80 DeKalb: Call 311…

I guess that when you’re building a 405 foot tall building on a teeny weeny little lot, you don’t leave yourself much room to park delivery trucks, let pedestrians use the sidewalk, etc.

I’ve included a photo of Brooklyn Tech students having to walk into oncoming traffic in order to get around a delivery truck and a better photo of morning foot traffic in the “sidewalk” that Forest City Ratner has built for our use.

I’ve already called 311 to complain and I urge all of you to as well. It only takes a few minutes and maybe, if the city responds to the complaints, could mean keeping an accident from happening there.

Thanks.

 Update: Here’s an article on the building in the Brooklyn Eagle…

 http://www.brooklyneagle.com/categories/category.php?category_id=27&id=15777

Atlantic Yards Alternative Unveiled

A group of prominent opponents to Forest City Ratner’s Atlantic Yards development unveiled an alternative plan yesterday.  As summarized in the Brooklyn Eagle, my favorite three elements are as follows:

[1] It would be lower-rise than Atlantic Yards (the tallest building would rise 400 feet), and it would [2] confine itself to the area directly over the Long Island Railroad’s Vanderbilt Railyards [sic].

[3] It also would open up new streets to connect Prospect Heights to Fort Greene, rather than de-mapping some local streets as the Atlantic Yards plan would.

A scale model of the “Unity Plan” is currently on display at the Soapbox Gallery, at 636 Dean Street in Prospect Heights.