From the newly-minted local news site The City – how the City (of New York) got to the point of owning a fleet of ferry boats for its new public-private partnership with Hornblower. From what the article describes, the city’s Economic Development Corporation passed over local operators with local experience and their own fleet of boats in favor of an out-of-town outfit that was able to offload the purchase of new boats to the city (not even EDC). It sure sounds like the locals got screwed in the bidding process, too.
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MTA Shuts Down Independent Review Of L Train Unshutdown Plan
I missed this Gothamist article last week. Despite repeated promises by the head of the MTA (“I have stated a number of times already in this meeting that a third party team will be engaged to report to the board and me, all of us, on what the best path forward is”, Fredy Ferrer – January 2019), the MTA is NOT hiring a third-party consultant to review Governor Cuomo’s L train tunnel plan. In a Trumpian twist, Ferrer now says that was all fake news, and the third-party consultant was only meant to monitor safety and environmental issues DURING construction (“the consultant was never [meant] to come back to the board with a comparison”, Ferrer – March, 2019).
Maybe the consultants first job can be to tell us why all the MTA employees at the Bedford Avenue station are wearing dust masks all the time, but the air is safe to breathe for commuters.
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Goodbye Beautiful: Celebrity Stylist Ditches Williamsburg
“I don’t like it here anymore. I just don’t.”
From the Mini Mall to Metropolitan Avenue to Bushwick – 20 years of Williamsburg retail encapsulated.
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Gowanus Waterfront Activists Can Learn from Past Rezoning Failures
Specifically, “failed” waterfront designs in Greenpoint and Williamsburg. As the article points out, despite a 2009 City Planning text amendment to encourage more creative designs for the required waterfront open spaces, very few developers have actually done so.
Domino being the exception in terms of creativity, and control – but they are fast becoming the rule. I have seen at least three recent waterfront proposals that significantly break from the esplanade-and-railing approach to waterfront design (what Greenpoint Landing is being criticized for in the article and in the Greenpoint community). Developers are starting to recognize the value in creating quality open spaces on the water, and in providing direct access to the water (something Domino does not do, but for site-specific reasons).
So why weren’t developers more creative before? I suspect that part of the reason is that the vast majority of the Greenpoint-Williamsburg waterfront constructed to date was done so under the old rules. That is the case for Northside Piers, The Edge (pretty sure) and The Greenpoint. I don’t know what Greenpoint Landing’s excuse is, though.
(Sidenote – 15 years in, it is kind of remarkable that only these four waterfront developments have been built as part of the 2005 rezoning. And only two are actually complete. Greenpoint – get ready…)
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Hampshire Picks Up Williamsburg Waterfront Site for $50M
The “other” Con Ed site in Williamsburg has apparently sold. This is the former BRT Power Plant site, on the south side of Division Avenue on Wallabout Creek. An important site, and pretty much the southern terminus of a potential continuous waterfront open space extending from Wallabout Creek to Newtown Creek.
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Measles Cases In Brooklyn Jump To Ninety
15 new cases in Williamsburg. I have not heard that the outbreak has extended beyond the Orthodox population, but am curious as to how much of the rest of the North Brooklyn is unvaccinated and therefore vulnerable.
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Greenpoint is Over
“MarieBelle’s flagship store [is] in New York’s famous Soho District […and it] has a rustic-style Cacao Market in trendy Greenpoint, Brooklyn”.
Based on this press release, I think that we can put February 19, 2019 down in the calendar as the date that Greenpoint officially jumped the gentrification shark.
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No L Train Shutdown Might Mean Worse Commutes Longterm
“Two-thirds of the survey respondents rated the city’s management of the plans as ‘mostly terrible.’”
Not just the City’s management, though it is the City that could do a lot of the surface transit changes that would actually benefit New York (not just L train riders) for years to come.
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Brooklyn Boulders Books into New Kent Avenue Building
“Creator and operator of active lifestyle facilities”?
Anyhow, nice addition to the area.
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Amazon’s About-face Will Hit Greenpoint Developers, But It’s Not a Knockout Punch
Something that didn’t exist three months ago has disappeared and this has a big impact on development in Greenpoint. Unless you read the article, in which case the overall response seems to be “Meh”.