council and Bloomberg administration that have not yet materialized

Bushwick Inlet Ground Breaking

07/06/2009 | Comment

(left to right) Steve Hindy, chair, Open Space Alliance for North Brooklyn (OSA); Council Member
David Yassky; Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe; Mayor Michael Bloomberg; BP Markowitz; Assembly
Member Joseph Lentol
Photo: Mayor’s Office

As promised, the City started work on the soccer field portion of Bushwick Inlet Park in June. Presumably that involved some breaking of ground, though the official groundbreaking was today. The groundbreaking was attended by a bevy of pols (Mike, Joe, David), commissioners (Adrian, Amanda) and some of the neighborhood organizations that had a hand in making Bushwick Inlet Park (Community Board 1, Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park, GWAPP, NAG and OSA to name a few).

One soccer field is a long way off from the 28-acre park that the City has promised Greenpoint & Williamsburg, but the groundbreaking is a start (figuratively this month, literally last). So, yes, a reason to celebrate.

More Rosenwach

07/06/2009 | Comment

Walked by Rosenwach this morning, and am happy to report that the damage is surprisingly limited. A lot of charred wood, but a lot that didn’t burn. I suspect this was because a lot of the wood was bundled in pallets and (thanks to FDNY) water got onto the fire pretty quickly. This is the same theory behind heavy timber mill construction – thick sections of wood take a surprisingly long time to burn. Greenpoint Terminal Market was mill construction, and there was still a lot of good left when that fire was put out.

At Rosenwach, the small brick building at the center of the lot is still standing and looks unharmed. The sheds at the south corner are standing but heavily damaged, and all of the cladding on the street side is gone. Workers there are busy cleaning up and sorting good wood from bad. Hopefully they will be back in business soon.

UPDATE: Rosenwach Fire

07/05/2009 | 6 Comments

photo: everyplace on flickr

Regarding the fire last night at Rosenwach, I have heard via a third party that a resident of the loft building across the street said that the fire was started by fireworks – white kids in their 20s shooting Roman candles off near Rosenwach, and that some of those fireworks landed in the yard. Since the yard was a big huge pile of wood, predictable things happened.

On flickr, everyplace has a photo set of fire pictures from last night (including video). As I said last night, the fire was intense – and I assume pretty damn scary for the residents nearby. You can see in everyplace’s photos that the flames rose up to at least the height of the loft building across North 9th Street. According to another eyewitness, fireman were still working to contain the fire at 11:40 (two and a half hours after the first trucks reposonded). (Thanks to mikkipedia for the flickr link.)

Fire at Rosenwach

07/04/2009 | Comment

Around 9:00 tonight Rosenwach Tanks (makers of the ubiquitous rooftop water tanks) caught on fire. It was an intense fire, and an hour later flames could still be seen leaping up from the building at the corner of North 9th and Wythe. A lot of fire trucks were on scene, along with police for crowd control. There aren’t a lot of buildings on the property, but there is a lot of wood stored there.

Tour de France 2009

07/03/2009 | Comment

Prologue tomorrow morning, 9:30 local time. Great course this year – four countries plus the prologue in Monaco, stopover in Barcelona, and a finish at Mont Ventoux the night before the ride into Paris. And, it seems as though there is less of flat stages up front (only four days of flats before the Pyrenees).

Soccer Field of Dreams

07/03/2009 | 1 Comment

As the Gazette reports, construction has finally begun on a portion of Bushwick Inlet Park. As I noted previously (and as originally reported by NAG), in May the City upped its commitment to building out some of the promised area parks. Here’s a rundown and status check of what the City said in May:

Manhattan Avenue Street end greening is open to the public as of today. Check.
Northside Piers (at North 5th St/Kent Ave.) will be open 7 days per week within the next two weeks. Check (though it was closed this morning).
Transmitter Park will be opened for use this summer, with interior fencing that provides as much safe site access as possible. Slated to open in July (though the groundbreaking that was once promised for Summer, 2009 won’t be happening).

We are working to improve Newton Barge Terminal Park to provide waterfront views this summer. Unclear – anyone?

Mayor’s office will proceed with an independent study to further the relocation of the MTA. In progress, from what I hear.
Parks Dept. will hold regular public listening sessions about the parks commitments of the rezoning. Haven’t heard anything about this happening.
We will break ground on the first phase of Bushwick Inlet Park, a soccer field, between North 9th and North 10th, in June. Check. Ground was broken and some construction was started in June.

City Planning Approves Greenpoint-Williamsburg Rezoning

07/03/2009 | Comment

The City Planning Commission held a public meeting on Wednesday and advanced two important Greenpoint-Williamsburg land use actions. The biggest was the approval [pdf] of the Greenpoint-Williamsburg Contextual Rezoning. The 175-block rezoning now moves on to the City Council, which will hopefully approve it by the end of July. Which means that we are about a month away from the end of finger buildings, community facility bonuses and other sources of zoning abuse in most of CB1.

The other important action by CPC was the approval of the Fillmore Place Historic District (the Planning Commission reviews all historic designations). Which puts that designation one step away from the force of law, and Williamsburg one step away from its first historic district.

Towers

06/30/2009 | Comment

Three towers
Sunday, 28 June 2009

Northside Piers II is now almost 100% glassed in, while the Edge is about 85% closed up. Northside Piers continues to prove the adage “less is more” – it is the Gallant to the Edge’s Goofus.