Magic Waterfalls Rising

By on May 2, 2008 2:26 pm in Brooklyn Heights

Pardon us if we’ve seemed to really not be over-joyed about the East River Waterfalls that are coming soon.  Construction of Wacky Dane/artist Olafur Eliasson’s 4 fake waterfalls has begun in and around Brooklyn Heights as seen in the Flickr photo by heyheyamy above.

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  • Peter

    Great this is all we need in the Heights !
    MORE TOURIST! (THANKS MIKE AND MARTY)

  • yeah

    don’t know anything about these waterfalls (sound kinda dumb).

    but, how terrible! tourists! income for local businesses! enough to make me puke.

  • dumbo

    I think it’s a brilliant idea to take presumably thousands of gallons of salt water and let it pound onto the stone stanchions of a 125-year-old bridge that, according to the city itself, is already in desperate need of repair. And for how long? Day and night for nearly HALF A YEAR!!! June thru October. Good plan. Glad to see Marty and the gang thought this one through.

  • Curmudgeon

    Re the comments above:

    1. Dumbo -The 125 year old bridge will withstand the salt water pounding – rest assured.

    2. Peter – The tourists who come here are to be commended for at least getting off the standard Manhattan sites and making the effort to come to Brooklyn. And don’t worry, typically tourists from Europe don’t bring their car and they won’t vie with you for parking spaces. Do you ever travel? Are you ever a tourist? I hope that when you travel you are treated the same way you feel about tourists here.

    3. I believe that no taxpayer funds are being used for this project.

    4. Geoff – (note the elitist spelling of your name – in NY we tend to use use Jeff, not the snobby British “Geoff” ). What are you doing reading the Blog? You should be out looking for a parking space before the tourists and the ultra rich snobs grab them from the οἱ πολλοί!

  • Hoi polloi

    Curmudgeon: there is growing concern among many knowledgeable people that the bridge may not be able to withstand 5 months of salt water exposure. Only now, after the scaffolding is rising, is this being seriously considered.

    As has been noted elsewhere, not a single tourist will come to Brooklyn to see these man-made waterfalls. They’ll come to see the bridge, to eat at Grimaldi’s, to walk the promenade, visit Prospect Park, and to see Takashi Murakami. The waterfalls are incidental.

    No taxpayers funds being used? How many millions will it take to repair the damage of all that salt water?

    As usual, there has been more attention paid to spectacle and how much money it will garner, rather than the very real long-term consequences.

  • http://franceskuffel.net frances

    Will the Falls actually be visible FROM the Heights or will our views be of the other island falls in the project? Seems to me we’ll get the back end view…

  • UguysRfunny

    These posts are hilarious. 1st of all…the waterfall will not even touch the bridge. its a completely separate unit. In only LOOKS like it touches it. So the millions currently worrying about salt water can finally take a breather and go get a pie from grimoldys (btw, their pizza sucks). 2nd, why do tourists bother u guys so much? The don’t drive cars, they spend money here, they are usually polite and sometimes are pretty cute too. I’d rather have tourists that all you’s old skool bklyners who don;t know how to smile or say HI and spend 3 hours a week sitting in your cars worried about getting a ticket as alt side pking ends. This is the new brooklyn. its happy. it likes kids, rock music and ice cream. so u betah rekugniz. ps…anyone who eggs a jerk on a loud motorcycle this summer wins a free gallon of expired milk from key food. (see, we all have our peevs)

  • hoppy

    Ahoy, polloi,

    I could give a rat’s ass about this project one way or the other, but who are these “knowledgeble people” that are concerned about the effect of East River water on the stones of the BB towers. Are they geologists and/or engineers? I’m not personally inclined to believe that the structural integrity of the stones or mortar of the towers will be suddenly compromised by a few months of East River back-spray after they’ve been exposed to it for 125 years. I’m not saying you’re wrong, but please elaborate with some independent verification (links to credible sources and stuff).

  • CJP

    (Thought I already posted this but it somehow got zapped; I was in a “message approval” queue but somehow it never made it on the board. And welcome back, this site was down for a while today…)

    Agree with all that Curmudgeon has to say about this project. It’s a welcome addition, something fun and different and I welcome and encourage tourists to our beautiful neighborhood. As Curmudgeon correctly points out they’re to be commended for getting out of Manhattan.

    And speaking of tourists. Doesn’t it seem like it’s primarily European tourists, identifiable by their French and German guidebooks, who seem to visit Brooklyn Heights, as opposed to vistors from the rest of the U.S.?

    Just hoping that the Waterfall project will also have some kind of fancy, colorful lighting at night!

  • bornhere

    Is this like one of those psych-test visuals in the old Psych 101 books? Maybe I really am getting old. But everyone who can see anything that suggests the 4 fake waterfalls “as seen in the Flickr photo by heyheyamy above,” raise your hands. I see a wheelbarrow, old joint-compound buckets, and some I-don’t-know’s. Maybe those are the key.

  • CB Photography

    CJP — Yes, all the tourists in Brooklyn Heights these days are European, just like all the tourists in Manhattan. With the weak dollar, a vacation in NY is just about the cheapest trip that Germans, French and Spanish can make! Personally, I think it’s terrific, and I welcome their contributions to our tax revenue.

    I don’t feel strongly one way or the other about this particular project, but I think temporary art installations as a rule are fun, contribute to the quality of life, and are generally worth public funding. The list of publicly funded art projects that were initially reviled and later beloved is a mile long (Maya Lin’s Vietnam memorial in DC, The Gates, Dubuffet’s Four Trees at Chase Manhattan Plaza, etc.).

    Can’t people find more worthy causes to get worked up about?

  • http://http:www.myspace.com/billyreno Billy Reno

    This crazy new art makes me miss Bob Ross all the more!

  • Brooklyn Dodger

    They will come down in the fall. Then we can vote on whether we are sad to see them go.

  • heightsdiho

    What’s not to like about a waterfall?

  • Kris

    Hooray for art!

  • Bosco

    I’m sorry, but is this what people are raving about?

    http://www.gowanuslounge.com/2008/05/07/waterfall-grows-tall-on-brooklyn-heights-waterfront/

    I’d rather see the fire boat that shoots water in the air.
    I’d rather watch the water in my whirlpool spin about.
    This is so incredibly stupid. What a waste of time and money.
    Not to mention the time it takes for me to type this missive.

  • No One Of Consequence

    Speaking of the BB, what are they doing to the overpass that leads down Cadman Plaza East/Washington St.?
    Looks a bit of place on the existing design of the bridge.