Futuristic Enclosure Thingy Proposed for the BQE
It never hurts to dream. Manhattan-based architecture firm Studio for Civil Architecture just released its proposal for a visual and sound barrier between the BQE and Brooklyn Bridge Park. Regardless of what is ultimately built on the waterfront housing, restaurants, ball fields, passive recreation areas visitors to the open space and surrounding structures will be…
Rendering via Studio for Civil Architecture
It never hurts to dream. Manhattan-based architecture firm Studio for Civil Architecture just released its proposal for a visual and sound barrier between the BQE and Brooklyn Bridge Park. Regardless of what is ultimately built on the waterfront housing, restaurants, ball fields, passive recreation areas visitors to the open space and surrounding structures will be subject to relentless, unpleasant, potentially deafening noise at 85 decibels, the equivalent of standing next to an operating lawnmower,” says architect Donald Rattner, who designed the lightweight structure to encase the triple-cantilever of the roadway with Hage Engineering. Evidently this stretch of the BQE is scheduled to be repaired in 2018 and the designers want to throw their idea into the ring now. You can see more renderings and listen to the 85 decibels of traffic noise here. Dig it?
Benson – I think the reason that Europeans went against Obama on stimulus is BECAUSE they feel they spend enough on a social safety net in order to not need a fiscal stimulus at this time….or a more honest/cynical way to say it is – they already have massive debt (relative to GDP) for their social programs and cant borrow anymore to fund fiscal stimulus.
That being said, similar to the IMHO misinformed comments about the volume of road noise in Europe, I think alot of people here are basing their opinions of European living standards on limited experiences gleaned through vacation travel.
The trade-off is far from fast+loose vs slow and steady; Europe has had MUCH higher unemployment that the U.S. for years, they have a much larger demographic crisis coming (not enough young workers to support the elderly and non-working) and their modern history suggests their prospect for growth and innovation is limited [which means that they are less able to deal with coming problems – like global warming, terrorism, etc…]
– There is much to be envied about the “European” way (like all that vacation time) but everything comes with trade-offs and if you believe that the Europeans have some how figured out some Utopian model then I have a beach Condo in Spain to sell you.
Parked Slope;
If their social safety net is making this whole thing less painful for them, then why were they ready to go to the mat with President Obama about doing something “big” to get them out of their doldrums? Nice guys, those Europeans, trying to get the US to spen $1 trillion so that they can continue to spend 4 weeks of vacation. Well, we pay for their defense, why not their stimulus?
You have still avoided my questions. Please identify the European Google or Intel. Please cite some statistics to show the growth in employment in Western Europe. Please show me where their economies have grown to assimilate ANY immigrants. Please try to convince me that they are NOT going through a demographic death spiral, to the point where governments are now trying to bribe people to have children and make it affordable?
My point with regard to Andy Grove remains. You cite the fact that they might go to the UK, but as you probably know, the UK is considered to be an “Anglo-American” country by the European continentals. In fact, the French and Germans call all the countries like the UK, the USA, Australia, etc. the “Anglo-Saxons” or the “Anglo-Americans”, because of the similarities in their culture, language and approach to political economy. Please show me ONE ambitious American executive who went to Europe to seek their fortune.
I can tell you this: I work for a major japanese company, and on their behalf I have opened offices in Europe. The bureauacracy and costs are not to be believed. That is the reason we invest the minimal amount possible there.
Finally, Sam is absolutely right about Europeans and cars. Their cars are smaller because they make less money and gas is taxed to the hilt. I challenge anyone to take the subways of Milan at 8 PM and find how many Italians are actually on them. I’ve been there, and i’ve seen it for myself.
“The Italians were very cordial (surprise).”
When I visited Palermo, the traffic was cordial, I guess, but scary – the city center had no traffic lights, and basically people were expected to step into intersections FIRST, and then the cars (theoretically) would stop and let people cross. Only problem was those guys were FLYING, and it took guts to step into that crosswalk! Even as a NY native, I was a bit intimidated. This was several years ago and I’m not sure what it’s like now.
sam how dare you say something negative about the earthly utopia known as europe!!
*rob*
I think the europeans are as car crazy as the Americans. The high speed trains are very expensive and are used most by business people and tourists and maybe older people who do not drive. everyone else takes the car. And the traffic jams in Germany and France and italy are as bad as anything you may experience in LA. I have been all over Europe by car. Believe me, I had a lot of company on the autobahns and the vias de auto. The worst drivers are in Scotland, they are lunatics. The Italians were very cordial (surprise). The Germans are ruthless and will push you off the road if you are doing less than ninety miles an hour.
Well played, parkedslope. Benson was having a Bobby Jindal moment: “Americans can do anything…”
The most I ever paid for a bridge toll was in Denmark it was $30.00 to cross a bridge—most people take the train. The roads were much less crowded than here but parking was a nightmare…because they park anywhere.
Some of the comments on Europe are so way-off-the-mark, I don’t know where to begin…
Listen, Sam: you are dead wrong, saying Europeans are just as car-centric as we are. Since you admit to having never been in the poor suburbs of Paris [‘les banlieues’], I’ll go ahead and educate you: the people there are mostly POOR. Owning/driving a car anywhere in Europe – and especially in Paris – is EXPENSIVE. The result is the people on the outskirts are highly dependent on public transport – one of the many reasons why they feel cut-off from the more prosperous parts of the city.
As for Western Europe in-general, they tax the hell out of gasoline. The result is they drive smaller cars, drive newer [more efficient/less polluting] cars & mostly they drive a lot, lot less than we do! They generally have excellent public transportation – clean, prompt, relatively cheap – which means car ownership is strictly a luxury in most big Euro cities. Kind of like NYC…
Finally, Snark, you are correct: the European social safety net is making this whole disaster a lot less painful for many of them.
But Benson, it’s incorrect to say that European economies have been in the doldrums for decades. As Snark pointed-out, they have traded boom-and-bust for slow-and-steady. The fact that a ‘slow growth’ economy is anathema to most Americans says a lot about the brainwashing that’s been going-on by Wall Street, the financial media, GOP, etc.
And Benson, please spare us the examples of a tiny, tiny handful of entrepeneurs who came to America and made it big. First off, most continental Europeans who are hyper-ambitious go to the UK, NOT the US. Secondly, why don’t you take the time to list all the European millionaires who made it big while staying in their home country? I’ll give you a head-start [and he’s a billionaire]: Richard Branson.
Well, the differential between CEO compensation in America and Europe is an obvious appeal.
How well that is working out for anybody besides those CEOs, well, that’s another matter.