It seems pretty clear to me: the stores that get most of their customers by foot or transit are doing okay, while the stores that depend on customers coming in cars are going down.

Anybody think that the Fulton Mall will be doing better after Joe Chan builds his parking garages with our tax money?

Posted by: Capn Transit at February 28, 2009 1:26 AM in response to Fulton Mall Appears To Be Bucking Retail Downturn

Since 1991 I've read a dozen or so reviews of Chinese-Mex "Fresco Tortillas"-type restaurants. They always dwell on the speed (fast) and the price (cheap) of the food. But have you noticed they never have anything good to say about the quality?

That's because Chinese-Mex food sucks.

Cuban-Chinese food is great. So is Chinese-Peruvian. In this city, I bet there are probably a bunch of excellent Mexican restaurants run by Chinese people. But Mr. Zheng's assembly-line model turns out fast, cheap crap, just like the fast, cheap crappy American-Chinese restaurants it's based on.

Yes, it's funny to see a Mexican restaurant full of Chinese people, but you might at least tell us that the food sucks.

Or you can take the subway to the corner of Fulton and Gold in Manhattan and eat some very decent Turkish food made by Mexicans. Mmm, falafel burritos.

Posted by: Capn Transit at February 19, 2009 10:33 PM in response to Thursday Blogwrap

Do you have a link to that dead pool?

Posted by: Capn Transit at January 11, 2009 6:13 PM in response to Development Watch: 31 Kosciusko a Year Later

Correction: Joe Chan, who thinks that people who drive are the only ones who count.

Posted by: Capn Transit at January 11, 2009 6:12 PM in response to City Spends Almost $40 Million on Two Downtown Lots

Yes, Mgm, this is a leftover from the Bob Moses era, specifically Downtown Brooklyn Partnership President Joe Chan, who thinks that people who drive don't count.

http://capntransit.blogspot.com/2008/10/joe-chan-is-at-it-again.html

Posted by: Capn Transit at January 11, 2009 6:11 PM in response to City Spends Almost $40 Million on Two Downtown Lots

Similar stats for James's district, especially when you take into account the gentrification of Fort Greene and Prospect Heights:

http://www.tstc.org/reports/cpsheets/NYCcouncil_factsheet_district%2035.pdf

Posted by: Capn Transit at October 18, 2008 6:08 PM in response to Quote of the Day

To back up bkn4life: the Sumner Avenue Armory is in Councilmember Vann's district. The Bedford-Atlantic Armory is just across the line in Tish James's district. The Tri-State Transportation Campaign has stats for car ownership in Vann's district here:

http://www.tstc.org/reports/cpsheets/NYCcouncil_factsheet_district%2036.pdf

Percent of households earning less than $40,000 a year: 70.2
Percent of households without a vehicle: 71.4
Average annual income of households with a vehicle: $53,475
Average annual income of households without a vehicle: $26,376

Not far off at all.

Posted by: Capn Transit at October 18, 2008 6:02 PM in response to Quote of the Day

There's plenty of room to build the supermarket if you don't build a parking lot. And there's plenty of supermarkets in Brownstone Brooklyn that are getting along just fine without parking lots. With the price of gas well over $4 a gallon and no decline in sight, who would start a business that depends on customers coming in cars?

Posted by: Capn Transit at July 19, 2008 3:24 PM in response to Pratties Have 'Cake-and-Eat-It' Design for Admiral's Row

Why does this rink need a parking lot? The one in Central Park doesn't have one.

Posted by: Capn Transit at April 23, 2008 10:09 AM in response to Prospect Park Rink Plans Getting Pricier

In my neighborhood - which is not wealthy, but not the projects either - there is a small "gourmet" store that sells fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as Scandinavian flatbread, Boursin cheese and various exotic yogurts. It has no parking lot. With all the "luxury" development going up on Flatbush Avenue Extension, I'm sure that there's enough business to support one of these.

No need to set up a plan designed to encourage people from wealthy neighborhoods to drive cars through the projects. If James thinks that that additional car traffic would be good for her constituents, she's nuts.

Posted by: Capn Transit at January 19, 2008 10:13 AM in response to Officers’ Row Supermarket Not Happening Anytime Soon

9:27, the government has a long history of subsidizing private operations. In fact, we're subsidizing the cars and buses that drive over the "free" bridges by maintaining those bridges with tax money.

Every way to commute across the East River is subsidized: private cars, buses, trains, tramway. The ferry is subsidized by the various government efforts to maintain the river for shipping (Coast Guard, dredging, etc.) and with docks built by the government. What if the government actually subsidized it enough for it to make sense as a commuting option?

http://capntransit.blogspot.com/2007/12/water-taxi-what-if.html

That's my Queens perspective. Here's a Brooklyn perspective:

http://www.brooklyn11211.com/archive/2007/12/water_taxi_pres.html

Posted by: Capn Transit at January 2, 2008 10:30 AM in response to Wednesday Links

Don't like curb cuts? Set up an anti-curb-cut fund!

http://capntransit.blogspot.com/2007/08/please-give-to-anti-curb-cut-fund.html

Posted by: Capn Transit at December 28, 2007 9:57 AM in response to Curbing Illegal Curb Cuts by Targeting Self-Certification

12:07, have you been to Europe recently?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUael5U23Ug

12:14, I agre. What the hell is Joe Chan's problem? The mom-and-pop stores are making money and people like them. For years people have been lamenting the homogenization of the country with Bed Bath and Beyond. Yes it's odd that there isn't one already on Fulton Street, but it's GOOD odd, not bad odd.

Chan is the same one who wants to build large unnecessary parking garages on Duffield Street and next to BAM, inviting thousands of people to drive the streets of Downtown Brooklyn. That should tell you all you need to know about his priorities.

Posted by: Capn Transit at December 24, 2007 12:19 PM in response to Fulton Mall ‘Mallification’ Inevitable?

Could you imagine a headline like "Housing for Puerto Rican Catholics coming to Williamsburg"? This kind of segregation is blatantly illegal.

As a secular Jew, I wouldn't want to live in a building full of Orthodox Jews who didn't want me there, but I'm still constantly amazed at how openly discriminatory they can be without anyone batting an eye.

Posted by: Capn Transit at December 24, 2007 11:43 AM in response to Monday Links

Hey, I didn't know they could do that! I mean, it makes sense - if they can do it for someone's urethra they can do it for a 1 1/2" pipe.

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=sewer+camera

Posted by: Capn Transit at December 24, 2007 12:35 AM in response to Sewer Pipe Leak Outfit

I nominate Teresa Toro. But Miss Heather would be a good choice too.

Posted by: Capn Transit at December 24, 2007 12:22 AM in response to Looking for a Burg Blogger

6:26 referred to "the B71's four riders." There will probably be more riders once the MTA starts sending the B71 through the tunnel to South Ferry:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/18/nyregion/18service.html

Still, no reason the counterflow lane couldn't be both for bikes and buses.

Posted by: Capn Transit at December 23, 2007 6:34 PM in response to Closing Bell: Left Turns Nixed on 4th & Union

Glad to see that people like this idea. I hope the MTA does it!

I guess the Smith Street busway idea didn't grab people in quite the same way, though.

http://capntransit.blogspot.com/2007/12/red-hook-tunnel-bus-gets-some-friends.html

Posted by: Capn Transit at December 15, 2007 6:47 PM in response to AM Millman Pushes For Bus Route Through Battery Tunnel