Cobble Hill Blog » DUMBO

City Announces Plan That May Reduce Scale of Park Housing

Claude Scales — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 03:32:58 +0000

Mayor Bloomberg announced this evening that city and state officials plan to sign an agreement tomorrow concerning the funding of Brooklyn Bridge Park that may result in smaller scale housing being built on park land, and may even eliminate the need for the two planned new buildings near the foot of Pier 6.

The New York Times: After months of uncertainty over the fate of the popular Brooklyn Bridge Park, city and state officials plan to sign an agreement on Tuesday that would allow limited private housing to be built there, to help pay an expected annual operating cost of $16 million.

The agreement ensures that the park, which now measures 20 acres, will be completed, eventually expanding to 85 acres on five disused piers along the East River.

According to the Times story, the agreement will allow a building planned for John Street in DUMBO to proceed, but at a greatly reduced scale. The story does not mention the planned combination hotel and apartment complex on the landward side of Pier 1, for which the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation has announced its intention of issuing a request for proposal this month, and which apparently will not be affected by the agreement.

The big news is that the city has agreed to consider revenues from the sale of Watchtower properties as a source of park funding. Under the agreement, to which the Watchtower is not a party, should the Watchtower sell all or some of its properties in conjunction with its planned move upstate before January 1, 2014, the city will consider tax revenue from those properties as offsetting the need for payments in lieu of taxes from the residential buildings planned for Pier 6. Under the proposed offset formula, according to the Times, it would take sales of 1.5 million square feet of Watchtower property to eliminate the need for both Pier 6 buildings.

State Senator Daniel Squadron, who has been a strong advocate of use of revenues from the Watchtower properties to fund park opeartion and maintenance, and who, under the earlier agreement between the city and state authorizing the city to take over development of the Park, has been given veto power over the construction of housing on park land, is quoted by the Times as saying the new agreement is “not as extreme as the plan that we’re changing, but a way to build a great new park in tough times.”

Manhattan Milk delivered to Brooklyn this weekend

Diana Rosenthal — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:06:33 +0000

This weekend, Manhattan Milk expands their delivery area to include certain parts of Brooklyn - DUMBO, Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope, and Cobble Hill. You can order the glass-bottled, organic milk, along with yogurt, butter, cheese, and other milk products at 917-388-2713 or online at manhattanmilk.com.

Non-Motivational Speaker Series

Diana Rosenthal — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 14:15:53 +0000

Gelf Magazine is hosting an installment of their Non-Motivational Speaker Series tomorrow night, based on the theme of New York Stories. On the list of speakers is Buddy Scotto, owner of Carroll Garden’s Scotto’s Funeral Home (the guy from the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck will be there too!). Check out the event for free in DUMBO at JLA Studios, 63 Pearl St (between Water Street and Front Street), at 7pm tomorrow night.

Gelf: Come hear Doug Quint, proprietor of NYC’s newest, proudest food truck, the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck; Harvey Wang, photographer for the book Flophouse: Life on the Bowery, a photojournal of downtown Manhattan’s last skid row; and Salvatore “Buddy” Scotto, owner of the Scotto Funeral home and unofficial mayor of Brooklyn’s Carroll Gardens neighborhood.

Parking passes for Brooklyn residents

Diana Rosenthal — Tue, 19 May 2009 14:02:01 +0000

Senator Daniel Squadron and Assemblywoman Joan Millman have drafted a bill that would require car owners to buy permits to legally park in Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, and Boerum Hill. The proposal would allow the city to sell the residential parking permits to drivers, but would keep commercial streets open for metered parking. This would benefit residents downtown Brooklyn communities, which are popular places for commuters from further into Brooklyn to park their cars during the workday to have a shorter subway trip into Manhattan. The money raised from the permits would be transferred to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to use on subway and bus improvements.

The Brooklyn Paper: “We can accomplish two vital goals at once: reducing traffic congestion and funding mass transit,” said Squadron. “Residents will be able to park near their homes without circling endlessly for a space, and eight million New Yorkers will benefit from a new funding stream for subways and buses.”

…

Mayor Bloomberg would have delivered relief from this alleged vehicular plague last year as part of his congestion pricing plan. But that proposal failed and the administration says it does not support implementing the permit system by itself.

“Any residential permit parking program should be part of a larger congestion reduction strategy, such as what was proposed alongside congestion pricing,” said Seth Solomonow, a spokesperson for the Department of Transportation. “Without such a plan, we don’t believe this bill will actually solve neighborhood parking problems.”

On a technical level, Squadron and Millman’s bill is a necessary first step towards parking permits, which would require state approval. The bill has the support of Councilman David Yassky (D–Brooklyn Heights), who has long sought residential permits.

Brooklyn Artsmith Collective Project 261

Diana Rosenthal — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 15:35:57 +0000

The Brooklyn Artsmith Collective of New York-based artists (which includes Cobble Hill’s Adam Suerte) is holding an event tomorrow at Galapagos art space in DUMBO to benefit P.S. 261, an elementary school in Boerum Hill. Artsmith collaborated on art projects with students from the first to fourth grade, and some of the art they produced will be on display tomorrow. Over 100 pieces will be auctioned off, with proceeds benefiting arts education at P.S. 261. There will be a DJ and a film will be shown documenting the process of the project. Doors open tomorrow at 4:30 pm, and there is a suggested donation of $15.

Murdoch buys The Brooklyn Paper

Diana Rosenthal — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 13:48:04 +0000

It was announced today that that The Brooklyn Paper, a 31-year-old independent newspaper, has been purchased by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation. TBP’s editor Gersh Kuntzman told the Observer that the people from News Corp “don’t want the product to change… they love the product. And the product is fantastic.”

Observer: In 2006, Mr. Murdoch purchased a rival chain of papers, The Courier-Life chain, which publishes 12 papers in Brooklyn. Last year, when Gawkerspeculated that the Paper was in financial trouble, Mr. Kuntzman was dismissive of that report—and of Mr. Murdoch’s chain of papers.

“The Brooklyn Paper, which just won ‘Newspaper of the Year’ from a major national trade group, is certainly not going out of business,” he told Gothamist. “Brooklyn needs us too much right now, what with local papers being snapped up by billionaire moguls who have no interest in local news except maximizing classified ad sales. Has Rupert Murdoch even BEEN to Brooklyn? His reporters don’t know the territory, either.”

“Floating Brothel” Lands at Galapagos

EJ — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 19:57:57 +0000

Cobble Hill’s a bit “edgier” than Brooklyn Heights these days (Smith Street even had it’s own burlesque bar), so while this landed in the BHB inbox, we’ve decided to post it here.
From the inbox, an invitation from Galapagos that speaks for itself:

Join Galapagos Art Space in welcoming The Floating Brothel to our 1600 square foot indoor lake. Imagine five actors on a 3′x6′ platform, utilizing only movement and a few objects to create varying settings of a 1789 brothel from London’s underbelly. This method is based on Le Coq- a striking school of theatre, which we enthusiastically welcome to our programming.

Monday October 27th, 8pm $5

In this production, five actors tell the story of a ship full of convict women pulled out of their world in the underbelly of London and thrust into the helm of a ship sailing to a unknown continent where they will begin their lives anew.

This epic journey is performed entirely within the confines of a 3′x6′ platform that the actors never step off of. With the help of a few everyday objects, they transform the playing space from the bustle and noise of London, to the dank bilge of a ship and the harrowing voyage across the sea to a new world.

At a time when the public can step into a movie theater and be amazed by the results of big budgets and special effects, audiences are reminded why theater is exceptional and extraordinary: the actors amaze the audience by telling an epic story from a small wooden platform.