Do I Need a Plumber or Contractor

I hope it's not in park slope proper--i think it would be great to have development like this in a needier neighborhood (i realize needier can be a lot of things). and since they're going to have instant community, they don't need the ps321 and co-op stuff; they'll make their own.

Posted by: longtimelistener at December 23, 2008 4:25 PM in response to Co-Housing Site Likely "Near Prospect Park"

Thanks, Benson. I still disagree with you that the article has an "ax to grind," which seems different to me than having a point of view. I'm fond of some of those old beach bungalows (especially those in far rockaway) and generally air on the side of cautious development: i like dynamism, contrast, but i also like neighborhoods that evolve slowly and don't leap to tear downs and manhattan-ish versions of themselves. i think we agree on some things--you don't seem fond of the big buildings in the area, either. anyway, if the author of the article indeed included buildings that have nothing to do with the rezoning, probably good to tell him/her. The private property versus public good quagmire is an old and complicated one. We're not really a property rights kinda town, alas, as places like Phoenix are. Usually the denser and area, the less attached people are to property rights (and the bluer an area is, coincidentally).

Posted by: longtimelistener at December 18, 2008 3:36 PM in response to Rezoning for Brighton Beach?

Dutchman, where are the others posts about it? Don't see 'em.

Posted by: longtimelistener at December 18, 2008 2:34 PM in response to Streetlevel: Thai Tony's Takes Off

question, though: you guys say overdevelopment's not a prob, but the community board chair sure believes it is. is it just that the properties mentioned in the article aren't the best examples, or do you really think it's not a problem? I get that it's worse in some neighborhoods, but that wouldn't preclude rezoning. Anyway, i'm sure your voices would be welcomed in the discussion.

Posted by: longtimelistener at December 18, 2008 2:31 PM in response to Rezoning for Brighton Beach?

local broker, those are interesting thoughts--although i think the low-rise side streets should be maintained, personally. sounds like you should share your thoughts with the local community board. also, not sure, but seems like the rezoning would be larger than just brighton beach, which is perhaps why buildings not officially in the nabe (as benson asserts) are used as examples of "over development." if you know the boundaries of the rezoning proposal, please share. thanks.

Posted by: longtimelistener at December 18, 2008 11:39 AM in response to Rezoning for Brighton Beach?

also, haven't worked there since '94, but i believe we were in the brighton 3rd area--big deco-y buildings, spacious, nice floors, curved walls, subtle moldings...good stuff.

Posted by: longtimelistener at December 18, 2008 11:05 AM in response to Rezoning for Brighton Beach?

not to belabor the point, but I don't think asking you to be civil, or telling you that i wish i COULD learn from you is a personal attack, and I find that you attack the folks who post (or write) articles. I guess I was hoping I could affect change in YOU. Ah, well, no go. I don't say this as an attack: I don't think you add to the discussion. I say it in the hope that you'll consider changing your tack and tone.

Posted by: longtimelistener at December 18, 2008 11:04 AM in response to Rezoning for Brighton Beach?

If you want to affect change, try a different tone. If you actually have information that we can use, I'd love to hear it. Your polemical tone makes it hard to digest as fact; it incites skepticism. I'd love to learn, but not from a rant.

Posted by: longtimelistener at December 18, 2008 10:38 AM in response to Rezoning for Brighton Beach?

I've been in several of those 20's (and newer) apartment buildings and found them to be lovely (I worked out there in the early 90s). Maybe you should take up journalism, Benson--I have never heard you say one positive thing on here. Really a drag.

Posted by: longtimelistener at December 18, 2008 10:17 AM in response to Rezoning for Brighton Beach?

oh, right...reading the whole thing is a good idea.

Posted by: longtimelistener at December 18, 2008 9:51 AM in response to Thursday Links

that description is paraphrased from the article.

Posted by: longtimelistener at December 18, 2008 9:50 AM in response to Rezoning for Brighton Beach?

Most interesting thing in Maldoff article: "And a Manhattan psychotherapist who counsels real estate leaders and bankers said most of the patients he has seen this week have close friends and relatives who lost money with Mr. Madoff."

Who is this psychotherapist to the broker stars? That I need to know.

Posted by: longtimelistener at December 18, 2008 9:37 AM in response to Thursday Links

how can you guys not think stuffwhitepeoplelike.com is hilarious?

Posted by: longtimelistener at December 17, 2008 2:50 PM in response to The 100 Best Things in Park Slope

This happened to me years ago in the Slope--lived in a private, two-unit brownstone. Problem wasn't that the landlord wanted it for himself, but wanted to double the rent. We were told that it was a private house, and that we had no rights. Super bummer.

