15 January 2009

Burden Will Decrease Carroll Gardens Height, But Only If We Write Her


There is apparently hope that Carroll Gardens won't become the skyscraper center of Brooklyn.

The neighborhood activist group CORD has sent out that alarm that City Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden "has said if the neighborhood calls for reduced height in significant numbers she will defer." But she'll only defer if we write to her and say so! I guess the years of public outcry against outsized development in South Brooklyn hasn't been convincing enough. She needs one more reminder.

Says the CORD letter:


Your letters and emails to Marty Markowitz had a big impact on his recommendation to City Planning.

The public review process has now moved to City Planning Commission, which held a public hearing last week at which some of us spoke. This is a tough forum because City Planning's own draft Gowanus Plan calls for 12 stories. But this is the most important place to make our case because we have a chance to influence their plan beyond the Toll Bros site...

Please submit the great letters you emailed Marty to the City Planning Commission. Unfortunately they do not accept email. Please mail to:

Chair Amanda M. Burden
City Planning Commission
22 Reade St, Room 2W
New York, NY 10007

The letters are due within 10 days of hearing, which is this Saturday, January 17 (sorry for the short notice!).*


So get those pencils moving! I wonder what Amanda means by "significant numbers"? Like, opening night at the Met numbers? Or average-size coming-out party numbers? Or would a largish dinner party on the Upper East Side do?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Burden is getting set to approve 12 story buildings in Carroll Garden now. The sity has planned 12 story heights for all the land along Bond Street and some on Smith Street--all in what is really Carroll Garden.

Look at the planns for Public Place on Smith St at 4th Place!
Burden--a sell out? Or will she do the right thing for all who live in Carroll Gardens (not just those at the top of the hill).

Kelly said...

I urge everyone to sign the "Defend The Gowanus (No Love Canal Here)" petition that is going to be sent to Amanda Burden.
There are about 240 signatures on it now. I hope we can do better by tomorrow.
You can find the petition here:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/defend-the-gowanus

Cheers,
Ms. Pardon Me For Asking

Anonymous said...

Debating the merits of a 12-story development against the more serious issue of environmental safety is tragic.

It's not different from anyone recommending re-building New Orleans without building adequate floodwalls. Ultimately, it's a failure of government to address serious public safety issues with mature responsible thinking.

good luck Amanda Burden , good luck Bill DeBlasio...hopefully, history will not be unkind to them.

check out
www.defendgowanus.org

It's your community, not theirs.