Smith-9th Street F Station Drawn

Here's a video from the New Yorker of the Smith-9th Street station getting drawn


Pretty cool, huh? Well, here's an Urban Sketch of the same station, from a different angle.

Argument Against Superfund Doesn't Hold Water: EPA

One of the main reasons, if not THE main reason, that people have argued against Superfund designation for the Gowanus Canal is that lending will be shut down, banks will not provide financing for development on Superfund sites and that no one wants to buy on Superfund land. Well, the EPA, the federal agency which oversees the Superfund program, doubts that this will be a problem. From Courier-Life:

"He pointed to a Department of Housing and Urban Development document that spells out what lenders “must avoid or mitigate” if a range of conditions exist, before completing their loan review. Among the conditions are “potential noise issues, where the property is located within 1,000 feet of a highway, freeway, or heavily traveled road, within 3000 feet of a railroad, or within one mile of an airport or five miles of a military airfield.” Tsiamis noted that the canal is already within 3,000 feet of a railroad and 1,000 feet from a highway.

Whether a site is on an Superfund list or equivalent state list, also makes the list, as does an assessment indicating the presence of if contaminants.

“All the other conditions that they list as possible things that lenders would have to avoid or determine if mitigants are in place — they are already there,” said Elizabeth Totman, an EPA spokesperson, noting that upland sites where residential buildings are contemplated are already home to contaminants. “The proximity of a Superfund site to a condo would not prevent a loan from being made.”"

So, basically, the EPA says the Gowanus is already so bad, it's akin to a Superfund site.

Marty Markowitz Shamefully Opposes PPW Bike Lane

Back in September, Community Board 6 voted to recommend approval of the DOT's proposal to construct a two-lane bike path along PPW. The plan was to simply remove one travel lane, shift all of the parking over, and use the space taken away from the travel lane for the bike lane. The benefits of this are obvious, and it would have reduced the rampant speeding on Prospect Park West. Instead, the Community Board was primarily concerned with parking spaces. Now, it looks like our Borough President is lacking vision as well. From the Brooklyn Paper:

"But just as the city was about to start building, Markowitz wrote to the city’s top transportation official that called the Prospect Park West lane an “ill-advised proposal that would cause incredible congestion and reduce the number of available parking spaces in Park Slope.” 

The Beep’s letter also argued that the bike lane would be especially problematic during the summer surge in foot traffic, when park-goers are barbecuing, attending concerts and participating in many other activities.

Markowitz claimed that there is ample space for bikers in the loop within Prospect Park — though it only goes in one direction — and called for further research into traffic solutions."

The comments from the Mayor's office seem to echo the amazingly short-sited sentiment that bicyclists are actually to blame for pedestrian deaths and accidents, which has been perpetuated by some sensationalist news reports in recent years. I wonder who lobbied him to opposed this beneficial proposal? Hopefully DOT Commissioner Sadik-Khan will do the right thing.

For more info on who is really under duress, check out CrashStat. Any rational person can see that the vehicles are the menace not the bikes.

Additional coverage over at StreetsBlog.

A (Good) Baseball Team for Brooklyn?

The "South Brooklyn" area has a rich sports tradition. Gowanus was home to the Brooklyn (Trolley) Dodgers, and the Atlantic Yards will soon be home to the Brooklyn Nets.

What many people forget nowadays is that New York City used to be home to three baseball teams. And, if you think about it, it makes perfect sense; if St. Louis, with a population of 380,000, can support a Major League Baseball Franchise, why can't New York support three, or four, or five?

Now comes some chatter from various sources that it is a (very, very remote) possibility that the Tampa Bay Rays could look to move to Brooklyn. From NBC New York:

"That would also be the case for Brooklyn, a spot where you could actually see a groundswell of support for such a notion taking hold. At least, you could have seen it taking hold before the entire Bruce Ratner/Nets mess took away a viable location and turned into a boondoggle that no one wants to live through again. Maybe it's just that faux-nostalgia again, but the idea of a team in Brooklyn could have caught fire."

And the Brooklyn Bugle:

"Brooklyn may be too much of a hot spot Alper believes due to the Atlantic Yards quagmire.  However, we say in the words of Cher in Moonstruck -- SNAP OUT OF IT!

Sure the Mets will complain and try to block.  Naturally the Yankees will try to block it as well.  But ladies and gentlemen don't tell us that you don't get a little misty when the possibility of BROOKLYN facing the Yankees or Mets in the World Series.

