The tax preparation center on the corner of Flatbush and Beekman place moved not too long ago, once again leaving an expectant neighborhood anxious for the fate of the vacant space. The store is not open yet, but the disappointment can begin immediately. The space will be a 99-cent store.
This is probably going to lead to a price war with the 99-cent store next to Associated. A slash to 98 cents, then maybe 97 and then a suicidal cut all the way to 95 cents per item. If it gets that low, maybe I'll buy some light bulbs with a safety rating of "likely to explode."
We recently got a tip that "superdelegate" Rep. Yvette Clarke was going to be attending a Clinton information session/fundraiser in Lefferts Manor.
We received more detail than we are willing to share — it seems unsporting to inspire a protest outside a neighbor's house for their political leanings — but mention it only to note that despite heading a district that had a higher percentage of voters choose Obama than chose her, Clarke clearly intends to stick with Clinton at the convention.
The Parks Department seems to have made a recent visit to some blocks in Lefferts and planted us some new street trees. Hooray! Thanks to everyone who has requested trees, and for those of you who haven't been successful yet, let's keep prodding the city to get with the program. Here is a link to the NYC street tree request form. Be warned, there is a long wait time on getting street trees.
If you have a recently planted street tree in front of your house or building, maintenance is a key factor in ensuring that it continues to be healthy. The first year after planting is a critical time. Now that the danger of frost is dissipating, young trees need a lot of water. Watering should be done slowly, allowing the moisture to permeate the soil deeply. This allows the tree to develop a deep root system rather than depending on shallow roots. A soaker hose or water-filled garbage can with holes poked in it could work. Make sure that the tree is adequately mulched so that moisture is maintained.
Want to know more? There is a decent BBG website on the care and maintenance of street trees and pits.
Want to do more? Take the Trees New York course and become a NYC certified Citizen Pruner! Classes at BBG start April 28th. Yes, YOU TOO can "become an informed steward of NYC's urban forest..."
After all that focus on the controversial Lincoln Road project, it's been a while since some of us have taken a good walk around the neighborhood, other than the streets we typically use to get to the subway or the park. This morning, my route took a detour and I noticed a few signs of change (and no, I'm not talking about those lovely daffodils and crocuses sprouting up everywhere).
There's been continuous concern in the neighborhood about the destruction of classic homes and the construction of cookie-cutter "Fedders" style buildings in their places. This type of transformation is running rampant on blocks like Fenimore III (between Rogers and Nostrand), where a number of new 3-family homes have gone up in the last few years. Many of these new homes have remained on the market since construction a while back. And lately, we've seen an influx of developers with their eyes on bigger chunks of pie.
So here's the scoop on some new stuff for sale/going on in the area: The first reflects the conversion of two lots, currently occupied by a couple of now vacant
Victorians (first photo at right), into one large lot with plans for a 7-story 62-apartment building (rendering at far right: David Kohn via Property Shark) at 186-190 Lenox Road. As of this posting, plans for the building have been rejected by the DOB, the old houses are vacant and boarded up, and the two lots are currently BACK UP FOR RESALE per Google. (As an aside, this rendering seems to follow the "no context" model that we saw on the Lincoln Road renderings. Is that supposed to be Brooklyn Hospital in the background?) There's a very nice row of brownstones directly adjacent to this lot, although the majority of Lenox Road in this area is already home to some large 6 or 7 story apartment buildings. While I'm a fan of development if it's nice, I'm not a big fan of abandoned buildings with no immediate plans for improvement.
The second property on the market, 285 Fenimore between Bedford and Rogers, is located on the (currently) un-landmarked side of Fenimore II. This block has thankfully been spared the fate of some neighboring blocks in terms of tear-downs, but could easily fall prey to the same type of destruction we've seen elsewhere in the neighborhood, particularly as foreclosures are on the rise and we begin to experience the economic downturn that has already hit the rest of the country. This property, listed by Century 21 Kings, was recently advertised in the NY Times and was described in terms of lot size with no accompanying photos. Am I overreacting in thinking this one's marketed to developers? Maybe, but I sure hope some house-seekers step up to the plate on this one. This is a nice block and possibly a very nice house.
