Neighborhood Threat

Thanks to the civic-mindedness of Miss Heather, I heard about this art show and benefit for the Greenpoint branch of the Brooklyn Public Library. I am a ENORMOUS library fan, and our branch library has saved my butt on more than one occasion. The fact that I can sit in the comfort of my house and go online and order books (and DVD’s!) that I can pick up, FOR FREE, in my neighborhood, still astounds me as much as it did the first time I walked into a library and was told that I could take almost any book I saw home.

So I was excited to submit and happy to learn this morning that I am #42 of the Greenpoint 100. (If you’re curious about which photo, here it is. Not quite as post-mod as Miss Heather’s, and probably the most obvious shot I could pick, but since the object of the exhibit is to raise money for the library, I wanted to pick something that I hoped would sell for them.

On a weekday B61 ride up Manhattan Avenue, around 3:30pm, it seems that only ONE side of Socrates is for rent. The other side appears to be alive and kicking. Why it was not alive and kicking on a Saturday afternoon (when the photographs were taken) might be WHY that side is up for rent, but at least part of Manhattan Ave. has been saved from the Blimpies and Soup Men of the world.

At least for now.

Tomorrow, a report on a tree massacre and missing lightpost.

Around 9am this morning, I got on the G train at Greenpoint Ave. It was a normal G train ride, complete with the middle-aged Hispanic gentleman who looks like a Sha-Na-Na extra, and graces us all by singing along out loud to whatever is on his iPod (usually Earth, Wind and Fire). Luckily, he gets off at Flushing Ave.

However, today he was the lucky one, because once the train got to Myrtle-Willoughby, we were held in the station. And held at the station. And held at the station.

Until we finally heard the air of the brakes and were told, “Due to a stalled train at Hoyt-Schermerhorn, this train will be going to Bedford-Nostrand, which will be our last stop. To get into Manhattan, take the train back towards Queens, get off at Metropolitan Ave., and transfer to the L train.”

Say WHAT?

We got to Bedford-Nostrand, and since I used to work properties in Bed-Stuy, knew that it wasn’t that far from Fulton Street, where I can get the A or the C. I ask the police officer on the corner which direction I should walk in, just to be sure. He points me in a direction, I start walking, and turn around because I *know* I’m going the wrong way.

I walk back, and ask him again. He says, yes, it’s the other way, but it’s too far to walk. He tells me I should go up there and get a bus. I don’t want to get on a bus unless I know exactly where it’s going, and some buses are slower than walking.

As I’m expressing my frustration, which the cop shrugs off as, “Whatever,” an older woman with a Jamaican accent touches me on the arm and suggests I get the B44, one block away, which will take me where I want to go. I ask if I can’t walk, and she says that it really is a bit of a walk.

I find the B44, and the large group of former G train riders. I get on the bus and grab a seat. Everyone else, who just asked the MTA employee in the station, as well as the police officer on the corner, where they should go, feels the need to get on the bus and ask where the bus goes and how they can get to downtown Brooklyn. Instead of the bus driver telling them, “Get on the bus, it goes to the A train,” he tells them to go get a bus on another corner. Luckily, the neighborhood residents weren’t having any of this. “Why are you giving them incorrect information? Just get on the bus, it goes to the A train,” they berate the driver, loudly.

I realize it is confusing and disorienting to get off the train in a neighborhood you don’t know, and have to get on a bus you’re not sure about, but when multiple people who are 1) trying to be helpful (unlike the police and the MTA) and 2) are clearly authoritative when it comes to the neighborhood (unlike the police and the MTA), guess what? YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO THEM.

These folks then proceeded to have a cow when they got off the bus in front of the non-Manhattan bound entrance. Instead of deducing, like I did, that this wasn’t the entrance and let’s look across the street WHERE EVERYBODY ELSE IS WALKING TO, they proceeded to start yelling loudly that this wasn’t the subway stop.

