Open Thread Wednesday

Ok, so in the last week we saw a lot of hate for the new library. But I don’t think most (any?) of those people have actually been in the new building.

I spent over an hour there last week and it is:

– HUGE
– Airy
– Has tons of books
– Is generally really well designed. For example, the noisy kids are very well insulated from the rest of the library.

Yes, some of the adult shelves look half-empty, but that’s because there’s so many of them. As a regular user of the old library, I’d say this one has at least as many titles, if not far more. They’re just spread out. And honestly, with transfers it really doesn’t matter how many titles are in-house. And without the Business Collection (which has a gorgeous new space of its own at the Main branch, there’s SO much more room where people will be inclined to spread out.

I also love that a few pieces of the old frieze are reused. I wish there were more of them but it’s really interesting to see them up close.

I would have also extended a catwalk around the perimeter of that double-heights space in the “prow” of the building – with a few bump-outs it could have created a lot of fun reading nooks without impacting the light below very much.

But really, I’m quibbling. I give the entire place an A+

Paul Krugman occasionally labels some of his columns as “wonky.” Neither he nor I think of that word as pejorative, but it’s also true that those columns are not for everybody.

Same is true for this link:
https://rpa.org/work/reports/reimagining-the-bqe

Since it looks like our attention will soon be directed BACK to the BQE and how best to spend (MAYBE!) $1Billion, I think it borders on a “must read” for those who can get past “I hate cars and wish they would mostly disappear” or “since public transp. in NYC is NOT GREAT and probably NOT GETTING BETTER, we’ve got to spend whatever it takes to keep the cars & trucks moving.”

Yes, it trumpets “congestion pricing,” but I was shocked to see that what they call HOV 3+ is clearly their 2nd favorite. Plus, it has lots of “fun facts” like “Currently, the BQE serves around 31,800 vehicles in the 4–8 PM peak period; 90%+ are passenger cars.” Their target seems to be – permanently – 2 lanes in each direction (the entire length), and the “route” is – logically – policies that will reduce volume.

Another great photo, Claude! The closest many of us will come to seeing backyard chickens in the Heights.

The other day, I noticed the DOT permits for the sidewalk sheds on Cadman Plaza West north and south of Clark Street name it as Fulton Street—not Cadman Plaza West. The name was changed a mere 50+ years ago. You’d think the city would have changed their records by now!

And here’s the cover of a brochure for the Montague-Court office building (with a map in my reply):
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8aa8f4469914ca7da265b3f8cf3d138b9ef21c98aeae8c50a7207f2fe6341dfe.png

Already covered in this post, with a further link to Mary Frost’s article in The Eagle:

http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/95191

Um – what’s changed since then?

OK, YES, they’ve already gone to 2 lanes each direction in the “miracle mile.”

But boy, would I like to see whatever evidence exists that

a) big trucks are no longer pounding it to smithereens; or
b) if they are, they’re getting fined or impounded.

But most of the LAST 3 YEARS – granted, much of that WAS Covid-impacted, and if ever there was a lame duck, Bill surely was – was (like the 10 or 20 before it) frittered away, leaving the RPA report almost entirely CURRENT!

Digital books are great. But a lifelong love of learning starts in childhood and child take much more easily to physical books than digital ones. So who knows, maybe 30 years from now the entire building will be dedicated to children’s books? ;-)

To be fair, while I thought it was clever to tuck the noisy kids out of the way (and I speak as a parent of two kids who were pretty noisy until fairly recently) I think they did kids a disservice by making the ceilings as low as they did down there. Another 2 feet would have gone a LONG way towards opening up the space.

I also would have put in a perimeter of clear glass skylights around the basement room that huge the perimeter of the building footprint so the light from the big windows in that “prow” found its way downstairs. Where those skylights were the floor on the 1st floor they could have been behind a glass railing to 1) keep people from walking on them (though there’s certainly glass that could take the weight) and 2) so no one is looking up anyone’s skirts. ;-)

I also would have found a way to include ALL those stone panels, not just two of them. Though I suppose everywhere there’s a stone panel there is NOT bookshelves. And it’s a library so shelves are kind of… critical.

I also like how the librarians are so much closer to the front door than before. So much more welcoming than the old space!

I agree, the place is great. People love to complain and point out negatives (which is ok) but this really is a great space for adults and kids – have been there a few times already.
It will feel and look even better when the sidewalk sheds are removed.

In my experience NYPD and other LEO’s rarely wear masks.

Because the BHB is a neighborhood blog, I report on local statistics. If it were a NY State blog, I’d focus on the statewide numbers. Sorry if that doesn’t fit with your obsessive Covid denialism.

Anyone know what’s up with the Montague Apothecary? Is it just a pharmacy, are they selling herbs or something? Just wondering what’ll be on all of those display cases…

FYI – Lincoln Restler, Montague BID and BHA looking for weekend Open Streets volunteers from the community. Here’s the sign up form: https://twitter.com/LincolnRestler/status/1537841029952458756?s=20&t=Aql2l5GypvIjXTuY-iWgOQ