Petitioning Bruce to Spare Ward's Bakery
Ron Shiffman of Pratt Institute wrote the following email to urge preservation-minded citizens to sign the online petition to save the 1911 Ward’s Bakery from Bruce Ratner’s bulldozers: Despite what you might have read, the fight to stop and revise Forest City Ratner’s proposals for the Vanderbilt Yards (Atlantic Yards) is far from over. A…
Ron Shiffman of Pratt Institute wrote the following email to urge preservation-minded citizens to sign the online petition to save the 1911 Ward’s Bakery from Bruce Ratner’s bulldozers:
Despite what you might have read, the fight to stop and revise Forest City Ratner’s proposals for the Vanderbilt Yards (Atlantic Yards) is far from over. A number of lawsuits have yet to be decided. The federal lawsuit will be heard by the Judge, and a decision of whether it will stay in federal court or shift to the state court will be made next month. Other cases will be filed as well. Let’s ask our elected officials to do the responsible thing for a change, and keep FCR from further harming our community by demolishing these beautiful & significant buildings. If it can happen here, it can happen in your neighborhood next. Downtown Brooklyn today, Manhattanville tomorrow, & who knows where the day after. HELP Stop the demolition, & then get engaged! Let’s unite in solidarity.
Even if you’re one of those people who can’t help writing in D-O-N-E-D-E-A-L in the comments of any post about Atlantic Yards, it’s hard to argue with the fact that saving this building for “adaptive reuse” (as they call it in the preservation biz) is a no-brainer. It would also be a great p.r. move for Bruce to pretend he has some grasp of what’s wonderful about old Brooklyn.
Stop Demolition of Ward’s Bakery [Petition Online]
Photo by Tracy Collins
1. What problems will a parking lot bring? Please be specific.
2. How do you know that the asbestos removal was unsupervised?
3. How do you know the environmental monitor is nowhere in sight? If you aren’t even sure if that person has been appointed, then how can you tell whether or not he or she is actually around?
4. What complaints and concerns has the liaison neglected to act on? Are the solutions to these concerns actually in that person’s power?
5. When did I (anon 12:35, 1:27, and 9:23) ever say that I wanted you to shut up?
No facts in sight. Just vague suppositions intended to scare people into opposing a project that is inevitable.
No fear tactics. No hyperbole. Just straight facts actually. If such a vast area is indeed used for surface parking and staging, it will indeed bring a huge number of problems with it. Already folks who live close to the footprint of the proposed development have suffered a half-day loss of water (including a laundry and tofu manufacturer — which obviously both depend on water). They’ve also witnessed asbetos abatement work going on unsupervised. The FCR “community liason” office has proved itself incapable of acting on complaints and concerns. And the enviromental monitor — required by the ESDC — is nowhere in sight, ie. hasn’t even been appointed yet as far as one can tell! But hey, we know you’d rather we just shut up and not worry our pretty little heads over the degradation of our enviroment and the enrichment through public subsidies of a billionaire developer!
only one man would fear those comments.
And NeoGrec proves my point again by using the fear tactics. In this case, fear of parking lots and “disaster” (really, now) resulting from demolition. Hyperbole is sooo effective, ain’t it?
Josh,
You ask “And what’s the plan with the building that currently houses the Maple Street School? Does anyone know?”
No plans that I know of. It’s owned by the MTA (part of the Prospect Park subway station) leased on along-term basis to the MSS, and, I’d imagine, far too small to be of interest to any developer. BTW, this is a couple of miles south of AY, so I’m not sure where it’s relevant to this thread.
Why exactly?
people like you give the anti-ay’s a REALLY bad name.
For the record, Ron Shiffman co-founded PICCED in 1964 and from 1990-96 was a commissioner on the NYC Planning Commission. He has over 40 years experience as a city planner at the highest level.
Surely it’s self-evident that demolishing all the buildings on the block bounded by Carlton, Vanderbilt, Dean and Pacific (where the Ward Bakery stands — and a very fine building it is) will create a disaster for the neighborhood. FCR plans to provide surface parking for construction workers there — as if they couldn’t use public transportation like every other Joe and Jane in the city. This parking lot is likely to exist for at least 10-15 years. It will create “instant blight” conditions. And, if AY does not go forward, or is radically changed, this wonderful old building will be just a memory.
Hats off to Ron Shiffman.
Some of the comments posted on the petition are very touching. I really hope Bloomberg reads them 🙁