The team? The time? We say the Rays move to Brooklyn, change their name to something far less lame and start kicking ass and taking names.  Are you with us?"

I'm with you. Who else is? And, for the new name, how about Brooklyn's Finest? Any other nominations?

We've Got the Biggest...

Courtesy of the New York Times Magazine Blog, we find out that The Invisible Dog (gmap), an art space in Cobble Hill, has a new installation called "Ant Colony".

"An enormous ant built of steel and nylon balloons, with a porkpie hat suspended above its head, “The Ant” refers to the childrens’ poem by the Surrealist artist Robert Desnos."

Hmm. This reminds me of something...




And, for the jazzy amongst us...


The Invisible Dog.

Long Island 12 Needs a Geography Lesson

Long Island 12 recently did a story (and accompanying video) on a suspicious device which caused an evacuation. From the video and story, we can ascertain that the evacuation was in Gowanus. Ok, I guess if you stretch it, you could say that it was in Carroll Gardens. But, oh boy, were they off...

Another Super Fun Superfund Meeting

Another fun filled Thursday Night as the EPA came to the community to discuss it's ongoing progress and outline their community participation efforts. Found in Brooklyn has done a good job of summarizing the EPA's presentation, but failed to note one interesting tidbit. The EPA spokeswoman actually referenced those who engage in "subsistence fishing" along the Canal. There are no words for what this would actually entail...

Below are comments from Brad Lander and Stephen Levin, New York City Councilmen, on the designation of the Gowanus Canal as a Superfund site.

Analysis of a Brooklyn Theme Song

As anyone who grew up in Brooklyn from 1995-2005 can tell you, there is no more appropriate Brooklyn theme song than "Brooklyn's Finest", by Jay-Z with the late, great Notorious B.I.G. In the song, they go through a roll call of sorts of neighborhoods where they grew up or frequented. Have a listen:



Here is an analysis of the current state of the neighborhoods mentioned in the chorus of the song.

Whites' Homes:

Bed-Stuy

Bushwick

Fort Greene

Red Hook

Clinton Hill

Frank White's Home:

Marcy (Projects)

Crown Heights (But Frank could soon be leaving)

Brownsville

Flatbush

East New York

So there you have it. Almost 14 years after the release of Reasonable Doubt, half of the hoods that Mrs. Carter and Wallace were repping are now the home of hipsters, yuppies and urban pioneers (to themselves). To quote Biggie...

Also, did anyone else know that "Brooklyn's Finest" will soon be a movie starring Richard Gere, Don Cheadle and Ethan Hawke?

Shameless Plug for a Band

Readers -

Head on over to Amie Street to check out Greg Smith and the Broken English. Their first album release was #1 on the Amie Street charts for a while, and is holding steady at #4.

"On Amie Street, the community determines the price of music. Every song starts cheap (or even free!) and increases in price up to 98 cents as more and more people purchase it.

This ensures that you get music at a sensible price. If you find cheap songs or albums, that means they're new to the site and/or undiscovered; conversely, when you pay top price for an album, you know that a lot of people think it's really good."

Community Board 6's Craig Hammerman Honored for 20 Years of Service (and interviewed!)

Anyone who has attended a Community Board 6 meeting no doubt appreciates the hard work, even temperament and quick wit of District Manage Craig Hammerman. Personally, I think that Craig's biggest strength is his ability to stand above the heated discussions that the meetings frequently devolve into and offer advice and support to both sides of a discussion. although he has mulled entering politics in the past, he has not yet taken the leap and I think the district is better because of it.

From Courier-Life:

"There is no such thing as a perfect development project. And the larger a project is, the greater the range of costs and benefits. I didn’t agree with all of the projects that came to us and while we can stand on principle, and often do, that’s little consolation to a person who needs your help. Change happens whether we want it to or not. I accept things which I cannot change, and change things which I cannot accept. 

This district has undergone some very real, major changes to its physical landscape in the past 20 years. Cumulatively, we’ve see projects that have reconnected the community to the waterfront like the Erie Basin evidence vehicle facility, Valentino Park and Pier, IKEA and Fairway in Red Hook. Twenty years ago there was zero public access to the Red Hook waterfront. That was, and is, and important community value. Now, it’s a whole new story."

Brad Lander Becomes our Councilman

Newly elected Councilmember Brad Lander took his oath in Prospect Park on Sunday. Lets hope that Mr. Lander is a little more progressive, open and thoughtful than his predecessor. From Courier-Life:

"In his speech, Lander cited three challenges that his district faces: recovering from the economic crisis while preserving neighborhoods, preserving and strengthening schools, subways and parks, and renewing the public’s faith in local government.

