LPC Makes It Official at Alice & Agate Courts
Yesterday LPC head Robert Tierney, Council Member Al Vann and about two dozen people celebrated the designation of the Alice and Agate Courts Historic Districts with a ceremony to unveil two new street signs and an announcement that five residents had won LPC grants totaling $84,000 to help restore their historic, 19th century homes. The…
Yesterday LPC head Robert Tierney, Council Member Al Vann and about two dozen people celebrated the designation of the Alice and Agate Courts Historic Districts with a ceremony to unveil two new street signs and an announcement that five residents had won LPC grants totaling $84,000 to help restore their historic, 19th century homes. The grants, which come from the Commission’s Historic Preservation Grant Program and range from $12,000 to $20,000 apiece, are going to be used to repaint, repoint and repair the facades of five homes on both of those streets. Alice and Agate Courts are the 21st historic district designated under Tierney, 12 of which have been outside of Manhattan. Guess how many have been in Brooklyn? Seven. Top notch!
LPC Moves Ahead With Two New Historic Districts [Brownstoner]
Alice & Agate Courts Proposed for LPC Designation [Brownstoner]
LPC to Consider Ocean Avenue Historic District [Brownstoner]
New Bed-Stuy Historic District in the Offing [Brownstoner]
i’d rather have my taxes go to this over something more ‘public’ like AY. i love those little streets between atlantic and herkimer, they’re like architectural tide pools 🙂 too bad atlantic ave is so crumby there.
Benson, please. You’ve become the wet blanket of sour grapes on this site.
This has NOTHING to do with stimulus money, the LPC has given out the same grants for about thirty years. The money, a drop in the bucket in any budget, provides those same “true investments” to the people receiving them. Would you rather our city fall down on itself, especially in lower income neighborhoods, than homeowners – those people who care enough about their homes, communities and neighborhoods, to get their block landmarked, get some needed aid? Would it be better to have the Agate and Alice Courts of our city turn into an abandoned and falling down wasteland that was many parts of our city? Neighborhoods that were synonymous with crime, dire poverty, fires, urban unrest, and disinfrancised and angry people? See how much more it costs than a couple of small home improvement grants to police, house, rebuild, reinvest and repair those neighborhoods, to say nothing about the vast amounts of money needed to take care of the purely human cost of this disintegration. WOuld it be more impressive and less navel gazing to have to repair entire neighborhoods in order to justify what you think is a waste of money?
I don’t understand how you can begrudge a stoop full of people the opportunity to improve their lives, their homes and their neighborhood. THat’s what’s sad.
Ditto;
I am not saying that fixing up these facades is a bad thing. I appreciate beauty too. What I am saying is that this is not a goverment concern.
I am currently travelling through Europe, and it pisses me off to see how much further advanced their public infrastructure is than ours.
Finally, there is a time for everything, and frankly, I don’t apologize for thinking in terms of dollars and cents at this juncture. Given my work, I’ve seen firsthand the hollowing out of vast swaths of our industrial base. The very reason I have to put my ass on a plane often times is that much of my client base has moved offshore.
dittoburg- amen to that (and no- he isn’t)
It’s really too bad people like benson cannot see the benefit to poorer neighborhoods when things like this happen. Considering how Bed-Stuy was redlined for so many years while neighborhood homeowners had to pretty much go it alone, most people would be- and are- glad to see things like this going on.
add me to the list of people who would rather see my tax money going to beautify and help neighborhoods. Better this than that stupid UES train line that only runs a short distance in manhattan- or to ratner for his obscene project.
“we still receive the dividends from them, and I’m talking in real dollars and cents”
Benson, you say that this is sad? Your particular words above remind me of Wildes’ quote regarding knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing, but I know you are more sophisticated and nuanced in your thinking than that. Nevertheless, your words suggest an inclination towards that extreme.
Rob;
I congratulate you on your post. It is completely ridiculous to be spending taxpayer money on this type of thing. No doubt this will fall under “stimulus spending”.
The difference between the way we have spent stimulus money for the Great Deptression and this current recession is telling about how we have changed as a country.
The Public Works Program (as these things were called back then) gave us the Triborough Bridge, the Hoover Dam, the TVA electrification programs for the Deep South, and the development of Marine Park in sourthern Brooklyn, and these are just a few examples. FDR marshalled the nation’s resources to focus on long-term, forward-looking projects. These were true investments in the advancement of our nation, and we still receive the dividends from them, and I’m talking in real dollars and cents.
Compare these great projects to the navel-gazing highlighted in this post.
Sad.
This is terrific. I live nearby and long before that believed these were signature homes located on pretty, unusual blocks that add to Crown Heights’ wonderfully diverse residential architecture. It’s terrific to know these homes will have their facades restored.
Congratulations to the residents of Alice and Agate Courts. I know some of them, and they worked like crazy to get landmarked.
Nice to see Al Vann(ished).
Ditto to what ditto and LC said. Spending city money to help preserve and beautify the city is money well spent. Every dime of that grant has to be backed up with paperwork, receipts, inspections, etc. We’ll be able to appreciate that work for years to come. Goodness knows those homeowners will. Besides, 5 people splitting $84K is not a lot of money, considering what LPC approved windows and exterior work entails and costs.