Did the MTA give people free transfers because they had to get off the G? Of course not. The MTA clerk in the booth at Bedford-Nostrand acted like they didn’t know what they were talking about, Nothing Is Wrong With The Trains, and they weren’t much more knowledgeable at Nostrand Ave.

When is the MTA going to stop treating the G like the train no one takes any more?

We were on the B61, heading back from Court Square and the 7 after the Mets game, heading for Vinnie’s on Bedford Ave. Not because we wouldn’t rather eat somewhere in the 11222, but because - well, nothing is OPEN in the 11222 of the pizza variety.

We were crossing Nassau Ave. when I saw something out of the corner at my eye, and gestured, “Let’s get off here - I’ll take the lumps if I’m wrong.”

But I was right:

This is the spot between the banquet hall and the bodega - it’s always been a pizza joint, but it was never open particularly late. Which is a wonder, given that THREE buses and one subway all converge on that corner. Schmook’s is open until 11 Monday-Thursday, and until midnight on Saturday (and until a very generous 10pm on Sundays).

The slices are $1.50. A pie is $8.00. And delivery is free. The slices were fresh, hot and tasty. Not quite Vinnie’s, but definitely a step up from the $10 pie they offer on Tuesdays at L.A. Italian Restorante up on our end of Manhattan Ave.

Their web site is straightforward and to the point.

I stopped to tie my shoe on the way to the G train this morning, and when I looked up, I was in front of a real estate office. Just out of curiosity, I quickly scanned the offerings in the window - and discovered a listing sheet for My Place, a restaurant that used to be at 109 Franklin - that’s right inbetween Alter and the bodega on the corner of Greenpoint and Franklin. (No, I didn’t see the price, I’m not here to shill for free for whoever’s selling it.)

I never ate at My Place - I believe it was a Thai restaurant at one point, but it was never open when I wanted to eat there, or I just never considered it as an option for some reason. The location has always been good, since the Pencil Factory is right there, and it’s a major intersection, and there still isn’t all that much down here (yet). A nice little cafe or sandwich shop would be a fine asset to the area. Just please, for the love of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, Not Another Bar!

239 Banker St. aka 35 Meserole Ave. is a four-story brick building, formerly a manufacturing building, on the edge of the Williamsburg/Greenpoint industrial zone. (For those of you who don’t walk further than the Turkey’s Nest or the G train, we’re talking about the buildings from N. 12th to Calyer, Berry St. to the river.)
The building has been empty since I moved to Greenpoint; I noticed signs indicating some kind of studio on an upper floor, but never saw anyone go in or out, or any lights on in the building.

About a year and a half ago, I came home one day to see contractors on the street in front of the building. What were they doing? Replacing the windows.
Here’s a lesson, folks: no one replaces windows in an empty building unless they’re planning on filling up that building. I was still working real estate at the time, and my development detector went off.

A little research produced an interesting fact: this building was owned by the same landlords that own the Rocket Factory on the Southside, various properties out at Morgantown, the Sharf Lofts out at the Jefferson L, and our old favorite, the Greenpoint Hotel. My broker started making calls; if this was a building being converted a stone’s throw from where I lived, we wanted in, and fast. “Who told you?” was the first question, followed by, “Not going to be ready until the fall.” (On their clock, that likely meant winter, but that they would be telling every real estate agent in the zip code to rent it for October.)

But then we began the saga of the Stop Work Orders. If you look at the full-sized version of the image below, you will see no less than five stop work orders papered on the door.

And then, one day, development completely ceased. The rumor had it that they just assumed, like the many loft buildings converted over the years by ambitious landlords in our up-and-coming neighborhood, that they could get the zoning changed, or some kind of variance. But those days are long, long over (just ask the landlord at The Loom out at Morgantown).

