Open Thread Wednesday 2/25/15

By on February 25, 2015 12:46 am in Brooklyn Heights

What’s on your mind? Comment away!

Also, feel free to add any relevant news links about Brooklyn Heights or related stories you think are interesting in the comments below!

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  • Justine Swartz

    March 1, Sunday, 1pm to 4pm. A Fun Costume Party for all ages!!! No admission fee at Mt. Sinai Purim Carnival Extravaganza. @ 250 Cadman Plaza West. Tickets are purchased at the entrance will buy schmaltz food, games of chance and sure things, too, really cheap rides and sports challenges. There are roving funny folks, Prizes and Gifts, Cute Kids in Costumes, music and a feast for your eyes entertainment wherever you look.
    Come! Enjoy!

  • Bill Ringler

    Jim Walden, the lawyer who worked with the 6 community groups to save LICH has opened his own law firm. Read the article from the Brooklyn Eagle: http://www.brooklyneagle.com/articles/2015/2/24/lawyer-integral-lich-case-opens-new-firm

  • Andrew Porter

    25 Cranberry Street was a Building-of-the-Day on brownstoner.com (which often writes up interesting buildings in BH and downtown):

    http://www.brownstoner.com/blog/2015/02/building-of-the-day-25-cranberry-street/

  • Andrew Porter

    The video at the head of this is fascinating. Bizarrely, I think we have to thank Robert Moses for the revival of brownstone Brooklyn, through his construction of the Farragut Houses. They ended up becoming a high-rise slum, which bottled up gentrification and forced it to go south into Cobble Hill and Park Slope. The construction of the BQE and the barrier presented by the Brooklyn Navy Yard aided in this movement. I could go on and on about Robert Moses and his love affair for the new (for instance, his unrealized plans to raze State Street in favor of new buildings), but I’ll leave you with an image of the horrible slums on the east side of Henry Street, where 75 Henry—which turns its back on BH by having its entrance on Cadman Plaza West; Henry Street gets the back entrance and the place they pick up the garbage—is now:

  • suzanne goss

    Anyone know why there is a parade of young people with security vests and hardhats walking towards Columbia Heights every evening? Jehovah’s Witnesses?

  • Bridge

    yes , they are droids dispatched to the area via bus from points unknown to dig underground tunnels all over the North Heights to connect the JW safe houses.

  • Henry North

    Actually, residents of 75 Henry (and everyone except Mr. Porter, apparently) consider the Cadman Plaza side to be the back entrance. Your comment would make it seem like the Henry St. side is a neglected afterthought, which is far from the truth. Sure, the building ain’t pretty, but for many years it had been one of the few places normal people could afford to get into. (Sadly that’s no longer true, and we’re now well on our way to the Tribeca-ficaiton of our neighborhood, with only millionaires able to move in.)

  • Reggie

    In the second sentence, did you mean “ghetto” (“an isolated or segregated area or group”) when you wrote “slum” (“squalid and overcrowded urban street or district inhabited by very poor people”)? Farragut is not a slum.

  • Solovely

    Any recommendations for a storage facility? For larger type household items? Thank you!

  • Elle

    I was wondering the same thing

  • Guest

    I have 10X10 rooms at both Public and American Storage on Tillary. Although their “ambiance” is about the same, American is a bit less expensive and user friendly.

  • Guest

    That should read “more user friendly.”

  • Fritz

    Library Project. Does anyone know how to find out where the offsite affordable housing is intended to be built? Is this an alternative to a poor door in the new development?

  • Andrew Porter

    I know UPS refuses to deliver there. I wonder why that is? Any comment on the other points I raised?

  • Andrew Porter

    They are JWs who work during the day at the new HQ in upstate NY. They return every evening to their dormitories. The sooner the work is done, the sooner the JWs will be totally out of this area!

  • Andrew Porter

    The Henry Street side was only recently spiffed up with new stairs, plantings, lighting, etc. The impressive front entrance remains on the Cadman Plaza West side of the building. At 140 Cadman Plaza West, there is no entrance on Henry Street at all—it is the back of the garage. (And I remember when all the towers were built, in the mid-60s.)

