Monday, March 31, 2008

Protest the Bklyn Museum's gala honoring AY developer Ratner

This email has been making the rounds:
Surely the idea of a major Brooklyn art museum holding a GALA for Mr Ratner smacks of poor taste to say the very least!

CORD

Hi,

I'm forwarding info on a protest at the Brooklyn Museum's gala honoring
Bruce Ratner this Thursday evening. Personally, I find this "honor"
much more offensive than a painting of the Virgin Mary resting on
Elephant dung. Please send along to others you think might be
interested.

I would also encourage you to send an email to
information@brooklynmuseum.org or letter to the museum director:
Arnold L. Lehman, The Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn,
New York 11238-6052 expressing your feelings on this issue.

Sincerely, XXX

By Dana Rubinstein

The Brooklyn Paper

The museum will hand Ratner the award at its Annual Ball on April 3.

Museum spokeswoman Sally Williams said the honor stemmed from Ratner’s “contribution to arts and culture in Brooklyn and to the museum” and his “generous support of various activities of the Brooklyn Museum.”

Williams declined to provide specific numbers and said the museum’s selection of Ratner did not indicate its support for Atlantic Yards, the 16-skyscraper mega-development that has divided Brooklyn along class, race and socio-economic lines for more than four years.

She added that the museum’s selection of Ratner did not indicate its support (or lack thereof) for Atlantic Yards, the 16-skyscraper mega-development that has divided Brooklyn along class, race and socio-economic lines for more than four years.

“One thing has nothing to do with the other,” she said.

Ratner didn’t respond to a request for comment — but Atlantic Yards opponents were angry that the developer was getting an award from a publicly funded institution, despite spearheading a project that will cost taxpayers billions in direct and indirect subsidies.

“It's just this sort of symbiotic relationship between Mr. Ratner and Brooklyn's publicly subsidized civic institutions that has led to too much silence amongst the city's power elite who should know better, while the neighborhoods continue to oppose his destructive mega-project and its abuses,” said Daniel Goldstein, spokesman for Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn......."

(edit)

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Do you have questions about 340 Court Street?

Do you have QUESTIONS about 340 Court Street? The Union Sackett Block Association group would like you to write them down and email them to union.sackett@gmail.com by this coming Tuesday April 1, 2008....(no fooling!)

Also Please see this post at their blog at http://www.union-sackett.blogspot.com/

Important!: April 3rd Meeting Reminder & Flyer

Please save this date and encourage all members of the community to attend. You can click on the flyer image above to enlarge it. If you have the time, print and distribute.

Please note: in preparation for the April 3rd event, there is a planning meeting this Saturday, March 29 at 11:30 AM in the Carroll Gardens Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, located on the corner of Clinton and Union.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

One-Third of Carroll Gardens' Subway Plaza Will Be Lost to Development

CORD would like to welcome aboard and say: "CONGRATULATIONS" to a new CG blog: Carroll Gardens History! http://www.carrollgardenshistory.blogspot.com/

In a disturbing visual presentation made in the Monday, March 24, 2008, post, it is clear that one-third of Carroll Gardens' Subway Plaza will be lost to development if the developer, Mr. Stein, does not significantly alter his plans to build 49 condos at Oliver House (a.k.a. 360 Smith Street). This is, of course, in addition to the enormous height and mass the building will impose onto the narrow Second Place and Smith Street blocks. Not to mention the lack of meaningful dialogue the community has been able to have with the MTA, and the DOB regarding safety and infrastructure concerns. CORD

Here is the post in full:
"The residents of Carroll Gardens will lose one-third (22-feet) of the Second Place Subway Plaza (in red in the above picture) , and an important neighborhood tradition, when developer William Stern’s controversial out-of-context condominium complex is built over the subway plaza.


The 70-foot high condo project will be a massive intrusion at the corner of Smith and Second Place, which is an important gateway to the historic Carroll Gardens neighborhood. Envision a 7-story Hannah Senesh building, perhaps the most out-of-context building in Carroll Gardens, topped off with a hat.

