Badillo Pushing for Lux Housing on RH Waterfront
It’s hard to keep an ambitious ex-politician down. On the heels of his proposal for a massively oversized residential development on Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg, Herman Badillo has injected himself into the jobs vs. housing debate in Red Hook with a vague proposal for 1,500-unit housing development and a campus for charter schools and a…
It’s hard to keep an ambitious ex-politician down. On the heels of his proposal for a massively oversized residential development on Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg, Herman Badillo has injected himself into the jobs vs. housing debate in Red Hook with a vague proposal for 1,500-unit housing development and a campus for charter schools and a college. The city as well as local business leaders and pols have been pushing a plan that combines more parkland with shops and restaurants with a moderate amount of mixed-income housing thrown in for good measure. Which direction in better for Red Hook? For Brooklyn residents in general?
Badillo: Luxury Apartments at Columbia Piers [Brooklyn Papers]
Photo by Josh Jackson
This whole debate is meaningless. The proposed development is not in Red Hook as stated by Brownstoner. It is in the Columbia Waterfront District bordered by Brooklyn Heights, Carrol Gardens, Cobble Hill, and Red Hook. The whole discussion of transportation for this area is a non issue.
I waded patiently through most of this until I couldn’t take it any more.
Just the silly stuff, the rest of the debate is getting some important issues out there.
First, monorails are a joke among serious mass transit advocates, I could go into why but they simply are not a serious system. Maybe to serve Disney World parking lots, maybe. There are serious mass transit issues our there for these neighborhoods, and there are serious congestion and air quality issues as well. You shouldn’t cloud those serious issues with monorail non-sense. It is not even interesting pie-in-the-sky. If you want interesting pie-in-the-sky try mag lev. Still though you are best to keep these discussions grounded on planet earth concerning bus head times, express buses, etc.
Second. Mr. Anonymous here at 5P. There is more to a waterfront than a good view. You can’t put a container port just anywhere. At least not just anywhere that has a natural 50 or 60 feet of draft. This is one of the finest natural harbors in the world. The opposite of what you say is true, you can put the housing anywhere. Housing is important but keeping jobs, high paying industrial jobs that don’t require a college education, is critical to building a high level of productivity in many areas, a balanced economy, not just real estate.
me 2 cents.
you have to put the land to best use.
that place has breath taking views of the manhattan sky-line. it could be like Brooklyn Heights
nice residential buildings there would provide tax revenue for the city.
and provide upkeep for the proposed greenway park.
the container port can be put in a place with less important views.
Isn’t the park y’all speak of being built – it’s called Brooklyn Bridge Park I think, say about a 5 minute walk from the Columbia Street Waterfront Dist. The Greenway is important to link Red Hook parks to BB Park. Waterfront access for public is necessary at the Piers, but doesn’t need to be another big park, does it?
So I live on Tiffany Place, definitely in this CGW area (Left Hook is a new one for me) that we speak of.
First, it takes 10 minutes to walk to the F Train, and 20 minutes to walk to every other train. Since the F Train runs as frequently as the Red Hook buses, most people go to Borough Hall so saying it’s a 10 minute walk is a bit misleading.
Also, the parks in Red Hook definitely are too far away from this area. If I want to get to Fairway or the future IKEA, I’ll be driving.
I am siding with Jimmy Legs and the Red Hook Monorail, but combustiblegirl’s Express B61 isn’t a bad idea either. Especially if it can avoid the traffic on Hicks Street that takes it an extra 15 minutes sometimes.
As for the condos and the campus, it’s a stupid idea. I’d love a park to make the waterfront nice. Even a nice ferry to Governor’s Island would be good.
Priorities what they are, I think at this point I’ll be satisfied if they just repave Columbia and get rid of the potholes. They did Court Street not too long ago and I bet Columbia gets more truck traffic. I notice the ride is smooth over near Brooklyn Heights where the tour buses go.
And P.S. The maritime museum doesn’t have to suck automatically. Just check out Portside New York’s site for a description of The Tanker Mary Whalen, which is also part of Open House NY this weekend. It’s an old oil tanker that’s moored in Red Hook that they’re turning into a museum and artspace. What they propose looks very cool. And look at the Barge Museum with it’s ongoing series of events. These are institutions actively engaged with the community.
1) How many jobs have the fucking cruise ships created?
2) How many jobs were LOST at American Stevedore?
3) Agree 1000% on all IKEA scorn– thank you some South Brooklynites for restoring my faith in HATE.
4) I want to remind, again, all the Ikea dorks to…
LOOK INTO IKEA’S FAILED FIRST ATTEMPT TO LOCATE IN BROOKLYN
on the site where Lowe’s went.
Then ask yourself how such a thing could have happened with so many lawyers, etc.
Bring me the fat fucking head of Herman Badillo– I’m making cabeza tacos!
lr
Red Hook and CGW need the greenway more than luxury housing. They need parkland that’s accesible for non-organized use. The Red Hook fields are great, but they are just that–ball fields. It’s a huge park but it’s limited in it’s uses because it’s dedicated to team sports. The residents need more running/walking/cylcling space, that’s also seperated off from the truck traffic, which can make cycling and running unnerving if not downright dangerous. I like the idea of a maritime related school facility and that’s already being bandied about as part of the current development possibilites. And for the person who griped about the bus without clearly ever really riding it. The B61 generally runs every 10 minutes–which is not to say it’s never late. What would help though is if the city added a b61 express that ran a truncated route from Red Hook to Jay street and back. This alleviates the number of late buses that get held up on the longer route that runs all the way to L.I. City. And gets Red Hook CGW residents to Borough Hall and Jay St. for the train connection.
ikea will be a real debacle. anyone who’s been to the Elizabeth or Paramus stores knows how crazy it is during prime weekend hours. red hook will be car city.