Beyond the outrageous rhetoric, MTOPP and the Empire Study Group that it spawned have pretty much controlled the discussion of what should happen to the two blocks leading up to Prospect Park. They have invested considerable time in preempting any City-led Planning Study for the ENTIRE western portion of the district (New York Ave to the Park, Empire Blvd to Clarkson). It's hard to believe, but what started as a desire on the part of many of us to plan the growth strategy for the neighborhood became class and race warfare over that tiny chunk of real estate. Yet, there it is.
The Q would hate to disqualify their ideas outright as woefully impractical, so I'm publishing their entire Power Point presentation without comment - except this. All of the safety, bike lane, and landscaping improvements would be part of a City plan too, one that would include market rate and affordable housing capped at around 12-14 stories (not the ludicrous 25 stories that ESG insists). I think it would be disingenuous to suggest this the most universally embraced ideas come from MTOPP. Many of them are, in fact, already on the table, study or not. That said...
10 comments:
This seems way more DOT-related than zoning related. The only instance I see where something zoning-related is mentioned is for a community center/museum at the old laundromat site. Exactly why has MTOPP been resisting this planning study again?
Because they don't want housing construction near Alicia Boyd's house.
A museum would not require zoning changes.
man i really hate these people. Curious30 is right. this whole presentation makes very transparent the fact all they care about is keeping the sunlight for those on sterling and sullivan. it's so selfish and narrow minded. Besides, i'd love the ill-fated Jackie Robinson museum to be in our neighborhood and not Tribeca like it's been in limbo--but i don't see how anyone could really FORCE them to do that, neither do i believe they would take up residence at that existing laundromat building. Jackie Robinson and the Brooklyn Dodgers disappeared when their stadium did and invoking their name for their own selfish purposes is wrong. I'd welcome a few 12-14 story buildings any day over this poorly presented bullshit
They don't have to wait for a planning study to create a community center/museum.
If they were to offer the owner of the old laundromat more money to create a community center/museum than other bidders or uses, the site can likely be theirs NOW.
That is the saddest, lamest planning study I've ever seen. Their two ideas are: 1) a bike lane, and 2) building a museum/community center that they don't have funding for, in a building they don't own and isn't for sale.
I love how their safety-minded proposal of adding bike lanes and stuff still preserves the completely unnecessary 6-way clusterfuck at Franklin and Empire, even throwing in a random 1-way to 2-way bike lane merger that would require cyclists to navigate that intersection by crossing it in 3 places instead of 2.
They are nothing if not consistent.
How does this Agnotti guy have the reputation for being some urban planning lefty radical when he TAKES AWAY SIDEWALK SPACE from pedestrians to install a bike lane instead of the roadway? What a joke.
Like Anon at 3:39 says, my reaction is just, oh great, more people actually thinking you can force property owners to do your bidding. Don't forget the "repurpose storage buildings" part they propose. How on earth do they plan to accomplish that? Seize the storage buildings as their own? MTOPP and ilk are as crazy as they come. This is such an embarrassment for the neighborhood.
@roxv - Re:"Jackie Robinson and the Brooklyn Dodgers disappeared when their stadium did"
Yet, there is an apartment complex that still carries the name of the former stadium on that site. Also, the school on McKeever Place carries Jackie Robinson's name. On those grounds, it would be understandable to propose a community center/museum that honors Jackie Robinson in the area.
@MikeF - They'd also have to come up with money to demolish the existing structure and to build a new one, right? I doubt the current building on the corner of McKeever and Empire is salvageable.
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