New York Post: Dumbo Towers Foes Team Up: The DUMBO Neighborhood, Brooklyn Heights and Fulton Ferry Landing associations issued a joint statement in opposition of David and Jed Walentas' proposed $200 million, 400-apartment, middle-school and retail project that would run seven- to 17-stories high along Water, Dock and Front streets.
Notice how, despite the mounting opposition from community groups to this mammoth project, the developer promises to soldier on. Two Trees apparently believes that the affected communities will be hornswoggled by the proposed inclusion of a middle school. Let us hope that, in the end, their arrogance and greed will be no match for the will of the people.
We need a middle school. The Walentas option is the only one on the table. What alternative to the community groups and Yassky offer? Where do their children go to school?
Two Main Points: 1.) Amazingly, the editor of the Brooklyn Paper seems to be convinced that Walentas, in the editor’s own words, has the right, under current zoning, to “build a very, very, very tall building.” But that is a flat out lie unless Walentas builds a totally crazy, sliver of a 200 feet long and 18 feet wide on just a tiny part of his one acre property. He just aint doing that or anything similarly tall and nuts.
2.) On the Middle School, a BHA technical study has proved that there is room for a middle school right in the open area behind PS8. The school authorities, rather than seriously considering this breakthrough idea, were suprisingly quick to quibble over its details and try to knock it down. But they failed to show that it positively could not be done. For the over $40 million committed to the school, we can have a permanent school building right on school property. Why are they trying so hard to force us into accepting a school which would be tucked into a tall building as a long-term tenant of a controversial landlord??
@Steve, I have posed that same question many times. Why, after all they’ve done to “create” DUMBO are they insisting on this unpopular project?