Amy Langfield's New York Notebook

Sunday, August 31, 2008

Reporters' helper: Revere site pictures

I've gotten tired of reading all the errors in the latest rounds of Red Hook stories, so here are a few visuals to help out you reporters who are getting paid to write about Ikea and the fate of the adjacent lot, but don't actually have the time to get out to Brooklyn.

First, the so-called Ikea overflow parking lot.

Although the sign at the the left indeed says "Ikea parking," you should be able to see the gate's locked. I just took that picture on Sunday afternoon of Labor Day weekend, when the main Ikea parking lot was painfully full. Now, I only go by this site a few times a week, so I can't speak in absolutes, but the only time I've actually seen that lot used for parking was the first week Ikea opened.

The lot in question is 280 Richards Street, map.

If you head to the NYC Department of Buildings website file for 280 Richards, you'll see all their permits expired on June 11.

(Unrelated but cool as beans, in that same file you can see the pdf scan of the torn up remains of a 1938 permit for that site related to "syrup mfg".)

The only permits still pasted to the locked fence (near the torn off stop work order,) are for the full demolition of the "wharf warehouse building," which I'm afraid may be this one:

Even that demolition permit expired 6/11/08, so I'm kinda hoping there's a chance that possibly meant the other smaller building that used to sit next to it. The smaller one was demolished in May. See the before and after pictures here.)

But based on how there was such a rush to demolish everything else at that site, I'm guessing there's no plan to save that one last building. Revere's in-the-water remnants are still there, however:

So what else would I like you to know as you're trying to write a story about BJ's maybe agreeing to build a giant big-box store there -- basically between Ikea and Fairway?

Well, from a quality of life point of view, I'd like to know when we can have the sidewalk back that's been fenced off by our neighbors at 280 Richards. As people walk between the supermarket and big blue, they lose a very long stretch of sidewalk mid-block. And as best as I can tell, the construction crews have had no need for that space since around the end of 2007 when they knocked down the smokestack and nearby buildings.

Here it is completely leveled in December.

This is how it looks today (and most days since Ikea opened):

Oops, sorry about the picture, the shade makes it hard to see the guys walking in the street - but that's what most people do on this stretch.

Did I mention it's a long fence?

Here's a little video clip I took of the Revere site because oddly the other gate was wide open today. I didn't go inside the site itself, but there was no sign of the camera-hatin' security guard.

As a guide, straight on is the one remaining red-brick Revere building, Ikea's on the far left and the BWAC and Fairway buildings are in the far right.

Labels: pictures, red hook, video

- posted by Amy @ 8/31/2008 06:02:00 PM

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Video: Czech march against US radar facility

We're back in England now, but here's the quick video I shot a week ago in Prague.

Just before heading out to dinner, I caught a bit of CNN mentioning Condeleeza Rice was in Prague for the signing of the agreement that will allow the US to build a radar monitoring station in the Czech Republic. (It would guide defensive missiles launched from Poland or Lithuania if one of those sites are approved.)

As we were walking along Nerudova, up comes peaceful protesters with a police escort. The steplad was delighted like crazy to get a front-row view as the Czechs marched up to the castle. My crowd estimate (which by the way, have always been very close to official numbers when later released) was about 3,000 -- though the husband pegged it at a mere 1,000. (Harumpf.)

Their banners -- mainly anti-US, anti-nuke, anti-Condeleeza -- showed that they were an amazingly diverse group: greenpeace, veterans in uniform, communists and anarchists included.

Labels: politics, prague, video