Months and years of combat against the City by local citizens led by AB (MTOPP in particular) has yielded nothing in the way of protections against outsized development. The Community Board has taken the stance of "No Negotiating With Terrorists," as if City Planners and "more housing" advocates didn't have a leg to stand on. They do. In fact, the City IS the leg. And Boyd and company have misplayed their hand so horribly as to leave us with projects like the new Spice Factory development that, barring unforeseen economic catastrophe, will look something like this:
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And then, as they always do, Empire(s) will fall. (Activists Get Nothing)
And to think, when the Q first started looking at the issue, Eric Adams and co. were hoping to work with City Planning to cap buildings at 10-12 stories. Now, by alienating the City and allowing "spot rezonings" to go through one-by-one, I'd say the neighborhood that was won't be anymore.
Is it the end of the world? Of course not. Was it an enormous missed opportunity to partner with the City in deciding how and where this stuff should go? Hell yeah.
21 comments:
Christ, is that an Apple Store in one of the renderings? LMFAO
new buildings being built.
HOORAY
Commutes are going to be awesome.
Tim,
Do you REALLY think that MTOPP/AB intend to provide protection against outside development? Given what they've "accomplished" I wonder if their INTENT might be the opposite?
I get the sense that this is a fake design designed to stir up political controversy, and that the developer may ultimately wind up building something shorter that doesn't cast significant incremental shadows on the Botanic Garden.
I'm surprised that they don't just propose buildings that taper from 20-something stories along Franklin Avenue down to 8-10 or so next to the shuttle tracks. Two (high-end) examples of this strategy are Via 57 West (designed by Bjarke Ingels Group) along the West Side Highway, and Mercedes House (designed by TEN Arquitectos) a few blocks from the former. Via 57 West uses the strategy to create many apartments with river views; Mercedes House uses it to avoid casting shadows on DeWitt Park to the west.
You can see what I mean by "tapering form" here:
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7669337,-73.9971997,131a,35y,48.98h,73.89t/data=!3m1!1e3
If the developer is smart, they'll sell the tapered design as an amenity.
I should add that it seems politically designed to create a "wedge issue" to split the community (e.g. "But don't you like this shiny affordable housing? Or do you want to save your precious little garden instead?")
It's a shame that even "affordable" here is probably still expensive, and that we don't have a good way to create new opportunities for homeownership for the long-term working-class and middle-class residents of Crown Heights.
Heck, I'd be fine with developers building 40-story towers of Mitchell Lama affordable co-ops on Bedford, Rogers, Nostrand and Empire so that our rent-controlled neighbors facing the threat of eviction can have more stability in their lives. Seriously, what will it take to have new developments be places that long-time residents can call home too?
47,000 -- 58,000 AMI is needed in these units this is the in between incomes
Thanks to those progressive ding dongs -- calling AOC -- the future tenants are unlikely to work for Amazon.
@ Anonymous (2/15 10:14am)
As a resident of Crown Heights, I wouldn't want to take a job along the waterfront in Long Island City either. I had done it for a while - the B44 SBS to/from the G train at Bedford-Nostrand is pretty reliable, plus you can get a seat on the G train ride back home. That walk from Court Square to the waterfront along 44th Drive though - it's like a windier, more desolate version of Empire Boulevard. I'd much prefer a job in Lower Manhattan or Brooklyn itself than working for Amazon in LIC.
Why not? Amazon already has 5000 employees in the city and they aren't gonna stop hiring any time soon. You want high paid tech industry gentrifiers in the hood? News flash: they are already here.
To blame it entirely on AB/MTOP/Flower Lovers for Preposterous Posters/New Scams in Healing is a bit disingenuous. Other paths were available to get to some semblance of community self-determination. That the established neighborhood orgs were too afraid to take them those paths is the bigger tragedy. What is the saying? Something about "When good men do nothing..." 🤔
If DeBlasio is to be believed, no Mitchell-Lama is necessary. The path to middle class stability ran through the lobby of the shiny new Amazon HQ he bent over backwards to get us. *eyeroll*
Ah, the neighborhood is emerging from its state of under-utilization and general dumpiness. It has passed the tipping point. Next up is the Sears building and its massive parking lot.
So much opportunity and there's plenty of time. Developers know the future is all about churning through the old and replacing it with the new. Fortunately, de Blatz is in their pockets.
Secretly, or not, every home-owner is keeping a close eye on the value of his local holdings. But the neighborhood schools remain abysmal. They're the ticket to the next big leg up -- or not -- in home values.
