Category: Linked

Our Voices Exhibition Celebrates 50 Years of Activism in North Brooklyn: Sneak Peek

The end of May will see the premiere of Our Voices Seen and Heard: A First Hand Account, “an exhibit of artifacts from 50 years of protest, activism and victories in the communities of Williamsburg and Greenpoint Brooklyn.”

This should be very good – the organizers have been working on this for half a year or longer, and the source material is incredibly rich. Los Sures, El Puente, NAG (including in its original acronymic, Neighbors Against Garbage), GWAPP (including in its original acronymic, Greenpoint Williamsburg Against the Power Plant), and many more.

May 20th, mark your calendar.

Only 8% of Manhattan Office Workers Have Returned in-person 5 Days per Week

According to a survey by the Partnership for NYC, 62% of Manhattan office workers are working remotely on a typical day and only 8% are working in person five days a week. Which pretty much aligns with my firm’s experience – only a very small number of people want to commute five days a week, though I think that on any given day more than half will be in the office in Manhattan. And not because of crime or homelessness, as the companies surveyed think – because it is a better way to work.

“The longer people worked remotely, the longer they wanted to continue to work remotely,” said Kathy Wylde, the CEO of the Partnership for New York City

Wylde is absolutely right, though obviously she thinks this is a bad thing. Not mentioned is what the rest of the New York City looks like – judging by street and restaurant traffic in Williamsburg, a lot of people do seem to be very happy working remote or hybrid. Maybe instead of making Manhattan the way it was we should figure out what it could be?

NH Investment & Securities Under Contract to Buy The Dime for $158M

Korean investment firm NH Investment & Securities is under contract to buy The Dime Residences in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, for $157.5 million, according to sources familiar with the transaction.

The sale does not include the retail (the landmarked bank building). This is the second big residential sale in Williamsburg in the past couple of weeks – given where rents are going, not surprising I guess.

New Park with Decoyotes

Nice article and photos on the newly-opened 50 Kent parcel at Bushwick Inlet Park. Include the anti-geese coyotes. I’m not sure how the geese know the difference between coyotes and dogs, but whatever. (Also, really hoping that the actual dogs – and their owners – don’t ruin this space.)

For those of you keeping score at home, the new piece of the park is just under 2 acres, and represents about 7% of the future full park buildout (27 acres). To date, just under one-third of park that was promised in 2005 is completed and open to the public. That works out to about half an acre of park per year.

Here’s What Happening with the Nuhart Superfund Site

After many false starts, it looks as though development and clean up of the Nuhart site might actually be going forward. Details on the clean up are still sketchy, IMO (this is a hugely problematic site, with contamination that extends under the street and maybe adjacent properties).

Reinforced Concrete and the Turner Construction Company – They Changed the World

OK, I was drawn in by the picture of Austin Nichols & Co. (184 Kent).

But Suzanne Spellen (Montrose Morris, from Brownstoner) has been posting on Substack for over half a year now. She still posts about Brooklyn (see link above), though much of her focus has shifted to Troy, NY, which is also fertile grounds for architecture history. Her research and writing is always top notch, and the Substack is worth checking out.

Videos Show NYC Tearing Down Homeless People’s Tents With Garbage Trucks

Bloomberg had an out-of-sight-out-of-mind policy when it came to homeless people living on the streets and subways. Which was wrong.

De Blasio had a policy that seemed to want people to confront the problem (which is good), but did nothing to actually address the root causes – economics, housing, mental health, safety (for all). Which was also wrong.

I had hoped that Adams would find a middle path, and maybe he will yet. People shouldn’t be living on the street, but erasing people who have no homes, absent an actual policy for giving them homes (not shelters) just puts us at Bloomberg 4.0. Which is still wrong.