The loss of a third of the plaza will also affect an important neighborhood tradition, that of reading a paper, talking to friends, or making those last puffs on a cigarette, while waiting until the F or G train appear on the Culver Viaduct, the 91-foot-tall subway bridge that spans the Gowanus Canal, as it makes its way to the below ground Carroll Street Station. When the train appears, everyone rushes down the steps to the subway to catch the Manhattan-bound train.

The Plaza has been open to the public in its current configuration since the subway was built in the 30s. The plaza consists of both public and privately owned sections. The publicly owned area consists of the 13-foot sidewalk and the 33’-5’25” courtyard. The courtyard is measured from the edge of the sidewalk (the house-side edge, not curb-side).

To visually understand where the courtyard ends and Stern’s property begins, look for the “S” in “Smith Street” in the mural on the freedom wall (see photo on the sidebar). From the “S”, it is 22-feet to the stairway to the subway. The property line then runs on a diagonal to a few feet north (towards the newsstand) of the MTA manhole. Stern claims that the Condo Association will maintain the 22- foot corridor that commuters will have to walk through to get to the subway stairway, as well as the 33’-5’25” courtyard."

Monday, March 24, 2008

CORD on the METRO front page today!




Metro columnist Amy Zimmer features CORD in a story on deadly over development stories on the front page of METRO today! Triada Samaras, one of the CORD Co-Founders, is quoted as saying, "It's like you are watching a train wreck. You can't take your eyes off it, but you know it's going to crash. (edit)

"The city isn't really on top of what it's doing. One answer is because it's moving too fast."

How sad but how true. CORD

Press here for complete Metro article


Meeting Reminder:

Toll Brothers is doing a presentation on their Gowanus Project Plans this week!

Who: Toll Brothers
When: Thurs. March 27
Where: PS 32 (Hoyt Street in Carroll Gardens)
What Time: 6 PM
All are welcome and encouraged to attend!



Thursday, March 20, 2008

Trouble at 170 Smith Street

This was posted today at the CGNA list serve:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CGNA/message/3827 and later at Gowanus Lounge in a comment to as story today on 170 Smith Street:

Today at 160-170 Smith Street the building owner was doing work inside
the building without a permit. An MTA staff member recognized a
problem with the structure and called DOB. The site was shut down; DOB
and FDNY were on site......(edit)....Thanks, Tom Gray, District Director, City Council Member Bill de Blasio.

(for the rest see our CORD newsletter)
By the way, the Office of Emergency Management was there as well!

CORD would like to add the following important info:

There are several buildings along the Smith Street corridor that appear to be bowed, though none as severely as 170 Smith---given the amount of construction projects in our area lately, combined with the non-stop subway service rumbling below Smith Street----perhaps it would be a good idea for the Department of Buildings and the MTA/NYCTA to join forces in a walk by, observational inspection---their trained-eyes, each looking for the types of structural weaknesses that are their individual areas of expertise, would surely be capable of ascertaining any potentially dangerous situations and propel them to take the appropriate action ---at the very least, both agencies could confidently publicly express that we may walk along Smith Street and utilize the subway system, with no trepidation because they have gone that extra mile to insure our safety and well-being. The building located at 170 Smith Street was, observed, responded to and the problem well on its way to being resolved.That's great and it is what a city of this size needs and expects of its agencies and officials. In light of all the terrible incidents related to construction going on all over the city lately, doesn't it just make sense to exercise an ounce of precaution?
CG CORD

Monday, March 17, 2008

Written Responses to the Scope Document for Toll Bros. project DUE THIS WEEK!

Dear Neighbor,
There’s just one week before the March 24th deadline to submit a written response to City Planning regarding the Scope Document for the proposed Toll Brothers 477-unit development on the Gowanus Canal. In order for the community’s responses and concerns to be considered in the project’s scoping process (preparing the Environmental Impact Statement), they must received in writing by the March 24th deadline.

There are many areas to focus on in a response to a Scoping Document, such as: Shadows, Historic Resources, Community Facilities (i.e. Daycare), Neighborhood Character, Hazardous Materials, Infrastructure, Solid Waste and Sanitation, Traffic and Parking, Construction Impacts, and Public Health, to name a few.

