Tuesday Blogwrap

I left this comment on the DUMBONYC blog as well but since your showing the photo of the impending disaster of the Two Trees Tower on Front Street I thought I would repost:

Putting a fifteen story building in that location is an absolutely horrible idea and will have an irrepairable impact on the context and meaning of the Brooklyn Bridge. Regardless of how you feel about DUMBO, as a New Yorker you should be upset at the prospect of new third tower, out of context and essentially imposed on the Bridge, completely upsetting its balance and aesthetics.

The importance of the Brooklyn Bridge as a landmark cannot be understated: People come from all over the world to New York to see the Brooklyn Bridge. Significant protests are held on the Bridge to harness its power as a symbol of the city. Remember the transit strike? Or the March for Immigration Reform? Every news media outlet chose the Bridge as the representative backdrop of us to report these events. Post 9/11 more than ever, the Bridge has become New York. And on a small scale, it brings people, myself included, a tremendous amount of happiness to be around. In all, the life of New York is lived on and through that bridge. It is a treasure that we, as citizens, have inherited with an obligation to protect.

If this building is built, something significant will be lost. When you walk over the Bridge from Brooklyn, the new building will now be an unwanted guest in your classic shot of the gothic arches, crowding the openness of the promenade, now feeling like a tunnel, until you get all the way through to the center. Coming from Manhattan, it will compete for your attention with the distant support tower, pulling the Bridge left, like it was broken. From the water and the park, a new building will loom like an intruder, making the Brooklyn side seem heavy and disproportionate. Stand in the Empire-Fulton Ferry Park and block the left tail of the bridge with your hand every time you admire the view. Is this okay? I don’t think so. (BTW, don’t let the soothing watercolor rendering fool you, the plot is closer and the building will be higher when actually built, than it appears in the developer’s pitch).

Yes, schools are nice and necessary but they are not bargaining chips for developers to use to get previously rejected buildings built. If you agree with what I am saying I would take a minute to get in touch with David Yassky’s office or Marty Markowitz, or even Bloomberg to tell them to get involved now to stop this disaster before it gets too late.