Andrew M. Cuomo, NY governor, signs New York City speed-reduction bill including Coney Island Avenue and Flatbush Avenue

Andrew M. Cuomo, NY governor, signs New York City speed-reduction bill - Newsday
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Saturday morning signed a bill to let New York City drop its default speed limit to 25 miles per hour from 30.
The bill signing ceremony, held inside the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan, was attended by more than a dozen families who have lost loved ones in crashes involving motor vehicles.
"New Yorkers like to do things fast. Everything is time. Everything is pressure in New York. But this says 'slow down and save a life,' said Cuomo, standing between two "SPEED LIMIT 25" road signs.
The chance of a pedestrian's death is "cut in half" when the speed of the traveling vehicle is lowered to 25 mph from 30, the city's transportation commissioner, Polly Trottenberg, said at the ceremony.
The new speed limit can go into effect in as soon as 90 days, once City Hall enacts its own law formally lowering the limit, which it is all but certain to do.
The default limit is the maximum speed motorists can legally travel unless a posted sign indicates otherwise.

DiNapoli: Brooklyn is king of NYC economic growth

DiNapoli: Brooklyn is king of NYC economic growth - NY Daily News

 (Excerpt)
State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli released a report late this May that examined changes in Brooklyn’s economy from 2003 to 2012, and the results are encouraging.

• Private sector employment grew by nearly 20%, nearly double the growth in the rest of the city
• Private sector wages increased by 42%
• The number of businesses increased by 21%
• Manufacturing jobs increased for the first time in decades

More Than Half of Citi Bike's Early Members Did Not Renew

More Than Half of Citi Bike's Early Members Did Not Renew - WNYC
Audio included

(Excerpt-click on link for full text)
Citi Bike doesn’t publish numbers on how many people are renewing their memberships. While the system does release monthly reports on how many people sign up or renew, it doesn’t break out renewals as its own figure.

We know that at the end of May, the system had 105,355 active annual members. Those are people who have paid $95 for a year’s worth of riding, and have activated their little blue key. At the end of June, the system had 96,318 members.  Does that mean almost 10,000 people didn’t renew at the end of that month? Unclear.

But a WNYC analysis of Citi Bike data suggests that about 22,000 people renewed during May and June of 2014. At the end of last June, the system had 52,125 members. Which indicates almost 30,000 of the system’s first users have chosen not to renew so far.
Click link above for the rest of the story.  

Seaside Park and Community Art Center headed to Coney Island

Seaside Park and Community Art Center headed to Coney Island - am New York

By LISA FRASER August 6, 2014

A new development aimed at making Coney Island more of a year-round destination is currently in the works.
Dubbed Seaside Park and Community Arts Center, it is an entertainment complex and public park that will be housed in the empty landmarked space that was once home to the historic Childs Restaurant at 2102 Boardwalk West between West 21st and West 22nd streets.
The project, estimated to cost $53 million, is being developed and operated by a partnership between iStar Financial, an affiliate Coney Island Holdings LLC, and the community-based non-profit Coney Island USA.
According to iStar Financial, the project will include a 5,000-seat amphitheater, a 20,000 square-foot restaurant overlooking the ocean, a playground and an amusement park district, which will be open year-round. The amphitheater will host roughly 15 free and 25 paid concerts during the outdoor concert season. And during the year, an array of community-based recreational and educational events will be held.
“We hope the amphitheater is a catalyst for a neighborhood resurgence,” said Julia Butler, senior vice president at iStar Financial, in a statement.
Though the project is largely welcomed by the community, some residents harbor safety reservations. Evangelean Pugh, a resident and member of Community board 13, said the project could cause too much traffic.
“With the stadium that’s here now you can’t move when there’s events. It took an hour to get from 25th Street to Stillwell Avenue in the middle of the day once,” she said. “And if an emergency happens, what do we do?”
But Butler said the company studied traffic and transit capacity as part of the project’s environmental impact statement and the results allowed it to move forward.
Residents also hope the project will give back to the community in some way. Butler is certain this will happen.
“Neighborhood programming from movie nights and poetry slams to high school graduations and community theater performances are all envisioned for the Amphitheater,” she said.
Butler noted that construction is expected to begin this fall. The opening has been pushed back from 2015 to May 2016.

Brooklyn Tower Opponents Try to Redraw Lines in Construction Class War | New York Observer

Brooklyn Tower Opponents Try to Redraw Lines in Construction Class War | New York Observer

Proposed design for the Pier 6 towers (Rendering by Asymptote Architecture).

Opponents suing to stop a plan to build two luxury towers on the Brooklyn waterfront–with 30 percent of their units eyed for affordable housing by the de Blasio administration–today insisted that their resistance to the proposal has nothing to do with concerns about reduced-rate tenants moving in, even though their lawsuit says otherwise.

The two structures are the latest phase of a 10-year-old Bloomberg-era plan to turn disused piers in Brooklyn Heights into the massively popular Brooklyn Bridge Park–and pay for the recreation area’s maintenance by planting condominiums alongside the green. Resistance in the community surfaced earlier this month when it was revealed one of the towers would be 31 stories high–and that the project would include bargain bin apartments for middle-class renters, as part of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s design to build and preserve 200,000 affordable units citywide.

Leaders of the People For Green Space Foundation, which has sued to prevent the project from moving forward, insist however that class concerns have no part of their objections–contrary to claims made in a recent New York Times article. Instead, they say they want to ensure the park does not become overcrowded with too many tenants.

“We love the mayor’s plan for affordable housing,” said Lori Schomp, one of the plaintiffs in the suit. “But if he wants a denser city, we have to think about quality of life, and green space, trees, is a part of that.”

