Brooklyn Bridge Park - by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates

[MidtownGuy]

If the River Cafe is only asked to pay $1667 per month rent, sitting on city land, then why is it so god damned expensive, too much for regular taxpayers seeking a spontaneous meal at the water's edge!? The owner has it made, a real racket. Democratize the waterfront!

In fact, my main gripe with all of the riverfront parks being developed is: NOT ENOUGH CAFÉS/ PLACES TO EAT and drink! Hudson River Park is so retarded in this way. A few street vendor carts and less cafés than I can count on one hand. This is why it will never have the soul of European waterfronts; we get endless acres of landscaped grass and flowers and very few charming places to sit and have drinks with friends, especially ones that are affordable for the common New Yorker. The few cafés that exist are very crowded with long lines, so this proves a demand and desire by the people to frequent such places. So why are these waterfront parks so sterile in this way? There should be food and drinks GALORE, not just manicured lawns and beds of African Daisies.
Surprising under an administration that is so pro-business in every other way.

[MidtownGuy]

Pier 6 will add about 7 acres of new park, including a 1.6 acre destination playground with water play areas and innovative play equipment built into the park landscape.

So, will there be any water features for adults, or will this be another waterfront park where grown-ups are supposed to sit in 90 degree summer heat with nothing more than a mister bottle? You sit on the nice green lawn and bake like a potato unless you're young enough to go to a "playground". The river has billions of gallons of water flowing by just mocking you, saying you should have hauled your butt to the beach if you actually wanted to cool off.
If you expect people to visit riverfront parks in the middle of a humid summer, there ought to be abundant water features such as sprinklers and dipping pools. It would also be nice to have some pools where children are not even allowed.
At HRP the only adult-friendly sprinklers I know of are at the pier near Christopher Street. Three of them. Big whoopie.

[BrooklynRider]

I agree with all of your points. The park nazis are making sure that parks are "family friendly" at the expense of those who do not have kids. I want to see more integrated hospitality services at park - give me Shake Shacks all over town.

[DarrylStrawberry]

http://www.brooklyneagle.com/categor...id=10&id=28160


Jane’s Carousel Reportedly Finds a New Home

By Dennis Holt
Brooklyn Daily Eagle


BROOKLYN BRIDGE PARK — Although it has yet to be formally announced, it can be reported that Brooklyn Bridge Park will have a new addition — Jane's Carousel.

This lavishly restored 1920s masterpiece by Jane Walentas has a cramped temporary home on Water Street in DUMBO between Main Street and Dock Street that can be seen from the sidewalk.

Discussions between Walentas and the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corp. have been underway for some months, and this newspaper has been told that it will be placed on the western shore of the cove near the Empire Stores.

It will be housed in a permanent glass structure built by world-famous architect Jean Novel. Ironically, the site for the carousel is across the cove from where Novel had hoped to build a world-class hotel, a plan that never came to fruition.

Another bit of irony: Had the hotel been built, it would probably have become a revenue source for park upkeep.

Although neither the city nor the state have made any official response to State Sen. Daniel Squadron's financing plan for Brooklyn Bridge Park, City Park's Commissioner Adrian Benepe was quoted last week as saying, "It seems unlikely that will happen." Squadron would like to use tax revenues from properties near, but not within, the park.

Benepe went on to say that there is a lot more "certainty in having a small portion of the park accommodate market-rate residential housing, along with a hotel and restaurant in the park to help pay for its annual maintenance."

One of the controversies that prematurely made the news a few weeks ago concerned which level of government would manage the park once a substantial part of it is built. Many people believe that it makes little sense for both the city and the state to manage the park; and it makes a great deal of sense for the city alone to be the park's manager.

The state is responsible for building the first elements of the park under the leadership of Regina Myer, president of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corp. This includes Pier 1 and Pier 6, and probably other parts.

Both the city and state have allocated funds for this purpose, and the issue of management and control will become critical when the initial funding sums become exhausted.

Another stir occurred last week when park opponents heard that a funding element for the park had been "pushed back" — the pedestrian bridge from the Squibb playground on Columbia Heights to the Pier 1-2 area. As it turns out, this is a technical funding decision by the city to move the allocation to the budget year when the bridge would most likely be built, probably 2011.

This newspaper has also learned that Myer's group is preparing to operate the park during its opening days. This phase could start at the end of this year, but certainly would happen by the summer of 2010. In any event, a trip to the Heights Promenade shows various construction activities along the length of the Heights piers, a sight some thought they would never see.

[DarrylStrawberry]

Jane Walentas' Carousel.

[Derek2k3]

Totally agree with MG and BR. It seems the city is trying to change the lack of eateries part though.


http://archpaper.com/e-board_rev.asp...PagePosition=1

03.18.2009
In The Swim
New waterfront zoning plan rethinks the edge

New York’s waterfront building boom has been a bonanza for developers, but the resulting public space has often been a letdown: monotonous promenades rigid bulkheads, ever-present guardrails, and nary a spot to quaff a beer.

And so after getting an earful from landscape architects, developers, and environmental engineers, the City Planning Commission has drawn up its first waterfront public access zoning overhaul in 15 years, aiming for higher-quality public space that’s more flexible and sustainable. The outlines of the plan, which was the subject of a March 4 public hearing, have been widely embraced as a badly needed update to the existing code.

