Yeah, Montrose. Sturmtruppen! Sieg Heil!

I actually was just trying to test how the brownstoner cast of characters is these days, i.e. their reactionary and illogical statements. I am happy to report that it took not even 30 minutes for you to think "Nazi!"

Good work, this place is as nutty as ever.

Posted by: Polemicist at June 29, 2009 12:23 PM in response to Slope Armory on Track to Open in September

Race is an issue because moderately wealthy liberals like those who predominate in Park Slope have a distorted view of how children should be raised. Less well off people of color have a very different idea of what discipline means and why children need it.

Posted by: Polemicist at June 29, 2009 12:08 PM in response to Race, Class and P.S. 20's Controversial Principal

I really wish the armories were utilized for their original purpose: housing a military garrison.

Especially in more dangerous neighborhoods, perhaps a standing army could provide real security that the police are unable or unwilling to provide.

Then there is the issue of our declining economy. The probability of serious civil unrest in the near future is much greater than most believe.

Posted by: Polemicist at June 29, 2009 11:47 AM in response to Slope Armory on Track to Open in September

This is of course the primary aesthetic criticism of usury. It is no coincidence that aesthetic value of real estate rapidly declined after 1929. This house, and all the beautiful houses in Brooklyn, were built in the days when homes cost one man's annual income or perhaps twice, and mortgages were never more than 50% of the value. The buyer, with money from his own sweat and brow, had much greater say regarding what he spent his money on.

Posted by: Polemicist at June 15, 2009 4:18 PM in response to Quote of the Day

Once again, the media and community activists prove they know nothing of economics. How can anyone not understand that lowered income and higher financing costs means there is less money for interesting architectural details?

I cringe when I think how these types will react to the coming maelstrom this fall when the realities of our precarious economic state will become too great to ignore or for the media to spin.

Posted by: Polemicist at June 11, 2009 9:53 AM in response to Ratner Cans Gehry For Good

Didn't this building used to be a hotel?

Posted by: Polemicist at June 3, 2009 5:35 PM in response to Co-op of the Day: 41 Eastern Parkway, #5C

Boerum Hill:

The cluster is due to antiquated city zoning laws written in the days when hotels catered to transient vagrants and prostitutes. Sadly, despite the fact Brooklyn is very much in need of more hotels in residential neighborhoods, they are mostly restricted to Downtown Brooklyn and industrial districts.

Land values downtown only really justify new residential development or higher end hotels, so hotels like this can't be built anywhere else. Personally, I'd love to see a fine new hotel near Prospect Park on Eastern Parkway. It would really do wonders for the neighborhood and turn the area into the major destination it should be.

Posted by: Polemicist at May 28, 2009 10:48 AM in response to Development Watch: 3rd Avenue Fairfield Inn

They will never get the money to rehab these places, and they aren't particularly special. There are tens of thousands of houses not radically different from these all over the country and especially the northeast.

While I personally wouldn't donate money to this cause, I would place a bet that the MAS won't be able to raise money for them either.

I'm a big fan of a lot of the work MAS has done, particularly on Coney Island... but I this particular effort just seems like a waste of time and money. I really wish they'd move away from focusing so much on preservation and instead encourage better development along the lines of the City Beautiful movement of which the MAS was the major sponsor over a century ago.

Posted by: Polemicist at May 27, 2009 2:31 PM in response to MAS Continues to Push for Admiral's Row Preservation

southbrooklyn:

"Affordable housing" is and always has been a failure. Since the day the first housing project was constructed, the quality and quantity of housing has continually declined in relation to the number of households in the city. The same is true everywhere in the world.

It doesn't matter what the "promises" were. Government subsidized housing doesn't work, period. It has never worked, and it is nothing more than a tool of a collapsing democracy to buy votes from a permanent underclass.

Thankfully, this system is now finished. There will be no more government housing of any type any time soon as our city, state, and nation are bankrupt.

The whining mouths in Sunset Park, a neighborhood primarily populated by people on public assistance, will continue to live in squalor as their neighborhood reverts to what it has been for most of the 20th century: a dump.

Posted by: Polemicist at May 21, 2009 11:47 AM in response to CB7 Votes in Favor of Sunset Park Rezoning Plan

should be a demo if there is 3,200 SF of development rights.

Land is $200/SF in this area tops. $1M for this property at most, maybe more if the current own takes down their shack.

Posted by: Polemicist at May 20, 2009 3:27 PM in response to House of the Day: 449 Bergen Street

I'm so glad bxgrl is here to provide us with endless amusement and further evidence as to why democracy is a failure.

