North Brooklyn Public Art Coalition

02/13/2009 | Comment

At last week’s CB1 meeting, Councilmember Yassky’s office announced a new public art initiative. The initiative is a response to the rather woeful lack of public art (and opportunities for public art) in a neighborhood of artists. Organized in conjunction with the Open Space Alliance, the North Brooklyn Public Art Coalition “will be comprised of members of the local arts community, with a mission of scouting out ideal locations for public art in North Brooklyn, actively seeking out partnerships and funding for public art in this area, and keeping its members apprised of all public art opportunities.”

The coalition will hold a special meeting about Public Art in North Brooklyn on Wednesday, February 25th, 2009, at the Brooklyn Brewery, 79 N.11th St. (between Wythe Ave. and Berry St.) in Williamsburg at 6:30pm. The meeting will include presentations by public arts organizations that are currently offering opportunities to Greenpoint/Williamsburg artists.

For more information, contact Rami Metal in CM Yassky’s office – (718) 875-5200×14 or rmetal [at] council.nyc.gov.



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New Transportation Committee Chair at CB1

02/11/2009 | 1 Comment

At last night CB1 meeting, Chairman Vinnie Abate announced that he was appointing Teresa Toro as chair of the Transportation Committee. She replaces Teresa Toro, who was let go late last year in a controversy rooted in the Kent Avenue bike lanes. Teresa’s appointment is great news, although she will have large shoes to fill if she is to match the work that Ms. Toro did in making the Transportation Committee one of the most effective and well-run committees on CB1. I wish her luck.



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Mark Green Wants His Old Job Back

“In a time of crisis, the City needs leaders who combine proven experience with new ideas.”

“I need to hear what you think are the key issues and key solutions.”

I guess he’s still working on the new ideas.

Building Brooklyn

WPA has some nominees for the Building Brooklyn Awards. We’ve been obsessed with this award in recent years, and the lack of love for north Brooklyn’s architectural legacy in the making. Maybe this is our year.

Moon Over the East River

02/09/2009 | Comment

moonrise.jpg


There was a beautiful full moon rising over the East River bridges this evening. Unfortunately, the point and shoot was not up to the task.



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LCOR Secures $69m Construction Loan at 34 Berry Street

“Situated on an exciting crossroads in one of New York’s hottest neighborhoods, 34 Berry St. is one of the first ground-up rental properties in Williamsburg in memory,” said David Sigman, LCOR senior vice president.

Its nice to be first, but there’s a hell of a lot of product in front you, and if it doesn’t sell on the condo market, it will show up on the rental market.

Supply, meet demand.

Bike Lanes Run into Opposition

Gotham Gazette has a long article on both the Kent Avenue and Grand Street (theirs, not ours) bike lanes, and the controversy surrounding them.

Interestingly, the blog Jewish Breaking News had reprinted the article verbatim (links, photos and all) with virtually no attribution (there’s a link to the Gotham Gazette at the very bottom, but if you weren’t looking for it, you’d swear “a few Jewish news reporters” had written it themselves).

LightLane’s Lasers Make an Instant Bike Lane

Via Wired, the high tech solution to Kent Avenue.

Pretty cool, actually. Although as its inventor notes,

LightLane is only effective at night, of course, something [Evan] Gant said underscores the need for proper bike lanes. “Permanent lanes are much more proactive and LightLane is more of a reactive solution to the problem,” he said.