Hey Marty: Brooklyn is not Manhattan

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz is nothing if not the eternal optimist. Thrice during my years in New York's public schools, Marty gave the same speech to graduates, always ending with the unsheathing of a plastic light saber and an exclamation of "May the Force Be With You!"* His openness with his personal life and his efforts to seem in touch with the "everyman" are to be commended.

However, some of his recent comments are a bit shocking. First, he shamefully stopped the Prospect Park West bike lane plan. Maybe he thought Prospect Park West ran through Williamsburg or Borough Park? Now, he is vying (unrealistically) to turn Fourth Avenue into "Brooklyn's Park Avenue". From the New York Post:

"“I have long imagined this bleak stretch of road transformed into something reminiscent of the tree-lined portion of Park Avenue on Manhattan’s Upper East Side,” Markowitz gushed. “My hope is … for a stunning thoroughfare reaching from Atlantic Avenue to the Atlantic Ocean!”

Along with the floral additions to Fourth Avenue, Markowitz’s vision includes a revitalization of the area through street furniture (a la Times Square), wide pedestrian walkways and space for vendors.

Still, it is unclear how feasible the facelift is, given that there is almost no room for tree roots under the sidewalk, which is above a series of shallow subway tracks."

Keeping in mind that architecture students love to dream big, but apparently have no regard for the feasibility of their big dreams, we've heard this before, in reference to the Fourth Avenue rezoning.

But doesn't every city need a place for auto-body repair and chop shops, or even light industrial uses? Surely the residents of the new towers on Fourth would be none to appreciative of the bachata music coming from a 24-hour flat fix shop at 3 am!

* Anyone else wonder if the proper response is "And also with you"?

Old St. Mary's School Gets Recycled

While using hundred-year-old farming tools to dig my car out of the recent snowfall, I thought that to be the ultimate in "repurposing". However, the Brooklyn Eagle is reporting that the old St. Mary Star of the Sea school on Court Street will now house the International School of Brooklyn, a specialized bi-lingual primary school.

"ISB was launched by Dr. Habiba Boumlik and Executive Director Rebecca Skinner in March 2003. “We are thrilled to once again expand ISB to reach our goals for growth and development and to continue to meet the needs of Brooklyn families for quality education with a global outlook,” said Skinner. The new location is scheduled to open its doors to pre-K through fourth grade students in September."

Although I am excited at the bi-lingual mandate of this school, another vestige of Old Carroll Gardens bites the dust.

via Brownstoner.