“In super-broad stroke, it’s a great step forward,”said Roland Lewis,president of the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance. “In New Jersey, a lot of their esplanade functions as a front yard for luxury condominiums. This new addition to the zoning code is a step away from that. They’re trying to make the waterfront a communal resource for all of us.”
Toll brothers' new northside piers condo complex in williamsburg includes new waterfront landscaping and a pier.

The main thrust of the 117-page amendment is to break down the uniform quality of many new waterfronts and allow for more creative uses of the edge. “In standard New York City zoning, there is one water’s edge, and it has to have a 42-inch-high railing,” said Donna Walcavage, principal at EDAW and landscape architect for Williamsburg’s Northside Piers complex, designed by FXFowle. By contrast, the new code permits a variety of edge options such as boat launches, get-downs, and tidal areas. Other improvements include more meandering pathway configurations, moveable seating, and fewer visual barriers. The plan also dispenses with an unimaginative list of plants that had been deemed fit for waterfront use, and allows landscape architects to make their own more sustainable choices that include native plants. “It’s much easier to create an ecosystem that responds to water,” Walcavage said.

Under the new code, developers would have the option to transfer public waterfront land to Parks Department, and make annual payments to the city for site maintenance. The North 5thStreet pier and esplanade at Northside Piers is the first transfer of this kind, which would seem appealing to developers, who also get to transfer the public space liability. In return, the Parks team is brought into the design process at an early stage. “To get our plan approval, we had to come to an agreement with the city about the transfer of the whole waterfront,” said David Lee, project architect at FXFowle. The result is theoretically a public space more tightly woven into the open-space fabric of the city.

While many designers support the plan’s goals, some wonder whether the amendment’s fine-grained design standards are the best way to achieve them. “I think the biggest concern about these regulations is that they’re incredibly prescriptive,” said Elena Brescia, partner in the landscape architecture firm Scape, whose waterfront design for Williamsburg’s 184 Kent Avenue, next door to Northside Piers, is now under construction. “It’s design by calculation. A certain number of benches are required per square foot, a certain number of trees are required per square foot,”she said, concerned that the result may not add up to the intended effect. “Even though there may be a boat launch thrown in, much of what is prescribed here is about having the same experience everywhere.”

On the bright side, the new rules do encourage the holy grail for many waterfront boosters: more cafes. “They’re allowing for more flexibility,and more commercial viability on the waterfront,” Lewis said. “It’s remarkable how few waterfront eateries there are in New York City. It’s almost shocking.”
Jeff Byles

[BrooklynRider]

I think the code change is important and I would add that any designs must (with no negotiation of possible waivers) build and maintain a sizable environmental habitat for indigenous fishes and wildlife.

These new parks are great for humans, but accelerate the destruction of wild plants and life in the rivers.

[MidtownGuy]

“It’s remarkable how few waterfront eateries there are in New York City. It’s almost shocking.”

I think shocking is a good word for this in a city surrounded by water.
Hopefully the approach to the East Side riverfront is different from what was done at Hudson River Park.

[DarrylStrawberry]

http://www.brooklynbridgeparknyc.org/

Trees have arrived at Brooklyn Bridge Park



Last week the first trees began to arrive at the site and are being planted in a temporary nursery created on the Pier 3 uplands. This will allow them to adjust to the site before they are planted at Pier 1 and 6. Over the next few months, these trees will be carefully watered and receive managed care to promote healthy root growth before they are planted. Thus far, we have received a number of species including Honeylocusts, Magnolias, Lindens, Catalpas, Serviceberries, Sweetgums, London Planes, and several species of Oaks.

photo credit: Julienne Schaer

[DarrylStrawberry]

From the BHB.

http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/10533#more-10533
Park Progress: Piers 1 and 6 (Fifteenth Report)

[ZippyTheChimp]

Rocks are also adjusting to the site.

[Gekko]

I love the view from the Brooklyn Bridge ,so amazing!

[DarrylStrawberry]

There's plenty going on at Pier 1.

They have started adding a layer of sand on top of the gravel pile they had build over the past couple of weeks. The hill looks to me (admittedly an uneducated observer) like it will be made from alternating layers of material. There is a huge pile of gravel being offloaded from a barge moored at the site now.

They also dug a depression of some sort in the middle of the pier and have added something that looks like a coffer dam. I took a picture. It's possible that I'm totally wrong and all that I'm seeing is rainwater collecting at the site. Does anyone have an idea? (Pic4, zoomed in from pic1 (slightly different angle))

[DarrylStrawberry]

The concrete connecting Pier 2 to land is being removed.

More of the hill on Pier 1 has been formed. Recently they have erected several large poles (telephone pole sized) throughout the Pier 1 site. I have no idea what they are for.

[Ninjahedge]

That depends on how deep they are driven.

If they are pretty deep, and close together, they can be solder piles for a retaining wall (soil retention by an excavation), but if they are scattered and above ground, they can either be timber test pies (for shallow timber piles, not really a good idea in a tidal zone) or just fencing support/utility poles for whatever they are putting in next.


Either that or some giant was just playing pick-up-sticks and forgot a few....