Category: Linked

SEIU Local 32BJ is calling on the ex-basketball star to give better health benefits to workers at the luxury condominium building he owns in Williamsburg [emphasis added].

Canyon-Johnson (Magic Johnson’s investment fund) is an investor an investor in the Williamsburgh Savings Bank tower in Downtown Brooklyn.
(Since corrected in Crain’s online version.)

The word is that Assemblyman Joe Lentol is brokering a solution that would allow the East River State Park to stay open for the winter. The proposal still needs a sign off from the State Department of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation.
So now might be a good time to drop the Parks Commissioner a polite email indicating how important the park is to you and your neighbors. (518) 474-0456 (sorry, I can’t find an email address).

Going Nowhere?

The latest go around for the Finger Building is tomorrow morning – yet another BSA hearing to decide the fate of the open space and thus the height of the building. If BSA buys the developers position, it will allow the building to more or less double in height (to about 200′).
The crux of the issue is the tenant open space. In order to go up to 16 stories and 200′, the developer is required to provide a certain amount of tenant open space. In this case, the developer claimed that open space would be located on neighboring buildings (the buildings from which he was acquiring air rights). The thing is (per NAG), “every related legal document (easements, etc.) expressly disallows the use of those rooftops”. Despite this, the Brooklyn DOB has signed off on the plans for a 16-story building, noting that the architect (Bob Scarano) and the developer (Mendel Brach) “believed” they could use the neighboring roofs for the required open space.
It is that decision by the DOB Commissioner that the community is appealing.
Once again – even though they did not have the required open space, the Brooklyn DOB Commissioner OK’d the project because he felt the developer and architect “believed” they had the required open space.
Faith-based permitting at its finest.
If you have faith in the system, stop on by:
Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA)
Tuesday, November 18th
10:00 AM
40 Rector St., 6th Floor: Hearing Room E

Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park is holding planning meeting tomorrow night. Here are the details:

COMMIT TO YOUR FUTURE PARK Join us for a planning meeting of the Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park

November 17 @ 7 pm
133 Oak Street at Guernsey St
Are you interested in taking a leadership role in your community and park?

At this meeting we will be focusing on growing our steering committee and working committees. We will also be setting an agenda for the steering committee and goals for the Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park.

This is a bit late for November (there being about half an hour left in the second Friday of the month), but it appears that some Grand Street merchants have gotten together to promote their wares. Stores and galleries will be staying open late, offering sales and drink specials and the like.
This is a really great idea, but the PR could use some work.
(via Sodafine)

So says D.C.’s paper of record.

As to why the government should be subsidizing home builders when there is an oversupply of houses, [Toll] said the country needed the construction jobs.

Clearly the best way to counteract the precipitous decline in demand for housing is to continue to increase the supply of housing.

The closing of East River State Park (that patch of concrete and grass on the river between North 7th and North 10th Street) has gotten a lot of press (including here, here, here and here).
If it occurred to you that Williamsburg and Greenpoint could be getting second-class treatment from New York State, you might be on to something. According to NYS Parks, East River is the only city park property that is closing down outright. Programming is being cut at Riverbank State Park in Harlem and at Roberto Clemente State Park in the Bronx, but both of those parks are remaining open. Hudson River Park (Chelsea/Greenwich Village – which is run by a conservancy) and Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park in DUMBO won’t see any service cuts.
**UPDATE:** In today’s paper, the News makes the same point:

While two other state parks in the city will suffer service cuts that will result in canceled programs for children and seniors, East River Park is the only one that will close.

In North Carolina.
Welcome to the Williamsburg of the South.