Open Thread Wednesday

By on December 20, 2017 7:12 am in open thread

What’s on your mind? Comment away!

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  • Andrew Porter

    Is that this year’s tree? Would have been better at night, in full color… But the snow on the naked branches behind is Very Artistic, Claude!

    Anyway, time for another Old Postcard. Continuing the Hotel St. George posts, here’s a color-enhanced photo card. Click on image to see it full size. Certainly the small building at the corner of Henry and Pineapple is actually there:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b154044a7ee983c6475842af57c91baa275d4e0d61db4ebcd2d6623b335d0653.jpg

  • AEB

    Love that, in its wish to portray sweeping boulevards, the postcard has eliminated Hicks, Willow and etc. Not to mention all traffic.

  • Teresa

    Did anyone hear what sounded like major hammering pretty much all night this week (Monday, maybe?) around Clark and Hicks?

  • Jorale-man

    Yes, a little idealized. I like the old street lamps too. Wouldn’t it be nice if they’d bring that style back?

  • bpelle

    Have you fully researched the rights on this picture Andrew? Your low resolution picture posted for informational purposes on a free neighborhood new site might be violating someone’s copyrights.

    Just sayin’

  • Jean

    Please, don’t start another thread on this issue – go read the Dec 12 open thread, this has been covered to death.

  • bpelle

    … Hence the joke… ;)

  • local

    the pier 6 building that is going up is going to be much taller than the renderings showed. talked to a construction worker– he said 18 stories

  • DIBS

    Don’t quit your day job.

  • bpelle

    Well I was writing jokes for the Charlie Rose Show, but that didn’t work out.

  • MaggieO

    with all due respect to construction workers, you’re better off looking at the permits than asking random workers…

  • B.

    And yet developers go above their permits’ permissions, often, and the fine levied is the price of doing business. I’ve yet to see a building that’s wider and taller and deeper than allowed be dynamited.

    I’d pay attention to the guys on the site. They tend to know what developers and politicians won’t tell us.

  • Andrew Porter

    The original copyright holders no longer exist. If you have problems with posting images, go yell at the owners of Shorpy.com .

  • Andrew Porter

    I see lots of Con Edison trucks around; I believe they’re laying more cables, installing new transformers under Henry.

  • MaggieO

    if this is the rendering being referenced (https://ny.curbed.com/2017/7/21/16008166/brooklyn-bridge-park-pier-6-lawsuit) the 18 stories appears to be consistent if you understand the bulkhead atop the building to be the height of at least 2 stories… i’m not saying the developer is clearly in the right, just that not every construction worker is intimately familiar with the broad strokes of the project they’re working on. the post by “local” just felt like a bit of hearsay and fear-mongering knowing the community’s concerns about the development.

  • Reggie

    A visitor to the Shorby site needs to know how to read between the lines but the company does allude to how it can publish the photographs that it does. Over half of the seven photographs currently on the first page of the site were taken by government employees in their professional capacity and therefore not entitled to copyright protection (see 17 U.S.C. Section 105). One of the remaining three photos was posted by grandson of the person who took the photo, presumably with permission. The other two came from a collection in the Library of Congress. I didn’t take the time to check that those images are in the public domain but it seems safe to assume. I think the people who are calling you out are making much of nothing but conversely, I always explicitly state (on the websites that I maintain) by what authority I use any material that is not my own intellectual property. “The original copyright holders no longer exist” is a little loosey-goosey for my taste (and you had to be provoked to go even that far). The Shorpy comparison is weak.

  • Teresa

    Shorpy always posts the source of its photo, along with a link. It operates very much within the boundaries of copyright law.

  • StoptheChop

    But it’s not supposed to be that high– there’s a height maximum that’s supposed to include the bulkhead (especically relevant given that the BBPC allowed Pierhouse to be higher than it told the community that it would be, claiming that the bulkhead wasn’t part of the original height commitment).

  • gc

    I think you’re missing the point.

  • gc

    This ship has sailed. The real estate developers have obviously been given carte blanche.

