Brit in Brooklyn Subscribers: Come See the New Home!

We disappeared again on the new site but we really are up and running again now. For those of you who have us in your RSS Feed readers you may want to update your settings. The blog has officially moved so here's the new feed: http://britinbrooklyn.squarespace.com/britinbrooklyn_photo_blog/rss.xml or click this: We've decided to move away from Blogger for now. We don't like the idea that the blog can be frozen or turned off indefinitely at any moment by a pumped-up google spider spam robot thing. You can always get to our latest home with www.britinbrooklyn.com The new place is better equipped and we even managed to move the old archive across. See you over there!

Hot Bird Hanging On: Atlantic Yards Destruction Update

There's a new construction update on the 'Yards over at No Land Grab. We swung past on Saturday to find the Hot Bird building on Vanderbilt has survived so far. * Demolition is complete at 465 Dean Street (block 1127, lot 54). Clean up and back fill will be completed within this 2-week period. * Demolition is complete at 814 Pacific Street (block 1129, lot 45). Clean up and back fill will be completed within this 2-week period. * Demolition is complete at 538 Vanderbilt Avenue (block 1129, lot 46). Clean up and back fill will be completed within this 2-week period. * Demolition is underway at 546 Vanderbilt Avenue (block 1129, lot 54) and will continue for the next two–three months.

Desktop Day: Christmas Yards

Mac and PC versions of the holiday spirit down on the Atlantic Yards footprint.

Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn: Klezmatics play at fundraiser

Daniel Goldstein of Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn addresses a sold out Lyceum last night, where the Klezmatics played an excellent set.

Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn: Fundraiser

To help raise money for their legal battle over Atlantic Yards, DDDB is putting on an excellent evening of entertainment at the Brooklyn Lyceum on Thursday. Here are the details from their press release: A diverse evening of Klezmer, African and Bluegrass music Featuring The Klezmatics With special guests Kakande and the Demolition String Band Thursday, November 8th Doors open at 7 p.m. Brooklyn Lyceum 227 4th Avenue at Union Street Park Slope, Brooklyn (R Train to Union Street) More info: (718) 362-4784 Order your tickets online: www.dddb.net/klezmatics Great eats provided by Maria's Mexican Bistro and Erica's Rugelach and Baking Company.

Al Pacino Pictured in the Nabe

Atlantic Yards photographer and friend Tracy Collins caught Al Pacino yesterday at the 78th Precinct.

Message to Mayor Moo Moo

Brooklyn's other Museum of Brooklyn is on Stueben between Myrtle and Park.

Desktop Day Double: Atlantic Yards, No

Two images sized to go up as your computer wallpaper. Kind of ideal if you are lucky enough to have two monitors, as you can juxtapose the shots for a snazzy visual statement. Instructions Left-click on the image first to open up the large version. Windows PC: Right-click on the large image and select 'set as desktop background'. You can also right-click and 'save as', then use your desktop properties settings to add the file you just saved and format it how you prefer. There's more info on customising your PC desktop here.

Mac: Macintosh instructions can be found here.

Carlton Avenue Bridge Set to Close

The closure is part of the preparation by Forest City Ratner for the Atlantic Yards development. It will shut over the next few weeks. Here's the location.
View Larger Map

Walk Don't Destroy Brooklyn

WDD3 kicks off at noon on Sunday, and there's still time to register. From Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn: "Walk Don't Destroy 3 will be an opportunity to help fund the DDDB legal campaign at a fun, interactive and exciting event. Join your friends and neighbors to help stop eminent domain abuse, massive over-development and the destruction of the Brooklyn we know and love."

Pacific Pavement Clean Up

Faith Gertner, a resident of Brooklyn for over twenty years, helped with the clean up on Pacific Street on Sunday. Under the Forest City Ratner plan the street is to be de-mapped. But there is an alternative... Photos courtesy of Deb Goldstein.

Unity Plan: Press Conference

Unity Plan architect Marshall Brown The alternative Unity Plan for Atlantic Yards was officially unveiled to the public today at the Soap Box Gallery, Dean Street. There is also a community forum from 6pm tonight at the gallery. More images here. Council member Letitia James

Atlantic Yards: Clean Up Day

Pacific Street Pavement Residents and neighbors of Atlantic Yards are getting together for a tidy up around the footprint. "We still live here! Clean up day!" is on Sunday from midday to 5pm. Everyone is welcome to come and join in.