How to start? First, go online to look at the Toll Brothers Proposed Draft Scope of Work Document itself on Community Board 6’s website:

Click here, or use the following link: http://www.brooklyncb6.org/committees/?a=detail&content_id=52

1) What SPECIFIC issue (or issues) do you have concerns about? Find it in the Scope Document and note the number of the task and its heading, i.e. “TASK 13: INFRASTRUCTURE”, and be sure to make reference to that in your letter.

2) Look up your particular area of concern under its chapter heading in the City Environmental Quality Review (CEQR) Technical Manual (use the above CB6 link). How does the Toll Brothers Scoping Document appear to meet or not meet those city guidelines?

3) Format for your response: Write an opening paragraph, followed by the specific Task # and Heading and how you think that issue(s) needs to be more thoroughly addressed in the scope. Your response carries more weight if it’s logical, precise, laser specific and incorporates data justification whenever possible.

4) Make 2 copies of your letter, sign and send to:

Robert Dobnuskin & City of New York Community Board 6

Dept. of City Planning 250 Baltic Street

22 Reade St. Brooklyn, NY 11201

New York, NY 10007 Attn: Craig Hammerman, Dist. Manager


Remember, these responses are referring to the Toll Brothers Scoping Document itself- we’re asking if it is sufficient enough and does it satisfy the community’s concerns?
Any questions? Please contact us and we will try to help you as best we can. Good luck!

-Friends of Bond

If you have ANY questions, we’re ready to help answer them as best we can-

Email your questions to: Rita Miller at: cgcord@gmail.com or to Lizzie O. at: friendsofbond@gmail.com

Remember, the style of these written responses should be, very detailed, specific, and factual, to the best of your ability. Obviously, most of us are not technical experts but we’re part of the community immediately affected by the Toll Brothers proposal, and our concerns matter.

Your time and letter writing are so WELL WORTH IT!!

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Overdevelopment and Irresponsible development KILL

Yesterday's story about the Upper East Side crane collapse is an unspeakable horror.
See today's www.gowanuslounge.com and www.curbed.com
for details. (This story is very oddly missing from the MSN
and Yahoo homepages as this post is written, and
perhaps others as well?)
What is it going to take for this city to get it?

WHEN??? are the officials, the politicians, the authorities going to get it? Over-development and irresponsible development KILLS. So many residents have been screaming about this for months yet this horror continues anyhow. We continue to scream into the wind yet we are asked to live here, pay taxes here, raise our children here, contribute to the betterment of our collective society here....

Is this the price of progress in our town? Are we really willing to pay for over-development and irresponsible development with our own innocent blood? Mayor Bloomberg and Lieutenant Governor Paterson need to ACT IMMEDIATELY and CHANGE the CURRENT SYSTEM OF REGULATIONS from bottom to top bottom, and up and down again before this happens again and again and.....

39 complaints were filed with the Department of Buildings
"It is, perhaps, tragic happenstance that the complaint was made on March 4 and that no problem was found. The person that made the complaint and spoke to the Daily News was a retired contractor and the inspector listed says he wasn't the person that made the inspection." (See today's story at www.gowanuslounge.blogspot.com)

We completely agree with Mr Guskind when he writes that :

"the ENTIRE building inspection and construction regulation system in New York City needs a TOP TO BOTTOM OVERHAUL.."

This has been the precise reason CG CORD has pleaded for months for an IMMEDIATE BUILDING MORATORIUM in CARROLL GARDENS! Further, we now believe that ALL of NYC needs AN IMMEDIATE BUILDING MORATORIUM!!

We agree with Mr. Guskind: "It is a critically dysfunctional governmental system that THREATENS PUBLIC SAFETY and does violence to quality of life on a daily basis. While the horrendous accident on the Upper East Side is a dramatic event with awful consequences, one can find dozens of sites in BROOKLYN every day where the safety of workers and residents is put at risk.

