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| Site of proposed Fieldhouse on Furman Street Photo: BBPC |
* A Velodrome is an arena used for racing specialized bikes on a steeply banked track.
* A Fieldhouse is an arena mostly used for college basketball, volleyball, or ice hockey. (Wikipedia)
What has been proposed for Brooklyn Bridge Park is not a Fieldhouse, it is a Velodrome. (You can do other stuff in the infield, but that is an afterthought.)
Now just for fun, picture the same structure named the "Arena."
According to Wikipedia:
* "An arena is an enclosed area, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theater, musical performances, or sporting events . . . It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators. The key feature of an arena is that the event space is the lowest point, allowing for maximum visibility. Usually, an arena is designed to accommodate a fairly large number of spectators."
The Brooklyn Bridge Park Arena would be small as arenas go. It would be nowhere as big as the huge Barclay's Center, plotzed like a giant aircraft carrier in the middle of Downtown Brooklyn.
Projected to seat 2,500 spectators, the Brooklyn Bridge Park Arena would be slightly more than half the size of the Four Seasons Arena in Montana (capacity 4,895), and roughly two-thirds the size of Nebraska's FirsTier Event Center (with a capacity of approx. 4,000). (Wikipedia)
But in comparison to the available land, the new arena would be honking huge. The proposal calls for a 200 meter track. Here are some photos of a 200-meter velodrome.
To sum: The Brooklyn Bridge Park board is considering siting an arena seating 2,500 spectators in the park.
Velodrome, Fieldhouse or Arena. Is it the right structure for Brooklyn Bridge Park?
Previous posts:
- Brooklyn Bridge Park Advisor Denies Velodrome Conflict of Interest Charges
- Brooklyn Bridge Park Fieldhouse: Is Velodrome Racing a 'Quaint, Obscure, Bizarre' Sport?
- Did You Miss the Fieldhouse Forum?
- Brooklyn Bridge Park Fieldhouse /Velodrome Forums
- Who IS This Guy Who Donated $40 Million To Brooklyn Bridge Park?
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6 comments:
No way. Not in context. Will ruin the light and air of the park and bring too much traffic.
Lets not ruin the party before it even starts.
I feel like I'm taking crazy pills when I see something like the comment above. "Ruin the light and air of the park?" Is that a joke? This isn't an open field! It's a site that's directly underneath a cantilevered expressway!
Also: yesterday we'll have been complaining about how cyclists are out of control on their bikes... today we're talking about building an indoor cycling facility, and we're saying that they're going to be driving cars and adding to neighborhood traffic? Well, pick one complaint and stick to it! It's insensible to think that 2,500 people are going to be arriving by car to a velodrome in Brooklyn. Think about that before you complain about the big bad thing that you don't know and already don't like.
Commenter #1 is of the same ilk who don't want a footbridge between Brooklyn Heights, the same who don't like hotdog vendors near the promenade, who probably didn't want the park there in the first place because it "brings too much traffic" near their precious Brooklyn Heights gated community.
Important point: the bikes used in velodrome racing can't be used on the streets, having no brakes and being fixed gear. They need to be brought in by truck or roof rack. So unfortunately, yes, the velodrome racers will be driving in.
At first, arena sounded the most fitting but with the ensuing chaos that seems sure to follow, fieldhouse it is!
Fieldhouse. Evokes college memories. Velodrome: Spandex Ballet wankers from Prospect Park who'll run over their grandmother on the big downhill. Arena=Barclays.
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