Celebrating Jane Jacobs: Atlantic Yards Footprint Tour

Center for the Living City have arranged some FREE walking tours of New York in celebration of Jane Jacobs. We're recommending the "Atlantic Yards Footprint and Environs" tour with Norman Oder. From the Center for the Living City website: "The walk reveals the historic and political context behind the controversial Atlantic Yards plan—beginning at the edge of Downtown Brooklyn, where the borough’s tallest building is being converted to luxury condos, a dip into the embryonic Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) arts district, a peek at revitalized Fort Greene. The walk will then take in the fruits of urban redevelopment—1970s tower apartments, 1990s low-rise housing, and two malls—before traversing the footprint itself in Prospect Heights." Meeting Location: In front of Williamsburgh Savings Bank (tallest building in Brooklyn) Hanson Place at Ashland Place Time: Saturday, Sept 29, 2 PM Tour Guides: Ron Shiffman and Norman Oder Also keep in mind the Municipal Arts Society exhibit “Jane Jacobs and the Future of New York,” which opens on September 26th.

Hot Bird on Block 1129: Atlantic Yards Update

It's that time again: another demolition update is out for Forest City Ratner's Atlantic Yards project. There's more drilling and surveying underway at the corner of Vanderbilt and Pacific, block 1121.

It's a Jungle Out There

Nature is trying to reclaim Pacific before Ratner removes the street altogether.

Desktop Day: Gehry, Thy Name is Eminent Domain

This piece of graphic art from the Atlantic Yards footprint will brighten up any pc desktop. If you have not done so, please let us know what size monitor you use by voting in our desktop poll on the right. Instructions Left-click on the image first to open up the large version. Windows PC: Right-click on the large image and select 'set as desktop background'. You can also right-click and 'save as', then use your desktop properties settings to add the file you just saved and format it how you prefer. There's more info on customising your PC desktop here.

Mac: Macintosh instructions can be found here.

Bergen Street Evictions: More Coverage

With message boards and internet chatter on the Bergen St. story growing by the hour, where better to go for an in-depth and rational investigation than Atlantic Yards Report. (Image, from left to right, Sillather Bullock, councilwoman Letitia James and a cop)

Desktop Day: Flatbush and Fifth

The bright red JRG Cafe has been Ratnered and the Williamsburg Bank clock is still shrouded. Here they both are sized to fit your PC desktop. While you're here let us know what size desktop you have using the quick poll over on the right. Instructions Left-click on the image first to open up the large version. Windows PC: Right-click on the large image and select 'set as desktop background'. You can also right-click and 'save as', then use your desktop properties settings to add the file you just saved and format it how you prefer. There's more info on customising your PC desktop here.

Mac: Macintosh instructions can be found here.

Brit in Britain: Dump Development

These houses in Hadleigh, Suffolk, England, are built on an old Ministry of Defence ammo dump and bunker complex first opened in World War II. They came to mind because Atlantic Yards Report has an item today about developers being urged to get more creative in choosing their sites.

Puff on Pacific Street

A dragon lives forever but not so little boys Painted wings and giant rings make way for other toys. One grey night it happened, Jackie Paper came no more And Puff that mighty dragon, he ceased his fearless roar.

Atlantic Yards Demolition Update: JRG Cafe Gone

JRG Cafe when it was still open for business "Demolition is underway at 175 Flatbush Avenue (block 1118, lot 6), and 177 Flatbush Avenue (block 1118, lot 5); 177 Flatbush Avenue will likely be completed within this period." From the ESDC construction update. The space where JRG Cafe was, photographed today.

Pacific Street Symbols

Anyone care to translate?

