Another Superfund opinion from the New York Post

The New York Post published an opinion piece, which reads as if it were written by some combination of Ronald Reagan, John Wayne and Toll Brothers.

"Already, developer Toll Bros. has announced that it’s pulling the plug on its plan to build 450 units of housing along the canal, citing its inability to find financing and insurance at a Superfund site.

The weak economy may have had something to do with that, too, but the EPA ruling was surely a nail in the coffin.

That’s entirely understandable: While the agency says the project will take only 10 to 12 years, it first intends to sue everyone it thinks helped cause the pollution — potentially causing years of delays.

Moreover, who knows what kind of virgin-wetlands standard it’ll demand before declaring the canal “clean”?"

Of course, there are developments which will proceed as planned, despite the Superfund designation. Wonder why that wasn't mentioned?

You stay classy, Post.

Lana's Barber Shop: Making The Cut For Over 20 Years

The antique sign at 523 Henry Street doesn't credit her name but long-time customers will know this barber shop as Lana's Barber Shop.  Once offered three-thousand dollars for the sign, natives can rest assured that it won't be sold or replaced anytime soon.  In a rapidly changing neighborhood such as this one, some things deserve to stay put.  

Meet Lana Deyeva - our loyal neighborhood barber

In 1988, with a nominal amount of English packed in her bags, Lana left Ukraine and moved to Brooklyn.  Having spent some time living in Italy, Carroll Gardens seemed the obvious choice when looking for work.  Two memorable Italian barbers named Patsy and Philip were the men who hired Lana to cut hair in their barber shop, giving her the wonderful opportunity to mingle with the older generation of Italians.  

"Customers loved Patsy and Philip," Lana says with emphasis.  "They were friends but complete opposites.  Patsy looked liked he worked in an office - always with the crispy white shirt, gold pin, tie.  He was someone that believed in dressing up no matter where you worked.  He was low-spoken, never yelled, and he always gave you nice advice.  Philip?  He was the bubbly one.  Chatty.  He knew the dirty jokes."  Patsy and Philip eventually retired and sold to a man named Peter who decided to combine the barber shop with a reupholstering business.  Peter took to the back of the shop while Lana worked the front.  It was no wonder that Lana became the face of the barber shop.  Three and a half years later, the business was hers. 

It can't be denied that Lana has a soft spot for the old Italians who once came and sat down in her chair.  Unfortunately that generation is just about gone.  "I'll never forget this one man," she begins.  "He said to me 'I'll always come to you, so don't worry - If I'm not here, it means I'm not alive.'"  Lana leans back in her chair and smiles.  "I don't always get a lunch hour, you know?  One day this man noticed that I hadn't taken a break.  He asked me 'Did you eat anything?  I've been sitting here, waiting in line, watching you take customers, but you haven't eaten a thing.'  Fifteen minutes later, he comes back with this huge, huge sandwich!  That's Italian people for you.  That kind of generosity is in their blood." 

It was at the barber shop where Lana really got a handle on the English language.  Holding down a full-time job, on top of caring for a young son, it proved hard for her to take classes.  "My customers were bighearted people who practiced with me.  No one laughed!"  She is beaming.  "You know if I started working today, I'd be doomed.  Back then though, in this neighborhood, people didn't care.  If they liked you, they always gave you a chance to survive because nobody ever forgot how it used to be.  Now it's a different mentality and I don't think people are as willing to experiment."  Lana does have her share of younger customers though and she loves them just the same despite how many she has seen leave the neighborhood.  "The boys now - they get girlfriends, they get married, and then they move away.  I say a lot of 'Goodbyes.'"   

Today the barber shop is certainly busy but nowhere near as busy as it used to be.  Years ago, at seven-thirty on a Saturday morning, you had men lined up at the gate waiting for the door to open at 8 AM.  "Now, the neighborhood is sleeping at eight o'clock," Lana says, quite matter-of-factly.  "Maybe I have my first customer close to ten o'clock, then a huge break, maybe another customer..."  Actually, on the day I went to chat with Lana, she told me to come back in thirty minutes (she was finishing up with a customer).  "It's slow today," she said.  When I returned, she had one guy in the chair and four more waiting to see her.  I guess you never know how many people will walk through your door on a given day.  And that's the beauty of the barber shop, no?  That, and affordability!  Fourteen dollars will get you a haircut and ten dollars will get you a shave. 

