Open Thread Wednesday

By on January 8, 2020 1:10 am in open thread

What’s on your mind? Comment away!

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  • Jorale-man

    I keep wondering when the supposed new crackdown on parking placard abuses will make its way to Joralemon Street, where every day (for years) there have been city-owned cars occupying spaces in the no-parking zone on the right side of the street.
    https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2020/01/06/nypd-parking-placard-abuse-crackdown

  • Nomcebo Manzini

    I’ll add one of my pet peeves. The City Council passed an ordinance a few years back saying that “abandoned bicycles” that were no longer ridable could/would be removed. Obviously, “too much work” (I agree, sadly) for Sanitation trucks, but the Council probably had thought about that. Maybe, all planned to “outsource” it to some vendor. Problem way worse, and this is pre-much snow. I think I’m with you. Laws aren’t passed that frivolously in NYC. Enforce – or repeal or re-write – the ones out there – anything else has “broken windows” effects.

  • AndyHeights

    I couldn’t agree more. It is actually a very dangerous situation, as it is a very narrow street and when cars are parked on both sides it is very difficult for emergency vehicles such as fire engines and ambulances to pass. Why is it okay to cause a potential life threatening situation to allow city cars to sit there all day? I once asked that quetion here before and I was told, “It’s always been that way”. That is not an answer.

  • ColumbiaHeightster

    Looking right at you, Mercedes-Benz that is parked illegally every morning on Remsen and Montague Terrace!

  • Chris Bastian

    I spoke to the 84th Pct about this a few years ago. This is not a “placard abuse” case, because the vehicles have NYC Govt license plates. As such, the Police will not ticket them, since they are presumed to be on City business when parked.

  • CassieVonMontague

    I tried to come up with a prediction for neighborhood, so I started to look at historical data for the neighborhood. Here’s what I found. The data is hard to find because of different methods and sources. I had to estimate census data because the census divides BH into five tracts. I did my best. Please feel free to correct me.

    Population
    2010 – 20256
    2019 – ?

    Median Income
    2010- approx. $100,000
    2019 – ?

    Median Home Value
    2010 – approx. $650,000
    2019 – $1,050,000
    Current Median Listing Price on Zillow- $1,375,000

    Median Rent
    2010 – approx $1500
    2019 – ?
    Current Median rent price on Zillow is $3,691

    Crimes per 1000 residents
    Dec 2018 to Nov 2019
    Brooklyn Heights – approx 9
    84th Precinct – 22.8

    I used the NYC crime map to count the crimes in the neighborhood over the past year.

    Elementary Students in Private Schools
    2010 Census – Approx 75%

  • Jorale-man

    I don’t understand why they don’t just designate those spaces official “NYC government parking” then. Why keep up the facade of having no parking signs there. It sends the message that the government is above the law while confusing outside visitors (I’ve had people ask me if they could park there, clearly befuddled by the mixed messages).

  • Nomcebo Manzini

    VERY INTERESTING, … but – you asked for it, and I’m trying to be “constructive” here….

    1) “the nabe??” – I’m sure there’s lots for 11201; alas, (in this context) that is a VERY dubious proxy for “Brooklyn Hts.”
    2) Income – that may be (probably NOT) household AGI; if so, great – per adult would be very much “worse.”
    3) the 2 R.E. numbers come from what looks like a reliable & transparent source. But it is far from that. Their own graphs give the lie to the eye-popping #’s you put out there. (i.e., plenty of appreciation, but WAY less than … “that.”)
    4) Private schools – sounds way high to me. If there were HS numbers, that would be interesting, too, and for pre-K – yup, 75% sounds believable. Just look at PS 8’s “roster,” and I think you’d have to agree that “75%/private/elem” is wacko!

  • CassieVonMontague

    All good points.

    1. Most of my estimates come from the 2010 census, which I got from this NYTimes graphic: http://www.nytimes.com/projects/census/2010/explorer.html

    The site uses Flash, which is usually blocked by default on browsers nowadays.

    2. The income numbers are household income numbers.

    3. The 2010 real estate numbers I estimated from the 2010 census. The 2019 median I got from a Streeteasy press release

    https://streeteasy.com/blog/million-dollar-neighborhoods-nyc/

    I don’t understand what you mean about the Zillow graphs showing how the numbers are wrong. The Zillow numbers are for listings, so the numbers are more inflated than current value.

    4. The elementary school numbers do seem wacko, that’s why I included it. I estimated based on the Census figures in the NYTimes map. The map has figures for three of the five census tracts, with percentages of 88%, 84% and 61%. The other two census tracts have half as many school children, so the map doesn’t provide an estimate. The total estimated elementary school children in the neighborhood in 2010 was 1,335 and PS8 enrollment is currently 680, so about half the total. If PS8 enrollment was fewer in 2010 or includes a couple hundred students from outside the neighborhood, then the number seems about right.

  • http://www.yotamzohar.com StudioBrooklyn

    As Chris Bastian pointed out, those city Priuses (Prii?) are not exactly a placard abuse case.

    But this guy is: the guy who parks his Maserati illegally in front of neighborhood churches (usually the Unitarian church on Pierrepont and Monroe Place) with a fake placard saying he’s a police chaplain. Sometimes he lays low for a week, parking in regular spots without his placard on the dash.

