Blight Me: 538 Union

04/06/2009 | Comment

Sunday was a nice day for a jog, provided you didn’t have run by the corner of Union and Withers. That is the location of 538 Union Avenue, and its construction fence from hell. If you look carefully between the runners, you can see that the owners have managed to drive piles on the site, which will probably grandfather them if they go for a 421-a tax abatement.

538 Union is supposed to be a five-story (plus penthouse) apartment house with 12 units (designed by Kutnicki Bernstein Architects). Right now its a hole in the ground (contaminated ground at that – 538 and its sister next door are little “E” Hazmat sites) and a blight on the neighborhood.

Guskind Memorial

04/04/2009 | 1 Comment

Bob Guskind’s memorial was held this afternoon at the Brooklyn Lyceum. There was a very nice turnout, and it was a very nice event. I was glad to meet a lot of people I have only known virtually, and I was particularly glad to meet Bob’s wife Olivia, of whom I heard much from Bob. And, of course, I was glad to have the opportunity to learn more about Bob.

Kudos to Heather, Jake and Phil for organizing and running the event, and to everyone else who contributed.

Dan Squadron Honors Bob Guskind

Via deluxa, a video of Senator Dan Squadron presenting a resolution before the State Senate honoring Bob Guskind. The memorial for Bob is tomorrow afternoon.

Wiliamsburg Walks Is Back

04/03/2009 | Comment

Yes, Williamsburg Walks will be back this summer – every weekend in June and July. The first weekend will coincide with the L Magazine’s Northside Festival.

NAG (the organizer of Williamsburg Walks) is holding an informational meeting on 27 April.

North Brooklyn Story Project Benefit Concert

04/02/2009 | Comment

April 28th at Union Pool, the North Brooklyn Story Project will be hosting a benefit concert to help raise funds for their oral history project. The line up includes The Blue Album Group, Rebecca Schiffman, and The Roulettes.

Williamsburg is Dead has the full run down.

Movie Moratorium in South Williamsburg

Parking trumps filming on the Southside – don’t mess with Leo Moscowitz’s parking!

Partial Building Collapse on Division Avenue

The AP (via a Vermont TV station) is reporting that two floors collapsed in a building under renovation on Division Avenue. The collapse reportedly happened last night, around 6:45, and no injuries were reported.

UPDATE: The AP (via Crain’s) is now saying that a worker was injured. The collapse involved a when a non-load-bearing wall in a building that did not have permits to do work.

A Whole Lot of Crazy

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) has put numbers to the GOP’s ~~glossy brochure~~ budget. There is a lot of hocus pocus involved in all of the this, but what jumped out at me was the GOP trend line in the attached chart. You’ll notice that actual government spending as a percentage of GDP only dropped below 20% at the very end of the 1990s – the byproduct of fiscal responsibility and a good economy during the Clinton years. The GOP – even when they are pulling numbers out of their ass – needs 80 years to accomplish what Clinton accomplished in 8 years.

Coming Like a Ghost Town

Stalled projects lead to developer blight.

In a somewhat contrarian vein, I mentioned it before, but I am actually amazed at the number of Northside projects that are still building. Most of the buildings that I’ve seen that are out of the ground are still going forward. Which is far better for the neighborhood than the alternative. (Though there is a heavy concentration of dead pool projects to the south and northeast of McCarren Park – Roebling/Driggs and Union area.)

Record Drop in January Index of Home Prices

Attention Times headline writers – if the index only started tracking housing prices in 2000, a big drop in January 2009 may be a “record”, but that word probably doesn’t belong in the headline.