Posted by: Polemicist at May 19, 2009 12:55 PM in response to Rent Board Chief on Shifting Onus from Landlords

Maybe it's time the busybodies of NYC come to realize that laws require the consent of the governed.

There isn't a single citizen of New York City alive today who could possibly read every law to which their life is subject. Is it not time phariseeism ends?

Posted by: Polemicist at May 18, 2009 8:00 PM in response to Scofflaw Contractors and Developers Thumb Nose at DOB

Obviously, this was not done for the aesthetics. It was done to prevent the collapse of the facade or the building, if it was a load bearing wall. The owners probably are not very wealthy and that was all they could afford. I mean seriously, this place is by the freakin' Navy Yard!

Posted by: Polemicist at May 15, 2009 10:06 AM in response to Horror Show Friday: Mutant Facade Repair

More proof that debt has distorted real estate costs.

Back in the days before pervasive usury, houses such as these were cheap to build.

What cost $60K in 1892 costs about $1.5MM today. That's not a lot of money to build that many beautiful houses.

Posted by: Polemicist at April 27, 2009 12:57 PM in response to Louis Bonert in The Slope

These houses are a joke. They should be demolished and replaced with a large apartment building. I've always thought these places were constructed in the 1930s after the depression... There must have been a vacant development site there that went unused after the crash.

The only thing these houses have going for them is the fact they front Prospect Park.

Posted by: Polemicist at April 22, 2009 2:53 PM in response to House of the Day: 65 Prospect Park West

This problem is totally because of rent stabilization. In a normal city, such ghetto trash would have been evicted long ago.

Posted by: Polemicist at March 30, 2009 5:09 PM in response to Death at Eastern Parkway Drug Den

lechacal:

Last week, the fed created $300B to buy US treasury notes as the interest rates are too low to attract foreign buyers. We are now officially in the print money stage of the government's attempt to reinflate the national asset bubble.

If it works, major inflation is just around the corner. We can't be certain at all about the future of prices for anything, especially mortgaged assets.

Posted by: Polemicist at March 26, 2009 10:46 AM in response to The Be@Schermerhorn Price Cuts We've Been Waiting For

Nice analysis contrarian1

$3,800 a month will get you the best 1-bedroom apartment of a similar size anywhere in Manhattan.

Posted by: Polemicist at March 17, 2009 4:57 PM in response to Co-op of the Day: 160 Columbia Heights

The place looks like it should be condemned.

Posted by: Polemicist at March 17, 2009 1:33 PM in response to House of the Day: 735 Decatur Street Revisited

Last time I tried these guys was in November. They wanted something like $25 to go to Park Slope. Madness.

Posted by: Polemicist at March 12, 2009 2:51 PM in response to Streetlevel: Promenade Shifts Space in Dumbo

Until the deeds are recored on ACRIS, I wouldn't trust anything these brokers say.

I agree with you 11217. This place built under the assumption people would take anything. Penny wise and pound foolish...

Posted by: Polemicist at March 12, 2009 1:06 PM in response to Checking In On The Oro

Can't you get an HFA loan for a building like this? Isn't $599K the maximum they will finance?

Posted by: Polemicist at March 11, 2009 4:39 PM in response to House of the Day: 1182 Bushwick Avenue

Yeah, I really like the facade too... but the location is a real drag. There are so many other apartments at a similar or lower price available.

Posted by: Polemicist at March 11, 2009 11:32 AM in response to Checking In On The Satori

The market will not bottom until the collapse of the FIRE economy is complete. Present prices and rents are entirely supported by an industry that subsisted entirely on economic rent. That is over.

In time, new industries will move to the city - but the employees will earn an income much more similar to the national average.

Now, it is entirely possible - although I consider it unlikely - that the federal government will inflate us out of this mess, so nominal prices and rents may stay the same. My point is that the days of a 120-year old wood-framed shack in Greenwood Heights selling for the price of a ranch house in Greenwich are over, forever.

Posted by: Polemicist at March 9, 2009 9:32 AM in response to Where and When Will The Market Bottom?

Nope. It's not the market. There are going to be failed condo projects in the financial district that will be selling for $400 or $500 per square foot very soon. $400 per square foot for a co-op in Ditmas Park is still way too high.

Posted by: Polemicist at March 4, 2009 2:53 PM in response to Co-op of the Day: 415 Argyle Road, #3J

Bxgrl:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_System_(economic_plan)

Read up on it... you may learn something. This country was built from nothing in a mere century when the American System was in full force, even with the economic inefficiencies of slavery and the destruction of the civil war.

As for Mexico, this isn't just my personal analysis. It is shared by a number of folks out there. You'll probably be surprised when it happens, but so are most people with any military action.

Anyway, I don't think you're wacky, just misinformed. These are the days to expect the unexpected.

