Last Thursday [Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY)] received a chilling recorded message at her campaign office. “Assassinate is the word they used…toward the children of lawmakers who voted yes.”
I see the Blackshirts are out in force.
Vandalism, Assassination Threats Follow HCR
Without Transit Improvements, NYC Growth Will Stagnate
Over at the Huffington Post, John Petro looks at the transit impacts of the “New Domino”:
It is estimated that an underground parking space in New York City costs between $30,000 and $50,000. Even at the lower estimate, that’s $50 million dollars that the developer plans to spend building underground parking. What if instead of providing so much parking, the developer only built half of the parking and diverted the rest of the money to improving transit service? What about an express bus service during peak hours from the development to, say, Union Square? Radical thinking, perhaps, but without innovative solutions, New York City’s growth will stagnate.
Shuttle buses and water taxis are not the answer. The former just make it more efficient to bring the overcrowding to the subway, while the latter will peel off at best 75 to 150 passengers per hour in good weather (and the City has said it won’t be built at the Domino site anyway).
(And for the record, New Domino’s reps estimated the average cost per space at $50k, so the total cost of their structured parking is more like $85 million.)
New York’s Ten Worst Landlords
Moishe Indig, owner of 684 Flushing Avenue, leads off the Voice’s list of New York’s 10 worst landlords.
Everything that could go wrong in this building has gone wrong,” [tenant Michael] Juliano says.
That includes over 130 violations (according to the Voice – DOB lists a lot less), a stop-work order that is almost three years old, and more.
Levin Sour on Domino
This is a potential game-changer:
On behalf of Council Member Stephen Levin, I want to thank the Borough President for giving me the opportunity to testify today on CPC’s proposal for the Domino Sugar site. Council Member Levin would like to express his full support for Community Board One’s recent recommendation of Disapproval with Modifications for this project. [emphasis added]
The Community Board expressed profound concerns over the project’s overwhelming height and density and the effect that this would have on the surrounding community and the current infrastructure. Specifically, the Board cited the strain that the project would bring to the already inadequate transit options for the area, the strain on local traffic and CPC’s requests for the maximum allowed on-site parking.
The overall reduction in the ratio of open space per resident in the area and the unmitigated shadow effects of the northernmost towers on Grand Ferry Park were also cited by the Board as grounds for disapproval. For these reasons and others, the Council Member supports the Board’s recommendation. The project is simply too big. CPC’s plan would introduce over 6,000 new residents to the neighborhood – a nearly 25% population increase for the ½ mile area surrounding the site.
Council Member Levin does not wish to minimize CPC’s impressive commitment to 660 units of affordable housing. Affordable housing is desperately needed in this community and CPC has worked hard to recognize this need. The inclusion of community space within the project is also to be commended. Furthermore, Councilman Levin appreciates CPC’s involvement with, and respect for, the Williamsburg community throughout this process. Nonetheless, unless the issues of height and density, transportation, and open space, among others, are addressed, Council Member Levin cannot support the plan for the Domino Sugar site as currently proposed. Thank you for your time.
That was Councilmember’s Steve Levin’s testimony at last night’s Borough President’s hearing on the Domino Rezoning (as read by Levin’s legislative director, Ashley Thompson).
Tipping Over Domino
Matt Chaban nails it:
but it all basically boils down… that the project is just too damn big
Faith No More to Play Williamsburg Waterfront
OSA announced a series of paid concerts to be held at East River State Park this summer. The series kicks off on July 5 with a reunited Faith No More, with all proceeds for the paid events benefitting OSA and their work to preserve and create parks in North Brooklyn. (These concerts are in addition to the free “Pool Party” concerts, of which there will be eight this summer.)
CB1 Says Yes to Williamsburg Bridge Park
View WBP in a larger map
Last night, long after the Domino drama was over, Community Board #1 passed a resolution calling on the City to turn the DOT-operated property underneath the Williamsburg Bridge (in green on the map) into a public park. As I wrote yesterday, this is not a new idea (in fact, the Williamsburg 197a plan called for this same thing 10+ years ago). But it is an idea whose time has come.
Coincidentally, City Planning did a presentation to the Board last night on their development of a 10-year comprehensive waterfront plan. They are in the midst of a survey of the entire NYC waterfront (the last such survey was in 1992). Two of the City’s stated goals in waterfront planning are “expanding public access to the waterfront” and “enlivening the waterfront with attractive uses, high-quality public spaces, and publicly oriented water-dependent uses, integrated with adjacent upland communities”.
“Williamsburg Bridge Park” is a 700′-long site located between South 5th Street (the southern boundary of the Domino site, in red above) and Broadway. The property includes a large amount of paved-over open space directly on the river, so it could be turned into an ersatz esplanade at relatively little expance. The property also includes a two-story building between South 6th and Broadway and a couple of smaller buildings directly under the Williamsburg Bridge, any of which could be repurposed for recreational uses. The property is currently used by DOT, but there are no “water-dependent” uses – the land is just left over space from the old Brooklyn Ferry Company (which ran the Broadway Ferry from this site) that would be put to better use a public park.
Open Space Mitigation
Photo: Bachner for the Daily News
One of the biggest adverse impacts of the Domino rezoning is the impact on community-wide open space. As I’ve said before, despite a huge allocation of open space in the project (well above the minimum required by zoning), the project actually reduces the per capita open space rather significantly. In a community that ranks near the bottom in city-wide open space rankings, that is simply not acceptable. Also not acceptable are the significant shadow impacts on Grand Ferry Park – Domino will put the park into shadow for an additional 4 to 6 hours per day, year round.
In talking about mitigation, I’ve mainly discussed reducing the density of the project – attacking the denominator. But what if you could something about the numerator? Say, for the sake of argument that there was a large city-owned site directly adjacent to the Domino site. Two-blocks worth, right on the river. One that includes buildings that could be converted for recreational uses and open space that could be readily converted into a waterfront esplanade.
New Domino Mixes Parking Disaster WIth Bike-Ped Benefits
Streetsblog has a good article on the impending disaster that is Domino’s parking proposal.
That’s 1,700 cars and it’s going to really overwhelm the community; there’s no doubt about that.
1,700 or 1,500, we’re still going to be overwhelmed. Domino claims it is matching the rate of ownership in the immediate area, but their study area includes a) immediate blocks that are very sparsely populated; and b) a good swath of Hasidic Williamsburg, which has inordinately high rates of car ownership. If Domino was acting responsibly, they would limit parking to under 50% – that matches the rate of ownership for CB1 at large (and coincides more or less with the zoning minimum).
Bagel Store Priced Out for Starbucks
Photo: Brownstoner
Gothamist has some good stuff on the lease renegotiations on the Bagel Store. Long story short, landlord is doubling the rent, bagel store is leaving. But don’t bet the house on a Starbucks at this location.
The landlord’s Starbucks threat (“[The landlord] told me, okay, I’ll give you a break and only raise the rent to $14,500 a month. We can’t afford that, but he says that’s what Starbucks can pay…”) sounds a lot more like a for instance than actual threat. The Bagel Store’s lease isn’t up for another 18+ months. There are plenty of places they could move into now, why would they want to wait two years (which is how long it would take with build out and all). If Starbucks wanted a store in Williamsburg, they’d have a store in Williamsburg.
It’s also worth remembering that this is the same landlord who owns the rusting hulk across the street at Bedford and North 4th. Two years ago, he was going to put a Commerce Bank in there, but that deal fell through. He’s been happy to leave it as a rusting eyesore (though frankly, it is less of an eyesore than the bank would have been). (Speaking of vacant Backer properties, does anyone know what is happening in the old Citywide Lumber space?)