  • suzanne goss

    thanks. Reminds me of their 2x a day parade decades ago — miles and miles of young robots in polyester. As my father always said, the world’s thinnest book is Fashion Tips from the Jehovah Witnesses

  • Reggie

    I agree with your general thesis, Andrew, although I don’t think there was a geographical thrust as much as a conceptual re-appreciation for architectural styles (etc.) that were at risk of being lost. Also, I disagree with your assertion that Robert Moses had a love affair with the new. (A friend is one of the foremost Moses scholars in the country and so I have been to several conferences and have talked about Moses more than I will admit.) That said, re-read the first six words of this reply.

  • Andrew Porter

    Not wishing to beat a semi-conscious horse, but I just found this post on the Brooklyn Historical Society blog about Robert Moses and his drive to push through a Brooklyn to Manhattan Battery bridge (not tunnel), including his successful plan to condemn the old Aquarium, which stood in its way. Really fascinating in a morbid sort of way:

    http://brooklynhistory.org/blog/2015/02/02/map-of-the-month-february-2015/

  • Andrew Porter

    They used to walk en masse back and forth to their factories between the bridges. The entire complex was sold off a couple of years ago, and is slowly becoming “Dumbo Heights,” a center for high tech offices, retail stores, housing, which will Really Change the demographics in the north Heights.

    Have you noticed that the JWs have changed over the years, no longer wear those white shirt/chinos clueless fashions? Except the women still wear skirts below their knees, the men still forbidden to have beards/mustaches…

  • ShinyNewHandle

    No more up-voting a post without first swearing allegiance to the pan-Web Disqus overlords, eh?

  • resident

    I think you are confusing buildings… The Cadman side of 75 Henry is 200 CPW, not 140. The main entrance to the building has always been 75 Henry. In fact, only residents can use the Cadman side and their used to be a sign there that told people they had to walk around to the Henry entrance where the doorman is. The new stairs and plantings were completed 10 years ago. Amazing story that building. A three bedroom just went into contract for $1,999,000. It got out of the Mitchall Llama program in 2001. Made a lot of people a lot of money.

  • DoBro84

    More change coming to the downtown. Recently filed plans for full demolition of buildings.

    189 Montague filed 2/27/2015

    Details: http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/JobsQueryByNumberServlet?requestid=1&passjobnumber=321091242&passdocnumber=01

    146 Pierrepont filed 2/18/2015

    Details: http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/JobsQueryByNumberServlet?requestid=1&passjobnumber=321086891&passdocnumber=01

  • Andrew Porter

    Sigh… 140 Cadman Plaza West is the building to the north, on Cadman Plaza West, at Middagh and Henry Streets. A different building entirely. It is still part of the Mitchell-Lama program, did not go private like 200 CPW/75 Henry did.

  • Andrew Porter

    I for one welcome our new Disqus overlords…

  • Andrew Porter

    Says not Landmarked. Really? Outside the BH Landmarked area, also the Skyscraper District?

  • DoBro84

    Only parts of the south side of Montague Street are in the Borough Hall Skyscraper HD.

    Details: http://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/downloads/pdf/maps/boro_hall_map.pdf

  • resident

    Cant make heads or tails of the filing. But I do see the words “single room occupancy” and “low income housing”.

    I wonder what they are building? 189 Monty is currently a small office building across from the food store. It also notes there is a change in occupancy and number of floors…

  • DoBro84

    So far the only plan that’s been submitted is for taking down 189 Montague. Note item 11 in the filing:

    “11 Job Description
    FILING FOR FULL DEMOLITION OF 9 STORY BUILDING, MECHANICAL EQUIPMENT FOR BACKFILL AND DEBRIS”

    You can monitor filings for new building plans at:

    http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/my_community.jsp

    Choose “Brooklyn — 02″ in Step 1 and “New Buildings” in Step 2