Designs Emerge for Brooklyn Park Project

Designs Emerge for Brooklyn Park Project - WSJ

Fourteen designs have been submitted for the two new towers at the southern edge of Brooklyn Bridge Park. Above is  a rendering by Asymptote Architecture. Asymptote Architecture

The city has received 14 designs for two new towers on the southern edge of Brooklyn Bridge Park that have been at the center of a debate about whether to add affordable housing to what some community groups view as a waterfront oasis.

Some designs for the development play off the park's location near Dumbo with industrial touches. Others look more like Midtown office towers. Some add flourishes of foliage to anchor the buildings to the park.

Related

• View Renderings of the Proposed Designs

A number of developers are proposing to provide amenities, such as additional public restrooms, a swimming pool, space for a prekindergarten and a spot for bike repairs.

The proposals for two towers—of about 31 stories and 15 stories—are expected to be discussed Wednesday afternoon at a meeting of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corp., which runs the park.

Park officials said they were hopeful the quality of the proposals would help refocus the community conversation from a testy debate over the de Blasio administration's requirement that developers dedicate at least 30% to affordable housing.

A rendering by NV/da+O'Neill McVoy Architects NV/da + O’Neill McVoy Architects

"Before we had the responses it was really an abstract idea. Now with the design and with the proposed ground-floor uses, we have the opportunity to think through new uses and assess whether those designs are compatible with the park," said Regina Myer, president of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corp.

Community groups sued to stop the project from moving forward, saying the inclusion of affordable housing meant the park needed to undergo an additional environmental review. They sought to prohibit park officials from soliciting and reviewing proposals from developers.

A proposal by Marvel Architects Marvel Architects

A judge's order, however, will allow park officials and a community advisory council to review the proposals. Park officials expect to have a decision around the end of the year. The project could break ground about a year later, if the lawsuit is resolved.

Under a 2002 agreement, the city and state contributed about $160 million to develop the 85-acre park. Private development, including revenue generated from One Brooklyn Bridge Park, a hotel and residential complex at Pier 1 that is under construction, helps pay for the continuing maintenance.

The developer will sign a 95-year lease with the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corp. The rent to be paid will go toward routine park maintenance and repairs to the piers on which the park sits.

Some community groups said they were concerned that adding affordable housing to the plan would mean less money for maintenance of the park. Others wanted to see the heights of the buildings reduced.

City officials have said that due to increased rents and condo prices only 70% of the housing planned for the site under the 2006 plan is needed to support the park. Instead of reducing the size of the towers by 30%, they said they decided to create lower-cost housing.

Some developers are proposing to build the affordable housing in one building and the market-rate apartments in the other. Others are proposing to mix the units. The proposals may change through discussions with Brooklyn Bridge Park Corp.

Write to Laura Kusisto at laura.kusisto@wsj.com

Bus Driver Was On Drugs During Times Square Crash, Police Say

Bus Driver Was On Drugs During Times Square Crash, Police Say - Times Square & Theater District - DNAinfo.com New York
MANHATTAN — The driver who careened his double-decker tour bus onto a Times Square sidewalk injuring 14 people Tuesday was on drugs at the time, the NYPD said.

William Dalambert, 58, was driving a Gray Line bus south on Seventh Avenue when it hit a blue City Sights tour bus, jumped the curb near 47th Street and knocked a street light onto pedestrians standing nearby, police said.

Fourteen people were injured, including a tour guide who was the only person aboard the Gray Line bus aside from the driver. They were taken to St. Luke's and other area hospitals, officials said. Three people's bones were broken in the crash and they were in serious condition, officials said.

Here's The Greenest Block In Brooklyn

Here's The Greenest Block In Brooklyn: Gothamist

Macon Street between Howard and Ralph Avenues in Bed-Stuy was declared Brooklyn's Greenest Street today by Greenbridge, the community environmental horticulture program of Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

At this morning's festive award ceremony, Felicia Kinsey, the Macon Street block president, called out to an audience of families and long-time Bedford-Stuyvesant residents, "What have I been saying all year?" The crowd responded in unison: "Our block rocks!" They will receive a $300 award and a plaque naming them the greenest block.

The block scored a perfect 100% on participation; every house and tree bed was decked out in planters, flowers, vines and whimsical signs that promote the power of gardening. Brooklyn Botanic Garden President, Scot Medbury, said the 200 entrants from 33 Brooklyn neighborhoods were judged on variety, upkeep of street trees, use of color, community participation, and use of native plants.

Serena Icart-Pierre, a Macon Street resident for 19 years and a Bed-Stuy native, spearheaded the gardening projects. Her neighbor, Shirley Bradey, is the one who originally entered the block in the contest, but she passed away. "I said, I'm doing it no matter what," Icart-Pierre told us. "Gardening is an excellent activity. It brings the best out in people. If you can't plant a flower with a smile on your face, you're not a person I want to meet."

Sheila Gay-Robbins, who has lived on Macon Street for 9 years, said the project has brought the whole community closer together. "First we were neighbors, now we're friends," she said.

And Borough President Eric Adams was on hand to congratulate the block, telling the green thumb residents, "Just one type of tree wouldn't be a garden. A garden is supposed to have diversity, that's what makes it a garden. It's representative of what we are. More than a tree is growing in Brooklyn; families are growing in Brooklyn."

Here are all the winners and runner-ups to the Greenest Block in Brooklyn awards. Last year author Jen Doll was chosen to judge the contest; here's her account of what it takes to find the greenest block in Brooklyn.

Habitat for Humanity takes on Sandy homes in Brooklyn

Habitat for Humanity takes on Sandy homes in Brooklyn  - NY Daily News