The Market Has 'Peaked' in New York, and More

- The Real Deal has packaged together a list of links relating to the ever-so-slowly sinking real estate market in New York. Here are numbers 1 - 3 out of 11 points (not all are pessimistic):
1. Panel at REBNY event agrees that the market has passed its peak more [NYO]
2. A look at the subprime mortgage crisis' impact on the market more [NYO]
3. Trulia adds foreclosure listings more [Trulia Blog]
Points 4 - 11 here.

- We love the ever-optimistic New York City Housing Bubble blog. Today's headline is 'The Existing Home Sales PlungeOmeter.' Read it and weep here.

Biggest Building in Brooklyn -- So Far -- Proposed for City Tech's Klitgord Auditorium Site

Everybody's been posting this rendering of the new City Tech tower that's been proposed for the corner of Tillary and Jay Streets in Downtown Brooklyn, but it is so stupendous it deserves to be seen again.

As reported in the Brooklyn Eagle, Forest City Ratner’s MaryAnne Gilmartin had announced the project and its designer, Italian architect Renzo Piano, at a meeting of the Metropolitan New York Chapter of the Appraisal Institute in 2006, but this is the first visual of the "stunningly tall" building -- estimated to be between 65-70 stories.

The site is that of the existing two-story Klitgord Auditorium on the southeast corner of Tillary and Jay (shown below), which will be demolished. In October, we noticed that the Jersey Boring and Drilling Co. was conducting test borings around the auditorium as part of the subsurface investigation of the site.

Photo of the existing Klitgord Auditorium by MK Metz

The credit chain: The rendering was first posted on the Wired New York Forum on Thanksgiving Weekend and then picked up by the 110 Livingston Blog. From there it went to the Gowanus Lounge and Brownstoner.

UPDATE: The Daily News reports that a Forest City Ratner spokesperson says the design is a year old, and "not a reflection of what we're considering today."

UPDATE: Here are several future iterations of the complex.

- Digging For Gold at City Tech's Klitgord Auditorium

Brooklyn Bridge Park to Have Permanent Floating Pool? And More Brooklyn in Brief

- The Floating Pool Lady was such a big hit last summer, when it was moored at the foot of Atlantic Avenue, that Brooklyn Bridge Park planners are considering building another one to be permanently docked within the planned, 85-acre park. Brooklyn Eagle

- Borough President Markowitz has named CB 2 chair Shirley McRae to be the new Brooklyn representative to the city Planning Commission, replacing Dolly Williams, who was forced to recuse herself from discussions about Atlantic Yards. Brooklyn Paper

- The 300-acre Brooklyn Navy Yard will soon be adding four acres through a dredging project that will pave the way for more than $500 million in private investment there - the greatest expansion there since World War II. New York Post

- Dumbo Improvement District’s Second Annual Holiday Lighting Ceremony will take place on Thursday, November 29, 2007 at 6:30pm in the Pearl Street Triangle. DumboNYC

- The most widely used influenza drug in the world -- Tamiflu -- should carry a stronger warning label about psychiatric problems seen in a handful of patients, government advisers said Tuesday. New York Times

Deck the Halls at Brooklyn Borough Hall

Crews Tuesday began to festoon Brooklyn Borough Hall for the holidays.

Photo by MK Metz

The Brooklyn Bus Shelter From Hell

Is this bus shelter cursed?

It was only a a couple of weeks ago that this Downtown Brooklyn bus shelter on Cadman Plaza near Borough Hall was demolished, with several injuries. Now, this Thanksgiving weekend, it's been smashed again -- by what, we don't know.

Correspondent bj sent in the above cell phone snap Saturday. Below is a photo (by MK Metz) of the devastated bus shelter as it looked November 5th, after the first accident.

- Rebuilding the Bus Stop at Brooklyn Borough Hall
- Update: Car Smashes into Bus Shelter, Brooklyn Borough Hall
- Car Through Bus Shelter on Cadman Plaza/ Brooklyn Borough Hall

Synthetic Turf Hazards: Is That Beautiful Green Field Harming Our Kids? Cadman Plaza Park a Case in Point

Signs posted around the synthetically turfed and still controversial Cadman Plaza Park (in Brooklyn Heights/Downtown Brooklyn) inform us of a presentation to be given Thursday about the potentially hazardous chemicals in synthetic turf. Speakers are William Crain of City College of New York and Junfeng Zhang of Rutgers. See the sign above for time and location.

Protests marches and meetings with Councilman Yassky failed to prevent the plasticizing of Cadman Plaza Park last year. Once called a "dust bowl," the park gets more use than ever from both sports teams and casual ball-throwers now that it has been perma-greened.

Vast improvements besides the synthetic turf were made to the long-neglected park at the same time. A meandering running trail was installed, drainage was improved, grass, bushes and flowers were planted around the synthetic field and other improvements were made. The north oval of the park received a major soil upgrade and reseeding, as well. The Parks Department no longer lets news television trucks (covering the nearby courthouse) drive on the Fieldturf, as it did when the area was covered with grass.

