David Yassky, City Council representative for the 33rd District (including DUMBO and Brooklyn Heights) kicked off his campaign for New York City Comptroller Monday night with a fundraiser held by supporters at the Harvard Club. Turnout was strong and David declared that contributions exceeded expectations. He also pointed out that one of the prominent newspaper blogs has called him "one of the frontrunners for the job."
As a City Council member, David has been, and will continue to be through the end of his term, actively involved in the effort to bring a public middle school to the DUMBO/Brooklyn Heights area. He has formed a task force composed of a diverse mix of community residents to work with the Board of Education to find and recommend the most appropriate site for a neighborhood school. He is adamantly opposed to the proposal by Two Trees Development that attempts to offer renting space for a school to gain approval for their proposed apartment tower next to the Brooklyn Bridge. Yassky has stated, "Families should not need to accept an inappropriate building for the soon-to-be-landmarked Dumbo neighborhood in order to get a much-needed middle school."
Residents of DUMBO who turned out in support of Yassky's bid for Comptroller were pleased to hear of significant progress is the search for a school site with one location now under serious consideration.
Good news!
Dan Doctoroff, NYC's strongly pro-developer Deputy Mayor of Economic Development, who was rumored to have been successfully lobbied by Two Trees to back the Dock Street building, is leaving office.
No word yet on his replacement, but averting his potential influence on the project is a hugely positive development for the effort to stop the building.
Read the New York Times article.
Welcome to our blog dedicated to discussing news and developments in our fight to preserve and protect the Brooklyn Bridge from inappropriate real estate development. Above is a picture of the hero in this story - The Brooklyn Bridge.
And here is a picture of the villain - an 18-story slab of luxury rental apartments Two Trees Real Estate is seeking a city rezoning to allow it to build less than 70 feet away from the Bridge:
This grossly inappropriate building is a slap across the face of the Brooklyn Bridge. It violates the gentle cascade of 1900's historic buildings our forebears had the decency to build away from the Bridge forming a respectful bowl around this national icon.
The 223 foot high building would tower 128 feet above the Bridge roadway and visually compete with the Brooklyn Bridge towers at 277 feet. Its enormous height and massive 200 foot long girth would grossly mar the public's views from, and of the Bridge.
You can read the detailed arguments against the building on savethebrooklynbridge.org and appreciate the many reasons why if public officials allow this building to go up in this location, it would be a tragic loss for New York City, America, and the world.
But the best argument comes from walking across the bridge until you reach the spot where the building would go up, beholding the panoramic, historic views, and realizing in your gut what would be lost to posterity.
Stay tuned for blow-by-blow updates of our struggle to stop this building as the official city rezoning review process begins within the next several months. And as I tell New York City residents and tourists walking across the bridge: Enjoy the view....while you can.
