Open Thread Wednesday 2/26/2014

By on February 26, 2014 7:20 am in open thread

What’s on your mind? Comment away!

Photo: Mrs. Fink

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  • Jorale-man

    The Wall Street Journal reports that Macy’s is considering a full renovation of the Fulton Street Store. Not a bad idea… http://on.wsj.com/1kgelB7

  • marshasrimler

    The Brooklyn Public Library has finally gone to Albany (years late) to lobby for monies. They hired a bus. At first they allowed everyone on it. They then said only staff and Leadership of the Friends Group could go. Many folks who strongly support the library but also strongly oppose the destruction/sell-off plan were then thrown off the bus. The library continues to fail to understand that while they are a non-profit the majority of there funding is from NYC TAXPAYERS and we deserve a say.

  • Teresa

    Has anyone gotten a henna tattoo at any of the neighborhood places? Planning to get one but would like recommendations.

  • DIBS

    A “tramp stamp?” In Brooklyn Heights????

    :)

  • MonroeOrange

    i think you just want a free trip to scenic Albany! ;)

  • marshasrimler

    right.. ha ha

  • TMS

    I have to say, as critical as I am about overcrowding and overbuilding in the neighborhood, this is the one building that I think would benefit us all in terms of a modern library, and housing with a small footprint. Much better than the awful Pierhouse down by the water and the eyesore that will be Dock St Dumbo.

  • A Neighbor

    Did anyone get a photo of the truck that downed the tree on Henry St last week? If we have a picture of the truck with the company name on it (it didn’t look like there was one) or the license plate, I have the name of someone at the Parks Dept who will help us get the company to fund a replacement.

  • marshasrimler

    you need to look at the proposed buildings again.. they are huge. we can get a modern or refurbished library without this sell your soul to the devil development. The BPL is lazy and sees this as a quick fix. It will take years and be litigated.. horrible plan
    stop library sell-offs

  • DIBS

    Aren’t you still getting a new library with the development? The lot has a FAR ratio that can be built to, legally. Why be so anti development when the situation is that there is a scarcity of apartments????? If I’m not mistaken they are also proposing a supermarket.

  • David on Middagh

    I think MSR meant “sell-your-soul-to-the-devil development.”

    (With hyphens.)

    The counterargument (“scarcity of apartments”) means little without context. We are not obliged to provide rich newcomers, or even middle-class newcomers, who decide they want to live in newly cool Brooklyn, suitable quarters to buy at the expense of our own sunshine.

  • AnnofOrange

    The snow was pretty and now melting (sort of), sanitation picked up garbage and recycle and the sun is shining. Nice! :-)

  • Heightsman

    I remember a day when people actually commented on this board…now it’s either the library or LICH topics that get any sort of a reaction…oh well.

  • marshasrimler

    the BPL”S , mission it to preserve our library system not shrink it through sell-offs

  • David on Middagh

    PS8 Sidewalk Sheds/ Construction…

    The online documentation I could find on the school’s site indicates work through the Summer and likely Autumn to fix leaks in the roof, to replace the third-floor windows, to repoint the exterior brickwork, and do any asbestos abatement that may become necessary. If I have mischaracterized the work or missed something, I hope someone will chime in!

  • Andrew Porter

    I read two articles about it on the Brooklyn Eagle site. I hope the renovations return some of the exterior architecture to what it was before the facade was “modernized”, and the selling pace enlarged to what it was years ago. There used to be 8 floors of selling space, with appliances sold in the annex reached by a flyover to another building. This shrank over the years. At least they didn’t tear out the gorgeous art deco elevators, though only a couple are now in operation. (And I still have my old Abraham & Strauss credit cards!)

  • Jorale-man

    Yes, part of what makes the current Macy’s such a dispiriting and depressing environment isn’t just the need for a renovation but the way the old architectural details were covered over in the name of “progress.” I would think that many of them are lurking behind drop ceilings and tacked on facades and could be revealed by a historical-minded architect. My sense about Macy’s is that it doesn’t have a lot of civic virtue in the way it operates its stores however – they’ve been heavy-handed with other old buildings across the country – and the bottom line is what interests them the most. But we’ll see – if they really want to attract the new breed of Brooklynites they’d try to evoke more of the building’s rich history.

  • MonroeOrange

    um…when did Macy’s move in? This is A&S!

  • David on Middagh

    I’ve caught on to their game: Manufacture “brand names” that are actually store brands; put absurd prices on those store brands; then almost immediately put the store brands on sale, reduced to whatever they always intended to receive. The real sale comes at Clearance time.

  • Klezmer O’Brien

    Hey, is anybody getting damage to houses/apartments from the continual pounding down in BB Park?

    It starts at 7 am and pounds through the day.

    The street shakes.

  • PubliusBklyn

    There’s a guy going door to door with a cockamamie story that a multitude of bad things just happened to him and he’s locked out of his house, and he’s my neighbor right down the block, the police tried to get him back into his apartment but couldn’t and could I give him $12 so he can go to a hospital in Deal NJ to visit his mother because his Dad just died of a stroke. No kidding.