Posted by: Polemicist at February 27, 2009 12:30 AM in response to Home Sales Falling, Condo & Foreclosure Auctions Rising

Benson has some good posts here, but most of you are incredibly uninformed.

Bxgrl, I sympathize with what your wrote, even if some of it is a little whacky. They don't do pensions anymore really, and they certainly don't matter to CEOs. Anyway, I'm a firm supporter of the American System and believe the only taxes the federal government should charge are import tariffs.

Southbrooklyn, you take the cake though. It's actually universally acknowledged that World War II got us out of the Great Depression. Obama is making many of the same stupid mistakes Roosevelt did in attempting to delay the inevitable debt deflation that must happen.

The inflationary con game never works unless people are really motivated for something, and historically that has always been war.

One should always assume the news is a vehicle to prepare the populace for government action. Not a week goes by where I don't see a headline talking about how Mexico is essentially an anarchy.

Mark my words: Obama will invade Mexico. You think it takes a lot of troops and money to secure Baghdad? Policing Mexico will require several new armies to be created. Perfect!

Posted by: Polemicist at February 26, 2009 8:23 PM in response to Home Sales Falling, Condo & Foreclosure Auctions Rising

11217:

The acoustics are actually pretty good. Solid wood and heavy plaster can do that. I mean, it's not a concert hall - but you'll be hard pressed to find a performance venue of a similar size and ambiance with decent acoustics in the area where you can play for almost nothing.

I haven't checked out that space at lincoln center yet; I usually just go to the opera. I'd rather spend my free time performing!

PresidentStreeter:

You are probably right. The problem with the condo buyers is I understand they assumed the club would die and eventually the whole place would become condos. They were wrong. No one in their right mind would ever spend $4MM to live above a bar, especially in this market.

Posted by: Polemicist at February 25, 2009 9:27 PM in response to Condo of the Day: Montauk Club Mega-Spread

Those prices are on par with the rockrose and avalon towers in Long Island City.

Insanity.

Posted by: Polemicist at February 25, 2009 4:15 PM in response to 110 4th Avenue Starts Renting

11217:

Chamber music happens at the place frequently. While I'm not a member, I have played there before. The Brooklyn Conservatory has classes there, so there are a number of pianos that are all in tune.

If you are willing to play for free, they'll let your group without a problem.

Posted by: Polemicist at February 25, 2009 4:12 PM in response to Condo of the Day: Montauk Club Mega-Spread

Used to be the dining room.

You should join the club 11217!

Posted by: Polemicist at February 25, 2009 1:02 PM in response to Condo of the Day: Montauk Club Mega-Spread

bkkn4life:

The "any" public benefit bit is actually a result of the New London eminent domain case that the Supreme Court decided over the summer. The current standard for a legal taking is that 1) the legislature must merely intend that the taking will benefit the public and that 2) there is no longer any standard of what the benefit actually is.

Posted by: Polemicist at February 23, 2009 1:48 PM in response to Atlantic Yards Case Starts in State Appeals Court Today

Funny, I grew up on a few doors down from this place. Very similar house.

My parents bought it in 1974 for $25,000.

Posted by: Polemicist at February 23, 2009 1:22 PM in response to House of the Day: 356 1st Street

benson: rockin'

Posted by: Polemicist at February 4, 2009 12:53 PM in response to Admiral's Row: Up Close and Personal

Lechacal, you are a heartless fool. How DARE you suggest that housing is not a basic human right! What kind of world do you think we live in? Especially these in these days of political change, we have little need for your pessimism. The days of capitalist abuse of the working man are over. Deal with it!

Posted by: Polemicist at February 3, 2009 3:37 PM in response to Quote of the Day

Benson:

Without financing, there is no liquidity or market at the prices they want. People will of course buy these units for the right price, and if financing never comes back or we return to the days of 50% maximum LTV ratios - prices will fall accordingly.

Posted by: Polemicist at February 2, 2009 4:37 PM in response to Checking In On One Sunset Park

The New York Times is a credible news source? Since when?

Posted by: Polemicist at January 26, 2009 1:23 PM in response to Recent Sales in Brooklyn

Park Loper:

The Montauk Club is already condos. The club is only 2 floors, maybe 4,000 square feet each.

Posted by: Polemicist at December 23, 2008 2:09 PM in response to Co-Housing Site Likely "Near Prospect Park"

benson and sam: This news about California is worse than probably any other. When the machinations of the state cease to function, the confidence of the people in the very validity of that state is severely shaken. This is the kind of stuff revolutions are made of. This news will NEVER be heavily publicized until the people find out for themselves they won't get their welfare check.

