The plan for 5,000 new residential unit at the former Queens West site nears final approval. Located directly across the mouth of Newtown Creek from Greenpoint, this project will result in 3,000 units of affordable housing for middle income residents (60% of the total).
Hunter’s Point Development Moves Forward
Judgement
In the same speech in which he denounced Barack Obama’s ambition to become president, John McCain also had this to say:
And in matters of national security, good judgment will be at a premium in the term of the next president
Oh yes, judgement.
Such as Obama’s judgement that we need a reasonable time table to leave Iraq? Status – after being denounced by Bush, McCain and every other victory-at-all-costs wingnut, it now appears that we are – with the support of the Iraqi government – on a path to a time table for withdrawal. A time table which is remarkably close to that proposed by Obama (and which McCain now supports).
Perhaps McCain is referring to Obama’s judgement that Pervez Musharraf was not reliable ally in our war on terror? Status – Musharraf resigned as president of Pakistan today.
Or maybe McCain is referring to Obama’s judgement that we took our eye off the ball in the war on terror, Afghanistan? Status – after years of neglect in favor of an unnecessary war in Iraq, the Taliban is resurgent in Afghanistan.
Surely McCain is also referring to Obama’s willingness to negotiate from a position of strength with states such as Iran? Status – the Bush administration has entered into direct negotiations with the government of Iran over the issue of nuclear weapons.
McCain is right – good judgement is at a premium. But it will be on display in Denver next week.
Ambition
Today John McCain chided Barack Obama for his “ambition to be president”.
Just so we are all on the same page:
This is the same John McCain who has been running for president non-stop since 1999.
This is the same John McCain who has embraced not only Bush fils, but has also embraced Pat Roberson and Jerry Falwell, the far right evangelical preachers who eight years ago he denounced as “agents of intolerance… pandering to the outer reaches of American politics”.
This is the same John McCain who in 1999 “would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade“, but who now pledges to appoint Supreme Court Justices who would overturn this ruling.
This is the same John McCain who seven years ago denounced [don’t bother, they took that page down] the Bush tax cuts as “tax cut in which so many of the benefits go to the most fortunate among us at the expense of middle-class Americans”, but who now promises to extend these same tax cuts indefinitely.
This is the same John McCain who was a co-sponsor of the DREAM Act – an act to grant legal status to illegal immigrants’ children who graduate from high school, but who now opposes this Act.
This is the same John McCain who said that he would vote against his own legislation on immigration reform. (That’s right, John McCain was for John McCain before he was against him).
But according to this John McCain, it is Obama who has an ambition problem. Seems like a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black.
Greenpoint MTA Lot: Still Not A Park
One of many pledges from the 2005 rezoning that have yet to fully bear fruit. This one is particularly annoying, in that a) the City clearly promised land it didn’t control; and b) that land is also tied in to the construction of affordable housing. So a big chunk of open space and a big chunk of affordable housing are stuck in limbo, for at least another two years.
Free Parking
Transportation Alternatives has issued a report (download the pdf here) that decries the costs of city-mandated off-street parking in new developments. By TA’s estimation, this zoning requirement will result in 170,000 new cars in NYC over the next 20 years. That, in turn, means significantly more congestion, pollution and other associated ills.
The parking requirements written into the zoning code are almost 50 years old. They date to a time when it was assumed that the car was the future for New York and every other city. I think we know better now, but we are still living with zoning requirements based on a decidedly mid-20th Century mindset.
Pandamonium
WTF? NYPD sure seems to have it in for frolicking hipsters.
Rhymes with Clueless
349 Metropolitan, pre-EIFS (the post-EIFS view is here.
Today, the Times discovered that a lot of developers are using stucco, in particular EIFS, the stucco-over-styrofoam system that has been all the rage for the last 10 or 15 years. You see it in retrofits – its the new artificial siding in North Brooklyn (often covering up old artificial siding). You also see it in new construction, particularly at secondary elevations and rooftop bulkheads. If you’ve had your back yard snowed with styrofoam shavings, you’ve witnessed the EIFS installation process.
And then there’s this: “EIFS (rhymes with knifes) suffered a bad reputation in the 1990s…”. This is a new one on me – I have always heard it called “eee-fuss” (rhymes with doofus), not “ˈīfes” (or “eye-fiss”, or whatever rhymes with knifes). Maybe the EIFS Industry Members Association is trying a little rebranding?
There are certainly plenty who would say that EIFS still suffers a bad reputation, though EIFS proponents chalk that up to poor installation. But therein lies the rub – anyone ready to slap up a cladding material that is less than half the cost of just about any other exterior finish is probably not springing for skilled labor to do the installation.
Which is not to say that EIFS (or DryVit, or whatever) is evil, but it is ubiquitous. Used properly, it a decent building material that can look decent too. Unfortunately, its rarely used properly – either in design or execution. Though I suppose the same could be said about charcoal-gray brick.