Growing Pains in North Brooklyn
Buildings are popping up like mushrooms, said CB member Christopher Olechowski of post-rezoning Williamsburg and Greenpoint. Down Manhattan Avenue, all you hear are jackhammers. If you go down Kent, the road is being repaved. It’s everywhere.” While some people dislike the growth itself, others are upset that the city has not kept up with the…
Buildings are popping up like mushrooms, said CB member Christopher Olechowski of post-rezoning Williamsburg and Greenpoint. Down Manhattan Avenue, all you hear are jackhammers. If you go down Kent, the road is being repaved. It’s everywhere.” While some people dislike the growth itself, others are upset that the city has not kept up with the developers — either in terms of enforcement or promises of affordable housing. There are have been 337 construction-related complaints to DOB and only nine new units of affordable housing created. And to top it off, the city has yet to finance a legal fund it promised to help tenants fight displacement by overeager developers. The watchdog group Williamsburg/Greenpoint Development Watchdog reports that more than 20 projects in the area have damged adjoining structures. The developers blame poor existing structural conditions and most residents point the finger at carelessness and greed on the part of developers and inefficacy on the part of DOB. We’re in such a huge boom, said William Harvey, an architect who lives on North 8th Street. D.O.B. doesn’t have the people power to watch over it.
City Sees Growth; Residents Call It Out of Control [NY Times]
As ye sow, so shall ye reap – NYC is forcing its creative community out of places like Williamsburg. (and other neighborhoods – it’ll reach Bushwick and Ridgewood too) Under the current administration, the very elements that make NY attractive to all the condo buyers are being dismantled. Even the artists who bought and renovated in the Williamsburg of the 80s are leaving. Maybe it’s time to roll back property taxes for anyone in the arts who remains in Williamsburg and survives this so called boom. After all, if buyers of million dollar condos can get tax breaks why not keep a few artists around for flavor?
“Whhhhaaaagghhhhh!!! I want my bottle!!!”
This is exactly what we all have been saying, for what, 2 years…lack of planning and an ignorance in dealing with what was the inevitable…developers at the helm of a sinking ship. But, not women and children first…men with the fat wallets on board first!
I cannot believe that the Mayor’s office is attempting to spin the over development boom into some sort of calculated move…
“We tried to do something absolutely new here,†Mr. Doctoroff said. “Now what you’re starting to see is it all happening.â€
You mean, falling apart? Spin, spin, spin…
I could not believe this stat:
Last year, the department issued 24,610 permits in Brooklyn, including 1,924 for demolition and 1,740 permits for new buildings. That was roughly double the demolition and new construction of five years earlier, and it was all handled by 25 inspectors.
That’s right, 24K+ permits, 25 inspectors…
And the most repugnant:
one hulking complex with Brazilian teak floors. Sales posters for the building — which received a permit before the area’s height limits were put in place — brag, “It is now illegal to get this high.â€
Argh!
I hope the Mayor is proud that his “affordable” housing track record is overwhelming “not affordable” to the average person!