Friday, February 29, 2008

Important Meeting Monday!

Important meeting this coming Monday, March 3, 2008!
IT'S COMING AND IT'S BIG....707 NEW APARTMENTS ON THE GOWANUS CANAL.

The Toll Brothers have unveiled their plan for a 605, 380 square foot project between Bond and the Gowanus Canal, Carroll and Second Streets. What does it mean for our neighborhood?
Come hear Craig Hammerman (District Manager, Community Board 6) Phil DePaolo (Community Organizer) and Tony Avella (City Council Member and Mayoral Candidate) address our concerns regarding the Toll Brothers development. Help plan for the upcoming Public Scoping Meeting at City Planning on March 13.

The meeting is at:
Monday March 3 6:30 PM
St. Mary's Star of the Sea Residences
41 1st St.
(between Hoyt & Bond)
in the Community Room

Sunday, February 24, 2008

CG CORD has gotten a mention today in Crain's!
From Crain's today Feb. 24 (edited)
B'klyn finds it takes an online village
"Carroll Gardens activists raise ruckus via blogs; builders, politicians take note"

February 23. 2008 11:40AMBy: Andrew Buck
"It didn't seem like a big deal when Bob Guskind posted a rendering
of a building for a site on Smith Street in Carroll Gardens several
months ago. But within days, other bloggers in the Brooklyn
neighborhood had zeroed in on the property. They uncovered fresh
details, including the developer's name and the luxury residential
project's height, 70 feet, which would dwarf the surrounding brownstones.
Dubbed “the heavy metal building” by Carroll Gardens bloggers, the
development quickly became a magnet for local groups and officials
>determined to preserve the neighborhood's low-rise charm....
“It is amazing how a small community was galvanized after reading
one post,” says Mr. Guskind, whose blog, The Gowanus Lounge, was the
first to carry an image of the building. “Three years ago, this
wouldn't have happened.”......
"It's a new day for online community activism. According to Katia
Kelly, a longtime Carroll Gardens resident and the sole blogger on
Pardon Me for Asking, the movement's strength lies in networking.
Cross-linking posts lets one person's message spread almost
instantly. Blogs are also gaining power as their content makes it
into mainstream media.....
“We used to have to beg papers for coverage on local issues, and if
we published anything ourselves it would be waved off as a rumor,”
says Lumi Michelle Rolley, founder of No Land Grab, a four-year-old,
Atlantic Yards-centric blog. “Blogs are now a natural fit for
activists.”....
That was good news for Triada Samaras. Within days of seeing the
picture of the development at 360 Smith St., she and half a dozen
other fiftysomething neighbors formed the Carroll Gardens Coalition
to Respectfully Develop. CORD has gathered more than 3,000 signatures online calling for city
officials to recognize that a sizable number of residents want a
moratorium on construction in the neighborhood.....
“The land-use and development process has not been transparent,” Mr.
Guskind says. “Blogging has changed that.”

Sunday, February 17, 2008






Here are more pics of 360 smith street this time from second place (oliver house)....It is clear how large the mass is from the surrounding architecture...second place and smith street are dwarfed by this bulk. We have no pictures of the back of this hulk building (yet) ,
where the mass of this building will unfortunately meet the neighboring backyards. It is bound to be overwhelming. CORD

Thursday, February 14, 2008

360 Smith Street Seen Again, this time in the light of day



















CORD received this image today with a note from the sender:
"This
image was made to get an idea of a more
realistic rendering than
the architect's drawing was showing.
(See the architect's depiction
below). The architect's drawing shows the building by a
grey sky
which reduces the
contrast, making the upper stories less visible
and thus having the eye focusing on the
"brick" part which is in line
with the context (of the neighborhood).
I have attached the image
but with some kind of blue sky we may have by
a nice winter day
just like today. ( I did it very quickly so, pardon the
details....)
You will see that the building is far away from
our
expectations as the upper stories are more visible." (in the
light of day)

Sincerely, XXX

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

The "New "(ish) 360 Smith Street

At last we know what's going to get built here (well sort of, except for the back of the building that is)...Pardon Me for Asking is calling it: "The New 360 Smith Street: better, Except for That Glass Tower!"

Is that a fair assessment? See for yourselves below. Remember Hannah Senesh is already 50 feet high, so the height figure of 70 feet that Mr Stein is quoting for the "tallest part" of his "Oliver House" (aka "360 Smith Street" aka "Heavy Metal") is very misleading! And remember that Smith Street itself is narrow, as is Second Place, as is Second street, and that this building will abut the sidewalk on the Smith Street side, creating a large vertical barrier that will forever change the street scapes of all the surrounding blocks, especially Second Street, which will face this facade directly (head on) and lose all kinds of sunlight, neighborhood vistas, sky, etc.

Mot to mention the shadows it will cast. Remember, too, that Mr. Stein brought NO pictures of the rear of this building i.e. the important side that will face all the existing backyards on Second Place and First Place, and perhaps with very good reason...they may have truly upset some people in the audience!

So we like to think that yes, developer Mr. Stein, was gracious enough to come to a public meeting and to discuss his building with the community. We know he was "as of right" from the beginning, and he did not necessarily have to do this. On the other hand, we have pointed out to him repeatedly, that he is, in fact, our "new neighbor", and of course it behooves us both to have some kind of civil, working relationship.

But we must also remember he is only willing to compromise certain aspects of this project, and his "bottom line" remains unchanged. (No surprise). The height/bulk/mass/density that we have been taking strong issue with for months are still hugely problematic. What is improved is the exterior treatment of the former "Heavy Metal" building.......the "skin" of the building is quite improved. And we are thankful that Mr. Stein has been willing to compromise in that area.

