Bike Lane Painters Arrested

The charges are relatively minor, and the two “self-hating Jewish hipsters” were released with desk appearance tickets.

“That unauthorized painting on New York City property is unlawful, but that is overlooked because it’s committed against the terrible Hasidim,” [neighborhood resident] Moshe Goldberger said.

Uh, no Moshe, it’s called civil disobedience, one tenet of which is taking responsibility for your acts of civil disobedience. By turning themselves in, Hechtropf and Piccochi seem to get that. Good for them.

Reminder: NAG Party Thursday Night

12/09/2009 | Comment

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A quick reminder that this Thursday (10 December) from 7 to 10 pm there is a benefit for NAG (Neighbors Allied for Good Growth – the second G is silent) at the Woods on South 4th Street. No cover, but donations are welcome. There will be plenty of booze, and a silent auction featuring goodies from local institutions (a lot of new additions since my last post on this), such as:

  • Word Bookstore
  • The Brooklyn Kitchen/The Meat Hook
  • Alter Clothing
  • Southside CSA
  • Third Ward
  • Mast Brothers Chocolate
  • Treehouse Brooklyn
  • Teddy’s Bar & Grill
  • The Lecture Series/Book Thug Nation
  • Sodafine
  • The North BK Compost Project
  • Eyebeam Atelier
  • Three Kings Tattoo Parlor
  • Franny & Rooey
  • Cafe Grumpy
  • Enid’s
  • The City Reliquary
  • The Gym Park
  • Miranda Restaurant
  • Charm School Design
  • Transient Pictures
  • Kingsland Printing

and even some Polish and ESL lessons!



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War of the Roses

Apparently things got pretty heated at the Borough President’s hearing for Rose Plaza.

Marty, to his credit, pushed the applicant to go beyond the bare minimum of 20% affordable housing. Their response was:

‘There is no other waterfront project developed on private land that is required to provide more than 20 percent affordable housing,’ said [Rose attorney Howard] Weiss.

Fair point (though I think Schaeffer Landing would meet Weiss’s test). But on the other hand, the community has consistently advocated for more than 20%. Twice as much as 20%, in fact.

McCarren Pool Groundbreaking

12/08/2009 | Comment

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l to r: Assembly Member Joe Lentol; Marty Markowitz; Mike Bloomberg; Brooklyn Parks Commissioner Jules Spiegel; NYC Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe; David Yassky; and OSA’s Stephanie Thayer.
Photo: BP Markowitz’s office

Progress at McCarren yesterday – Mayor Bloomberg and others “broke ground” on the renovation of the McCarren Park Pool (work has been underway for a while, but it’s nice to recognize that).



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Rezoning of Broadway Triangle Advances

By a 12-6 vote, the Council’s Land Use Committee approves the Broadway Triangle. The Council’s vote modifies the plan (by adding about 10,000 square feet of new open space), so the whole thing goes back to City Planning for a new sign off, and then returns to the full Council for a final vote. The additional open space was one of the modifications requested by CB1. The other important modification – funding for industrial relocation – was not acted on.

Rose Developer is “Bankrupt”

12/07/2009 | Comment

I use quotes in the headline here because contrary to the Brooklyn Paper’s headline, it’s not Isack Rosenberg himself who is bankrupt, but rather one of his other development projects.

Rosenberg is trying to raise money by seekign a city rezoning of his lumber yard site from manufacturing to residential — a move that would vastly increase the property’s value.

True enough. But the rezoning isn’t going help Rosenberg meet his December 21 bank deadline to settle a $45 million debt on the Warehouse 11 project (aka the Roebling Oil Field).

A few points with regard to how this impacts the Rose Plaza development:

1) For the most part, it doesn’t. Rose Plaza is a separate project, which may or not get built by this developer. Whatever rezoning passes will run with the property (and increase the value of the property). Whatever special permits are approved will also run with the property, but a new owner could decide not to use them and do an “as-of-right” project.

2) One important way that it does effect the project is that a new owner (or even the current owner) could decide to opt for a different architect or landscape architect, ditching the nice designs that are being presented now in favor of something of lesser quality (this, perhaps?). Such bait-and-switches are not unheard of – Douglaston Development did it at the Edge, dropping Enrique Norten in favor of Stephen Jacobs. That is why the CB1 resolution rejecting the proposal made such a big deal about giving the board a role in future design changes.



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