However, it wasn’t until I began checking up on the facts for this piece, that I was able to get the full scope of the history of the landlord’s attempts to renovate this building. Courtesy of the Department of Buildings:

5/8/95: CERTIFICATE OF OCCUPANCY 60564 PERMITS ARTIST STUDIO WORKSHOPS
8/31/05: POSSIBLE ILLEGAL CONVERSION OF INDUSTRIAL SPACE TO RESIDENTIAL USE
4/5/06: CALLER STATES THERE IS CONSTRUCTION WORK GOING ON 1ST,2ND AND 3RD FLOOR OF THIS MANUFACTURING BUILDING W/O ANY PERMITS
4/25/06: CALLER STS COMMERCIAL BUILDING IS BEING CONVERTED INTO A RESIDENTIAL DWELLING, CLR STS BATH TUBS AND MATERIAL
5/7/06: WORKING AGAINST STOP WORK ORDER ISSUED 4/28
5/8/06: CALLER STS THERE IS CONSTRUCTION GOING ON AT THIS BUILDING WITHOUT PERMITS POSTED
7/18/06: WORK W/O A PERMIT.FULL HEIGHT PARTITIONS WALLS TO CREATE ROOMS ON 2ND, 3RD & 4TH FLOORS.
8/7/06: FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH STOP WORK ORDER. 1ST FL. INSTALLED ELECTRICAL PANEL BOX, RUNNING NEW BOX CABLE

And now: “This property has 4 open ECB “Work Without A Permit” Violations and may be subject to DOB civil penalties upon application for a permit. After obtaining the permit, a certificate of correction must be filed on the ECB violations.”

Someone really, really, really didn’t want this building converted to residential.

Now, of course, it’s the closest neighbor to Studio B, and since the premises are not attended, it basically becomes the trash dumping ground for every lazy hipster who can’t be bothered to find a proper receptacle.

It is curious that the DOB would act so quickly against this particular building, while other far more egregious violations in the neighborhood, ones that are real threats to public health, safety and quiet enjoyment of one’s premises, are seemingly ignored.

Another Greenpoint establishment goes out of business. Socrates, despite its close proximity to the Nassau G stop and the busy intersection, somehow couldn’t keep up with the times. Of course, we don’t know what the rent was, and if it was raised, and if the building changed hands, or anything else; no one nearby seemed to know what had happened and why they were suddenly gone.

This end of Manhattan Ave. is one of Greenpoint’s crossroads (Manhattan and Greenpoint Ave. being the other), not coincidentally because there’s a subway stop there. But it also gets all the foot traffic of people coming up Bedford Ave. from the L stop, and three buses stop there as well. It’s a great location for the right kind of business, one that can benefit the neighborhood because of its location and benefit the business because of its location. That assumes, of course, that the rent is not Bedford Ave.-unreasonable already on Manhattan Ave.

Please take the survey if you are at all concerned about restoring a vital neighborhood resource. There’s a lot of attention being given to the survey from the indie music community, which is all well and good, but most of them don’t live in the area, and frankly there already more than enough concert venues in New York City.

While I’m happy to see the pool space being used instead of lying dormant, and acknowledge that the concerts at the Pool have brought the McCarren Park Pool into mainstream consciousness, I don’t see it being a major loss to the music community, or to the community, if in future concerts are not the main focus of the space. I don’t think it’s the greatest concert venue ever, and don’t want to see a neighborhood resource co-opted by people who don’t live in the neighborhood.

I realize this makes me sound like a cranky old fart, and I probably am one to some extent, but *people* live here - families, old people, single people, new immigrants - NOT just hipsters. I don’t want to see the pool turned into a hipster oasis because just plain folks didn’t take the time to make their voices heard, while the indie rock blogosphere rallies the troops and makes the Parks Dept. think that everyone would just be fine if concerts were the main activity at the Pool.

So if you live in the neighborhood, please take the time to fill out the survey. Please.

saturday, august 11

And many thanks to Our Esteemed Colleague for his shout-out.