Tag: gentrification

Is This the End of Williamsburg Nightlife?

Short answer: no.

Metropolitan’s liquor license is resting on tenuously safe ground. The community board can only make recommendations to the State Liquor Authority — they don’t have the actual power to take away a bar’s booze.

Somewhat longer answer: Metropolitan’s liquor license is very safe (despite the fact that most of the patrons quoted in the article pretty much admit the place is a bad neighbor) – SLA has stated categorically that a liquor license is just like a driver’s license, perpetually renewable unless the license holder engages in some act of malfeasance (criminal activity, not paying (enough) excise taxes).

Haircut for Not an Alternative

Late last summer, the Change You Want See Gallery/Not An Alternative lost its lease on its space at 84 Havemeyer Street. The 240% rent increase was too much for the gallery/co-working space/activist hub. In a sign of the times, Brownstoner now tells us who will be affording that rent – a high-end barbershop (from Carroll Gardens, no less).

All’s well that ends well, though – Not An Alternative has landed new space on the Greenpoint waterfront.

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?

No Longer an Alternative

Not an Alternative, the art space/co-working venue/activist hub at 84 Havemeyer, is closing as a result of a massive rent increase. The people there have done a lot of great things, most notably (for me at least) making the community’s fight against the 2005 rezoning a hell of a lot of fun.

PS – does anyone have a copy of the singing telegram video?

For Williamsburg Renters, Look But Don’t Swim

Renters in the affordable housing components of the Edge and Northside Piers pay rents well below market rates (some as low as $398 per month, according to the Times). But they don’t have access to the amenities on the luxury side of the development.

PS 84 Revisited

04/11/2011 | Comment

I am way behind on a lot of things, but high on the list is linking to this excellent Capital NY piece on the past and future of P.S. 84. Written by Greg Hanlon (an article Matt Chaban called the “first good article [he’s] read about gentrification in a while“. It covers old ground – the academic problems at 84, chronic under enrollment and the ethnic divisions behind past efforts at improvement. But it looks at these old issues anew and smartly delves into what the future might hold.

In a recent tour of the school, we were very impressed with the improvements that had been made under the newest principal. The change in attitude from our last tour two or three years ago was immediately apparent. So hopefully the school is turning the corner. P.S. 84 has probably the best physical plant of any elementary school in the neighborhood – the community deserves to have a quality school there.

Williamsburg To Go Dry?

04/08/2011 | 9 Comments

On Tuesday, the Executive Committee of CB1 Brooklyn voted unanimously to institute a moratorium on new liquor licenses in Williamsburg, Greenpoint and the rest of North Brooklyn. The vote was a response to what the leaders of CB1 see as an over saturation of liquor licenses in the area.

The Board’s Public Safety Committee, which reviews liquor license applications, met last night to discuss the issue, and left with more questions than answers. The Committee did not vote on a moratorium, but the issue is sure to come at next Tuesday’s full board meeting.

Williamsburg, It Is Like Rock ’n’ Roll for Kids

01/22/2011 | 1 Comment

Well this is sure to fan the Williamsburg-is-dead flames into a full-fledged bonfire of the inanities.

Yes, the NY Times (the paper of record, whose discovery of Brooklyn clearly is not letting up) has anointed Williamsburg safe for children.

Through his living-room window, Mr. Signer can see the Domino Sugar factory and the Williamsburg Bridge, partly obscured by the steel beams of new construction — just the industrial feel he wanted.

The “steel beams of new construction”? Yes, that would be the rusted hulk of a stalled project on North 1st Street that has seen no activity for a year and a half, ever since construction workers nearly brought down a 175-year-old building next door. (They weren’t actually humming along prior to that, either.) Enjoy that view, though. Someday, that building will be completed (odds are it won’t be anything to look at) and the Domino factory and Williamsburg Bridge will obscured by the towers of the New Domino.

For an article all about raising kids in Williamsburg, it’s pretty light on the school situation. In an article all about 80 Met, Warehouse 11, The Edge and Northside Piers, there is praise for PS 132 (well east of BQE) and PS 34 (in Greenpoint), probably the two best elementary schools in North Brooklyn. But no mention of PS 84 or PS 17, the schools that most of the people interviewed would be zoned for.

It’s also interesting to hear all the developers talk up their family-sized apartments – when most of these buildings broke ground, they were focused entirely on studios and one-bedrooms.

Full disclosure: I have two kids, and I actually do think that Williamsburg is a good place to raise them. Even though the schools aren’t that great, and the ones that are pretty good are way over crowded. And even though there aren’t enough proper playgrounds or parks (yeah, Play and Miss J’s and Klub for Kidz are great in the middle of January, but come springtime, they don’t make up for one of the lowest per-capita open space ratios in the City). Hopefully these new families in the neighborhood will get involved with some of the local groups that are trying to make the neighborhood better.