Category: Linked

In Memoriam – 108 Cyclists and Pedestrians Killed in 2012

In 2012, victims whose lives were ended by reckless drivers ranged in age from 2 to 92. Two small boys were fatally struck as their horrified and helpless parents looked on. A high school football player with college prospects was run over by two drivers while riding his bike. A veteran UPS man on his regular rounds was crushed to death on a sidewalk. A grandmother of 22 who survived Auschwitz was killed by a driver in pursuit of a parking spot.

With murders at a historical low, the odds of a New Yorker being killed by a stranger with a car are probably greater than the odds of being “murdered” by a stranger.

Mapping Housing Segregation

Very neat ProPublica map analysis of housing segregation in major urban areas since the Great Migration, and how little impact the 1968 Fair Housing Act has had on that segregation.

New Affordable Development in Greenpoint

210 units of new housing will rise on the site of the former Brooklyn Heights Railroad Co. trolley barn at Manhattan between Box and Clay. The building (Crain’s says it’s a “tower”, but the R6A puts a 7-story cap on the whole thing) will have half the units set aside middle- and low-income residents, with the other half being market rate. I’m not sure if the income splits are exactly the same, but this mixed affordable/market-rate development scenario is a very similar set up to 11 Broadway.

74 Kent Street SWO

Newyorkshitty (via Brownstoner) noticed some activity at 74 Kent Street in the Pencil Factory Historic District that has led to a stop work order. The rooftop construction must be a mockup related to an LPC application to construct a rooftop addition, which a) should be on the community board’s agenda; and b) requires a permit (yes, mockups require a DOB permit).

As Heather notes, 74 Kent Street is applying for a BSA variance, which was before the CB’s land use committee last week. This block was specifically omitted from the residential rezoning in order retain manufacturing uses and later landmarked for its special historic character. As all of the other buildings, including the relic next door (future headquarters to Kickstarter), have been able to develop vibrant non-residential uses, what makes this building so different? I’d be curious to see how the owner is claiming a hardship on this one (let alone a unique condition) – and I’d also be curious to know why this isn’t being done as a special permit through LPC and CPC (which would at least require a restoration of the building).

Lights, Cameras, Williamsburg!

Williamsburg Cinemas will be one of the first places in the neighborhood that people can go to catch a blockbuster flick, filling the void left by the closure of the Commodore Theater in 2002.

I’m not sure the Commodore ever really filled that void, but first-run movies (sans alcohol) are back in Williamsburg.

Lost Streets of Greenpoint

Kevin Walsh takes a close look at long-gone streets in Greenpoint. A bunch of these streets never existed other than on a map (certainly the little streets northwest of Commercial, and probably the streets between Manhattan Avenue and Whale Creek).

No explanation for the two Meseroles, though.