Bruce Ratner Will Ensure You Have Overpriced Coffee
Speaking of the inexorable march of franchised coffee, we noticed something interesting while idly gazing at some Atlantic Yards plans today. While much about Bruce Ratner’s project is still up in the air — Miss Brooklyn’s size, the project’s time line, the exact numbers of jobs it will create and people it will push out of their homes, who will win Daniel Goldstein’s lawsuits — one thing, however, is set in stone, at least according to sketches provided by Frank Gehry’s office. Atlantic Yards will definitely have a Starbucks.
Photos: Atlantic Yards Project [amNY]
Earlier: Old East Villager Distressed By Starbucks Influx; Also, Sky Is Blue
developing
Spitzer, Already Bored of Taking on Albany, to Take on Moses, Too?
The Spitzer administration seems poised to undo a former public official’s legacy in the South Bronx — and this time we mean Robert Moses, not George Pataki. Community groups in the neighborhood have been trying since 1999 to raze Moses’s 1.25-mile, never-completed Sheridan Expressway and build a 28-acre greenway underneath. The state Department of Transportation committed a decade ago to overhauling parts of the Sheridan, but bureaucrats had dawdled while seeking easy plans for big contractors (and, as goes without saying, ignoring locals’ thirst for parkland). Now, says Sustainable South Bronx director Majora Carter, two of the four scenarios the state will consider this year include the local bikeway plan. That would replace the Tyrolean folly in the top picture with the boulevard in the lower shot. The community-proposed path would end at a park on a former cement plant usable for kayak launches. And it would mesh with Mayor Mike’s notion of making the mainland borough a middle-class beachhead. Imagine: You might pedal to Hunts Point’s wholesalers with your grocery basket and shopping list. What would Moses think? —Alec Appelbaum
ground-zero watch
More Real, Actual Freedom Tower Progress
In 2003, George Pataki expected the superstructure of Freedom Tower to have reached its full 1,776 feet by this September. In 2004, he presided over the cornerstore-laying for the building. And yesterday, finally, the first steel beams were installed there. (How is this different than that other first-things-being-installed ceremony a few weeks ago? We seem to recall that one involved concrete rather than steel.) Two beams were the result of yesterday’s work — there’ll be 27 in total — and they top out some 40 feet below street level. So thanks, Pataki, for that awesome leadership. You’ve shown the terrorists!
Pataki Finds Satisfaction in New Roots at 9/11 Site [NYT]
ground-zero watch
More Actual Progress at Ground Zero!
Could it be? Yes, it could. A mere three weeks after real, genuine construction started at ground zero — the concrete foundation was finally poured for the much-delayed Freedom Tower — there’s set to be some more real, genuine progress today. Five years after it was badly damaged and rendered uninhabitable by the attacks, the long-shrouded Deutsche Bank building is finally coming down. The AP is reporting that the building’s façade is being removed starting this morning; once that is gone, the steel-and-concrete infrastructure comes next. One of the new WTC towers is set to be built on the site, plus a new Greek Orthodox church. Don’t start rushing to say your Greek prayers, though: It’ll be a year till the current building is gone.
Work Begins Friday to Take Down Damaged WTC Skyscraper [AP via Newsday]
Earlier: Freedom Tower Construction Finally Begins, Boringly
the morning line
Bloomberg Succeeds in Prying Guns From Warm, Live Hands
• Bloomberg’s novel anti-gun initiative — going after out-of-state dealers — is paying off. (It also shows an unusually, um, national-minded thinking from a city mayor). Six gun stores in outlying states have agreed to let court officials monitor their sales; twelve more are being sued into agreement. [NYT]
• The Daily News has a cover story that would drive O. Henry to suicide: A Staten Island woman gets the news of her fiancé’s death in Iraq, followed two hours later by a FedExed engagement ring from him. We don’t normally fall for the human-face-of-war stuff from our tabs, but Christ. [NYDN]
• D.J. Carl Blaze of Power 105.1 is in the hospital after getting shot “at least 13 times.” The details are murky, and the shooter took Blaze’s $20,000 gold chain, but the hail of bullets appears far too excessive for a robbery. [NYP]
• A Brooklyn rabbi was cuffed and jailed on child-molestation charges last night, after the lawsuit against him made the papers earlier in the week. The alleged victim is a 9-year-old who claims to have been abused for two years. Neighbors say the rabbi “doesn’t fit the criteria.” [WNBC]
• Demolition is set to begin in a couple of hours on the iconic, conical Revere Sugar Refinery in Red Hook. Thor Equities, which is also building on the Williamsburg-Greenpoint and Coney Island waterfronts, snatched up the factory in a less-publicized deal for $40 million. [amNY]
it just happened
Freedom Tower Construction Finally Begins, Boringly
You see all that excitement? Let the historical record reflect that Saturday, November 18, was the start of construction on Freedom Tower. A mere five years after the Twin Towers were destroyed, and a mere two and a third years after the Freedom Tower cornerstone was laid, the concrete foundation was poured for the 1,776-foot office building. Of course, you still won’t see anything above street level till 2008. Exciting!
A Towering Start [NYDN]
the morning line
Small Victories
• Holy crap, could this be …? It is! There is actual construction afoot at ground zero — and on the Freedom Tower, no less. The steel cage defines the areas where elevators and stairwells will go; the pouring of concrete starts tomorrow. And if we’d seen this, oh, let’s see, four and a half years ago, we’d probably burst with pride. [NYT]
• In case you want to relive the glory of last Tuesday: A Democratic congressional candidate in Connecticut WON! WON! WON! the recount against his GOP opponent, a three-term incumbent. “Landslide Joe” (hey, he nicknamed himself) Courtney’s sweeping mandate is now officially based on a 91-vote advantage. [NYT]
• NYC’s Board of Health might take things slower with the trans-fat ban. It may also give it a form other than a piece of City Council legislation, lest the city be hit with a ton of lawsuits. McDonald’s, by the way, says it will totally comply (even as it’s hiring new high-profile lawyers). [Crain’s]
• A fired media executive is in deep trouble for being a good Samaritan, of sorts. Stevan Hoffacker was allegedly monitoring the company’s e-mail traffic from his home PC in Queens and sending colleagues heads-up messages if they were about to get canned as well. The bosses at SourceMedia must have been puzzled by all the prescient “You can’t fire me, I quit” storm-offs. [NYDN]
• And alleged phone-thrower Naomi Campbell is looking for a plea deal but won’t take anything that will require her to do cleanup duty (the court-mandated humiliation du jour for errant celebrities). “It’s not that she’s squeamish,” her lawyer is quoted saying — and trailing off directly afterward. [NYP]
neighborhood watch
Stop!Boerum Hill: City replaces stop signs with traffic light at one intersection, and neighbors aren’t pleased. [Streets Blog]
Boerum Hill: Who you gonna call? Well, don’t bother with the police, if you live on a block stuck between two precincts. [NYDN]
East Village and Lower East Side: Work continues on East River Park, with 6th Street running track reopened and overall project set for final completion in 2008. [Grand Street News]
Fort Greene: There’s a new church coming, but don’t tell the local prostitutes. [Brownstoner]
Harlem: There’s some weird architecture — an old-school front porch, a very new-school modern thing — on East 128th Street townhouses. [Bagel in Harlem]
Lower East Side: Proposed neighborhood-friendly LES rezoning may not be as neighborhood-friendly as it’s cracked up to be. [LoHo 10002]
Lower East Side: Thanks to construction-detritus pulverized Styrofoam, you can play in the snow even when it’s 60-plus degrees out. [What About the Plastic Animals? via Curbed]