Monday Links
McCarren Park. Photo by bitchcakesny. Considering the Seven-Year Plan [NY Times] Houses Where History Lives [NY Times] Brooklyn as Luxury Destination [NY Daily News] Shoppers Raring to Go at Trader Joe’s [NY Daily News] Deal Is Near on Homeless Shelter [NY Daily News] Many Construction Sites on B’Burg’s Union Avenue [Brooklyn Eagle] East New York’s…
McCarren Park. Photo by bitchcakesny.
Considering the Seven-Year Plan [NY Times]
Houses Where History Lives [NY Times]
Brooklyn as Luxury Destination [NY Daily News]
Shoppers Raring to Go at Trader Joe’s [NY Daily News]
Deal Is Near on Homeless Shelter [NY Daily News]
Many Construction Sites on B’Burg’s Union Avenue [Brooklyn Eagle]
East New York’s Pitkin Avenue [NY Metro]
Bedford is crowded – but i think it’s due more to it being the last stop in brooklyn, and many people not being able to fit on the train, due to the volume @ lorimer and graham. frequently the train stops @ bedford during prime rush hour (8:30ish) and no one gets on.
The JMZ is great – I work on Spring St and frequently take the B48 to the JMZ. Commute is about the same length, but less tiring.
Agreed g man, but this is why I think we need to hold them to their commitments. We shouldn’t just be shrugging our shoulders. We should be demanding that they reaffirm the (albeit non-binding) commitment to find another space in Manhattan, and insist that they identify a space, complete the ULURP application and add the budget line.
Doc, without a site, the commitment is meaningless. The commitment is only meaningful if DHS can say: this is the site, the ULURP application (if necessary) will be certified on such-and-such date, and this is the budget line for the build out. Otherwise, it is too easy for the agency to say later, ‘Gosh, we looked and we looked but we just couldn’t find a site. Really; we looked.’
I was happy to see everyone, from community groups to elected officials to homeless advocacy organizations to the homeless themselves make the very strong case against moving intake services for homeless men from Manhattan to Crown Heights. There is near unanimous outcry against this plan (the only supporters being DHS and the directors of a few non-profits like the Doe Fund which live off the DHS teat).
I was, however, very discouraged to hear the City back off from their commitment to keep an intake center in Manhattan. At the hearing, this commitment had been downgraded to “considering the possibility” of maintaining an intake center in Manhattan. This is a reversal of their previous commitment, as reported in the NYTimes last month:
“On Thursday, Heather J. Janik, a spokeswoman for the city’s homeless services agency, said an additional intake center would be opened in Manhattan to lessen demand at the proposed Brooklyn site. She said it would open “in tandem†with the new Brooklyn intake center, at the same time that the current central intake center, the Bellevue Men’s Shelter on the East Side, closed down. The site of the new center in Manhattan, which will be open 24 hours, has not been determined.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/15/nyregion/15armory.html?scp=2&sq=bedford%20intake&st=cse
The City should not be allowed to back off form their commitment.
the bedford station is crowded – the greenpoint people take the bus to driggs and N. 7th and get on at the driggs entrance for bedford L too.
however, i still think the speed that the trains come one after another helps keep it all moving. i have never not gotten on a train.
also, we will see some more people walk south (i do frequently – several times a week, sometimes everyday) to the JMZ. it’s terrific if you are heading downtown. 3 trains, and they come one right after another.
Re: Seven-Year Plan
“Ms. Cohn and other brokers, especially in high-cost areas like Manhattan, are recommending that borrowers buy before the end of the year, when interest rates are likely to rise for loans greater than $629,000. (Until then, only loans above $729,750 carry the “jumbo†premium of half a percentage point or more.)”
Ha! Why not instead wait for higher interest rates to put downward pressure on prices? In the mean time, save more cash. Put more money down on a cheaper house. Your monthly payment will likely be the same if not less.
Re: Union Avenue article
“Bedford Avenue L Station is 5th busiest in the city”
The 750 new people brought in by these developments most certainly would not be utilizing the Bedford Station – as they would have to walk by the Lorimer Station to get there.
And am I the only one who is skeptical about the Bedford Ave station being so busy? Every morning during rush hour only a couple of people get on at that station. I get on at Lorimer, which seems much busier – and supposedly Graham is quite busy as well