Greenpointers: City lied about parks, ‘affordable housing’
The city has broken its promise to bring affordable housing to Greenpoint and Williamsburg and is letting developers run roughshod over the neighborhoods, pushing out the working class in the process, claimed more than 150 protesters rallying outside East River State Park Wednesday night.
The group, which gathered along now upscale Kent Avenue, said thousands of poorer residents have been priced out of the rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods during the past decade in the wake of a rezoning of the waterfront that allowed condominium towers to rise up, but also promised more parks and guaranteed so-called “affordable housing” — two things residents now say the city lied about.
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Only 19 of the 1,345 “affordable” apartments the city promised in 2005 when it rezoned the North Brooklyn waterfront to residential from manufacturing have been built, according to Jan Petersen, a member of Community Board 1, and that has forced lower-income residents to move away.
“This community has lost 10,000 Latino residents in the past 10 years,” claimed Antonio Reynoso, who is running against Vito Lopez for the 34th district council seat. “That is unacceptable.”
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Some Greenpoint residents have been roiling in recent weeks since two developers unveiled plans for more luxury condo towers on the north end of the waterfront.
The developer Park Tower Group wants to build “Greenpoint Landing,” a 10-tower development with up to 5,500 units on Newtown Creek. Meanwhile, the Chetrit Group is planning a 30-story tower at 77 Commercial St. between Manhattan and Franklin avenues, that would rise next to the site of a proposed city park that has been stalled for years, and some worry may never be built.
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Residents see the explosive development along the Greenpoint waterfront — combined with Two Trees Management’s plan for 2,284 apartments proposed for and around the Domino Sugar factory in Williamsburg as further proof that the city cares more about turning the neighborhoods into high-end urban wonderlands than taking care of the people who have lived there for years .
Some of those residents say that all the new development is forcing old-school landlords to reevaluate how much they can get for their old-school apartments.
“[My landlord] has tried for a long time to get me out,” said Maria Ramos, 71, who has lived in a rent-stabilized apartment on Green Street for 30 years. “She wants someone with more money.”
Max Fish, a staple of Ludlow Street in the LES for over two decades appears to be finally making a move. With threats of closure hanging over the bar for the past few years, owner Ulf Rimkus has filed for a liquor license at 132 Metropolitan Ave right next to Nitehawk Cinema. She promises: ‘We’ll Take the Spirit and Everything Else With Us.’ via BoweryBoogie
Earlier this month, Post Office owner Alla Lapushchik opened OTB, a Williamsburg tavern with a race track theme. The drinks menu includes classic cocktails like Old Fashioneds, Manhattans, and Hemingway Daquiris, plus original cocktails, beer, and wine. The food menu from Ssäm Bar alum Sam Glinn is slated to debut later this week. It will feature bistro dishes like oysters, escargot, frog legs, French onion soup, steak frites, and coq au vin.
NAG would like to invite you to a community meeting about the proposed new development at the Domino Sugar Factory. Jed Walentas and the Two Trees team will be walking us through their whole plan, providing you an opportunity to learn about the proposal and get answers to your questions.
Domino Community Forum w/ Two Trees
Thurs March 14th
The Woods – 48 S4th
6-8pm
We are very interested in your input and encourage your attendance at this meeting. Hopefully, you can join us
6-630: Meet, greet, grab a drink, check out the model, say hi to your neighbors. Grab a spot for the powerpoint.
630-715: Domino presentation.
715-8pm: Questions & Discussion
Greenpointers recently announced a contest to see who could name Paulie Gee’s latest pie – a pizza that replaces vodka sauce with a sauce made from sake. They came up with some great suggestions — The Akira Kurosake, Land of the Rising Dough, Greenpointzilla — but Paulie seems to prefer classic rock names like In Ricotta Da Vita and Grapeful Dead. Here’s what he told Greenpointers:
“We are going to go with a name suggested by our busser Jake. It will be called Sake Mountain Way, a take off on the Joe Walsh song Rocky Mountain Way. Jake was inspired by whomever suggested Sake Balboa, so whomever suggested that is the winner.”