As the parent of a student at a local school, I don't know where you are getting your information. This whole "the schools are horrible" line of discussion is usually code for "the schools are too black/brown".
@Camille,
Agreed. As a local public school parent, we've had a great experience so far; I don't think "abysmal" is accurate.
One helpful online source of information we used when searching school options was the website "Inside Schools". Here's a link: https://insideschools.org/districts/17
Two helpful public school pointers:
1) You can apply to any school you want, but there is a tiered "priority" system that (mostly) gives preference to people who live in the immediate "school zone", and second to people who live in the "school district". If you're reading this blog, you're probably in District 17.
2) If there is a District 17 elementary school you like but you're not in the school zone, getting into the Pre-K program might help give you priority for applying to the Kindergarten class.
Hope this info helps.
Camille Acey said...
As the parent of a student at a local school, I don't know where you are getting your information. This whole "the schools are horrible" line of discussion is usually code for "the schools are too black/brown".
If you want to color-code results, you can. Stuyvesant High School is about 75% Asian. Brooklyn Tech is over 50% Asian. You might want to consider the elementary schools and middle schools those Stuy and Brooklyn Tech kids attended.
Parents who don't acknowledge the size of the opportunity offered by Mark Twain Intermediate School in Coney Island are missing more than they'll ever know.
Anyway, check the stats provided by the Dept of Ed on each local school.
Even in the Gifted Program, the academic divide between students in the program is visible by the end of 3rd grade.
Hi all. I'm glad for the debate, but please know that with Anon you get the "other" side of the argument, and while he's a troll, he does live here, and I'm glad to have you shut his arguments down rather than simply lock him out. Because, sadly, he does represent a sizable minority in Brooklyn.
Camille - you say I'm disingenuous. I'm not sure that's the word you seek, but I assure you I did my homework before suggesting an unholy alliance with City Planning. Unfortunately, there are a lot of snake oil salesmen out there telling citizens they can get what they want through an enormous amount of self-organizing and self-financing. Over the past 60 years numerous battles have been won and lost by some seriously well-connected and well financed communities, from the Upper West Side to the Lower East Side. The most successful work that was done? In parts of Crown Heights, in coordination with City Planning. It's all out there for you to discover.
Occasionally, when the timing is right, you can get a Historic District named. But with Lefferts already in posession of a sizable one, and the City handing them out in a miserly fashion, and with most of the neighborhood ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL (obviously you don't fall into this category) I stick by my claim.
We had a great relationship with all the players going into our Planning Study. A lot of lies and plenty of harassment took that away from the neighborhood. Were you there? I was. It's all documented here, and you might disagree, but I assure you it was never, IS never, disingenuous.
I'm particular disheartened that the Concerned Citizens group got started and then bailed, god knows why. They seemed to think they had the answer. They managed to get a few more upper middle class neighbors to rally ALONGSIDE AB. Thanks. And then they disappeared into the night.
I'm not impressed.
Camiile, you'd better get it straight: Tim Thomas will mansplain to you till the cows come home. His rezoning was opposed by pretty much everybody. Gotta wonder why he pushes a completely discredited pro developer narrative.
It's a bizarre misrepresentation of reality where Tim, who it seems to me is in favor of no more that very controlled and limited development, can be pictured as some kind of pro-developer monster while AB/MTOPP's disingenuous anti-developer rhetoric is taken at face value, even though their actions are patently PRO-DEVELOPER, as evidenced by the piecemeal rampant as-of-right development going on here, enabled by her/their resistance to imposing any new limits.
Developments will continue to increase in size. The land is available and the need for more space of every kind is as strong as ever. Forget restraint. It's not as though PLG is the West Village or Brooklyn Heights. And when most of the major developments are finally up and occupied, most people in the area will be accepting and happy with the results. That's the way it always goes.
Another generation of residents will begin to arrive and their normal will reflect whatever the developers deliver. That's New York City. Gotta love it.
Fyi "my" rezoning was a planning study and it passed by a wide majority of the community board before the complete destruction of the board by eric adams. More than 30 board members agreed.
That ain't mansplaining. Them's the facts ma'am and they're in the public record.
As for the developers? I really don't care two bits about them. I like affordable housing and downzoning where appropriate. What are you for, anon?
My guess is that you own a house and have done very well for yourself and you're content with complaining, but not much else. Afraid even to sign your comments. Typical.
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