We agree with Pardon Me for Asking that the glass tower is still an eyesore and too tall. Many people in the audience agreed with this point and pointed out the corner would be much improved by bringing down its height! (That word again). In the final analysis, this building is hardly "contextual" for Brownstone, low-rise Carroll Gardens, except for the new, exterior materials.

And no one last evening mentioned the impact of the increased density on that block. 49 units are now being planned. The former number was 42-44. So what about that, and what about the infrastructure and safety concerns we have been mentioning all along? The jury is still out on these critical issues.

And without immediate changes to our laws here in Carroll Gardens, the saga of 360 Smith street is bound and determined to repeat itself and will soon be coming to a block NEAR YOU!
Please join us in our fight to preserve our beloved neighborhood!

It takes an entire neighborhood to save a neighborhood.


CORD

Friday, February 8, 2008

Important CGNA MEETING this Monday!

We understand that 360 Smith Street developer Billy Stein will be appearing at the Carroll Gardens Neighborhood Association meeting on Monday (2/11) at 7:30 PM. The meeting will take place at St. Mary Star of the Sea Residence at 41 First Street, between Hoyt and Bond Streets, which is a new location.















CORD

Interesting read from The Real Deal below. It's too long to copy/paste the whole thing however so here's the link:
http://ny.therealdeal.com/articles/8943

February 2008
Shoddy construction watch

More than 100 building complaints have been filed in the renovation of 598 6th Street in Park Slope.
By Michael Rudnick

Want to find out which new buildings in Brooklyn are shoddily built? Check out where the construction complaints are.

The rush to build in recently rezoned residential neighborhoods caused such complaints to skyrocket just over 18 percent in 2007 to 21,971. That's both the largest number of complaints and greatest year-over-year increase for all five boroughs, according to the New York City Department of Buildings.

The statistic measures complaints related to active construction sites—the Department of Buildings and other city agencies don't track complaints about finished apartment buildings—but construction-
related filings can be the best indicator of structural problems that new buildings will face several years down the line, government officials said.

Evan Thies, senior advisor to New York City Council member David Yassky, said construction accidents in the Greenpoint/Williamsburg area have increased by 600 percent in the last three years. "This is an indicator of the type of labor and manner of construction and design that these developers have employed," Thies said.

"It is the best indicator of what is going to happen [in these new
buildings] one, two, 10 years down the line. If construction is shoddy and dangerous, the finished product will be shoddy and dangerous," he said..........
(CORD)

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

"A Walk Around the Blog" from B-CAT

Here is the video segment from the Brooklyn Review program called, "A Walk Around the Blog" currently airing on television! Gowanus Lounge and CORD are featured in a segment called "A Walk around the Blog" that takes the viewer on a walk to see two highly controversial development sites in Carroll Gardens that most, if not all, Carroll Gardens residents will recognize at once. "Brooklyn Review" is Brooklyn's only news magazine show and airs on Time Warner Cable TV Channel 56. Airs: Tuesdays 3:30 PM and 11:30 PM. Thursday 1:30 PM and 9:30 Pm. Fridays 1:30 Pm Saturdays 8:30 PM.

Just one week after we declared it "RESOLUTION DAY" (see our post below), it is already "SUPER TUESDAY!!"

In Carroll Gardens "Super Tuesday" has a special meaning this year. It means:
1) The Presidential Primaries (of course)
2) The GIANTS parade (of course of course)
3) TEST BORING at 360 Smith Street and new calls for the old questions! (????????????)
Yes, test boring is occurring at the empty lot as we speak. NO, we have still have NO IDEA what is being proposed for this development site. Mr. Stein is reportedly attending next Monday night's CGNA meeting which will be in an all new location.. the St. Mary's Senior Housing. Details forthcoming........
CORD

Sunday, February 3, 2008


Hello!
The question below has been posed to various CORD members REPEATEDLY! this week by several people in the media. It's a good one. And we have spent some time thinking about an aswer to it. read on and you will find it!
CORD

Here is the question:

"Can you give me a comment from CORD about City Planning's announcement that they're not letting CG move to the front of the line in terms of downzoning?"

Here is our answer:

Given the incredible rate of development in Brooklyn over the last several years, it is difficult for us to understand how City Planning can still be so understaffed and overwhelmed.

Doesn't someone in the City Planning Commission have the responsibility of tracking the number of job applications submitted, on a regular basis, in order to do such projections?

Wasn't this development "boom" an absolutely forseeable event?

Didn't anyone think that accelerating the approval process by the Department of Buildings might have just this effect?

Isn't the very essence of the CPC centered around the word, "Planning"?

Did they perhaps think or hope that we, regular community residents would not notice or care?

Saying that Carroll Gardens is asking to push others aside, so that we may be first, seems a deliberately manipulative way of taking the heat off where it belongs.

The real questions are:
---why is there such a long line in the first place?
---who does the line serve?
---why is there no mention of an effort to shorten the line by adding extra help to move it along?

Carroll Gardens recognizes the need and sympathizes with the frustrations of each and every other neighborhood looking for relief through rezoning.

We are not looking to shove anyone out of the way. We want to see more "windows" open up to service those of us waiting on line.

CORD

CORD HISTORY:

With the "Protect Our Homes" petition, CORD was formed in May, 2007. This petition arose as an overwhelmingly negative response to the coming of the over-sized 360 Smith Street Development at the corner of Smith Street and Second Place (Aka Oliver House; aka 131 Second Place). This petition, which had well over three thousand signatures, led to a new zoning text amendment in summer of 2008.

To: Our Elected Officials, Community Leaders, The MTA:
(MAY, 2007)

We the undersigned Carroll Gardens homeowners and residents, are appalled by the "as of right" ruling which allows owners and developers to erect buildings in our neighborhood with no regard to the impact they will present to our quality of life and the value of our homes........

http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?crlgrdns