I have every confidence in the American people that enough of us will do whatever it takes to maintain safety and stability that total anarchy is impossible. There will always be those ready to keep the peace, although justice might be more swift than we typically have enjoyed if antisocial behavior increases at a rapid pace.

The problem comes with the severe centralization of authority in Washington and dependence of the majority of the population on mostly federal tax revenue collected from the minority.

There is no question the era of massive wealth redistribution is over, and those who are unable or unwilling to work will have to count on the generosity of their neighbors. The people who choose to forgo the luxuries of life to continue to maintain order will have little tolerance for the tax man coming to tell him he must give 1/3 of is earnings to a state that plays no active role in his life.

Expect government revenue to plummet next year with violent protests a very real possibility Depending on the severity, default on our debt could happen. Any congressman that votes to pay interest at the expense of food for the masses will find himself out of a job or worse. Congress has proven time and again they will choose a solution that provides short term benefits (food) over long term planning (an orderly wind-down of the FIRE-economy and usury in general).

As for the elderly - the sad fact is they will be hit first as they have lots of money and cannot defend themselves. I fully expect the excess wealth of the elderly class will be appropriated in order to prevent the scenario I described. Most elderly will probably find themselves in group homes with only basic accommodations. In desperate times, the old are always sacrificed for the young.

Posted by: Polemicist at December 19, 2008 2:19 PM in response to Tax Break Contributed to Bubble

I imagine this building is well suited for conversion. I wouldn't worry about it be demolished. It is a fine building.

Posted by: Polemicist at December 17, 2008 12:48 PM in response to Willoughby Avenue Convent Closing, Future Uncertain

bkn4life:

There is no need for "rezoning" as the land is/will be state property. City zoning laws do not apply to land owned by the state of nation. Spot rezoning applies to the growth of zoning districts (i.e. you can build at the higher density if your zoning abuts a higher density zone) and has no relevance here.

As has been said countless times, the demapping is needed to accommodate the design constraints of the decking. It is not just to piss off people like you.

As for the free-market issue, I would normally agree - the problem is the the train yard. If it was land, I'd say you are 100% right. The train yard complicates matters however, so it's not that easy.

Posted by: Polemicist at December 16, 2008 12:17 PM in response to Atlantic Yards: Beneficiary or Victim of Economy?

Brownstoner: love the contract dates. Thank you.

Posted by: Polemicist at December 16, 2008 12:12 PM in response to Last Week's Biggest Sales

Homeless: the most underutilized labor force in the nation.

So much work to be done, yet these people don't seem to do any. An easy problem to solve.

Posted by: Polemicist at December 16, 2008 11:18 AM in response to San Francisco of the East Coast

It's called justice.

If I were this guy, I would lease for cheap to a non-profit methadone clinic and claim the positive leasehold value of the tenant as a donation!

Posted by: Polemicist at December 15, 2008 10:52 AM in response to No Oyster Bar? How About a Methadone Clinic?

I like where 11217 is taking this thread.

Posted by: Polemicist at December 10, 2008 1:49 PM in response to Recovery Sooner Than Later?

longtimelistener:

You are clearly new to such forums. Because someone writes a critical piece does not mean one is angry. Your question regarding his anger is a newb misunderstanding that isn't really worthy of a response.

In this case, Benson wrote a very well reasoned (and written) response to the staff's interpretation of this news story. If you disagree with it, why don't you respond to the points he raised rather than your perceived interpretation of his emotions?

Posted by: Polemicist at December 10, 2008 11:13 AM in response to BSA Approves Controversial Sheepshead Bay Condo

I very much agree with part of your post Brenda. Brooklyn, and Flatbush in particular, to me seems far more complicated than the endless black vs white debate of years past.

I of course wouldn't agree the neighborhood has scene much development in the past half century, but that's just me.

Posted by: Polemicist at December 10, 2008 10:07 AM in response to What's it Like in Flatbush?

sowhat:

You're really on a mission.

I do agree building standards must be very high, but the simple reality is the vast majority of the city government goes to house, cloth, and feed millions of citizens who do not work. A decline in necessary services is the inevitable result of such policies. There is simply not enough money to pay for the kinds of building enforcement personal you want.

If you want better policing, better schools, and better building enforcement, campaign for politicians who don't pander to those on the public dime. Better yet, campaign to deny voting rights to those on public assistance.

We are reaching the breaking point in this country where the minority is now enslaved to care for the majority. That is incompatible with democracy and will never last.

Posted by: Polemicist at December 9, 2008 5:10 PM in response to Buying Only What they Build

these prices are insane. They will never sell for these amounts.

Posted by: Polemicist at December 9, 2008 2:38 PM in response to Price Hikes at the Sydney