So what're you waiting for?  Go and sit in this lovely woman's chair.  She's been making the cut for over twenty years, you know.

Lana's Barber Shop

523 Henry Street between Sackett and Union

718-596-5603

Open Tuesday through Saturday

Closed Sunday and Monday

Walk-ins are the best kind!

Wait, where am I again?

Gowanus gets some positive (kind of) press!

Hidden in (and, because of) all of the news about Superfund designation happening on the Gowanus Canal, the New York Times published a quick, dirty story about "life" around the canal.

"The news did not interrupt the unhurried rhythms of life along the shadowy canal, the toxic dividing line between two fancy neighborhoods carved into wetlands more than 150 years ago.

On the water where the E.P.A found pesticides and the cancer-causing chemicals known as PCBs bobbed the boat where John Ziegler and a friend have stayed on and off for five months, aiming to “get off the grid.”

They collect sunlight in solar panels for electricity and burn wood for heat. Mr. Ziegler, a writer and an amateur ornithologist, has seen a family of mallards, and hawks. The walls of the canal mute the city noise. The full moons, he said, are “gorgeous.”

But after a big rain, slicks of various colors and toxicities drift by the barge, so Mr. Ziegler said he was pleased that the E.P.A. had stepped in to clean up. “It’ll take a lot longer,” he said, “but it will actually work.”

Upstream from his boat and down, fuel tanks were cleaned, trucks were parked, scrap metal was collected and cars were serviced. Gene Wayda, 68, has watched it all since 1970, when he opened his machine shop on Butler Street at the canal’s northern tip.

Then, Irish schoolteachers lived next door. A Dun & Bradstreet printing plant was on the corner. Mr. Wayda played his own role in the neighborhood’s remarkable commercial diversity, constructing those hand-powered unicycles called distance measuring wheels. His patch of Gowanus had deteriorated and then stabilized. The dirty canal was a piece of unfinished business."

Glass Cube Sculpture for the Gowanus

According to the Daily News, the muck and black mayonnaise that is at the bottom of the canal could be used for a novel purpose: being superheated and turned into glass cubes. The cubes would then function as any glass brick structure, able to be used in a number of applications.

""You could construct an aquarium," Tsiamis said.

"It could become the basis for an art sculpture for the community. Maybe they want to build a monument to commemorate the cleanup of the canal."

The sludge, which is about 10 feet deep, is a mix of industrial metals, coal, tar, sewage and mud.

"That material is really black and nasty," Tsiamis said. "It's oozy like lava. ... It has the texture of mayonnaise.""

Sounds like the EPA's project manager is throwing a lot of black stuff at the canal walls, and seeing what sticks.
Image from the Guardian.

Scarano barred from sealing plans to the NYC DOB!

In a decision that couldn't come quick enough, Robert Scarano was barred by a judge from submitting plans to the New York City Department of Buildings. From the New York Times:

"The judge, Joan R. Salzman, accused Mr. Scarano of “deliberately overbuilding” and said some of his filings were “so deceptive that they call to mind out-and-out fraud.”

“False filings lead to chaos,” she wrote. Mr. Scarano, the fourth architect to be barred from submitting documents under a 2007 state law, did not return calls seeking comment. A spokeswoman, Linda Alexander, said in a statement that his company, Scarano Architect PLLC, “is pursing all avenues available to reverse the erroneous rulings that were issued today.”

Mr. Scarano’s lawyer, Raymond T. Mellon, said he would most likely challenge the constitutionality of the 2007 law, which authorizes the city to bar licensed architects."

Writing as someone whose chosen profession not only is reliant on the construction industry, but has strict ethical guidelines for those so certified, I can say that Mr. Scarano got what was coming to him. Plenty of architects find little ways to help out clients and are horrific at public relations, but just due to his sheer volume, Mr. Scarano took it to another level. His floor plans became the stuff of legend amongst anyone with even a rudimentary understanding of the Zoning Resolution. Plus, who wants to live in a half-height space?

First, do no harm, Mr. Scarano.
Image from Brownstoner.

Gritty Corner of Smith and 9th Gets Profiled

Metro recently profiled the corner of Smith and 9th Streets. Sounds about right.

"Young hipsters from Carroll Gardens stream off the G and F trains, as do residents of Red Hook’s public housing to the south. Winding past is the murky green Gowanus Canal, declared a superfund site this week by the EPA.