A Chat with Tracy Collins

A while back I got to spend some time with Tracy Collins, a photographer who lives next door to the Atlantic Yards footprint in Dean Street (check out his Flickr stream). He has produced a work-in-progress, print-on-demand book, Atlantic Yards: [De]construction of The Neighborhood, with proceeds going to the Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn legal fund. Tracy is also planning an Atlantic Yards group photography show and accompanying book. Q. What was your first camera? A. My first real camera was an Olympus OM1 that I bought used from a friend of mine who was in Asia. He could get a really good one cheap over there. I think the real bug came in high school. I took a photography class where you developed your own films and made your own prints. The hobby [grew] from the early 80s on, and just in the last few years I quit my engineering job and moved to New York. Q. How much did you know about Atlantic Yards when you came here? A. Almost nothing. I heard rumours. After I bought my place, I thought it might be nice to walk to a pro basketball game, and to see something other than the rail yards: shops, restaurants, open space. So initially I was pro-Atlantic Yards. Once I learned more about what was actually planned, I felt it was way out of scale for the area. And I wasn't happy about the process in which it’s been pushed forward. I’m against the use of eminent domain. It’s going to be a lot more costly to the public than what’s been stated publicly. Over time, the amount of money being ponied up by the city and state has seemed to edge up over the amount of benefits the public is going to get -- the housing and jobs -- slowly eating away to the point where it’s like, Why are we subsidizing this one guy with so much money? We haven’t even had competitive bids for what could go there. Why is this the best plan, why is this the only plan? It feels very undemocratic. As I understand it, the local community boards have no say at all legally in what happens. Q. How did you go about finding out more about Atlantic Yards? A. I just set up a Google Alert for any news about the neighborhood, and with those alerts I found blogs like Norman Oder's AY Report and No Land Grab. I started plugging into those outlets as well. I started going to block association meetings, the few community input meetings [laughs] hosted by the developer and the Empire State Development Corporation. Q. How did you feel about those meetings? A. I felt it was just them going through the motions, so they could say, 'Yes, we did solicit community input.' It felt very much like, 'The plan has already been decided on, but we need to sleepwalk through this process because that’s what we’re supposed to do.' It didn’t feel as if any meaningful changes came out of it. Q. Did your photography or your aesthetic change when you moved to Brooklyn? A. I’m definitely doing a lot more color than I used to do. That may be more of a function of the digital camera; color is so much easier to do than with film. There’s definitely more of a purpose now; I don't know if much has changed aesthetically, but the subject matter is clearly about changes in the neighborhood. I'm trying to capture things that I feel might not be around for much longer, trying to record the sense of the space. Q. What's the latest on your book project? A. I’m a babe in the woods right now. I guess it comes down to how much ownership I want over the project. It started out as an adjunct to a photo exhibit that I had. But now it looks like it could easily grow into something much bigger than that. It would be nice to have input and help; I’m not a great copywriter or copy editor. And Atlantic Yards is a huge space, 22 acres, plus all of the surrounding communities. If you are interested in getting involved with the Atlantic Yards exhibition and book, you can contact Tracy through his blog, Not Another F*cking Blog. His online portfolio is here.

Desktop Day: Push Bike and Brooklyn Sky

The borders of the Vanderbilt Railyards often present the lens with surprising juxtapositions. This desktop-sized image, taken from Atlantic Avenue, is a good example. More and more of these fences are springing up as the Ratnerfication of the area continues apace. Instructions Left-click on the image first to open up the large version. Windows PC: Right-click on the large image and select 'set as desktop background'. You can also right-click and 'save as', then use your desktop properties settings to add the file you just saved and format it how you prefer. There's more info on customising your PC desktop here.

Mac: Macintosh instructions can be found here.

Gehry, the Guardian and Atlantic Yards

In the Guardian, Ed Pilkington takes a look at Gehry's IAC building and gives the Yards a wee mention:

"As the project's lead architect, Gehry is at the centre of the [Atlantic Yards] dispute. On the one hand, he is being tugged by a highly organised protest movement that has managed to whittle down some of the more ambitious elements of his design, if not kill it off altogether. On the other, he is having to please a famously hard-nosed developer, Bruce Ratner, who will only stomach so much risk-taking from an architect. It doesn't bode particularly well for the outcome that Gehry has christened the tallest building in the scheme, a 511ft tower of glass and metal, 'Miss Brooklyn'. He says it is his 'ego trip.

"It is a gamble indeed. Gehry has finally arrived in New York. But when Atlantic Yards is completed in 2017, will he wish he had never done so?"

The Day the Trains Stood Still

A quiet hero of the 8/8 Total Transport Meltdown, Isaac Josephson (far left) convinced the driver of a double-decker tour bus to bring him and 30-some other stranded Brooklyn commuters (including Friend of BIB Julia Cheiffetz, near left) to midtown today. Isaac reports:

“After two hours of milling around the Flatbush/Atlantic area, waiting for the trains to work, I started to walk home. About six blocks off Flatbush on 6th Avenue, I ran into the tourist bus stopped at a red light. I knocked on his door, asked if he was going into Manhattan, and if he would give me a ride.

“At first, he said he wasn't sure. The light changed, and he started driving. I chased him for three blocks, pleading at every light before he let me on. When we got to Flatbush, I shouted from the top, ‘Anyone want to go to Times Square?’

“Yep, best commute ever.”

More photos from the crush at Flatbush/Atlantic are below, and here’s a slide show.