  • Banet

    Just to be clear, the BBPC usually refers to the Brooklyn Bridge Park CONSERVANCY. That’s the group that does all of the movies in the park, the yoga, the education programs for city schools, and all the other wonderful free stuff that we enjoy. They have absolutely nothing to do and no say over what gets built in the park.

    The organization in charge of what gets built is the Brooklyn Bridge Park CORPORATION. That’s usually abbreviated as BBPCorp. They’re also in charge of all design, construction, maintenance and security.

  • Andrew Porter

    Wasn’t there a plan whereby many of the newer Cobra-head lights would be replaced with replicas of the old Bishop’s Crook lights?

    See this 2009 post here:

    http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/12003

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7nPOzGeyaw Arch Stanton

    “developers go above their permits’ permissions” This is simply not true. Building permits are issued for specific sets of architectural and engineering drawings that must be adhered to. There is no such thing as simply paying a fine for adding extra size to a building, the plans must be amended. In the case of the Pier House Hotel adding extra stories, the plans were amended and approved. There was no legal restriction on how high they could build and they simply went back on their word.

  • StoptheChop

    I was involved with the BBPC when it was the Brooklyn Bridge Park Coalition, and then when it became the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy. At the beginning, it was an advocacy group that engaged with the BBP LDC over the Park’s design and activities/programming, on behalf of surrounding communities. That advocacy role then morphed into a programming/fundraising role (starting, IIRC, with the movie nights). The loss of the BBPC as community advocate is keenly felt.

    Thanks for making the distinction clear, for folks who may not know the difference.

  • Jorale-man

    You’re right – I think they started in the south Heights and got as far north as part of Remsen Street. I seem to recall some chatter that they then ran out of money to continue the project north of Montague. They’d certainly fit in around the fruit streets especially.

  • B.

    I wish you were in on the community meeting in Windsor Terrace, a couple of decades ago, in which a developer shrugged when it was pointed out to him that he was encroaching on a neighbor’s property. He said, “So fine me. It’s the cost of doing business.” He built his condo, he went beyond where he should have at the property line, and that was that. When I wrote “higher, wider, and deeper,” I was speaking in general, and you can take your pick as to the violation. It does happen.

  • Andrew Porter

    From the BHA:

    As part of a neighborhood policing strategy developed in 2015, the NYPD assigned two Neighborhood Coordination Officers (NCOs) to each of the city’s neighborhoods. The NYPD’s objective was to close the gap between the police and the community since NCOs become familiar with the local community and their residents so that they can better respond to crime and other issues.

    Officers John Condon and Donovan Hunt are the NCOs assigned to Brooklyn Heights. They are present in the neighborhood Monday – Friday between 10 AM-6 PM. If you haven’t already met them, introduce yourself and get to know them because they are there to assist.

    While Officers Condon and Hunt do not respond to 911 calls, they can be directly contacted by phone, email or text for complaints concerning graffiti, drug dealing, non-functioning streetlights, excessive noise, idling buses, and many others.

    Officer John Condon
    Phone: 929-920-1544
    Email: john.condon@nypd.org

    Officer Donovan Hunt
    Phone: 929-334-6247
    Email: donovan.hunt@nypd.org

    Whenever possible, they suggest sending a photo to document your complaint.

    In a recent meeting with the BHA, they highlighted some specific common sense precautions residents can take to avoid being victimized: 1) keeping doors and windows locked since apartment and house break-ins increase during the holiday season, and 2) not placing mail in post office boxes overnight, since thieves have recently been fishing mail from the boxes to steal checks and identity information.

  • DIBS

    Actually, I think you are.

  • DIBS

    “a couple of decades ago” a lot of things were different.

  • MaggieO

    the renderings show a certain number of stories, the word from the construction worker seems within the range of the rendering depending on what exactly the worker is referring to (including basement? etc.), the permits show something consistent with both the worker’s comments and with the rendering, so what’s the problem? I don’t know what the agreement is for this building but keep in mind that height limits are based on feet, not stories, since stories can be different heights. I won’t deny that developers do try to get away with stuff and sometimes they succeed (Pierhouse), but frankly I don’t see any evidence of that based on one off-hand comment by a unidentified construction worker that seems to be consistent with the filed and presented documents.

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