But in spite of the attractive perma-green, safety questions linger. Professor Crain says that one problem is the lack of conclusive studies on the safety of the pellets used in the synthetic turf. The pellets "stick to bloody scrapes and sweaty skin and find their way into socks," he said. Preliminary testing indicated the rubber pellets, made from recycled tires, contain high levels of polycyclicaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) that exceed levels deemed safe by the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation.

- That Brooklyn Astroturf is Hot!
- With Hoopla But No Protests, Brooklyn's Astroturfed Cadman Plaza Park Unveiled
- Cadman Plaza Park Opens --- Officially
- Blue/ Green Slime Invades What Remains of Cadman Plaza Park
- Cadman Plaza Park Opened -- But Not by Parks Department
- Parks Dept. Refuses to Study Synthetic Turf Health Risks
- Keeping 'Em Down on the Farm
- Toxic Park in Brooklyn Heights?

Photos by MK Metz

A Final Conversation with Norman Mailer

This conversation with Norman Mailer took place in June, 2007. It's an excerpt taken from a program by FORA.tv in which Mailer talks with authors Gunter Grass and Andrew O'Hagan on the topic of "The 20th Century on Trial." Some of the areas Norman discusses include national pride, the Iraq war, and American neoconservatives.

Brooklyn in Brief Monday

- The 300-acre Brooklyn Navy Yard will soon be adding four acres through a dredging project that officials say will pave the way for more than $500 million in private investment at the city-owned industrial park - the greatest expansion there since World War II. New York Post

- No one is willing to positively ID the “national chain” with "close to a century of experience" in the food trade that will be coming to the corner of State and Court streets. Broker Tim King of Massey-Knakal real-estate said only that the company is a national chain with about a century in “food production.” Brooklyn Paper

- Bleak "Black Friday" at Fulton Street mall. Business was not so good on Fulton Street this weekend; the Gallery at MetroTech, formerly enclosing Toys-R-Us and a dozen other stores, is already being demolished. Brooklyn Eagle

- Oh, oh. The Federal Reserve Board forecast this week that there will be no recession in the United States in the foreseeable future. (!) It says the gross domestic product will grow by as little as 1.6 percent in 2008, but is confident that growth will accelerate after that. New York Times (Thanks to New York City Housing Bubble)

- PortSide NewYork was recently in the news for staging a Puccini opera aboard a tanker in the Red Hook containerport. Now they are moving the tanker Mary Whalen to the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and are inaugurating their new home with a book launch. Tuesday, 11/27/07; at GMD Shipyard, Tailshaft and Valve Shop. Tickets on sale now here.

- A police detective has repeatedly failed to show up to give a deposition in a Brooklyn man’s lawsuit charging police brutality. Now the city says the detective has retired and cannot be found. New York Times

- Let the kids cut loose while you shop for high quality crafts at Brooklyn Friends School’s 28th Annual Holiday Crafts Fair. A one-day event of fun, food and amazing shopping, the fair takes place Saturday, December 1st, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 375 Pearl St., near the Marriott. More here.

- Visit Bed-Stuy on BCAT's Neighborhood Beat Monday and Tuesday (Nov. 26 and 27) at 12:30 and 8:30 p.m. Take a look at Bed-Stuy's high tech community and get the scoop on Bed-Stuy's blogs and WiFi spots. BCAT

North 6 to Film in Brooklyn Heights Tuesday

Signs are posted near the Promenade on Pierrepont Street -- move your cars by Monday 8 p.m. We don't know what they're filming, but according to the web site, North 6 does casting, location scouting, production logistics, etc. for a huge variety of clients in the fashion, beauty and advertising areas.

Photo by MK Metz

Brooklyn in Brief, Thanksgiving Weekend

- How far will the Atlantic Yards Project’s basketball arena be from the street? This matters because security may depend on how far the arena is set back from the roadway. New York Times

- The owner of the 177-year-old Hubbard House -- a small, white, wooden frame farmhouse that is one of only 13 original Dutch farmhouses left in Brooklyn -- has been trying to landmark it for 10 years. But the Landmarks Commission says that "further study" is required. Brooklyn Eagle

- Looking for a public kindergarten? The Park Slope Child Care Collective announces the 2007 Kindergarten Forum. A Child Grows in Brooklyn

- Fort Greene’s Brooklyn Hospital Center is hoping proximity to condos like One Hanson Place and the Oro will help keep it in business. Brownstowner

- Brooklyn Borough Hall will illuminate its façade in green November 26-27 in support of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital’s annual “Thanks and Giving” campaign. Courier Life

- Hillary Clinton's campaign is capitalizing on "an overlooked strain of feminism in blue-collar women -- nurse's aides, factory workers, farmers, and single mothers" -- to help fuel her strength among the Democratic candidates for president. Huffington Post

- The state Attorney General's office accepted 710 condo and co-op plans for New York City in 2006. The majority were for condos and co-ops in Brooklyn. NY Observer