Enhanced F & V Service: The Petition

Sometimes you just have to take the bull by the horns. I have put up a petition online for fellow travelers who want enhanced service on the F&V to Brooklyn.

Specifically, the petition calls for restoring express service on the unused tracks on the F, and running the V out to Brooklyn as a local. Sign up!

360 Smith Street: Who Has Plaza Rights?

From a Carroll Gardens Neighborhood Association member, I received a pdf file with a 1999 memorandum from the NYC Law Department on responsibility for the 2nd Place entranceway to the Carroll Street station.

To view the pdf yourself (and it should go without saying, pdf warning for any remaining dial-up users out there), click the hyperlink above. Click the "download file" box on the right side of the page. Click the download box that appears. type in the 4-digit code, and the pdf will open in your browser. Sounds annoying, but takes about 5 seconds.

Cement Factory, or Public Space?

I had known for some time that discussions were under way for cleaning up the large, overgrown empty lot at the corner of 5th Street and Smith abutting the Gowanus Canal. When we lived on 4th Place (up until earlier this year), we passed this parcel on a regular basis.

What I was not aware of was the plans to boot the cement factory adjacent to the parcel as well. Via the Brooklyn Paper, that is part of the plan for the site.

But now, as the city moves forward with a plan to build residential towers and parkland on the 5.8-acre Public Place site, the 35-year-old company could be evicted within the year, with not a cent of reimbursement.

Gowanus Lounge also has blogged about this project on occasion, but I wasn't a regular reader back in the day (now, it's at least a daily visit).

On one hand, it will be nice to clean up that parcel and do something positive with it. On the other hand, it is a very industrialized area with working businesses. The cement factory is busy, which I can attest to having lived a block and half away for a couple of years. Where are these businesses supposed to go?

This, along with the American Stevedoring business and countless other industrial uses, are also a part of the community. Like it or not, we need cement, we need working waterfronts, and we need the jobs they provide.

If they do end up booting the cement factory however . . . how about the grain silo in Red Hook? Recently a Mr. Quadrozzi was proposing that site as a cement storage facility, the site is dormant, arguably in an even better location, and conveniently, could be leased from the city.

CORRECTION/UPDATE: The Columbia Street Grain Elevator and surrounding acreage were sold by the Port Authority in 1997 to a private entity called the Gowanus Industrial Park, Inc. The President of Gowanus Industrial Park is none other than John Quadrozzi, Jr., who also owns Quadrozzi Concrete. Quadrozzi's own proposal for re-use of the grain terminal as a cement storage facility makes a lot of sense, and he presumably would not be inclined to hand over the plum site to Ferrara Brothers.

UPDATED AGAIN:
From the Google, this Village Voice article from 1998 yields an interesting spippet:

One mob-tied company, Quadrozzi Concrete, gave $3000, starting with $1500 in November 1996, at the very moment that Marlin approved the no-bid, discounted sale of a 43-acre, authority-owned grain terminal to the firm. John Quadrozzi, who was awaiting sentencing for making payoffs to the Luchese crime family when the deal closed, was allowed to buy the site even though he was barred from doing business by another state agency, as well as the federal government. The law firm that represented Quadrozzi on the transaction, which was approved by Marlin, donated another $500.

Every time I think I'm done with this post, they keep pulling me back in.

Eli, you're not even Tbogg

Tbogg puts The Sun's Eli Lake in his place.

Via Atrios.

360 Smith Update: DOB Disapproves Plan

Per the DOB website, the most recent plan for the 360 Smith site was disapproved as of yesterday. The disapproved plan called for six stories with a height of 70 feet, encompassing 46 dwelling units.

Yesterday was not a good day for Robert Scarano Architects; Bill DeBlasio also held a rally against not only the project, but the architect in front of the 360 Smith site. While DeBlasio may have his own agenda, the rally yesterday should bring some positive attention both to this site and to Scarano's other egregious abuses of the zoning laws.

I'm looking forward to the CGNA meeting at Scotto's funeral home (1st and Court!) on Monday 6/11 at 7:30pm.

Everybody needs to make a living, I understand that. What I don't get is someone putting their thumb in the eye of an entire neighborhood to squeeze out extra profits. At some point, the greed becomes repulsive.

UPDATE:
Ahh, a link from Brownstoner! I've finally arrived. Don't know how I missed this article from the Brooklyn Paper (h/t Brownstoner commenter ActionJackson) on the brouhaha. Also added above, a picture from the Brooklyn Paper / Greg Mango.

Gowanus Lounge: City Wants to Kick Out Red Hook Food Vendors

Read the below post at Gowanus Lounge, remind yourself that life is a constant struggle against those who would turn everything you love into crap, and then contact the Parks Department and your elected officials:

The Gowanus Lounge: The Absolute Last Straw: City Wants to Kick Out Red Hook Food Vendors

360 Smith Updates

Well. I leave town for a few days and things get interesting around here!

Via Gowanus Lounge, Councilman Bill DeBlasio is leading a rally against the Scarano project (and it seems, against Scarano in general) Wednesday June 6, 12:30 at the proposed building site.

Via the CGNA mailing list, here's a NYT article on Scarano from April 2006.

And here's a snippet from another email on the CGNA listserve:

> hi
>
> received some information last night from the
> developer
>
> -mta has approved plan
> -the building will not look at all like the
> drawing on the website, but the actual rendering is
> not yet finalized & not available for viewing yet
>
> -the 2 place portion is set back to line up with
> the neighboring houses and most of the subway plaza
> is open--the bldg does not come out as far as the
> parking lot "line" as the orig drawing suggests
>
> - it is still quite tall (the highest point is at
> 70') but the height is graduated rising as the
> structure goes toward and around smith st
>
> -the finish on the 2 place side will look more
> like a brownstone--the tallest portion's finish,
> which will be where the 2 pl and smith st sides
> meet (around the area of the present
> newsstand) ,is still undetermined
>
> -the developer seems open to reasonable
> suggestions

Moving in the right direction, at least. More to come on this. But seriously, in a neighborhood where brownstones are fetching $2MM and more, there is simply no justification for building out of scale.