Greenpoint Courier, R.I.P.

I just got word that the New Corporation, which owns the Courier-Life line of local papers, is closing its Greenpoint Courier edition. The Williamsburg Courier (and, I guess, other local editions across Brooklyn and Queens) will remain in operation.

Unfortunately, the closing of the paper also means that local report Aaron Short has been laid off. Aaron did a great job of covering local stories. And despite all the talk of blogs being the new local news, there is still a place for good reporting on a local level. (I don’t pretend to be a reporter, and most local bloggers probably shouldn’t either, though there is certainly a feeding cycle to blog stories/newspaper stories – we are all sources for each other.)

We will miss you, Aaron. I guess this is one more reason to be pissed off at Courier management.

North Brooklyn Story Project

03/09/2009 | Comment

NAG (Neighbors Allied for Good Growth) has been doing a series of town hall meetings over the past few months, trying to get people engaged on different aspect of life and activism in Williamsburg and Greenpoint. One of the projects to come out this is the North Brooklyn Story Project, which seeks to compile an oral history of the neighborhood and its denizens. They’re having a meeting for volunteers this week (Wednesday the 11th), in anticipation of a training session at Brooklyn Historical Society later this month.

What: North Brooklyn Story Project Introductory Meeting
When: Wednesday, March 11th, 7 p.m.
Where: Neighbors Allied for Good Growth headquarters: 101 Kent Avenue at 9th Street

The North Brooklyn Story Project is looking for people with stories to share about our community, and people who can listen to and record these stories.

Do you have a story to tell about life in Williamsburg or Greenpoint? A memory, a snapshot of life here today, an interesting interaction with community members? Do you know a neighbor or shopkeeper or friend with a story to tell? If so, you’re invited to become part of the North Brooklyn Story Project.

The first step? To find people interested in telling their stories and people interested in interviewing them. Together, interviewers and storytellers will create an archive of North Brooklyn stories that all of us can use to feel connected to our diverse neighbors and neighborhoods – past, present, and future.

No special skills or equipment required – just ears and a voice. If you’re interested, please come to the North Brooklyn Story Project Introductory Meeting, on Wednesday, March 11th, at 7 p.m. The meeting will take place at NAG headquarters (101 Kent Avenue at North 9th Street). At the meeting, we’ll discuss an upcoming training to be offered to our group by the Brooklyn Historical Society, as well as your ideas for making the project a success.

For more information, please contact Gregor (g [dot] nemitzziadie [at] gmail [dot] com) or Rachel (rachtree [at] gmail [dot] com).

Rezoning Greenpoint & Williamsburg

03/08/2009 | Comment

At its March 2nd meeting, the City Planning Commission voted to certify the Greenpoint-Williamsburg Contextual Rezoning. This rezoning seeks to preserve the character of 175 blocks in Greenpoint and Williamsburg by introducing height limits and introducing some areas of inclusionary (affordable) housing. The contextual rezoning was originally proposed by Councilmembers Yassky and Reyna during the course of the 2005 waterfront rezoning. Community Board 1 has been working with City Planning staff for almost three years to bring this large rezoning forward (a small area of Grand Street was rezoned separately last year).

City Planning did a couple presentations on this rezoning in the Autumn. A that time (contra Grand Street), most of the sentiment was that this rezoning didn’t go far enough in terms of limiting height or density. Yes, the a lot of the horses have left the barn on the height limit issue, but it is better late than never. (And though it took a while to get through the City Planning process, most of the “finger buildings” in the affected area were grandfathered years ago.) And as with Grand Street (and the 2005 rezoning and its follow-ups), the aim on the density side to be as neutral as possible, which means a small decrease in allowable FAR, but not a downzoning in the classic sense.

City Planning will be formally presenting the plan at CB1’s next public hearing (17 March, 6:30 p.m. at 211 Ainslie Street). Coincidentally, City Planning will be making a presentation on proposed text amendments to the City’s inclusionary housing program – the big change there is the inclusion of an affordable home-ownership option.

Gowanus Lounge is Back (Online)

03/06/2009 | Comment

Opened Twitter this morning and saw the usual flood of auto-links from Gowanus Lounge. It almost made yesterday seem like a bad dream – it looks as though someone got GL back online, with Bob’s last posts up, which is what generated the auto-tweets. I hope that something will be done to archive Bob’s work at GL.com for the long term.

The last post was on the third. Fittingly, it is a street couch.

Bob Guskind

03/05/2009 | 3 Comments

Photo: Miss Heather

I just read about the death of Bob Guskind. Like most people, I am at a loss for words. Bob was a passionate, tireless, dedicated reporter on Brooklyn and everything that has been happening to it.

I will miss him.

