Strange Bedfellows In Southside Landmark Fight
The battle over the future of two old buildings in South Williamsburg is creating some strange alliances — all of which were on display on Monday at a curbside press conference in front of 118 and 120 South 8th Street (photo on the jump). Members of the Orthodox Jewish and Hispanic communities joined artists, activitists…
The battle over the future of two old buildings in South Williamsburg is creating some strange alliances — all of which were on display on Monday at a curbside press conference in front of 118 and 120 South 8th Street (photo on the jump). Members of the Orthodox Jewish and Hispanic communities joined artists, activitists and councilmen to express their opposition to developer Michael Zazza tearing down two of the area’s oldest buildings to construct a 20-story residential tower (which at this point he can do as-of-right). Hannah Bloch, who’s been spearheading the movement for the past several months, seems to genuinely care about preserving the buildings — and to have grave reservations about the mid-block location of the tower from an urban planning perspective. As for the other other two groups, from where we sit, their sudden interest in preservation reeks of opportunism and is particularly ironic given their complete lack of concern about the borough’s architectural heritage (and future) up to this point.
But what about the merit of the landmarking request? The buildings were striking enough that we thought to take this photo of them during a stroll back in the Spring of ’05. Among the organizations who spend their days thinking about preservation issues, there’s a lack of consensus about whether the buildings should be preserved based on their architectural merit (despite agreement about their meaningfulness in the borough’s history). While the Four Borough Preservation Alliance has backed the landmarking effort, neither the Municipal Arts Society, Historic District Council or the more local Waterfront Preservation Alliance has deemed this to be a battle worth fighting. David Yassky, previously reported to be in favor of landmarking these buildings, now is reserving judgement until LPC makes an official comment. If the question is, Are these buildings worth preserving, we’d say “absolutely”. But it sounds to us like the behind-the-scenes issue is whether, given the preservation movement’s lack of resources, these two buildings are worth spending valuable time and political capital on. That’s a trickier question, and one we are ill-equipped to answer.
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GMAP
I say, bring back the knishes (yummy!) and drive out the yuppie scumbags who are driving out the working class and killing the soul of the borough
Suzy, obviously you miss the point. The article was about disparate groups uniting to fight a developer- the fact that all of these groups see an ever-increasing common threat and have united was the important point.(free speech it may be, courageous it’s not). Sorry Mr. B- – no insult to you intended, and I don’t think you are a bigot.
What has me bugged out about political and cultural discourse in this country is the fact that insult and innuendo are so often presented as legitimate discourse or honesty. The right of free speech is an enormous and precious responsibility. So for the life of me I do not understand why we insist in wasting it on rot.
Fisher and Avella were never colleagues – Avella and Yassky came on the council at the same time, but the idea that Fisher doesn’t know exactly who Avella is, is ridiculous, and his phrasing there was disingenous.
Yes, he’s chair of zoning – he’s also the only CM who shows up for these kinds of press conferences anywhere in any boro – every developer’s lawyer knows who Tony Avella is – not just the ex-pols.
” Just because one of the groups in this case happens to be a religious one is no reason to bite our tongue about what we perceive to be a hypocritical position …” – brownstoner
hear, hear! let me take a bit of an aside from the topic at hand to congratulate you, for your statement, and for you explanation.
the fahrenheit 451 aspect of politcal discourse or cultural commentary in this country has me BUGGIN’ OUT. i thank you for your courage.
Avella is also running for mayor!
OTOH, he has been a very strong supporter of preservation issues citywide for a long time. And he was one of a handful of councilmembers to support the designation of 184 Kent. And you’re right about his active role in downzoning and other means of protecting neighborhood character and scale.
For the record, Fisher’s exact reference was “a politician out in Queens.” But it seems to me that Avella isn’t just a random politico dropping in on Williamsburgh. I believe (having googled him) that he’s head of the Zoning & Franchises Committee and that he’s been in that position (and/or active on the committee) for a number of years now. My impression is that he’s interested in the role of zoning in maintaining existing community character, and in zoning abuses and violations that destroy that character.
I read the linked article and thought it was ironic that former councilman Ken Fisher is now the developer’s rep and referred to his former colleague, Tony Avella, as “some politician from Queens.” If Fisher were still in office, I wonder where he’d stand on this development (is it in what was his district)? If Yassky loses the congressional seat – will he then be a developer’s b***h?
Ugh.
I think there is reasonable concern for maintaining low-density and owner-occupied rate of an area, and landmarks may be the only card to play. These buildings are not horrible at all. Once upon a time, a developer might have looked at these and cleaned them up, modernized them, expanded them a bit and been happy with a nice profit while benefitting the area and the residents and homeowners. Now, in the wild west of Brooklyn, people who couldn’t give a crap swoop in, smash up not just buildings but the character of a neighborhood, take an enormous profit and skip out, leaving the resident taxpayers to live with the aesthetic and sometimes physical mess. Right now, even with the bubble deflating, people will pay anything to live anywhere in Brooklyn, but, when times get harder, the areas that will hold value are the ones that are consistent and attractive. Developers are making a fortune AT OUR EXPENSE IN EVERY WAY!!! And, FWIW, this Brownstoner guy has never struck me as anti-semetic in any way, so anyone who gets his or her panties in a twist when he calls the Hasidic development groups on their lack of interest in DOB rules, community boards or anything else is a phony. Don’t sit by for any insidious racism, but, on the other hand, don’t deny the evidence of experience. If this site was about South Brooklyn or Staten Island, Brownstoner could have said Italian or Russian developers. Get real.
Go, Sal!
BLOOD ALONE MOVES THE WHEELS OF HISTORY!!!!!