I’ve never heard anyone complain about the horn/siren announcing sabbath (and don’t know anyone who has complained or ever confused it with an air raid siren). And it is always amusing when longtime residents suddenly notice the sabbath horn – it is always there, but somehow people block it out until one day they suddenly “discover” it.
Hasidim Illegally Sound Air Raid Sirens to Announce Sabbath
Idealized or Caricature, Architectural Renderings Are Weapons in Real Estate
Competing renderings of Greenpoint Landing are the starting point for a look at how renderings are used to sell – and stop – development projects.
Riverside Interludes, Far From the Madding Crowd
The Times discovers the magic of Grand Ferry Park:
the fleck of a park that the local residents know as one of the few places amid the soaring condominiums and fenced-off industrial lots of Williamsburg where one can steal time with the water, separated from the concrete by no more than a jumble of boulders.
One of Williamsburgh’s first ferry services to Manhattan was located here as early as 1814 (steam service arrived in 1827), but as the article notes, it has been almost a century since there were any ferry boats stopping here.
And it is not really set in nature, not with the old Domino Sugar Factory on the left and the fenced-in warehouses, whatever they hold, on the right. It is not really quiet, either, not with the drone of nearby machinery pulsing at all times. But it feels quiet.
What they hold (and what is making the noise) is a small gas turbine power plant, constructed by the New York Power Authority in 2001 or so.
Quinn, Levin & Van Bramer: Give Commuters Other Options During G Train Repairs
Expand CitiBike to Greenpoint & LIC, and expand/subsidize ferry service – all good moves that hopefully will someday be a regular part of our transit system.
Inclusionary Housing Program Not Making So Much Housing
According to a new study by Brad Lander’s office, the City’s inclusionary housing program hasn’t created as much affordable housing as the City predicted. That’s not really a surprise, and neither is it a surprise that most of the inclusionary housing generated has been on the Williamsburg waterfront and on the far west side of Manhattan at Hudson Yards. It’s not a surprise because those two areas are some of the few places where the incentives are deep enough to compel participation in the program. In most of Greenpoint & Williamsburg where the program was put in place, the incentive is really not that great, particularly once the market heats up.
Except on the Greenpoint waterfront – it will be big there.
Via WNYC
CB4 Might Have Approved Rezoning of Rheingold Brewery Against the Law
The open meeting law does apply to community boards. Public participation is not guaranteed, but open meetings should be. That said, there were other reporters in attendance, so was the meeting actually closed to the public?
I Just Expected Something More Original
Dunkin’ Donuts is setting up shop in the old Northside Pharmacy space. Halina Jankowski, owner of Northside Pharmacy (which is now on Driggs) sums it all up pretty well: “I just expected something a little more fancy or original or hip.”
And this after years of living in fear of Starbucks.
Quadriad Townhouses
The row houses at the former Quadriad site – the longest running development saga in neighborhood history – are finally, finally finished and ready to go market. If you count the time spent trying to turn this project into a 23-story building, these row houses have been at least seven years in the making.
The row houses themselves – designed by RKT&B and Stan Allen – are very nice, particularly the way they are set back from the street to create a sort of public/private area of front yards. But $2.4 million a pop, for a house that is less than 15′ wide?
McCarren Park Pool outscores Barclays Center
Seriously?
The area around McCarren was developed into condoland years ago (a lot of projects predate the 2005 zoning). I’d bet that the prior redevelopment, not to mention the massive rezoning of the area in 2005, had a lot more to do with the price of development sites in the area than a few million gallons of water in a pool do (as fantastic as that pool might be).
I can’t see the actual report from Eastern Consolidated, but the total volume comparison is BS. Look at $/sf (mentioned in the Crain’s report), and the areas are a lot closer (though McCarren still “wins” by 20%, not 200%).
And then decide which is the apple and which is the orange.
G Train Weekend Outages
It could have been worse, but if you plan your weekends around the G train being in operation, make new plans:
The [MTA…] considered closing the Greenpoint tube on the G train all summer for repair work. Instead, the tunnel will be closed for 12 weekends this year. Service will be replaced with a shuttle bus between Brooklyn and Queens. The Greenpoint tube will likely be closed during the summer of 2014 for additional repairs, the official said.