"There are hundreds more that ruin people's quality of life by ignoring regulations with impunity. The situation is nothing short of a VILE SCANDAL. The Department of Buildings needs more inspectors and an entirely new ethic that is RESPONSIVE TO PUBLIC CONCERNS and works to safeguard residents everywhere in the city in all ways whether it's stopping illegal work or greatly curtailing the abused system of self-certification or making honest inspections of sites or making sure that solid fences are erected so that children aren't exposed to two-story deep construction pits.

"Fines need to made large enough to make them sting. Permits need to be revoked for persistent offenses. Developers and contractors need to be part of a system where inspections are real and penalties are severe.

If the city doesn't act to crack down on developers and contractors and to fundamentally overhaul the Department of Buildings..... (this is going to happen AGAIN AND AGAIN.....)

"The issue is not limited to high rise construction safety, even if the problems can have very dramatic consequences. It is everywhere, and it's not going too far to point out that fixing this broken system is A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH.

Speak out to our ELECTEDS directly by faxing them, calling them, emailing them, etc etc....many addresses can be found here and elsewhere.

BUT PLEASE DO SPEAK OUT LOUD AND CLEAR! We can not allow this IMMINENT DANGER over OVERDEVELOPMENT and IRRESPONSIBLE development to continue one day longer. The price of this kind of so-called "progress" is simply too HIGH.

NYC is our collective HOME!! after all! We already have had a moratorium resolution introduced at the New York City Council. (See our 1/31/08 "Resolution Day" post). Let us all demand an IMMEDIATE CITY WIDE MORATORIUM from Mayor Bloomberg!!

Let's demand our electeds fix what is very broken immediately!

CORD

Friday, March 14, 2008

Dear Governor Paterson:

Please see today's GL for this story and please help us write to Governor Paterson:

Atlantic Yards Opponents: "Dear Governor Paterson"

Even thought Lt. Gov. David Paterson does not assume the governorship until Monday, it's never too early to get the campaign started urging him to "pull the plug" on the Atlantic Yards project.

Dear Gov Paterson
[Original image via Atlantic Yards Report]

The "M" word coming from our new Lieutenant Governor!!

There's that word: MORATORIUM AGAIN (3 times below), and it's coming form the new NY State Governor's Office!

http://www.nysun.com/article/72905

The New York Sun
Paterson Could Derail Development
Opposes Use of Eminent Domain

By PETER KIEFER
Staff Reporter of the Sun
March 14, 2008

Mike Groll / AP

"Lieutenant Governor David Paterson speaks at news conference in the state Capitol.

If David Paterson as governor displays the opposition to eminent domain that he showed as a state senator, several high-profile development projects in New York City could be derailed or delayed, including a Columbia University expansion, the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, and the transformation of Willets Point in Queens.

As a state Senate leader, Mr. Paterson in 2005 held a rally with Council Member Letitia James and state Senator William Perkins on the steps of City Hall during which he called for a statewide MORATORIUM on the use of eminent domain.

Mr. Paterson said a decision handed down by the Supreme Court in the Kelo v. City of New London case could lead to a "gold rush" of eminent domain use across the state, The New York Sun reported at the time. He said he would gather legislators and introduce legislation to impose a MORATORIUM on its use.

"He stood with me and proposed some legislation and I am very hopeful that the lieutenant governor and soon-to-be governor will honor his commitment and will either issue a MORATORIUM or review the abuse of eminent domain across New York City," Ms. James said yesterday in an interview.

Ms. James's district is in Brooklyn, and she opposes developer Bruce Ratner's $4 billion Atlantic Yards project near downtown Brooklyn, which would require use of eminent domain.

Mr. Paterson's opposition to eminent domain could also pit him against Mayor Bloomberg, who has defended its use. "You would never build any big thing any place in any big city in this country if you didn't have the power of eminent domain," Mr. Bloomberg once said................

(See more at the Sun website above)

CORD

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Important Meetings Coming This Week!