“I believe that the solution begins in building partnerships between government and the public, that insist both on real results, and on democratic engagement,” said Lander. “This balancing act takes longer, to be sure. Quality systems to measure accountability take discipline and data. Meaningful democratic engagement takes patience and openness.The combination is all too rare.”"

New Area Skate Park

With the construction and rehabbing of the Brooklyn Bridge's Manhattan side, the famed Brooklyn Banks will be closed for some time. Maybe some of the skaters can head over to Gowanus for Homage, the new indoor skate facility at 615 DeGraw Street. From the New York Times:

"has a suitable concrete floor and several wooden skateboard ramps wedged into it. The 2,500-square-foot space accommodates about 20 skaters; for now, it is open only to members who pay $100. Ms. Sauer, a former designer at Zoo York, the skateboard company, and at Burton, the snowboard company, said she and Mr. Portes planned to offer day-rate admission soon. “It’s hard for New Yorkers to skate in the winter,” Mr. Portes said. “So we wanted to set up a training facility because we want to see more pro skaters coming out of New York.”"

A Novel Idea for Slowing the CSOs into the Gowanus Canal

Everyone who lives around and studies the Gowanus Canal knows that the long-term issue is heavy metals, industrial history and lack of current. However, adding fuel to the fire are the CSOs, Combined Sewage Overflows. Basically, the waste and storm water flows share the same drain, and when stormwater flows heavily (i.e. during a rain event), the excess capacity overflows into the Gowanus. Once in the canal, it sits for weeks until it breaks down, since there is no tidal or other flow to bring it out to the bay.

One Park Slope resident think that he has a idea for this problem, and it involves disseminating real-time information to residents in close proximity to the canal, hoping to reduced wastewater flow when stormwater is heaviest. From Courier-Life:

"His system collects rainwater from buildings, and stores it in large, 750-gallon cisterns if a signal alerts that an overflow event is imminent. “Once you get that signal, it will close the valve because you don’t want to be dumping that water anymore.”When the system can handle it, the water is released back into the sewer line. “This is smart technology — it sees the action before it occurs and reacts to it,” he noted.

Presently, 377 million of gallons are discharged into the canal eachyear from 11 combined sewer overflow pipes along the waterway, Chezar said. Even with the city’s recently announced plan to reduce the overflows, there will still be 250 million gallons dumped in the canal, he noted. “Any gallon you can prevent from being discharged reduces that number,” he said.

Chezar’s hope is that his system will be installed in representative homes, institutions and businesses in and around the Gowanus. If it is shown to be effective, he is suggesting the city provide a discounted water rate to homes or businesses that employ the technology.

The plan would offer a variety of modes of communication — text messaging, Twitter, e-mail — to alert resident that an overflow event was likely. A small subgroup of homes would even receive a remote signal to a MIT-designed cube-shaped device that will change color when the canal is in danger of being overwhelmed by sewage.

The theory is that the person would then modify their behavior, say, forestall washing their dishes, until after the danger of polluting the canal has passed. “This isn’t Big Brother,” Chezar said. “It is basically telling you what’s going on.”"

Old Computers Are Art in Gowanus

For the more artsy among us, the Brooklyn Eagle is reporting that some Gowanus artists took some older Macs which were to be recycled, and made some interesting exhibits.

"Since the Mac Support Store is part of the NYCS retail takeback program, the equipment was slated to be recycled. But Graber and Brooklyn curators Michele Jaslow and Spring Hofeldt decided to put out a call for artists to use them to create art pieces.

The result is the show “Programmed,” which opened on Dec. 21 at the Mac Support Store, with a satellite exhibit in the windows of wine shop Red White & Bubbly on Fifth Avenue in Park Slope."

The show will be at the Mac Support Store until March 13th.

Columbia Heights: Another Great Video

Mr. Junkersfeld over at the Brooklyn Heights Blog did another history tour video, this time on Columbia Heights. Truthfully, Columbia Heights may be the most expensive and coveted real estate in all of Brooklyn, and I've always enjoyed it. However, the BQE creates a physical, psychological and cultural barrier to conceptualizing a waterfront where Columbia Height, Fulton Ferry, Carroll Gardens, Red Hook and the Columbia Waterfront District all were a part of a huge, vitally important economic engine for the country.