Posted by: longtimelistener at December 17, 2008 2:40 PM in response to Eviction

sorry, this is the right web site:
http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/

stuff, not things.

Posted by: longtimelistener at December 17, 2008 11:13 AM in response to The 100 Best Things in Park Slope

http://thingswhitepeoplelike.com/

OTBKB is not on the official list of things white people like.

Benson, as usual, I don't get your vitriol. I've noticed lots of informative posts from PMFA make it to Brownstoner, chronicling neighborhood development issues. Be nice.

Posted by: longtimelistener at December 17, 2008 10:31 AM in response to The 100 Best Things in Park Slope

I think it's a shame. With a little tweaking, they could be effectively straddle that line between contextual and dynamic--clearly new, but in conversation with the old. Instead, they refuse to mix in with stoop- and window-lines, have strange setbacks, hideous doorways. Come on, how much harder is it to make something inviting, that doesn't look like a medical office?

Posted by: longtimelistener at December 16, 2008 10:39 AM in response to BK Developers on 12th Street

i love "trying to be architecture." that captures it perfectly.

Posted by: longtimelistener at December 16, 2008 10:30 AM in response to BK Developers on 12th Street

do we have to talk about how to talk about them? thanks for the correction.

Posted by: longtimelistener at December 11, 2008 10:00 AM in response to What the Census Says About Us

get your point, biff.

Posted by: longtimelistener at December 11, 2008 9:57 AM in response to What the Census Says About Us

once again i ask, why is it race baiting to report census data? the what is no more comfortable talking about race than anyone else. too bad. we're missing an opportunity to talk about how the borough can grow and shift without displacing people, to improve without necessarily gentrifying, to become "family-friendly" without reserving all the pre-school space for procreating corporate lawyers. census data is a tool for figuring out what the problems are, what the changes are, and how to address them.

Posted by: longtimelistener at December 11, 2008 9:56 AM in response to What the Census Says About Us

Why is it "pushing every button" to examine census data, which asks folks their races and ages and incomes, etc? This doesn't seem inflammatory to me. It seems informative. Can there be a discussion of the data itself, or do we have to talk about how to talk about it?

Posted by: longtimelistener at December 11, 2008 9:44 AM in response to What the Census Says About Us

um, your name is polemicist. polemical is implied.

Posted by: longtimelistener at December 10, 2008 12:46 PM in response to BSA Approves Controversial Sheepshead Bay Condo

yeah, i looked at the listing. i believe almost everything in brownstone brooklyn is twice the price it should be, this property included.

Posted by: longtimelistener at December 10, 2008 12:08 PM in response to Rent-to-Own at 360 Baltic

you're right, pete, that the one-beds are very nice one beds. they're still almost $3,000 a month.

Posted by: longtimelistener at December 10, 2008 11:25 AM in response to Rent-to-Own at 360 Baltic

Petebklyn must be a realtor.

Posted by: longtimelistener at December 10, 2008 10:59 AM in response to Rent-to-Own at 360 Baltic

well, won't get the answer to my query, then. might want to ask yourself that question.

Posted by: longtimelistener at December 10, 2008 10:25 AM in response to BSA Approves Controversial Sheepshead Bay Condo

yep, seem angry. your point of view generally seems to try and drum up resentment against the posts. you're right that the point of the comments is to, well, comment. i've just noticed the consistent tenor of yours and wonder what you get out of it.

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

you seem to have a hard time understanding that they are recapping a ny times story, most of which is about neighborhood opposition and problems at the site. i don't understand why you are always so angry--if you hate this site, why read it?

Posted by: longtimelistener at December 10, 2008 9:53 AM in response to BSA Approves Controversial Sheepshead Bay Condo

it seems to me that benson is consistently nasty and inflammatory, guilty of the very things he accuses other of, and that he's irate about stories recapped here. The church story came from another source.

Posted by: longtimelistener at December 5, 2008 10:37 AM in response to Friday Links

I looked at Craigs List and rents are a few hundred bucks higher per month in Bay Ridge for a prewar studio than they were when I rented one 5 years ago. It defies logic completely that fewer people will be buying apartments AND rents will go down too. If fewer people are buying that means higher demand for rentals.

Posted by: traditionalmod at December 18, 2008 2:22 PM in response to Eviction

Absolutely do not go to housing court. I can almost guarantee that if you are evicted it will severely hamper your ability to get a lease in the future.

Your landlords sound like reasonable people; in theory they could have just slipped a note under your door telling you to get out, with the threat of a court order to follow. That's what happens in the rest of the country.

Posted by: Bolder at December 20, 2008 9:56 AM in response to Eviction