Open Thread Wednesday

LOL, they certainly haven’t solved anything. They’ve only offered some very costly possibilities. It’s easy for designers to imagine away problems but none of these have been given serious scrutiny by engineers of the affected agencies, DOT, MTA, DEP, etc. Once that happens we’ll see just how the their phantasmagoric budget holds up. I’m guessing it will triple.

My citation is 57 years of living In the Heights and about 35 years in the construction industry.
I have been dealing with designers & architects most of my life, I can attest that most of them are very poor at judging what is actually involved in the construction and the real costs of their creations.

I remember when the sewage interceptor was built. The tunnel was dug entirely from a site that is now Hillside Park (aka dog run) which was closed off, most of the hill removed, temporary buildings were erected and a deep shaft was sunk from the middle of the area. It took the better part of a decade to complete (late 70’s to mid 80’s). It was a large, complex and expensive project. The interceptor handles waste from Red Hook to the Navy Yard where the treatment plant is located, most of its 60 million gallon a day capacity. Thats a lot of $hit to contend with, it is a significant obstacle, not a mere “sewer pipe”.

It is easy to move things around on a MacBook, not so much in the real world.

Brooklyn Public Library is acquiring Brooklyn Historical Society (yes, they call it a merger, but read between the lines…library will control everything afterwards)

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/27/arts/brooklyn-public-library-brooklyn-historical-society.html

It’s a closed research library, not open to the public—it’s housed in a locked climate-controlled room inside the buildings there, with no public access. I’ve been negotiating with them for many months.

Don’t think so, because kids could walk past. I must say that space has consistently failed to make it.

They have not solved anything the 10′ interceptor can’t stay in place and you bury the highway at the same time as well and maintain safe egress for the Clark street emergency exit. Something has got to give. That’s just reality.

Steely Dan? Be older.

I think it is ” the left (courtesy the Municipal Archives) before the St. George Tower was built”

Looked much better before St. George was built.

Will the BPL acquisition affect the planned BPL branch restoration at the new 1 Clinton Tower?
Will BHS somehow transmogrify into a BPL branch? Some still have doubts that the branch library will be restored, despite the city’s reassurances.

I realize “Bohemien” is a word in French, but in Brooklyn…well it just looks like someone needs a spell-checker.

Agree. I will take quite a bit to turn a plan or a phantasm into reality….

well-reasoned … and it IS good to get some input from folks with more than their gut to rely on – like you. BUT … NYC is not quite as dysfunctional as DC right now. When the money is there (and it kinda is) and a problem is “existential” enough – keeping food on supermarket shelves arguably rises to that much overused touchstone – things DO get done. I won’t argue that it will be done with some horrible incompetence & rake-offs, but there is NO engineering challenge that can’t be overcome with money.

Before the ARUP report, one could say (even about BIG), “They’re blue-skying and don’t have to even think about the true cost … for now.” 5 or 6 days post-release, a capped highway has the “blessing” of someone competent as (a) viable; and (b) < 1/2 the cost of the insane alternative they could only have included to steer the discussion to "below Furman and BBP." Remember, we're lucky enough to have plenty of bedrock. The Bklyn Bridge seems "enduring," and things HAVE advanced in 150 years re construction. Maybe, we'll flirt with "most below sea level 6-laner" records for a portion of the run, but there is no viable alternative at this point. If the money (and will) prove not to be there, we'll have a long term crisis that'll make COVID look like no big deal. The analogy works – we can't "quarantine China" without a world of pain. Neither can we bar trucks or set them loose on avenues like Atlantic or streets like Clinton.

No. No. Have they tried counseling?

Agreed, My collection of almost 4k is lacking in many areas.