Due to the current mortgage crisis, will properties potentially just sit there, empty, for years to come while developers scramble for financing and DOB approval? What can we as a community do to prevent property neglect and abandonment by developers if/when times get tough?
We haven't written much on "home improvement" lately, mainly because
there hasn't been anything to say that would be remotely helpful. But I just finished a project that probably fits the
bill: duplicating antique wood carvings (or plaster, for that matter).
Our house was missing two pieces of an ornate carving when we moved in. It'd be all-but-impossible to find an identical replacement, short of stealing one from
a neighbor. So I called Van Dyke's Restorers and
asked if they sold anything I could use to create a mold. Yes. Yes,
they did.
I needed two products: Silputty, which allows you to make a (negative) mold of the wood piece. And Por-A-Kast, the stuff you pour into the mold to make a (positive) replica.
MAKING THE MOLD
Step one is to clean the original piece, removing any dust or debris.
Next, you coat it with cooking oil or vaseline (spray oil is easiest)
so that the molding agent doesn't stick to it. Silputty consists of two
clay-like balls that you need to mix together quickly because it cures
in a matter of minutes. We needed two kits in order to make a mold
large enough for our piece, so I enlisted Charles' help. We put on
rubber gloves and each started mixing a kit at the same time. Doing so
was harder than I thought - I'm a weakling - so as I soon as Charles
finished mixing his batch, I handed him mine to finish, then we
combined the two and stretched the green blob out onto a greased sheet
of glass (any flat surface will do). Kinda like making pizza dough. As
soon as we had it stretched to the right size, I pressed the wood piece
into it and left it there to cure.
The results are in from last week's "Tower" Survey, so here you go:
What type of business would you be MOST likely to frequent at the new building site on Lincoln Road?
Organic grocer or other grocer - 67% Bank - 12% Gym - 10% Drug store - 1% Fashion retailer - 0%
The second floor of the building will reportedly be either offices
(medical or other professional) or a gym. Which would you most likely
frequent?
Gym - 91.7% Medical offices - 5.2% Any offices - 3.1%
What would be your second choice for a business on the ground floor?
Organic grocer or any grocer - 34.8% Bank - 22.5% No second choice. I strongly prefer my first choice. 14.6% Gym - 12.4% Fashion retailer - 10.1% Drug store 5.6%
What type of business would you be LEAST likely to frequent at the new building site on Lincoln Road?
Fashion retailer - 45.4%
Drug store - 30.9% Bank - 19.6% Gym - 4.1% Organic grocer or any grocer - 0%
NOTES ON THE SURVEY
Results are based on the first 100 responses. We had to close the voting on Sunday (3/16) after reaching 100 or else the poll wouldn't have been free. That said, we watched results as they came in and the percentages of responses remained pretty steady, with roughly 70% prioritizing groceries, 12% wanting a bank, etc.
If we had to do this over again, we would have reworded the grocery selection to say "High-quality grocer, including organic food" or something to that effect. The general sense from comments is that people want organic food, but not necessary a grocer that sells nothing but.
Street traffic is a little like plumbing: it's not a particularly sexy issue. But in the same way plumbing is essential to a comfortable, functioning house, street design is the lifeblood of public spaces.
Last week, about 15 PLG residents gathered to discuss ways to make our streets safer and more liveable. Will Sherman, Public Space Advocate for Transportation Alternatives, showed various traffic calming methods that have been used in New York City, and we talked about priorities for our neighborhood.
This meeting was only the first step, and we hope other PLGers will join us as we move forward with some of the following plans.
WHAT ARE SOME POSSIBLE TRAFFIC CALMING METHODS FOR PLG?
Neckdowns: The curb is extended about 10 feet (the width of the parking lane) at a crossing, which reduces the road distance a pedestrian has to cross, makes drivers slow down on turns, and, by narrowing the street, encourages drivers to slow down through the intersection. Neckdowns could work in various PLG intersections. We discussed placing them where residential blocks (such as Winthrop) intersect with larger roads (such as Bedford). Neckdowns are relatively cheap and therefore more doable than many calming measures. If community members play an active role, it's also possible to build these out as attractive green spaces.
