Taking Stock at the Two-Year Mark
Note: We’re moving this post up from yesterday to encourage more input. It’s that time of year when we ask you to tell us what you’ve liked and haven’t liked on the site over the past year and what you’d like to see more and less of going forward. We’ve said it before, but we’d…
Note: We’re moving this post up from yesterday to encourage more input. It’s that time of year when we ask you to tell us what you’ve liked and haven’t liked on the site over the past year and what you’d like to see more and less of going forward. We’ve said it before, but we’d like to have more architectural appreciation posts. Given our own lack of formal training, we’d be interested in hearing from anyone who would be interested in writing occasionally about the borough’s architectural past and present. Other than that, we have an exciting (we think) new feature coming out in January that will being some order to the service component of the Forum. Also on our wish list: Video house tours of brownstones. And while there are times we wish there were less bashing of new developments on the site, we feel duty-bound to continue to hold bad developers’ feet to the fire. And, of course, we wish people could be a little nicer to each other in comment threads, but that comes with the anonymity of the medium.
I’ve been a regular reader of this site for the past two years and I think that it’s incredible! My wife calls me a Brownstoner junkie!!
Brownstoner, thank you for providing Brooklyn with such a wonderful website. I firmly believe that in 10 years people will look back at the magnificent growth and development of Brooklyn and attribute many of the positives to this site and your hard work. You’ve introduced Brooklyn to a slew of people who knew nothing about this great borough, its wonderful neighborhoods and its residents. Brooklyn is very hot and Brownstoner.com has had a huge impact on the favorable perception of the borough inside and outside of NYC.
With respect to suggestions, I have a few.
1. I think it would be beneficial if you could cultivate a better relationship with the brokerage community so that perhaps they would be willing to provide Brownstoner.com with more real time information with respect to contract signings, price and actual closing dates. Though the daily papers (e.g., NYT, NY Daily and Post, etc.) do provide information on sales this data is very stale and other sources such as ACRIS and Property Shark sometimes takes months to get this information online. I think that it would be mutually beneficial if real estate firms provided you with this information on a real time basis.
2. I think that you should provide annual rankings and awards for the best and worst architects, developers, general contractors, local politicians, brokerage firms, agents, new buildings, restored buildings, etc. This would provide individuals or firms with a clear incentive to either get on one list or stay off the other. You can either make the picks or leave to the public via online balloting.
3. I would like an architect/contractor referral and ranking system on Brownstoner similar to the Franklin Report which focuses primarily on Manhattan. The Brownstoner Forum is helpful but you sometimes have to sift through too many posts to pull out a single recommendation. With the “Brownstoner Report†contractors, trades people and craftsmen would be included in various categories of expertise (e.g., masonry, millwork, plaster, iron work, etc.) and ranked according to submitted scores from the Brownstoner readership. The overall score would be comprised of scores from various categories (e.g., work quality, cost evaluation, value and client recs, etc.). You should also provide the ability for posters to include comments. You could provide this valuable service to the Brownstoner readership in various ways: (a) free and you simply pick a long list of local contractors for review (providing name, address and phone number) and we’ll do the rest; (b) charge contractors to include their company description/bio and contact info on this select and exclusive list; or (c) charge readers a small monthly fee ($2 per month) to access this premium service on the website.
You could also have a header at the top of each section “Brownstoner Platinum _______” highlighting the top 3 or 5 contractors for a particular category and/or “Brownstoner Value Pick†which would highlight the best contractors in terms of quality and price.
4. Another idea for the Forum would be to include “Brownstoner Handy Men†and break it down by various neighborhoods.
I think that #3 and #4 would drastically reduce the number of repeat inquiries on the Forum.
Overall, great job Mr. B. Keep up the good work. All the best to everyone for 2007!!!
Great idea, 12:14. It’s absurd to see abandoned, boarded-up brownstones and buildings. There are several like that in prime Park Slope. Maybe on this site we can “shame” the city into doing something about these buildings. Owners should not legally be allowed to simply abandon a building. The city should seize it, PERIOD. It’s a fire hazard, it creates more vermin for surrounding buildings, and drives the value of the neighborhing houses down. If the city can seize perfectly fine buildings to build AY, the city can certainly seize an abandoned decaying dangerous building and pay the owner fair market price for the land on it. And if there’s a dispute over who owns the building, like a will being contested, etc, then put the funds in escrow for whenever the heirs work it out. But why let their squabbling affect their neighbors adversely like that? Ridiculous.
Congratulations on two great years.
As a suggestion, there are so many fine old buildings that are for all intents and purposes abandoned. They are in landmarked and not landmarked areas, in every neighborhood. In each case they are a problem and a concern for the neighbors. A weekly post on a prominent example would be interesting and might cast light on a path to rescuing it.
I agree with 10:32am. Though I’d be interested in hearing the opinions of professional architects, in the end when we’re discussing the appeal of a property and whether its units will sell well, and if the building’s neighbors will enjoy walking past it and looking at it out their window day after day on their block – those opinions come from ordinary folk, the laypeople.
Plus Philip Johnson started as simply an architecture fan before he became a working architect, right?
B – Great job, great two years. I’ve spent most of that time looking/saving for my first place, and been on your site every day. The troll thing is annoying, but inevitable – I think stopping the mandatory Typekey thing was smart. You don’t keep trolls out, you drown them out with comments from people who aren’t trolls.
As for architectural reviews, I’d say let’s keep it amateur, and hope to attract some professionals to the commenting mix in that area. Maybe a dedicated article per week, or something like that. Architecture is a multi-faceted discipline, and at least two of those facets (appearance, functionality) are accessible to the general public – so let’s talk about them that way. If anything, I’d prefer to see more posts that speak to specific details (color, shape, features, room layouts, window placement, etc.) rather than conceptual details (non-contextual is one that has become increasingly meaningless).
Love the site and read it every day. I’m a “This Old House Guy”, always working on old Brownstones. I’ve met and worked with many people through your site. It’s kept me very busy and it’s been lots of fun too! Thanks!!
I’ve also never found this to be a problem. So far as I can tell it only affects one or two people. The vast majority of posters never have a problem. IMHO discussion of the troll is far more distracting than the troll itself…but I guess I just committed the very offense I’m complaining about. Sorry!
Mr. B I enjoy your site very much. It was invaluable to my wife and I when we were searching for a place this past year. Many thanks.
I’ve posted on and off for quite some time and have never had any problem with people posting under my name. I didn’t realize it was such a problem. How often does it happen?
Brownstoner, you’re doing a great job. Best wishes to you and your readers in the new year!
I think your site is too concern only about the property values of the upper middle class gentry and the rich!!!