“It’s about time,” Victor Carino, 27, who works at the bagel shop, said of the decision, bemoaned by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and would-be developers eyeing the area. “You don’t have to be an environmentalist to know how nasty and unclean that water is.”"

BookCourt launching Literary Journal

BookCourt, the, yes, book store on Court Street, is launching their own literary journal. No need to go to Williamsburg for the arts scene! From the Daily News:

""It seemed like a natural step, with all of the great ideas that flow through this establishment," said Zach Zook, the Court St. store's general manager and the journal's executive editor.

The twice-yearly publication, dubbed "Cousin Corrine's Reminder," will feature more than 150 pages of fiction and photography from local and international artists and authors, as well as a graphics section curated by Brooklyn comic book author Dean Haspiel.

"You'll be seeing essays and pictures, and then you'll come to the literary equivalent of the Sunday comics," Haspiel said."
Image from Momondo.

Community Board 6 Loses It's Vice-Chairman

The Brooklyn Eagle is reporting that Community Board 6's Vice Chairman, Ray Lohler, is being appointed by President Obama to be a judge, which, as you can imagine, is a "Godfather" offer.

"In February, U.S. Sen. Charles E. Schumer announced that he was recommending Lohier to fill the vacancy, which was created when Hon. Sonia Sotomayor left to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Lohier, a federal prosecutor and attorney, serves as the first vice-chairman of Brooklyn’s Community Board 6, which represents Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Columbia Street District, Gowanus, Park Slope and Red Hook.

On Wednesday, Obama made Lohier’s nomination official, as well as nominating Ohio federal Judge Kate O’Malley to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit."
Image from Brooklyn Eagle.

Superfund Designation Still Eyed Warily by Some

The hits just keep on coming. From the Brooklyn Eagle:

"Dolly Williams, a former member of the City Planning Commission, told an overflow crowd at a public meeting last week that a potential deal fell through because of the stigma associated with the designation, which will trigger a $500 million federally overseen cleanup of the polluted canal.

“I just lost the sale. It’s because of Superfund,” said Williams, co-founder of A. Williams Construction, a general contracting firm based on Third Avenue.

She said the prospective buyer of a property on Ninth Street read about the designation, and was suddenly “no longer interested.”

Williams said a depressed real market has people already adopting a “wait and see” attitude. But the designation is going to make buyers even more cautious, she warned, making it difficult for people like Williams who, she said, “work and create [to] jump start the economy.”"

As my old boss would have said "too bad, so sad". Our economic problems are a little deeper than the Gowanus.

The Silence is Deafening (In Defense of the BSA)

Numerous neighborhood blogs and advocates have bellowed far and wide about the supposed developer-friendly bias of the New York City Board of Standards and Appeals (from Brownstoner today: "a group that historically has bent over back to accommodate developers."). What they fail to note in their complaints, however, is the fact that the BSA is legally bound to reach their decisions based on the laws of New York City, specifically the Zoning Resolution (a ridiculously complex document if there ever were one). And, those laws must recognize the United States' laws about private property rights, which tend to lean heavily toward property owners (in these cases, developers).

Given the uproar that we saw regarding BSA decisions such as 360 Smith Street and the Williamsburg "Finger" building, the silence about the BSA's recent decision to NOT grant extra townhouses to 580 Carroll Street is deafening. In what is being termed as a "death blow" to the project, the BSA basically told the developers that they should have done more due diligence before their construction, which would have made their claimed "unforeseen circumstances" clear. The BSA should be applauded for seeing through this argument, but alas, there was scant coverage of the decision, sharing a post at Curbed:

"The BSA took some time to think about it, but came back earlier this week with another unanimous no for the developers. And it sounds like this one might be final."

Image from NYC.gov

Community Board 6 turns down Charter School

We've already seen rough talk about the realities in Gowanus, and how it is not appropriate for school siting. Well, sounds as if Community Board 6 still agrees with their previous comments. According to Courier-Life, Summit Academy's application to be sited on Butler Street was recommended for denial.

"“This is outrageous,” said board member Debra Scotto, who voted against the special permit. “This is an absolutely horrible place to site a school — primarily because of the traffic, but also because there are prostitutes around the corner [from the site],” she said after the board’s March 10 meeting. “It’s abysmal down there.”