Speed humps: One of the cheapest, easiest ways to slow traffic along residential streets. According to TA, concerns about increased noise or auto emissions are misplaced: noise has only been found to increase on truck routes, and emissions aren't affected on streets of this size. (Drivers in NYC speed up about 3 mph after going over humps, but speed overall is decreased, so there is no net gain in emissions.) One participant explained why he didn't want humps: the "BUMP" warning signs are ugly.
Chicanes: a series of curves built into an otherwise straight street, which force drivers to slow down to safely drive through them. (For more examples, see this and this.) Re-timing traffic signal progression: According to TA, the way traffic engineers set the timing of light intervals encourages speeding. Re-timing the lights to slow drivers down and make streets more pedestrian-friendly is a relatively cheap form of calming. Perhaps this could be considered on Rogers Ave.
Pedestrian lead interval: Another cheap calming technique, the timing of traffic lights can be changed to give pedestrians up to an 8 second head-start crossing the street by holding all cars with a red light. If pedestrians begin crossing before cars can turn, they are easier for drivers to see; drivers may also be less likely to gun the engine to try to turn ahead of pedestrians, stranding them in the crosswalk. This method could help improve safety on intersections with many pedestrians, such as Flatbush & Lincoln, Ocean & Parkside, Parkside & Flatbush, or Washington and Empire.
Raised median: On large streets where pedestrians sometimes run out of time when crossing, a raised median can offer a refuge. This could come in handy on Flatbush & Empire, for example.
Red light cameras: There was a great deal of interest in having red-light cameras installed at selected intersections (such as Parkside & Flatbush) to cut down on drivers running red lights. New York State government limits the installation of cameras, and has only granted the City rights to install 100 (which have already been placed). We can write letters to our local State Assembly members and Senators encouraging them to support legislation that increases the number of red light cameras that New York City can install, and that authorizes the use of speeding enforcement cameras too. According to TA, these enforcement cameras are proven to save lives, by reducing speeding, red light running, and the crashes they lead to.
Mayor Bloomberg and DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan just published their proposal for residential parking permits — an effort singularly directed toward discouraging people from driving to other neighborhoods and parking near subways to avoid congestion pricing fees. (If congestion pricing doesn't pass, there will be no permit plan.)
As far as I can tell, the plan shouldn't discourage people from parking in other neighborhoods as visitors; they just won't be able to park all day. Neighborhoods protected by residential permits will outlaw drivers without permits from parking for a 1.5 hour period during the day (say, from 10 am to 11:30). And these select neighborhoods will be decided by their respective community boards. Resident who want parking permits for their nabe can appeal to their community board, which will then be required to hold a public meeting on the subject.
Fees for the permits haven't been set, but Bloomberg has suggested the cost will be minimal—maybe $10 or $20 a year—just enough to cover the administrative costs for implementing the program.
However you feel about the glass tower on Lincoln, sentient PLG residents seem to agree on one thing: we'd love to see a successful new business (or two) in that spot. But what kind of business?
To gauge opinion, we've created a survey and will present the results to the developer.
Background: The ground floor of the building will most likely be a major retailer or a bank. (This is a premium space that will price out most restaurants and smaller businesses.) The second floor will reportedly be either offices or, possibly, a gym. A gym might also be possible on the ground floor.
NOTE: To discourage multiple voting, the survey software allows only one vote per household. If you have any problems, email us at brooklynite282 at gmail.com.
Be sure to leave any thoughts about your choices in the comments below.
According to Crashstat, the interactive map of NYC car crashes, PLG lays claim to one of the most dangerous intersections in Brooklyn. Care to guess which...?
Not that several others are all that far behind. Using data from the map, Will Sherman at Transportation Alternatives has come up with a short list of intersections that he'll be discussing at the PLG safe streets forum on Thursday.
One thing I'd personally love to see are raised crosswalks to replace some of the crumbling brick crosswalks throughout the nabe. See the cute little video illustration below. Raised crosswalks probably not workable where they'd really help (on, say, Flatbush) because those larger streets are bus and firetruck routes.... but, hey, I can dream.
Oh, and if you said Parkside and Ocean, you win.
(Video via Streetsblog; produced by Elizabeth Press)
The tax preparation center on the corner of Flatbush and Beekman place moved not too long ago, once again leaving an expectant neighborhood anxious for the fate of the vacant space. The store is not open yet, but the disappointment can begin immediately. The space will be a 99-cent store.
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