Eulogies for the Pre-Ikea Red Hook
The Times goes man-on-the-street in Red Hook and finds a wide range of opinions on how this week’s opening of Ikea will affect the neighborhood: -It will change for the worse, said a musician. -German Mendez, who runs a store called the Red Hook Bike Shop, called Ikea a blessing. All these people in the…
The Times goes man-on-the-street in Red Hook and finds a wide range of opinions on how this week’s opening of Ikea will affect the neighborhood:
-It will change for the worse, said a musician.
-German Mendez, who runs a store called the Red Hook Bike Shop, called Ikea a blessing. All these people in the new houses, they don’t like it, he said, as he inspected a customer’s tire. They gave us back the pier, he said, referring to Ikea.
-Now this is Mayberry, said a customer in Mendez’s shop, with a big blue box.
-If it was a Wal-Mart, I’d be protesting, said the owner of a Van Brunt Street wine bar. This could be a really good thing.
-I’m taking a picture before the funeral, said a video artist. In a week from now, the deserted streets won’t be deserted.
And yourself?
Awaiting a Big Blue Box and an Altered World [NY Times]
Big Retailers May Follow Ikea to Red Hook [NY Daily News]
Photo by alphabetjenn.
actually, it’s not even called a variance, but a “conditional use” permit.
The variance was granted, and this got built, so it’s a legal use and now other things like this will be built. You can’t pretend like it’s not legally zoned for what is happening even if that means that they asked for the zoning variance. They went through a legal process to request the variance, right?
Actually, 11:28, this wasn’t allowed by the zoning. They had to seek a variance. Anyone who wants to opine on the situation, ought to at least get educated about it.
Hey 12:12: There’s no room for rational thought here. Move on.
🙂
11:41 is being sarcastic, but it would be great to have more shopping there, and it will happen now that there’s an IKEA and Fairway. I think that the people who live int the red hook houses would appreciate more shopping too. There’s no need to mix a political discussion about public housing with a discussion about retail because they’re not really related.
Gosh, could it be that this both *good* and *bad* for Red Hook? Brings jobs, but brings cars. Revitalizes a waterfront but kills off some industrial history.
People who have only ever been to the Elizabeth Ikea might envision a desolate, smelly, traffic-clogged wasteland. But that’s because that Ikea is nestled between an airport, a 12-lane highway and the busiest container port on the east coast. It was a pretty bleak neighborhood to begin with. Other Ikeas are in more vibrant areas.
Red Hook is not isolated, it’s part of New York, which is undergoing a construction and population boom and should not expect to be left unaltered. There’s no reason Ikea’s opening needs to be categorized as either good or evil. The truth is that it cuts both ways, just like every other large and small parcel being re-developed in Brooklyn.
How will this be better for Red Hook? Shuttle=clean and free. B61=$2, late and slow. A great new way to commute between Red Hook and downtown. Not to mention Free water taxi to Manhattan. Anything that improves access to and from Red Hook, improves Red Hook.
I don’t think a lot of people who are going to be shopping in Ikea are going to be lingering in the neighborhood. There is going to be a huge increase in traffic on certain streets in Red Hook now, and when is that ever a good thing for a neighborhood? If they funnel traffic in a way that keeps it of Van Brundt (or generally West of Ikea) than the impact won’t be as bad. But not a big plus for the area.
please bring a bed bath & beyond to this area, that would make my trips to red hook much more productive
thanks
and oh yeah get rid of those nasty projects