    I actually called the church and they have no idea whose car it is. I’ve reported him so many times that I’m actually getting tired of doing it. (NY# HYJ 6957)

    What I’d like to do is to walk up to a traffic cop on the block and say “Hey, my buddy over there [I point at the car] got one of those police placards on the internet. You won’t ticket him, right? I was thinking of maybe getting one for my car. Could you tell me what site to go to and how much they cost?”

    Any thoughts on what might transpire next?
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0421f3a1fb5bc9d6c6c620aab0929b34df7172197ddf0ca98094b76ae20ea0a8.jpg

  • Nomcebo Manzini

    Thanks for all of your good points. I’ll just pick on the R.E. “values” and rents, particularly the former. Zillow shows a neighborhood graph – possibly by apt. size &type. I just looked. I picked a random 2 BR co-op (yes, lot to love about it); they ARE asking $1.2MM & the accompany graph shows that it was about $800K in 2010. “That sounds right” to me & the diff. between 100% appreciation since 2010 (yours) and 50% is obv’ly huge. (Not to mention that it got to the current level back in 2014!) (They estimate – with all the caveats – its rental value @2600, and that, too, strikes me as way more plausible than your 3691 “avg” figure. BH is pricey & tony, but it isn’t Tribeca!

    Actually, back to schools – you MUST remember that 2010 wasn’t that long after “the crash,” so 75% “smells bad,” and PS8 has – I’m told – gotten way “better,” so I’d doubt it’s even close today. Gotta think that somehow you have Dumbo mixed in or something similar. The complexity of the data is probably even greater than you suggest.

  • gc

    Since our recycling is picked up on Wednesdays we haven’t had a pickup in 3 weeks. The sidewalks are covered with bags and bags of paper and cardboard. Weather reports have been very clear about the 50 mph winds that have now arrived. The results are as expected. Recycling is now blowing up and down the sidewalks and into the streets.

  • Nomcebo Manzini

    Who you gonna call?! … 311 sure sounds like it’s the right guy to me! (Seriously, obviously, something semi-automated or personed by the greenest City employees of all probably won’t get a truck there ASAP, but the optimist in me says that it just might prompt an “oops” somewhere in the great big chain and avoid another week or 2 going by.)

  • KXrVrii1

    I think you answered your own question in your last parenthetical – perhaps it is a nice honey pot for tickets from tourists.

    Kind of reminds me of the north side of the block on Pierrepont by the playground. There were a couple of MD placards that would take a few places, the no parking sign was often covered by trees, and tourists galore would then park and get tickets.

    I used to warn them, but gave up after a couple of times when the scofflaws actually got upset at ME for warning them!

    Oh, and I haven’t followed this placard abuse issue, and will when I’m home, but would it apply to those MD plates as well? Because my understanding is that those plates only apply when parking within a certain distance of a hospital when there is some official reason for the MD to be there.

    (And not that I have anything against MDs, but it isn’t like they’ve done house calls for decades…)

  • KXrVrii1

    “Any thoughts on what might transpire next?”

    Well, hopefully this guy is neither a police officer, or in the mob, cause I’m guessing neither of those groups would be too happy about their license plate being on a high traffic blog like this one ;-)

    (PS in case, just a joke, license plates are clearly public records)

  • Andrew Porter

    The New York Times home page has reported that former Congressman Fred W. Richmond died in a Manhattan nursing home, aged 96. He used to represent this area, in the 1960s.

    Article (behind a paywall) is here:

    http://tinyurl.com/s49nmox

  • Edo Express

    Email your complaint and relevant information to our NCOs. They exist to deal with neighborhood levels issues such as this.

    DET John Condon John.Condon@nypd.org

    PO Donovan Hunt Donovan.Hunt@nypd.org

    https://www1.nyc.gov/site/nypd/bureaus/patrol/precincts/84th-precinct.pag

  • CassieVonMontague
  • Reggie

    With apologies to Lerner & Loewe, “Thank heaven, for little boys….”

  • Local_Montague_Man

    The constant trash strewn about in front of the Le Pain Quotidien on Montague Street is annoying and should not be tolerated by residents. That is all.

  • Nomcebo Manzini

    Thanks a million for shining a light on this possible leak. Gotta remember who appointed the panel – Mayor Bill [is it really a cheap shot to call him DumBlasio?]

    Yes, it’s a political football (among other things), but it could be that the earlier maybe-a-leak/maybe-a-trial-balloon that had them opting for “repair in place” was like plays that used to “close in Boston” – a real stinker, if you will.

    But talk about a Hail Mary?! “Let’s make it so painful to use this road [and not by tinkering with something so controversial as tolls anywhere] that enough people choose alternatives, and maybe that way, it won’t actually collapse while this one or that one with his fingerprints on the debris gets flak for sitting with his thumb up.” If that’s “the plan,” this panel is arguably more “messed up” than Betsy DeVos.

    I hope it’s obvious to everybody that BH is “in the crosshairs.” Just when you think that NOTHING COULD BE WORSE than a 6-lane highway where the Promenade is – which I still mostly DO – you’ll get blindsided by alternatives which add Atlantic Avenue and Boerum Hill Place to the Interstate HIGHWAY system. I see just a couple of problems with that.

    Even worse (for residential BH), they will need the National Guard to safeguard PS 8 students, whose school-day start will coincide with AM rush hour – where thousands of mad-as-hell motorists will be using Hicks Street as a “shortcut.”

  • Local_Montague_Man

    hard to make this stuff up. if it didn’t hit so close to home, it would be funny

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

    LOL Total incompetence, just as I predicted. Everyone who voted that buffoon back into office has this on their hands.