Despite the vote, Natasha Campbell, the school’s executive director, said Summit remains in “an exploratory phase, looking for a permanent home.”

Summit Academy is currently housed inside Public School 27, on Huntington Street in Red Hook. The charter school currently serves 92 sixth graders, and its population is expected to swell next year to 100 sixth graders and 100 seventh graders Campbell said.“We have a phenomenal relationship with PS 27, but the problem is that we are growing,” she added."

Although I sympathize with a fledgling school trying to make it, the fact that this is a charter school softens the blow. Also, let's not forget that the Community Board doesn't actually have any power!

New York City (and others!) Still Pissy about Superfund Designation

Wow. The City doesn't seem to know how to quit. While this trait probably served those in the Bloomberg administration well in private enterprise, it is a little embarrassing coming from the Mayor Office. In a Letter to the Editor of the New York Times, NYC Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Cas Holloway, it certainly sounds as if there is some spilled milk being cried over:

"We are as committed to that goal now as when we submitted our comprehensive plan last July, and we’ll work with the Environmental Protection Agency within the Superfund process to achieve it.

The E.P.A.’s timeline is now three years longer than what the city proposed, and the agency has acknowledged that our cleanup plan was as comprehensive as Superfund.

Our plan did not “rely on federal allocations,” but proposed the possibility of Congressional appropriations that we thought would incentivize responsible polluters to work with us voluntarily. We were right: one of the largest polluters committed to our plan without the need for a Superfund listing."

Following that, we hear from Bill Appell:

"The city committed to work with the Army Corps of Engineers to clean the canal to the E.P.A.’s own standards, but the city’s approach would have accomplished more than just remediation of the waterway.

The Superfund designation does not address the primary source of pollution in the Gowanus Canal: combined sewer overflows, which occur when storm sewers overflow during heavy rainfalls and combine with the sanitary sewers, pouring 300 million gallons of raw sewage into the canal every year."

Brooklyn Public Library's Carroll Gardens History

One of the great hidden gems, and underutilized resources in New York City is the public library system. I remember as a child going to events there, and being fascinated at all of the FREE books that were available. And then computers, and copies and talks and rental equipment. Talk about a true public service and a true public good!

Well, turns out that the Brooklyn Public Library has a great website, aimed specifically at the history of Carroll Gardens: Our Brooklyn - Carroll Gardens History.

"Before there were streets, there was an Indian path along what is now Henry Street. Native American Indians sold a tract of land to Dutch farmers Adrianse Bennet and Jacques Bentyn in 1636, and it was around the area of Carroll Gardens that development first began. Docks and warehouses were constructed in Red Hook, and a plan was made to dredge the Gowanus Creek and drain its surrounding swamps to form a navigable inland waterway. To facilitate the transportation of bodies from Manhattan to Green-Wood Cemetery, the Hamilton Avenue Ferry began service in 1846. These factors encouraged developers of the 1860s to build the residences that are now among the most sought-after homes in Brooklyn."

Although the ethnicity and income classes have changed, sounds like Carroll Gardens has ALWAYS been under development pressure!

Be sure to click over for a synopsis of Irish immigration, BQE construction and, of course, the Carroll Gardens Public Library Branch, on Union and Clinton.

South Brooklyn Studio Tours

Join other Gawkers to check out some of the area's artists on Saturday May 22, and Sunday May 23rd. Brooklyn Studio Tours is organizing a tour of (duh!) working studios in the area.

"Our objective is to assist in forming new relationships and exposing your work to a greater public audience.   In the past, Open Studio Weekends have been great successes and lots of fun too.  Our May 2009 tour had many visitors who spanned across multiple studios.  We even had a visit from the Appalachian Mountain club!   Pair that with the Vespa convention on Hicks street and the weekend was filled with plenty of art, action and fun!

We will provide the main publicity, posters and maps.  In addition to our efforts to publish and post these in any and all local areas, websites and blogs  (including but not limited to all major Brooklyn neighborhoods, NYC – Chelsea, Flat Iron, Village, etc.), we ask your help in taking our materials and posting in your favorite locations, send some to friends and relationships, posting the information on your websites, blogs, emails, etc.  Our current distribution lists are now well over 2000 people.  All we need from you is your agreement to open your studio those days, your name(s), address with cross streets (so we can mark the map) and your medium. "