In a Bronx Complex, Doing Good Mixes With Looking Good

Michael Kimmelman’s first architectural review in the Times:

The rebirth of the South Bronx isn’t news. But Via Verde is. And it makes as good an argument as any new building in the city for the cultural and civic value of architecture. The profession, or in any case much talk about it, has been fixated for too long on brand-name luxury objects and buildings as sculptures instead of attending to the richer, broader, more urgent vein of public policy and community engagement, in which aesthetics play a part.

A Skate Shop Where Visitors Can Defy Gravity

The paper of record visits KCDC:

If KCDC’s name is cryptic ([the owner] wouldn’t say what it means), its philosophy is simple: Nurture the skateboarding community, and it will nurture you, a symbiotic relationship that has flourished since the store opened in 2001, when Williamsburg was not as hip, or as safe.

Concert Attendees Claim There Was No “Widespread Panic” In Williamsburg Last Saturday

One attendee who admittedly doesn’t really like the band, but was there sober and with her husband, told us: “Drug nightmare? I didn’t see any of that at the concert (only the green stuff — and I wouldn’t call it a nightmare). On the contrary, I’ve never been to such a large gathering [with so much alcohol] without there being fights or mayhem. The crowd wasn’t too big, and everybody was just grooving and having a good time. I love those damn WP hippies.”

Pretty much my experience too. What happened on North 7th Street sucked. The question is, was it the norm or the exception?

Drug Orgies on the Northside

09/21/2011 | 1 Comment

It would be hard to do, but in case you missed it, a resident of North 7th Street has posted videos of people huffing nitrous on North 7th Street after last Saturday’s Widespread Panic concert. I’d heard about these videos last night, but hadn’t seen them until just now. While I wouldn’t call this a drug orgy or any of the other hyperbole being thrown around, it is an inexcusable mess.

So – a few thoughts on this:

One, it sucks that this happened. Sucks for the resident(s), sucks for OSA, sucks for the NYPD and sucks for the concerts.

Two, this was exactly the opposite of my experience only one block to the north. I was at the concert that night – the first time I’d been to an OSA waterfront concert – and was generally impressed by the efficiency and professionalism of the security inside, the number of cops outside and the comportment of the crowd. I happened to leave via North 8th Street, where it was relatively quiet and there was a large police presence. The crowd was orderly and by no means out of hand (I left about half an hour after the show, so the throngs had moved on by that point), and the cops kept people moving out of the area. There were a lot of concertgoers in the bar I went to after, and all were well behaved. More or less more or less, the crowd behavior that evening was what I would expect from a post-Dead, post-hippie jam band’s followers (of which I am not one).

Three, I remember this coming up earlier in the year – residents complaining about people selling hits of nitrous out of the trunk of their cars after last year’s concerts – and thinking “Who the hell does that?”. Unfortunately, now I know.

And in case you did miss it, there is a lot more on this at various sites already (with plenty of comments):

From The New York Shitty Inbox: Saturday Night [NYShitty was there first]
These Widespread Panic Fans Aren’t Sucking On Balloons Because They’re Feeling Festive [Voice]
Video: People Casually Doing Nitrous On the Street in Williamsburg After Jam Band Show [Voice]
Video: Nitrous Oxide-Fueled Fans Terrorize Williamsburg Locals [Gothamist]
“POST-CONCERT DRUG ORGY MOB NIGHTMARE” AT WILLIAMSBURG WATERFRONT [Free Williamsburg]
Jam Band Show Turned Williamsburg Into Druggy Whippet Wonderland [NY Mag]
Post-concert open-air drug market in Williamsburg! [Brooklyn Paper]
Widespread Panic Concert Causes ‘Mayhem’ In Williamsburg (VIDEO) [yes, even HuffPo has reaggregated it]

Nü Williamsburg

Erik Stinson in The Atlantic:

Nü Williamsburg dates back to a 2005 change to zoning laws allowing for the construction of new residential units in the areas of North, South, and East Williamsburg, semi-defined divisions of the sprawling Brooklyn neighborhood. In 2008, the housing boom busted, but, slowly, many of the then-new projects are being completed and filled.

But why does Nü Williamsburg need an umlaut?

St. Anselm Gets a Star

Sam Sifton:

Like the real-life St. Anselm, the restaurant makes an ontological argument. If we can conceive of an affordable steakhouse on the same block as the Metro Line cab stand and the Brooklyn home of the Knitting Factory, then surely such a thing must exist. And here it is now: St. Anselm is Keens for the millennial set, a Bar Americain for the riders of fixed-gear bikes.

Williamsburg Charter High School on Probation

09/19/2011 | Comment

NY1 [via Brownstoner] is reporting that the Williamsburg Charter High School has been put on probation by the Department of Education “for a string of violations”, including “illicit spending” and “misallocating funds”, all of which has left the school with $4 million in debt. According to the Times’ SchoolBook site, which originally broke the story (and whose post includes the DOE probation letter in full), the school was already under investigation by State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

The financial problems seem to be a combination of overspending and under enrollment. WCHS – which has been in operation for seven years – is part of the Believe High Schools Network, which also operates the Southside Charter High School and the Northside Charter High School (both of which are located in on the Ericsson J.H.S. Campus in Greenpoint). According to Gotham Schools, all three schools spent about 30% more per student than they brought in through state funding, a gap that was not covered by private fundraising. In the case of WCHS, the school needed an enrollment of 1,000 students in order to cover its $2.3 million annual rent, but was only able to enroll 850 students. Another big issue in the DOE review is the relationship between the Believe network – which received $2.34 million in management fees from WCHS last year – and the school. Half of the school’s 6-member board is employed by Believe or other schools in its network.

To compensate for the missed rent and loan payments, the school has apparently cut back on the number of teachers.

WCHS is located on Varet Street in East Williamsburg. The school’s landlord received a number of variances in order to allow the conversion of a former factory building for a school use. After the school fell behind on rent, the landlord put the property on the market for $30 million. (That price tag seems a bit steep, given that the property is zoned for manufacturing and subject to a variance [Word document] that specifically allows Williamsburg Charter to occupy the building, but requires BSA approval for any change in school operator.)

For its part, the school says that the DOE charges contain “many inaccuracies and misstatements of fact” that the school has “challenged time and time again”. WCHS doesn’t have any specific response to the DOE allegations, but promises to post “links to a series of documents that outline the concerns that the City and State have addressed us on and our responses to them. In addition, [we will post] relevant timelines and information regarding the school’s attempt to set the record of facts straight over the course of time”.