More (and more eloquent) tributes can be found at the following (the list is evolving):

Dedicated To A Good Friend [NYShitty]
Gowanus Lounge, You Had Brooklyn’s Back [A very thoughtfully written remembrance by Louise at OTBKB – highly recommended]
Robert Guskind, Founder of Gowanus Lounge, Dies [Brownstoner]
Robert Guskind 1958 – 2009: Founder of Gowanus Lounge Dies [OTBKB]
Robert Guskind: A Walk Around The Blog with Gowanus Lounge [also OTBKB]
Bob Guskind: I Am Not A Fan of the Looming Manhattanization of Brooklyn [yes, OTBKB again]
Bob Guskind, Gowanus Lounge Blogger, Dies [Gothamist]
Robert Guskind [Curbed]
Robert Guskind, R.I.P. [Curbed’s official remembrance]
Death of a Blogger – Robert Guskind, R.I.P. [Brooklyn Paper – as noted in the comments here, the original version of this article was a journalistic disgrace. BP has now cleaned up the article so that it is sourced and so that it is news.]
Bob Guskind, RIP [The Albany Project]
R.I.P. Bob Guskind [Brooklyn Heights Blog]
In Memoriam: Bob Guskind [No Land Grab]
RIP: Bob Guskind [Dope on the Slope]
Silent Post For Big RG [FiPS, with whom Bob had his share of run ins]
Robert Guskind, Founder of Gowanus Lounge, 1958-2009 [Flatbush Gardener]
RIP Bob Guskind [NAG]
Sad on a Thursday [Bad Advice]
Famed B’klyn Blogger Robert Guskind, 50, Dies [Brooklyn Eagle – a nicely reported piece]
Bob Guskind – An Appreciation [Brooklyn Paper – Gersh’s appreciation of Bob, nicely done]

Note: Gowanus Lounge is offline entirely, but for the moment at least you can see Bob’s last postings via Google cache (unformatted, since the CSS is offline), and you can still see the old Blogger version of Gowanus Lounge. If you don’t know Bob’s work, you can get a good sense of why he’ll be missed here.

In addition to being a prolific (and very good) writer, Bob was also a prolific (and very good) photographer, which you can see at his Flickr stream.

Developer Blight: Domino

03/04/2009 | Comment

When you own 7 blocks of street frontage, shoveling your sidewalk can be a chore. Still, 48 hours after the last snow flake hit Kent Avenue, the New Domino has only cleared one block of sidewalk. Which means there is a huge stretch of Kent Avenue where pedestrians have to choose between walking on an impassable sidewalk or walking in traffic on Kent Avenue.

If you want to try your hand at luge, I suggest you check out the corner of Grand and Kent, which is sheer ice. Heading downhill. Maybe CPCR is trying to make blight an Olympic sport?

East River State Park to Reopen on Sunday

02/28/2009 | Comment

That red tape seems to have been worked out. Friends of East River State Park announced this morning that they have finally succeeded in getting the waterfront park reopened a month early. The State will continue to save its $444.44 a day, while locals will get to enjoy a bit of early spring.

Here’s an excerpt from the press release:

EAST RIVER STATE PARK WILL RE-OPEN SUNDAY, MARCH 1ST!

With spring right around the corner and weather getting warmer, we’re happy to report that the East River State Park on Kent Avenue between North 7th and 9th Streets in Williamsburg, Brooklyn will be open in time to enjoy nice days ahead.

The Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (aka State Parks) plan was to close the East River State Park until the beginning of the next fiscal year (April 1st). The Friends of the East River State Park with help from Assemblyman Joe Lentol has been working to get the park open. After a letter from the Friends Group to the State Parks Commissioner—signed by thirty-two elected officials and statewide and local open space advocates—meetings and numerous phone calls, State Parks finally relented.

Friends is looking for volunteers to help keep the park clean during March. If you are interested, contact them at friendsoftheeastriverstatepark at gmail.com

Williamsburg Fashion Weekend

02/20/2009 | Comment

Williamsburg Fashion Weekend is underway. Tomorrow night, my friends at Treehouse and neighbors at Sodafine will be joining forces at Glasslands to showcase their newest handmade creations in another super-spectacular fashion performance. Also on the bill are fashion shows by talented local designers Arthur Arbit and SDN, and after the show, music by Tall Firs and Celebration. More information here.

Viridian Going Under?

02/18/2009 | Comment

On the way to the L train this morning, I noticed that just about every construction site (along Metropolitan and Wythe/Kent) was busy. Perhaps its a case of in for a dime, in for a dollar, which is where Viridian seems to be. The project is nearly finished, no one is buying, so the developer is declaring bankruptcy and hoping that rentals carry it through to some profit (or that someone ponies up $65 million to buy the whole thing – right).

As in any down (or collapsing) market, there will be a flight to quality. Usually that means established neighborhoods, with strong services, good transportation, good schools, etc. North Brooklyn doesn’t have much of that (yet), but it does have areas of relative quality and buildings of relative quality (architectural, financial and built quality). In the former, I would put the northside generally and in the latter I would put buildings like Northside Piers (on the other hand, there are always exceptions). In a market that stresses fundamentals (location, location, location), Greenpoint is just not the place for half-million-dollar apartments*.

Two big questions – how much will the huge glut of product coming to market at exactly the wrong time affect the market, and what is the financial condition of buildings that do come on line? Anecdotally, the quality of construction on most new condos leaves something to be desired.

* Its times like these that I fondly recall a conversation with a Greenpoint realtor back in 2000 or 2001. She was offering an apartment in the Garden Spot, and I was curious as to exactly where it was. Her response (in lightly accented Polish): “Everywhere in Greenpoint is desirable”.

Greetings from Espoland

02/17/2009 | Comment

Espo/Steven J. Powers
via City Room

The Times has a City Room post today titled A Sociologist’s Look at Graffiti, a serious discussion with a Baruch College sociologist who studies graffiti and graffiti artists. The post is illustrated with this Espo mural, which used to face the Williamsburg Bridge from atop the Oliva refrigerator building on Bedford and South 5th. It was always one of favorite works – somewhere I probably have some color postcards showing it.