Red Hook IKEA: Planning at its Worst?
Was allowing IKEA to build its gargantuan Red Hook store the worst decision the City Planning Commission had made concerning the waterfront in the past 20 to 30 years, as Municipal Arts Society prez Kent Barwick posits? That’s just one of the many arguments Red Hook Civic Association Co-Chair John McGettrick uses to buttress claims…
Was allowing IKEA to build its gargantuan Red Hook store the worst decision the City Planning Commission had made concerning the waterfront in the past 20 to 30 years, as Municipal Arts Society prez Kent Barwick posits? That’s just one of the many arguments Red Hook Civic Association Co-Chair John McGettrick uses to buttress claims that the Swedish retailer will have all manner of negative effects on his neighborhood. In a Daily News op-ed, McGettrick outlines a legion of other objections, including that the store’s location across the street from a park will result in traffic accidents and an uptick in asthma rates; that the build destroyed a historic shipyard; that IKEA is an anti-union employer and hasn’t guaranteed jobs to Red Hook residents; and that the city ignored opposition to the retailer’s plans because of the chain’s powerful lobbyists. In essence, McGettrick’s piece makes the case that the city is once again serving Red Hook with a raw deal cloaked in the guise of economic development, and that zoning changes would go a long way to spurring the neighborhood’s revitalization. Think he’s got a point, or do you think on balance that IKEA will be good for the Hook?
Problems Will Stack up for Red Hook With Ikea in Store [NY Daily News] GMAP
Photo of under-construction IKEA by Gatto Arancione.
Instead of trying to kill Ikea, the Red Hook Civic should focus on mitigation (e.g. traffic calming, change in street direction, paid parking). Unfortunately, Mister Moustache, aka Mr. McGettrick, and his polemic tactics have alienated a lot people including those with sway over the project.
Ikea is coming to Red Hook and at this late date we need to be solution-oriented. Sadly, it doesn’t look like any community stakeholders are up to the task.
I like IKEA, I don’t like that its building in Brooklyn will hog the waterfront. The building does not belong right on the bay. What were they thinking?
Perhaps in fifty years, the Brooklyn waterfront will live up to its potential. Maybe if they make groups like the MAS have veto power over the bureaucrats and pols at the Planning Commission we will see more progressive examples of planning.
Ikea sells aesthetically well designed furniture that is also designed to be thrown out in several years. How many times a week do you walk down the street and see some piece of Ikea furniture lying on the sidewalk waiting to be carted to a landfill? This is not something that is wonderful. It is twisted. They have good meatballs though. But not as good as the tacos at the Red Hook food vendors. And who, BTW, do you think is responsible for all the pressure on the Red Hook food vendors??
Won’t people going to Ikea want to stop somewhere nice to eat on the way out after dealing with the mobs in the store? Maybe that someplace will be Columbia Street, which could use some kind of boost, according to The Times. People driving in and out of Red Hook, for whatever reason, might be just what the doctor ordered for a “Restaurant Row” on the brink.
The BQE can’t handle the traffic as it is. Imagine the mess that Ikea will bring to that stretch of the BQE and the traffic in the surrounding area once the BQE comes to a standstill. City planning of the lamest kind.
Ikea is wonderful. It sells affordable furniture that people actually want to buy. The store will provide jobs. Yes, the traffic plan isn’t perfect but I’d rather have an Ikea in my neighbourhood. Hey, maybe Ikea could sell bikes?
All of Ikea’s furniture is coming in on trucks you moron. That is another reason why placing Ikea on the waterfront is an absolute farce!
The city sold their sole when they allowed Ikea to build on the waterfront in Red Hook. Now the very first thing cruise ships coming into New York Harbor will see is the Statue of Liberty and the blues and yellows of Ikea. How very Swedish of the New York City Planning Commission. And that is just the tip of the iceberg of why Ikea was a bad idea.
I am so Pro Ikea I can’t describe it.
Having lived thru an era in NYC when merchants LEFT the city, I am happy to see a viable, bustling business economy move in. The inflated housing prices you guys all have woodies over go along with business – can’t have one without the other.
While it was nice to live in Brooklyn when it was quiet place with lots of artists, lots of parking spots and, and someone you knew got mugged or robbed about once a week (I’m not kidding or being cynical – that quiet empty world had it’s great points, even though I had to go to Manhattan to get to a decent butcher), the current middle class influx INCLUDING all the new merchants is great.
Red Hook is the best choice for Ikea BECAUSE it’s on the waterfront – they’re in Elizabeth now because Elizabeth is a container port. Same thing here. More barges = less trucks.
But don’t pretend to want middle class/upper class amenities without wanting the stuff you buy to go with it.
Ikea will be a great addition. Bring on the the swedish meatballs and the Flork bunkbed collection. I’m there!