Fortunately, Paulie’s looking to name another pie:
inspired by my favorite calzone. Fresh mootz, sliced Canadian bacon, sweet Italian fennel sausage, a touch of fresh basil and post-oven ricotta dollops.
Any ideas? Go leave your suggestions at Greenpointers.
Speaking of Paulie Gee’s… he’s opening shop in Baltimore!
Greenpoint is becoming an essential stop for beer snobs. We’re looking forward to this opening from Momofuku alum Daniel Burns!
Before working as the head of research and development for the Momofuku restaurants, chef Daniel Burns cooked at The Fat Duck in England, and he built and ran the pastry program at Noma in Copenhagen. Somewhere along the way, he connected with Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø, an acclaimed Danish brewer who has created beer for some of the world’s best restaurants. Now Daniel and Jeppe are teaming up to open a new Brooklyn project that they hope will be the best beer bar in the country.
The bar is called Tørst (the Danish word for “thirst”), and it will open at 615 Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint, just around the corner from the Nassau Avenue G-train station.Jeppe is curating the beer list, which will feature about 20 beers on tap. Jeppe owns both a brewing company, Evil Twin Brewing, and a beer distribution company, so he has deep connections in the world of European craft beer. The menu is still a work in progress, but expect a few selections that have never been served before in the United States. The bar will also have a special beer storage system, where the ales will be kept at different temperatures — serious beer nerd stuff.
In addition to the barroom up front, the space will also have a 25-seat restaurant in the back called Luksus (the Danish word for “luxury”) where Burns will serve a menu of Scandinavian-influenced American fare, all paired with beer. Burns notes: “We want to focus on food that will go well with the beer.” The restaurant will open a few months after the bar up front
Bushwick wins! At least according to this interactive map on Gothamist detailing the number of 311 calls made complaining of rats. There were a whopping 965 complaints of rat sightings in Bushwick in 2012 – the most reported in ANY neighborhood in all five boroughs. Williamsburg has about the same number of sightings (813) if you combine its 11211 and 11206 zips.
The Upper West Side, a neighborhood with no shortage of rodents, made plenty of noise, lodging around 1,000 complaints from 2010-2012. Residents of North Brooklyn also alerted the city about their own rat scourge, with Williamsburg and Bushwick each placing 800-900 calls to 311.
Multiple sexual assaults fitting similar descriptions have occurred over the last week in Bushwick, the Brooklyn neighborhood now known more for artisanal pizza at Roberta’s than dingy warehouses. Just a block away from the restaurant, “I was taking stuff out of the garage and moments after I opened the door onto White Street I felt my head being grabbed by my hair and slammed into the brick wall,” one of the victims told Gothamist. “He was ripping at my jacket from behind and he was trying to put his hand over my mouth, and telling me, ‘I’m gonna fuck you,’ or ‘I’m gonna fuck you up.’ Before he was able to get it all the way over I screamed loud enough to make him run.”
A second victim described a similar attack, and both women reported their stories to the police, but according to Bushwick Daily, five women may have been assaulted in all. “The attacker is tall, medium build, Hispanic, wearing a hooded jacket. He grabs the women in the dark from behind and slams them against a building wall, covering their mouths so they can’t scream,” reported a tipster. “
Joce Soubiran, one of the owners of Zebulon, said he shut down the popular Wythe Avenue club because new residents complained too much about the performance space.
“The people around us don’t want us,” said Soubiran. “Why would you move next to a music place if you don’t want music? The people around here want to tell us how to run our business.”
…as the venue earned praise from music heads, it got bombarded with noise complaints, particularly in the past two years, said Soubiran. On Halloween, authorities issued the bar a total of seven tickets for noise violations and allowing revelers to gather on the street.
Soubiran said it’s not worth the hassle to better soundproof the club or ask bands to keep it down because that would compromise the club’s authenticity. He said he and the other owners might consider opening up in a different neighborhood — maybe Bushwick — at a later time.
“We are very tired and we need a break,” he said.
When asked what he will do when the squares move to Bushwick, Soubiran said he hopes to be retired.
Kinda reminds us of the people who moved next to the chicken slaughterhouse in Greenpoint. If you don’t like being in a festive neighborhood that can be loud at times, then why move there?
