Lincoln Road tower on TV

I was recently interviewed by Brenda Becker of Prospect: A Year in the Park for BCAT's A Walk Around The Blog, a cable TV show featuring Brooklyn bloggers. The show will air on BCAT (Time Warner 56 / Cablevision 69) for the next two weeks on Monday and Thursday, at 1PM and 9PM and on Friday at 3PM and 11PM. Try not to pay attention to my just-out-of-the-shower hair, which my wife warned me about, or my slouching/general fatness, which many people have warned me about.

As for my take on the clip itself, the editing left very little room for anything besides Brenda's general disapproval of the project (it would violate Olmstead's vision of a building-free oasis) and my general approval (it is better than a festering rathole). I'm not sure either opinion expressed here is particularly informative. To that end, I'll add this list of reasons why I approve of the project:

* The location of the building—on a commercial strip next to a transit hub—is ideal for a large development. Clustering housing near subway stations and bus routes is environmentally beneficial; it decreases urban sprawl, makes maintaining transit infrastructure more efficient, and helps reduce auto traffic.

* Opponents of the building claim that the addition of luxury apartments to PLG will increase rents and price out many long-time residents. But limiting housing and refusing to build for density has the same effect. Fewer homes means greater demand for them and higher prices. The Tower is located right next to the subway; apartments on lower floors will, by necessity, be lower cost.

* The location, a prime commercial space, has sat dormant for at least a decade, a nightmare of asbestos, mold and vermin. Increased foot traffic will create a safer, more lively commercial block.

* The builder has not asked for any exemptions from FAR or public subsidy.

* The residential blocks of Lefferts Manor and larger PLG are separated by Flatbush Avenue.

* The building is not actually going to be built on Ocean Avenue; it is set back a block from the street, reducing its visual impact.

* The building is not unprecedented. Patio Gardens, located about a block away, is nearly as tall. And a number of tall buildings can be seen on all sides of the park.

Comments

[Resident]

I am neutral on the development, but have posted on other sites that the developer may have a poor understanding of acoustics.

As a resident in Patio Gardens, I can tell you that the subway trains get louder, way louder, as you go higher up in the building. It's called the "canyon effect."

As someone living on the 16th floor, the train is LOUD. I can't imagine what the developer is thinking creating an all-glass building by the subway trains. Even if they use triple-paned glass it just doesn't "sound" like a good idea.

[Jeanne]

Love how the Lincoln Rd building meeting organizer with PLG Association actually claimed on this blog and on the yahoo groups it would be a discussion, not a protest (despite the plainly biased flyers) but then today I see in the Park Slope Courier in an article about the building it was guess what, a protest! Identifies the "meeting" as such in the very first paragraph. Nobody there representing the other viewpoints. Or even a neutral view.

I could not find there's a link online but if any of you want to read the article and you see a Park Slope Courier pick it up. I think the date was May 30 or May 31.

[Lois Wilcken]

NYC Audubon's Project Safe Flight cites the estimates of ornithologists that reflective glass buildings kill up to a billion birds annually in the United States. This is second only to habitat destruction in avian species loss. The Park has invested in providing migratory birds with temporary habitat. What do the developers say?

Isn't one of these small creatures worth more than a billion glass buildings?

[Jeanne]

It's all about the design of the building and the type of glass used. Any building taller than the tree tops presents this danger to birds. So whether the building was 17 stories tall like the already existing apartment buildings one block away from this site, or 23 stories tall, the developer should still be looking at ways to design it so birds don't get confused and hit it.