HDC presents a Pre-Conference Lecture-A History of Population in New York City
when Thursday, March 6, 2008
where Parish Hall St Mark's Church in the Bowery
131 East 10 Street, NYC
time 6:30 PM
CALL FOR RESERVATION 212-614-9107
Learn about how our city has prepared in the past for population growth and what this may mean to the next predicted population boom.
USBA (Union Sackett Block Association) MEETING
when Saturday, March 8, 2008
where Carroll Gardens Public Library, Clinton & Union Sts
time 11:30 AM
Meet with the bordering neighbors to the old ILA site, and help prepare for the community meeting with the developers, Clarett House, slated for sometime end March early April.
CGNA General Meeting
when Monday, March 10, 2008
where St Mary Star of the Sea Residence
1st Street between Hoyt and Bond
time 7:30 PM
Paul Graziano, ACRC Principal will be there to discuss possible expansion of the Historic District in Carroll Gardens
Public Scoping Hearing RE: "Toll Brothers" Gowanus Development site
Scoping Hearing. City Planning on 363-365 Bond Street: March 13, 2008
As noted in the Positive Declaration for CEQR No. 08DCP033K, 363-365 Bond Street, a public scoping meeting has been scheduled for March 13, 2008 and will be held at the New York City Department of City Planning's Spector Hall, 22 Reade Street, New York, New York 10007. The meeting will begin at 2:00 PM. Written comments will be accepted by the lead agency until March 24, 2008.

















Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Nothing new to report re: the asbestos abatement story at the Carroll Street F train station story (so far today). (See today's and yesterday's GL for details). The very well attended Gowanus meeting for the project proposed by the Toll Brothers, however, was covered this morning by many news sources including:

From www.pardonmeforasking.blogspot.com "They will build it but will they clean it?"

"Last night's Gowanus Neighborhood meeting at Mary Star Of The Sea Senior Housing was quite impressive. Organized by the Friends Of Bond Street to help the community organize for the March 13 Public Scoping Meeting at City Planning, it was not only well attended, well organized and incredibly insightful, but also showed Carroll Gardeners are a force to be reckoned with. I was From impressed by my fellow neighbors: smart and well informed, they were ready to take on the Toll Brothers' and their Condo Complex along the shores of the heavily polluted canal......

From foundinbrooklyn.blogspot.com

"Surprise visit by the Toll Brothers at Gowanus Community Meeting".

The neighborhood meeting hosted by Friends of Bond regarding the SCOPING hearing for the Toll Brothers project along the Gowanus Canal between Carroll and 2nd Streets drew quite a large and concerned crowd from the immediate area around Bond Street. The whole premise of the meeting was to discuss how to strategize for the upcoming Scoping Hearing on March 13th with City Planning. Why does the neighborhood need to strategize you may ask?.......

From gowanuslounge.blogspot.com "Gowanus Meeting on Toll Brothers Project Draws Crowd"

"The community meeting last night about the big Gowanus project proposed by the Toll Brothers firm that would leapfrog the actual neighborhood rezoning project, drew a big crowd and even attracted two representatives from the development company itself, included VP David Von Spreckleson. City Council Member Tony Avella held forth about the advantages that pro-development upzonings have over down zonings within the Bloomberg Administration, according to local blogger PMFA, who provided one account of the meeting. Community activist Phil de Paolo, who is a veteran of many North Brooklyn development and zoning debates also advised the Gowanus group. Community Board 6 District Manager Craig Hammerman described how the environmental review process for the development would work........he mentions also

From: www.brownstoner.com

"South Brooklynites have a whole lot of questions about the 577 units of housing Toll Brothers wants to develop alongside the Gowanus Canal. And, if the overflow crowd that filled the community room in St. Mary’s Star of the Sea Residences last night was any indication, there’s a great deal of fear in the community that those questions won’t be answered before the city gives Toll the go-ahead to build their project. Among the concerns raised: That the development’s impact on already overcrowded schools and subway lines will be disastrous; that the compromised sewage system near the canal will be made even worse; that mom-and-pop business will be displaced; that the project shouldn’t be approved ahead of the wider rezoning Planning is brewing for the area; that the Environmental Impact Study will be a compilation of half-truths; and that the site’s toxic land might not be adequately cleaned up......

Stay tuned....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