Pacific Street Slab

Street Furniture: Watching You on Atlantic Avenue

Compared to London, it's surprising how few and far between CCTV cameras are in NYC. There are 10,000 cameras in the five NYC boroughs combined, which sounds like a lot, but consider that London has more than 200,000. Nationwide, Britain has some 4 million electronic eyes watching her citizens. Even small market towns will have CCTV positions disguised as Victorian street furniture. I was surprised on a recent Atlantic Avenue stroll to notice a camera flash high up on a post. This device captures motorists who run red lights at the junction with Fifth Avenue. The ice cream seller parked nearby said the camera has been there for about three months. Hopefully fewer drivers will be tempted to blast through red lights and groups of pedestrians.

Oasis

This young tree survives amongst the shifting dunes of the Atlantic Yards project.

Ratner Keeps His Tax Break

We like the Daily News' definition of "slash tax break" in their Atlantic Yards story today: Bruce Ratner gets out of paying property taxes for a mere 15 years, rather than 25 years as originally planned. Norman Oder provides annotation and analysis over at Atlantic Yards Report.

Atlantic Yards: That fence is finished.

We're way behind on this one, but the New York Post reported on Monday that the city is poised to pull $100 million in subsidies from the Forest City Ratner Atlantic Yards project. For an in-depth analysis of the article head over to No Land Grab. Subsidies or not, the work continues around the Yards.

Atlantic Yards Pile Driver

This contraption, pictured in front of the shrouded Ward Bakery, is for punching foundations deep into the ground. Pile drivers are an increasingly common sight (and sound) of Brooklyn's development frenzy. The origin of the pile driver is dated variously from as far back as 5000 years ago in Scotland up to the renaissance starchitects Francesco di Giorgio and Leonardo Da Vinci. Here is a pile driver you can drink. 1/3 oz vodka 1/3 oz orange juice 1/3 oz prune juice Pour all ingredients into a shot glass, stir and serve. UPDATE: An anonymous tipster informs us that the alleged pile driver is in fact a mere drill. We are investigating.

Narrow Streets: Pacific

Since my last wander round the Atlantic Yards footprint a large new fence has been erected and a footpath closed. Pacific Street is now narrower by about a quarter.

Belatedly

We've been busy with the day job, so we're just getting round to posting this, but we were thrilled to share some real estate in the Gray Lady this weekend with Flatbush Gardener, Dope on the Slope, and other illustrious personages.

Desktop Day: Tasty Provisions

This week we present a victim of the Atlantic Yards project. Our version is Ratner-proof and is sized as a PC wallpaper. Instructions Left-click on the image first to open up the large version. Windows PC: Right-click on the large image and select 'set as desktop background'. You can also right-click and 'save as', then use your desktop properties settings to add the file you just saved and format it how you prefer. There's more info on customising your PC desktop here.

Mac: Macintosh instructions can be found here.

Brooklyn Storm: Double Strike

The storm had been building for some time.

Only the Tallest Will Survive

Here we are looking at part of the Atlantic Yards development footprint, from a building itself slated for demolition.

Atlantic Yards: Short Photo Story

This was the building on the corner of Flatbush and Fifth that had a lot of graphics on the end wall. The shot below was taken on my first photo-walk in Brooklyn almost a year ago.

Target PVC Protest

This afternoon at the Atlantic Center, activists protested against the use of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in products sold at Target. According to the Center for Health, Environment and Justice (CHEJ), "The familiar smell of your new Target shower curtain is that of poisonous chemicals being released into your home." CHEJ also alleges Target sells childrens' toys and baby products that contain harmful chemicals. Lauren Hamid (left) handed out flyers stating that "just one PVC bottle can contaminate a recycling load of 100,000 recyclable bottles."

Sunset on Pacific Street

Atlantic Yards: Everything Must Go

The JRG Restaurant is slated for demolition in preparation for the Atlantic Yards development. Today they were having an "everything must go" sale. I wish I had snapped a picture of the glowing orbs that would light up the canopied deck at night, when the sound of music, laughter, and clinking glasses would waft through the otherwise sparsely appointed lots -- always a welcome accompaniment on the walk home from Atlantic-Pacific station.

Ward's Bakery: Save It

This handsome 1911 white terra cotta clad beauty is scheduled for demolition as part of the preparation for the Atlantic Yards development. If you feel it should be developed rather than destroyed you can sign an online petition.

Atlantic Yards: Breaking Old Ground

Work began this morning on the 'demolition' of the old bus depot in preparation for the Atlantic Yards development. Not that there was much to demolish but there was a hole to be dug through the stubborn surface. Apparently later this week this red land mark, below, will also be flattened for Ratner's project. The Brooklyn Record reports that the JRG Fashion Cafe (white facade) is set to rise again inside the Nets Arena complex.