A Curb Cut on Landmarked St. Marks Avenue? Really?
See this beautiful brownstone front yard at 97 St. Marks Avenue? Better enjoy it while you can, because the owner is getting ready to demolish it to create a driveway and garage despite the recent landmarking of Prospect Heights, according to a tipster and DOB filings. How could this happen? We’re not quite sure, but…
See this beautiful brownstone front yard at 97 St. Marks Avenue? Better enjoy it while you can, because the owner is getting ready to demolish it to create a driveway and garage despite the recent landmarking of Prospect Heights, according to a tipster and DOB filings. How could this happen? We’re not quite sure, but here’s the initial permit where it mentions converting a portion of the ground floor into a garage and here’s an amendment for the curb cut. The whole thing is eerily reminiscent of what happened at 174 Clinton Avenue a couple of years ago. The icing on the cake, according to a Forum post yesterday, is that the owner’s kicking out the old lady who sold him the house but continued to live in the garden apartment in order to do it. We’ll get back to you with what Landmarks has to say. Let’s hope this is all a big misunderstanding! Update: LPC confirms that they have no record of any applications for Landmark approval at this address. GMAP
The owners and the architect do not need to post here to defend themselves. This is not an ad hominem attack on their character. While I think they are jerks, it’s really besides the point. For me, the point is to let people know how to approach potential building violations. You don’t have to roll over because your neighbor is a jackass, you want to get the city to enforce the rules fairly, to preserve the integrity of your house and your neighborhood.
As to your point about Mr. B not being able to back down, maybe you can consider other options than “he knows I’m right but is afraid to look silly.” He might actually disagree with you, and yes, this is blog.
Maly- are you the ratting neighbor? I’d hate to have you as mine. Or on a jury. There are 2 sides to every story and before we hang someone out to dry I’d like to know all the facts and make an informed decision. As for the tenant- its a little hard to believe they can be summarily kicked out without notice. Sorry but this is NYC after all. This is not the whole story.
I support this blog’s efforts to preserve the character of Brownstone Brooklyn 100% but something about the way this situation went down just strikes me as wrongheaded and Salem Witch-hunty. If I was an immediate neighbor of this house I am sure I would be more up in arms, but I hope that I would at least try to have an upfront discussion with the owner before going nuclear like this.
ditto, you must have missed my 1:50 comment. Public, yes; a call to action for something the experts here can’t even agree on, no way.
“a curb cut does not mean her life should be exposed or destroyed”
hyperbole much? what exactly is being “exposed” about the homeowner, and what aspect of her life is being “destroyed”? except for the facebook stuff (which i agree was dirty pool), this thread is just making people aware of an illegal action that threatens to harm the character of an historic neighborhood. i thought you were down with that sort of thing.
“Privacy is also great. Too bad it’s not something people here are willing to allow this owner.”
Infinite, regardless of whether you are for or against a curb cut there is a reason that DOB permits are PUBLICLY available and PUBLICLY posyted, and the reason isn’t privacy.
BTW my comment about the construction site going up was a total joke. Was just trying to get people all worked up, at which point I was going to pretend they had put up a snarky sign in their windows.
Puerile, I know. But like how I set that up? Man I’m good.
“I guess I feel more empathy for the neighbors than the owners. It would be different if I thought the owners were babes in the woods, or had bought the house already defaced thinking a curb cut was legal.”
And I guess my point is that we have not heard from them, to hear their side of the story, only a request for public embarrassment.
Another tenant of the Internet age is that people can’t back down without making themselves look silly. I don’t think Mr. B should remove the address. I’ve long said the only person on this blog who I can’t figure out is Mr. B: we’ll be in the middle of an ontological debate about Brownstoner somewhere in some thread and then he’ll post “Third and Bond Week 4,011” or something. He moves on without us, doing his own thing. I have defended Mr. B mostly, I guess here I am holding back from realizing I basically disagree with him because it’s a little surprising to me. We should do well to remember that next time – it’s always his blog, we just follow it.
In response to some of the questions above, the tenant in the ground floor of this home, who owned the home for more than two decades before that, was instructed to leave against her will, and at present has no place to go. In fact, she only discovered that her apartment was going to be turned into a garage when she returned home after visiting relatives out of state and found that her back patio had been jackhammered into tiny pieces. What a way to break the news.